Saving Agent Hotchner | 1

17. Missing them

Y/N
It had only been 3 days since Haley and Jack were whisked off by the U.S. Marshals Service. Aaron tried staying at his apartment, but he ended up at your place on the second night without Haley and Jack, explaining that staying at his place constantly reminded him that they were in danger because of Foyet, and he couldn't stop crying. From that night on, you had no issue with him staying at your place.

On the 3rd night, you woke up at 2 AM, noticing that the right side of the bed was empty. Getting out of bed, you walked out into your living room, seeing Aaron sitting on the armchair that rested near the window. He was just staring out into the night sky.

You walked up behind him and wrapped your arms around him, placing a kiss on his head.

"Can't sleep?" You asked, moving so you were sitting on his lap.

"His face is plaguing my dreams and turning them into nightmares." He wiped the tears from his face.

"Tell me about the nightmares." You held his hand, kissing it.

"It's always the same one. I'm bound tightly to a chair while Haley and Jack are tortured right in front of me. It lasts a while before eventually...he pulls out his gun and shoots them both. He kills Haley first, then Jack. Finally, he holds the gun up to my forehead and..." He stopped talking, taking a moment to breathe.

"And what?" You cuddled him, listening to his breathing.

"...I wake up right as the gunshot goes off." He admitted.

"Babe, we will find Foyet and send him away for life. We will bring Haley and Jack home." You kissed him.

"I- I know we will." He reassured you as he mumbled against your lips before kissing you back.

"Let's go back to bed. I'll hold your hand. If you feel uneasy due to a nightmare, squeeze my hand and I'll help you wake up. I promise." You placed a kiss on his forehead before walking back with him to your bed.

———

GENERAL
The team wasn't brought in early for any cases, so everyone arrived as close to 9 AM as possible. Derek, Spencer and Emily arrived first, setting their bags down before moving up to the conference room so they could use the big screen to help with paperwork. JJ and Penelope arrived 10 minutes later, putting their stuff down. JJ followed Penelope to her office, which meant that no one was in the bullpen when Rossi arrived at 9:15 AM.

When Rossi saw Derek, Spencer and Emily in the conference room, he decided to join them. Walking outside his office, he stopped when he watched the elevator doors opening, revealing Hotch and Y/N hand in hand as they headed toward the bullpen.

Hotch stopped walking, immediately being reminded of Foyet just by looking at the bullpen. This is where he and the team had discovered that Foyet had escaped. Y/N noticed Hotch's eyes widening as he clearly tried to calm his breathing.

"Aaron, it's okay. We're going to find him and bring Haley and Jack home." Y/N cupped Hotch's face, placing a sweet kiss to his lips. She pulled away moments later, rubbing the top of Hotch's hand with her fingers. At this moment, no one was nearby to catch what she said to him, so she didn't care that she had called him 'Aaron' instead of 'Hotch'.

Unbeknownst to Hotch and Y/N, Rossi had seen the whole thing. He hadn't heard what Y/N said, and they were too far away for Rossi to read her lips, but he could tell that Hotch was anxious, and Y/N was trying to calm him down. Moments later, Strauss walked toward them, Y/N letting go of Hotch's hand as he and Strauss walked toward her office. It was clear that Strauss knew, or had a suspicion of Hotch and Y/N's relationship.

As soon as Y/N opened the bullpen doors, Rossi started moving again, pretending as if he had just walked out of his office.

"Morning Rossi." Y/N smiled.

"Morning Y/N. Say, is Hotch here yet?" Rossi looked at Y/N, who shrugged her shoulders.

"I haven't seen him." Y/N replied. Rossi knew she had just lied.

"No worries. Can you send him my way when he comes in?" Rossi asked.

"Sure." Y/N nodded, sitting down at her desk.

Y/N got stuck into her paperwork, hoping that Hotch was doing okay. By 11:30 AM, Y/N had gotten through at least 9 of her 25 files, which meant that today was going to be a long day for her and everyone else. Y/N got bored just after 12 PM, which meant that it was time for coffee and lunch. Emily got everyone's orders, bringing Penelope and Derek with her. As Y/N waited, she looked at a particular framed image on her desk. Picking it up, she smiled. It was a photo taken by Hotch, of Y/N, Haley and Jack, a few weeks before Haley filed for divorce. It was a photo full of smiles and Y/N couldn't help but cry. Haley didn't deserve the torment that Foyet was inflicting on Hotch. Jack especially didn't deserve it.

"Are you alright?" JJ walked up to Y/N, watching as she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks, putting the photo down.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Y/N tried to make her smile seem as real as possible, and JJ didn't bother saying anything.

"You all look so happy in that photo." JJ smiled.

"Of course we did. It was taken a few weeks before Haley filed for divorce. It was taken before...before Foyet returned." Y/N exhaled, turning to face the pile of work on her desk.

"Y/N. My office, please." Rossi called Y/N's name and waited for her to stand up and head to his office.

Y/N entered Rossi's office 2 minutes later, watching in confusion as Rossi closed the blinds and shut the door so none of the team would try to lip-read their conversation.

"Everything okay?" Y/N asked.

"I'm going to cut right to the chase here and I believe that it'd be wise to ask you, and not Aaron, since he'll just deny it. Are the two of you together?" Rossi sat down at his desk.

"A- Aaron and I..." Y/N barely finished her sentence as Rossi exhaled and leaned forward.

"So there is something going on between you and Aaron." Rossi didn't use 'Hotch', considering they were in a closed-door meeting. Well, less of a meeting and more of a Q & A session.

"How did you find out?" Y/N asked, curious.

"I saw you and Aaron come in this morning...hand in hand. You lied to me when you said you hadn't seen him." Rossi furrowed his eyebrows.

"Look, Rossi, what Aaron and I are is none of the team's business. The only people who needed to be told were Strauss, - for obvious reasons - Haley, and Jack. If you and the others figured it out, we wouldn't care. We just didn't want to make a big deal out of it." Y/N exhaled.

"Whether you like it or not, your relationship with Aaron will be a big deal to the rest of the team. Since the moment each member of this team met Aaron, he was married to Haley and eventually, they had a son on the way. It was a big deal when Jack was born and it was an even bigger deal when Aaron and Haley divorced. It's going to be just as big a deal for them to find out that not only is Aaron dating someone, he's dating a member of the team." Rossi explained, earning an understanding look from Y/N.

"Just...keep mine and Aaron's relationship to yourself please. Let the rest of them figure it out on their own." Y/N requested, watching as Rossi nodded.

Y/N stood up and walked out of Rossi's office, making her way back down to her desk, intending to get the rest of her paperwork done by 4:30 PM. Just as she sat down, she was lucky enough to catch Emily, Derek and Penelope entering the bullpen with all the food and coffee.