Italics for thoughts and dreams. Please review this chapter, is there too much filler and not enough plot? What am I doing right/wrong? I own nothing.
Walking down the corridor that led to his apartment suite jangling his keys hoping he would be able to stay in Quantico until Monday so he could spend the weekend alone. If only he knew where Jack and Haley were he would find them and take them far away and spend the rest of his life in hiding; at least he would be with his family. He and his team had just gotten back from a grizzly case in Baltimore involving nine homeless men who were abducted, eaten and decapitated. Their Unsub, Joseph Hemsky scattered his victims remains all over the city succeeding in causing a widespread panic. Aaron was relieved to have found the man and put a bullet in his brain. Approaching the door to his apartment he came face to face with a familiar man. "Sean? What... What are you doing here?" asked Aaron, his eyes scanning every inch of his brother trying to get a sense of why he was here. "Nice to see you too Aaron," said Sean looking anywhere but in his brothers eyes, "Can I come in?" Aaron opened the door and motioned for Sean to enter while wondering what kind of trouble his brother had gotten himself into. Aaron put his briefcase and go bag down and went to turn on the light. Aaron found himself in a dark, draconian interrogation room lit only by a single candle, hands cuffed to the table sitting opposite Sean. "Sean, what is this?" Aaron asked in a panic tugging at his handcuffs, "What's going on?" "Just a precaution Aaron, I don't want you to go running off again." Sean explained. "Running off?" Aaron repeated quietly. "Why did you leave me?" Sean asked glaring madly at his brother. "I didn't want to leave, I was sent away! You know this!" Aaron yelled pulling at his handcuffs, looking for an escape. "You could have come back. You left me alone with... him!" Sean screamed manically, spitting out the last word with venom. "You never came back, you never wrote me, you never even called!" Sean yelled indignantly. "I did! I wrote and called they just didn't tell you. He... Father didn't want you to know!" cried Aaron standing up and pulling desperately on his restraints. "Why?" said Sean as his hands came down and slammed the table making the whole room rattle. "I don't know! He was a mean son of a bitch!" Aaron wailed in despair, echoing what Vincent Perotta had confessed to Aaron about his own father, Frank.
"Why don't we just ask him?" Sean said maliciously. Aaron stared at his brother in confusion and weariness. "Sean, he's been dead for years! You remember that day just as well..." The sound of loud footsteps filled the small oppressive room halting his thoughts. Aaron was overcome with paralyzing fear, he knew those footsteps and he knew what they meant. "Aaron!" howled a menacing voice followed by a woman's frantic plea, "No! Don't you touch him!" A thunderous crash rang in Aaron's ears as he struggled against the restraints. "Sean, let me go! Mom's hurt Sean, I have to help her!" Aaron begged his brother who responded by ginning wickedly at Aaron, "I'll never help her. She was weak, stupid, she got what she deserved." Aaron froze in place and looked at his brother as if he was seeing him for the first time, "What did you say?" Aaron asked with a combination of trepidation and anger, knowing he had heard that somewhere before. "Stay out of my way little girl unless you want that pretty face of yours crushed in!" said a dark silhouette as it made it's way into the room revealing itself. Sean backed away and cowered in the corner as the man Aaron knew to be his father approached him. Aaron concentrated on looking at his wrists which had become bloody in his attempt at freedom. "Look at me boy." growled his father in a an ominous tone. Reluctantly Aaron looked up and saw his father's deranged face and quickly looked back down again, frightened. The room melted away leaving only the table, revealing a thinly veiled black abyss that seemed to swallow the light as well as any hope of escaping the brutal hands of his father. He roughly grabbed Aaron by his hair and forced him to look into his eyes, "Look at me boy, look at what I've become!" Aaron stared horrified, helpless to look away as he watched his own eyes staring back at him. "You're rotten, boy! Worthless, just like me!" his father laughed savagely at the irony as he unbuckled his belt and wrapped it around his hand. A small boy came out of the shadows, "Dad, don't hurt him! Please!" screamed Sean. "Get back Sean! Go now!" yelled Aaron wanting his brother far away from their father's wrath. Seeing his father's belt buckle reflected off the flame of the candle, Aaron closed his eyes and thought of a place, any place far away from here. Aaron screamed in agony as audible cracks reverberated off Aaron's back and into the black veil. "Mom! Mom help! Help me please! Daddy please stop, I'll be a good boy, please! I can't take it, I can't..." begged Aaron as he babbled hysterically, drifting off into a world of pain. Despite his son's screams his father only beat him harder and the pain intensified, "Shout all you want boy, your mother won't help you!" Aaron bled onto the table as the handcuffs dug deep into his wrists in his desperation to free himself from this hellish place."I thought you said if you ever became me you would kill yourself? What are you waiting for boy?" asked his father. Suddenly Aaron was free and his father was gone. He stared, unmoving into nothingness as the room morphed into his office at the BAU. Glancing wildly around he realized he was sitting at his desk holding his side arm in his hand, looking down the barrel of his gun awoke a hateful feeling in the dark corners of his conscience. Without hesitation he pressed the gun to the roof of his mouth and fired.
Aaron awoke with a scream startling David who was asleep in the chair next to his hospital bed, "Dave! Where is he? Where's Sean?" Aaron screamed as he sat up looking around frantically. His heart monitor started sending out aggressive noises and alarms, "Easy Aaron!" Dave said as Aaron was fighting to stand, "Lay down don't move!" he said grabbing Aaron by the shoulders and easing him back down. A doctor and two nurses ran into the room and rushed to Aaron's bedside, pushing David out of the way. "Mr. Hotchner lay still, or you will tear your stitches!" yelled the doctor at Aaron, who seemingly was in another world. "Agent Rossi please wait outside!" a nurse shouted at David as he turned off the alarm. Agent Rossi? "Dave!" Aaron shouted, hoping he wasn't alone. "I'm right here Aaron, you're safe, you're in the hospital." said David inching his way back to Aaron's bed. At this Aaron immediately stilled and lay back down catching his breath. The incessant beeping of the heart monitor slowed as Aaron came back to reality, fighting off thoughts of the horrid dream he just had. "It's OK I'm fine, please let David stay he was just trying to help." pleaded Aaron wanting some answers from David now that he was awake. "Mr. Hotchner are you in any pain?" Obviously, he thought to himself tiredly but settled for a quiet affirmative. One of the nurses filled a syringe with what Aaron presumed to be a sedative. "No! I don't need that, I need to stay awake! I need answers, I'm not in that much pain." lied Aaron looking at the woman he recognized as Dr. Genderman. "Alright, but if this happens again I'll need to ask agent Rossi to leave." she informed Aaron while giving David a pointed look. She checked his vitals, adjusted his IV and left with the two nurses trailing behind her.
Aaron was blindly feeling around for the controls to the bed so he could sit himself up, "They're disabled, you've only been in the clear for a few hours now." explained David. "How long have I been here?" asked Aaron. "You got shot on the 23rd, you do the math." said David checking to see how lucid he was. Aaron gave a halfhearted glare at David's unwarranted concern, "Two days," he answered with confidence, "So everyone is OK?" asked Aaron uncertainly as his mind struggled to remain sober. "Yes, and before you ask Wallace is dead and Laurie Jasser wasn't even home." said David as he walked up to the side of Aaron's bed looking down at him. Aaron was relieved no one was hurt but had trouble focusing on anything else but his dreams. Nightmares, he corrected himself, were all starting to blur together as he fought to decipher the meaning behind them. First Beth then Jack, then Haley and Jack then that... thing. That person who looked just like him and..." "Sean?" said David interrupting his thoughts. "What?" asked Aaron anxiously, wondering if he talked in his sleep. "When you woke up you said 'Where's Sean?' You looked quite worried kid." said David eyes glued to Aaron's face waiting to detect any signs of distress. Oh God, Aaron thought cringing at the pet name David used when he was concerned about him. "How did it happen? I don't even remember seeing him." asked Aaron ignoring David's question which he knows will come up again. David looked unconcerned at the deflection knowing he had stumbled upon something of importance, "I was behind Emily, we both saw him run across the doorway; he shot at the first person he saw. You ran into another room while we all followed him into the kitchen, Emily took him out." explained David. "Why didn't I see him?" asked Aaron. "Good question, I was hoping you could tell me." said David putting a hand on Aaron's shoulder. Aaron shook his head slightly trying to remember, "Where is everyone?" asked Aaron leaving that question for later. "Morgan and Emily are just outside, Reid and JJ are at Police Headquarters finishing up the case and handling the press. Would you like to see them?" David offered. "No. No not yet. When are we going home?" asked Aaron wondering how long he will be trapped here. "That doctor really is one for protocol, won't tell me anything. I'm sure she would tell you." said David. "Can you go get her?" asked Aaron, "And tell Morgan and Emily that I'm OK?" "Sure Aaron, hang on." said David leaving Aaron to his thoughts. If Wallace was right in front of me, why didn't I see him? Aaron thought angrily to himself. Why would I dream of killing my own son? I didn't kill Haley, Foyet did! I would never hurt Beth! Sean would never treat me like that.I was sent away to boarding school, but I never wanted to leave Sean, father sent me away; surely Sean knows that. I'm nothing like my father! I would never lay a hand on Jack. I would never kill myself! I haven't dreamed of my father in years, why now? Questions ruthlessly plagued Aaron's thoughts as he waited to know when he could go home, desperate to see Jack and Beth.