Aaron Hotchner And The Big Adventure
Summary: Even a mundane task can lead to a great adventure.
Notes: Answer to the "Outside of the BAU Challenge" on "CM Weekly Prompts". I chose Aaron Hotchner and got "An unexpected discovery and a lost item" assigned. Set in AU Season 8. Oh, and in this story (at least), Aaron's mother died before her husband.
Disclaimer: I still hope to find the key to the ownership, but until then, nothing you recognize in there is mine *sniffles*
As soon as he exited the car, Aaron Hotchner, Unit Chief at the BAU in Quantico, took a deep breath of fresh air. "Thanks" to the circumstance that two of his team members were down for a longer time (JJ was about to give birth any time soon, and Derek was shot during a raid with the last case), Strauss and the Director put the rest of the team on on-call duty, giving them a bit of time to catch up with life. And not for the first time since Haley's death, he was more than grateful that Jessica agreed to take Jack for a couple of days. Because, like the rest of his team, Aaron Hotchner had plans. Not as fancy as Penelope, who took a recovering Derek to a shopping and wellness trip to Florida. Or as predictable as Spencer, who flew to Las Vegas for a visit with his mother. Dave's idea of free time consisted on a trip to his cabin with Mudgie and a few hunts, paired with probably writing another chapter of his new book. No, Aarons plan were coupled with a trip down Memory Lane. After almost three years he decided to finally sell the house where… well, where they used to live as a family, and where she finally met her maker. He just had to clear out the attic and a few other rooms, do some general cleaning of the whole house and then it was ready for being put on sale.
After grabbing a few things from the apartment, Aaron made his way over to the place holding so many memories for him. As soon as he locked up the heavy oak front door, memories (good and bad ones) came flowing into his mind. But he pushed them to the back of same mind, knowing that if he let them take over, he would never get anything done in the next time. And so he proceeded up the stairs, passing the family rooms on the upper floor, until he was standing at the door to the attic. After the Foyet affair, he had thrown away the whole bunch of keys, but thanks to Jessica, who had a similar one, he could open the door now. Holding the key in his hands, Aaron hesitated for a few seconds, considering if he really should do this on his own. Maybe he should call Dave. No, Aaron answered himself, his elder friend deserved the downtime as well as anyone else. But maybe Mick Rawson and the rest of Sam Cooper's former team were available. But Aaron discarded that thought as well. He HAD to do that on his own, and no one could help him with it.
A few hours later, with the sun turning the attic into a giant oven, Aaron decided to grab one of the boxes from the East corner and head down to the former living room. He actually couldn't remember having seen them before, but then again, he hadn't been in the house for the last three years, and to the attic a few more years before that. So he chalked it up to bad memory, grabbed the first one and went down the stairs, where he had put up a small fridge with cool drinks. Helping himself to a soda can, Aaron let his eyes roam over the box. Now that he could see it in broad daylight, his interest peaked even more. Grabbing the carpet knife from the small table, he tore the binding open, more than curious about the content.
When he flapped the card box wings open, his breath caught in his throat. For once in his life, Aaron Hotchner, tough Unit Chief of the BAU's elite team, didn't dare to believe his very eyes. He actually never thought to see those things again. A picture with his mother and his brother, with all three of them actually smiling a smile that reached their eyes. A hand-written letter of recommendation from Mrs. O'Grady, his American Law and History teacher in his final year of high school. Another picture, this time showing him with Christine Gibson, his first high school sweetheart, right before the spring festival. A football, funny enough with no air inside, as a reminder of his short-lived "career" as a football player. He pulled out a few more items, things that were connected to some point in his life, but his mind couldn't place them right now. Deep down, practically on the bottom of the box, Aaron found an item he heard Sean once talking about – the long lost, elusive diary of their mother. Once again, his breath caught in his throat. He always thought that his brother made this up, being too young to actually remember a lot of his mother. Sean was only seven when she died, and what he remembered of her was not that much.
The book itself was covered in a thin layer of fabric, which reminded Aaron of a scarf his mother used to wear almost every time she had to leave the house. Being married to an abusive man made that a necessary task. Tearing the fabric away, he took in the cover. It was deep red leather, emitting a scent that was a mingle of long hot Southern summer nights, old oak wood desks and ink, mixed up with the clear "scent" of time passing. Sure, years of sitting in a box in a corner of an attic also had a hand in the scent, but Aaron soon discarded that. Opening the book, he was not only by the unique scent of his mother's lovely perfume, but also by her equally unique handwriting. A glance at the date in the right corner of the first page told him that she started to write it the year he was born, actually only a few weeks before he was brought into this world. For the first time in a long time, Aaron was really thrilled. It wasn't that kind of thrill he felt when he was on a case, the thrill of the hunt. Not it was more likely that kind of thrill when you see the girl (or the boy) of your dreams outside the school for the first time. He could remember feeling that way when he and Haley met at the lake the first day of Summer holiday. And yet, taking a headfirst dive into the innermost feelings of his mother, mingling in his mind with what he knew had happened too many times while he and Sean were growing up, made the feeling turn into the most intimate connection a son could have to his mother without being looked upon.