Who is the Victim Here

I would love to hear your opinions and look to working further on the story.

I do not own or have connection with the "Criminal Minds" program or its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Several weeks go by and our boys have gotten into a rhythm, Spencer still has the drug moving throughout his system which is still affecting both his bladder abilities and his emotions. The drug affects certain hormones and at times he acts infantile and young and his normal self at other times. So he has continued to stay with Sean and Aaron and live around Aaron schedule. Sean takes the boys to work in the morning and Aaron works on paperwork and consults in the morning. He then has his lunch and a nap before he goes to the Psychiatrist, Occupational Therapist or Physical Therapist; each day is someone different. He gets a feeding and a change before heading to them and then has a feeding and a change before Sean puts him in his stroller and takes him home. Spencer works on cold cases and paperwork unless JJ gets a case in that the BAU has been requested to help on. Sean checks on his bottom every four hours or so and changes him when needed. The other agents also are working on paperwork unless sent on a case. When they go on a case, either Derek or David check on Spencer and change him when needed.

During the weekends, Sean takes the boys to the park in the late morning and many times has even bought lunch while they were out. Spencer plays on the playground and tires himself out and has the days get warmer, Sean lets Aaron out of the stroller and allows him to play on the gym set and slide down the slide. The physical therapy has been helping and Aaron is walking slowly with help. This is one of the reasons why Sean knows it is good for them to come to the park, so that his brother can get exercise and practice walking and strengthen his muscles on the playground. The boys play together quite often and have fun. The weekend schedule is playground or walk in the morning, lunch and then home for naps for our little boys. They play in the apartment in the afternoon and then Spencer and Sean play a game of chess while Aaron takes a late afternoon nap. Dinner comes next and then the boys play together or watch a movie until bed time.

Are our boys improving from and healing from their ordeals? Spencer is still struggling because the drug is still in his system. Aaron has been talking to the psychiatrist about the ordeal but has kept so much hidden, he knows that his master is still out there and he doesn't want him to hurt anyone he loves. Our beloved protector is still trying to protect those he loves from his master. Although his master has not talked to him recently, he still has a firm hold on Aaron's mental state and will do so until he is caught and Aaron believes that his family, friends and co-workers are safe. It is for this reason that Aaron is resistant to improving and becoming a full-functioning adult again. Although, he is allowing himself to take baby steps to please his brothers and his boss, he is still only doing the minimal necessary. He thinks that he knows what he is doing and yet it seems daily that the real man in hiding further in his mind and building a castle wall around him.

Late in May

The team decides to spend Memorial Day Monday together having a picnic at the park that the boys regularly go to. They take a small barbeque to cook on and a very large king size blanket to sit on and chairs to lounge on as well as some balls and mitts to have fun with.

Sean brings the boys and sets up the blanket before the rest of the team arrive. He wants to have the boys set up and the area prepared. He brings a small pup tent which he will use as a changing area for our babies and wants to make sure that the schedule will not be too disrupted. JJ and her family arrive and she takes Henry to the playground while Will helps set up the barbeque. Aaron is currently napping and Spencer goes with JJ to play. The park begins to fill with people and our agents continue to arrive. Derek and David actually go and throw the ball around. Sean joins them with Penelope and Will and they begin a small game against each other. Sean does his best to continue to keep an eye on his brother but gets into having fun. When Aaron wakes up, he finds himself alone and on the blanket; he looks around and tries to find someone he knows. He doesn't like being alone, every time he is alone his master comes and frightens him. He is about to cry out for Sean when he sees Spencer at the playground and decides to go to join him there. He begins to crawl over to the playground. Many of the other people in the park just watch because they have been seeing him there for a few months and know about the adult baby and they do try to keep a close eye on him as much as the other children. He is found to be gentle and sweet.

Sean looks over and sees an empty blanket and leaves the game by running over to find where Aaron has gotten himself off too. He looks around and then sees his brother crawling over to the playground. A sigh of relief escapes him. He grabs a small bag of various things and goes to his brother's side.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Aaron stops and looks up at his brother, "I want to go play."

"You should have waited for someone to come and get you."

"I didn't see anybody around until I saw Spencer at the playground. Since you don't let him play alone I thought you would be there."

Sean smiles at this and knows that he is speaking the truth about his not letting him go play alone. Sean bends and picks his brother up; Aaron squirms a bit and gets a smack on his bottom when Sean takes him back to the blanket. He screams, "No, I want to go play."

Sean responds, "You will get to go play after we change your diaper. Won't you rather be more comfortable?"

Aaron hangs his head and nods yes. Sean takes him into the tent and proceeds to clean his brother. The boys then go to the playground where JJ is watching the other babies, Spencer and Henry play. Aaron goes to join Henry in the sandbox after Sean puts a pair of safety goggles on his brother, who looks at his strangely. Sean tells him, "You leave those alone." Aaron sticks his tongue at Sean and goes to build a sand castle with Henry. Spencer was swinging when Sean arrived and got off and ran over to him.

"Sean, my bottom hurts." He says this as a matter of fact and without hesitation or embarrassment and expects Sean to do something about it. Sean smiles and looks at JJ.

"Would you mind watching Aaron while I take care of Spencer?"

"You go on, Aaron and Henry will play fine together." Sean and Spencer head to the little tent where Sean changes his diaper and puts a good deal of rash lotion on to help heal. It seems that Spencer is suffering a little from rash again. He thinks maybe a few days at home running around without a covering on his rash might clear it up. Sean tries to change the boy often but sometimes the boy is resistant. After changing the boy, Sean gives him some liquid pain medication to help get rid of the pain. They go back to the playground and Spencer goes back to the swings.

The others who were playing with the ball and mitts came over to the playground and either watched by the side or got on the equipment to play with the children. There were lots of squeals and laughs as both young and old children play. After a short time, David and Will go over to start cooking the burgers, hot dogs, fresh vegetables and shrimp that Sean brought for lunch. Sean had it all marinated or prepared and ready for the barbeque. He is our chef. Sean goes over to Aaron and picks him up to take him back to the blanket. He protests weakly but Sean just tells him to calm down because it is time for a bottle for our boy. JJ picks up Henry to give him some food as well. While our adults have to wait a little while for lunch to be ready, our babies are being fed. Spencer comes over soon after and asks for something too. Sean got him out a small snack to tide him until something comes off the grill.

The others either go back to playing with the ball and gloves or sit around and chat as adults are wont to do. Aaron falls asleep after his bottle and Spencer also lies down for a nap with Henry right beside him. It is during this time that Emily arrives with Brian, who had come in from home. It seems our agent is quite smitten with the small town attorney. She spends as much time as she can with him and he treats her as if she was the only woman in the world.

Emily says, "We come for the grub, is there any left?"

JJ responds, "Plenty, only the babies have eaten."

Brian looks askew at JJ for that remark but doesn't say anything. He tells Emily, "I'm going to go see if I can get in the game."

"You go ahead, I'll watch you run and catch. Don't forget to get all sweaty so we can wash later." He smiles suggestively at her.

The players are back soon to attack the food when Sean calls out and says grubs ready. Spencer wakes up and has some food himself. The noise and commotion also wake Henry who sits with JJ and chews some of her food. Aaron wakes shortly after but he doesn't eat any of the food, even though Sean did ask and attempted to offer. Brian looks at this exchange and doesn't really understand what his friend is doing. When Sean offered Aaron the bottle and he took it, Brian was less surprised than you might think. We have to remember that Brian has known Aaron when his mother did the same thing to him. Emily has given him a little background of what it has been for Aaron since the kidnapping. Brian is no psychiatrist but he remembers Aaron last fall when Kathy died and he had to go through the will and estate with the man. He seemed to be a strong adult male but underneath was a man suffering. He didn't know how to help and when the kidnapping occurred it seems that it gave him an excuse now to hide from the world and let others take over his life.

Aaron had not yet seen Brian there because if he had he wouldn't have taken the bottle. He didn't want to show himself as a baby in front of his old friend but that wasn't going to happen today. Today, he will show himself and realize something very important. Brian goes and walks over to where Sean is feeding Aaron and he places his hand on Sean's shoulder and non-verbally asks if he could take over feeding the man. Sean was a little hesitant since he knows that this is Aaron's longest known friend and he wasn't sure if Aaron would like it. He whispers to Aaron that he needed to get to do something so someone else would have to feed him and asked if that would be okay. Aaron kept his eyes closed but nodded his head and sat up so that Sean could get up and someone else could sit down.

The men switch places and Brian placed his hand on Aaron's shoulder and he leaned back into Brian's arms. Brian began to rock and hums something that Kathy used to sing to the children when she would sit in the rocking chair at the tree house. The song penetrates Aaron's memories and he feels truly safe for the first time in months not that he doesn't feel safe with Sean, but he isn't Kathy. Aaron remembers Kathy singing that tune and snuggles deeper into Brian's arms. When the bottle was empty, Aaron finally opened his eyes and sees Brian looking down on him. He now knows who was humming the song and felt ashamed that his friend was the one feeding him. He sits up and tries to crawl away.

"Oh no, not this time Aaron. It is okay. I am the one person who understands better than anyone. I even know things that Kathy didn't know. I know about Uncle Bob." Aaron stops and stares at Brian and sits in front of him.

Flashback

It is the playground at school and behind the dumpsters there was a small boy crying, another boy comes up and sits down by him. "What has happened Aaron?"

"Nothing Brian, go away."

"You don't cry for nothing, did you tell Kathy?

"Please don't tell Kathy that I am crying, she will ask why and I don't want her to know."

"Then tell me, it will be our secret."

"I don't want to go home Brian. He's going to be there and I don't like him."

"Who is he? Your dad? But you like your dad."

"No, not dad. Uncle Bob."

"Who is Uncle Bob?"

"Mommy's friend."

"Why don't you like him?"

"I can't tell you because he'll hurt you too."

"Too? Does he hurt you Aaron?"

Aaron just cries harder. Brian hugs the little boy in his arms. "Aaron, he can only hurt you if you let him. Talk to me or Kathy and we can help stop him."

"No, you cannot stop him, nobody can. He will always hurt me because mommy likes him. But I don't want him to hurt you or Kathy or anybody else. If I don't tell, he can't hurt you."

"Aaron, that's not true. Sometimes we have to find them and stop them.

"Nobody can stop him." Brian tries a different tactic.

"When does he hurt you?"

"Whenever dad is away, he comes over to stay the night and would take me to the basement and make me stay down there all night. Sometimes he comes back down later and hurts me. He says that if I tell, he will hurt Kathy. I won't let him hurt her so I won't tell anybody.

"But."

"No Brian, I will let him hurt me so that he doesn't hurt the people I love.

End Flashback

"You told me never to talk about Uncle Bob and I never did. But I told Kathy and the other kids that we needed a place to go to escape people who can hurt us. It took over six months but we built the tree house for you and all the kids who needed a place to escape. Don't shut me out Aaron please. Talk to me, who are you trying to protect. The people in your life are adults, not children. They can protect themselves, you don't need to hide away to protect them. He can't be stopped if you don't tell. I don't know how to do this the way Kathy did. To bring you back from the edge, she could always know what to say. Your friends, family, we are at a loss about how to help you. If you didn't want me to see you as a baby then you need to come back from where you are hiding."

"If I hide then he won't hurt Jack or Sean or my team."

"What about what happened to David and Spencer?"

"She did that, not him. He is still out there watching me and he will hurt those I love if I come back. I am not going to let that happen. I will let him destroy me as long as they are safe. Don't try to stop that Brian. You can't. You couldn't then and you can't now. Love Emily, she needs you to protect her." Aaron crawls away and goes into the tent.

David asks, "Uncle Bob?"

Brian responds, "I can't tell you, it is his childhood nightmare. I will only say that you know all about pedophiles, don't you? When I found about it, we were eleven-years-old and he hid it from everybody because the man threatened them. Aaron will suffer so that those he loves don't even then he did his best to protect those he loved. It was when he couldn't that he realized that sometimes even the hero fails. Of course, not to Kathy, our hero never failed in her eyes."

"Is that you think that is what he is doing right now?"

"Oh yeah, he's knows exactly what he is doing most of the time, he will allow this person to take away his life, future, confidence and control in order to protect all of you and Jack."

"I wish we could find the man but we can't seem to get any leads."

"He seems to think that he is watching him. Maybe you should set a trap and see if he takes the bait."

Sean says, "Not a chance, I am not leaving my brother alone so that man can get close enough for the team to trap or catch him. Not a chance."

"Even it means condemning to this shell of a man for the rest of his life."

"Yes. We are not using him to trap anybody." Sean goes into the tent to check on his brother.

Brian gets up and asks Emily, "I think I have worn out my welcome, did you want to leave with me or stay here?"

She answers, "I don't think that you have worn out your welcome, but let's go dancing." They smile and kiss and say good bye to all and leave the group.

JJ and Will also get up to leave, Henry is getting fussy and JJ thinks he has been out in the sun long enough.

David and Derek started putting all the barbeque stuff away and cleaned up. Penelope started to clean up around the blanket and Spencer helped her out by packing up some of the brother's stuff to get it ready to go home. It had been a long day at the park and it was time to get out of the sun.

Inside the tent, the brothers sat looking at each other. Aaron had been crying but he won't let his brother comfort him. Finally Sean says, "Let's change your diaper and get ready to go home." Aaron gets into position and when the boys come out of the tent, they find that most everything has been packed up. Sean tells Spencer to come into the tent to be changed. Aaron crawls out where Derek picks him up to put into his stroller. Sean and Spencer are quick and they pack up the tent and diaper bag. Our group head over to the Hotchner apartment, where David, Derek and Penelope leave the men.

Inside Sean prepares his two little boys for a bath to get all the sand and dirt from the playground off.

After baths, come bottles and snacks and an early bedtime.