Change My Mind ~ Criminal Minds (Aaron Hotchner x OC)

20.0: Warm Embraces

"I have accepted fear as part of life – specifically the fear of change... I have gone ahead despite the pounding in the heart that says: turn back...."
― Erica Jong

Crystal and Hotch were currently hiding in a ditch, they had been running for awhile and had finally lost the person chasing them. They had been in the ditch for about 5 minutes now, they were trying to catch their breaths and making sure they were no longer being followed.

Crystal let out a soft sigh as she looked over at Hotch, "Are you alright?" She asked him in a soft voice as he looked over at her, "I should be asking you that, you took the impact." He was talking just as soft as he brought his hand to move her hair from her face, she smiled a bit. "I'm okay, adrenaline is still running so I don't feel any pain just yet."

Not all of it at least.

Crystal shifted a bit and winced, her side really hurt. She took a deep breath as she leaned a bit on Hotch for support, "You think the team noticed we're missing?" Hotch sighed as he leaned against her as well, "Maybe, hopefully they find us before nightfall."

___

Morgan and Emily had just returned from the car crash, Morgan shook his head as he handed them pictures of the crash. "Something definitely crashed into them, the driver side has a huge dent in it. There was also signs of gun shots, the unsub is changing his M.O."

Rossi stood up and went to the board, "What triggered him to go after Hotch and Archer?" JJ sighed as she ran her hand through her hair, "What's he gonna do to them?" No one had that answer, Emily took a seat. "What set him off?"

Morgan shrugged, "Maybe there's a connection between these victims and them that we're missing, I'll call Garcia." Morgan left the room as JJ got up to look at the pictures, "The change in M.O is to drastic, he's changing from a knife to a gun. Something happened, Hotch and Archer most likely have met our unsub without realizing it."

Rossi sighed as he looked over at her, "Well we need to figure out how, he's got them and we're running out of time."

Reid stood up quickly. "What if he doesn't have them?"

Morgan walked back in and Emily looked over at Reid, "What do you mean?"

"What if they got away? Look," Reid pointed towards one of the trees, "There's a bullet hole right there, but the unsub wouldn't shoot in that direction unless-"

"Unless someone was running that way." Rossi finished as he took the photo from him, "Okay, we need to work on this profile. This is the only way that we can save them, we need to figure out where and how the unsub chose them." The team nodded as they got to work, it was almost night fall and if they didn't hurry Crystal and Hotch would freeze to death.

___

Hotch and Crystal were walking around the woods, they were trying to find a trail to follow but weren't having any luck. Hotch turned to notice that Crystal was limping a bit, "I thought you said you weren't in any pain?"

"I'm not."

"Limping for fun then?" Crystal turned to look at him with a smile, "Y'know Hotch, you become more funny when you're sick." Hotch stopped walking and Crystal sighed as she did as well, "I'm fine Hotch."

"You'll injure yourself more by walking, you could make it worse."

"Shouldn't I be worrying about you more? You're sick and we were just in a crash, are you feeling okay?" Crystal reached up to feel his forehead and shivered a bit, he was burning up still. Hotch sighed as he gently grabbed her hand and held it, "I'm fine, you shouldn't strain yourself."