A week after Aaron had sent the flowers, he found himself thinking about Erin once more, wondering how she was doing. After subtly reaching out to the Director to see if there were any updates and being told that there weren't, he knew that he would most likely have to take the bull by the horns and call the facility himself. After all, it was getting closer to Christmas, and he knew what it felt like to celebrate the holiday alone, to be separated from your family because of circumstances beyond your control, and he didn't want that for Erin. Not that he should care about what happened to her, but somehow, his conscience had convinced him that looking out for her was his responsibility now, since he had been the one to turn her in to IAB.

Glancing at the clock in his office, he saw that it was still an acceptable time to call, and he pulled Lauren's business card out of his wallet before picking up his phone and dialing her direct line. The phone rang three times before she answered, and he took a deep breath as he listened to her greeting. "Hello, Lauren, this is Aaron Hotchner."

"Aaron! How good of you to call. The flowers you sent Erin were lovely."

"I didn't send her any flowers," he replied shortly, listening to the woman try to stifle a chuckle. "I didn't."

"I find that difficult to believe, Aaron, since you are the only person to have visited Erin in the last two weeks, it wasn't hard to deduce that you had been kind to Erin and chosen to give her something that would brighten her room. I know, things look so bleak in our rooms, but given the transient nature of our guests, it is hard to personalize them."

He took her explanation in stride, even if he did feel like it was a bit of a copout. "The card was anonymous, however, yes?"

"Yes, to offer you plausible deniability."

"Precisely. Now, the reason that I was calling. The holiday season is coming up quickly, and I want to get in touch with her children, in order to see that they visit her there during their winter break. What are the current visiting hours?"

There was a short pause before Lauren began to speak once more. "We allow visitors into our facility every weekday evening from five until eight, while on the weekends, visitors are welcome from ten in the morning until eight in the evening. Holidays like Christmas and New Year's are considered weekend days, no matter when in the week they fall. Does that help you?"

"Yes. Thank you. Hopefully, I will be able to get her ex-husband to see to reason and allow her children to see her. This is not a time of year to be alone, especially when going through what Erin is."

"If you could get Alan to see to reason, I would consider you a miracle worked, Aaron. Nothing I've said to him has gotten through to him, and I know that it's becoming a stumbling block to Erin's progress and healing. That's tantamount to her recovery, I'll have you know."

"I do know that, Lauren. Thank you for your help this evening, and I'll see about what I can do to convince Alan to relent a little. Have a good evening."

"You as well, Aaron."

After they had ended the call, Aaron leaned back in his chair and looked up at the ceiling. He had told Lauren a small lie, since he didn't want her to get the wrong idea about his desire to visit Erin. It was a thoroughly selfish motive in his heart, because he wanted to see if she truly was making any progress at all. He knew that this was her last chance at redemption, and if she wasn't able to come out of rehab a sober person, then her career was over. And despite everything that they had been through over the years, he still thought about that moment during the inquest, when she had been reading through the coroner's report about Haley and her voice had broken when she reached how she had died. It had proven that there was a heart buried somewhere in her chest, and he knew in that moment he could never view her in the same light again.

Letting out a long breath through his mouth, Aaron called up his calendar on his computer and looked over what was on his schedule for the next six weeks. Already, Christmas appeared to be booked, but he could always visit on Christmas Eve or the day after Christmas. It would be a long shot that she would even consider seeing him, but he needed to see a tangible record of her progress in the program. And in order to give truth to the white lie he had told Lauren, Aaron knew that he would have to swallow his pride and call Alan, in hopes that the man would agree to allow Erin's children to visit for the holiday. Which meant that he would have to speak with Erin's assistant once more, and it was clear that the woman wasn't particularly keen on him.

Still, it wasn't to be avoided, and he pushed away from the desk before heading out to Erin's office. He was surprised to find that Helen was still there, and he straightened his shoulders, trying to appear more imposing that he was, since even though she was about the same age as JJ, there was something intimidating about her. Though since Erin had hired her, it made sense that she would be such. Slowly, Helen looked up at him, an inscrutable expression on her face. "May I help you, Agent Hotchner?"

Aaron nodded, trying to appear like he wasn't cowed by her blank expression, suddenly feeling like he knew what unsubs sitting across from him felt like. "I have another request to make of you. The woman who runs the facility that Erin is in would like me to call her ex-husband and try to arrange a visit with the children for the holiday season. I know that it might be a long shot, but she's encouraging people to reach out to Erin, since she needs the support of everyone in her life in order to move forward with her treatment."

"You might have a better chance at that than I would, since Alan doesn't like talking with me." He ticked an eyebrow upwards, and Helen finally gave him a small smile as she motioned for him to take a seat in front of her desk. "I took Erin's side in the divorce, and turned him in to the judge when he tried to get me to reveal personal information about her in order to wreck her chances of getting custody of the children. Unfortunately, there were other, less scrupulous, people in her life who had no such qualms."

He nodded as Helen wrote down a number on a sticky note. "It's good that she has someone loyal to her in her life. Lauren mentioned that she's free to have any visitor during the right hours."

"To visit, I'd need to know where she is."

Nodding once more, he gestured for the pad of sticky notes and wrote down the name of the rehab center. "It's not that far a drive, which is good. Thank you for Alan's number."

"You're welcome. Have a good holiday season." He heard the dismissal in her voice, and gave her a small smile as he stood, pocketing Alan's number as he rose to his feet and then left the office. The meeting had gone much better than he had expected, and he just hoped that would be a good sign for his discussion with Alan.