sweet honey | aaron hotchner

22 - i'm going to be okay

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"Hey beautiful." She heard a voice say. Her eyes could barely open as she tried to look around and saw a figure standing at her side.

Her vision cleared and she saw Ben with a stethoscope around his neck and his white coat on. Were they at the hospital? That's when the smell of disinfectant and lemons hit her and she grimaced.

Ben laughed, "you always hated that smell." He helped her sit up and rearranged her pillows.

"Hey Ben." She smiled painfully. She looked down and saw a bandage around her shoulder.

"You know when you said you'll call me, I didn't expect this." He said as he started conducting a post op check up. That's when she spied the nurse behind him. "You seem all good. We're going to keep you here for at least another couple of days but you're going to be just fine."

"Thanks Ben." She smiled up at him. She heard a snore from next to her and jumped. She turned to see who was there and saw Hotch asleep in a chair.

"What?"

"He's been here ever since you got out of surgery." He told her. "You wanna share something?"

She rolled her eyes. "There's nothing to tell. Could you wake him up please?"

He nodded. She watched as he walked to the other side of the bed and gently grabbed his shoulder. "Agent Hotchner." He said loudly. Hotch slowly opened his eyes.

"Hey Aaron." Olivia watched him look around confusedly. He shot up from the admittedly very uncomfortable chair and rushed to her side.

"You're okay." He breathed. He grabbed her hand and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "You're okay." He whispered as he sat down on her hospital bed.

Ben watched them and then immediately left with the nurse right behind him. He'd be back later for her medication anyway.

"Hey." Olivia said softly as she placed her hands on his face. He was looking down at the floor so she couldn't see his face. He resisted at first when she tried to pick his head up but eventually gave in. His eyes met hers and she was shocked to find them glistening with small tears. "It's okay. I'm okay."

He nodded and closed his eyes as she wiped his tears away. He smiled through the tears and instantly pulled her close to him and enveloped her in his arms. She wrapped her hands around his neck and relaxed as he held her. "You're not getting rid of me that easily."

He laughed and nuzzled his head into the side of her neck as he sunk into the hug. He was glad she was okay. Glad he got to hold her again. Eventually he pulled away. "I sent the rest of the team back to the hotel, but Spencer and JJ have been in the waiting room ever since we got here yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

He nodded, "your surgery took around an hour and then you were unconscious for quite some time. You were lucky, the bullet missed the artery and the bone."

She slumped against her pillows as the weight of what just happened crashed down on her. She had gotten shot, which meant she couldn't go to work for- who knows how long!

She tilted her head up and smiled as Spencer and JJ walked into her room. JJ hugged her first and then sat down on a chair. "You gave us one hell of a scare."

"I'm glad you're okay." Spencer said as he gave her a hug.

"Thanks to you Doc." She grinned up at him. "And you." She smiled as she saw Ben enter the room.

"Just doing my job." He winked. He walked over to the monitor she was hooked up to and started pressing a whole bunch of buttons then checked her saline bags and some other medication that she was being administered intravenously. "I'll pop by later after my shift. You feel like some scrabble?"

She buried her face in her hands. "I thought we weren't going to bring that up again."

"No promises were made." Ben laughed. "I'll leave you guys to it." He said as he headed for the door. The four of them watched as he waved at Olivia and left.

"Scrabble?" Hotch asked her with a slight smile.

"That might be a story for another day." She told him and grinned.

He got up from his spot next to her and stretched. "I'm going to go get some coffee. Anyone want anything?"

They shook their heads and he left. While he was getting coffee, he saw Ben appear next to him.

"Dr Parker." He said as he turned to face the man.

Ben smiled. "Ben, please." He said.

"Thank you. For saving her Ben. We were all incredibly worried."

"She's strong. I did the stitching her back together but she's doing the healing," he told the agent standing in front of him. "Hey Aaron?"

Aaron lifted his head up questioningly. "Look I know it really isn't my place because she's a grown woman and can make her own choices." Hotch instantly knew where this was going. "But she's been through a lot over the years and I just don't want to see her get hurt again."

Hotch looked a little confused and Ben grinned when he noticed. "I see the way you look at her. Whether you want to admit it or not is your business, but the eyes never lie." Hotch stayed silent. "You're a good guy. All I'm saying is don't hurt her, she's not fully healed from Toby and I doubt she'll ever be."

"Have you seen her smile? How could I ever hurt her." Hotch told him and Ben chuckled.

"That's the spirit. Now go spend time with her. She's going to be here for at least a week."

Hotch shook Ben's hand and walked back to Olivia's room. He could hear her laugh as Spencer whipped out his mustache and started making jokes. He stopped and smiled as he learnt against the wall by the entrance of her room and just listened. Her laugh was almost angelic, he stood there for a moment, just taking it in before he walked inside.

He went to sit next to her again and she smiled at him for a split second before they both shifted their attention back to Spencer, who was now doing magic with his mustache. He couldn't help but laugh as Spencer made his mustache disappear and turned around and they saw it stuck on his ass. He chuckled and in that moment, all he felt was peace.

An hour later, after JJ and Reid had left, Olivia started yawning and he could tell she was getting tired. "You should rest now." He said as he got off the bed and grabbed his jacket. He was going to leave as he thought he'd been there for too long and overstayed. But as he grabbed his jacket he felt her hand on his arm. "Stay?" She asked sleepily.

He hesitated as he watched her shift so that he had space. After a second and some deliberation, he nodded and crawled in beside her and she instantly snuggled up against him. She felt his arm wrap around her as she pressed her head against his chest.

And that's how Ben and Morgan found them the next morning.