No strings attached

Part twenty two

You sit in your apartment after another long day of work, your mother insisted she'd cook you diner so you just sit and relax until you hear a knock on the door.

"Mr. Hotchner isn't it?" you hear you mom say shit what's he doing here?

"Hello Mrs. y/l/n, is your daughter home?" you run towards the door

"Hey Hotch" you step into the hallway closing the door behind you "what are you doing here" you whisper-yell at him but he shuts you up with a kiss

"We have a case first thing tomorrow" he rests his hands on your waist and you roll your eyes "I know I could've just called but I needed an excuse to see you" you lean in for another kiss and in the same second your mom opens the door

"Will Mr. Hotchner be joining us for diner hun..." she freezes when she sees you in his arms, he pulls away as she storms inside

"I'm sorry" he says

"It's ok, I should've told her before anyways" you kiss him quickly before entering the apartment and bracing yourself for what's to come. You see your mom sitting on the kitchen, her face showing no expression what so ever, of course that since you were a profiler you knew exactly what was on her mind.

"Mom, I can explain"

"Explain y/n? He is your boss for crying out loud! Do you know how messed up that is? How could you be so immature? You are not a child anymore y/n you need to learn how to make less stupid decisions." The words roll out of her mouth in an impressive speed

"I know it looks bad mom but I love him, I've thought about this but truth is I don't care how wrong it may seem, I want to be with him and he wants to be with me so what's the big deal."

"What's the big deal? Silly girl, do you really think he "loves" you? He has a child his life is settled, you are a kid who just started your career. He doesn't love you, he likes the fact that you're young, you are merely a convenient relationship, available to him even when he's travelling for work." Tears start forming in your eyes, her words cutting you like a knife "And once he is done with you, what do you do then? Best case scenario you transfer somewhere else, turning your back on your dream job worst one your boss finds out and who do you think will get fired? Big valuable unit chief or you a simple agent?" you can't take it anymore, running into your room locking the door.

You see that Aaron had called but you ignore it, falling onto the bed and letting your tears run down your cheeks like a waterfall. You hope that crying will fix your now shattered heart. Of course, your mom would be worried but this? This was a step too far.

You don't even remember falling asleep but you wake up the next morning with a pounding headache. Even though it was early your mom was already awake waiting.

"Honey talk to me please"

"I have a case, don't know when I'll be back" you run before the waterworks start again.

As soon as you enter the BAU Derek and Emily share a worried look, they walk up to you and without saying a thing you darkhaired friend holds you in a tight hug.

"What happened princess?"

"Just a little family fight, but don't worry I'm okay now." You really did feel better, the team made you feel like this and you loved your job. You decide not to talk to Aaron yet so you grab some coffee before heading to the round table

"Good morning my beautiful crime fighters" a very bright Penelope Garcia enters the room causing you to smile instantly "our unsub is local, 4 buildings set on fire here in Virginia" the photos pop up on the screen "a library, a coffee shop, an art gallery and yesterday a warehouse. The fires were started at night, the unsub killed the security guards with a gunshot in the head and left them outside while the place burned."

"JJ I want you to handle the press, they cannot know that the fires are connected if they give our unsub a name he will feel even more powerful and will start more fires" Hotch starts "We'll pair up and take the crime scenes, Prentiss and Rossi take the shops, me and Morgan will go to the art gallery and Reid and y/n can take the warehouse."

"We are looking for a man in his early thirties, we believe that he has some type of job related to security that allows him to know when there will be less security in the buildings. The locations he chooses have no meaning to us so his motivations are extremely personal, he is trying to punish someone or maybe a group of people the he believes to have hurt him in some sort of way."

"What if the unsub thinks someone in this places underestimated him?" Morgan says "let's call Garcia"

"Talk dirty to me" the blonde answers

"Baby girl, we need you to find a connection between the buildings set on fire, employers, employees, owners anyone who may connect the establishments"

After some aggressive typing the tech analyst starts speaking "The only remote connection I have is that all the establishments have had been accused of wrongful termination in the past 8 months."

"Who handled the cases?" you ask

"A local legal clinic" Hotch stands up

"y/n, come with me. The rest of you stay here"

In the car you can sense Aaron is nervous

"What happened yesterday?"

"Can we not talk about this right now?"

He shakes his head and you tell him everything your mom said, finishing in the exact moment you've reached the clinic.

You call Garcia after the interviews to cross reference the lawyers that handled the case with any possible suspects. You can see Hotch is tense because of what you told him but now was not the time

"Just a second my goddess" a few minutes pass by "I've got a James Garner, he works at the security company and is married to Mary Garner, a lawyer who worked the cases. Home address already sent to you."

"We're close" you hang up, or at least you thought you did "Aaron we've got an address, let's go!" the team hangs up the call

"Did she just call him Aaron?" Reid asks

"Do you think? Oh god" Garcia places her hand over her mouth

"If I'm not mistaken, we have an unsub to catch" Rossi calls out

You and Hotch get to the unsub's house but it is empty, you look everywhere, suddenly you see him get a little more anxious.

"Y/n I need you to go outside and call the rest to see if they are close" you try and argue "please, go. Now. This is a direct order" his tone is serious, you don't want to leave but you decide to obey, he is the boss after all.

Prentiss say they were 2 minutes away, you hang up and head back to the house when you hear a gunshot

Aaron

You run inside only to see Hotch shot on the floor his eyes widen when he saw you "you need to leave me y/n, he's going to set this house on fire" you hear cars pulling up outside

"I'm not leaving" you try and access how bad his wound is while screaming for the team, that's when you see a flame "Aaron look at me. I know you're hurt but I need your help." It takes all your strength to help him get up, as you are almost at the door there's a big explosion behind you.

That's when everything went black.

A/n: A little drama and a cliffhanger? Hope you enjoy it!