Darling deception- a criminal minds fanfic

Breath

Darling was starting to learn that the answer to 'How hard could this be?' was in fact 'very.'

On her second day in the prison she learnt that showering wasn't quite what she prepared for when the group of 20 women in her shower group all turned to her when she walked in, not expecting a cubical to herself but certainly not expecting to be pressed back to back with 5 other women whilst she tried to rid herself of the never ending prison grime.

On her third day she learnt that the plats maybe weren't such a good idea when during a particularly intense game of cards that she wasn't involved in at the break area that she got yanked into the brawl and left with a nasty card induced cut on her cheek and fading black eye that Hotch almost pulled her out of the prison for when he saw her a week later.

"I'm literally fine, it's easy breezy in here; it's only another week here and-"

"Get me the prison warden right now!" Hotch yelled at the guard who just rolled his eyes, assuming Hotch was just a protective family member and not a high up FBI agent who was doing a terrible job at hiding the mission.

"Hotch you need to keep your voice down or you'll blow my cover, people are already asking me why I'm in such an intense prison for something as simple as prostitution without a trial" Darling whispered to him, pulling his cuff for him to sit down.

"Hands to yourself inmate" the guard called over, Darling quickly holding up her hands to show him she was complying.

Hotch paused at her immediate compliancy, how quick she was to being alerted to sounds around her, how her hands kept automatically clenching when a guard walked near them- noticing how she was already adapting, and he hated that.

"You're leaving right now" he sat down and spoke quietly to her, "this isn't you."

"What? This is me?" Darling looked down at herself, everything was pretty much the same other than her hair being tied back in a low bun to avoid being grabbed, and a few scrapes on her hands from being put on yard work- a request sent by Hotch, granting her immediate access so she wouldn't have to be waiting around with inmates able to walk into her cell all the time- but instead of giving her safety like he had hoped it just made it easier for the guards to shout their obscenities at her and the other workers when the warden wasn't around to keep an eye on them.

"Oh yeah I had a quick question; what the hell is my 'situation' and why do guards keep saying they know what it is with this weird look in their eyes? It's making it really hard to talk to people and find out the information I need when I can't talk to a cellmate or even go to the yard without officers following me" Darling asked, Hotch pausing before explaining slowly.

"I didn't want you to have to share a cell-"

"Even though that's what we agreed that I would do so I could do my job?"

"-so-" Hotch continued as if Darling hadn't just made a good, albeit passive aggressive, point, "-I told the warden that I needed a reason to get you in the cell on your own and he told me of the only way- of which he didn't approve of at first and..."

"You're stalling saying it because it's bad, isn't it?" Darling pointed out knowingly, Hotch sighed.

"It's... it's not great."

"What is it?"

"I don't think that I should tell you-"

"Hotch if I have to go around getting glared at for something I should know what it is" Darling folded her arms and he recognised the old feisty Darling he had hoped would still be there over the 'smiling' and 'pretending she was fine' one that he had seen her as with every visit, "tell me."