Team Bonding [reader x spencer x hotch]

31-plain sight

You stood in front of the door you knew so well, deciding what your approach would be. You raised your knuckle, about to knock before retracting it back to your side. Rustling through your bag, you looked for the silver metal key you always kept with you.

After hearing the click indicating the door was now unlocked, you pushed it forward as slowly as possible to ensure it wouldn't creak. You shut it silently and tiptoed across the hardwood floors that led you through the living room and to the stairs. Everywhere was dark until you got to the top of the stairs, where you then pulled your gun out of its holster. Keeping it down at your side, you walked to the room at the end of the hallway. You noticed that all the other doors were left open with the lights off, meaning nobody else was home.

Deeply inhaling when you reached the only lit room, you peaked through the slightly open door. You saw him standing at the side of the bed, putting a jacket up on a hanger. Seeing he was about to turn in your direction, you shoved the door open and cocked your gun, pulling it in front of you with extended arms.

The noises alerted him, he whipped around and tensed up. His hand went to where his gun usually rested near his belt until he saw it was you. Relaxing his hand down to the side of his pants he nearly yelled at you, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Hotch." You tried to steady your breathing but your entire body was practically shaking. "Put your hands up."

His eyebrows raised, "Why?"

"You know why." You took a step, putting yourself farther from the doorway and closer to him.

He tilted his head but reluctantly raised his arms to be next to his head. "Care to tell me what this is about now?"

"Don't pretend to be fucking stupid. I know it was you, you killed those men and framed another." Your voice was unsteady when you spoke, every part of you hoping that you were somehow wrong.

"Okay y/n, I can explain. I know what it must look like but-"

"What does it look like? All the men who were killed were prosecuted by YOU! Not to mention you're the one who told us about the anonymous tip. The man we arrested knew your name, he knew you." You used your foot to kick the door shut behind you, making sure he couldn't run. "Jefferson county is only a few hours away, you easily could've crossed the border to dispose of the bodies. Out of all people, you would be the one to know how to commit a perfect crime. What possible explanation could you have for all that?"

"Y/n, you know I'm not a killer."

Your eyes began to water, "Do I really know anything about you?"

"I'm the same person you've always known. Please just let me explain." He took a step back and sat on the foot of his bed, never moving his arms down. You, however, didn't loosen your grip on your gun and kept it aimed at him.

"You have 2 minutes to explain before I call in backup."

"You were partially right, all the men who died were prosecuted by me years ago. They were all charged guilty on multiple counts of pedophilia and child molestation, but none of them served any time. The charges were expunged and their names were cleared." He paused, hoping you would begin to understand, but you held your ground. "Remember Gideon's victim book?" You nodded your head starting to think you knew where this was going. "I had something similar when I was a lawyer, but it wasn't for victims. It was for every person I proved guilty and their sentence. Those names that didn't face any consequences, they stuck with me."

"That's not an excuse to kill them! You have 30 seconds left."

"The man we arrested tonight, he's the one who killed them. He's not a hitman, he's one of them. I convinced him that if he helped me I would never bring up his case again. All I wanted was justice. But then he changed our terms." He sighed, "After the first murders he claimed to have evidence of our interactions. He said that unless I got rid of the bodies for him, he would turn me in. He wanted there to be just as much blood on my hands as there was his."

"That's where you went when you took time off. The bodies showed up right after you took a few days" you replied. "If Spencer was here he would've recognized those names from the court cases. And how did Penelope not see any of the files in her searches?"

His eyes averted your gaze, but he nodded. "I knew I was in too deep but I didn't know how to get out of it. There's no way for Reid or Garcia to ever have seen the files. After finding out they wouldn't be serving time, I had my name taken off of their documents." He must have seen how confused you looked because he added, "Tech analysts other than Garcia exist, you know." You rolled your eyes. "How did you find the connection between me and them anyways?"

You slowly put your gun back in its place on your belt, but kept a good distance between you two. "Something felt...off about how the unsub acted. He matched the profile, your profile, almost too much. When I got back to the office I went over the files to try and find something. When I looked at the names I realized two of them you had mentioned to me before. It was right after I started at the BAU, I was having dinner here after watching Jack one night. I asked you about the cases that were the hardest for you to deal with and those two names were included. That with your absences, your inability to get near the 'unsub', and the location all just fell into place for me."

He seemed impressed, you knew he didn't expect anyone to figure it out. The more you thought about it, the more you realized he covered every base. Without you, he probably would've gotten away with it. Profiling Hotch was the hardest out of everyone on the team, but you noticed while you were talking his attitude had changed. Specifically, when you mentioned Jack. "What happened with Jack?"

"What?"

"Don't make me pull my gun out again, Aaron. Just answer the question."

He looked up at you, "Jessica took him, three weeks ago. She got a new job a few towns over and couldn't keep watching him here. I did everything I could to convince her to stay, but she said she would go to court if she had to. I know I could've fought it, but who am I kidding? He's better off with her. He's been here for the weekends but that's all and...and it's just me now. I've lost everyone who's ever mattered."

Leaning forward, you placed your hand on his shoulder. Gently rubbing your thumb in circles, you spoke to him softly. "Aaron, I'm sorry." You couldn't help but to sit next to him on the bed. Jack mattered more than anything to him, and you could see how those old cases connected to that. In a way, he was just trying to finish the jobs he started.

Immediately after sitting, Aaron turned his head to rest it on your shoulder. Burying his head into the crook of your neck, he started to cry. You rubbed the back of his head and ran your fingers through his hair while he cried. Your other arm reached around his chest to hold him closer to you. Whatever he did, your feelings for him wouldn't just disappear. When his tears subsided, you grabbed his face and lifted it up off your shoulder. You ran your thumb across his cheek to wipe a tear and stared into his brown eyes you had missed so much.

And then you kissed him.