ALEX | a. hotchner (sequel to BLAKE)

2

A/n: I hope you all are healthy and doing good. Stay safe and take care of each other.

I went back into the school and caught Aaron outside the principal's office, finishing a phone call.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"Uh, Beth," he answered, trying to avoid my gaze.

"Oh," I breathed. "How is she?"

"Fine, she's looking after Jack and was just telling me he's doing alright."

"Oh, good," I said as I smiled, a very awkward smile.

"Alex-"

"It's okay, Aaron," I said. "She's your girlfriend and I have to get used to it."

"You sure?" He looked concerned and I didn't want him to be, none of it was his fault.

"Absolutely," I smiled reassuringly. "If you invite her when we go out for drinks when we get back, I won't be jealous," I said playfully.

He laughed, but I knew that I would be jealous, because I was still in love with him. In fact, his arms had always felt the most like home. I was stupid for breaking it off with him. There's no one else to blame but me, and that was kind of the worst part. I breathed through my nose, trying to calm the panic in my chest.

I'm in control.

All I could do at this point, was to sit back and watch him being in love with someone else. And I tried to tell myself that it didn't matter, but truth be told; my heart was in fucking pieces.

***

It had been a few days since we got to Scottsdale, and.. nothing. No new information or evidence, not another kidnapping, nothing.

JJ, Aaron and Reid were off doing big brain work while me, Dave, Ashley and Morgan were eating dinner and talking to Garcia over the phone.

"Let's go over what we know, again," I said as I put my feet up on the table.

"Feet off the table," Dave said and gave me a stern look.

"You sound like Aaron," I huffed, but did as he said.

"She always picks up Dylan, but that day she had a meeting and she decided that he was going to take the bus for the first time alone," Dave said. "Which is exactly what Jasper Hastings mother told us too," he added.

"So, the unsub knew that these boys would be taking the bus for the first time, he keeps track of them," Morgan said.

"The principal told us that she personally hired each and everyone that works at the school, she thinks they're good people," Morgan said.

"Keyword being thinks," I chimed in.

It went quiet after that, everyone in their own thoughts, the burgers forgotten. Well, except for mine, I had already finished it.

"Can I ask you something, Alex?" Ashley spoke.

"Yeah, sure," I answered as I took a sip of my drink.

"Are you still upset with Strauss?"

"Of course she is!" Garcia answered in my place, "hell, I'm still upset with her."

"She drove me out of the States, forced me away from everyone I care about," I put the drink down and looked up at Ashley. "I'm gonna be honest, I do not like that woman," I said. "But I've had five years to be upset with her, and all I've realized is that holding a grudge makes you bitter, and that's not what I want to be."

"That's very big of you," Morgan smirked.

"I know, I'm all grown up," I smirked back.

The conversation was interrupted by a knock on the door and after a few seconds, a young police officer stood in the doorway.

"There's been another kidnaping," the officer said.

"Where is Aaron?" Dave asked.

"He's on his way," the officer replied.

"Garcia?"

"I'm on it, back in a few!" And then the phone went silent.

Aaron, JJ and Reid walked through the door and everyone could tell they were all exhausted. They had been dealing with the media for the last hour and a half, which was not an easy task.

"What do we know about the kidnapping?" Ashley asked.

"Just what the officer told us," JJ answered. "He left school around three this afternoon and haven't been heard from since."

"Three?" I raised my eyebrows. "We left the school half an hour earlier, we just missed him!" I stood up and put my hands behind my head, taking a deep breath.

"That's it?" Morgan asked, clearly irritated.

JJ shrugged, and then we all reacted to the phone going off.

"Tell me you've got something," Morgan answered it, knowing it was Garcia.

"Thomas Adley, aka Tommy Adley, never made it home from school today," Garcia said.

"Let me guess, he was supposed to take the bus home for the first time," Dave said with a sigh.

"Ding, ding, ding, points to Rossi," Garcia said.

"Does he look like the other two boys?" Ashley asked.

"Identical," Garcia answered, "there should be pictures of him coming to you any minute."

Everyone gathered around the table to look at the photos. Garcia was right, the three boys could have been brothers.

"However, this time the unsub left a note," Garcia continued.

"A note?" Dave asked, seeming kind of confused.

"Yes, I'm uploading it to you now."

"'They didn't deserve them. I will take care of them, because that is what a real mother does.'" JJ read it out loud.

"The unsub is a woman," I said while drumming my fingers against the table, a habit I picked up. "A man wouldn't say 'that is what a real mother does' and for men it's almost always sexual, but this unsub is telling us that the kids will be cared for," I said and looked up at the others for different opinions.

"Telling us?" Ashley asked.

"Yeah, it says 'they don't deserve them' the letter is referring to the mothers, this letter is for us," I explained.

"So this woman knows that what she's doing is wrong, but her motherly instincts are too powerful," Morgan looked up raised eyebrows.

"She probably lost a child that looked similar to these boys, they're surrogates," Reid said.

"Garcia, pull up a list of every woman that works at the school and cross reference it with loss of a child," Aaron said.

You could hear Garcia typing at hyper speed and then it went quiet.

"Guys," she whispered. "It's the principal."