SWEET REVENGE
Chapter 1
The Start

"[The pub] was a revolutionary invention." - Mark Girouard


Aaron Hotchner sat down at his desk with a sigh, dropping his crutches on the floor with a clatter. Another session over for three days, The bureau had insisted he receive counselling if he wanted to return to work after only six months. And he had had to agree to it or go nuts climbing walls at home. But he hated it. He remembered having to write an appraisal on Gideon when he returned to work. He glanced out of his window into the bull pen. Who was writing his? He just hoped it wasn't Strauss.

Dave probably. That would be fine. He trusted Dave to be honest and only say that he wasn't fit to return to work if he really thought it was necessary and he wasn't.

He wondered who would be writing Reid's, although his was probably done by now, as he'd been back at work for six weeks now. He must have come out ok because he was still here.

He hated this being unsure. He hadn't liked the assignment with Gideon. He liked this situation even less.

And spending an hour twice a week answering questions like 'How do you feel about what happened to you?' (How do you think I feel; I was tortured, raped and beaten for three months, then attacked and beaten at my place of work.) 'How do you feel about Mason Lowe's body never being found?' (I hope the fishes ate him.)

Of course, that's not what he actually said.

He wished he was gifted like Reid, so that he could bluff his way through. He always came out wondering if he still had a job.

He hated this being out of control.

He needed to debrief his team. They had just finished a case that involved the kidnapping of a bank manager's family, the fourth in a row. It was quick and successful, and the team was working well. He'd read the reports, now he wanted their personal thoughts on how they could have done better. It was always a pleasant meeting, and they had got into the rather pleasant habit of going for a drink after at the end of the day, unless something else cropped up.

I hope it doesn't. I need an hour of down time with my friends.........

He picked up the phone and called Rossi.

"Debriefing in ten?"

"That's fine, Aaron. I'll let JJ know."

"Ok, I'll call the others."

He pushed his glasses onto his nose properly, picked up his crutches and got up. Opening his door had caused him the biggest problem out of everything, but he was finally getting the hang of it. At least he had managed to ditch the wheelchair now. He manhandled the door open and managed to almost fall through it. He glanced around.

Good. No one saw.

He leaned on the hand rail.

"BAU team, debriefing in the conference room in ten minutes." He announced.

He watched Emily as she pointedly didn't look at him. She had cooled off in the last few months, almost to nothing. He thought she might be embarrassed to speak to him now they were working together, and their relationship had cooled. He was sad that it was over, but not altogether surprised. No one stayed with him for long now. He suspected that his work was too angst ridden to cope with. He remembered that Garcia and Reid had embarked on a relationship, but it ended when she couldn't take the pressure.

His mind flashed back to Haley, his first and only really true love. It had been a while now, and yet she was still the touchstone that he measured any potential partner with. The only one who came close was Kate, and he felt a stab of a tear remembering her.

The first time they met he fell for her but he kept back – he wasn't free and loved Haley. Then the second time.............he could still feel her warm blood flowing over his hands as he tried to pinch off the artery.

He looked down at his hands expecting the blood to still be there

Then he hobbled his way to the conference room to get the board ready.

-0-0-0-

Reid looked up at his boss and the man he loved so desperately. He wanted to shout up to him, 'I'll look after you; just come to me.......'

But of course he didn't. Instead he pulled his messenger bag round onto his lap. He undid the buckles and took out the file of the last case.

His arm still ached even after all this time, but he hadn't mentioned it to anyone. There's no way he wanted physiotherapy on it. That hurt more than the break.

He pulled the file out of the bag, and made his way over to the conference room.

He still felt guilty about his replacement having to step down and return to the field office he was assigned from. He wanted to tell Hotch he felt bad about it. Any excuse for initiating a conversation.

He hoped they were going for drinks after – it had become almost a tradition – he needed to stay very sober though. He didn't want to make a pass at him........well he did, but he didn't.

Dammit, why was life so dammed complicated?........

-0-0-0-

Morgan watched him go. He had ten minutes. And he could probably remember all his notes word for word anyway.

He reached for his own notes, momentarily forgetting the pain in his shoulder from the gunshot. He winced as the pain caught him, and hoped no one noticed. The last thing he wanted was to be carted off to therapy – physio or any other kind!

He waited a few minutes, taking the time to flick through his notes. It was straight forward enough, except they could have introduced the profile sooner than they did. It would not have affected the final outcome, but might have shortened the anxiety time for the Parker family.

He got up and followed Reid.

-0-0-0-

Emily was uncomfortable. She was still in love with Aaron, but she couldn't give him what he wanted and needed. He was way too intense for her, and it was moving too fast. She wasn't used to the passion he had. That same passion with which he approached his work overflowed into his personal life.

Most women would jump at it, she thought, but it was too much for her.

She knew that Aaron still had feelings for her. She caught him watching her sometimes. He always looked away as soon as she met his eyes, but she knew.

She picked up her notes and headed off to the conference room.

-0-0-0-

The meeting was brief and fairly informal. The team always liked the debriefing. There were always improvements to be made, new lessons to be learned, and they all wanted to improve their work. Their work was other people's salvation. The better they were at their work, the more lives they could save.

But few cases went as well as the Parker case

They all closed their note books and the sound of happy chatter and chairs scraping the floor filled the room.

It's like the bell has rung and it's home time, thought Aaron, back at school again on a wave of unpleasant memories. Glancing around his team, he wondered how many if any had nostalgic memories of childhood. He knew Reid and Emily had lonely childhoods, and Morgan had memories that he would rather didn't surface. He knew surprisingly little about JJ and Dave's young days, but he wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't something that hurt to remember.

And Penelope Garcia........what of her? She reminded him of a girl he got close to once at high school. Not to look at – Dharma had been a skinny kid with scruffy hair, and waited at the gate for him at the end of each day; he never found out if she went to school but she wasn't daft. Her parents were hippies too, a happy go lucky childhood full of fun. Hotch wondered how Garcia could look at the images she saw day to day. He had told Strauss once that she surrounded herself with fluffy images and toys to keep her sane, the latest addition being a huge poster of baby pandas. A smile flicked across his face as he remembered seeing it for the first time.

He packed up his files and notes and followed the others out of the room. Morgan went to collect his Baby Girl, and five minutes later they were by the lift ready to go. They always all took their own cars so they could go straight home afterwards, or leave their cars in the pub car park and share a cab to go home, depending on how much they decided to drink. But Aaron still couldn't drive. He slung his crutches into the back of Dave's car and went with him.

Hotch decided he was gong to drink a lot tonight. He felt lonely, although surrounded by friends. Sitting at the table later, he cast Reid a sidelong look and saw he was watching him again. He knew very well the feelings Reid had for him, and he was flattered, but he wasn't sure if he wanted his life to go that way. He had decided no more relationships – ever – at work or otherwise. He didn't want a reputation as a tart, although he thought if he had a relationship with Reid, it would be for life.

As he got a little more drunk his thoughts became uncoordinated and a little silly so he decided to stop thinking and laugh for a bit.

Might even be something funny to laugh at........

The current comic relief was Reid doing impressions of FBI Agents. His current one was Strauss – If it was up to me, Agent – and it had everyone in laughing. Then he got up to get drinks, and he did a Morgan Strut to the bar and they all screamed – except Morgan who didn't recognise himself.

"I don't walk like that, do I? Do I walk like that? I don't.....do I?"

When he was answered 'yes' from all sides, he started to laugh too.

But it was the Dave Rossi Slouch on the way back from the bar that had them crying.

"How do you do it?" Garcia said between her tears.

"I am an observer of people." He said, perfectly mimicking Hotch's intonation, right down to the head tilt and eye brow flash. Hotch smiled. He really was pretty good.

"Let's see you do the girls then!" Garcia said.

"Hey Sweet Cheeks, talk dirty to me." he answered, sending them into hysterics.

That was when the barman came over and asked them to keep the noise down.

"Oh sorry." Dave said grinning. "We will."

"That would look good in tomorrow's paper. 'Seven Feds get slung out of local pub for raucous behaviour."

"Poor Erin would have apoplexy!" Morgan said.

"Maybe we should leave anyway." Dave said. "Back to my place. Dogs are safe. I've fed them this week."

"Sounds cool." Garcia said.

"Yeah, Me too." Emily said.

As they collected their things together, two uniformed police officers came into the pub. Aaron watched as they went to the barman who pointed out the little group. The two cops made their way over to them.

"Which of you is Agent Aaron Hotchner?"

"That's me." Hotch said, pushing himself to his feet with his crutches. "What can I do for you?"

"I am afraid we have some bad news, Sir. You might want to sit down."

"No, I'm ok. What has happened?"

"It's your wife Haley, Sir. There's been an accident. I'm afraid she's dead."

Aaron sat back down, his eyes wide with shock. His friends fell silent.

"W-what......how.....what happened?"

"She lost control of her car Sir, and it hit a tree."

"My son! Jack. What about Jacky?"

"The attending officers are trying to locate your son. You see, the car caught fir. There is very little left. We don't know if he was in the car at the time."

"And Haley......are you sure?......"

One of the officers touched his shoulder.

"We are so sorry for your loss, Agent Hotchner."