“Aaron?” She asked looking over him as if she could fix what was happening. “Aaron. Please breathe.” She said letting tears well in her eyes as she was pushed back by other nurses. Was this goodbye? Did he see that she was safe and now he could give up? She couldn’t let him go like this.
“No. Derek.” She said turning on her heel and preparing to fight her way back to his beside. “Aaron.” She called as the tears came flooding down her cheeks. “Please.” She said but she couldn’t get her feet to carry her any further.
She felt herself being pulled out of the room but kept her eyes on Aaron as long as she could. Then once she was forced back into the waiting room she fully broke down letting sobs rack her body.
"Oxygen's dropping rapidly," A nurse called out as everyone else wash pushed to the door, "We're going to need to intubate if he loses consciousness!" Aaron winced again, grasping at his chest as the chest pain started to radiate into his collar bone. Was it a heart attack? What was happening? A doctor flew into the room, barking out different orders the nurses and techs who had raised Aaron's bed flat to a sitting position to help with his blood oxygen levels. "Agent Hotchner," One of the nurses was saying, "Stay with me, can you still hear me?" She began to wrap a blood pressure cuff around his arm, pulling his hand from his chest to do so. Aaron nodded, grimacing slightly, a huge departure from his usual stoic demeanor. "The heart's being starved of oxygen because of the smoke inhalation. Increase oxygen output immediately, I want an EKG in here stat," The doctor ordered, and an page went off over the hospital's intercom system.
As staff rushed in and out, the door swung close, closing everyone in the waiting room off from the chaos. *** A few hours later, Aaron lay in the room, staring at the ceiling. Any heart issues had been temporarily averted with extra oxygen intake and emergency medication that had been used to lower his blood pressure. The blood pressure had been an issue for several years now, as the stress of the job had begun to take its toll on his health. That, combined with the low oxygen levels being taken in by his smoke-damaged lungs, had almost had a disastrous outcome.
He'd asked to see her, so when the door opened, he turned his head toward her. "I'm sorry to scare you like that," He said gently, "They said I should be fine. I'll probably be released in the morning."















