No-one had seen Annabel Bradey in a decade, that was until she resurfaced in SSA Aaron Hotchner's office in Quantico. She was carrying scars both physical and mental, but wouldn't share her story. Or at least not until everyone she loved was in dang...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Aaron Hotchner was unable to sleep; his thoughts had been preoccupied by Annie's words from earlier that day. Whenever he closed his eyes, he could see the fear in her eyes as she violently shook her head and her hand trembled. The sight of her entire body shaking would never leave Aaron's mind, it would be burnt to his memories for the rest of his existence.
As he led, staring at the ceiling, he became aware of the buzz of the television in the living room. From what he had seen that day, he wasn't surprised that she was still awake. A decade ago, she had been the strongest person he had known, to see her reduced to tears broke him. He couldn't imagine what she must have gone through over the years. If he was less invested, he would have asked her, but he didn't want to see her break the way she had that morning.
As he heard movement in the apartment, Aaron pushed himself from the bed, making the journey from the bedroom to the kitchen. He was careful not to startle the woman, nor to make so much noise that he woke Jack. He found himself a suitable middle ground.
As he entered the kitchen, he saw Annie leaning against the counter and smiling back at him, a glass of water in her hands. As he smiled back at her, he noticed as a series of bruised on her arm that he had been unaware of earlier than day. His mind raced, having worst seen the places that women had been kept during their disappearances. There didn't seem to be a pattern to her the placement of the aged yellow marks in comparison to the newer purple patches of skin that also seemed to be slightly raised.
Before they had returned to his apartment, Aaron had been trying to convince her to let him take her to the hospital. She denied, claiming that she had been in a worse condition in the past. He didn't want to picture her any worse than that moment, the abundance healing cuts and bruises that littered her body were an indication of harsher injuries that she had sustained.
"It's nothing," Annie stated, having followed his gaze to her arm. "I bruise easily."
Closing the distance, Aaron held out his hand indicating for her to take it. She did so, flinching as his fingers traced the marks. He shook his head, saying, "It doesn't seem to be nothing."
Her breath caught as he leaned forwards, reaching past her and into the cupboard beside her head. She smiled as he held the arnica gel in front of her face, though her brow furrowed as she asked, "Why is that in the kitchen cabinet?"
"The bathroom cabinet is under the sink, so Jack can reach it." Aaron explained, coating her arm in the gel. "I keep all the medical supplies in here, where he can't reach."
She nodded; her teeth gritted from the sting of the contact with the breaks in her skin. Aaron muttered his apologies, knowing that he was lucky that she had the faith and trust in him to allow him to help her. He didn't know where she had been, but he knew it had been bad.
She was wearing one of his shirts, which hung from her collar bone highlighting her unhealthily petite stature. That shirt made her look visibly more fragile that she had earlier that morning, but Aaron knew she wasn't fragile. No matter her state, she could still fight for herself and protect her own wellbeing.
"Thank you," She whispered, placing the glass of water back down on the counter. "I wouldn't have gotten through anything without you; every time I thought about giving up, you'd be there, and I'd pull through."
Aaron took in a deep breath, pushing her hair behind her ear, "I'm glad you pulled through; I'm glad that you're here now."
"You have questions, don't you?" Annie asked, looking away from Aaron as she bit down on her lip.
He nodded his head, before adding, "But you don't have to answer them until you're ready."
"I want to," She declared, taking the agent before her by surprise. "But I need you to promise that you won't try and find the group, too many people would be in danger if you did."
He shook his head, "You know I can't promise that, but I can promise that I will not do anything until I am certain we can save as many people as possible."
"Gabriel Martyr." Aaron looked at her, his face confused by her uttering of a name. "I don't think that's his real name, but it's what he introduced himself as. I thought it would be good for me, to go back to my faith and to surround myself with people like me."
"People like you?" Aaron asked.
She looked down at her feet, "I lost my mom, dad and little sister at the same time, all too soon. These people had gone through similar losses, and they were getting through it. For a while it was like that, a safe place where I felt as though I could move past their deaths."
She paused for a moment, looking past him filled with guilt surrounding the fact that she had left without telling him, "I didn't realise that you had been struggling."
"You were getting happy and getting married, I couldn't drag you into whatever was going on with me." Annie explained. "When I was settled, I tried to reach out to you again, and that's when I realised, he wasn't what he said he was. I missed all the signs I was trained to see, the way they referred to outsiders and the way everyone was so scared when he brought me in." She took in a breath, her voice shaking as the tempo of her speech quickened, "He said I was special, that I was like him. But I wasn't like him. I can't be like him Aaron."
He pulled her into his arms, holding tightly as she shook, "You don't need to say anything else."
