Disclaimers & Warnings:

I do not own Criminal Minds or its characters.

Hotchner & Reid as main characters story, spelling & grammar errors, OC unsub, & cursing.

The Absolute

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Summary:

Vacation had never entailed getting trapped in a cellar with Doctor effing Reid and the lunatic that kidnapped them, no, not in Hotchner's book.

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PREFACE PART 2

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"How you know my name?" The unsub glanced at him suspiciously.

"You're Charlie Lassiter – 31 years old with an average height, weight, and build. Your life has been nothing but average here in Chicago so far. You work in a mundane paper factory for a living and just recently, you moved away from your step-mother."

There seemed to be a heavy-weighted kind of silence lingering in the air as the unsub lumbered over to Reid. His left eye seemed to give a short spasm. "You calling me average, doc?" And, God, Hotchner hoped Reid wouldn't say anything stupid.

"No, sir," and of course, Hotchner had nothing to worry about because Reid seemed to excel in these types of situations, "Just the slip of the tongue – won't happen again, sir."

And just like that, the man stopped and turned to Hotchner. Seemingly disinterested in anything else Reid had to say, if he had anything left to say at all. "So, the doctor been doing his homework. What 'bout you, boss-man?" Hotchner narrowed his eyes a fraction. "Got anything else to add?"

"We also know you led a happy life-style for the first nine years," Reid offered helpfully.

Charlie barely spared him a glance this time. "Happy, did you hear that, boss-man? I had a happy life. Wanna tell me more? Share my life story and all that?" Hotchner could tell he was itching for a fight. "What else you profilers got on me?"

"We know you're the kind of person that hates authority figures," Hotchner finally supplied, "and that something major happened in your life to make you become a murderer of one local cop."

Charlie laughed. "This what you call profiling?"

Hotchner shook his head. Face a blank mask – Reid could easily see where this was heading. "I'm not done. Your father was in the FBI for thirteen years and your mother was a part-time school nurse and while it seemed like a happy life on the outside, it was anything but. It wasn't that you were abused or yelled at because both parents did love you – more than most other parents would've. It was the fact that neither parents spent as much time with you as they did arguing with each other." Hotchner, as always, over-the-damn-top.

Charlie seemed stupefied. "S-stop it," he stuttered and that was when Hotchner knew he couldn't, that he had Charlie.

"Your mother filed for divorce when you were eight and a half, Charlie," Hotchner said forcefully.

"Sh-Shuddup!"

And Reid could hear, somewhere, in the back of his mind, that old chess playing-term check and mate, sir.

"Soon after she left you and your father, she filed for custody over you. But what was more logical at the time, your mother, whom by then, was jobless and an alcoholic or a father working a steady job at the FBI?" Hotchner seemed relentless. It was almost like he was telling his own story except Haley wasn't a drunk and Haley was able to keep Jack. Until she was murdered by a psycho that is. "You may have loved your mother more, but your father loved you just as much – you shouldn't blame him-,"

And that was the trigger, the step it took for him to explode. Suddenly, Charlie was anything but a gaping, sobbing mess. "Think I got daddy issues, do ya?" He snarled, taking a menacing step toward the black haired profiler, all focus on Hotchner. "Think you got me all figured out?"

"I don't think," Hotchner was all that calm before the storm. "I know. And so does he," he nodded toward Reid. "Everyone knows, Charlie."

Charlie's face seemed to darken at that and Reid knew he was the kind of person that would easily take the baits Hotchner dished out. Was this the right thing to do? Hotchner probably didn't care much at this point, patience having run out ages ago. "But to your mother's credit, she spent more time with you than any of your relatives before the divorce," again, Charlie's attention snapped over to Reid.

Hotchner wondered how much more he'd owe the younger profiler before all of this was over. He certainly hoped it wouldn't add up to too much because he knew Strauss still owed him a real vacation. "You're right, doc. She did spend more than her fair share with me. God, bless her heart," he said, visibly relaxing.