Where It All Started

Here's to Second Chances:

~‼️‼️‼️SMUT WARNING‼️‼️‼️~

~Edythe's POV~

"Edythe, we got to go. Don't want to piss off Strauss on your first day back." Aaron says from our bedroom. I groan, definitely not in the mood for dealing with her shit today. I stand off of the floor brushing my knees off, then flush the toilet. "I'll be right out!" I call out, I rush over to the sink and wish mouthwash quickly spitting it out. "How do I look?" I present myself toward him and spin showing off my outfit. "Beautiful." I smile up at him happily. "You've just earned yourself a kiss." I peck his lips then grab my jacket and keys. "Zero! Let's go!" I knock on his door on my way to the kitchen.

If Aaron can accept me for all the bad parts of myself maybe I can too. From this forward I'm 100% committed to being Edythe Blythe, leaving my past in the past. I have to let go of who I used to be, and step into the new me. I am a good person, I'm capable of staying good, unlike my father who's never know a thing about it.

We drop off Jack, and Zero to their respective places, before driving to work. "How are your hands?" Aaron asks as I make a left, "They're fine." I say as I wipe my palms on my pants. They've been in a bit of pain recently, but for the most part they've healed, kind of yellow blueish but, it helps to soak them in a bowl of ice. "Are you sure, because-"

"Would I lie to you babe?" I glance at him as I pull into the parking lot. "I would hope not." I smile, "I wouldn't dare." I shut the door, and link my fingers with his as we walk in. Having to let go way too soon, having to go through our daily security check and pat down before entering. Aaron waits for me as I'm being checked, getting weird looks for my hands being bruised but nothing said. Everyone knows my story now, but I've always been one to be able to handle stares, but I can't lie wanting to punch them isn't a feeling easily subsided. I remind myself that Edythe wouldn't do that, so I don't. When I reach Hotch I grab his hand, he raises eyebrow at my sudden clinginess, but he grabs my hand nonetheless.

"Our case is centered in Miami, Florida." Garcia says turning on the tv. "Shells in the eyes and mouth, that's different." Emily comments as Garcia flips through the pictures of our first victim. "There's three victims, the last one was found with.." Garcia trails disgusted with what happened. "Decapitated cat." Morgan completes her sentence, they're clearly a perfect match. "Each crime were all found within a mile of one another, in a mostly latino neighborhood in Miami called Allapattah." Aaron flips through his file as he speaks, familiarizing himself with the case.

We go over every victim one by one, looking over every detail of each one of them. "It seems everyone has been killed in their homes since the homeless man lived in the alleyway." Rossi notes sitting up in his chair. "This had to take a lot of time." Morgan holds up his tablet to show us the damage done to the victim, and I turn my head to look away feeling a bit nauseous. "Out in the open as well." JJ adds quickly. "You know, Cowrie shells, and ritual offerings are common to a number of Afro-Caribbean religions." Reid rambles a bit about the culture before getting cut off by me of course, "The first two victims have fingers missing here." I sit up and lean toward the table to show the pictures, "But the last one is missing both hands."

"I mean all of this could be the unsub signature no?" JJ asks, she has a lot to learn before she moves up from communications lesion to profiler. She's been working hard toward that for some time now. "Whatever it is, we don't have much time before Miami PD has another body on their hands. Wheels up in 20." I take this time to double check my go bag to make sure I have Tylenol, I've been feeling a bit sick this morning. Aaron's hand find's its way to the small of my back, and he whispers into my ear. "Are you alright love?" Of course he would've noticed if I felt a bit off. Downfall of working with a bunch of profilers, nothings ever hidden for very long. I nod, "Just feeling a bit under the weather." I admit, no use in lying. "Do you want to go home?" He steps back a bit to look me in the eye. "No way, I've been out of work for way too long. I cannot spend another day in that house." He chuckles, causing me to smile. "Wow, you got him to smile so easily, we've been trying to do that for years." Morgan jokes nudging the both of him.