Cruel - Criminal minds enemies to lovers

Mothers love

"-Well fucking check again!"

Athena's exclamations across the parking lot were quickly followed by threats at the valet who held his hands up in fear of the ballgown clad woman before Hotch stepped between the two.

"Calm down-"

"I would if this idiot would do his fucking job!" She yelled once more, grabbing the tablet from his shaking hands, searching through the directory of names of guests.

"There's over a thousand guests here tonight Athena, you're not going to be able to check all of them to see if they're her" Morgan tried to calm "we don't even know if it was her-"

"It was her!" She snapped at him with tears in her eyes that he paused at before she slowed her speech, her eyes glazing over as if trying to convince herself, "it... it was her."

"Okay" Morgan nodded slowly before taking the tablet with an understanding, a need to help, turning to the valet, "I need you to get me the CCTV on here of the left balcony 30 minutes ago, okay?"

"I-I- don't know if I should-"

"Just do your job for god sakes!" Athena snapped, Morgan's hand gently placing on her shoulder to soothe as he handed the tablet back to the valet who pulled it up with shaking hands.

"Thank you" he nodded, passing it back to her from the valet, "have a look, do you see her?"

"There!" Athena's task focused mindset was interrupted by her own gasp, covering her mouth when the valet zoomed in on the woman who had failed to avoid the cameras, staring at the image in disbelief that quickened to anger.

"I-it's... it's her... it's fucking her!"

"Why are you mad?" Reid asked with the majority of the group who followed them out when they saw Athena storming through the hall.

"Why am I mad? Why am I fucking mad?!" She turned with a fittingly dramatic swish of her dress, a burning rage in her chest, "I thought she was dead! She was dead! I saw her fucking die! I held her-"

Her hand covered her mouth once more, clasping back the memories of that night, of when she she could have sworn she saw her die.

She was led with her mothers lifeless body at 5 years old, sobbing in her bleeding arms before being dragged away.

She was there, she saw the blood, she felt the bullet-

Athena shook her head back to the present, quickly wiping her tears before they had the chance to fall.

"No, this is some kind of trick of the camera- it can't be her, that's not her."

"Sir-" Garcia quietly passed her phone to Hotch with the last known photo of Athena's mom from her obituary, a quiet softness coming from Hotch's voice.

"Athena, it looks a lot like her..."

"It's not, My mother is dead" her eyes darted to him with gritted teeth before a pained softness took over, "she... she has to be."

"Why does she have to be?" 

"Because why the fuck else would she wait this long?!" She let out a heart shattering cry, a sob breaking through her rage, "w-why would she leave me there!? Why would she let him do that to me and-" 

Morgan's arms wrapped around her as the words turned to pained sobs, pulling her into a heartfelt embrace that she tried to push from.

"I'm fine- I'm fine!" She lied, pushing with all her might before the struggle stopped, sobbing gently into his chest as he simply held her close to him, her sorrowed mumbles muffled against his shirt before she stepped back with a sigh at the group.