Hey guys! Thanks for taking the time to read this- hopes this makes your day better. Please leave a review/add to alerts if you liked. Stay safe, everyone!

You

You watched him practice, throwing and catching the football with ease. You watched as he wiped the sweat from his brow, laughing, as he made touchdown after touchdown after touchdown. He didn't notice you. No one ever did. You stood outside of the field, fingers grasping onto the chain-link fence, your presence well hidden behind the shadow of the bleachers. Reagan Davies. You hated him. So you waited until he was alone, walking home after saying goodbye to his teammates. You swallowed, closing your eyes. This was it. One last kill and you were free. You smiled to yourself. And then you struck.

B.A.U.

Morgan excused himself from the room, answering the call and lifting the phone to his ear. "Hotch? What is it?"

"I think we know who the UNSUB is."

"Who?"

"Aedyn."

Morgan started, his jaw slackening. "Are you sure?" The silence at the other end of the line was all the answer he needed. "Do you have any proof?"

"No, nothing physical, at least, but there are no other possible suspects. She had connections to all three victims but doesn't know anyone who would do this for her. She fits the profile, Morgan."

He couldn't help but agree and gave a resigned sigh in response. "Alright, Hotch. What do you want me to do?"

"Bring her in."

She sat in the interrogation room, hands cuffed to the table in front of her. Her small frame was curled into herself as if she were trying to protect from an invisible threat, but her eyes stared daggers into the two-way mirror, daring anyone to come closer. Two contrasting behaviors at the same time… it confused Morgan. "Sure, she's angry, but… she doesn't strike me as a murderer," he mused, almost to himself, arms folded over his broad chest as he studied her.

"She's desperate. And desperate people do desperate things. Things way beyond normal rationale." Emily walked to his side, following his gaze. She tilted her head. "It's sad to see. She had good grades and wasn't unliked by classmates. She was well on her way of making it out of this town if that'd been her goal." Morgan nodded, staying silent. How horrible must her life have been for her to snap like this and throw away everything she'd worked for? Both agents looked up as Hotch approached them. "Do you want me to go in? She might be more responsive to a woman."

Hotch nodded. "But first, we need to come up with some sort of strategy. We need her confession or the location of the murder weapon. I don't think she'll give it up that easily."

"Don't worry."

The door opened to Aedyn's right for the first time in what she could only guess was an hour. An agent walked in, dressed in black from head to toe. Agent Prentiss, the woman that had been in her house. She grit her teeth. "What do you want?" Agent Prentiss stayed silent, pulling out a chair opposite her and taking a seat. She set a manila folder between them before clasping her hands together and meeting Aedyn's gaze.

"I just want to talk." Her voice was low and quiet- non-threatening. Aedyn knew what she was trying to do. They were profilers, with many different stratagems up their sleeves. But she was determined not to let their mind tricks work on her.

"I didn't do it. There's nothing to talk about. If you had evidence, I wouldn't be sitting here, and you would've charged me with something." The hostility in her tone shone through again, though much more apparent than in the safety of her bedroom. "I'm not stupid."

Agent Prentiss shifted in her seat, moving to pick up the folder. "I don't doubt your intelligence," she said, picking a report from the portfolio. "You have pretty good grades. Impressive. All A's in… almost every class."

"So?"

"Well, pardon my language, but this place seems like a shitty town, right?" She cracked a small smile, leaning in as if telling a secret, and Aedyn couldn't help but nod. "And you've got good grades and logged quite a few hours of community service. I know colleges love that. A few more years of work, and you could have said sayonara to this place. So why give up? Why throw all that away by killing people?"

"Simple. I didn't."

Emily ignored her, plowing on. "I understand how you felt. An abusive father at home, a manipulative pedophile as a teacher, and a bully everywhere else. You weren't safe. I get it."

"Okay, yeah. Abuse, bullying. So what, I have a possible motive? They were dicks to everyone, not just me. I don't know what my mother said to you, but Jason drank, too. Reagan was a big-headed jock. You know how those go." Aedyn muttered, eyeing a place on the wall where the paint had chipped off. "You have nothing on me. So either charge me, with no basis, I might add, other than those little deductions your team came up with, or let me go, because I'm not admitting to something I didn't do."

"Alright, then." Emily gathered the file into her arms, then stood up and left, closing the door lightly behind her.

"She didn't admit." Eyes still on the girl in the room, Morgan let his arms rest at his sides. His posture was stiff, hands clenching into fists and unclenching again, showing that he was more bothered by the situation than he cared to admit. It was hard to fathom that there was no clear right or wrong in this case, no clear victims, and that the team would get no real gratification from solving the case, unlike the previous ones.

"I didn't think she would," Emily said. "But we did get information. She's lying; she's nervous. All the false bravado she's showing is to cover up her fear and nerves. She knows she's cornered. Her non-verbal cues are all over the place, and she has an obvious lying tick. Nothing that'll hold up in court though."

"At least we know- basically for sure, now. All we have to do is get a confession," Morgan said. Both agents looked up as Hotch and Rossi joined them at the window.

"Looks like somebody needs a hug," Rossi quipped, giving an attempt at humor. He gave a pointed look to Aedyn, but his face was grim and devoid of his usual amused smirk. This case was hard on them all. They'd had many cases of child-killers, but not so many with children who were killers. And it wasn't a typical case of an abused victim harboring rage, either. One could even argue the kills were out of self-defense.

"She hasn't lawyered up yet. That's surprising," Hotch mused. "Why, though?"

"I don't know. She's smart, so she must be confident we won't get anything out of her." Emily spoke up. "But I did notice one thing. I made a wild guess about her teacher- it wasn't too far of a stretch. She flinched, so I was right- she was being sexually abused by him." Morgan's jaw clenched, and Emily felt a rush of sympathy for both him and Aedyn. The thought had crossed her mind that, had Morgan been any different, it could have been him sitting across the mirror instead of her. In a quieter voice, she continued, "She mentioned her stepfather, and Reagan, but never her teacher. Maybe we can use that."

"Okay." Hotch nodded. "I think I have something that'll work." Taking the file from Prentiss' hands, he stepped into the interrogation room, making sure to keep his face blank and neutral. "Hello, Ms. Burwin?" Aedyn lifted her head from where it was lying face-down on the table. "I'm Agent Hotchner."

"Aedyn." She corrected, though it was more a habitual formality than a friendly address. "I'm not my mother."

"So, Aedyn," he started, promptly taking a seat. "We both know why you're here. Now, you're young. You've got a bright future ahead of you. I'm sure the judge would make a few exceptions if we tell them you cooperated."

"As I'm sure you've searched my house, and found nothing." Her bravado remained, but this time around, her voice held a sort of strained edge to it.

"I get it- you're scared," Hotch continued, ignoring her. "Anyone in your situation would be. But don't make me be the bad cop here. You said you know who we are? Then you know what we can do."

She smirked, though it wavered. "Thanks, but no thanks." Hotch's heart broke at the steeliness in her tone. Sometimes, the world wasn't fair. Things weren't black and white. The community she'd lived with, instead of building her up, had broken her. And what he was about to do to her would break her even more, and all in the name of the law.

"You're stubborn. I get that. I admire it. But you still committed murder, and you will have to answer for it." He opened the file, taking out a picture of her, the one they'd taken at the hospital after her first visit. "That's when he broke your arm for the first time, isn't it? Was he drunk? You tried to hide- maybe in your room- but he barged in anyway, taking from you the only space you thought you were safe in. He beat you every time he drank, and your mother didn't stand up for you- not once. You felt alone and unsafe." Aedyn clenched her jaw, giving a brief glance into the agent's eyes before focusing on a speck of dust on his lapel.

Jason had walked through the door, and you knew, without a second glance, that tonight would give you another glimpse into hell. He'd been fired again, that much you could tell from his missing work uniform. He grabbed a beer from the dirty old minifridge in the corner of the living room. It would be the first of many.

Less than an hour later, four empty bottles lay on the carpet, taking the place of the dozen you'd just cleaned up in the morning. You sat huddled in the corner, trying to finish the last of your homework without drawing attention to yourself. Daring a peek up, you find his beady eyes meeting yours. "What do you think you're lookin' at, girl?" He gets up, and you try to shrink into yourself, but to no avail. Dropping the papers and pencil, you scurry towards your room, but his hand grabs your arm before you can disappear into the safety of your room. His grip tightens enough to leave a bruise, and you close your eyes, bracing for the hit, wishing you could speed up time.

"And outside of your home, you had another tormentor. Reagan Davies. He was popular, and you weren't. He had power. You didn't. But still, he chose you. His friends listened as he bullied- even helped him. Your classmates watched, stood by, and did nothing." He pulled out the report she'd filed. "Your teachers didn't care, either, did they? And that's what hurt most. That nobody cared."

The bell rings, signifying the end of the school day. Gathering your things, you hurry to get out of the building. The faster you get home, the smaller the chance of them catching you. And Jason isn't home yet, so you'll be safe there for a while.

"Hey!" And the small hope you had is shattered. You shoulder your backpack strap and walk faster, hoping to blend into the small crowd in front of you. A rough hand fists into your hair, slamming you into a nearby wall. "You deaf, bitch?" His friends, most of them from the school football team, like him, snicker, gathering around him like the goons they are. Eyes wide, you look around for someone, anyone, who could help. No one comes to your rescue. As always. You lower your head, bracing for the hits. There is no way out of this one.

A hand slammed on the table, and Aedyn blinked. "Falling asleep, Aedyn?" He tilted his head, tone almost mocking. "I'm not finished yet. You killed in order. In order of people who hurt you the most. That's why you killed your teacher first, right? Mr. Daniels?" She flinched, the first reaction she'd had in a while. "Mr. Daniels," he said again, watching her flinch. "Even the name stirs up fear for you, doesn't it? Or is it hate? It's not hard to figure out what he did to you. All of your grades were A's. Except for his class. My guess is he docked your scores on purpose. You knew you weren't actually failing his class. But he held your grades as leverage and forced you to go meet with him for a few one-on-one sessions. Let me ask you this: when did the advances start?"

"Stop." Hotch paused for a second, surprised that she'd spoken, before recovering.

"When did you realize it was happening? When did the touches, the glances, become too much?"

He smiles when you walk in the room, a smile too wide to just be polite. You set your bag down, noting that no one else was there. "It'll be just the two of us," he says, walking over. He grabs your bag, putting his hand on the small of your back as he does so and guides you to the desk nearest his. You wince away, but his grip is firm and unmoving.

"Because that's what drove you over the edge, isn't it? Not your father, not your classmates. Him."

"Stop."

The textbook lies open in front of you, but you can't concentrate. All you can feel is his hand, his breath, his body, all of which is too close for comfort. His fingers curl around your thighs, and he leans forward to speak, his hot breath caressing your neck.

"-hurts, doesn't it? To know that you had to comply, to keep silent, or else your dreams of a better future would go, poof."

"Please, just-" But Hotch didn't let her finish.

"Because if colleges saw you couldn't pass a class as simple as calculus, you'd never be accepted, not when your dream major was mathematics."

He pins you against the whiteboard, lips hovering over yours. His hands roam around your body, and you wish desperately for him to stop, but you're frozen in fear. He kisses you, tongue running along your unresponsive lips, and you squeeze your eyes shut, bracing yourself for what's to come.

"You're pathetic." The agent laughed condescendingly. "You killed those men in cold blood because you couldn't deal with your pain anymore. You-"

"Stop, stop, stop, STOP!" Aedyn's hands tried to cover her ears, but handcuffs wouldn't let her reach. She breathed heavily, tear tracks streaming down her face. Hotch stopped, jaw set firmly in an unreadable expression. "What do you want from me?"

"You're a smart girl. You tell me."

"I-It's in the closet. Under the second floorboard." Her defeated voice was laced with anger.

"What is?"

"The knife."

Without another word, Agent Hotchner turned and walked out of the room. Reid and Rossi left the hallway, heading with the detective to the Burwin residence. Neither Prentiss or Morgan seemed to want to break the silence, so Hotch was the first to speak. "I went too far, didn't I?"

JJ, the comforting maternal figure, as usual, extended a comforting hand, patting him on the shoulder. "Don't be too hard on yourself. You did what was right."

"Did I, though? I violated her privacy. I-I said things I shouldn't have. She's a kid."

"She committed three homicides, Hotch. Her age and experiences don't change that," Emily said, agreeing with JJ.

"She's right," Morgan added, surprising everyone by speaking up. "If we didn't get the proof, she'd keep killing. And there's no telling when it'll start to be innocent people she deems unworthy of life."

Hotch nodded, swallowing, and reached into his pocket when his phone buzzed. It was a message from Reid.

"We found the knife."

A/N

Please leave any feedback/constructive criticism. I strive to be better!