The Story of Us

Chapter 29- Loss of a Friend

The team didn't work any more cases for a week after Reid and Amy found the letter at Gideon's cabin along with his badge and gun. They all waited for him to come back but the Hotchner siblings knew he wasn't going to. At the end of that week, Strauss told Hotch that his resignation had gone through and she would work with him to find a replacement. She had been better to everyone in the unit since they had all witnessed her scolding from Sharp. Nobody brought it up however, they were too busy missing their friend.

Hotch had a different problem altogether. When he arrived back from Milwaukee to talk to Haley, he found her, Jack, and all their things gone. He had spent the whole week hoping she would come back rather than missing Gideon, but he was beginning to accept that she wasn't coming back. This is why, when they got another case, he jumped right in being even harder on the team than usual. They were headed to Portland, Oregon where there had been 5 bodies found on a trail.

Everyone was working the case as well as they could, but Amanda had a different purpose, one that started on the jet on their way there. She sat across from her brother at the back of the jet while everyone else was at the front. "How are you holding up?" She questioned.

"Fine," he answers, not looking up from his paperwork. She groans and quickly snatches it away. He looks up in anger, ready to yell until her sees her arched eyebrow and deflates. "Not as good as a leader should."

"You can't just push what you feel aside because you're the leader, Air."

"I have to, Mandy. It's what being a leader is."

"No, a leader is someone who sets an example by properly talking through his problems rather than pretending they don't exist. And don't call me Mandy."

He smiles for what feels like the first time in a week before wiping a hand over his face. "Haley left with Jack. I don't know if they're coming back."

Amanda gives him a sympathetic smile, placing a hand over his which rested between them on the table. "I'm sorry, but at least she isn't leading you on, right?"

"She told me that if I went on the last case that she would leave and she did," he breathes, and Amanda sighs.

"Aaron, do you know who gives people ultimatums?" He looks at her with a frown and shakes his head. "Someone that doesn't love the person they are giving it to. When you love someone, really love someone, you don't expect them to change and you sure as hell don't force them to so you can have your way. That isn't love, it's control, and you and I both know that control doesn't build a relationship, it ruins it. If she comes back, you can work things out, but if she doesn't, you'll survive because you're strong, Air. And one day, you'll meet a girl who loves you the way you deserve. Someone who doesn't want you to change to suit her needs."

He smiles at her, glad that he had his sister in his life for what felt like the millionth time since he got her back, and wondering how he had survived without her for so long. "Thanks, Ames."

She grins at him before clearing his throat. "Now how are you feeling about Gideon?"

He narrows his eyes at her before a lightbulb goes off in his head. "Are you doing psychological evaluations on the team for the director?" He accuses and she holds up her hands in surrender.

"No, I'm doing them for myself. I'm a trained psychologist and I think I can help any of you who are having trouble getting through it," she explains.

"You mean help Reid?"

No," she scoffs. "I mean help anyone who needs it. He just so happens to be one of them." He chuckles at her and she glares making him sigh.

"I feel more pressure because I'm the only unit chief now but I can handle it. I was friends with Jason but we weren't close, not like he was with Reid. I'm sad that he's gone but I understand his decision. He lost someone he cared about and felt like it was his fault. If getting away from this job helps him heal, I wish him the best of luck. However, it will not impact my work in any way." She nods at him with a smile as the jet lands and everyone hurries off.