AN: My first ever Criminal Minds fanfic! Bizarrely, I've started with a Hayley one, despite the fact that I ship Hotch/JJ! Be kind, and reviews will be rewarded with more fics!
He's barely in the door, barely home for the first time in nine days, when the phone rings. It's been a hard case for him, she knows, she saw the photos of the last victim, who looked just like Jack. She shudders at the thought and tamps down the temptation to stick her head round her sleeping child's bedroom door for the umpteenth time that night.
Aaron sighs, lifting his arm from around her shoulders and moving towards his briefcase. His space on the couch isn't even warm yet. The pizza in front of them is missing just the one slice, and she idly thinks that she should make him take it with him when he leaves - and she's not kidding herself, she knows he was mentally out that door the second the phone rang - because Aaron has a tendency to look underfed at the best of times.
Hayley watches her husband lean against the doorframe, eyes closed. She can hear JJ's voice on the other end of the phone, though not the words. Where is he going this time, she thinks.
She feels as though something's come unscrewed on the inside of her, rattling loose. It's worry for her husband, worry that one of these days he's going to come back in pieces, or a body bag. Worry for her son, who doesn't see enough of his dad, who needs a dad. Worry for herself, worry that his refusal to quit this job, or move to a different department is somehow indicative of a lack of commitment. Then she worries that she's a bitch these days. He's doing good, she knows he is.
Aaron leaves the room and she knows it's to get his gun from the wall safe. Their night is over now. Hayley gets up, going through the motions of clearing up, turning off the television, all interest in the procedural show they were watching has evaporated.
He comes back in, armoured in his suit jacket once more, and tells her in passing that JJ is picking him up, less than two minutes away. He doesn't give any more details and before she can ask for them, the girl on the phone is demanding his attention again.
Realistically, she knows she could lose Aaron to JJ. God knows that the younger woman is her husband's type, she's pretty, damn it, and they've always had a soft spot for each other. And every time she called, Hayley almost wished they were having a real affair; at least then he wouldn't come home with a gunshot wound. More realistically though, she knows it's nothing as tangible as a woman that's stealing her husband away, it's the job.
A car honks from the drive and he has his briefcase and is almost out the door, slipping away from her, just a few words left behind: "tell Jack I love him" and "I'm sorry".
She hears the shrill, bitter words thrown at her husband's suited back as he leaves once more, hardly believing they're hers, and she wonders what the hell happened to her, when did she turn into this shrew? When did she stop liking him, but more importantly: when did she stop liking herself?
She thinks he is lucky that he has JJ, always just a phone call away, he's going to need a friend. Hayley thinks to herself, as she watches the lights of the car fade down the quiet street, that she has finally reached the breaking point.
