The next morning Lorelai woke up at 6am. She had slept well considering what was going to be happening that day. She figured she just passed out from pure exhaustion. She got up and got ready for work. She went to the kitchen and made herself some breakfast and coffee before sitting down to enjoy it. While she ate breakfast she looked through her emails. She had a reminder about her weapon certification at 1:30 that afternoon. While she was eating Rachel came into the kitchen.

"Morning." Rachel said.

"Morning. Sleep well?" Lorelai asked

"Yup. What time did you two get in?" Rachel asked

"Around midnight." Lorelai answered

Jack and Aaron came into the kitchen a few minutes later.

They all said good morning

Lorelai finished her breakfast before putting her dishes in the dishwasher and heading out. She knew she would be there before 8 but it would give her time to get settled.

Aaron got the kids off to school before heading to the office. When he got there, he saw Lorelai sitting at her desk.

"My office in ten minutes." He told her as he passed her desk.

"Yes Sir." She told him.

When in his office he made sure his computer was on and got himself settled in and waited for his youngest agent.

Eight minutes later Lorelai went upstairs and knocked on his door.

Aaron looked up. "Come on in. And close the door please."

Lorelai did as she was told before standing in front of his desk.

Hotch looked up at her. "Have a seat." He told her

Lorelai sat down.

"I'm not sure what to say here Agent Davies. You did someone incredibly reckless and frankly quite stupid. Now while I know you have been known to be reckless you are far from stupid so I can not understand what made you think it was a good idea." He told her

Lorelai let out a small breathe "I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry. I made a mistake. A big one. I just saw black. I reacted badly. I know. I have no intentions of trying to come up with an excuse to get out of the consequences." She told him.

"Agent Davies. You need to think before you act. Think about the consequences. If Officer Collins finds out what you did your job could be on the line. You need to learn to wait till the time is right and till your superior tells you to do something." He told her

Lorelai nodded. "Yes Sir."

Hotch stood up.

"Stand up." He told her

Lorelai did as she was told.

Hotch took a breathe and reminded himself that he was going to have to be tougher on her than he has ever been because the fallout from this situation could have been far worse than anything he could ever do to her.

"Bend over the desk please." He said

Lorelai took a breathe and did as she was told.

Hotch undid his belt and pulled it though the loops of his pants.

"What you did was incredibly stupid. I know that corrupt cops trigger you, but do you honestly believe that if he was corrupt that I would allow him to keep working?" He asked her

Lorelai had buried her face into her arms that were resting on the desk when she heard the belt buckles. She knew that this was going to be bad. She took a deep breathe when he asked his question. "I wasn't thinking Sir." She said

Hotch nodded. "I hope that this helps you remember next time to think before you do something so reckless." He said as he folded the belt in half and brought it down on her butt.

Lorelai whimpered. She wasn't sure which hurt more the belt or the disappointment she could hear in his voice.

Hotch brought the belt down again. She whimpered a little louder and forced herself to stay put. She knew that trying to get out of this before Hotch was done would just make things worse.

Hotch brought the belt down twice more. Lorelai started to cry softly.

"I do not enjoy doing this. But if you ever pull a stunt like this again you will be right back in the position and without any clothing to protect your backside." He told her

He brought the belt down again harder than before, and Lorelai started to sob.

Hotch took a breathe to steel himself to finish this. He brought the belt down three more times before tossing the belt onto his chair and helping her to stand pulling her into a tight hug. That was by far the hardest thing he had ever had to do as a boss and as a father because no matter how hard he tried when it came to this young lady he couldn't separate the two when he had to discipline her.

Lorelai was a complete mess by the time she had been pulled up into his arms. She sobbed for what felt like eternity. She eventually calmed down and took a breathe.

When she was calm and steady on her feet Hotch let her out of the hug but gently grabbed her chin and made her look him in the eyes. "This team. Needs you. We have grown much closer and stronger since you have joined. If you continue to pull stupid stunts like the one you did and lose your job or worse end up in prison this team will crumble." He told her calmly.

Lorelai nodded. "Yes sir. It will not happen again."

"I really hope it doesn't. And remember if you end up in prison it wont just be the team who crumbles. Your sister and your brother will be devastated." He told her

"I know. I'm sorry. I promise I have learnt my lesson." She said earnestly

Hotch nodded and gave her a tight hug again. "Its forgiven"

Lorelai hugged him tight again too

"Are you okay?" He asked

She nodded. "Yes sir."

"You're sure? I know that was harder than I have ever been on you. It didn't trigger anything?" He asked

"I'm sure. Remember I told you during our first conversation about this. I understand the difference between abuse and discipline." She told him

Aaron took a deep breathe. "Good." He said. "You have your weapons certification today?" He asked

"Yes Sir." She said

"I am sure you will do well. But good luck anyways." He said

"Thank You. I hope I can do as well as everyone expects." She said

Hotch looked up at her. "What do you mean what everyone expects?" He asked pointing to the chair across from him.

Lorelai sat down gingerly making a face. "Everyone is telling me I'm great at everything that I will no doubt do well at this and such. I've come to realize that while I am so happy, I have a family and people who care about me, that it adds pressure for things like this. If I fail everyone is going to be disappointed." She said

Hotch shook his head. "No. That is far from the truth. While we all have your back and support you this was something you wanted to do. And while I don't think you will if you did fail you would not be the first person to fail it. Not even the first person on this team to fail it. No one will be disappointed in you if you do." He told her. "I promise."

Lorelai nodded. "If you say so." She said

"I do say so." He said. "Now you should get back to work. I'm sure you have lots of paperwork from the case." He said

Lorelai nodded and got up. She went to the bathroom first to make sure she didn't look like she had been crying before she went to her desk. She sat down softly. It was going to be an uncomfortable morning for her. She got to work. By 9am everyone else was already there. She smiled and said good morning to everyone as they came in.

Their morning was quiet. At noon Lorelai went and got herself some lunch before she went to practice for her test one last time. When the time came, she went to the agent who was assigned to run her test and they went though the safety information before she started her exam.

She went through it only making one small error. When she finished, she locked her gun and set it down before looking at the examiner.

"Very good Agent Davies. You passed. One small error but that's not a problem." He told her telling her telling her what the error was. "I will let the director know." He told her

Lorelai smiled. "Thank You." She said

When she looked behind the examiner, she saw her team standing there. She smiled at them. She grabbed the weapon and thanked the examiner again before returning it and going to them. "How much did you watch?" She asked

"All of it." Derek told her.

"We wouldn't miss this." Emily added

"Especially after Hotch told us about how much pressure you felt because of us." Spencer pointed out.

Lorelei looked down.

"Why didn't you just tell us?" David asked

"Didn't want to seem weak I guess." Lorelai told them

"No one who knows you and knows what you have been through could ever think you were weak." David told her.

"I guess." She said.

"No guessing about it. You are by far one of the strongest people I know." JJ said

They all agreed before Hotch told them they should all get back to work. The group went back to the squad room and went back to paperwork.

At the end of the day, she had gotten an email saying she could pick up her new firearm. She went and picked it up before heading home.