Rogue (NCIS K-9)

Chapter 24: Suprise

I laid by Gibbs feet, listening to the sounds of the hospital. The waiting room seemed small and cramped. My team mixed in with Hotchners, whispering in little groups. The FBI had even brought in two more agents. One looked like a book worm and the other looked like she fell into a pit of glitter.

My eyes stayed trained on Dallas's owner, I watched as he paced the floor. His beareded coworker, sat before him trying to comfort him with words from the heart.

"Rossi stop!" The man finally snapped, earning everyone's attention. Hotchner looked around the room, realizing he had yelled. With a sigh the man finally sat down next to his friend. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you" Hotchner apologized.

"It's fine" Rossi replied, putting a hand on his supervisors back. The movement of Ziva coming up diverted my attention from the two men. My head laid still on the floor, I didn't even acknowledge her as she sat down on the floor next to me.

"Hey" she whispered, running a hand down my back. "Thirsty?" She questioned setting a cup of water in front of my nose. I groaned, moving my head farther away from her. Ziva sighed, glancing up to Gibbs.

"She needs to drink something" Ziva spoke, to her boss.

"She won't" Gibbs replied, leaning over me from his chair. "Not until she knows". I zoned out as the two agents spoke, I kept my eyes trained upon Hotchner. If I were Dallas I would want someone watching Gibbs, to keep him safe while I was away. And that is exactly what I was going to do.

Hotchner stood up, walking to the waiting rooms door. I stood from my position below Gibbs's feet and walked over to the man as he opened the door.

"Rogue" Gibbs called from behind me. I stopped walking, but kept my eyes trained upon the man. Hotchner looked down, realizing I was trying to go with him.

"Stay" Hotchner ordered. I whined and took a step closer to him. "No, stay" he stated again. I groaned, pushing into his side gently.

"Just take the dog with you" Rossi spoke up, gaining everyones attention. They all looked to see what was happening. Hotchner glanced to Gibbs, as if asking what he should do. Gibbs grabbed the leash in the chair next to him and tossed it to the FBI boss.

"Make sure she gets back in one peace" Gibbs spoke. Hotchner sighed clicking the leash onto my collar.

"Only this time" Hotchner whispered to me. He opened the door leading me out into the hallway. We walked down the busy halls until we reached the elevator we had come up in about three hours ago. Hotchner reached his arm out pushing in the button, while I looked around for any threats.

Nurses rushed around the halls with clipboards, while others sat behind a desk buying themselves with other work. The elevator doors opened, turning my attention back to the man.

"Come" he commanded, as he walked in the moving box. I obeyed sticking to his side as the doors closed, only to open again as we hit the first floor. We stepped out together, walking past the reception desk and outside into the damp night. We walked across the parking lot to a small tree area, where a few picnic tables sat.

Hotchner took a seat, resting his back on the table behind him. I checked the area, before sitting in front of the agent. We locked eyes staring eachother down, until the man furrowed his eyebrows. I could picture the thoughts racing around in his stubborn head.

"You know it's your fault" Hotchner spoke, causing my ears to fall back. "I saw you lunge toward that man, if you hadn't maybe Dallas would still be here" he added. Why was he talking about Dallas like he was gone?

I whined dropping my head onto the mans leg. Hotchner looked down to me confused. "Why are you even here?" He seemed to ask himself. "Your obviously not stable enough for the field, so why does Gibbs keep you?".

My heart dropped to my paws, at the mans words. I didn't mean to hurt Dallas and I wish I hadn't. Maybe the man was right, I'm not good enough for the field. I'm not good enough for anything. I should've died in that fighting pit, maybe then I could end everyone's misery with it.

My thoughts ran wild and a tear slipped from my eye, that's when the man did something I never thought he would do. Hotchner grabbed my face with both of his hands, picking my head up from his leg.

"You have something, something  inside of you" he spoke, quietly. "Like..... a soul".

My ears perked up a bit and the man cocked his head. "It's like you can understand what I'm saying and-" hotchner was caught off by the ringing of his phone. He let my head go and reached into his jacket pocket, pulling the device out.

Hotchner flipped it open, bringing the phone to his ear. "Hotch- wait, wait slow down Garcia" the man stated, standing from the picnic table. "Alright, I'll be right up" he spoke. The man shut his phone and shoved it back into his jacket.

"Come on Rogue" Hotchner commanded as we made our way back to the hospital. The mans heart was racing in my ears as he jogged inside the building with me on his heels. We booked it to the elevator, where the agent began pressing the button rapidly until the door opened.

We rushed inside immediately, I watched as hotchners body changed. He went from sulking to straight up not being able to stand still. As soon as the doors opened to our floor, he rushed out still gripping my leash tightly.

We ran to the waiting room, where everyone stood happily bustling about.

"What?" I whined, trying to make out their words. "What is it?" I barked, trying to push into the tight group. I felt my leash drop to the ground, causing me to turn around. I saw Rossi hugging Hotchner tightly with a large smile. All the smiles and hugs were so confusing, what was going on?

The glitter woman knelt down to my level and ran a hand over my head. "He's gonna be okay" she spoke with teary eyes. I cocked my head, feeling everyone's eyes on me. "Dallas made it" she added.

I felt every happy emotion in me rise to the top of my ears. He made it? Really? I barked excitedly, making everyone laugh with their tears. I barked again, this time standing up on my hind legs.

"Where? Where?" I barked falling back down. I pranced around the agents, each of them reached down sending a pat to my fur.

"Shall we go see him?" Morgan asked. Hotchner smiled, leading the team out of the waiting room and down the hall. I walked with the FBI agent, sending a few glances to the back to make sure my team was still there.

The agent took a sharp left in a small room with a bed lowered to the ground. I cautiously padded into the room ahead of everyone else. Dallas lay on the bed, eyes closed and a wrap surrounding his chest and torso.

I whined quietly, slowly walking to the side of his bed. The agents entered the room keeping their distance from the two of us. I sniffed at the bandages wrapped around his torso, smells of dried blood and wound disinfectants flew in my nose causing me to sneeze.

The others chuckled quietly to themselves as I ventured farther up Dallas's body. I buried my nose into the German sheperds neck, taking in Dallas's scent.

"Dallas?" I questioned, pushing his neck gently. I removed my muzzle and sniffed the side of his cheek, before giving him a lick.

"Thats sweet" Dallas's raspy voice spoke. I backed up in suprise, as he opened his golden brown eyes. "I thought you hated FBI dogs?" He questioned.

I smiled brightly giving him another lick, "Oh shut up".