AN: Hey all, contrary to popular belief, I'm actually not dead. I have no excuse for how long this took me so all I can say is I'm sorry. Woopsies. But please don't hate me cause that would make me sad. Enjoy the update, I guess? I'll try to be better about this stuff.

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters

Aaron Hotchner felt the thrum of excitement as he stood outside a battered looking door, ready to burst inside. The anticipation of not knowing what would be on the other side filled him with adrenaline. His blood pumped in his ears and it almost sounded like the heavy base from the old stereo he had had in his rock and roll days. This addiction he had to adrenaline was what had made him join the BAU in the first place. It was, in all senses of the word, a perfect job for him.

He looked over to David Rossi who was standing slightly to the side, a familiar look of thrill across the features of his face. He gave a sharp nod to his friend and got one back with the same vigour that he himself had used. Then he did something he had been aching to do for a while; he landed a well aimed kick near where the lock on the door was and the slightly rotten wood gave easily. The door swung open and dirt that had been settled on the top of it for who knows how long came raining down on him. He coughed a few times to clear his lungs and he felt the Dave pat his back a few times. Once the dust settled he stepped inside.

They were in what appeared to be the galley of the ship, the defining feature being the short island in the middle of the room. Hotch was immediately inundated with a feeling of hope but he tried to keep the emotion at bay. He didn't want to be too disappointed if they didn't find anything.

"Do you think there are any non-perishables in here" Dave wondered aloud.

"I sure hope so" Hotch replied. He yanked open a wooden cabinet near to the door and was met with two empty shelves. He ran his finger over the wooden surface and his finger collected dust. He wiped his hands on his pants as he said, "doesn't look too promising". He looked over to where Dave had opened up another cabinet with the same result, a grim look set firmly on his face. Hotch had tried not to get his hopes up but as soon as the possibility of food had been yanked away, he felt himself deflate like a balloon. Just once couldn't something go their way?

He shook his head to clear away the negative thoughts. He had a job to do here and he couldn't let his emotions get in the way. He moved on to the adjacent cabinet and opened it. He peered inside and sighed when he saw the same emptiness. He carefully shut the cupboard and moved on to the next one. Nothing. The next two cabinets held the same result. There was just one more cabinet in the row and Hotch took in a deep breath before opening it. At first glance, it appeared to be empty, but upon further examination there was a silver can hidden in the shadowy back. He let out a breath that he hadn't been aware that he was holding and reached out for the can. His fingers curled around it and he brought it out into the light. He looked at the label and although it was worn, he could tell it was a can of chicken noodle soup.

"Dave, I've got something" he called to the older profiler.

"Good find, that'll go a long way my friend" he replied, looking over Aaron's shoulder. With a pat on the back, Dave went back to his own searching and Aaron placed the beautiful silver can on the dirty kitchen island. He went over to a tall cupboard that neither of them had opened yet. He grabbed the small handle that was attached to it and gave it a pull. It came open with little resistance. There were three shelves in the cupboard. The one on top was empty. The one underneath it had a small, nondescript, burlap sack on it that was full of something. He hefted the substantial bag into his hands and placed it on the island. The movement caught Dave's eye and the older man stopped what he was doing to watch Hotch. Aaron pulled the drawstring on the bag and opened up the top enough to see what was inside.

"Yes! We've got a little feast going now with all the food we've found" said Dave. Inside the bag was a small but important pile of white rice. This could be the thing between us and starvation, he thought to himself.

"We need to save this. We can't eat it all at once" he said.

"I know. I was joking about the feast thing. Sort of" Rossie replied. Hotch chuckled and went back to exploring his cupboard. The rest of it seemed to be empty, which was slightly disappointing. But he was still really happy with the haul they had already found.

"Jackpot!" he heard Rossi exclaim from the other side of the room. He turned around to see the man holding up two very dusty bottles of red wine. Hotch broke out into a smile at the new discovery.

"I'm sure everyone will be very happy with those. I think they will aid with the celebration of our new shelter later" he said. Rossi nodded as he focused on brushing the dust off of the bottles.

"I needed this so bad" he said. The older man held up one of the bottles and kissed it. Hotch let out a genuine laugh at that. Huh, he had forgotten what it felt like to laugh.

Rossi set the two bottles down next to the rice and the can of soup.

"Alright, I think we've found everything useful in this room so let's move on to the next one."

"Once you get the alcohol, there's nothing else useful huh?" Hotch asked him playfully.

"Exactly" Rossi said, walking towards the door that they had first entered. Aaron followed him, knowing they had done a thorough search of the room. When he stepped into the hallway, he saw that the door across from them remained closed. He noted that Reid and Morgan had kicked in the door slightly down the hall from them.

"I'll let you take this one, Dave" he said to his friend.

"Thank you, sir. I would be honored" he replied. With that, Dave leaned back and kicked at the door in just the right place to make it swing inwards.

"After you, sir" Dave said, as he held open the door in an inviting manner.

"Why, thank you" Hotch replied with a curt nod of his head. He stepped inside and saw that it was a sleeping area, probably for some of the ship's crew. There was a bunk bed to his right with ancient looking blankets piled on top. In front of him, there was a wall with a small circular window and not much else on it. To his left there was a simple wooden desk that was secured to the floor. His first thought of the room was that it looked like a nice place to sleep, or at least nicer than their previous sleeping conditions.

"Dave, I'm going to check out the condition of the beds, you take a look at the desk and see if there's anything useful" Hotch instructed. Rossi nodded and headed over to the desk. Hotch himself went over to the bottom bed on the bunk. He peeled back the top blanket, and although it was coated with a layer of dust, it felt pretty good. The blanket and sheets underneath were pretty intact. He moved on to examine the pillows. He picked one up and shook it in an attempt to get rid of some of the relentless dust. When he went to put the slightly cleaner pillow back in its place, something stopped him. Right in the spot where the pillow used to be, there was an old brown journal. Hotch ran his fingers over the cracked old cover and carefully untied the string that bound it shut.

On the inside cover written in scrawling handwriting was the name Henry Davis. Hotch flipped through the yellowed pages and read entry after entry. He slowly pieced together the information he found. Henry had run a tourist business with his five friends on this boat. They would give people tours of different places around the gulf. The last entry is short. The tone is different from the other entries. It says simply, "unexpected storm today, really rough water. Had to evacuate passengers of boat onto emergency raft due to technical difficulties. Wasn't enough room for the crew and I. That's what we get for going over capacity I guess. Hopefully we'll hit land soon. If we don't, I just hope my wife knows I love her." Thoughts raced through Hotch's mind. What had happened to these six men? Why hadn't he heard about anything like this? Wouldn't it be all over the news? He sighed as he placed the journal back under the pillow, hoping to read more thoroughly later.

"You find anything useful?" Dave asked, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Not really. These beds will be nice to sleep on though. How about you?"

"Not unless you count cigarette ash as useful. This guy must've smoked a pack a day" Rossi said with a shake of his head. "I don't know why anyone would do that to themselves" he said.

"Everyone has their vices" Hotch reminded him.

"I guess so" Rossi agreed.

"We should probably get up to the top deck to meet up with the other" Hotch said. "Grab the stuff from the galley and I'll meet you upstairs. I'm just going to tell Reid and Morgan to come with us."

"Will do, captain" Rossi said with a salute. The older man left the room, presumably to follow Hotch's orders. Hotch got up from where he had been sitting on the bottom bunk and walked out into the hallway. He saw that the other door down the hallway was ajar so he knew that Morgan and Reid were in there.

"Morgan, Reid," he called, "we're going to meet up on the top deck now so bring anything useful you found"

"Roger that" Morgan hollered. Hotch walked back towards the stairway and briefly peeked into the galley to make sure that Rossi had gotten everything. He saw that Dave had left the two bottles of wine for him to carry up. He chuckled to himself as he walked into the room and grabbed a bottle in each hand. They deserved this.

Hotch walked up the worn carpeted stairs slowly. It gradually got brighter as he came closer and closer to daylight. He squinted against the harsh light as he ascended the stairs. He arrived on the top deck and let his eyes adjust. He felt wind whipping his hair around his head. The sound of waves crashing violently in the distance eagerly met his ears and he looked out to the rough water. He noted that it was a greenish color today. His nose had to readjust from the musty smell of the lower deck to the salty smell of the sea breeze.

He walked over to where JJ, Emily, and Dave were sitting on some probably once cushioned seats. Now they were bare, worn away to just the skeleton.

"Yes!" Emily said, immediately spotting the two bottles in his hands. Hotch smirked.

"Oh my God!" JJ said, looking up at him. He set the bottles down in the small pile of stuff they had collected. In addition to what he and Dave had brought, he saw that there was a coil of rope, a metal water bottle, and a some fishing line.

"Nice finds" he said gesturing to the pile.

"Not nearly as nice as yours" said Emily and JJ nodded.

"Yeah, I have to agree with you there" said Dave with a laugh.

"We mainly checked out that steering area over there" JJ pointed to where a wooden wheel was situated next to what seemed to be a panel of switches and other mechanics. "None of it's working at all" she said sounding slightly dejected.

"I didn't expect for it to be working so that doesn't come as any surprise" Hotch said.

"Yeah I didn't either but it would've been nice if there was something we could have used to contact someone" she said. The sound of footsteps made him turn his head. He looked over to the direction of the stairwell and saw Morgan and Reid. Reid had an arm slung around Morgan for support and his face was white as a sheet. His head lolled slightly onto the other man's shoulder.

"What happened" Hotch questioned, immediately standing up to go help them. The others stood up too.

"We were coming up the stairs and he just collapsed. Luckily I caught him before he fell too far" Morgan said. Hotch walked over to them and slung Reid's other arm over his shoulder. They walked him over to where the others were waiting in silence.

"M' fine" the younger man slurred.

"You obviously aren't" Hotch retorted. Being so close to Reid, Hotch could feel the heat radiating off of him. He and Morgan carefully set Spencer down onto one of the chairs. JJ came over to them and pressed her hand against his forehead. Hotch looked on with a crease in his brow and his arms folded across his chest, feeling helpless.

"He's burning up" she said looking up at Hotch from where she knelt next to Spencer.

"Do we have any pure water?" he asked no one inparticular.

"I've got some left in this bottle" Emily supplied, holding out one of the silver bottles. Hotch took it from her and held it out to the pale man in front of him.

"Drink" he instructed. Reid just nodded and reached out to take the bottle in shaky hands. He slowly brought it to his lips and drained what was left in the container. Hotch brought his hand up to his head and rubbed at his temples. This was not good. At the rate things were going with Reid, they didn't have much time left.

"Let's look at the wound and see if it's gotten any worse" Morgan suggested.

"Really guys, I'm fine, I just needed some water is all" Reid tried to convince them but the way his hands trembled in his lap didn't fool anyone.

"Nope. We gotta get a look at your cut Spence" JJ said, putting on her best motherly voice. Spencer sighed and lifted up his shirt and began to unravel the bandage. He winced as the cotton material pulled away from his skin.

Hotch's breath hitched when he saw the condition of the injury. He was used to seeing gruesome stuff, but seldom on people he cared about. The cut was swollen up to at least twice its original size. It was crusted with yellow puss and dried blood. There was also some fresh blood dripping out of it. He heard Emily let out a small gasp and saw JJ cover her mouth with her hands. Rossi's face was twisted with what seemed to be sadness and pain. Morgan was looking everywhere but at Reid. Reid himself had his head leaned against the back of the chair, his eyes screwed shut.

"I think," Reid started, "it's best if I don't cover the wound anymore"

"Alright, so we won't cover it. But what do we do next? How do we make it better? There's got to be something we can do" Emily said, panic starting to creep into her voice.

"There's nothing. We can't do anything" Reid said, his eyes still screwed shut. A small sob escaped from JJ and she turned away from the group. Rossi went and put a soothing arm around her.

"Did you all find anything useful in the rooms you searched?" Hotch asked, attempting to change the subject.

"Not really, it was just two bedrooms. There were four beds that seemed like they would be good to sleep in though" Morgan replied.

"We found two beds in one of our rooms as well" Hotch replied.

"That's perfect. A bed for each of us" said emily with forced optimism in her voice. None of them could pretend that they were happy in that moment. There was an overwhelming feeling of grief among them. It hung in the air like a dark cloud that blocked out all the light. The sun was starting to get lower in the sky.

"I say we heat up that can of soup and break out one of those bottles of wine" Rossi said, having rejoined the circle along with a slightly tear stained JJ.

"I am not opposed to that" Hotch admitted. Maybe it would help raise the spirits of his team.

"Perfect," Rossi said, "I'll go get one of those pots that was in the galley"

"Oh, we forgot to tell you guys," JJ said, "we found these" she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box of matches.

"Yes! That will make starting a fire five times easier" Rossi said, obviously excited.

"Okay, Rossi, you go get the pan, Morgan you come with me to get some firewood, JJ and Emily, you see if you can find some paper to help with starting the fire. I know there's some in the lower deck" Hotch instructed. Everyone nodded, satisfied with their tasks.
"What about me?" Reid asked, sitting up in his chair with great effort.

"You stay. Rest" Hotch told him. Reid sighed but did as he was told and leaned back in his chair. Everyone got up and went off in the direction of their task. Hotch and Morgan walked silently down the ramp of the boat towards the forest where they knew they would have the most luck with finding firewood. As they picked through the sticks and logs they found on the ground they didn't speak. Once they both had a good armful of the stuff, they mutually decided to head back to the ship.

"Is he gonna die?" Morgan asked, breaking the silence. Hotch paused for a moment before answering.

"I hope not" was the best answer he could come up with. But he couldn't let himself think about that right now. If he did he wouldn't be able to keep going and his team needed him. The rest of the walk back was spent in silence.

When they got back, Hotch saw that the others had completed their tasks and were all back in the circle. JJ had cleared off an area of floor in the center of their circle of chairs. The metal floor would be a fine place to have the fire for now. He and Morgan dumped their armfuls next to the small ball of paper that sat in the middle. JJ got to work setting up a good structure for the fire. Once it was set, she took one of the matches and struck it against the side of the box. It caught quickly and she went about setting the paper ablaze in a few places. The paper went up in flame and soon it caught the surrounding wood on fire. JJ leaned back and brushed her hands together.

"Nice job Jayje" Morgan said. She gave a half hearted smile. They soon set up a situation similar to the one they had at their old camp with a metal grate someone had found above the fire. Rossi set slightly rusty pan on the grate. He then opened up the can of soup with a knife that they had brought with them. He poured the contents into the pot.

The team sat in silence as the soup heated up. Hotch noted that Rossi had also brought up six bowls.

It didn't take long for the soup to be thoroughly heated. Once it was, Rossi took the pan by the handle and doled out six mostly even portions of the soup into the cups he had brought. Everyone took a cup and they all sipped the warm broth slowly.

"I think this is the best thing I have ever eaten" Emily said"

"Better than my cooking?" Rossi asked, feigning a look of hurt. She laughed and went back to eating her soup. Once Hotch finished his soup, he looked around at the others and saw that they had mostly finished. JJ was taking her time and she had a little bit left, but other than that everyone was done.

"How are you feeling, Reid?" he asked.

"Um, actually a little bit better. It feels good to have something in my stomach" he said with a little bit of a smile. Hotch noticed that he was looking slightly less pale and he seemed to be more energized.

"I know this may come as a surprise to you guys," Rossi started, "But I think we should save the wine for another night".

"I hate to say it, but I agree. I think we would be able to enjoy it more later" Emily said.

"Yeah, I'm really tired. I think we should turn in and try out our new beds" Morgan said. The rest of the team nodded. JJ kicked the fire and poked at it until it was down to a few embers. The last thing they needed was for their new home to burn down. They decided together that Morgan would Room with Reid, Hotch with Rossi, and Emily with JJ.

As Hotch was walking down the stairs toward his new cabin, he felt how tired he truly was. When he got to his room, he wordlessly claimed the top bunk, knowing Rossi well enough to know that he would want the bottom anyway. He fell into the slightly stiff mattress and got under the covers. It didn't take long for him to fall into a deep dreamless sleep.

AN: Thanks for being patient and again please please don't hate me! I tried to make this update longer to make up for it.