The Lake House Chapter 12, a criminal minds fanfic

Criminal Minds characters and universe are not mine, but the original characters, storyline and wording are mine.

So Alistair has a guest slot in this story. He is kind of an OTT character but I will try not to make the story become too unbelievable with him in it; he is just a larger than life guy (pun totally intended). Strangely enough he is inspired by a real person, Mad Jack Churchill, a British officer from WWII who carried a longbow and a Scottish Broadsword into battle, once capturing an entire German battalion with only his sword. He and his men are mostly there to even the playing field a bit against the LaGrange-Foyet family, because without some serious firepower/manpower, it would become too unbelievable that the BAU didn't wait for proper reinforcements. The BAU are FBI agents first and foremost, and they wouldn't be so dumb as to try some kind of suicidal charge against overwhelming odds with just the five of them. Getting closer to the confrontation now, so more than one POV possible per chapter from here on in.

The Lake House

Chapter 12

Hotch POV

After ending the call with his team Aaron ran his hand through his hair and leaned back against the side of the sofa. During the hardest parts of Lily's account they had both ended up sat on the floor, taking comfort in each other. Now her back lay against his chest with their arms linked together in front of her and her emotions were cycling out of control. He could feel the tension in every part of her that touched him. She was a powder keg and he needed to ignite her or lose her to her inward spiral of loathing.

"Don't do that again." He ground out angrily.

"Don't do what?" he felt her tense further.

"Ask me to turn away from you." He sighed as she exploded out of his arms and turned on him with furious eyes, arms ramrod straight by her sides and fists clenched until her knuckles turned white.

"Are you kidding me? Does it not occur to you that there are some parts of what happened that I didn't ever want another living soul to know?" He rose swiftly to face her anger head on. "That I might have needed some space to…"

"No." He interrupted her fiercely, crossing the distance between them with one stride and grasping her upper arms in an iron grip. "There is no space between you and I, not now, not yet, maybe not ever." His gaze was locked with hers and he could feel her breath coming in quick puffs against his chin as he leant toward her upturned face.

"I…I want…let me go." she sputtered, struggling to escape his grasp, which only made him hold her tighter.

"I know you're raw, and I know a tiny part of you hates me right now for seeing you at your lowest, seeing how close to an animal he managed to reduce you." His heart pinched as he saw the acknowledgement in her eyes. "But it was necessary in order to find the man that held you and it was necessary for you to be able to survive inside your head. So you go ahead and hate me, because I can live with that now if it helps you live with yourself later." He eyed her speculatively, not loosening his grip.

"Why? Why does it matter if I can live with myself later? Maybe I'm not meant to be able to. Maybe he took me away from me and I'm not supposed to…" She shook her body in frustration. "I don't want to fight with you but I…" she ground her teeth, the tension still singing through her "Yes I do. I do want to fight with you. God help me but I want to punish you for seeing me while I was feeling that. Why do I have to be able to live with that later?"

"Because I have to." He barked at her. "I can't say it right or probably even touch you in a way that would show you I mean it right now but you're one half of me and you need to be able to live with yourself because I won't be without you." He let her go then, noting even through his own rising ire that she didn't step back but leaned forward, pink spots of high temper on her cheeks.

"You can be as angry with me as you want but when this is all long since over and we get to the part where we say 'for better or worse'," her eyes widened, shocked, but he carried on "and we will, we'll have already been through the second part."

She rocked her chin absently in agreement, her fingers twitching impotently and her gaze flitting around the room as she gathered her thoughts. Some of the energy was already leaving her body but her fight or flight response was still in overdrive.

"That was 'worse', Lily, and I'll go through it with you a hundred times if that's what you need but I won't let you close yourself off from me again. Understood?" He waited for her to deal with what he demanded of her. "Damnit tell me you understand!" Eventually she nodded tightly.

"I don't like it or anything else right now, but I get it. But that doesn't mean I won't fight you if you ask too much." She lifted her chin in defiance, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"I look forward to it." He ran a hand up her arm and she fisted her hands in his sweater, still at war with herself, still half wanting to fight him. The other, darker half hidden behind her dilated pupils wanted him to make her submit to him and in turn to wring his own submission from his lips with her body. Her breathing changed and he felt the air between them crackle.

"I still want to punish you." She murmured as she leaned into him, her lips perilously close to his. He allowed himself the lightest brush across them as he turned her head roughly with one hand in her hair to press his mouth against her throat. He felt the vibration as she hummed in amusement, knowing they wouldn't stop anything they started now.

"Get through this and I'll let you." He held her hips with a bruising grip, pulling her to him hard enough to knock a surprised breath out of her, the evidence of his promise pressing urgently against her thigh. She drew in a sharp breath, pushing her fingers through his hair and twining them in the thick strands. He rocked against her once, roughly, sweetly, then pushed her hips away from his.

"Aaron." He shook his head. He didn't want to hear her beg him. Yet. He trained his gaze on the purple and yellow bruises that still decorated her throat and collarbones to refocus his train of thought. He needed a head clear of desire for what they were about to do and reminding himself of how she had ended up there with him helped.

"We have to go." He saw her nod. "This needs to be over, and if he has someone else, it needs to be over for her, too. I know you want that."

"Yes. I can take us back, I think. And when we get there…" He heard the unspoken question in her voice.

"I need to get changed. I'm not a vigilante and I'll do this as an FBI agent. I want to kill him, but if I didn't believe that the way I've been trained to deal with men like him is the right way, my life so far would have been a waste. And I know in my heart that it hasn't."

"Go change, Agent Hotchner. And find me some shoes that will fit me." She smirked, shaking most of the remaining anger out of her head and starting to pull on extra layers, jeans over leggings, two more sweaters and a dark blue winter coat. Now she looked as mismatched on the outside as she felt on the inside, excitement warring with nauseating anxiety.

When he returned she saw what the rest of the world saw every day, the man that colleagues and subordinates respected before they even met him. A stern FBI agent, a leader, with lips tightly serious and black brows drawn in a frown, the weight of the world on the shoulders of an expensive suit.

He stood in front of her for moments until he saw that no part of her rejected this side of him, this all of him. He wordlessly knelt at her feet to help her into and tie the laces of first one shoe, then the other. His expression didn't change as he looked up at her long enough for her to understand that it was the kneeling that was important to him, not the shoes.

She pulled him to his feet and helped him into his bulletproof vest and a thick, wool coat. Arming themselves, Hotch with dual shoulder holsters and a gun at his ankle, Lily with shotgun and a hunting knife, they stepped out the door hand in hand.

Prentiss POV

The quiet swish of the snow beneath the sled made for one of the most relaxing uncomfortable silences Prentiss had ever experienced. But, try as she might, the urge to say something got the better of her.

"Why did you pick me to ride with you?" She swore she could tell that he smiled at that, even though her view was only of the back of his head.

"Does a man need an excuse tae request the company of an intriguing woman?" He was definitely smiling.

"Yes." She wasn't letting him off that easy.

"Ha!" was his only reply. She groaned and leant her head back in her seat. She was fairly certain that if she managed to escape being harmed by the unsubs, Alistair would probably manage to annoy her to death.

"So how do you know Reid?" Without raising her head, she felt the levity drop from the man sitting in front of her.

"Because of him my sister is still alive. There's nothing I wouldnae do for him, aye?" Prentiss wondered why Reid had never mentioned having such a useful friend. Alistair seemed to read her mind. "He was a guest lecturer while she was at university. She and another student were kidnapped, but the entire operation was classified because of who the other student was."

"Was?" She had a horrible feeling she knew the answer already.

"They didnae make it. But after they brought Reid in on the case they made progress faster than before. When we found my sister she was half dead. I'll spend the rest of my life grateful tae Reid for that other half. Don't fault your friend for keeping it tae himself; that's exactly what was required of him." She heard the fondness in Alistair's voice.

"No, that's just like Reid. Someone else would have found enough of a loophole to let them brag about it. He works on something important, does something heroic, makes an interesting friend and I bet it never even crossed his mind to tell anyone about it after they asked him not to." Her already great respect for her friend rose several notches. From her work with Interpol she knew her how difficult some secrets can be to keep. Sometimes it was a bitter pill to go unnoticed.

"So ye admit ye find me interesting?" He chuckled.

"Oh my god, do you ever stop?" she was glad he couldn't see the warmth that flushed her cheeks.

"No." Alistair admitted honestly.

"What about the sword. Is that for real?" She had no intention of visiting any part of what was fast appearing to be his favourite subject while they had work to think about.

"Yes. But I might no have brought it along tonight if Reid hadn't mentioned a certain ongoing feud with Agent Morgan." His laugh rumbled pleasantly.

"Oh no." Her head snapped up. "The prank war. Morgan's going to kill him. He is actually going to kill him."

"Hmmph." The disbelieving noise Alistair made left no doubt as to what he thought of Morgan's chances.

"Don't get all protective; the more put out Morgan is, the more pleased Reid will be. It's not an unequal friendship; they both idolise each other in their own way."

"Then I'm glad I remembered tae bring the blade." He paused in thought. "Why is yer team under Agent Rossi and no yer boss?"

"Agent Hotchner is unable to be impartial in this instance. He seems to have formed a connection with the victim, and his priority right now is protecting her. The line between protecting someone and avenging them can be thin at times like this." Alistair cocked his head at her words, as if listening to something that wasn't there. "He OKed it in our conference call. He understands that the chain of command has to be objective."

"But you do not." The head turned away from her again but his careful enunciation made it clear he thought he had hit upon something of significance.

"Of course I do. It's standard procedure. The best for everyone's safety." Prentiss was becoming uncomfortable with this line of commentary.

"That's no what I meant. This is difficult for ye." She almost wished she heard derision in his voice, not understanding.

"Of course not. We're a great team whoever takes the reins on a case." Prentiss looked down at her hands, away from eyes that couldn't possibly be looking at her, though she felt his scrutiny just the same.

"This is difficult for ye." It wasn't a question and had a note of finality. He would be gentle with her feelings, but he wouldn't let her lie to him or to herself.

"It is what it is. I'm part of something important. It's enough." She hoped that it was.

"We work with all areas of your government's military, and some others." His deep voice was calming, although his tendency to go off at a tangent was making her head spin.

"Reid explained that in part on the plane. For some reason I assumed that you'd find it hard keeping busy."

"No. These kinds of conditions make for a verra attractive hideaway for those who dinnae wish tae be caught. It takes a great deal of organisation, but we rarely see a month without an assignment." He considered his next words in silence for a few seconds before speaking carefully. "I've seen yer file. I know what ye are, or were. When this is over, if things are…harder for ye than ye can bear, if yer team is no longer enough, there is a spot here for ye with us…Emily."

Prentiss said nothing. She knew her indrawn breath was acknowledgement enough that she'd heard as he turned his attention back to the reins in his hands and said no more.

Hope you enjoyed that. I don't like the idea of Prentiss and Hotch but I don't want her to be miserable. Putting her in the path of a good guy with a lovely accent is the least I can do.

Until next time.

~Sin~