Largofan: Hmm, I had a dream similar to this, but it didn't make enough since, at least until my Muse decided to make it into a proper story. I popped this out in about two hours and I'll just be a one shot.
L: Don't own, don't sue, no money
- Start -
Aaron Hotchner's dark eyes widen behind the mask he was wearing for the Masquerade ball being held as a fund raiser. He hadn't understood why he had been invited considering all the high ranking political figures and foreign dignitaries that where here, but Straus had forced the issue. At least he had not until now as the scent of bubble gum fills his nose and a warm, feminine body is pressed lightly against his as they dance.
"Buonasera, Agent Hotchner," the light accented voice says of the first and so far only criminal of the cases he'd worked with the BAU to permanently escape says. He looks deeply into the eyeholes of the bronze mask, which just make the green eyes peering out stand out all the more. She had teased and taunted him for close to fifteen years now.
"Good evening, Daniela. I had wondered why I was invited," he says as his mind goes back to the case those fifteen years ago.
A killer was taking out drug dealers and pimps in Oregon's largest city. They had of course thought it was a male, at least until a witness, a prostitute, had come forward and said she knew who the killer was. Daniela Rancandore, an Italian native who was wanted for the deaths of her parents and husband.
Hotchner could remember the first time they'd gotten her into the interrogation room. Long red hair with bright green streaks, cold looking green eyes in a pale white, but very pretty face and a smiling red mouth with bright, perfectly straight teeth.
"Of course I invited you my dear Agent Hotchner," she replies in a teasing, lilting tone, the same she had used back then.
The young woman had been completely unhelpful and none of the officers wanted to believe that a pretty girl was a killer. She had been in interrogation for two hours when a detective had come in.
"You're free to go Ms. Rancandore," he had said and brunette man frowns.
"Oh good, I have a spa appointment, ciao," she says, winking at Hotchner who she had been flirting with before blowing a large bubble.
"Why are you letting her go?" he had asked the detective, who gestures at the TV.
"… So far seventeen are dead in a bizarre mass killing of numerous suspected drug dealers and pimps, along with one prostitute, in the Portland area…" the reporter says.
"That prostitute was our witness and all seventeen where killed while Rancandore was in custody. I made the CSI team rush the results of the first bullet they got, and it was a match to the ones used in the other shootings," the older man had said.
"It looks like we aren't here because of a vigilante trying to clean up the streets. This is a hostile take over of territory," Rossi had said and it had been true. As they where leaving when the case had gone cold. They had passed what had to be a pimp in a dark green, fur coat.
"Do you remember our first dance?" she asks.
"I do," he replies, his eyes trailing to the scar that was hidden with makeup, but he could still make up the upraised tissue on her bare shoulder.
It had been two years later in Austin, Texas. More murders of dealers and pimps, the few that seemed immune had started wearing green and Daniela was in the city, her long, vibrant orange hair now in a stylish bob, the green streaks replaced with red and yellow, making her head look like it was on fire.
Aaron had been so sure they had her this time as they surrounded the warehouse which a witness had said was full of drugs in a plea deal. He had gone in and as they where going room to room, there hadn't been enough of them and they had broken protocol since the entire building seemed empty, not even the drugs where there which suggested that they had a leak.
He had been starting to give up hope and she had been waiting behind the door. She had knocked his gun out of his hands before hers was against his head in a movement so quick that he barely had time to register what was going on as the scent of bubble gum filled his nose and there was a pop.
"Well hello, Agent Hotchner. We meet again," she had said, circling him, the gun trailing over his skin. He had contemplated trying to wrestle it from her, but decided against it.
"You aren't going to get out of here," he had told her and she had laughed.
"Oh but I will. Today is a very special day though, shall we dance?" she asked and he had had to comply since she had a gun to his ribs. The dance had only lasted a minute before they had heard the officers coming and she had tsked.
"Well, happy birthday to me I suppose. Good bye Agent Hotchner," she had said before running. He had recovered his gun and shot at her, trying to slow her down only to graze her shoulder. It had taken two weeks for them to find the secret tunnel she had disappeared through. When Hotchner had returned home, Haley had been drinking a green soda, the scent of bubble gum in the air.
"Where did you get that?" he had asked, instantly on guard.
"An entire crate of it was delivered. I couldn't believe it, it was a special order. I hope you don't mind that I'm drinking some of it, it was addressed to you," she had said and he had known who it was from. It irked him to no end that not only had Haley liked it, but she had handed it out to the neighbors, and their kids had liked it, and it had become popular.
"So how is Jack?" she asks and from anyone else he would have taken it as a threat, but not from her.
Hotchner remembers how scared he had been as they had raced to his former house after finding out that Foyet was there and he prays that Jack and Haley are alright. He had led the way, only to find the house empty except for Haley's body and a note in green ink that merely said 'I'm sorry for your loss' before he had gotten a phone call from Haley's sister, saying she had Jack and that a pretty, red headed woman had dropped him off. He hadn't even waited for the team to get there before racing off.
"She just said that she was a friend of yours," Jessica had said as he had hugged Jack, the scent of bubble gum filling his nose and he isn't surprised that the boy had a bottle of Green Bubblegum soda. Foyet had been found a month later in pieces. The coroner had been horrified when he had realized he had been tortured and kept alive for all but the last day of that time.
"He's fine, how is Elle?" he asks, that memory still leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Elle, what are you doing here?" he had asked as he walks in, observing how his team, even Prentiss, had circled her. The woman looked very nice in a green, motorcycle jacket, jeans, and knee high boots.
"Ambassador Clemens wants you to apologize to my boss for interrogating her a few years ago. She's in your office waiting for you," she had said and Hotchner had frowned before going to his office. He had stared in shock to see her sitting behind his desk, in his chair. Her hair longer now with no streaks, but still stylishly cut and she was wearing a green felt coat.
"Hello Agent Hotchner," she had chirped.
"How?" he remembers asking. While he couldn't pin them on her, every large city in the U.S. and many in Europe had been cleaned of the competition by her and her men. Thousands of murders where staining her hands red, so how was it she was here a free woman?
"I'm a business woman Agent Hotchner, a very successful one. The American Ambassador to my homeland, Italy, wants to bring my success to this side of the pond. So that means an apology from you, my forgiveness, and then my records being destroyed," she replies and he's about to refuse when he catches sight of Strauss watching him intently, her arms crossed. With a look she tells him to play nice and he frowns.
"I'm not going to be strong armed into apologizing," he says and is surprised when Daniela smiles.
"I had thought you wouldn't. Your supervisor, Ms. Strauss has already destroyed my files and I cannot blame you for doing your job. I just wanted to see your face when you realized that I am, and always shall be, a free woman," she had said and he had frowned at her.
"And the Italian police?" he had asked, now knowing about her first three kills, which he could have held her on years ago, even if they had happened in Italy.
"I was tried and acquitted," she had said and he had felt many things. Angry that this woman, who had killed or had others kill thousands, was free to waltz into his office with out consequence. Confused as to how it could have happened, amazed really. And finally relieved. As much as he hated to admit it, even to himself. She had done what he had only wished he could do to Foyet.
"I see," he had said before he realizes that Elle was with her. "And Elle?" he asks.
"What about her? She needed a job and I needed a body guard," she had said before getting up. "Now, if you'll excuse me. Elle and I have a spa date!" she chirps and pauses as she walks past him, kissing him on the cheek. "Ciao Agent Hotchner."
"She's doing wonderful," she says and Hotch realizes she's lead him onto a balcony. "Silly Agent Hotchner, you need to pay attention when you're dancing with a woman," she chides, the hand on his shoulder moving to his neck before she's leaning up. He lets her kiss him softly on the mouth, since she had been one of the few constants in his life and she had possibly saved Jack's life.
"Hmm, I've always wanted to do that. It's to bad you and I will never work out together, Agent Hotchner, you're just my type of man," she says, kissing him again before strolling back into the ballroom. Hotch stares after her and sighs before smiling slightly. She was his type of woman, but he agreed that they would never work out. He's saved from having to return to the party when his phone rings.
"SSA Hotchner," he greets.
"Sorry to bother you Hotch, but we have a case," JJ says and he can't help the thrill of going after yet another criminal that rises up in him.
"I'll be there," he says before hurriedly leaving.
- End -
Largofan: As always, reviews are love, so please review