coffee | s. reid [discontinued]

12 | sir percival

COFFEE

12 | sir percival

     "Reid and Garcia think they've ID'd the unsub," Hotch announced, entering the room once again to face Madlyn and Gideon. He shoved his phone into his pocket, eyes jumping between the two waiting anxiously.

     "Really?"

     Hotch nodded at Madlyn. "They want to know how to proceed."

     "One of us should be there," Gideon told him, looking back up to face Hotch. "You go. I wanna be here when she comes out of surgery."

     "Call me immediately."

     "Immediately."

     Madlyn's knee bounced up and down, a million thoughts buzzing through her mind on what it was she wanted to do. She could do either — continue waiting anxiously and go through hell for another god knows how many more hours but be there when Elle wakes up, or go and keep herself occupied and distract her from the thoughts eating her up but not be there for Elle immediately.

     Before she could stop herself, Madlyn was shrugging on her tan coat and following after her boss.

     "Hotch."

     He turned to face Gideon, not mentioning anything to Madlyn. They'd have time to talk in the car. "Yeah?"

     "The only way for the organisation level to be so high is for the unsub to believe it's real. He believes he's the keeper of the grail and needs us to find it. Needs to understand that this isn't real."

     Madlyn lowered her gaze, stepping inside the elevator alongside Hotch and pressing the down button. They rode in silence, Madlyn picking at the paint on her nails.

The thick silence between them broke with the ding of the doors opening in front of them, Hotch gesturing for Madlyn to leave first. She did as she was told, walking out of the hospital by his side.

She sat down in the car and stayed silent, waiting for Hotch to speak. He waited until the were no longer in the parking lot, turning onto the road and taking in a deep breath.

"You need to be trained with a gun again and resit the exam, but you'll pass," he told confidently.

"I know," Madlyn mumbled. "I remember all of my training, plus I grew up in a house filled with guns."