Hey everybody, this is only my second fic and I am hoping that it turns out okay! I'm not sure what direction I'm going to take it, but please message me or leave a review if you have any ideas!
I don't think this is going to be a very long story, probably only a few chapters. Enjoy!
The streets near downtown Quantico Virginia were alive with the hollering of young couples who had too much to drink, and the busy soundtrack to a Friday night. The streets were crowded with young and naïve people, people who haven't experienced the real horrors of life, he thought.
Despite the overflowing sidewalks and lines out the door to the several night clubs lining the busy street, SSA Aaron Hotchner had no troubles maneuvering through the streets. People deliberately parted ways for him no matter where he was, and tonight he thanked his lucky starts for it. Having to push and shove his way through the crowded entryway of the 'Down Under Tavern' was not something that he particularly had in mind for this evening. It had been one hell of a week at the BAU, and it was because of this that he had managed to persuade Strauss to let the team have a long weekend taking Friday off, and making sure that they were not called back to the office for a case no matter what. It was for this reason, that when an old friend of his back from his lawyer days called to see if he wanted to meet for a drink or two to catch up, he agreed. It wasn't often that he found he had the time, or energy for such things. Since Haley's death, he hadn't spent much time having fun, not that he really did before either. But now, almost a year later, the wounds were slowly starting to heal, and he knew that it was time to move on.
Several Hours later, he was standing outside the Tavern once again, waving to the retreating form of his old friend. Having gotten caught up in the reunion, they had both been astonished to see that by the time they had run out of things to talk about, it was past 11 o'clock. He had told Jessica that he would probably be out late since they hadn't seen each other in over a year, but decided that he might as well head home even though his son would have already been fast asleep. Pulling his coat over his shoulders, he decided that getting some fresh air before returning home wouldn't be a bad idea. Turning down the street, he was engulfed in his own thoughts of the case they had just finished. Cases involving children were always the hardest.
Stuck in his own head, he was confused when something abruptly pulled him away from his thoughts. Standing still, he spun around trying to figure out what it was that he had obviously picked up on. Just as he was about to resume walking, he heard it again. A woman's voice that was coming out of the still active bar across the street from where he was standing. Crossing the street, he found himself being drawn in by the voice, wanting to hear it more clearly, as it was just a faint background noise at the moment. There was something intriguing, inviting, and oddly familiar about it, but he couldn't place it. He was just approaching the entrance when he heard the song come to an end, and the woman say her good-nights to the crowd. Picking up his pace and walking through the open door, a rush of noise and the strong smell of alcohol and food assaulted his senses. Having never heard or even taken note of the place, he wasn't surprised to see that it wasn't very crowded. In fact, the majority of the people in the bar seemed to be older like him self, and judging from the interactions with the bar tender, they were probably all habitual customers. Judging from the still applauding audience, he knew that the woman who had been singing must had just left the stage. Feeling an unusual desperateness to finding her, his eyes began scanning the small crowd.
The bar was larger than he had thought it to be before coming in, and he could now see that the room consisted of an open bar that ran the width of the room on one end, facing the generously sized checkered dance floor. Surrounding the other three sides were spaced out tables, most of which that were full. And finally, perpendicular to the bar and on the opposite end of the room was the stage, complete with multiple instruments and musicians. Hope quickly fading on finding her, he started to move towards the bar in hopes of grabbing a quick drink before heading home. It had been over an hour since he and his friend had parted ways, and he felt no hurry to get home quite yet. And if he was honest with himself, he was probably staying in anticipation that the woman might make an appearance again.
After spending another forty-five minutes slowly sipping on his beer, he turned in exasperation towards the bar tender.
"Excuse me." He said, looking towards the bar tender who was making a drink for a blonde biker chick who was probably a few years older than himself.
Definitely wouldn't want to pick a fight with her, he thought dryly.
After a few moments, the bar tender made his way over to him with a tight smile on his face.
"What can I do for ya?"
"I was just wondering if you could tell me who it was that was singing in here earlier tonight?"
Giving him a knowing smirk, he replied, "No can do sir."
Confusion quickly skittering across his face he asked, "Why not?"
"I was giving strict orders by the lady herself, and I repeat, 'no giving out any information on me to random creeps in your bar.'"
Letting out an amused snort, he was disappointed that the man couldn't provide any helpful information, but he couldn't deny that it wasn't a good move on her part. He was intrigued that the woman would have been cautious enough to specifically tell this to the bar tender.
Seeing the briefly amused, and then disappointed look across his face, the bar tender decided that the man looked fairly trustworthy, although he had never seen him before. After spending most of his adult life running the bar, he had acquired fairly good skills when it cam to judging peoples character.
"Tell you what though, I happen to personally know the fine lady that was up there tonight, and I can tell you that she just happens to be a regular here, and if you come here every so often on weekends you just might see her again." The bar tender said with a wink.
Chuckling slightly, Aaron extended his hand towards the man in front of him. "Well in that case, it looks like we might be seeing a lot of each other," he said with a sly smile. "Aaron Hotchner."
Grinning in return to his statement, he decided. Oh yeah, definitely like this guy.
"Tom Cooper. Nice to meet you."
"Well, I might as well get out of here, as it seems I have been waiting around for someone who clearly isn't here. Thank you for your help." Aaron said, standing up from his stool.
"See you around," replied Tom, with a slight smirk.
Slowly walking towards the doorway with slightly higher spirits, he was stopped by the hand of the same blonde woman who was sitting at a table near the entryway with three other tough looking men, complete with long hair, bandanas, and leather pants.
"Hey, wait a minute son." Said the raspy voice of the woman still touching his arm.
"Yes Ma'am?"
His response was greeted with a chorus of chuckling from around the table. "Ma'am huh? You call this old fart a Ma'am? I think she hardly passes as a Ma'am." Said the still laughing form of the man sitting across form her at the table.
"Shut up Steve." Replied the woman, jokingly putting him in his place before turning back to the young man standing in front of her.
"Call me Sherry," she said loudly with a pleasant smile that didn't quite fit her ragged facial features. Motioning for him to sit down, he hesitantly complied.
"Aaron." He replied, sticking out his hand towards a stranger for the second time that night, while pulling up a chair next to the woman.
"Tell me Aaron, we couldn't help but overhear your conversation with ol' Tom over there. What's this about the young lady on stage tonight?"
Confused as to their interest in his and Tom's conversation, he slowly replied, "I didn't get a chance to really listen to her sing, I just heard the music as I was walking by outside."
"Oh, I see. And you want to know who she is?" she inquired with a growing smirk.
"Well… yes actually, I do."
"I see. Well, you seem to me like a nice young man. I'll give you a little hint before you leave."
Interested in what the woman had to say, he raised an eyebrow slightly as his only reply.
"Come back next Saturday, she'll be here."
"How do you know that?"
"Well, it just so happens that pretty much everyone in here right now knows the girl who was singing tonight. She's one fine gal. No nonsense kind of person, and a regular here. We all know her. She'll put anyone out of line back in his or her place in a heartbeat, that girl." She stated.
Sure enough, looking up he noticed that sever heads of similar looking customers had their heads turned towards them, discretely trying to pick up on their conversation. In fact if he wasn't so accustomed to noticing peoples behavior, he may not have noticed it at all. Clearly very fond of the woman, her description only captivated him more, and made him even more eager to find out who she was.
She sounds like someone I want to meet, he thought to himself.
"Well thank you for your help, Sherry. I'll be here. "
"Knew you would lad," she said with another firm handshake and a quick smile as he stood up and walked out the door.
Walking out of the tavern, he looked up at the glowing sign above his head, making sure that he could find it again. Tom & Sherry's he read. Hah. Creative. She must have been a co-owner of the bar, he thought to himself.
Walking along the block, he whistled and waved his hand to flag down a cab as it drove towards him. Getting in, he told the man in the front seat his address absentmindedly, all the while thinking of the voice he had heard.
Why am I so attracted to her voice? This is ridiculous. I haven't even seen her! There was something so memorable about it... I can't place it. It just seems…familiar somehow. Like I've heard it before. No, no. that's not possible, I definitely would have remembered hearing her singing before. I just can't get it out of my head…. This is ridiculous Aaron, get a grip! He scolded himself. You aren't some love struck teenager! You haven't even met her for crying out loud!
So immersed in his own thoughts, he didn't even realize that the car was snow sitting still, and was parked in front of his house.
"Is there a problem, Sir? Sir?"
"Oh! Right, sorry." Aaron replied, quickly snapped out of his wondering thoughts. "How much?"
"$12.74 please."
"Right. Here you go, keep the change." He said, handing the cabbie a ten and a five before stepping out of the car onto the curb. Taking a moment to regain his thoughts, he took a deep breath and watched the cab pull away from the sidewalk. Turning around, he slowly made his way down the path to his house, and quietly entered, careful as to not wake anyone up. To his surprise, he found Jessica reading at the kitchen table with the dull glow of the dinning room chandelier turned on low.
Looking up from her book when she saw him enter, she slowly stood up and stretched. "Hey Aaron, how was your evening?"
"It was good, we had a good time. What are you doing still up?" He asked curiously, as Jessica knew full well that she was welcome to stay in the guest bedroom if she wanted, especially seeing that he was home so late.
"Oh, I just decided to wait up for you. I think I'm actually going to head home tonight."
"Oh, Alright. Thank you so much for watching Jack, I really appreciate it."
"Of course." She replied with a tired smile. "I'm going to head out now if you don't mind."
"Not at all, have a good weekend Jessica." He said, watching her retreating form slip out the front door.
Removing his shoes, he tiptoed quietly down the hallway towards his son's room. Pushing in the slightly ajar door, he stepped in, careful not to wake his son. Placing a kiss to the forehead of the sleeping figure, he made his way back out and into his own bedroom.
In spite of having given himself a rather harsh mental scolding, he could do nothing to prevent the voice of the woman coming back into his head while lying in bed that night. Despite his futile attempts to stop it, his mind kept conjuring up images, trying to make up a face that matched the voice he had permanently etched into his brain. With these pleasant thoughts, he easily drifted into a restful sleep that was surprising not filled with a single nightmare of what he faced on a day-to-day basis.