I do not own Criminal Minds.

Please note that casefics are not my thing when it comes to writing, so that won't be a huge focus.

This is also my first AU ever.

An orphanage is no place for a teenager, he knew this much, but no foster parents wanted to deal with a child who was the unfortunate witness to his own family's death, they all thought he would be too difficult, with nightmares and all. Running away was simply not an option, at least here he had a roof over his head and three square meals a day. The man who took his family from him was no longer among the living, from what he last heard anyway. It didn't make him feel any better though, it didn't change the fact that his family is gone, and he'll never get them back, nothing will. He ate only what was necessary, despite pushing from the caregivers. He preferred to stay secluded from the other kids, all of which were much younger than him, they should all consider themselves lucky, none of them watched their family slip away to death.

Aaron didn't like all the noise the younger kids made either, he didn't even watch TV much when it was 'movie time', he better enjoys the quiet, he'll read a book on occasions, but children's books can get a little boring after awhile. Unlike the youngsters, he was allowed to go for walks every so often, though it did take a lot of convincing. As promised though, he always came back at the designated time, but sometimes he was tempted to just run, where to, he did not know, but he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand living at an orphanage full of screaming, yelling kids. He had no friends of any sort, so he only talked when spoken to, or he really needed something.

He was renowned for his ability to compartmentalize, he learned from an early age on how to stay and appear strong, even during hard or tragic times. His facial expression was stoic, stern, and to most of the kids and some of the caregivers, unnerving. He didn't care though, just as long as they didn't see him break down during the few times he actually has before, he was fine with however people saw him, unless that way involved 'that teenage boy that watched his family get murdered. Poor kid' Aaron hated sympathy with a passion, he wished people would stop talking about it, it's not going to make him feel any better, in fact, it makes him feel worse, it only reminds him more and more that he has nobody in the world.

The man who committed the crime never got punished for what he did, once his identity was confirmed, a warrant was issued for his arrest, but he never once stepped one foot in jail cell, they never even found him. He practically disappeared off the face of the Earth, and finally, he was considered dead. Aaron could only hope the man was burning in hell for what he did, and what he took from him. Sometimes he wished he'd been killed too, at least then he would be with his family still, only a couple times when it got really bad did he ever consider suicide, but he never made one effort to try, the orphanage was bad enough, and he didn't need to end up in a facility, he already felt like he was imprisoned by the images that haunted him, the screams of his dying family.

Aaron sighed and ran a hand over his short, dark hair, life is tough, but this was ridiculous, Every time potential parents came in, they always overlooked him, the very few who actually studied him before however, were always scared away after the caregivers told them about his past.

This is it, this is how his life would be it seemed, only until he's an adult, but where would he go from there? He was alone in this big old world, no other relatives ever came to claim him, and as far as he knew, they were all dead too, but at least none of them had been murdered unless dying from old age, cancer or other ailments counted.

He was like a one man family now, forever without someone to care for him, he was stuck at this awful place until he was 18, not that life after that will be much better. Nothing will change his fate, no matter what people say to him, absolutely nothing.

Aaron turned around when he noticed one of the caretakers and two police officer's at the door.

"Hey, Rossi, where's everyone else?" Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid asked as he strolled into the bullpen, clad in his typical dress shirt, tie, and sweater vest, the strap to his messenger bag hung on his shoulder and a large steaming cup of coffee was held in one hand.

"Gideon and the others are in the conference room, we got a case." David Rossi replied. Spencer nodded and followed him up to where the rest of the team were seated, Reid and Rossi took a seat themselves before Derek Morgan, a dark skinned man spoke up.

"So, what's this case about, JJ?"

JJ, a blonde woman, cleared her throat and began to hand everyone a case file. "Do any of you remember the Hotchner case?"

"I do." Jason Gideon said as he opened up the file he was handed, he was aged like Rossi, but he didn't have quite as much hair. "That was ten years ago, the unsub was identified as George Foyet, he killed both parents, and two out of the three children. Foyet went missing and after a few years, he was presumed dead."

"Well, that seems to have changed now," JJ said as she pressed a button on a remote and images appeared on the screen. She explained how another family had been killed, this time with no survivors or witnesses. Investigators found DNA evidence that matched George Foyet's.

"In the same area too?" Emily Prentiss mused. "Foyet obviously isn't as dead as people thought he was."

"Or wished he was." Morgan smirked slightly.

"The only survivor of the first murder, the Hotchner's younger son, Aaron, where is he now?" Spencer asked.

"After some given therapy, he was placed in an orphanage where he's lived at for the rest of his life so far, he has no living family or relatives, and by now, he's fourteen." Derek said.

"When they found Foyet's DNA, Aaron was removed from the orphanage and into protective custody. He's at the police station over there right now." JJ added. "I was told that he won't talk to anyone though."

"Perhaps the boy knows something he didn't tell anyone before that might help catch his family's killer." Gideon suggested.

"If he doesn't talk, that's not going to be easy." Prentiss sighed.

"It doesn't hurt to try." Rossi said.

"Let's head over that way." Jason rose up from his seat. "Wheel's up in thirty."

To be continued...

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