Chpt. 32

"All I can think about is what she must be doing, and how I wish she were still here." (Pittacus Lore, I Am Number Four)

"Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies." (Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina)

"When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago." (Friedrich Nietzsche)

"Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you." (Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye)

"My past is everything I failed to be." (Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet)

Alecta made her way back into Hotch's apartment, furious. Simon had walked in ahead of her, checking to make sure everything was still ok. Not sensing any trouble, he let her go farther into the living room.

Alecta pushed past Simon making her way to the bedroom that she had been sharing with Hotch for a few short weeks, she didn't even give herself time to look around; she quickly went to the closet and began grabbing clothes. Simon grabbed suitcases, Alecta wasn't even sure where he got them from; if they were hers or Hotch's….she didn't care. She just wanted to leave.

Sure she had been insulted before, by plenty of people. But this was different. Those other people never claimed to love her. Those other people hadn't become close to her kids.

"Oh! Just when I was starting to believe him. That….." Simon began to back away and step out into the hall. He knew from experience that when she became lost for words she usually started throwing things.

"Don't worry Simon; I'm not throwing things today. This isn't my home. These aren't my things. Besides, I shoulda known better. I won't blame him for this. This is my fault. I was the one that fell for the lies. That's not his fault. Call Mac, I need his help."

"As you wish."

Simon went into the other room to make the call; Mac showed up about 15 minutes later.

"What do you need love?"

Alecta came into the room with her satchel, slinging it down beside the door.

"Get this fucking chip out of my neck."

"Might I ask why? You're supposed to have one implanted when you join the group. Taking one out…."

"Look, I'm splittin'. I can't stay here. It's time for me to go on about my life and do my own thing."

"But you just got your position with the Bureau."

"Yeah, and look how much trouble I've been in since."

"Look how much trouble you've been in without them."

"Just take the damned chip out of my neck. PLEASE! I don't want him being able to go to Garcia and track me down. If he wants to find me, he's going to have to work for it."

"What about the kids, ya leaving them, too?"

"Hardly. I am going to ask Rachel and the others if they would like to come along for the adventure this time. Although, I should have a lobotomy for it. Are you taking this chip out today or do I have to do it myself?"

"Sit down and quit your bitching."

Alecta sat down in one of the dining room chairs, and tilted her head to the side.

"Do you want anything for the pain?"

"I have birthed six babies; I have been shot, stabbed, carved on, branded, and tattooed. Cut the damn chip out already."

"So bossy….tsk"

Mac made quick work of removing the tracking device; it only required a small incision, before simply using some 'butterfly' bandaging to close the wound off.

"What do you want me to do with it?"

"Give it to me." Alecta took the chip from Mac, she grabbed a shot glass out of the cabinet, dropping the device into the shot glass, and setting the glass down on the peninsula countertop.

"Now, I need you to go over to Rachel's, let her know that we're leaving. She can stay or go, whichever she prefers…..she's a grown woman now, she has to be free to decide for herself, though I must admit, if it was my choice, I'd have her with me. We've talked over the last few days about a lot of what's going on, so she knows. The two of you can start carrying the luggage down if you will; I'm going to grab a few things from the cave that I don't want to leave behind….the rest can be sent for later."

"Yes ma'am. Simon, after you."

"Thank you." The men did as they were instructed. Alecta ran to the cave and started to pack up most of what she could carry. She took a second to sit behind the desk and yank out a piece of paper to write Hotch a note. He didn't even really deserve one, but Alecta just couldn't stop herself. She tried to keep it short.

Before signing she left a few last lines, they were quotes. The first one was from the book, Bastard Out of Carolina….it was a book that Alecta had read hundreds of times; she knew it by heart. The other was from a book titled, 'Club Dead' by Charlaine Harris. They summed up quite well what she was thinking and they took the place of the words that Alecta could not find on her own.

"…..'Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.' You know like when you started telling me you loved me. If you didn't really mean it, then you should have kept it to yourself. I guess I am more upset and angry with myself than I am with you. It's not your fault I fell for it all again. 'The sweetest part of being a couple is sharing your life with someone else. But my life, evidently, had not been good enough to share.' Since I'm no better to you than one of your UNSUBS, I've decided to be on my way. I'll mail my letter of resignation if I must. I will tell you nothing of where I will go outside of the fact that I am going to Ireland to bury my friends. They have been waiting patiently for burial while our lives have moved on. I will attend to them finally. But beyond that, I don't feel as though you have any rights to know where I will be going or what I will be doing. The kids are coming with me…all of them. I'm taking my clothes with me and some things out of my cave. If it isn't too much trouble, box up the rest and set it by the door; I will send for it later….."

She didn't even have to sign it. Who else was he sleeping with that would write a 'Dear John' letter. Besides, what name would she sign to the bottom? Alecta, Anat…there were so many to choose from. She left the note on the counter by the tracking device.

"Are you ready love?" Mac asked.

"Yeah,' her voice wavered slightly as she answered. But then she turned around and made her way to the door. She grabbed a couple of light weight items that Mac and Simon allowed her to carry. Kong met them outside and then proceeded to go into the apartment and grab the rest of the items that she had indicated she wanted to have come with her.

On their way out of town they stopped by Rachel's place. She explained to Rachel that she was leaving town to go bury her friends.

"And I suppose we can go to Russia for few days to let Sasha, Eva, and Oleg see that side of their family. They haven't been there since they were infants. And Yuri's parents are both quite old. I want the kids to know them before it's too late. I may swing through Romania while I'm on my travels to pay my respects to my old Gypsy friend. I want to go at any rate; it really depends on what happens.

The reason I am telling you this is because I would like for you to join me. I mean I know that it's short notice and all. You're free to come back here whenever you chose. The decision is yours."

"Well yes, it is short notice, mom. I can make the trip to Ireland, but I can meet up with you in Russia. That would give me time to arrange time off from work. And it has been a while since I was last there anyway."

"Very well, whatever works best for you. Call Mac whenever you are ready to make the arrangements and we will have your transportation taken care of. Now, I have to get going. I'll see you….what….next week possibly? And look after mom for me, check in on her from time to time. I'll be calling her to let her know what's up so she doesn't worry that much. I may invite her along.

"Yes. You have a safe trip alright. Try to stay out of trouble."

Alecta only winked and smiled as she turned to leave.

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The case had taken an entire week and a half to solve. Once they got the geographical profile down, the UNSUB would change on them. And then if they got victimology figured out, the UNSUB would change details about that. It turned out the killer was one of the sheriff deputies that were assigned to assist on the case. That's how he was able to know so many details and change things up if he thought the profilers were getting too close. Never mind the fact that Hotch was barely able to concentrate worth a damn. Everybody on the team knew why. He was damn near rude to the local law enforcement agency….something that was totally unlike him. He could be frank and to the point, but he was rarely ever just rude.

After one particularly bad day where Hotch spent the better part of an hour in a screaming match with the sheriff, Rossi got between them before punches could be thrown; he told Aaron to step down from his supervising position for the rest of the case; Rossi would take over those duties. Rossi wasn't sure how good the sheriff was at self-defense, but he knew for a fact that Hotch had beat a man to death with his bare hands once. Rossi wasn't willing to chance it this time.

For the better part of the week, Hotch had tried calling Alecta on her cell again….several times a day. He got nowhere with it. She wasn't answering; the phone had remained turned off. One day he called and all he got in return was a message stating that service to that phone had been terminated.

They were on the jet on their way home finally. Garcia had come with them on this case, so he turned to where he could see Garcia sitting with JJ and Reid and Morgan and asked her if she could do her thing and try to track Alecta.

"Sir, judging by the readings that I am getting…..it looks like she is still at your apartment. Perhaps it isn't as bad as you think and she's waiting for you to come home so you can sit down and discuss this like adults."

"I doubt it. I was hateful to her before we left."

Hotch turned back to what he was doing, and just shut his eyes, to try to clear his mind of everything. He had to find a way to relax before they got all the way back to Quantico, in case she was still there and they did get the chance to speak. He wanted to have a clearer frame of mind. And if she wasn't still there, he had to have a clear mind to think of what to do next.

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Once they landed back in Quantico, Hotch was the first one off of the plane, grabbing his gear and taking off. He told the team that if they went ahead and dealt with the paper work tonight they could have the next three days off, barring anything serious.

Everyone made their way into the Hoover building, each going to their own office or desk. Hotch had just gotten settled behind his desk, opening up the first file he was going to work on, when there was a knock at his office door.

"Come in."

"Hotch, what are you doing?"

"Um, paper work."

"I can handle your stack, go home. I know you want to know if she's there and, if so, you want to discuss what happened."

"Dave…."

"Go. Call me and let me know how it goes….or don't. I suppose it depends on how lucky you get."

"Dave, I called her a murderer. I don't think she's gonna be in the mood. Do you?"

"You'll never know if you don't pack your shit and go home."

"Alright, I'm going."

Reid, Prentiss, and Morgan looked up from where they were sitting in the bull-pen; Morgan was trying to barter with Reid to do his paper work for him so he could go home to Penelope….and Reid was holding out on him. They watched Hotch rush past them and head for the elevators.

"Man, I hope for his sake she's still home."

Prentiss looked over to Morgan, 'Me too, but I doubt she stuck around long after she left the office that day."

Pen had walked up to the little clique, 'Poor boss man."

"I thought you had gone home baby."

"No such luck hot stuff. I had a few programs to run…..but I'll be done soon, so stop harassing poor Reid and finish your paper work."

Reid chuckled, 'Busted."

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Hotch made it home in record time. He had stopped short of using lights and sirens. He didn't want to hear about it later if the news somehow made it back to Strauss, he had enough shit going on right now; he didn't want to have to deal with her as well.

He had never had an elevator ride last this damn long; this thing couldn't have moved fast enough if it had been rocketing to the moon. Then when he got out of the elevator to the door of his apartment, he dropped his house keys as he took them out of his pocket to unlock his door. Life was conspiring against him. The harder he tried to hurry up and get in there, it seemed he took two steps back. He should have known when the lights kept trying to catch him that he wasn't going to have an easy time of it.

Finally getting the keys to cooperate, he got the door unlocked and went in quickly. As rushed as he was, he had not forgotten his current life situation. He shut and locked the door, setting the alarm.

He went running through the apartment, checking room by room. Alecta was nowhere to be found. He began to freak out. There was a knock at the door. Hotch froze in the living room, staring at the door. Nobody knew he was home already, with the exception of his teammates; unless it was somebody looking for one of his neighbors.

Thinking back over the last couple of weeks with Alecta he knew better than to just open the door. He stood there and stared at it a moment longer. The bell rang and the person on the other side knocked again.

When Hotch didn't go straight away to answer it, 'Delivery. Chinese food order for Aaron Hotchner."

Hotch looked over at the dining room table and saw a box of some things that had been in Alecta's cave. On top of the pile was a huge silver cross, the bottom end of which was sharpened to a point; it looked more like a cleverly disguised dagger. He knew he hadn't ordered any food on his way home, definitely not Chinese…..today was Thursday; he never did Chinese on Thursdays. And when he did order Chinese delivery, it was almost always the same delivery person…..Wong. This didn't sound like Wong.

Grabbing the cross in his hand, holding it, ready to strike if he must he went to the door, cracking it open, leaving the chain across the gap.

"You've got the wrong apartment."

"You Aaron Hotchner? This apartment 121?"

"It's apartment 121, correct. And I am Aaron Hotchner. But I ordered NO delivery of any kind. So you need to leave." Hotch had stayed close to the door, keeping it from opening any farther with his weight. His right hand was behind his back with a bottle of holy water hidden from the person's view.

"But I have this delivery, if you just let me in I can set it down and be on my way."

Something seemed very off about this person. The hairs on the back of Hotch's neck wouldn't lay back down. Great, now she has me as paranoid as a conspiracy theorist. Awesome.

"Leave now! I already have the authorities on the way."

"No, you don't Aaron. No you don't."

That was the last straw, this person was creeping him out and he was a supervisory special agent within the FBI's BAU. He study serial killers and their crimes for a living. And HE was getting freaked out.

Taking a step back, he got the holy water ready and shook some in the face of the person at his door….the cross/dagger in his left hand, ready.

The person on the other side of the door fairly well hissed at the holy water; when Hotch looked back at the face staring at him from the other side of the door, it looked like half the face had nearly melted away because of the holy water. Hotch quickly shut the door and locked the dead bolts. He backed away, not knowing what to do.

"I've got this." Hotch jumped when he heard a voice sound from his right side. Turning his head slowly, not sure what he would find, Hotch spotted Simon.

"Where did you…."

"Shhh. Not now."

Simon stepped to the door and began speaking in a language that Hotch could not understand. Then the man opened the door all the way, reached out and stabbed at the being on the other side…..got him right in the heart, then slammed the door shut. Hotch could hear sounds of agony coming from the 'person' out in the hall as it sounded like they were dying.

Simon put his dagger down, wiping his hands together as if to brush dust from them.

"Bastard. I told him to stay away from you."

"How…..where…."

"You thought I would have left with Alecta?" Pausing, Simon saw the look on Hotch's face. "Trust me, I would have. But she gave me an order to stay with you for the time being. I wanted to leave you to fend for yourself; after the way you treated her. But, even as angry as she is with you, she could not leave you unprotected. And, after all she has done for me…."

"How long have you known her? I've met a few of her old friends, some I know more about than others."

"How long have we known each other?' Simon thought for a second, then smiled ruefully, 'it seems like forever."

With that Simon walked over to the sofa and sat down. "Would you like something to eat? I know you don't do Chinese on Thursday. Can't say that I blame you there. It doesn't taste right on Thursdays."

Hotch walked over to his sofa and sat down, looking at the coffee table, he saw a spread of a few little Mediterranean snacks. There was some humus with some pita bread. There were actually a few falafel balls, with a side of some tzatziki sauce on the side. There were a couple other things there that Hotch couldn't readily identify.

"Sit, eat."

"Where did you get all of this so suddenly? It wasn't here when I first got home."

"Um, why so many questions? You're hungry, eat."

Hotch jumped off of the sofa and went to the kitchen to get a drink, 'Do you want anything?"

"Yes. Some of the tea she made, if you don't mind."

Hotch came back with the drinks and sat back down, digging in to the spread before him. He was quite hungry. He hadn't realized how hungry he was under all the stress he had the last week or so. Now the hunger was rearing its ugly head.

After they had eaten a little while and Hotch could think clearly again, Simon stood up from the sofa. He walked across the room, lifting that damned bag from its resting place on the floor near the TV.

"Do you want to know what our Good Mr. Dunbar was up to exactly?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, this is evidence of what he was doing. He recorded it all. There are even a few VHS tapes of this. From what I am to understand, that should give you some idea about how long he had been doing these things. I know you have likely not watched any of them. I think that you should. You might understand why Alecta acted as she did."

Without even waiting for Hotch to say yes or now, Simon got out one of the DVD's and popped it into the player. After a moment the image cleared. Hotch could see that it was shot from inside a class room. He recognized the classroom as one at Jack's school. There was a child, a boy no older than Jack, that was sitting at one of the desks.

"This boy had been asked to stay for detention." Simon interjected.

The video rolled on; at first it was mundane. The boy was sitting there as punishment for something he did during the school day, having to write 100 sentences about how he was going to modify his behavior. Hotch didn't even realize they still did that in school. There were several minutes of the boy sitting at his desk writing away. Hotch could see Mr. Dunbar at his desk, probably trying to look like he was grading papers. But Hotch being as well trained as he was noticed how Dunbar kept watching the boy.

As the video progressed Hotch watched as Dunbar had the boy come over to his desk. He began making the boy touch him…..and then he began touching the boy. By the end of the video, Dunbar had made the decision to rape the young boy. Hotch knew for him to do that, on school property where there was a likelihood of getting caught meant that he was even more dangerous than anyone previously thought. Most people that do this to children preferred to be in a desolate place, away from where they might get caught. The fact that Dunbar didn't seem to care about that….he'd done this before, a lot. And he was way more dangerous than Hotch would have given him credit for.

Hotch knew he'd have to talk to Jack later about what he knew about Mr. Dunbar. Simon saw the wheels turning in Hotch's head.

"She found out that he had begun to target Jack and Henry."

"How?"

"She said that there was a night that you all went to some restaurant. As you were walking towards the building from the parking lot she had this uneasy feeling that someone was watching. She looked towards the road, and there was a man sitting in a car across the street. She said she put an arm around Jack and held him just a bit closer, listening to the story that he was telling. She said she noticed the man in the car give her a terrible look, as if he was angry with her or hated her for being so close to the boy.

The girls came over; with them she began to come up with a plan to surveil Mr. Dunbar. Jack happened to hear them, came in and asked them what they were up to. They asked him if he had noticed anything strange the past couple of days or weeks. He told them of the time he saw a man in a strange car sitting outside of his friend, Henry's, house.

Alecta showed him a sketch of the car she'd seen outside of the restaurant. He said it was the same car that he saw outside Henry's house. She showed him a sketch of the man that she had drawn, from what she had seen of the man's face. And he told her that the sketch was of Mr. Dunbar.

Alecta told Jack to stay away from Mr. Dunbar whenever possible and to keep an eye on Henry. She told him not to stay for detention for Mr. Dunbar no matter what. Then she went to the man's house, letting herself in. She told him to stay away from Jack and Henry or she would make him pay.

He broke into your apartment to try to get rid of her and get closer to the boys. That was his mistake. Alecta likes to fight to the death."

"I hate that I went off on her. I was just so upset that danger had come this close to Jack yet again. I just couldn't even see straight."

"Yes, we've heard about what happened. Some of us were actually quite impressed."

"Who are we?"

"No matter. But we know of your work. We have kept our eye on you. She won't be mad at you forever….but then, with Alecta, forever is a relative term."

"I just wish I knew where she was and if she was alright."

"Yes, she is alright; at least she was when I spoke to her yesterday. As far as where she is…..All I am able to tell you is that she went to Ireland to bury her friends. After that, there's not much I can say about the subject."

"Why?"

"It's called loyalty. You should try it." Hotch had the good sense to look ashamed of himself.

"I am sorry about it all; I know I handled everything all wrong."

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Alecta had spent the past 1 ½ weeks in small town Ireland. It was a beautiful place. It definitely made her think of Moira. It was quiet, like Moira. The area was quite lovely in an understated way….Just like Moira. She was the kind of woman that you would think was attractive, but you never really understood how beautiful she really was until after she was already gone.

There were times whenever Alecta was walking around the village and she would swear she could see the woman out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing….One day she had been at a small local shop; she had been looking over some of the locally made jewelry. When she looked up she could have sworn on a stack of bibles that Moira was less than 20 feet away, smiling at her…..her green eyes….Alecta turned and walked calmly out; her damned tears blurring her vision.

Finally was the day that she was heading out to Russia. Her children, all six of them, were dressed and packed, ready to go. Sofie and Emma were both on their best behavior; for Sofie that was next to impossible sometimes, if things were too quiet or she hadn't been in the middle of some drama for far too long, she would begin pestering her sister. Poor Emma was so used to it, she didn't eve flinch anymore.

Sasha and Eva were older, pushing 17, and they acted like little Czarinas….that used to be Alecta's nickname for them….her little Czarinas. They were older and proud of their heritage and behaved more maturely than most of the other girls their age. And of course there was Oleg, her golden boy. Not much had changed about him. He was still one of the best children Alecta had ever met. He had been a well-tempered little boy. And he was a well-mannered, well-behaved young man. You never, never had to ask him twice to do anything for anybody.

And Rachel, was of course the apple of Alecta's eye. She was so proud of her; for Alecta to have had such a hard time raising her….if it hadn't been for Lady Heather, Sky, and the other fellas helping her so much she's not sure what would have become of her and her daughter.

Alecta was so very pregnant. Mac really didn't want her travelling, he advised against it; she was into her eighth month, well into the eighth month. And the fact that she was carry twins….that meant that she could squeeze these kids out most any day now. And add that to the fact that the babies had been so active…..kicking Alecta, keeping her awake at night; sometimes she still would get the odd bought of nausea…..Yes, Mac frowned on the travelling that she was planning on doing, wasn't happy about it at all. But there was little or no arguing with Alecta. She was going to go to Russia if her life depended on it. So Mac grabbed one of the suitcases and made his way out the door of the small house Alecta and the kids had been staying in, heading towards the van that would take them to the air strip.

Kong had stayed right beside Alecta all week. If there was so much as a hair out of place on that woman, he would know about it. Mac teased him about being so vigilant, but stopped when Kong let Mac know that things had been too quiet this week. No strange diplomats or various other scum of the earth had tried to take shots at any of them all week. It didn't sit well with the man. He had stayed close out of concern.

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Hotch was still in a fog days later at work. Simon had not given him an update of any sort about Alecta. He wasn't sure if that was because there was no news to tell, or if he was withholding information on purpose, liking to make Hotch squirm.

Everyone at the BAU had noticed his change. He was always en pointe and rarely ever missed a beat. But now it seemed as though nobody could penetrate the fog. He'd be lost in his thoughts during a briefing. He didn't seem to care as much about going out on cases. If it wasn't for Jack, they were sure that he would just be depressed altogether; Jack was the only thing that forced Hotch to hold it together at all.

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Alecta and the children were making their way off of the private jet that they had been offered and onto the tarmac at the airstrip. There was a vehicle waiting to take them to the place they were going to stay. The transportation was parked 100ft away from the plane.

Sofie and Emma had fallen asleep on the plane, and were being carried by their older sisters, Sasha and Eva. The tots were sleeping away quietly with their little heads cradled on their sisters' shoulders. Suddenly Mac stopped the troupe, looking around. The next sound that could be heard was Oleg yelling….

"Get down!" He tackled his sister Rachel to the ground, Mac got both sets of twins down low as quickly as possible. Kong had the job of getting Alecta to the ground. He toppled first, cushioning Alecta's fall with his body, being careful that she didn't fall full weight onto her stomach, and the rolled her carefully under him.

Shots rang out just as everyone hit the pavement.

Immogene, with her MI-6 training, stooped at the top of the stairs to the plane and leveled her sniper rifle.

"Where did the shots come from?"

"They came from the west. The shooter would use the fact that he could see us but it would be next to impossible to see him from the glare of the sun behind him."

"It might be next to impossible, but that implies that there is still room for retaliation." Immogene got behind her rifle, looking through the scope.

"Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed quietly when she saw who the shooter had been….well shooters; there had been more than one. She squeezed off four rapid fire shots; she knew she had killed one shooter for sure…one of the shots pierced his chest cavity; the other had hit him in the head. The second shooter was merely injured, but badly enough that he wouldn't get very far before they caught him.

Setting her rifle to the side and flying down the steps, 'Is everyone alright down here?"

"We're all in one piece. Nice shooting love. Did you get a good look at the shooter?"

"There were at least two shooters, and you're never going to believe who they were. Not in a million years."

Post AN: So that is it for chapter 32. Hope you liked it. Lemme know for sure though. Next chapter, we find out who the shooters were, and possibly why they did it. Got some other stuff planned as well, but will have to see where everything takes us.