"Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul." ~ David Pelzer

Since Aaron became a father, he absolutely hated it more when cases involved children, especially young children. If it were up to him, all the people who abused children would never see the light of day again and they were sterilized because they do not deserve to have children ever again. After dealing with cases involving children, he would go to Jack and just hold him tight, promising himself that all those horrible people will get what they deserve. One way or the other. He could tell that his team felt the same way as he noticed the looks of anger and hurt that flashed in their eyes when they heard that the case revolved around the murder of a child or a kidnapping. That is another reason why he joined the FBI to rid the streets of the cruel psychopaths who wander the streets, sure he could have joined the police force but he wanted to go around to other places to get rid of the monsters. He wanted to see the difference he was making in country even if it was only for a small group of people, it was worth losing sleep over. The looks on the families faces when they are reunited with loved ones after a kidnapping, if they were lucky or to see the families get the closure that they needed. To see that the person who committed the crime was stopped either by a bullet or thrown behind bars, there was one less person to hunt down.

Doing paper work and running his fingers through his hair yet again, it stressed him out every time he looked at old case files, looking at the pictures of the victims who died too soon at the hands of some deranged person who snapped due to various reasons. Getting into the mind of the criminals was difficult at times because it wasn't always easy to pinpoint why they snapped or why they killed in a certain fashion until enough evidence popped up to give point them in the right direction. Nothing really surprised Aaron anymore he has seen it all, kind of, sure he was still human but working in the FBI meant that you needed tough skin and never be taken by surprise. It was a very demanding job that could take it's toll on your health and relationships with people who were not working there. Which is exactly what happened to Aaron but he never thought about that during work hours since any little distraction could throw him off track which would cause way too much problems.

During all this he failed to see or hear David enter the room, holding two cups of coffee in his hands, they both really needed to take a small break from work or else they would burn out. Although Dave would have felt even better if they could all go out to grab a bite to eat but a case could come in at any moment and any meal would be set aside or tossed out because they couldn't fully enjoy it.

"Aaron?" David Rossi's voice called out, snapping Aaron back to reality with a slight tap on the desk after setting the cup down when he realised that the unit chief was lost deep in his thoughts. Sometimes it could be unsettling whenever Dave called him 'Aaron' cause that always meant that they'd be talking about something that Hotch really would not want to be talking about at least on duty while he had to be the boss and not really a friend. He had an image to maintain and his walls will only come down after work, where the stern gaze of the higher ups were no longer on him, the BAU wasn't always the favourite. Sometimes they did not always play by the rules when it came to catching UnSubs..

Aaron looked up, his hand dropping from his head and grabbed the cup of coffee that was offered with a small smile on his face, that is just what he needed right now. Keeping himself composed because he did not want to get into any awkward conversations with his friend, Aaron decided to act nonchalant as he spoke hoping that Dave would take the hint.

"Can I help you Dave?" Aaron decided to give a verbal response instead of waiting for his friend to continue to speak, putting the pen he was using, down on top of the form he was filling out.

Naturally the other man simply sat down, leaning forward as he studied the unit chief's face before speaking again, his words coming out slowly as he made sure they were heard correctly and the other man understood that he wanted the truth. Dave only wanted to help, an agent who was distracted by something was a dangerous agent plus he was really worried about his friend. Sometimes it was hard seeing Hotch like this because Dave remembers the earlier days of the BAU where it was Aaron Hotchner who was just a new agent and trying to get into the swing of things. He would smile sometimes at work and let others see who he was whenever they were working on a case but over the years everything was changing as he started climbing up the ladder. Dave thought things would go back to normal after a while but they never did even when Hotch and Haley had their son Jack, some days everything seemed worse but he made a promise that he would keep Hotch from burning out completely.

"What's wrong Aaron?" Dave focused intently on the other mans face, lying now would not go over well, it could just makes things more annoying for Aaron later. Completely just dropping the act because no matter how hard he could try, it would be next to impossible to hide anything from Dave, the man is disgustingly good at what he does.

"Some of these cases are just difficult Dave, the ones dealing with children I mean, sometimes it just hits too close to home. More so when the kids are close to Jack's age. I know we do everything we can to help but sometimes feel like its not enough, like every time we put one abuser away another pops up to take their place. Its an endless cycle of pain and suffering for those children." Aaron kept his voice even when he spoke but the other man probably heard the pain and anger, probably saw the emotions clearly in his demeanor.

Dave listened carefully, watching Aaron as he spoke, taking the words in and nodding a little. Of course he understood where the man was coming from, Dave too had a lot of trouble dealing with those cases as well because who in their right mind could stand to see an innocent child suffer like that or see their corpse on the ground without feeling remorse or anger. Well actually Dave and Aaron knew what kind of person could do that but those actions are still do not give anyone the right to kill. Every agent, police officer and coroners felt the pain and maybe anger whenever they saw the child's corpse on the ground. Victims who died too soon. Too violently. Not only children's corpses, everyone deserves to live.

"I know Aaron but we do everything, everything, in our power to end the violence to the child. Sure sometimes it may not be ideal but for that child and any other remaining family member we have made things so much better. All we need to do is working hard at putting more of those bastards away into prison. You can't beat yourself up too much, we are making a huge difference in the world." Dave leaned back now as he spoke quietly still, slightly pleased that this time around Aaron did not try to hide what he was thinking from the old profiler because one way or the other he would have gotten an answer.

Aaron sat there while thinking of what Dave had said, he was right of course but it was still difficult to bear because his paternal instincts kept kicking in, he wanted and needed to protect children regardless of who they were but he couldn't always do that. Made it just as hard when Jack called him a superhero thinking that Aaron always saved people, not knowing the true horrors he had to face on a daily basis but he would make sure that Jack never knew that pain. Childhood was something that ended quickly, in the parents case, but every lesson and experience carried on for the rest of that child's life. Good and bad.

"Dave I know but its just that- Oh excuse me. Agent Hotchner." Aaron started but was interrupted by a phone call, when he answered he was quickly filled in on a new case. Standing up slowly as JJ stood in the doorway holding up some files that just came in, motioning with his head he silently ordered the two other agents into the conference room.

Everyone else seemed to pick up on the change in the three agents as they made their way from the bullpen to the conference room, Aaron took the files from JJ and looked them over. Internally grimacing as he noticed that one of the victims was a teenager and the other was a child. Everyone was settled into the conference room to quickly go over the new case when they heard a scream..

To be continued...

Authors Note: I have an idea on where I want this to go but it is hard to actually write it down coherently. I am new to writing Criminal Minds fanfiction and well new to the show as well. I just finished season one but I have watched random episodes from random seasons on tv. (also did a lot of research on the characters so I can kind of keep it accurate but they may be different cause I am a new-ish writer.) I am so sorry! I will update when I can finish the next chapter. It will be longer and better detail. Also I am wondering if I am going to add quotes at the beginning and ending of the story just like in the show but its hard cause I want the story and quote to easily go together instead of looking like I just slapped it on for the sake of having a quote. If you like it or not please let me know!