Epilogue

Matt walked up to one of the Humvees and put his sniper rifle on the hood and proceeded to disassemble it. He placed the various parts back into the specially padded case as Dave looked over his shoulder and shook his head. Hotch and Dan joined them as Matt closed the case and put it into his bag.

Jayje, back at the command post, called Garcia, assuring her the team was OK and to get to bed herself. As usual, their Tech Analyst worked just as hard as the team in the field.

An EMT approached the group. "Excuse me, I'm Mikhael Dixon, lead medic. You've got three agents that need to go to a hospital to be examined by doctors, and they are all refusing."

Matt looked at Hotch, as he shook his head. Dave smiled. "Who's chewing some asses?" Dan smiled as well.

Hotch looked at Matt. "You are. You're the Marine. You know how to do it better."

"Hotch, in my entire Marine career, I only chewed one ass. And that was a young, arrogant, newly-minted second lieutenant that needed it." He looked at Rossi. "He chewed a Staff Sergeant a new one. You know how I feel about my sergeants."

Rossi smiled. "I hope you did the same."

"Never repeated a swear word in five minutes," he winked at Rossi as he nodded at EMT Dixon and followed him to the ambulances. Hotch looked at Dave, just shook his head, and then slightly smiled. They moved away from the scene.

Matt walked up to Morgan, Reid and Prentiss. "You three have two options," he calmly said. "Get in that ambulance or find your own way home. Hope you have your credit cards with you." He walked away. Morgan looked at the other two, shook his head, and helped Emily into the ambulance.

Dan, with Hotch and Dave in one of the Humvees, pulled up and stopped. Matt climbed in and looked at Rossi across from him in the backseat. "You grab my bag?"

"Got it Cob," he smiled.

The four got out at the Response Trailer and started to pitch in, helping them get it broke down. "Hotch," Dan said, "you don't have to. And you've got a mother-to-be on your team. Go check on the rest of your team at the hospital and find a place to get showered and some sleep." The local sheriff walked up.

"I've already got that set up for you Agent Hotchner. Plus, my brother-in-law owns a liquor store. He's got a case of beer, on ice, waiting for you all in one of the rooms. Expect a pizza delivery as well," He smiled and extended his hand. "Thank you to all of you," he said to the team, then looking at Dan.

Dan smiled at Hotch, nodding his head to his team. "We'll be drinking a bit later. Thank you. This is how it's supposed to work." He exchanged handshakes with the team. Matt grabbed his bag out of the Humvee, got it into the back of the Bureau SUV he drove up to the site, pulling his Kevlar vest off as well and threw it on top of the bag. He moved towards the driver's side door and opened the back door for JJ to get in, rubbing her shoulder.

"You OK Mother Goose?" he smiled, his face still painted in camouflage colors.

"I just need a shower and some sleep."

He smiled at her. "We all do."

Hotch and Dave got in as well and Matt looked at Hotch and smiled. "Ya gotta love Sheriffs of small counties. They know everyone."

They drove to the hospital where Prentiss, Morgan and Reid were taken, to see the two guys walking out of exam rooms. The lead doctor looked at the group. "Who's in charge?"

"I am," Hotch said.

"Agents Morgan and Reid suffered some minor bruises and smoke inhalation. They'll be fine. We're waiting on the X-Rays for Agent Prentiss' ribs."

Hotch shook his hand. "Thank you Doctor." He nodded and walked off.

Emily appeared ten minutes later. JJ wrapped her in a huge hug. "You OK?"

Emily just shook her head at her friend as she pulled out of the hug. "A couple of bruised ribs; I'm fine."

Hotch looked at his team. "Let's get to the motel. We need it."

Morgan looked at Matt. "Motel Cob?"

Matt looked at him. "Ours is not to ask why; ours is just to do or die."

Reid looked at him. "I don't recognize that."

"Because kid," Dave gently smiled, "you were never a Marine." They got into the SUV, Matt pulling up the third row of seats to get the team all seated. He drove them to the motel, the night clerk quickly got them checked in and they made their way to their rooms.

Matt inhaled two beers as Hotch and Dave each grabbed one and took showers and got shaved. When Matt walked out thirty minutes later in sports shorts and a white t-shirt the team was already gathered, with beers and slices of pizza in hand. Matt dove into the pizza.

He looked at JJ drinking a beer, devouring his first piece of pizza and grabbing a second. Having a wife that went through two pregnancies, he knew a very occasional drink by a mom to be would not hurt a fetus. And JJ had earned it. "Just one Mother Goose," he gently smiled. Jayje matched the smile.

Morgan looked at him. "How in the hell do you get away with calling her 'Mother Goose'? If I did that, she'd be all over my ass."

"I'd kick your ass," JJ smiled.

"You and who else Pennsylvania Petite?"

"Me; I know Sure-Shot," Matt smiled. "And I have experience dealing with a pregnant female. Something, my friend, you don't," he said, pointing at Morgan, grabbing another beer.

"Now you sound like my mama."

"Ohhhh, let's not go there," Rossi intoned with a smile. "I'm worn out on profiling at the moment." Hotch just laughed, and they all joined him.

The team enjoyed the downtime. The beer and pizzas gone, they all headed to bed as the sun rose on a beautiful Colorado morning.

Ten hours later, Chuck and Angie were winging the team back home.

-00CM00-

Two weeks later, Hotch and Matt walked out of the break room with fresh cups of coffee. Dave, who had made his way out of his office to do the same, had stopped to talk about the football game yesterday with Morgan. Matt and Hotch stopped to join the conversation. The TV was on the bullpen. Just then the news announcer went to the next news item. In other news around the country, Colorado State Attorney General Jim Wells has dropped out of the race for Governor in the next election. While no reason was given, it is wide speculated that his decision is due to a Department of Justice investigation of his handling of the recent stand-off at the Libertarian Ranch in central Colorado.

Matt smiled at Hotch. "You're good big dog." Hotch smiled back at him. They shared a high five and headed back to their offices.

Rossi just smiled at Morgan. "A lesson for you; don't piss either one of them off."

"Learned that long time ago Rossi," Derek smiled, lifting his coffee cup in a salute.

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A/N: As I said at the start, I played with a whole lot of CM canon with this story. My deepest and sincerest apologizes if you don't like that. But I really hope you did!

My usual shout outs to my luvs at CM Rev and my Twitter pals as well. Plus an educator and hxchick.

Thn0715: this was your choice. Hope I did you proud. *Knightly head bow to Jedi Master*.