A/N: Hey there everyone! Sorry for the late posting! It was a busy week last week once I got back from Ohio, and was just constantly on the go! I'm not too fond of this chapter, it feels more like a filler for where I want to take the story so please let me know what you think. Anyways, here's the next chapter, and again, I do apologize for the late delay, I hope all you wonderful reader(s) are doing well, and I would like to thank these reviewers:

Caroliny Hotchner - Thanks for the review, I'm sure someone will come and save them soon. We'll have to wait and see!

CmGleek - They sure will be.

Hkl-129 - Thanks for the review! It's greatly appreciated! I agree, no one (no child especially) should ever have to deal with this kind of abuse.

CriminalMindsFan88

Chapter 6

Later that week, all three kids tried to lie low, and out of their fathers sight. One day in Social Studies class, the teacher, Mr. Bennett walks to the center of the class after going over attendance. "Alright you guys, we are going to do a small group project. I'm going to team you into teams of two. I want you get a poster board, and do research on the thirteen colonies."

The kids all groaned in response, then they all looked for their friend(s) hoping they could work together. Aaron looked around, seen the new kid in the classroom, Derek Morgan. "Maybe I'll work on the project with him, maybe." Aaron thought to himself. "Settle down, settle down everyone."

Once the kids all settled down and faced the teacher again, Mr. Bennett looked at his paper, and started reading off, "I have the list of whom you all will be working on this. Chase, you and Blake will be working together. Miles and Kaleb, you two are working together, Jaeden and Brittany, you two get to work together, Sawyer and Noelle, you two will be working together." The teacher went down the list. Aaron looked down at his history, randomly messing with the pages. He looked up once he heard the teacher call his name.

"Aaron, you and Derek will be working together, and lastly, Mason and Meaghan you two will also be working together." Mr. Bennett finished, looking up at the two boys.

As soon as they all heard who their partner was for the project, the students walked around and scoot desks over to start working and planning on their projects. Derek got up and walked over to Aaron, who looked up at him. "I guess we're working on the project together." Aaron told him.

"Yup," Derek agreed, as he sat down in the vacant desk. "Well, we could get together outside of school, maybe you can come over to my place. Figure out how we want to work on this project."

"I would, but I can't leave my sisters alone," Aaron told him.

Derek gave some thought, "well, how about they come over also, they could play with my siblings, and that way they wouldn't be a bother, and interrupt our work."

"That sounds like a good deal. As long as your parents are okay with it," Aaron told him.

The boys got to work, planning on when a good day would be for them to get together to work on the project. Later on that afternoon, as the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, Aaron was shutting his locker when Derek walked up to him. "Hey man."

Aaron turned around, "Oh, hey Derek. What's up?"

"What's your number, and I'll give you a call tonight, and we can discuss how we want to do the project." Derek suggested, following Aaron towards the front of the building.

Reaching the front doors, both boys walk through, to get outside. "Actually, it would be best if I called you. My dad, he, uhm...he's usually sleeping when we get home, and he works late. So, why don't I give you a call?" Aaron asked him.

Derek gave him a look, nodded his head, "Okay, yeah...sure. That would be fine too." He then opened his book bag, and got his notebook and a pen. He wrote down his number, and gave it to Aaron.

"Thanks man, I'm sorry. It's just, I'd rather not have my dad wake up to the sound of the phone ringing, especially since he's gotta be up by 10:30 to get ready for work," Aaron lied, taking Derek's phone number and placing it into his pocket. "What's a good time to call?"

"It's not a problem," Derek promised, feeling a bit skeptical about Aaron's response. "Anytime really, as long as its before eight tonight."

"Sounds good. I got to run, I have to go pick up my sisters from the elementary." Aaron replied, then he waved Derek bye, and walked towards the elementary building, to wait for his sisters to get out of school.

A little while later, the kids started walking out of the building, Aaron watches the kids, looking for his sisters. Finally, five minutes later, he sees Emily, and he waves her over. Emily, looks back, sees her sister, and waits for her to catch up. As soon as JJ caught up with her sister, they both walked the short distance to their older brother, who had stood up to walk them home. "Hey guys, how was school?"

Emily shrugged, but answered, "it was okay. I don't have any homework tonight."

"That's good," Aaron responded. "What about you kiddo?" Aaron looked to the young blonde, tapping her on her head.

JJ looked up, scowled at her brother, "stop it,"

"What's wrong? Bad day at school?" Aaron curiously asked.

The young girl shrugs her shoulders, and just drags her backpack along the sidewalk. Emily grabs her sisters bag, and carries it for her, "is your back still sore?"

JJ just nods her head, and looked back down at the ground. Aaron walks over to the young girl, bends down in front of her, and has her get on his back for a 'piggyback ride'. The little blonde, hopped up on her brothers back, making sure her arms and legs were around her brothers neck and waist. Making sure his sister was securely in place. Aaron and Emily continued their walk.

The kids continued their walk home in silence, each one lost in their own thoughts. Just before they reached home, Aaron spoke up, "just so you're aware. We may be going over to Derek's house, I'm not sure when. But we have a social studies project that we have to work on."

"How are we going to get dad to let us go? He's not going to, at least not willingly." Emily asked.

"I'm not sure, I'll figure out a way. I told Derek I'd call him tonight." Aaron told her.

They fell back into silence, and walked the last few minutes to their house. Emily looked over at her brother, then at her sister, worried about her. Once the kids got to the house, they all walked in quietly. Aaron steps aside, and sets his sister down, "why don't you girls go on up to my room, I'll get us some snacks while you two get started on homework."

"Okay," Emily replies, "come on Jaje, lets go." She then takes her sisters hand and guides her up the stairs. The young girl just follows next to her sister.

Watching his sisters walk upstairs, he turns around and goes into the kitchen, and looks for something to snack on while doing their homework. Grabbing three glasses of water, and half peanut butter sandwiches, he walks out of the kitchen, and walks up the stairs. Just as he was walking into his room, he opens the door, just as he saw his youngest sister throw her pencil across the room. "Hey, what's going on?" Aaron asked, stepping into the room.

JJ looked up at her brother, arms crossed, "I hate math. I'm too stupid."

"Hey now, you're not stupid. Give me a minute, and I'll help you." Aaron told her, giving Emily her half of a peanut butter sandwich, along with a glass of water.

"I am too! I can't do anything right! Daddy's right, I am useless," JJ exclaims, tears pooling in her eyes.

"You're not useless," Emily tells her.

Aaron walks over, and kneels down in front of the eight-year-old, "Kiddo, like Emmy said, you're not useless. Don't believe anything that dad says, it's not true. You're one of the smartest kid I know."

JJ wipes the tears that had spilled over, and continue to fall. "I-I can't do this. It's hard!"

"It's okay, I'll help you with your homework," Aaron tells her. "Give me just a few minutes, I need to make a quick phone call."

JJ just nodded her head, and watched her brother walk out of the room. Making sure the door was closed, Aaron walked down the stairs and went to the living room, to grab the cordless phone. Stepping over to the window that looks out into the window. Seeing that his dad wasn't home yet, Aaron pulls out the piece of paper, and dials his classmates number.

"Hello?" Aaron heard on the other line, after the third ring.

"Hi, is uhm... Derek there?" Aaron asked, pacing the living room.

"Just one second, may I ask whose calling?"

"Yeah, it's Aaron Hotchner," the young teen answered.

A few minutes later, and some shuffling, Aaron hears, "Hello?"

"Derek?" Aaron asked curiously.

"This is," Derek answered.

"Hey, it's Aaron, from school. We have a social studies project to do," Aaron told him, going back over and looking out the window again.

"Oh yeah! Would you be able to come over Friday? Maybe right after school, you can just ride home with me." Derek suggested.

"Well, I do have my sisters. I have to wait for them. Would they still be allowed to come over still? I can't leave them home by themselves." Aaron asked him.

"Oh that's right, I almost forgot. Let me go check real quick," Derek told him.

"All right," Aaron replied.

A few minutes later, Derek gets back on the phone, "Okay, so, I talked to my dad, he said that it was perfectly fine if your sisters came over too. So, my mom will be picking us up after school on Friday, and said that we can wait till your sisters are out of school. She's got to pick my siblings up too. So we can all ride together to the house."

"Sounds good to me. I'll talk to my dad tonight, and I'll let you know tomorrow at school, if I'm able to come over." Aaron told him.

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow at school!" Derek said before hanging up.

Aaron hangs up the phone, and goes back and places the phone back on the hook. He walks towards the window one last time, before walking away from the window, Aaron sees his dad pulling into the driveway. The young boy, ran up the stairs, and quickly opened the door, "You guys, stay here. Dad just pulled into the driveway."

Walking back down the stairs, Aaron sees his father walking into the house. He cautiously walks over towards his dad. His dad looks up, "What do you want?"

"A friend from school, wants me to come over Friday. We have a class project," Aaron answers his dad, watching him walk into the kitchen.

"You actually have a friend? I call bullshit," Mark tells him. "You expect me to let you go?"

"No, but I need too. It's for a project at school. I was going to take the girls with me. They'll be out of the way." Aaron answered his father.

"You better not say a single fucking word to anyone, or I will throw you and the girls out of this house," Mark furiously told his son, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"I promise," Aaron honestly told him.

Mark pushed his son away from him, "You better not." Then he walked out of the room.

The teen watched his father, and followed him. Seeing he was walking up the stairs, Aaron followed, making sure he didn't go into his room. When his dad walked by the room, he gave a sigh of relief and went into his bedroom. "How's it going in here?"

The girls looked up, "It's going okay." Emily answered her brother.

"Good," Aaron replied. "We're going over to Derek's house Friday after school."

"We are?" Emily asks, surprised.

"Yes, I talked to dad, he more or less said ok. Said not to say a word about anything, of course." Aaron told her, going over to sit on the bed beside his sisters.

"I guess, as long as we get away from the house, I suppose." Emily tells him, putting away her school work.

Watching the conversation between her two older siblings, the young girl pats her brother on the arm, "Aaron, I'm hungry."

"Okay, let's go find something to eat, and after dinner, I'll help you with your homework." Aaron told her, as he stood up, gesturing his sisters to do the same.

All the kids walked out of the room, and headed downstairs to figure out what they wanted to do for dinner. While fixing something simple and quick, the kids ate silently at the kitchen table. Not a few minutes later, Mark walks into the kitchen, heading for the fridge, he looks over at his kids. "Who told you, you can eat my food?"

The kids all looked up at their dad, JJ leaning into her brother. Not getting an answer out of the kids, Mark slams his hand on the table, "Fucking answer me!"

All three jumped at the unexpected noise, "We needed to eat something." Aaron voiced.

"I don't care if you need to eat or not! This is my food, you animals, don't need it!" Mark yelled out in frustration. Then he looks down at his youngest, "do you want to go back in the closet?"

JJ looks up at her father, trying her hardest to hide behind her brother the best she could. With tears forming in her eyes, she shook her head no at her father. Mark, grabs the young girl by her arms, "I asked you a fucking question. I expect you to answer me! Now, lets try this again; do you want to go back into the closet?"

"N-no s-sir," JJ answered her father tearfully.

Tossing her down to the ground, he tells her, "then don't eat my food, you worthless child! You don't deserve to have any food. You deserve to starve. Heck, maybe all three of you should starve."

JJ stayed on the ground, curling into herself while keeping an eye on her father, afraid to move. Emily got up from the table, to go be next to her sister just as she stood up, Mark asks, "Where do you think your going?"

Emily looks up at her father, "I'm going to help JJ up off the floor."

"Leave her, she deserves to be on the floor like the dog that she is. Better yet, you might as well join her. Such a pain in the ass you three are." Mark seethes.

Mark then walks over to the table, and tosses all the plates on the floor, "if you want to eat, eat it off the damn floor!"

Aaron stood up, "you didn't have to do that! It's already bad enough, there's not a lot of food in the house."

"Watch your tone boy, or you can forget about Friday," Mark tells him. "If you two are going with," He starts, pointing to the girls. "You'll do as I say, and stay out of my fucking way. Or you'll both end up in the closet."

All three kids watched their father grab his beer, and walk out of the kitchen. Aaron stands up, and picks his little sister up, and looks over at Emily. "You two okay?"

"I'm fine, I'll help clean up the mess. I'm not so hungry anymore," Emily answers, as she goes to get a broom and a dustpan.

Bending down to his sister, Aaron asks, "Jaje, are you okay?"

JJ tearfully looks up at her brother, "I-I'm okay. My arms just hurt, from where he grabbed me."

"All right, come on. We'll clean this mess up, and head upstairs to my room. Looks like another campout tonight.

The kids finished getting the kitchen cleaned up, they turned off the light and quietly walked into the living room. They saw their dad passed out on the couch, and they walked quietly towards the stairs. They ended up in Aaron's room again for the night. Aaron started helping JJ with her math homework, and once they were able to get that finished, once he showed her how to work the problems. They all decided to call it an early night, and started getting ready for bed.

Getting into bed, Aaron looks over at Emily, "are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm okay, I just hate it here. I wish we could all just run away," Emily tells him truthfully.

"Me too. Only five more years before I can get my own place, and move you two in with me. Just have to wait five more years," Aaron agrees. He looks down at their little sister, who was tucked in between them, trying to provide any kind of comfort to her the best they can.

Emily reaches down, and runs her fingers through her sister's hair. "That's a long time from now. It seems forever away, we'll we even be able to survive?"

"We will. I'll do my best to protect you two," Aaron assures her.

"You can't always protect us. What if you're not here one day, and we have to deal with dads wrath? I'm not sure if I can handle it. I can barely handle it now," Emily inquires.

Giving a sigh, "I know, I'm sorry. Hopefully Friday, we'll get some form of relief from being at home, from dealing with dads wrath."

"I hope so." Emily agrees, yawning.

"We should get some sleep, got school tomorrow," Aaron advices her, as he lays down.

The young pre-teen, nods her head in agreement, and follows suit, and lays down, snuggling close to her sister and brother. She puts a protective arm around her sister and gently kisses the top of the sleeping girls' head. Then she falls asleep, and soon after, the thirteen-year-old follows suit, and falls asleep himself.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please leave a review, it would be greatly appreciated, please let me know what you think! I will try and get the next chapter up and posted soon, I have a lot going on this week, with working on my house; I'll try and get one up and posted soon! Again, thanks for reading!

CriminalMindsFan88

If you suspect abuse in a child please call this national child abuse hotline:

1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)