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Just a Few More Minutes

Rossi's POV

Just a few more minutes. That's all that was needed. Morgan just had to stall the Unsub for a few more minutes. They were in Houston, Texas trying to catch a man who had abducted eleven little girls, between the ages of five and nine, and had killed seven of them. The others were still missing, but they had managed to track the Unsub to a group of abandoned warehouses. Right now Jonathon Chanellor, aka the Unsub, was currently surrounded by about seven cops and the rest of the team, minus Hotch. A little girl, about six years old, matching one of his victim's descriptions was seen being dragged inside one of the warehouses and Hotch insisted on going in to try and find her. That was before they found the Unsub and realized that he had a remote detonator in his hands.

"Hotch get out of there now, the whole place might blow." Rossi whispered into the microphone.

"No. I can hear her crying, and I will not leave her down here. Just give me a few more minutes." Hotch said back stubbornly.

Rossi wanted nothing more than to pull the trigger on the gun in his hand and kill the piece of scum standing before him, but if he did then they might never find the other missing girls. Suddenly Jonathon looked at his watch and announced loudly, "I love hide and seek, especially with higher stakes." And before anyone could comprehend his words, he pressed the small red button on the remote in his hands. A large blast came from one of the warehouses. But not just any old, run down warehouse, but the one that Hotch was in. Rossi stumbled backwards and almost fell at the force of the blast. As he caught his balance again he noticed that Morgan had already tackled the Unsub.

"What the hell do you think is so funny?!" Morgan yelled at him as he pinned him to the ground.

"I was counting the whole time, now it's time for you to find them, you know, if they survived the blast." He said with a sickening laugh.

As Rossi heard this he turned to stare at the burning building, feeling is heart shatter as he watched the roof collapse. "Hotch!" Rossi screamed into the mic that was attached to his wrist. "Aaron! Aaron are you there?!" Rossi yelled again as he ran towards the building. By the time he reached it, the firefighters had already pulled up and were trying to put the fire out. He wanted to run straight into the building and search every square inch, but he knew that was impossible. So instead he fell to his knees, and waited for something to happen.

He could feel the rest of the team come up behind him, but it didn't matter. Not when his protégé, his best friend, the man who he had come to look at as a son, was trapped inside a burning building. JJ had called Garcia to let her know what had happened, and now the hard part. Waiting. After about seven minutes, which felt like an eternity, the fire was put out and the search began. Morgan started pacing wildly because if he didn't move, he knew that he would go insane. Reid and JJ were sitting up against one of the police cars, both trying to keep their emotions composed. Prentiss stood off to the side, trying to compartmentalize everything, just like she always did. While Rossi was in the exact same position, kneeling on the ground in front of the smoldering warehouse.

"What is taking so long?" JJ asked finally, her voice cracking with emotion.

"He's still alive, I can feel it." Rossi said determinedly. Just then they heard a moan over their earpieces. "Aaron?!" Rossi asked suddenly standing, hope flooding his every fiber.

"Dave…"

"Aaron where are you? Are you ok? Can you get out?" Everyone asked at the same time.

"In… the basement." He gasped.

"Aaron we already knew that, can you be more specific?" Rossi tried, tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Can't… remember. Jamie are you ok?" Hotch asked.

"Jamie, what you mean his victim? Is she down there with you?" Morgan asked.

"Jamie are you ok?" Hotch asked again weakly.

"Yeah." A little voice said back quietly.

"Jamie, can you tell us where you are?" JJ asked calmly, even though her hands were shaking.

"I don't know." Jamie responded as she started crying. "I just wanna go home." She sobbed.

"Jamie… remember what I told you?" Hotch asked as he started coughing.

"That you were going to make sure I got to go home." She said in-between sobs.

"That's exactly right. Now you just need to be patient… because they will find us." Hotch told her in a calm voice.

"We can't find them, or any way to get down into the basement." The fire chief said walking towards the group of profilers.

"He's down there and still alive, with a little girl. You keep looking!" Morgan said angrily as the fire chief started walking away.

"Aaron, can you get out of there?" Rossi asked, panic running through his veins that they might not be able to find him in time.

"Too… heavy." Hotch stuttered as he continued coughing.

"Hotch stop trying to talk so much, you need to save your energy. Jamie can you tell us what he means by that?" Reid asked.

"There's something big and heavy across his chest, I don't think it can be moved. Are you gonna die?!" She screamed, starting to cry again.

"Jamie… it's ok. I don't plan on going anywhere… anytime soon." Hotch told her firmly. But the meaning to his words was lost once he started coughing, hard.

"Keep talking… please." Hotch begged.

"Jamie, why don't you tell us what happened?" JJ asked calmly.

But Jamie just started to cry even harder.

"Ssh, ssh. It's ok." Hotch soothed. "Just give me your hand… and whenever you get scared… you squeeze it real tight… and remember that I'm right here. I won't leave you." He said starting to cough again, this time it sounded wet.

"Aaron are you ok?" Rossi asked frightened, it sounded like he was coughing blood.

"Keep… talking." He begged again.

So for about thirteen minutes, the team told happy, light, pointless stories. All the while listening to Hotch's coughs become harsher and more frequent.

"Tell Jack… I love him. I-I want… all of you to take care… of him." Hotch said, struggling to talk.

"Aaron, don't talk that way…" Rossi told him angrily, the anger coming from fear.

"Jamie… you're going… to be ok. You get to go out… and live your life. Be happy." He told her trying to smile.

"Aaron don't you dare stop fighting!" Rossi shouted as panic started to flow through his voice.

"Dave… I have been fighting… all my life… and I'm tired of fighting." He said slowly, his breathing becoming slow and shallow. Soon they heard no breath at all, just crying from a little girl.

"Aaron?" Rossi asked quietly, afraid that there would be no reply. "Aaron can you hear me?"

Then a loud crash could be heard, and rescue workers shouting for help. Then the mic went dead. Causing the team to rush to the area that had the most rescuers. After about three minutes they saw Hotch being carried outside, his body limp as it was strapped onto a gurney in an ambulance. With a little girl being put into the one next to it, both driving off at top speeds. The thing was Hotch had blood dripping from his mouth, and his clothes were soaked in blood as well.

Rossi turned away after the ambulances left. He had seen the look in Hotch's eyes, there wasn't one. He had the all too familiar dead stare.