He still felt a bit lightheaded from the sudden hug JJ had given him. Unexpectedly she'd entered his personal space, placed one arm over his shoulder, standing on her toes to hug him, her hair tickling in his face, a faint scent of perfume reached his brains.
He quickly pushed that image away, he shouldn't think about her like that. He was her boss.
And so he did, he pushed the image and sensation to the back of his mind.
He looked at the yearbook in front of him and opened it.
First face he searched was that of JJ's sisters. She looked happily in the eye of the camera, beautiful and innocent.
Then he started from the first page, it was far from an exact science but he wrote down the names of boys who looked a little too arrogant or too smug, or too charming. That resulted in a long list. Then he crossed off boys he didn't expect Rosaline to fall in love with.
He called Garcia.
"You couldn't get enough of me could you?" she heard her happy voice say.
"Garcia, I've got a few names for you I would like you to check for me. I'm looking for someone that moved a lot, has a criminal record and isn't married or in a relationship. He's currently moved to Pennsylvania" he said ignoring Garcia's question.
"Alright, sent me the names and I will get back to you right away" she said without further questions.
It was a brief call.
His mind, again, wandered off to JJ. He hoped that she and Smitty were okay.
"Thank you Hotch" he heard JJ voice saying in his head. She had whispered it so sweet and soft. Her blue eyes looking into his.
Urgh, what was he doing?
He should stop now.
Hotch needed to clear his mind. He needed some air. He grabbed his coat and walked out of the house.
The weather had become colder after the storm, but the tall agent didn't mind. It was just what he'd needed.
The area JJ grew up in was really pretty and filled with gorgeous nature. Though he could imagine feeling alone growing up here.
He was walking for a little while and found himself surrounded by large trees.
The oxygen filled his lungs and cleared every image from his head.
His phone rang.
JJ! His heard made a little jump, but it was his technical analyst.
"Garcia?" he answered.
"Hi sir, so I ran the names that you send me and I came up with 2 matches" she said.
It was the second time his heart jumped.
"Who's names?"
"Jason delGaro and John Roy Felton, both got a criminal record for abusing women, both moved a lot, none have a relationship" she said fast.
"Can you send me both their addresses?" he asked.
"I already did" ofcourse she did, "are you going there alone sir?" she sounded a bit worried.
"No Garcia, don't worry" he lied through his teeth.
Before she could say anything else he hang up.
Time to pay Jason and John a visit.
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Bobby, Smitty's son from his previous marriage, was waiting for JJ in the hallway of the hospital.
"Bobby" she said with ambiguous feelings.
"JJ" he managed to smile a little, but his eyes were red, giving away he'd been crying.
"How is he?" she whispered.
He shook his head.
"The operation went well but afterwards he got a hemorrhage" he said.
"How is that possible?" she could feel a lump in her throat.
"The doctors think that there might've been a blood clot" the tears were already rolling down his face again and JJ couldn't keep hide her own tears anymore.
Both of them walked to his room.
He looked just awful, his face was pale and his eyes closed. His respiration was artificial.
The machinery was keeping him alive.
Her mother was holding his hand and stroking his hair.
She looked at them both entering and spread her arm, gesturing JJ to come near.
Bobby went to the other side of his father's bed. JJ sat next to her mom.
Tears were streaming down her face.
The unspoken truth hit her.
She looked up to Bobby.
He stared at her, scraped his throat and said: "the doctors said that he will not recover JJ. I uhm.." he sighed "I've asked them to stop the machines."
They all cried.
JJ shook his head in disbelief and stared at her beloved mentor.
The moment she had braced herself for since she'd found him in the woods had arrive.
Tears kept swallowing up, blurred her vision.
With every blink they kept rolling down her cheeks.
She rubbed his hands, they were ice cold.
Then she brought his hand to her face and carefully placed a kiss on it.
JJ felt how her mom was rubbing her back.
It was like she was 10 years old again.
She buried her head on her moms shoulders.
The doctor and some nurses entered the room.
They looked at Bobby.
"Are you ready?" the doctor asked him.
No, JJ thought, but she knew that she could never be ready for this.
Bobby's throat sounded awfully dry when he said yes.
The doctor told them what they were going to do and what they could expect.
But JJ didn't hear it.
Bobby kissed his father's forehead.
The doctor walked over to the machines next to Smitty.
Please Smitty, open your eyes. Don't leave me here. I don't want to say goodbye, please. I'm sorry! I'm so sorry Smitty, this my fault..
The doctor turned off the machinery..
The silence between beeps of his heartbeat were longer and longer.
Until the doctor turned that off as well and they were freed from the awful sound.
The nurses and doctor all placed a step back and respectfully looked at the floor.
It was dead silent in the room.
The doctor checked on Smitty.
He looked back at Bobby and the Jareaus, and nodded.
Smitty had died.
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The apartment of John Roy Felton was just out of town, near an woody area (surprise, surprise Hotch thought).
He rang the bell but no one answered.
He tried that of the neighbors, but either the bell was broken or nobody was home, or no one felt like answering.
He walked around the building, but there it was pointless, he couldn't tell anything from the outside.
Okay then, he had to visit the house of Jason. He looked at the address that Garcia had given him, he estimated that it would be a 15 minute drive.
Hotch grabbed has phone.
Should he inform JJ of where he was going?
Something told him not to bother JJ, he feared that Smitty has worsened a lot and last thing he wanted to do was to intrude.
He put his phone back in his pocket and walked to his car.
Then without any warnings a sharp pain rushed from his spine to his head.
It was as if his head split in two, he was instantly blinded.
He felt another blow to his legs and fell down on his knees, still grabbing his head.
His body couldn't coordinate his movements anymore and before he knew it, his head was falling into the leafs.
Urghh
A long groan..
Was it his groan?
Something was grabbing him by his armpits.
He heard the leafs moving underneath him.
Or was he the one who was moving?
He tried to open his eyes, but instantly got dizzy.
They stopped.
The sounds of the footsteps of his attacker were fainting.
Was he leaving him?
C'mon open your eyes..
He gathered all his strength and lifted his eyelids.
A vague figure was walking towards him.
Grabbing both of his hands.
What was he doing?
He felt something rugged against his wrists.
He felt a pull from his attacker and suddenly it was as if his veins in his arms were cut off.
Oh no! he suddenly realized he was tightened up.
He blinked, hoping to get his vision back.
A man was kneeling next to him.
Smiling at him.
"You shouldn't have come here" he hissed "no, you're mine."
