A/N: You know how it is when an idea hits you for a story while you're already working on a story. Well, it happened to me. I couldn't wait to put this one out. So I now have two stories going at the same time. I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters. Only the OCs are mine. Criminal Minds is the property of The Mark Gordon Company, ABC Studios, and CBS Paramount Network Television. I only own the DVDs.
Till Death Do Us Part
"I don't know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change." - Nicholas Sparks
Chapter 1-The Telephone Call
She had been running on the treadmill in her favorite gym a short distance from her home when the call came. The telephone call came from the police, insisting she come home right away; there had been an incident involving her husband. Haley Hotchner drove as fast as she dared while keeping within the speed limit, her mind racing the entire time. When she arrived home, she exited her vehicle seconds after turning off the engine. Still in her sweat pants and tank top, she hurried towards the front door as fast as her legs would move. As she got closer, she saw the yellow crime scene tape blocking the entrance. There were also the police squad cars, and two black SUVs she recognized as belonging to her husband's team. But what were the police doing at her house? Why all the police activity? And why crime scene tape in front of her home? She felt her heart drop into her stomach realizing whatever the reason, it couldn't be good. She quickened her pace.
As she got closer to the taped off area, she and David Rossi spotted each other at the same time. He ducked under the tape and met her before she reached the house. He grabbed her by the shoulders and led her away from the house.
"You don't want to go inside," he said, his voice and face full of the same pain as in his heart. "Trust me when I say you don't want to go in there right now."
Haley's tear-filled eyes looked up into Rossi's eyes. What was in them scared her. "David…what's happened? Where's Aaron? Why are the police in my home?"
"Haley, listen to me." Rossi swallowed the lump in his throat. "There's been an incident in your home. There were shots fired. I'm afraid Aaron is dead."
"No!" she shrieked as her hand flew to her mouth and tears spilled down her cheeks. "No! Not Aaron! You're lying! Not my Aaron!" She screamed struggling to break free of the older man's hold on her, before burying her face in Rossi's chest. He wrapped his arms around her holding her close against him as sobs wracked her body. He rested his chin on top of her head as tears rolled down his own cheeks and his lower lip trembled.
"Cry as much as you have to, Haley. Let it all out." He rested a hand against the back of her blond head and held her head against his chest.
"I…I want to see him. Please, David. I want to see him."
"That's not a good idea," Rossi's voice stammered as he struggled to control himself. "You don't want to remember Aaron that way."
"Rossi?" a familiar voice called out to him. Rossi looked around and spied a crying Jennifer Jareau approaching, the whites of her blue eyes red and her eyes puffy. Behind her walked Dr. Spencer Reid, hands stuffed in his corduroy pants. Reid's tear-filled hazel eyes showed he was struggling to keep from crying. He wanted to be strong for JJ. He chewed his lower lip to keep control of his emotions, but he was losing the struggle. JJ touched Haley's arm and looked at Rossi. "Rossi, they need you inside for a minute." Rossi nodded but hated to leave Haley at this time. He looked at the media liaison.
"JJ, can you…" he gestured with his head at the woman in his arms.
"Sure." JJ took hold of the shattered woman and eased her away from Rossi enveloping her in her own arms. She rested her own cheek on the top of Haley's head as the woman continued to sob. "It'll be okay," she said, rubbing gentle circles on the woman's back. "It'll be all right." JJ looked over Haley's head at Reid who swallowed hard and blinked back his own tears.
"What am I going to tell, Jack?" Haley said in a muffled voice with her face buried in JJ's chest. "He loves his daddy so much. What do I say to him when I don't understand what happened. Aaron can't be dead! JJ, tell me its not true!" Her cries became more intense.
Rossi, hands stuffed in his pockets, walked inside the house, his eyes darting around taking in the scene in the living room. The entire room was in a shambles with blood drops on the floor. Rossi's eyes darted from the drops and focused on Morgan leaning against the fireplace, one hand running over his bald dome, cheeks stained from tears.
"Sometimes life hurts like hell, doesn't it?" Rossi asked the black agent. Morgan looked at the older man, the pain clear on his face.
"How can somebody do this to Hotch, Rossi? How? I mean, c'mon. Sure, we've all made enemies with the work we do, but this level of violence? This was as personal as it gets." He ran a hand down his face. "He didn't deserve this." Without warning, Morgan slammed a fist against the wall so hard, the older man feared the agent had broken his hand. "Damn!" Morgan shouted, turning away for a minute. When he turned back, his wet eyes were filled with rage. "I want this guy, Rossi. I want him, and when I get him, he's gonna wish he had never been born." He cracked his knuckles indicating what he meant. "When we get him in the interrogation room, just step outside and turn the camera off for five minutes."
Rossi didn't speak for a few seconds. The older man understood how Morgan felt because he felt the same way. He wanted to save the taxpayers the price of a trial. He let out a deep breath. "I understand how you feel, Morgan. And I would like nothing better than to give you those five minutes. But that's not how Hotch would want us to handle things. He taught us to be better than that."
"Don't tell me how Hotch would want us to handle things!" Morgan raised his voice. "And don't stand there and tell me you don't want a piece of this dirt bag yourself! Hell, Hotch was a friend of yours for over twenty years, man. So don't stand there and preach to me about self-control!"
"I'm not. All I'm saying is that we need to exercise self-control if we're gonna find this bastard. Morgan, you have to think of Haley and Jack right now. How would they feel? Do you want Jack to grow up believing it's okay to kill people who hurt the people he loves? That's not what Hotch would want us to teach his son."
Morgan let out a deep breath. Rossi was right. But damn! This hurt like hell. He looked at the older agent. "I get you, man." Morgan shook his head. "Rossi, I grew up in a single parent home. How do we tell that little boy his daddy's never coming home again? Hotch was his hero. How do we keep from shattering that little boy's world?"
"His world's going to be destroyed and it can't be helped. All we can do is help Jack and Haley as much as we can. We owe Hotch that."
Morgan rubbed the back of his neck as he fought to get control of his anger. "I get it," he said.
"Good. Besides Hotch, we owe that little boy to catch the bad guy who took his daddy away. And I'm gonna need your head in this completely."
"You got me."
A small smile crossed Rossi's face and faded. "Where's Emily?"
Morgan shrugged. "She went out the back to get a breath of air. She's taking this harder than the rest of us, man." Rossi nodded, and walked past Morgan, patting the agent on the back as he did so. Morgan would be all right. Right now his concern was Emily Prentiss.
Walking to the back door, Rossi stood in the doorway leading to the sundeck, and watched the raven-haired agent leaning against the railing. Prentiss stared at the sun rising above the trees in the distance, arms folded across her chest. So oblivious to everything she didn't hear Rossi approach from behind until he stood beside her. He watched the sunrise indicating the start of what should have been just another day.
"Beautiful sunrise," Rossi said. From the corner of his eye, he could see the woman was fighting her emotions and trying not to cry.
"Looks can be deceiving sometimes," Prentiss replied not looking at him. "Sometimes it can be the start of a nightmare instead. Take today for example."
Rossi sighed but kept his eyes on the rising sun. "Today is not a good day. And neither will the next few days be good days. Probably longer than that."
Prentiss didn't answer. She tilted her head and continued watching the sunrise.
"I keep hoping when I go back inside, Hotch will be in his living room. He'll smile, and tell us this was all just a bad dream. But that's not going to happen, is it, Rossi?"
"Fraid not." Rossi looked at the woman, and saw tears rolling down her cheeks, and her lower lip trembling. "It's okay to cry, Emily. We're not machines. One of our own has been taken from us and it's okay to grieve."
Prentiss lost it then. She fell against Rossi's body and buried her face in his shirt, clinging to his jacket tightly. Her entire body shook as sobs wracked her body. Rossi held her close. "Shhhh, princess. Just let it out. Don't try and compartmentalize. Just let it out."
"It's not fair," Prentiss sobbed. "Just when he and Haley had worked through their problems and got back together. How could somebody undo all of that? Who could do that to Hotch? Why?"
"I don't know," Rossi said, his chin on top of her head. "And no, it's not fair. But believe me when I say we will get them no matter how long it takes. We owe it to Hotch."
Prentiss pulled back and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and looked into Rossi's eyes. "Oh God. Garcia doesn't know about Hotch. Who's going to tell her?"
"I'll handle it," Rossi assured her. He smiled at the brunette. "Feel any better?"
Prentiss smiled. "A little. I'm sorry for falling apart like this."
Rossi returned her small smile. "No apology necessary. Everybody handles grief in their own way. You sure you're gonna be all right?"
Prentiss nodded as she pulled away, still wiping her eyes, careful not to smudge her eye makeup more than it already was. "I'll be all right. I just needed to get it out of my system, I guess." She let out a deep breath steadying herself. "Did you find anything?"
Rossi ran a hand over his graying hair. "Nothing so far. I mean, it looks like Hotch walked in during a robbery, and surprised whoever had broken in his home. But something doesn't seem right about this."
"How so?"
"Well, for one. The entire place has been torn apart as if somebody was searching for something, yet nothing seems to have been stolen."
"Perhaps whoever broke in found what they were looking for and took it with them."
"I don't think so. Add this to what happened the last three times before."
Prentiss's brown eyes narrowed. "What happened before, Rossi? Have you been keeping something from us?"
Rossi exhaled and stuck both hands in his jeans. He debated with himself for a few seconds. Reaching a decision, he turned toward Prentiss.
"Three weeks ago, Hotch was nearly arrested by the local police. They got a tip from an unknown caller accusing him of supplying prostitutes to fellow FBI agents."
Emily's mouth dropped and her eyes widened. "You can't be serious. Hotch?"
"Afraid I am. The police investigated and determined in the end that somebody wanted to have Hotch arrested. As a favor to Hotch, they kept the investigation under wraps so Strauss wouldn't find out. It's still an open investigation. Two weeks later, somebody called the police again, claiming Hotch was abusing Jack. Aaron was proven innocent of the charges by the police, but you can imagine how embarrassing it was for him."
"Did they ever find out who made the bogus charges both times?"
Rossi shook his head. "As bad as those two instances were, the worst was still to come."
Emily's eyes widened. "What can be worse than being accused of supplying prostitutes to coworkers, and abusing your own son?" she asked.
"Remember when Hotch had been hospitalized last week for the flu?" Prentiss nodded. "Well, it wasn't flu. Somebody had poisoned him, but where and how nobody ever found out. He didn't want the team to know. He and I suspected somebody was after him, and he didn't want you guys involved. And now this happens." Rossi shook his head. "I should have kept after him to ask for help. But he kept saying he would handle it himself. And you know how stubborn Aaron could be."
"So you think whoever tried to get Hotch arrested is responsible for his murder." It was a statement as opposed to a question.
"I do. And we need to find out who and why."
"Huh." Prentiss turned her back on Rossi and walked in a circle before turning back to the older man. "Do Morgan, JJ, and Reid know?"
"No. Just you."
"We're going to have to tell 'em, Rossi. They have a right to know."
"And I will when we get back to the BAU and sort out what we have. But right now, we have to see to Haley and Jack, and continue checking out the crime scene here."
"Where is Haley anyway? Is she here?"
Rossi nodded. "She's outside with JJ and Reid. Poor kid. She's really torn up about this."
"Hotch was the love of her life since high school. Oh God, what about Jack? He worshipped Hotch."
"We'll make sure both of them are all right," Rossi explained. "We owe it to Aaron to look after his family." He paused. "Did you speak with the medical examiner?"
Prentiss nodded and rubbed the back of her neck. "Not too long before I came out here to get a breath of air. Looks like Hotch had been viciously beaten with a blunt instrument, possibly a hammer, about the head and face. He had been shot at least twice in the chest. But there's so much blood, it's hard to tell if there are more gunshot wounds. Cause of death can go either way. Won't be sure until the autopsy's complete. Whoever's responsible wanted to make sure Hotch was dead. But I have to tell you, Rossi, all this brutality makes things look awfully personal to me."
Just then, Morgan looked in on the two agents. "Uh…Rossi? Just want to let you know they're ready to move the body."
Rossi and Prentiss turned to Morgan. "Is the medical examiner still here?" asked Rossi. Morgan nodded. "Good. I think it might be better if they took the body out through the back door. Haley doesn't need to see it."
"I'll take care of it," Morgan replied. His eyes met Emily's. "You okay, princess?"
Prentiss sighed. "I don't know if I'll ever be okay again, Morgan. But catching this bastard will go a long way to helping."
"I hear you," Morgan replied before he left the area. Alone again, Rossi looked at Prentiss with concern.
"You sure you're okay?"
"As I told Morgan, I will be." Prentiss started back towards the living room, but Rossi gently took her arm in the doorway. She looked at him with arched eyebrows.
"Why don't you let Morgan, Reid, and I handle things here. You and JJ escort Haley to the BAU and find out what she can tell you. We'll join you when we're done here."
Emily opened her mouth to argue with the older man, but decided not to and closed her mouth. Instead, she nodded and walked away.
Watching her leave, Rossi stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans again, and watched the police activity from the doorway. My God, Aaron. How did things come to this?