D.C |Aaron Hotchner|

thirty five

A/N: Quick note! This chapter will be written a tad differently for the sake of the plot, I hope it doesn't confuse anyone!

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The next morning

Back at headquarters, the team thought it would just be a normal day. Everyone but Hotch was at their desks, continuing the paperwork they hadn't finished from yesterday.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Aaron grumbled to himself as he tied his tie in the elevator. He had overslept that morning, and was running late to work.

He stumbled out of the elevator and rushed up the small staircase to his office door. Before he could open it, Emily stopped him.

"Carter's not with you?" She asked.

He glanced around at the bullpen, noticing the empty desk across from Spencer.

"Devyn's not here yet?" He asked, somewhat concerned.

"Yeah, we just assumed you two were together since you both weren't here." She shrugged, not thinking of it. Aaron, on the other hand, was confused. Devyn was never late.

He entered his office and pulled out his phone for the first time that day.

No new messages.

He sighed as he quickly dialed his girlfriend's number. As her boss, if she wasn't here in ten minutes, he'd have to punish her; but as her boyfriend, he hoped she had just slept in.

"You've reached SSA Devyn Carter, leave a message at the beep!" Devyn's voice rang through his ears.

Little to Aaron's knowledge, while he was calling Devyn the rest of the team was greeted by a worried Hayden.

"Hey, Dev. Where are you? Call me back when you-" He began to leave a message but was interrupted.

"HOTCH!" It was Derek. He shouted across the floor, in hopes to get everyone's attention as well.

It worked, Aaron quickly ended his voicemail and ran out of his office, followed by Rossi stepping out of his own.

"It- It's Devyn." Hayden croaked, falling to his knees.

Spencer dashed to his friend's side, rubbing his back as he tried to help Hayden catch his breath.

Hayden had just run up six flights of stairs- while in full panic mode- not having time to wait for the elevator.

"What the hell is he talking about?" Hotch spat with a mixture of confusion and anger in his voice.

"Where's Devyn, Hayden? What happened?" Spencer asked gently.

Hayden took a deep breath before standing to his feet.

"When I got here, Tabitha called me off of Devyn's phone. She said she found Gunner with Devyn's phone outside. That's- that's all she said. She's on her way now."

As if on cue, the elevator doors opened to the young blonde college student. Tabitha was hysterical, tears streaming down her face as she clutched Gunner in her arms.

The team stared at her with confused looks, not knowing how to react to what they were hearing.

Seconds later, the second elevator opened, revealing three suited agents with their guns at the ready. They immediately stepped out and pointed their guns at Tabitha.

Tabitha's eyes widened as she let out a frightened gasp.

JJ rushed over to her side, "It's okay." She assured the agents by putting her hand up to stop them. "She's with us."