A/N: Thanks to you all again for the wonderful reviews! And to one of my guest reviewers from the previous chapter... Jerseybelle - Are you reading my mind?! (You'll see...) LOL! This is a second post-ep to 8x14 "All That Remains".

365: Day 38

Characters: Aaron Hotchner, Sean Hotchner

Rating: T

A Brother Worries

Sean Hotchner was on his way to bed when his phone rang. A feeling of unease fell over him. Late night phone calls were rarely a good thing. He saw his brother's name on the caller ID and answered quickly.

"Aaron?"

"Hey Sean."

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I just..." He hesitated and swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I saw something tonight. I just needed to hear my brother's voice. I needed to know you were okay."

"That must have been some case for you to call me at midnight." Sean tried to sound like his usual lighthearted self, but his voice was laced with worry. Aaron could hear it clearly.

"I'm sorry, Sean. I didn't mean to worry you."

"You didn't."

"I can hear it in your voice."

"Well, you don't usually call out of the blue. And I may not be a profiler, but I can tell when something has shaken you up. You gonna tell me what's going on?"

Aaron sighed. "Older siblings are supposed to look out for their younger siblings. Not murder them."

"This is what you saw tonight?"

"Yeah. That was our case. Everyone thought the father had killed his daughter, but it was the older sister. That whole 'mommy loved you more than me' bullshit."

Now he had Sean's attention. Aaron rarely used that type of language. Sean knew how heavily this case was sitting with his brother. It had to have been bad for Aaron to call him and be this open and vulnerable. It was not a side of his big brother that he was used to seeing. Well... hearing anyway. It was more than a little unnerving.

"Sometimes I wonder if I've seen too much out there," Aaron sighed. His voice brought Sean out of his thoughts.

"There's no question about that, Aaron. I told you to get out of the office more."

"Right," he chuckled sadly. "Sean, you know that I love you, right? And that I'll always protect you. I know we've never been very close, but I would protect you with my life. You do know that, right?"

"I know," he said softly. "You remember when I told you about wanting to skip Georgetown and come to New York, you told me that a brother worries?"

"I remember." He smiled slightly.

"That doesn't just apply to older brothers. Younger brothers worry too." He paused momentarily to steel himself for what he needed to say. He'd needed to say it for years, but never quite knew how. Aaron could sense his hesitation.

"What is it, Sean?" he nudged.

"I don't think I ever told you this," he began, "but a few years ago when you were attacked, the Bureau sent an agent to my apartment. I panicked when he told me what happened to you. They sent the agent to make sure I wasn't a target too. That was the scariest day of my life, Aaron. And not because I could have been the target of a psychopath. I wasn't afraid of something happening to me. I was absolutely terrified of you dying."

Aaron choked up when he heard Sean sniffle and knew his little brother was on the verge of tears.

"You're the only family I have, Aaron. I know I drive you crazy and we don't see eye to eye on much of anything, but you're the only person in the world who has always stood by me, whether you agreed with me or not. I've always known you were there for me. I need you to keep being there. So just promise me that you're careful out there, okay?"

"I promise, Sean." He heard Sean's sigh of relief. Apparently this was a promise he should have made long ago.

"And I love you, too. Just so you know."

Aaron laughed. "Yeah. I know."

02/07/2013