A/N I had difficulty writing this after seeing the premiere this morning. I hope its ok. Thank you to all my reviewers. Reviews make me happy

Fixation
Chapter 2
Shooter

"We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey." – Kenji Miyazawa

Dave had his eyes closed, his face contorted in pain.

'I think I've been shot.' he said through gritted teeth. Aaron knelt beside him in the rapidly settling snow. Reid was on the phone.

Hotch looked around. 'Did you see where the shot came from?' Dave's cast was broken and spattered with blood.

Dave shook his head. 'Didn't see......god it hurts!'

Another shot split the air as Hotch dragged Dave through the snow to the shelter of the car. Reid crawled along beside them, his revolver ready. A third shot, and the three men were behind the car.

'Reid, did you see where the shots are coming from?'

'I think behind the wall over there.' He pointed to a low wall at the other side of the street.

'I'll cover you, Spencer, try and get over there.'

Reid crawled out of the shelter of the car; Hotch fired his gun in the direction of the UnSub. Reid, bent double, ran along the road, adjacent to the wall, to the end. He turned the corner, but the shooter had gone. There were some shell casings on the ground, melting the snow where they had fallen.

'Reid!' Hotch shouted. He got out his phone and called for back up.

'Shooter's gone, Hotch.' Reid called back, carefully picking up the shell casings in a tissue. As he went back to Hotch and Dave, he heard the ambulance coming.

Rossi was struggling to stay conscious; the trail of blood across the snow was gradually being covered. His eyes rolled in their sockets. Hotch took his hand.

'The EMT's are coming, Dave. Stay with me now.'

Dave tried to focus on Hotch, and failed, his eyes closed and he lost conscious.

-0-0-0-

That's one down. The other, the tall lanky one, I will take out in good time. But it needs to be soon. I want Aaron Hotchner to be free to accept what I have to give him. I can watch the chaos from here – Hotch dragging Rossi through the snow and trying to protect him. I could kill them all as easily as you like if I wanted to. From my vantage point I sit and watch as Rossi is taken off in an ambulance, and I hope he will be out of the picture for some time.

I know I am rambling, but the excitement of it all is getting to me. I look down the sights of my gun at Hotchner. You will never know how glad I was when Haley left.

Aah Haley you Bitch. You never loved him like I do.

Anyway back to the work in hand. Hotchner and the skinny one have got into the car and driven away. Tomorrow I will get the other one. I will kill him though. I know, I can see by the look in his eyes that he wants Hotchner. Well he can't have him. He's mine.

When I get home I will make the bouquet for Hotchner. I hope he likes it, as much as I enjoy planning it.

-0-0-0-

The flowers arrived at the BAU early the next morning. It is when Hotch saw them that he made the inevitable connection.

Calling the rest of the team together he threw a photograph of the bouquet onto the desk

'This arrived this morning.' he said. 'Together with this note addressed to me.'

The note Hotch put on the table. Reid picked it up and read it aloud.

'"These are for you, My Love. Blood red rose with snow white. Do you recognise the imagery?" It seems you have a stalker, Hotch.'

'But why take out Dave like that?' Morgan asked. 'It doesn't make any sense.'

'There could be prints on the note.' Hotch said. 'Also there could be prints on the cellophane of the bouquet. The bouquet and the note are in the lab being checked for prints. If we can match the prints, we will be able to definitely connect the sender of the flowers to Dave's shooter.'

'How is Dave?' Emily asked.

'He was fine when I called earlier.' Morgan said. 'He has had to have his leg plated because the bone is shattered but he will recover.'

'Call the lab.' Hotch said, 'And see if they have found anything.'

-0-0-0-

Apart from being able to categorically state that the sender and shooter were one and the same, there was no progress in the case. That evening, Hotch decided to go home.

He sent the team home to get some sleep hoping that in the morning they would have fresh eyes to look at the case. He rode the elevator down to the car park with Reid.

'Would you be able to drive me home Hotch.' Reid said. 'I came to work without my car today.'

Hotch opened the passenger's door for Reid and got into the driver's seat. They drove up the ramp and joined the Quantico traffic. It wasn't busy. Most commuters had already gone home now. Neither spoke as Hotch drove the short distance to Reid's building.

'Thanks Hotch. I'll see you tomorrow.'

Reid got out of the car and went up the steps to his door. As he turned to wave, the shot split the air and Reid looked down at his chest in astonishment. He fell forward down the steps and rolled onto the sidewalk. Hotch opened his door and used it as a shield as he tried to drag Reid back into the safety of the SUV he was driving. Reid groaned as Hotch got him under the arms and pulled, his hands fighting to get a grip on the blood. The wound was a through and through, leaving a large fist sized wound on Reid's back.

He unholstered his weapon and tried to see where the shots were coming from. Holding his gun ready he moved round to the front of the car. A bullet hit the car above his head and he threw himself to the ground, rolling onto his back.

Several bullets hit the car, and Hotch immediately realised that he was in the line of sights of the shooter. Even as he thought this, a bullet whistled through the air and hit his shoulder.

His response to that was to drop his gun and try to move back behind the safety of the door. He was feeling sick as the pain from the wound hit his brain, and he passed out.

-0-0-0-

Gradually Hotch began to be aware of self again. He was in a car, lying, he thought on the floor behind the seats. The pain of the gunshot was trying to keep him under, but he needed to stay awake to try to think of what was happening.

Reid!

He looked to see if he was in the back of the car with him, but is seemed that he was alone. The car was driving, and he wondered if Reid was taking him to the ER.

Then he remembered that Reid was shot.

He tried to get up, and that was when he realised that he had been tied up, and his hands were behind his back, and his ankles and knees were together.

'Where are you taking me?' he said, trying to keep the tremor of pain out of his voice. There was no answer, as the car swerved around a corner and drove along rough ground.

He had no idea where he was, only that he couldn't move. He worried about Reid. He remembered that Reid had been lying in the road beside the car.

'Who are you? He asked, not expecting an answer. When one came he was surprised.

'You didn't wear my rose I sent you.'

It was a woman's voice.

The car pulled up suddenly, and Hotch hit the back of the seats. The woman got out of the car and moved round to the back of the car, and opened the door. Without making any attempt to be gentle with the injured man, she dragged him out of the back of the car.

'Reid? Where is Reid?'

The woman ignored him and dragged him across cracked concrete to a building. From where he was, it looked like a large old house, but he couldn't be sure. He squirmed and fought the woman but the wound in his shoulder had weakened him.

'Where is Reid?' he said again, as the woman dropped him on the concrete as she opened the door of the house.

'Never mind about him, Lover, you have me now.' she said. She pushed open the door and dragged him inside. Hotch tried to look around at the room he was in. It was dark, and he couldn't see anything. The woman pulled him across the carpet to a radiator that was on the opposite wall. Using a knife she cut Aaron's jacket and shirt away. She put a cable tie around the muscle of his upper arm and pulled it tight. She then attached his arm to the radiator. He looked up at her in the darkness. And that was when he recognised her.

'Are you Haley's friend? He asked, surprised.

'I hate the woman. Don't mention her name. You are here now because you are mine. She rejected you, I love you. I always have, and I will care for you now.'

As if in response to her own words, she cut the ties around his legs. She left his hands in restraints.

She left him alone while she lit a paraffin lamp, and Aaron had a chance to look around him.

The room would once have been sumptuously furnished with velvet and deep brocades, but now it was shabby and cobwebs draped across the ceiling.

'What is this place?' he asked. He was starting to feel light headed from the gunshot wound to his shoulder. The blood was running freely down his restrained arm, and he could feel the warmth of it on his body as it ran down to the waist band of his trousers.

'This is my place, and I guarantee that you will come to like it.' she said, and bent down next to him. She put her lips on his and kissed him, forcing his mouth open with her tongue. He tried not to gag as she forced herself on him. She sat back on her heels, obviously disappointed.

'Well I thought you would be more responsive. You are nothing like what Haley said you were.'

She stood up and shook the curtain that was covering the window behind him. Aaron coughed as the dust motes in the air became thick.

'I will be back for you tomorrow. I am going to bed now.' she said, and by way of good bye she kicked him hard in the groin. He tried to curl up as the pain formed a fire and coursed through his veins. She smiled as she saw him turn pale with shock.

'That was because you refused to kiss me. You will soon learn how to please me.'

She bent down and kissed him lightly on the forehead. He was in too much pain to respond in either way to her.

'Good night.' she said brightly. 'I will come for you in the morning.'

She took the lamp and left Aaron in darkness.

-0-0-0-

I have him. I have him. I have him. I can't believe it was so easy. The perverts are out of the way and now My Love can concentrate his affections on me. It has taken a long time, but I know that deep down he loves me, and we will be happy together in my beautiful house.

-0-0-0-

On the other side of town it had started snowing again. A man lying in the gutter looked drunk to passers by, and the blood had been covered quickly by the falling snow.