Oh great, I'm introspecting again... Sorry, my muse wasn't being cooperative about doing something fluffy today, hehe.
Please review. Flames will be donated to the KJBWFF, the KMSWFF, and the HUBF, my three personal flame charities.
For them, failure meant death. Failure meant nightmares, grieving families, shattered hopes and lives cut short.
For Hotch, failure meant that Jack's world was a little more dark, a little less pure. Foyet was his failure, albeit one that he'd eventually remedied, but not before Haley could pay the ultimate price.
The Replicator was Rossi's failure, even though everyone told him not to blame himself. The woman he'd loved was dead because of John Curtis, and, as much as he wanted to believe that he had done all he could, he couldn't help but believe that he should've realized it was an inside man sooner. Maybe then, he could still be holding Erin in his arms, rather than leaving flowers on her grave.
For Derek, his failure meant that another Carl Buford got another victim to torture for years, keeping them complacent with promises of great things, only to rob them of the innocence that was a beauty in their dark, bloodied world. His failure meant that his Mama, and Sarah, and Des, were all in a little more danger. Failing meant that his family was in danger, both his first and second. He'd failed Emily that night, but was simply glad that she was alive, after all that time. Derek had failed her in the warehouse, but, at least, he made sure to make Ian Doyle pay, even if it wasn't in the way that he intended. It didn't matter; Doyle was gone, at least, although nightmares didn't follow the same rules as reality, plunging them back into the world where their monsters still survived.
For Kate, failing meant that she could someday lose Meg, or Chris, the same way she'd lost her sister. Another family would go home without their little girl, or little boy, or a child would be left parentless. To fail would be failing Meg, failing Chris, and failing her team. As the newbie, she was certain to make mistakes, but she wouldn't let herself fail.
For JJ, failing meant that Will's job got a little more dangerous, and that Henry was a little less safe in the mad world they lived in. She had seen the horrors of the world for all her many years with the BAU, and would go home to hold her son close and dream about the days she was young enough to believe monsters could be beaten, while shamelessly deceiving her son into believing the fairy tales that told of princes slaying dragons, all in the name of keeping his innocence as long as she could.
For Reid, failing meant that another child had to suffer as he had in childhood, lost between the cracks if not for his genius and intuition. Failure meant admitting that his genius wasn't always enough, something he had to do far too often. Failure meant that his insecurities, things he'd thought he'd done away with long ago, would come creeping up behind him.
For Penelope Garcia, failure was something she never wanted to face. Facing failure meant facing another surviving family member in the group she wished didn't need to exist. Failure meant that she was too late, just a little too late. And no matter how many times they'd tell her it wasn't her fault, she could never bring herself to believe it. She wasn't ashamed to admit she'd failed the whole team during the fisher king case, using her computer to play games that let the psychopath into their system. It would forever haunt her, as seen in her encrypted files, records she had to keep.
Failure would always lurk around the corner for them, but, hopefully, they could hold it back for long enough to rid the world of one more monster, one more nightmare, one more killer. At least in their minds, they owed the world that much.