Blood and Battle | Criminal Minds (gxg)

Chapter 8

Within the next half hour the place is swarmed with FBI, police, and medics. Heather is pulled away from me and loaded onto a stretcher. The ambulance was gone within minutes. Vogel is taken away in a body bag. 

Gideon heads to another ambulance to be checked out. Upon seeing my hand, he tells me to come with him. I sigh and look towards Hotch, the expression on his face telling me that Gideon isn't asking. I give in and walk over to the ambulance with him, grabbing rubbing alcohol and gauze.

The medic turns to me. "I need to check for infection." 

I glare at him as he takes my hand.

 "Okay, it looks good." He reaches for the gauze in my hand but I pull away. 

"Thanks, but I prefer to do it myself. You should take care of him, not me." I point towards Gideon before walking away.

I find a somewhat clean plastic barrel along the side of the crowd. I put down the gauze and move to clean my wound with a cotton pad soaked in rubbing alcohol.

"Let me." Elle walks up beside me, not waiting for an answer as she takes the supplies from my hands.

"You don't have to–"

"I want to," she interrupts. "It's my fault you're hurt."

I'm about to reply as the alcohol seeps into the cut on my hand. I suck in a deep breath. "Ow," I mumble.

She gives a quick smile, her dimples showing as she takes the gauze and wraps my palm. Her fingers work softly, her fingertips brushing across my hand.

"There."

I look down to our hands, unaware I was staring at the way she licked her lips as she worked. 

I inspect the wrap as she watches me. "Not bad," I say sarcastically.

Her dimples deepen as she smiles, fully this time. "You should be more careful, you know."

"Um, sorry, who tripped again?" I say, returning the grin.

She opens her mouth to reply when I hear Morgan's voice coming towards us. "Ladies. We're heading out." He stops smiling as he notices my hand. Concern laces his voice as he grabs my hand and inspects my palm. "C, what did you do?" 

Ah, Derek. The perfect big brother. I can never tell if I want to punch him or not.

"It's my–"

"I tripped." I interrupt Elle, fully away her eyes are on me as I address Morgan. "Grabbed the closest thing to steady myself. Happened to be a fish hook."

Morgan rolls his eyes. "Klutz."

"Yeah, yeah, we leaving or not?" I pull my hands away and walk past him with a smirk on my face as he has no choice but to follow.

---

A few hours later I'm sitting on the plane, a book in my lap and my eyelids heavy with exhaustion. Reid and Gideon play a game of chess at the table, Morgan lying next to Reid with his eyes closed and earbuds in. Hotch is on the couch. Elle sits diagonally across the aisle from me, looking at a case file. Already onto the next one, I think, my thoughts betraying a hint of admiration. She agreed to fly back with us, seeing how she lives in D.C. and the FBI would just need another jet to take her home.

I can't help myself glancing up at her every so often. My eyes take in the way her fingers trace the edges of the pages, her right leg crossed over her left, the way she rests her chin in her palm. She's still wearing her red jacket. She looks good.

My eyes go back to my book as I see Hotch stand up from the couch at the other end of the plane. He passes by the boys and sits across from Elle. She closes the file and watches him intently.

I watch from my peripheral vision as I listen to their conversation. I might be eavesdropping. But if they don't want me to hear, they should talk quieter.

"Good work today," Hotch says.

"Thank you, sir."

"I know you've been looking at the spot on the team. We've been watching you work these past couple of days and I think you'd be a great fit. If it's okay with you, I'd like to offer you the position."

I don't have to look to know there's a small smile on her face. "I'd love to. Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, Elle. And call me Hotch." With that, Hotch stands back up and sits next to Gideon to watch the chess game.

My eyes follow his back as he walks away before I look at Elle. She catches my eye. I smile and give her a quick wink before returning my attention to my book, trying to ignore the butterflies swirling in my gut.

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A/n
Ok so the first episode took a while to write and I promise they won't all be this long, the rest will be less focused on the crime and more focused on the characters. But don't worry, still plenty of action. And again!! thank you to everyone reading this!!
:)