Lydia mindlessly spun her father's ring around her finger until the skin turned red and raw. She hadn't seen any of the team since she showed up to Quantico that morning and it felt… bare. Her mind was empty, a strange occurrence for her. She wanted to let it drift somewhere more pleasant than there and then, but if she had any thought at all, it was flashes of the scene from yesterday.
So, she spun her ring and stared at the floor and waited.
"They're ready for you," Anderson informed her.
He likely thought she didn't hear him when she didn't look up, but she was just taking the moment to prepare. Slow breaths.
As she stood, JJ stepped out into the hallway and gave her a reassuring nod, before going back to her office.
Lydia glanced back at her retreating figure, as if it might tell her what JJ was thinking. She wanted to know how it had gone, how long JJ had been in there, how in depth she had to explain… But sadly, Lydia couldn't know that from staring at the back of her blonde head.
Chief Strauss waited at the door as Lydia walked into the interview room, her face stern. "Have a seat."
Lydia did as she was told, walking around to the side of the table with the single chair and trying to look as composed as possible.
Once the door was closed, Strauss stepped forward and turned on the recording device in the center of the table, not sitting down across from her just yet. "Please state your name and rank for the record."
"Dr. Lydia Ambers, forensic contractor for the Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia."
"And how long have you been working for the BAU?"
"Four years."
"And have you worked under Agent Hotchner that entire time?"
She tried not to let the question slip her up too much. "No, ma'am, for the past 3 months I've been reporting to Agent Morgan."
"Derek Morgan, the acting Unit Chief of the BAU, because Aaron Hotchner's ability to lead was compromised."
Lydia was pretty sure that Strauss did not need to say that for the record, but was trying to get a rise out of her. "Agent Hotchner stepped down from his position after his family went into protective custody, yes," she said, gently.
She refused to let Strauss twist any of her words around on her. Lydia was trained in interrogation techniques. She could not be fooled so easily.
"How would you describe Agent Hotchner's recent behavior?"
"To be honest, ma'am, I haven't seen much of SSA Hotchner since he stepped down. I've only worked one case with the BAU under Agent Morgan, but I did not see much of a difference in Agent Hotchner during that time."
"You mean he was still acting like your boss?"
"No ma'am, I mean he was dedicated to the job."
A pause. "When were you called into the Bureau yesterday?"
"At around 10am, I got a call from Spencer when-"
Fuck. Dr. Reid.
"You mean SSA Spencer Reid," she clarified. "Would you explain your relationship with Dr. Reid for the record?"
Now she really had to step lightly. "Dr. Reid and I have been in a romantic relationship for two years now." A lie, but it was the amount of time Hotch had listed in the system and it was most likely what Spence would say as well.
"And has your relationship ever hindered your ability to do your job?"
"Not to my knowledge, ma'am. If it had, I imagine Agent Hotchner wouldn't let me keep working with him."
Strauss grimaced and finally sat across from Lydia at the table. "Please continue your recount of the day."
Right. "I got a call from Dr. Reid about the Foyet case at around 10, yesterday morning. I immediately headed to the office and met up with the team in the conference room. In our most recent case in Hampton, Virginia, we had visited inmate Carl Arnold, who'd been receiving letters from George Foyet. These letters were mailed from Fredericksburg and Westminster, meaning he was still in the DC area and they believed they could find him based on the prescriptions he was taking. Tapazole, specifically, as he could not substitute it for any other medication, therefore he had to be one of the people within the DC area who needed a prescription for it. A quick anagram of his title, The Reaper, and we found someone in Arlington named Peter Rhea, which we believed to be the alias he was under."
"So, the team called for a SWAT unit to enter Foyet's potential apartment," Strauss picked up for her. "But you didn't go in."
"Not for a while, no. The team determined that if Foyet was not in the apartment when they entered, it might tip him off that they knew of his secret identity and he might run, making it impossible to catch him again. So, Agent Morgan decided to send an FBI agent undercover to see if anyone was home, and if not, to put a camera underneath the door so that they could look for proof that it was Foyet's apartment. The camera showed that a meal had been left on the counter, uneaten, and the mail had been dropped on the floor, indicating he'd left in a hurry. So, they went in."
"And what did you find?"
"His laptop was the main discovery. Our technical analyst, Penelope Garcia, hacked in and found that when we ran a check on the name Peter Rhea, an alarm went off, which is what caused him to leave. And he'd been attempting to delete files of surveillance footage of Sam Kassmeyer, the US Marshal in charge of Haley and Jack Hotchner."
"Do you believe Agent Hotchner was acting agitated or unreasonable?"
"No, ma'am," Lydia snapped.
"Could you elaborate on that?"
"Agent Hotchner's concern for his family was a completely reasonable and healthy response. He never asked anything of us that we weren't already willing to do and he did his job just as I'd expect him to do on any other day.
"Following our discovery, Agent Hotchner called Marshal Kassmeyer, who failed to pick up. He left a message, saying that we were on our way and warning him of the danger to Jack and Haley.
"Upon arrival, we found Marshal Kassmeyer on the floor of his home, badly beaten with a missing finger and a few gunshot wounds. We called for an ambulance immediately and Agent Hotchner attempted to get some sort of explanation from him, but in the state he was in, it was far too difficult, so when the paramedics arrived, Agent Hotchner went with them, to see him off to the hospital and to continue to get an idea of what had happened earlier that day."
"And what exactly did he find out?"
Lydia tried not to glare at Strauss. This was hard on her. The later the day got, the more exhausted she became of it all. And Lydia absolutely hated to feel like she was being interrogated.
"Kassmeyer didn't give anything up. But Foyet found his phone and contacted Haley through it. He told her that Kassmeyer was dead, as well as Agent Hotchner, and that in order to protect herself and her son, she needed to ditch her phone and meet him at a separate location. That location being-"
"Agent Hotchner's old residence," Strauss finished.
"Yes."
"And how did the team come to this conclusion?"
"The profile on the Reaper has been solid since his return from his ten year hiatus. After a fairly quick discussion between the team members, it was pretty obvious where he would take Haley and Jack."
"A discussion that SSA Hotchner wasn't present for, is that correct?"
"Yes, ma'am. After Kassmeyer was admitted to the hospital, Agent Hotchner had a car brought to him and he drove to Foyet. We were right on his tail, hoping to reach his house before anything happened to Haley or Jack, but we were too late. When we reached the scene, both Haley Hotchner and George Foyet were dead."
"How was your interrogation?" Lydia asked Emily quietly.
The two women were against one of the walls of the conference room, watching JJ, Spencer, and Rossi entertain Jack Hotchner while Hotch gave his statement.
The older woman rolled her eyes. "Strauss is persistent, I'll give her that."
Lydia nodded. "I don't want to think about how badly she's tearing into Hotch right now. At least there are others there to keep her in line."
"Hotch doesn't exactly look good without her help. He was extremely emotionally involved and there were no other witnesses to Haley or Foyet's death."
"But there was no debate over Haley's death," Lydia argued. "We all… heard it."
Emily shrugged. "Strauss was pretty harsh in there. I think she can make the whole team sound like unreliable narrators."
"And what happens then? Hotch loses his wife and his job all at once?"
"Let's hope not…"
Her voice dropped even more as Hotch's entrance to the conference room caught everyone's attention. He didn't say anything, but Jack jumped up when he saw his father and ran into his arms.
He looked like crap. His nose was swollen and the bags under his eyes were a deep purple. His stare was vacant, even as he clung to his son. But he was through the worst of it now, Lydia liked to think.
Spencer stood up and made his way towards Lydia once Emily left, still depending heavily on a cane after being shot in the leg. "You ready to go home?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "Let's just make sure Hotch doesn't need anything else."
"I don't think there's much we can give him," Spencer admitted. "I wish there was."
"I want you to know that I can't lose you," Spencer said a few weeks later, having just gotten back from work.
The situation was laying heavily on everyone. The team was still tiptoeing around Hotch despite his okay to go back to work and Haley's funeral was an unfortunately unsatisfactory affair, after everyone was called away on another case.
Lydia imagined Spencer was exhausted, so a declaration wasn't out of character, but it didn't stop the small smile pulling at her lips. "A sweet thought, Spence," she said, patting the couch beside her for him to sit.
However, he kept going. "I know you're worried about everyone. I know you see this as a reminder to hold onto the things we have. And you have me, totally and completely. But there's something else, unrelated to all of this… I think we could use some joy in our lives right now."
"Something else?"
Lydia wasn't even sure if she had the mental capacity to process his words, but Spencer made it pretty obvious when he stepped up beside the couch and got down on one knee.
"I needed to prove my devotion to you at one point or another."
Lydia blinked at him, deafly. Once… twice… Then, a giggle escaped her lips. "Are we getting married, Spence?"
"Well, I don't know," he joked. "You haven't said yes yet."
"Wh-Yes! A hundred times yes!" Without even looking at the ring in his hand, she swung her arms around his neck, almost tackling him to the ground. "Jesus, to be honest, you could have just left the ring on the coffee table with a note and gone to work. I wouldn't think you'd need an answer."
"Well, as much as I'd love to say that I know you well enough to assume you'd say yes, you never fail to surprise me. I imagine some day I'll find out you're leading an elaborate secret life where you're a hitman for the mafia."
"I wish. Imagine the excitement of pretending to teach at a university while you hunt unsubs just like me! That would be some heist to pull off." Finally, she let go of her boyfriend and looked down at the elegant metal band encased in a velvety black box. "Gosh, it's beautiful, Spence. You really didn't have to."
"Of course I did." He slid the ring gently onto her finger as he spoke. "Good thing you're not an unsub. It would make you being my fiancée much more awkward."
Lydia's hands reached up to her cheeks to hide her embarrassment, but there wasn't much she could do to cover the pink. "Fiancée. That's gonna take some getting used to."
"Don't get too used to it. I plan to change that title to wife as soon as I have the opportunity." Spencer leaned in, landing one kiss before more questions flooded Lydia's mind.
"How will we tell the team?"
The mischievous smirk that crossed Spencer's face led Lydia to believe he'd been planning for that for a long time. "I'm hoping there's some brilliant opportunity to drop it into conversation. Leave them doubting they heard correctly."
"I'm so ready for that."
A/N: Last chapter will be posted on Friday! It's gonna be a fairly short the wrap (sorry, no wedding scene), but I hope you enjoy it!
