"So that's it?" The assisting officer is upset. It's obvious in the way that his arms are crossed tightly across his Kevlar vest, and the draw of his face into a tight scowl. "He pleads insanity, and he just gets away with it? He killed fourteen women."
"Not necessarily," Reid speaks up, tucking his hands into the pockets of his sweater as he talks. The flashing of the red and blue police beacons throw shadows on his narrow face, making him appear even more gaunt than normal. "There will be a mandatory psychological evaluation—multiple evaluations, even, as I'm sure that both the defense and the prosecution will want their own detailed diagnosis that pertains to Mr. Fairfax's mental wellbeing, and if he's declared unfit to stand trial—"
"Then he gets away with it," The police offer is disgusted, and he shakes his head in disbelief as the small group looks to the back seat of the cruiser where the unsub is sitting. "That son of a bitch destroyed fourteen families' lives, and he's going to walk."
Morgan, who has walked up to the group in time to hear the officer's last statement, shakes his head. "He'll never see the light of day. Even if he's declared insane, he'll be locked away for the rest of his life. It's not the same as a conviction, but he'll never escape the four walls of his room."
"There's no doubt in anyone's minds that Tyler Fairfax is guilty of these heinous crimes," Aaron speaks up, having remained silent during his team's conversation thus far. "And he will pay for them, one way or another. It might not be in the way that you imagined, but you have to have faith that the system will take care of him."
There's underlying flinty steel in his voice, which the team recognizes as annoyance, and even their hosting police chief can pick up on. The sheriff rushes to assure the federal agents that the city wholeheartedly appreciates their efforts and success in capturing the serial murderer, before he herds off the offending officer.
Aaron has no patience for anyone who doesn't give the justice system a chance. He believes wholeheartedly in the process, has dedicated his whole life to ensuring that the system takes care of the killers he and his team bring in off of the streets.
"They could certainly be more appreciative," Dave says under his breath, guiding Aaron away from the scene. "That won't exactly let us leave with the best taste in our mouths."
"I'm ready to be far, far away from this place," Aaron replies, glancing around the chaotic crime scene with his dark eyes.
The distress call had gone out three days prior. Their unsub had started killing as a young adult, and then he'd cooled off for years as he traveled up and down the east coast. There would be more murders that will be traced back to him; it's just a matter of time actually linking the deaths together. But then he had had to come back into town to take care of an ailing parent. His mother had passed away ten days ago, sending Tyler into a manic spree.
The BAU had been called in once the body count reached seven, and once they arrived in Baltimore, the murders had stopped completely. They'd analyzed the previous victims and the crime scenes, and they'd profiled their killer while they waited. But it was almost like he'd known that they were in town, so he remained suspiciously quiet.
And he hadn't been able to resist, and so he'd struck at a sorority house, and the death count had risen to twelve. Fortunately for the team, his feverish compulsions allowed him to make a mistake and he'd let himself be seen by multiple survivors. From there it was only a matter of Garcia finding his name in the database before they were knocking on his front door.
He'd taken two more lives before JJ took him down with a single shot through his shoulder. She hadn't escaped unscathed though, which is partially the reason why Aaron is so eager to leave.
He never does well when one of his team is injured on the job, despite the fact that it is an inevitable byproduct of the job itself. It is his duty to make sure that every agent that goes out under his command returns alive and well. It's not something SSA Aaron Hotchner takes lightly. And when he fails at that, well, it's not his favorite feeling in the world.
"Aaron, she's fine." Dave is quick to catch on to the real reason for Aaron's irritation. His face softens as he takes note of the carefully hidden distress on his younger colleague's brow. "The EMT says she doesn't even have to go to the hospital—that might, also, have something to do with JJ refusing to go, but if he's clearing her, then she's going to be okay."
Aaron nods once, before he sighs and runs a hand across his jaw. His five o'clock shadow has turned into dark stubble, and it rasps beneath his palm. "I know she's going to be okay…"
But his initial terror as JJ had gone down behind him had taken years off of his life, it seems. She was flanking him on his right, and one moment, her flashlight beam had been pointing in the same direction as his, and then the next, it was careening wildly across the room as she was tackled.
It had been an almighty crash, and both the unsub and his agent had gone tumbling down a flight of stairs and into the basement. Both Aaron and Dave had charged after them, but with the both of them so entwined as they fought, it was impossible to get the shot, and so they'd had to watch helplessly as JJ used both of her heels to propel herself away from Tyler, and then swept him off of his feet with a neat roundhouse kick. As he'd fallen forward onto her, she's discharged her firearm and Tyler didn't move again until Morgan wrenched him up to place him in cuffs.
"Go see for yourself," Dave begins to guide Aaron forward, deftly weaving between the various officers and medics. "JJ is going to be fine."
JJ herself is sitting in the back of the ambulance, her long blonde hair pulled over one shoulder as a male medic works steadily on her other side at the nasty gash on her temple. It had bled profusely, and then dried in dark black rivers down her cheek and neck before it disappeared past the neckline of her shirt. She is busy with her phone, the speaker held close to her mouth as she talks, presumably to Will to let him know that she is perfectly fine.
Her eyes met Aaron's from across the driveway, and her eyes widen before she begins to stand up, brushing the indignant EMT to the side as she starts to walk. "Aaron!"
"JJ, you need to let him finish taking a look at that," He motions to her still seeping wound. "He won't clear you—"
"You need to call Penelope," JJ interrupts him. "She can't get a hold of you, and it's an emergency. It's Lara."
The Aaron of before might have stopped to question JJ, to ask why on earth Garcia would know of his girlfriend's wellbeing before he did, but he knows better now. This is, of course, Penelope Garcia and obviously she would know of any major developments within the team before anyone else.
He pulls his mobile from his pants pocket and as the screen lights up, he sees numerous missed calls and text messages from the tech analyst. Each one increases in urgency up until the last one, which is time stamped for seven minutes ago.
PLEASE CALL ME BACK ASAP. AS IN TEN MINUTES AGO ASAP. THIS IS A REAL LIFE EMERGENCY SITUATION.
Lara's number is the first speed dial on his phone, and he notices that his hands are trembling as he brings his phone up to his ear. It's been a while since he's been so rattled. Maybe it's the combination of JJ being hurt, of knowing that Penelope wouldn't blow up his phone unless it truly was an emergency, and of knowing that he'd just spoken to Lara not even four hours earlier, and that she'd been absolutely fine.
She'd been planning on taking Jack to see the superhero exhibit at the contemporary art museum. Oh god, Jack. What if it was Jack?
"Hi Aaron," Lara picks up the phone, and he can hear the smile in her voice.
"Lara," His voice is strangled with panic and concern. "Lara, are you okay? Penelope said it was an emergency. Is Jack—"
"Aaron," Lara raises her voice to be heard over his own. "Aaron, I'm fine and Jack is great. We went to the superhero exhibit, like we planned. Your baby, on the other hand, has different plans for today."
Dread is an ice-cold bucket of water that starts prickling at his scalp before it rushes down his body and crashes to his toes. His white face alerts both Dave and JJ and they freeze as well, knowing that Lara is on the other line.
"What do you mean?" Aaron asks in the voice that isn't quite his. He's having horrid flashbacks of Jack being snatched by George Foyet, of not knowing whether or not his own flesh and blood is safe.
Lara smiles down the line again, and he relaxes infinitesimally. "It's nothing bad, Aaron. Don't use that doom and gloom tone of voice. It's good news. I think—I think your baby has decided that today is the day, actually."
"The baby is coming?" Aaron repeats stupidly.
"I think so," Lara replies brightly. "I've been having contractions pretty steadily for the last couple of hours, and I'd originally thought that maybe it was still Braxton-Hicks, but they're pretty consistent and they're getting worse." She sounds quite satisfied with this turn of events. He knows it's because she's tired of being pregnant, and that they're both just ready to meet the child that's been summersaulting beneath his open palms for the last six months.
Aaron wheels around, the phone still clamped to his ear. He's already scanning the street for an available vehicle. "How bad are they?"
"I can still breathe through them," She answers, but then her voice wobbles for the first time. "Oh god, here it comes again." Her last syllable is drawn out as she groans softly into the receiver.
He glances down at his wristwatch, noting the time. He's nearly two hours away from her right now. "Okay, okay, Lara. I'm on my way. Just-just breathe, and focus on the-the baby, and—"
There's a heavy hand on his shoulder, and he spins around to see Morgan holding out the keys to a government issued SUV. He takes them and starts moving, ignoring Dave and JJ as he clambers in behind the wheel.
Lara exhales loudly, and he feels his heart hammer wildly in his chest. He should be there. He needs to be there. Her doctor had said two days ago that the baby was very comfortably positioned and showed no signs of wanting to be delivered. He had triple-checked before he left on this case, so sure that he would finish and be back in time for all of this to start. He should have been there for the first twinges of labor.
"Maybe I'll have to rethink the whole natural birth thing," Lara jokes, though her laughter is strained and she sounds exhausted. "Because if this is just the beginning, then I'm not sure how I'm going to get through the whole thing without any drugs."
"You'll be fine. I'm on my way now, just stay put. Where is Jack?" Aaron almost pulls away from the curb, but stops as the passenger door opens and Dave climbs in.
"Penelope has him upstairs packing a go-bag for you," His girlfriend replies dazedly, and she winces once again. "He's fine. I think he's excited about the baby coming today. Penelope said she'd stay until Jessica got here to take him."
The back door opens and Reid slips in, pulling the seatbelt around his slender shoulders easily before he makes eye contact with Aaron in the rearview mirror. Dave makes a go motion with his hands and Aaron looks out to see that Blake and JJ are both clearing the area of workers so that he can pull the car out safely.
"But Aaron?" Lara is speaking again. "Aaron, please hurry. I'm scared," She admits in a whisper, and his heart breaks as he realizes that she's on the verge of tears.
"I'm on my way, Lara. Everything is going to be fine. I'll be there as fast as I can," He replies before he hangs up the phone.
Reid speaks up before anyone else can. "Garcia says that Lara has been having contractions on and off for almost 24 hours now, but they started getting fairly steady and consistent about two and a half hours ago. I suggested that she start timing them, because my educated guess is that Lara is beginning to transition into active labor. Her contractions are less than 15 minutes apart, and they seem to last a little over a minute."
"Reid, not now, kid," Dave speaks up upon seeing the worry that rests heavily on Aaron's body. "Right now we need to focus on getting Hotch home, because it sounds like he's going to be a new daddy again."
Just hearing the term "new daddy" explodes a new bundle of nerves in the pit of his stomach. Of course he had known that this day would come eventually, and he'd been through it before with Haley. But it'd been so long that it's practically a brand new experience all over again. He's going to be a father again.
The hour and a half drive back to Quantico is cut neatly in half, thanks in part to the flashing police sirens and to Aaron's speeding. He hadn't even thought about returning to headquarters to drop off Dave and Reid, and as he pulls onto his street, he realizes, perhaps belatedly, that he still has his colleagues in the car with him.
They pull into his driveway, parking behind Penelope's bright orange convertible before Aaron shifts into park and then turns to Dave with an apologetic look in his eyes.
"Go get Lara," Dave claps Aaron on the shoulder. "Did you really think we weren't going to want to be here for this?"
The seatbelt clatters as Aaron throws it off, and he scrambles out from behind the wheel before he rushes through the garage and into the house. The kitchen is empty, and he veers off to the left as he hears voices coming from the family den.
"Lara?" He raises his voice, but then stops himself once he realizes that Penelope and Jack are playing a video game in his living room. "Where's Lara?"
"Sir, she's upstairs," Penelope puts her controller down and stands up. She's positively vibrating with excitement. "And she has been such a trooper, let me tell you."
"How is she?" Aaron asks before he turns and leaves, not even waiting for an answer. "Lara!" He calls out again at the bottom of the stairs.
"Aaron, I'm right here. Everything is fine," Lara answers as she appears at the top of the stairs, her right hand cradling her swollen stomach protectively. "Did you speed the whole way here? I didn't expect you for another hour, at least."
He bounds up the stairs, taking them two at a time. "I told you that I would be here as fast as I could." He stops just short of completely overwhelming her before he envelopes her in a tight hug, her belly hard and reassuring against his hip. "How're you? I was so worried," He admits in a quiet whisper, reaching out to brush her hair off of her face.
"We're fine," Lara smiles, catching his hand up in her own before she places it against her bump. "But thank you for coming as fast as you did. I'm really scared," She admits, peering up at him from beneath her eyelashes.
He sees it now, the terror that has taken up residence behind her eyes. And his heart softens and swells as he pulls her close to him once again. She understands then, what he's trying to say. Aaron isn't always the best at expressing himself with his words, but his actions speak louder at this point.
"So," Dave's loud exclamation breaks the two apart. "Are we having a baby, or what?" He's smiling widely from the bottom of the stairs.
"Well?" Aaron looks back to Lara. "Are we?"
She nods, her eyes sparkling. "Yeah, I-I think we are."
"Then let's have a baby," Aaron takes Lara's hand up in his own, and squeezes lightly before they walk down the stairs together.
Part 1 of 2.
I'm a diehard Hotch fan: he deserves all of the happiness. This two-shot is just a brief glance at Aaron and Lara's life together. I have several one shots dedicated to the two of them, and I'm working on their longer story. I can post it, if anyone is interested.
This is my second public foray into the Criminal Minds universe, and I'm a little rusty since I haven't written seriously in several years. But still, I'd love to hear from you.
xo.