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boldlyvoid · 7 months

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I Know Places: Living Children

18+ Aaron Hotchner x Fem Reader | Masterlist | AO3 link

Summary: After coming home from Canada, they head to their separate apartments for a night of rest before their next case… only that case comes 4 hours later and Aaron isn't answering his phone.

Warnings: Canon Typical Violence (murder, stabbing, assault, mentions of death) Anxiety, panicking, blood tw, Haley and Reader interacting, Reid gets shot, the whole team is in a panic.

Word count: 10.8k

She dropped him off at his apartment late that night, he asked her to come up but she said no. For the first time in months, she said no. She wanted to actually get some sleep after everything they went through these last few weeks. She knew if she went to his house, or if he came to hers, they would end up talking or fucking all night and her body needed rest… real rest, even though she didn’t quite know what it was like to sleep without him anymore.

She was asleep maybe 5 hours when JJ called and said they had an emergency case pop up.

She gets to the scene first, JJ not far behind her being dropped off by Will. She watches as JJ kisses her boyfriend and looks back at their sleeping baby in the backseat before she joins her on the curb. They’re on the scene for almost 15 minutes before Morgan and Reid roll up, tired, a couple coffees in hand, begrudgingly starting what should’ve been their day off together.

“Where’s the big man?” Derek asks.

Y/N shrugs, “he should be here soon.”

“Have you not talked to him?” JJ asks. “I couldn’t get ahold of him at all?”

“No? That’s weird,” she doesn’t like the anxiety that immediately pools in her stomach. “He tosses his phone and things onto the couch once he gets inside and leaves them there till the morning, he’ll get the massages and be here soon. I’m sure,” she says more for herself than the others. Knowing no one had heard from him yet made her a little anxious but what else could she do?

“I’m surprised you didn’t go home with him,” Derek teases her, bumping his elbow off hers.

“Unlike you and the good doctor, I actually wanted to sleep last night,” she teases him.

“3 hours is still something,” Spencer teases, a rosy pink blush spreading across his cheeks.

“Alright kids,” Rossi announces his presence behind them. “What’s going on here? Why were we called to a crime scene if we’re not working a case?”

“I got a call from Detective Walker, you guys remember him?” JJ explains. “He’s inside, apartment 3C, he says it’s urgent.”

“It better be,” Derek scoffs.

The case is strange… Detective Walker, a DC cop they knew from a few other local cases called JJ when he received word of an interesting killer. Someone sent a doctor, Tom Barton, a letter saying he was planning to kill his son. Every day that his son stayed inside, out of harm's way or with protection, another person would be shot and killed in retaliation. 2 victims so far have died, and the letter is signed “L.C.” and even written in chalk beside victim number 2’s body.

There isn’t much for them to look at while at the crime scene, the man simply opened his door and was shot in the chest, falling back into his apartment. The police were called when neighbours heard gunshots, no one saw the man leave and the apartment complex doesn’t have security footage. So, they all head over to the doctor's house to ask him questions, find out who has a grudge or vendetta against him, and go from there.

JJ calls Hotch again on their drive over, Y/N’s driving her to the doctor's house, but Aaron doesn’t pick up. It’s weird, but, he also really just wanted to sleep last night.

“Why didn’t you go home with him?” JJ asks, “The real answer this time.”

She laughs, “I was being serious, I was tired. We both were. But when we’re together at night we don’t really sleep, no matter how tired we are.”

“I want to say ew, but I’m glad you’re both happy,” she teases.

“It’s not always sex, sometimes we just talk all night,” she assures her. “And when we go to his place we drink. You get a couple glasses of whisky in him and he doesn’t know how to shut up.”

“Will’s like that too, he has such a high tolerance from growing up in New Orleans but he doesn’t drink that much anymore. Ever since we had Henry and I went back to work, he’s always scared that if he has even a few sips he’ll get a call that I was hurt or Henry will need to go to the hospital in the middle of the night and so he doesn’t risk it,” she explains. It sounds like she’s been dying to talk about this with someone.

“You’ve found yourself one good man there, Jayj,” she gives her a quick smile. “We both have.”

—

She doesn’t have her full attention on the case. She listens to the doctor explain what he received and why he doesn’t understand how he could be a target, but she doesn’t fully care. Yes, she wants people to stop dying and yes she wants to keep this man's family safe… but her own family is on her mind right now.

No one has heard from Aaron, he’s not answering his phone, he’s not at work, Anderson hasn’t seen him at the office… it’s starting to really scare her.

The team disburses after they realize that Dr. Barton's son has left the house, he’s gone to school in an attempt to save lives like his father does for a living. He’s a good kid. Derek, JJ and Dave head over to the school to make sure he’s okay and keep him safe until the final bell of the day. She and Reid stay with the doctor to look through his case files for Hispanic males or people with the initials L.C, seeing as Reid can read a million words a minute. More like 20,000 but, still, faster than anyone else.

After about 30 files, she reaches her breaking point. So does Dr. Barton. “Jeffery is leaving school in 5 hours, there’s no way we can get through all these patients in this time.”

“Well, we’ve narrowed it down already,” she tries to sympathize with him. It is a lot.

“And we still have 100 left!” He shouts. “I’m sorry, I-I-I don't mean to be callous but when you work in the ER you don’t remember names. You operate and you move on.”

“He’s right,” she gives in. “There are too many files here for us to profile in such a short period of time. Um,” she stands up, getting ready to leave. “I can get to Hotch’s apartment and get back here in half an hour?”

“Who’s that?” He asks.

“He's our supervisor,” Spencer explains. “We weren’t supposed to work today we’re having trouble getting ahold of him.”

“But we need more eyes,” Y/N says, hoping it bribes Dr. Barton to let her go.

He nods, and so she leaves.

Driving like a bat out of hell, she somehow manages to hit every red light on her way downtown and there’s construction 2 blocks before Aarons street. Her heart is in her stomach, she’s so sure she’s going to be met with something bad that she’s afraid to breathe. She arrives at 715 Langham in just 10 minutes and parks her SUV just in front of the building. Aaron's SUV is in the parking lot around the side, so she knows he’s here. That eases her anxiety just a bit.

She hops out, locks the car and rushes inside. He lives on the first floor, at the back, apartment 121. She knocks as soon as she gets there. “Hotch? It’s me, Y/N… Aaron? Aaron, are you in there?”

When she doesn’t get an answer she pulls out her cell phone and calls his number again.. it starts to ring and she can hear it going off inside his apartment. Probably on the couch like she assumed. But her heart still stops beating in her chest for a moment. She reaches for the doorknob next, going to jiggle it but it opens right up. He doesn’t lock it right away when he gets home, it’s often her who locks it when they get in at night… but still, he’d lock it before going to bed. That’s his routine.

She unholsters her gun, holds it up and slams the door open. She looks both ways, clearing the room with her eyes, she notices his keys on the entryway table his phone and briefcase tossed on the couch. She slowly starts to enter, observing the room slowly… she notices there’s a bullet hole in the wall. No blood splatter or brain matter surrounding it. But that’s definitely a bullet hole.

Aaron's gun is on the kitchen table and on the floor beside the table there is a human torso-sized puddle of blood on the white carpet. Under the wall with the bullet hole, opposite of the bloody carpet, there is linoleum leading into the kitchen, and it's covered in glass. She prepares herself to enter the kitchen, she turns into it with her gun ready to shoot anyone who’s there but the place is empty. Unlocked, bloody, and empty.

Aarons gone.

He was attacked. Someone was standing in his kitchen, unbeknownst to him, when he came in. He tossed his things on the couch, unclipped his gun placed it on the table and went to make a drink when the attacker made themself known. He dropped his glass when he was started, they went to shoot him and missed and then got him on the ground. She looks for the bullet casings, but there aren’t any to be found. Either they were both taken or he wasn’t shot on the ground. There’s too much blood for it to be a single bullet wound… too spread out. He was hit multiple times across his chest. But it doesn’t look like enough blood to kill someone.

As soon as she’s able to breathe again, she gathers herself back together and calls Penelope.

“Overtime shift-Penelope speaking,” she answers, breath heavy like she just ran into he room.

“Garcia this is Y/N, I need you to listen carefully,” she leads. “Somethings happened to Hotch.”

“What do you mean something happened?” She asks, immediately panicking.

“I don’t know. I’m in his apartment, he’s not here but there’s blood.”

“Oh my god.”

“I need you to send police and FBI techs here right away, everyone available,” Y/N orders, she needs to start building a profile and she needs crime scene to be here in order to do that.

“Uh, d-do we need an APB?” She asks, already typing.

“Only on hotch, I checked out front, his car’s still here,” she explains.

“Someone took him?”

“I don’t know,” she wants to scream but she can’t. “There’s blood but I can’t be sure who’s it is. Just get people here.”

“Okay I’m sending an army—

“Garcia, I’m gonna have to tell reid because he’s expecting me back but you can’t tell the others. They cannot be distracted,” she reminds her.

“Okay,” Penny understands. “Okay.”

And just like that, she hangs up. And now she’s all alone in Aaron’s apartment, the place he hated to be more than anywhere… she never went home with him. She never invited him up to her place. And now he’s hurt. He’s bleeding and somewhere without her and she’s so scared this is all her fault.

But instead of freaking out, she calls Spencer.

“Hey,” he answers.

“Something happened to Aaron,” she says.

“What?”

“he’s not here but there’s about a pint of blood on his carpet. Something happened. I don’t know what happened or who did it or if he’s alive—”

“What are you talking about, Y/N?”

“Someone came into his apartment and hurt him and then took him. All his stuff is here.”

She heats Dr. Barton asking if this is about Jeffery and Spencer saying it’s not, shushing him and then holding his hand over the phone. “I’m really sorry I have to take this call, okay?”

“What could be more important than my son right now?!” The man screams.

“I assure you this will take one second!” Spencer argues back. “Please, I promise.”

“Spence?”

“I’m here, what do you know?”

“There’s a huge hole in the wall. Probably a .44? But there’s no blood or tissue spray around it.”

“Any idea how he got out?”

“If he was shot there are no drag marks, but a body could’ve been wrapped in something,” she explains, cringing at the words. She hates this so much.

“And bureau techs are on the way?”

“Any second now,” she assures him. Trying to keep herself calm and okay.

“Alright, um, write down everything you see and we’ll profile form your notes when you get back,” Spencer says, knowing she needs order to keep sane. “It’ll be okay. We’ll find him.”

“Okay… thank you. How’s Dr. Barton?”

“It’s a huge list of cases to go through,” Spencer reminds her, so clearly, the man is stressing.

“Okay, don’t worry about here. I’ve got this. Stay focused, try and find a way to narrow them down further… I know you can do it.”

“Thanks, call me if you need me?”

“I will.”

—

The door is already open when the cops and crime scene techs start coming in. She’s pulled out of the room and told she can go back in once the techs have what they need. She can’t fuck with the crime scene and she knows that. So she stays back, she watches the men in white jump-suits and gloves start taking samples and pictures and a cop comes up to start asking her questions.

“And who are you to the victim?”

“Co-worker and girlfriend,” she admits, wanting to be as honest as possible. She shows him her badge and everything.

“Okay, and when did you last talk to him?”

“Last night at 2:30ish, I drove home after our flight got in. I dropped him off at his apartment and then went home,” she explains. “We tried calling him all morning to tell him a new case has come in but he wasn’t answering the phone so I came here to get him myself. His door was unlocked and his phone was ringing in the living room.”

“Does he have any enemies that would do this to him?”

She laughs, “he’s the supervisory special agent in charge of the behavioural analysis unit and before that, he was an attorney on criminal cases. The list of people who want him dead is a long one.”

“Okay,” the man's eyes widen and he breathes in deeply through his nose as he writes it all down in his little book. “So, your teams on this then too, I guess?”

She shakes her head, “They’re busy, we can’t get them distracted. It’s just me and you guys right now… and our tech girl, she’s calling hospitals to see if Aaron or any John Doe’s were brought in. Have you seen his wallet in there at all?”

“I’m not sure… hey, Gomez?” He calls into the apartment, “found a wallet?”

“Not yet,” he calls back.

“So that’s really all we know right now—

Her phone starts to ring and so she pulls away from the conversation. “Talk to me, Garcia?”

“Okay I-I called hospitals to see if Hotch had gotten himself admitted into an emergency room—

“And?” She’s so impatient it comes off mean.

“He’s not listed as a patient but someone dropped a John Doe off at St. Sebastian Hospital and that someones name was FBI Agent Derek Morgan,” she explains, confused and slightly pissed off.

“That doesn’t make sense?” She says, shaking her head, racking her brain for a reason that could make sense…

“I know, do you think they got their credentials mixed up?”

Just then it dawns on her and her stomach drops even further. Her eyes start to blur and the world stops as she figures it out. “The Reaper.”

“What?”

“Foyet stole Morgans Creds…”

“Why would he drop him off at the ER?” Penelope asks.

“What hospital did you say, again?”

“St. Sebastian Hopsital—

“I’ll call you with an update when I get there,” she says, hanging up she starts to run out of the room but the detective stops her.

“Hey!”

“He’s alive, he’s at St. Sebastian Hospital the man who did this is George Foyet also known as the Boston Reaper. We arrested him a few months back but he escaped prison and we’ve been on the hunt for him ever since, he did this,” she explains in a hurry.

“Okay, go, go see him! I've got this here,” he lets her go.

She runs down the hallways, out the front doors and to her car. She flicks her lights on once she’s inside and she speeds to the hospital, bypassing every car, she gets there right away at every red light and stop sign, she’s doing almost 120 the whole way there.

She throws the car into the first parking spot she can find and runs towards the ER doors, getting deja vu from the last time she rushed to his bedside at a hospital in New York, she loves him a million times more now. It’s the same yet so, so different. With her chest heaving, she feels like she might pass out as she grips onto the counter of the front desk.

“Hi, hi, sorry,” she needs a second, so she pulls out her badge, “an agent… brought in a man— sorry,” she holds her free hand to her heart and stands up straighter as she breathes. “An agent brought in a man last night, said his name was Derek Morgan?”

“Yes, he did, the man he brought in is in the intensive care unit right now,” she explains. “Do you know who he is?”

She nods, “His name is Aaron Hotchner, he’s also an FBI agent. The man who brought him in is not. Agent Morgan had his credentials stolen by a criminal, I have reason to believe the man who brought him in is said criminal.”

“Oh, oh dear,” the woman can’t believe it. “We can take you up to him?”

“Yes please, and can you have someone send the security footage of the man bringing him here to my analyst at Quantico?” She asks.

“I certainly can,” the woman agrees. She stands from her seat and walks around the desk to her, she places her hand on Y/N’s back. “Come with me.”

They follow the blue line on the floor towards the elevators and inside she presses floor 3. They get off at the intensive care unit and the nurse gets the attention of another doctor. “The John Doe, she knows him.”

“Hi,” she reaches out to shake the doctor's hand. “How is he?”

“Stable, follow me,” she takes over for the nurse. She leads Y/N over to one of the rooms, she slides open the glass doors and lets her inside.

She rushes to his side and rests her hands on his bedrails. “Can I touch his hands?”

“Sure,” the doctor doesn’t mind.

She grabs hold of his hand and her heart starts to beat regularly again. She can see straight. Her legs aren’t numb anymore. She’s better now that she knows he’s alive. “What happened?”

“He was stabbed 9 times in the chest but no major arteries were hit,” she explains. “It’s a miracle he’s alive.”

“When will he wake up?”

“The anesthesia should wear off within the hour but he’s bout to be out of it,” she says with a sigh. “Can we get you to fill out some paperwork for us?”

She nods, “yeah… do you have his stuff?”

“It’s right there,” she points at the bag with his bloody shirt sitting right at the top. It’s all cut up and gross but they kept it.

“let me just grab his wallet and I can do everything for you.” She lets go of his hand, she places it back on the bed and taps it gently, giving him a small smile.

She gets his wallet from the bag, she follows the doctor out of the room and she’s handed a clipboard with papers on it. She fills it out with everything she knows about him. His name, first middle and last. She always thought it was funny that he was born in the 60s, the same year that Star Trek was airing and his parents never watched it but still gave him the middle name Tiberius. All good captains have that middle name.

She knows his birthday and his blood type and that he’d want to be an organ donor if the time came. She has his insurance information cause it’s in his wallet and lists that he has a 4 year old son as well as a brother named Sean. But his emergency contact is still Haley no matter how long they’ve been together. And she’s okay with that. She’s going to have to call her. After their chat in Oregon, she got Haley’s number and put it in her phone so as soon as she finished the paperwork, she stepped out to call her.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Haley Brooks?”

“It is…”

“hi this is Y/N I work with Aaron,” she leads and she can hear the way Haley’s breathing changes.

“What happened.”

“He’s in the hospital, he was stabbed a few times last night,” she explains, wanting to cry. “He wanted me to call you if anything ever happened to him.”

She lets out a shaky breath, “Okay… but he’s okay?”

“Yeah, he will be. He isn’t awake yet and I know Jack's at school so when he does wake up, maybe you guys can stop by?”

“Yeah, we definitely can… he has a playdate tonight after school though so I’m not sure what time we can come?”

“That’s okay, I’ll talk to him when he wakes up and see if he even wants Jack to see him in this condition, if not, he’ll probably still be here tomorrow.”

“Okay… and thank you, Y/N, for letting me know.”

“Of course,” she doesn’t mind. “I can text you with updates?”

“I’d like that, thank you.”

“Anytime,” she says with a smile and then they both hang up.

She heads back over to Aaron's room to see a nurse switching out his chart with his accurate information on it. She gets a peak over the woman’s shoulder and sees the L.C. written on it.

“Excuse me,” she says in her most polite voice. “What does that stand for?”

“Living Children,” she explains. “It's so if a patient has to go on life support and they don’t have a DNR order, we know who to contact to make such a decision. Seeing as he doesn’t have a wife currently and you’re not his medical decision maker or power of attorney, that question goes to his next of kin.”

“Thanks,” she nods, taking her phone back out she heads out to make yet another phone call.

Once she relays the message to him, he goes quiet, “Reid?”

“What if the unsub was trying to tell Dr. Barton that He is actually the target?” Spencer asks. “And that he’s going to leave his son without a father?”

She goes to answer but then Spencer starts to panic, “Barton!” He calls out after him.

“Reid?” She calls out, wondering what’s going on. There’s the sound of him running and then a gunshot. “Reid, Answer me! Spencer!!”

There’s no response. So she hangs up and dials 911. “This is Special Agent Y/N Y/L/N from the FBI. I need police and an ambulance at 120 Kensington Road, McLean Virginia. Shots fired. Federal agent possibly down,” she calls down the line as soon as they pick up.

“Yes ma’am, I have police and medical on their way now, do you have a description of the suspect?”

“No, I was on the phone with my partner when I heard the shot and he wasn’t responding, he’s there with Doctor Thomas Barton working on a case, the man was being stalked and his life was being threatened, it seems the man found him.”

“Okay, thank you, we’ve got it from here.”

“Thanks,” she hangs up and finds the first seat she sees.

She has to sit down. Today has been too much. Aaron was stabbed, Spencer possibly shot, they’re all working on 4 hours of sleep and it’s all catching up to her now. She starts to cry, her head in her hands, she lets herself have a couple minutes to panic before she goes back to being a professional.

—

When the team arrives, it’s just JJ and Dave that come up to the ICU. Spencer and Derek are at another hospital, he was shot in the leg, the bullet went in and right back out, hitting bone and fracturing it. He’s going to need surgery and a cast as he’ll be on crutches for a few months.

“How is he?” Dave asks.

“He’s still not conscious.”

“Are you sure it was Foyet?” He asks, still processing the news.

She nods. “He had Morgans creds.”

“Did they catch him on the security cameras?” JJ asks.

“You could see him drop Aaron off but the cameras only on the entrance so I have no idea what direction he went once he left the hospital,” she explains.

“It doesn’t make sense to have brought Hotch to the ER?” JJ can’t fathom it either.

“We know Foyet gets off on power and control, maybe what he wants is for Hotch to know his life was in his hands?” Dave suggests.

“He could do that without risking the hospital?” Y/N combats.

“Agents,” the doctor calls them over, “he’s waking up.” They all rush to his side, “Now, remember, he’s weak. Don’t push him.”

She gets the closest to him, holding his hand, she leans in and brushes his hair back, “Hey, there.”

“Where am I?” He asks, voice weak and throat dry from having a tube down it earlier.

“The hospital,” Dave answers, on the other side of the bed.

“How’d I get here?”

“Foyet drove you,” Y/N says, worried he doesn’t remember the attack. “Do you remember what happened?”

He doesn’t answer, his eyes stay closed and he swallows a few times, thinking back to last night. “What did he take?”

“What?”

“The reaper always takes one thing from his victims. Do we know what he took?”

“Uh,” Y/N thinks back. “There was a page missing from your day planner, the techs said it had been ripped out. The B’s page.”

“What did he leave?” He asks, trying to piece it all together on his own as if he didn’t just almost die.

“I don’t know, honey,” she says, feeling bad she doesn’t have more answers for him.

“He also leaves something with his victims,” Aaron rewords his request. He needs to know.

“I looked over your whole apartment with the techs, we couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary,” she says. As if the blood stain and the shattered glass were ordinary.

“Where are my clothes?”

“over there, but I have your wallet?” She takes it out of her pocket.

“my pants,” he tries to turn to look at the bag but he’s too weak.

“I’ve got it,” JJ says, pulling the bag off the table she places it on the foot of his bed and takes his pants out. “What pocket?”

“Any. Look for something,” he orders, trying to sit up.

JJ pulls out a picture of Jack and Haley and hands it to him. He tosses his head back and huffs. “Haley’s maiden name is Brooks.”

JJ and Dave look at each other knowingly.

“I always listed her in the B’s in my personal information in case it fell into the wrong hands,” he explains. “He knows where they live.”

“Jacks at a playdate,” Y/N explains. “I called her, I told her what was going on, and she was fine. That was an hour ago, maybe 90 minutes at most.”

“Go,” Aaron waves them off. “Go make sure they’re okay.”

“I’ll make the phone calls,” Y/N assures them, “go!”

And so she’s back on the phone, she calls Garcia to get SWAT to Aaron's old address and then she calls Strauss. This is bigger than them now. They needed the Marshalls. Haley and Jack needed to stay safe until Foyet was either dead or behind bars. And she really wanted him dead for this.

She hangs up just as Aaron's machines start to beep out of control and she’s told to leave as the doctors assess him. He almost passes out, they get him back on a steady rhythm and check his breathing and his brain activity. He’s okay, but she gets reprimanded for pushing him too hard. He’s been through too much today. He can’t take much more.

He’s okay, they give him some pain meds and he asks to be able to sit up straight again. She gets a call from JJ, they have Haley and she’s okay. Daves going to pick up Jack from his friend's place and they’re packing their bags to go into witness protection as soon as possible. “I’m going to get a SWAT Team to come here too, there’s no telling what Foyet is capable of and if he’s still here, waiting for us to bring Haley to him, I want to be one step ahead of him.”

“Okay,” JJ agrees. “You tell the hospital they should go on lockdown, I’ll call Garcia to get the team to head over there.”

“Thanks,” she says taking a deep breath. “I don’t know how many more phone calls I can make today before I go insane.”

“Just stay with Hotch, we’ll do the rest.”

“Thanks again, Jayj,” she smiles to herself before hanging up.

She pops back into Aaron's room and gives him a smile too, “they’re safe. They’re packing their bags.”

“Okay,” he nods, relieved but too high on whatever they gave him to show emotion.

She heads out again, pulls the head doctor over and tells her what’s happening. The hospital is put on a code green: emergency activation. They’re placed on bypass for the time being and if she remembers correctly from New York that means no one new can enter the hospital, and everyone who leaves from every exit is monitored by a police officer. Security roams the halls with 2 SWAT team members, they clear every single room from the basement to the roof, and Foyet is nowhere to be seen.

Once she knows that she simply pulls the chair over to Aaron’s bedside and sits down beside him, she holds his hand and she doesn’t say anything else.

“You were at my place?” He asks.

She nods, “mhm. I went to get you. We had a case.”

“Oh,” he didn’t even think to ask. “Could you tell how he got in?”

She shakes her head, “No, sorry, we’re still not sure of that.”

“Okay.”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” She asks, not wanting to push, but she wants him to remember she’s his sounding board, she’s there for whatever he needs.

Forever.

He suddenly can’t meet her eye. He looks down and away, shaking his head lightly. She can tell by the look on his face that he’s lying but she’ll let him tell her the truth when he’s ready.

“I don’t know.”

She just nods. Supporting him even though she knows there’s more.

Still avoiding her eye, he speaks again. “After he stabbed me the first time it all goes blank.”

Just then, Haley walks up to his room and she looks upset. Rightfully so. Y/N lets them have the room, she pats Haley’s shoulder on the way out with a smile and she feels awkward for doing it but she did it. She watches them talk from the front desk, JJ brings over Jack and asks her to watch him for a moment.

“Hey buddy,” she says, getting down on his level, he gives her a hug. She picks him up, setting him down on top of the counter, “You’re getting so big, are you sure you aren’t part Hulk?”

That makes him laugh and starts talking about other superheroes while she glances back at Aaron. She knows by the look on his face that Haley’s not happy with him. Of course, she isn’t, but still… you’d think she’d be a little concerned for him after being stabbed that many times.

She comes out a few moments later and helps Jack down from the counter and onto Aaron’s hospital bed before retreating back out of the room. She can just watch from afar, they deserved at least a minute to say goodbye to each other in peace.

She looks at Y/N, looks her up and down and then cocks her head to the side. “You’re his girlfriend, aren’t you?”

“Not here. Not now,” she puts her foot down. She’s not playing these little games. “You are the last person to have a say in what he does with his free time.”

“Wow,” Haley scoffs. “I’m getting kicked out of my house and sent halfway across the country because some serial killer is after me and I’m still the bad guy?”

She steps closer to Haley, just a little bit taller than her, she looks down at her. “If you died he would never be the same. I have spent the last year picking up his pieces over and over again and I don’t think he’ll be able to be put back together if you or Jack die. So yeah. Suck it up, hide for a bit, and let us catch him so you can go back to living in his house with half of his money and most of his heart.”

“You love him?” Haley whispers. She stared back and forth between her lips and her eyes, reading everything in Y/N’s expression. “Like really, love him.”

She nods, fighting the urge to cry. “And I’m going to have to live with the fact that he also loves you for the rest of my life. So please, do me a favour and live.”

“I will,” Haley promises. “We both will.”

“And I know you’re not supposed to call anyone or have contact with anyone because Foyet can track you down… but you need to know this guy is a master manipulator. He stole Derek's credentials back in Boston just so he could attack Aaron today and bring him here as a federal agent,” she explains. “He stabbed himself in the same places he stabbed Aaron and pretended to be the only living victim of The Reaper for like 10 years… knowing his previous behaviour, he’s going to try and draw you out by pretending someone in your family has died, even pretending to kill your appointed Marshall to get you to come to him. So if you get a call or someone shows up at your door and they say Aaron, or your sister or anyone has died, don’t go with them. Don’t go to where they want to meet up. Don’t believe anything unless it comes from the Marshall we assigned you today or someone from our team. If you second guess anything, you call me or Penelope, or hell, if you’re close enough, drive right to Quantico and come up to the 6th floor and you find one of us. Buy a gun. Buy a couple, even. Keep one in the kitchen, one in your room and one in your purse. Be prepared to fight. I need you to come home to him.”

She nods along to everything Y/N says, following everything with a worried look on her face. “I can do that… Aaron taught me how to shoot. I can protect myself. I can protect us.”

“Good,” Y/N gives her a little smile. “I hope that when this is all over... when you come home, we can talk? Like really talk. I hope that whatever me and Aaron have lasts and we can all get along… I want his family to stay together, I don’t want to have to pick up his pieces again. But I will. I need you to know that. If anything happens, I’ve got him. But I’d like to have him while he still has you, too.”

“That would be nice,” Haley agrees.

“Now, the hospital is on lockdown and we have agents scanning the building and parking lot for Foyet in case he stuck around to watch you leave here,” she keeps going with information. “I had JJ run to the store to pick up some hair dye so we’re going to turn you into a brunette to keep you hidden and I’ve asked for 5 identical cars with blacked-out windows to come into the ambulance bay to pick you guys up and all head in different directions so he can’t follow everyone. We’re getting you out of here without a single hitch. Even if I have to do it all myself.”

“Thank you,” Haley whispers, trying not to cry now that it’s hitting her how real this is.

“Don’t thank me until you’re home, safe, and all this is over,” she says, placing her hand on Haley's shoulder. “Come on, let’s go get Jack and I’ll take you to the room where we’re going to do your hair.”

“What shade of brown?” She asks, not excited.

“It’s more of a red-toned brown… Penelope actually went to hairdressing school for a couple months before she got recruited so she’s going to be doing it,” Y/N explains.

They walk into the room together, smiling, and Aaron looks like he’s shocked to see them happy together. “You ready to go, Jack?” Haley asks.

He nods, “can I have another hug?” He asks his dad.

“Of course, buddy,” Aaron takes him in as gently as he can. “I love you so much, you remember that while you’re on vacation with mommy, okay?”

“Okay.”

JJ shows up in the doorway behind them then, too. “Penelope’s all set up and ready.”

“You know,” Haley looks at Y/N. “Why don’t you guys keep Jack here while I get my hair done? He’s going to be bored in the room with us anyway… if Aaron needs some rest, I trust you with him. You can watch him?”

“Yeah, okay,” Y/N doesn’t mind at all. “We’ll come and find you if Aaron needs to rest at all.”

“Okay,” she gives them all one last smile and then heads out with JJ.

“I think this TV gets some kid's channels,” Y/N says, pointing up at the old TV that’s screwed into the wall at the top right corner of the room. She takes the remote off the wall where it’s been velcroed to stay safe and turns it on. “What kind of shows do you like, Jackers?”

“Teenage mutant ninja turtles,” he says with a smile.

“Well then, let’s see if they’ve got it.”

—

Derek shows up at St. Sebastian an hour later. Spencer has gone into surgery which should take 2 or more hours so Derek felt like he could leave his side for a while. Dave stays at Aaron’s bedside, keeping him company while Y/N, Derek and JJ bring Haley and Jack down to the ambulance bay. It’s underground, dark and completely empty. The security footage has been turned off down there, so if there is a hack Foyet won’t know what car they’re in.

They get into the 4th of the 5 cars. Typically, someone important would take the 3rd, the one in the middle, in case of an ambush. Everyone knows this. The president does this. Michael Jackson does this, hell even the fucking pope stays in the middle. Foyet doesn’t have the manpower to orchestrate an ambush. Even so, they put them in the 4th one to be on the safer side.

The plan is that they’ll all leave the same way and then break off in 5 directions. Again, Foyet doesn’t have the manpower behind him to track down each car. If he were to follow one, chances are it wouldn’t be Haleys and if he does somehow pick car number 4, they would clue into the fact someone is following them well before they make it to their destination. Where that is? They don’t know. That’s the whole point of witness protection.

There will be unmarked police cars travelling along the same route that Haley and Jack are going, meaning the police are simply 1 call away if someone is following them. In that case, the police will intervene, either pulling him over or… causing an accident. Either way, they’ll get Foyet off their tail in time for them to get off the road and head to a new safe house.

Her name has already changed, they don’t know what it is. She’ll find out once she’s in the car with her US Marshal. She’ll get new IDs and a backstory she has to learn. Jack will have to be called something else but it will be similar enough that it’s not weird for him to be called something new and it won’t stick if this goes on a while. The last thing they want to do is give this 4 year old an identity crisis.

She explains most of it to Haley on the ride down to the ambulance bay where JJ and Derek are waiting with the other SWAT members. “You ready?” She asks one final time.

Haley nods. “Keep him safe for us?”

“Absolutely. And you remember what I said?”

“He’s a master manipulator, don’t listen to anything unless it comes from my Marshal or you guys, buy a couple guns and come back to Quantico if I don’t feel safe with the information given to me,” she recounts it all back to her.

“You’re gonna do great,” she assures her, pulling Haley in for a hug, they embrace each other for a moment and then pull away with similar press-lipped smiles. It was awkward but they were going to get through it no matter what.

“See ya, Jack,” she reaches out her hand to give him a high five. “Have fun on your vacation.”

“Bye!” He waves, giddy and excited to leave. He has no idea what’s going on and she’s so glad.

Once Jack is safely buckled into his booster seat and Haley sits down beside him, they close the door and each car starts to pull out of the ambulance bay. They wave, unable to see past the tinted windows but just in case Jack is waving to them… and then they’re gone.

She lets out a shaky breath and her calm, cool and collected demeanour disappears. She turns to Derek and almost falls into his arms, crying. He rubs her back, “Hey, hey it’s okay. We’re going to get this guy. It’s all good.”

“Today was so hard,” she cries. “I couldn’t find him and then we realized it was Foyet and then I heard Spencer get shot I had to call 911 and I-I-I... I didn’t know what to do.”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he assures her. “Spencer is okay. Aaron is okay. Our team is strong. You’re so incredibly strong. You kept your cool through all of this, you could’ve gotten cold and mean and instead you made sure Haley and Jack were okay and you waited to do this. I wouldn’t have been able to do all this if some psycho was after my man.”

She manages to laugh at that, it’s absurd. Fucking insane, actually. She pulls away and wipes her tears, “I’m also so fucking tired.”

“I hear you!” Derek agrees, “I feel like I could sleep for 3 days straight if you let me.”

She wraps her arm around him and they all start to head over to the elevator, JJ being quiet the whole time because she doesn’t know what to really say. “we’ve had a hard week, I think we should all take a few vacation days… maybe I can talk to Strauss and agree we only come in if there’s a terrorist attack to amber alert?”

“Yes please,” she would love that. “Although, I’m going to ask Strauss for more than just a few days off. I want to take all my vacation days either until I run out or until Aaron can come back.”

“I still find it so weird that you can call him Aaron,” JJ teases.

She shrugs, “rolls off the tongue pretty easy if you ask me.”

“Ew,” she says it proudly this time. “Ew! You both are so gross. I’m so glad we don’t work with Will all the time.”

“No but we still know you two are freaky,” Derek teases her. “I mean… you have a kid.”

“whats that supposed to mean?” She asks, slightly offended.

“you let him hit it raw,” Derek teases. “Ya nasty.”

JJ smacks him. “You’re a pain in my ass, you know that? You have a stupid response to literally everything!”

Derek simply wraps her up in a hug, “what are brothers for?”

“I wouldn’t know, I had a sister,” she says begrudgingly, but she hugs him back none the less.

—

She’s with Aaron all night. She sits beside him and holds his hand and she wipes his tears when things get too intense for him. It breaks her heart. She knows he’s going to be traumatized by this, he’s not going to want to talk about it and the trauma is going to fester and spread and it might affect his work. It’s going to be a long road, she’s prepared for it but she just doesn’t know how to broach these topics.

She’s not going to ask now, right now is about his healing. The nurses have made it clear that any stress could cause him to tense up and move too fast and pull a stitch or start bleeding internally. He’s very delicate right now. She hasn’t seen what it looks like under his bandages, she won’t for a while, but before they leave the hospital she’s going to be shown how to help him clean and redress them so she can care for him at home.

He gets more medicine, it helps him sleep and sleep helps him heal, so she just sits there beside him and the nurses say they can bring up a cot for her if she wants it, but she’s good just sitting beside him. She rests her head on his bed, still holding his hand, she’s so close to falling asleep when someone rubs her shoulder. She turns around, thinking it's a nurse and she looks up with blurry, tired vision to see Section Chief Strauss.

“Oh, hi?”

“Can you step away for a minute?” She asks.

Y/N nods, rubs her eyes and stands up to follow her out of the room. They head a little down the hallway, away from the nurses but still in view of Aaron's ICU room.

“How is he?” She asks.

“He’s okay, he has 9 stab wounds around 2 inches deep, Foyet missed his major arteries and organs on purpose… he’s going to need a while to heal and I’d like you to request he has mandatory therapy for a few months to process what happened,” she asks, all but begging. “If you intervene he has to, if I ask then I’m just a worrier and he won’t do it.”

“what are you?”

“We haven’t filled the paperwork and we know that goes against the rules but we didn’t want to be separated during all this. We’ve been dating a little over 2 months now,” she reluctantly answers.

“Okay,” Strauss nods, slightly upset but she gets it. “And I suppose you’ll want time off to care for him?”

She nods, “Foyet knows we're together, he called our hotel room to try and make a deal with Aaron during the Reaper case in Boston, we weren’t dating back then but we were sharing a bed… I-I know that looks bad, but we weren’t doing anything inappropriate during cases I can assure you of that, we had both been through a tough few months with our injuries and me being held hostage and sleeping side by side was good for my anxiety after everything and—

“I understand,” Strauss reaches out and places her hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay. I know, I met my own husband at work, these things just happen.”

She’s surprised that she’s being so nice… so she uses it to her advantage. “I have 5 weeks of vacation days banked from the last few years, and 3 weeks of sick days, can I have them all?”

Strauss nods, “You, Aaron and Reid are all going to be off for a while, so I’m already interviewing someone to come in and fill your and Spencer’s shoes. Derek is stepping up to Unit Chief for the time being, Dave will stay second in command and when Spencer can come back to the office he will be working with Penelope in her room, on the phone with the team.”

“Okay,” she likes this plan. “Do we know the people you’re interviewing?”

“They’re the same people who were finalists when you were hired, so Aaron should know all of them,” she assures. “I’ll go off his notes and Derek will have an opinion on the final hire as well.”

“Thank you for making this easy for us,” she gives her a small smile.

“I just need you to do something for me.”

And there it is. Erin Strauss is a very transactional woman. She doesn’t do anything unless she gets something out of it. She did this before, when Aaron got suspended and she refused to give any dirt on the team.

“What do you want?” she asks, giving in with a sigh. She leans against the wall and crosses her arms.

“I need you to get him to agree to step down,” she explains. “While Derek will be the interim chief, I think that going forward... it would be best if when Aaron returns, he steps down for good. When this whole Foyet thing is done, we can asses his mental health and see if he would be able to take his role back, however, until then, I think he should step down. After Gideon's girlfriend was murdered he went a little crazy, we don’t need Aaron going through the same thing.”

While she understands her reasoning, she doesn’t really want to agree. “Foyet wants to ruin his life, he wants him to be so depressed, so defeated, that he doesn’t have the energy to keep hunting him… stepping down would be smart.”

“Good, you agree. Well, that’s really all I wanted to talk to you about… is there anything else you need?” She asks.

Y/N shakes her head. “No… um, I don’t know where we’re going to go yet but I know we can’t stay in DC while he’s healing. I just don’t feel safe with Foyet knowing where we live so when we do get settled somewhere can you maybe call us once a week or send emails with any updates about the case?”

“I can definitely do that. You two take care, I’ll be in touch,” Strauss lightly touches her arm and smiles, and then she walks away.

She just takes in a deep breath and lets it out with the slump of her shoulders. She hasn’t really slept since last week. Being in Canada, seeing what they saw, not being able to find Aaron, thinking he and Spencer were going to die… it’s all actually catching up to her now and she’s exhausted. She wanders back into his room, sits back down at her chair beside his bed and rests her head on his thigh. This is where she’ll be for the next few hours.

Sleeping peacefully with the love of her life safely beside her.

—

Aarons has been in the hospital for 3 days now, she hasn’t left his side more than a handful of times.

And she hasn’t gone home at all.

She convinces the nurses to let her use the residents' locker room showers to feel a little less gross and she changes into an outfit from her go bag that lives in her car. She’s scared to leave him, she’s scared to go back to her own apartment, she’s scared to walk the halls at night… she knows the reaper is like a ghost, he could pop up anywhere and so she’s terrified he’ll show up behind her and stab her to death. He knows about them. He knows Aaron was happy, even while divorced, and she’s sure that if he can’t get to Haley, he’s going to come after Her.

She wants to get out of here, run as fast as she can as far as she can go and she wants to bring Aaron with her. He’s just not ready to be moved yet. She’s been thinking over the last 3 days, where could they go when he is ready? Her parents live down in Florida now at a retirement village so that’s not a place they can hide. His brother lives in New York in a small apartment and they’re not friendly and it could just put Sean in harm's way. And then it hits her.

West Virginia.

That’s where they’re going to go.

The team, well, Rossi, Morgan and JJ headed off on a case yesterday, something in Idaho regarding a missing child. She had planned on calling Derek if he wasn’t busy, she wanted to ask him to come to her apartment with her cause she was afraid to go alone and she needed to pack and change and shower with her own things. But he’s busy. And he’s only going to get busier.

So she calls Anderson. He is the BAU’s equivalent of a head resident in a hospital. He makes schedules, he makes sure people are where they need to be, he makes calls and fills out paperwork and he ensures that Aaron's job—well, Morgans now, goes smoothly. He’s trained just like every other agent in the FBI, he just hasn’t been in the field in 5 years now. He likes his office job. This is where he shines the most. He could help her, too.

He meets her outside her home with his gun on his hip and a sorrowful look on his face. He asked about Aaron, or Hotch as they all called him. No matter what happened, no one but she seemed to be able to call him Aaron. It felt too intimate. Nevertheless, he goes into her apartment with her, helps her clear it to ensure no one is hiding in wait, and stays in the living area while she packs.

In her bedroom, in the box under her bed full of memories, she finds a brochure for the Bed ’n Breakfast they stayed in last year and she immediately calls the number on the back.

“Evergreen Bed and Breakfast, Mary speaking,” the elderly British woman answers the phone.

“Hi, I’m not sure if you remember me but my friend Aaron and I stayed with you last year we were in Room 6,” she explains, hoping that rings any bells. But if it didn’t, she adds: “We work for the FBI and we were just coworkers who wanted two queens but you didn’t have any left?”

“Oh, yes! Hello, dear, how are you?” She asks, chipper as ever.

“I’m good, um, I was wondering if you knew anyone in the area who has a cabin for rent? We’d like to have a little getaway, we’re thinking 6 to 8 weeks…”

“We have one,” she offers right away. “We were going to head up to clean it out for the fall and winterize it, but we can put that off until you’re done with it?”

“Are you sure? I’d never want to inconvenience you—

“Oh, hush, it’s no worry on our end,” she assures Y/N. “When were you thinking you’d be needing it?”

“Early next week? Um, Aaron was in an accident and he’s coming out of the hospital soon and we’d like a place to hide away while he’s in recovery… and if we could book it under a fake name, that would be good. I can pay cash, I really don’t want us to be found at all.”

“Oh, my,” Mary can’t believe it. “Can I ask what happened?”

“The most I can say is that a criminal we were after attacked him in his home,” she explains. “He’s going to need a while to recover, and I don’t think he can do it in that environment and I feel too exposed having him at my home in case the man knows where I live too.”

“Holy,” is all Mary can say. Flabbergasted, Y/N can hear her breathing through her mouth, like it’s still left open, shocked at that answer. “It’s all yours.”

“Thank you, thank you so much,” she feels so relieved. “How much do I owe you?”

“For 8 weeks… 2 grand?”

“Are you sure?” She asks, that seems a little low. “Does it have electricity and running water?”

“Oh yes, it’s been in our family a long time. There are 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom with a nice tub and a fireplace in the lounge. We normally close it down right before Halloween so it’s not of use to us and that money will cover the bills to keep it open longer, we won’t take anything more. Consider it a thank you for what you two do for a living,” she explains. “I’ll tell Eileen about this and she and her eldest son Marshall will go up there this weekend and make sure it’s up to standard, you can stop here and get the key and pay and no one will ever know you’re staying there.”

“I appreciate this endlessly, seriously, thank you. I have been so scared about what I’m going to do to keep him safe going forward, this is such a weight off my shoulders.”

“You’re very welcome, dearie, we’ll see you next week,” Mary says, signing off. They say their goodbyes and then she’s alone in her room again.

She has a moment to smile and take a deep breath. This will be okay. Haley is a strong woman, she’s going to fight for them. Aaron is a strong man but he’s also good at listening to her. She can get him to open up on their trip. She can use some of her psychology skills and help him if he is exhibiting any PTSD symptoms. She can clean his wounds and nurture his mind and love him and protect him and when he’s okay, they’ll go back to work and they’ll catch this fucker.

She puts all her clothes in a suitcase, and she also packs everything of Aarons that she has at her apartment. Then, she grabs a laundry basket and fills it with other things they’ll need while in a cabin in the woods. All their shower things, towels and face cloths, laundry detergent and dryer sheets, a pair of scissors, nail clippers, tweezers, moisturizer, deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, tissues, wet wipes, napkins, dish soap, a can opener… they’ll get anything else they need while they’re there, but she’s not sure how far a grocery store will be from this cabin.

She throws in some cans of soup just to cover her bases. She cleans out her fridge of anything that will go bad while they’re gone. She plugs the sinks and the tub in the bathroom so bugs don’t get in with the pipes being dry for so long. She locks every window and Anderson helps her carry everything down to her car. She then calls her landlord and leaves a message about her going away for a while so he can turn off her water to prevent any flooding or pipe breaking in her absence and then she takes another deep breath.

“anywhere else you need to go?” Anderson asks.

“Aaron’s place,” she says reluctantly. “I need to pack his things… I don’t want to go there.”

“It’s okay, I can help,” Anderson assures her. “I actually called a good crime scene clean-up crew right after the police were done with it and they tore up the carpet yesterday so you won’t have to see that again.”

“Thank you, Grant,” she reaches out and touches his arm and smiles. “I’ll see you over there.”

They part ways to get in their own cars and drive to where Aaron lives on the other side of town. When they get there, the tape is still up on the outside of Aaron's door, the cleaning people must’ve just ducked under it… she takes it down and hesitates before going in.

“Now, I don’t know what Foyet did while he was here. We shouldn’t talk about anything confidential, or where we’re going just in case he has a listening device in there now,” she says, worried as ever.

“Yeah, smart… but you were talking on the phone with someone making plans at your house, what if he—

“There’s no proof he was ever in my place but even still I never mentioned any names or locations on the phone,” she assures him.

“Smart, okay, let’s go in,” Anderson says, handing her the keys to Aaron’s place. He got them surrendered to him from evidence after the police wrapped everything up.

Inside, they clear the space quickly and then she does the same things she did at her own place. She packs Aaron's bag with all his comfy clothes, sweats and t-shirts and underwear and then a couple pairs of jeans and nice shirts— polos and button-ups, for when he’s feeling like he wants to go out and be a real person again.

She knows what that’s like. In her senior year of high school, she had her appendix removed, she had 11 staples and she was out of school for a month. It was hard, she couldn’t shower often and laughing hurt, but the day she was able to get her staples out she got all dressed up for it. Simply because she could.

And that was with just 1 wound. Aaron has 9.

He’s going to hate feeling like he can’t do anything. He’s going to try and move and do things too soon because he’s impatient. She’s going to have to monitor his medicine intake and help him bathe and clean the wounds and redress for a few weeks… and she’s completely okay with that. She wants the rest of her life with him and if that means the "in sickness and in health" part starts now. She’s going to do it.

Once she has everything he’d need clothing-wise, she throws out things in his refrigerator, plugs all the drains and talks to the super of his building to get everything turned off while they’re gone.

While Anderson is bringing the suitcase out to her car, she has 2 more things she wants to bring. Aaron's gun safe sits on his night table, it’s fingerprint-activated and both his and her own thumbprint are in it. She opens it up to see that his spare gun is in there. The one day he didn’t wear it on his ankle was the one day he was attacked… his passport and some cash are in there too. She locks it up again and unplugs it from the wall and starts to carry it out into the main room.

“Woah, let me get that,” Grant says as he walks back in. “You’re bringing this?”

She nods, “Yeah. We’re bringing our guns with us, we need to keep them somewhere?”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not like you’re gonna be at a h—

“Grant,” she cuts him off. Knowing he was about to say a hotel with a safe. “No specifics while we’re in here.”

“Right, sorry,” he apologizes. “I’ll go put this in your car.”

“I’ll be right out.”

He heads down the hallway and she has a moment to look around. She grabs another laundry basket and puts in some of Aaron's running shoes and slacks. A bottle of his favourite whisky from the bar cart and Aaron's laptop. His phone is still in evidence so she’ll have to go get that, and his gun is with the police too so she’ll have to sign it out… and last but not least she grabs his two photo albums. One is full of his childhood memories and the other is all of Jack's baby pictures. He’s going to need this.

She takes the basket with her out into the hall and sets it down as she locks up and then heads back out to her car with it. It’s pretty packed now. All she needs is Aaron to be released from the hospital and they can run away together.

She can’t wait to run away with him.

IKP

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