In The Name of (Love) The Law

Chapter 1

New jobs were always daunting, yet he was standing in an elevator going up trying to keep a neutral expression on his face. Of course new jobs were good things, this one was just a little far away from home. His unit chief was waiting for him when the doors slid open and he blinked in surprise.
"You are early" SSA Aaron Hotchner stated looking at him, the man himself was tall, had short dark hair, dark eyes and was dressed in a suit. Alex's eyes moved of their own accord taking in as much information about the man as possible. He was attractive, unfairly so.
"Thank you?" was the answer he gave back clenching his jaw, he wanted to pull at his own hair to bring his mind back to the room instead of it fluttering off on a train of wild thoughts.
"All I got from HR was a name and a very basic file. So tell me who are you?" Agent Hotchner asked.
"My names Alexander Riley but most people call me Alex or Alec, uh I'm the new profiler. Left school at 18 joined the police for four years then served in the army for five." he answered with a small smile "I'd shake your hand but my hands are full. Actually hold on" Alexander stuck his tongue out and juggled what he was carrying to his left side and stuck out his right hand for the agent to shake. Hotchner took his hand and shook it firmly.
"Your desk is over here and I'll introduce you to the team. You'll be spending a lot of time with them" he said leading him over to a desk. Alexander dropped the box and his bag down onto the wood. He waved slightly.
"This is Derek Morgan, Doctor Spencer Reid, Jennifer Jareau and Emily Prentiss" he introduced "And this is Alexander Riley"
"Hi. Uh feel free to call me Alex or Alec or really any form of my name" Alex said "The only person that calls me Alexander is my mother and that's only when she's mad"
"You're Scottish!" A man, Alex realised was Derek Morgan, exclaimed.
"Yes Agent Morgan, born there. Lived there until last week" he said back smiling.
"Please call me Derek or Morgan either works" he said winking
"All my friends call me JJ." agent Jareau said shaking his hand.
"Please just call me Emily" agent Prentiss said with a wave of her hand.
"Spencer or Reid is fine" the doctor said his nose in what looked to be an old book.
"Don't get comfy, you never know when a case will come up. Everyone in this team shortened my surname to Hotch, so you might as well too" Agent Hotchner said patting him on the shoulder as he walked away. Alex dropped into the chair and breathed out hard.
"I was in the army and he scares me more than anything I've seen" he grumbled out which earned him laughs.
"He's not that bad. As long as yoy don't piss him off" Morgan stated. "So you're from Scotland, how did you end up here?"
"Are you asking my history or the method of transport I used?" he asked tilting his head. This earned him another round of laughter.
"Your history" Morgan clarified.
"I was born in Scotland, met my girlfriend in a bar in Edinburgh where I was staying. I was a police officer for a four years but I never really got far up the chain, then I lost interest there and Joined the army which sapped another five years of my life, I then got discharged honourably I may add and now I'm here" he said ticking things off on his fingers.
"Girlfriend? You still together?" JJ asked and he nodded "Least you'll have someone to help you keep a work life balance" he narrowed his eyes and tilted his head but before he could say anything the were being called for.
"Wheels up in 30, debrief on the plane" Agent Hotchner called over the railing and they were all heading out. Alex looked around a little lost but Emily and JJ were motioning for him to come with them.
"You guys have a plane?" he asked slightly mistified and the girls laughed.
"Of course. How do you think we get around so fast?" JJ asked
"Honestly. Agent Morgan looks like he drives really fast as does agent Hotchner. So I was thinking they just broke the speed limits" he answered shrugging. They laughed again. The plane itself was nice, or at least that's the only word that came to mind.
"The unsub seems to be kidnapping young boys. So far only two but that number will rise" Reid started.
"One boy, Carter Wright, was 9 the other, Sammy Drey, was 14 both were taken from their home and strangled to death" Morgan continued as Alex was studying the file. Both were taken from their homes without detection from anyone, family members or neighbours.
"How're they getting out of the houses?" he asked and all conversations stopped, JJ was grinning at him and Agent Hotchner made a 'go ahead' motion with his hand, . "Well uh surely you'd notice if someone came into your house, stole your bairn and left. Which suggests that neither of the families were home or they were and just weren't paying attention to their kids."
"Bring it home pretty boy" Morgan encouraged.
"Maybe just maybe he sees himself as a saviour for the kids. Almost like by kidnapping and killing them, he feels like he's freeing them. We should look into anyone with any sort of abuse or neglect on their record" he said and took a deep breath. Morgan whooped and Hotch gave him a small smile, just a quirk of lips but he smiled in return. They worked the entire way, a profile building until Hotch's phone began ringing and of course he answered.
"There's another kid missing. A girl this time" he said.
"Why would he change his MO now?" Alex asked but no one knew the answer. He wasn't disorganised and it only suggested escalation.
They were out of the plane and heading towards the station in a FBI vehicle that Alex honestly had no idea how they had gotten it. Hotch introduced them all to the local police and Alex looked round the small building his eye catching a woman hunched over crying, mourning, his brain supplied.
"Ma'am. Hello I'm Agent Alexander Riley, I've just got a couple questions for you" he started but her head shot up. Her eyes were red rimmed and her tears had washed off most of her make up.
"Questions? You should be out their looking for my baby boy!" she almost screamed at him. He took a step back ready to ask Hotch if another kid had been taken while they were driving to the station.
"Ma'am, is your son trans?" he asked quietly ducking his head and she nodded "Right. OK. I can work with this. I'll get him back to you. I promise. I just have one question. Where were you when he was taken?" she looked up with hope in her eyes, but answered.
"I had to run to the store. He was only alone for a few minutes. Normally he'd just sit and play a game while I was away. He knew to never answer the door." she answered. He nodded and patted her arm comfortingly and turned back to the team who had been intently watching him. He fought his hand back down when it's started to rise to rub at his skin.
"The last kid that's been taken a trans-male, born female identifies as male. I'm willing to be that our unsub thinks this kids just as male as the others but he'll find out soon. It'll most likely throw him off buy us a little more time" he announced standing by JJ and Emily
"So the cops have announced the missing kid as 'she' whereas it's 'he'. You're right Alex, it will most likely throw him off" Morgan stated, they seemed to be taking it in stride which gave Alex a sense of peace for a second.
"Uh agents, locals have spotted a man carrying a kid into the woods" one of the officers says "His name is Joe Thomas, which makes sense if I'm being honest"
"Why's that?" Hotch asked as they picked up bullet proof vests, all of the blue vests had 'FBI' in a bold white lettering across the chest and for the first time since he was young Alex felt a rush. He never understood it but kevlar vests had aways made him feel safe.
"Guys dad killed his mom when he was a kid. I think he tried to kill him too, never succeeded obviously" the officer said as they were walked to the edge of the forest. Alex's eyes wracked over the ground and the trees planning a course of action and then remembered that he wasn't alone.
"Hotch, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much fo you trust me?" he asked, he gave Alex a funny look before going back to his usual passive expression.
"About a 4 or 5 " he answered and Alex nodded, he hadn't bee expecting even that much.
"Let me lead" he said looking the older agent in the eyes and continued before he could argue "This is what I'm good at. Finding people it was one of my main jobs when I was in the army. Tracking and capture" he left out the bit about killing. No one needed to know that.
"OK" Hotch said almost softly. He beamed at the older man then turned back to look at the floor. It hadn't rained in a couple days which ruled out fresh footprints, he crouched and dropped his head closer to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Hotch asked.
"Hush" it left his mouth before he could even think about it. "Got you! The dirt has been disturbed by two sets of feet one considerably smaller than the other." Alex took off in a jog following the trail that had been left behind there was a small pile of leaves that had been disturbed by the looks of it by someone small falling into it. He stopped and spun in a circle. Crying caught his ears and he followed it the team right behind him.
"Joe Thomas!" he called across the gap, it must've only been a couple meteres across. "Let him go!"
"I can't. I'm saving him!" Joe called back then looked at the child in his arms "Her! I'm saving her!"
"I'm pretty sure he prefers to be called he" Alex called across. Then man screeched something back but Alex was focused on the boys face as he was being dragged away deeper into the woods. Pure fear.
"We can go around" Hotch called and they started moving and Alex shook his head.
"No. There's not time" he called back preparing himself for the run up. If he got enough of a run up he would make the jump.
"Agent Riley this is a direct order. Stand down" Hotch called to him again. Alex frowned, was he really disobeying a direct order on his first day? Yes, yes he was.
"No" he whispered and sprinted forward narrowly avoiding Morgan and Emily who looked like they made some effort of grabbing at him. He threw himself forwards over the gap almost landing on his knees on the other side. He ignored the shouts behind him and continued running. His legs and chest burned but a slight overturn of a bush gave Joe's position away, he dived through the shrubs and fell. His back hit off the ledge and he lay there catching his breath, glad that no one had seen that spectacular fail. He looked around and saw the kid dangling off the ledge below him, less than 10 foot below. He slid down the gentle part of the slope so he was not far about the kid then crouched down to grab him but hands were on his back shoving hard and the kid already had a hold of him. Fear coursed through his veins and he gripped at the wall for dear life catching a rock stopping their decent. He looked up and Joe was already away. He tried to adjust his grip but couldn't with one hand.
"Hey kid" he tried pain shooting through him. "Do you think you can be a big strong boy and hold onto my neck?" the kid nodded against his side and scrambled up wrapping his arms around the agents neck and his legs around his waist.
"Like this?" he asked. Alex brought his other hand up to hold on.
"Perfect kid" he groaned "Hey what's your name?" he asked
"Ash" the kid answered hiding his face in the man's shoulder.
"Ash cool name. How old are you Ash?" he asked forcing his grip to tighten.
"10" he answered "What's your name?"
"Alex" he answered and his body was screaming for him to let go.
"Alex!" someone shouted.
"Kid!" that one was definitely Morgan.
"Alex!" that was more than one voice, he couldn't even call back to let them know where he was but the kid on his back took care of that for him.
"We're down here!" he screamed directly into Alex's ear. He winced and the kid shouted again. Alex glanced up and was met by the worried yet slightly angry face of one Aaron Hotchner and a worried Derek Morgan, he tried a smile but it felt like it came out more of a wince. The rock shifted under his hand as Hotch and Morgan pulled the kid up onto their ledge and passed him to the Emily and JJ who were above them.
"Right your turn kid" Morgan said laying down flat on his stomach to grab him, Hotch crouched down and Alex pressed his forehead against the wall.
"I'm gonna be honest with you right now I don't think it's gonna be that easy" Alex groaned out and the rock came loose completely and he was falling but only for a second, a hand was wrapped around each of his arms and he was pulled up to the ledge. JJ and Emily reached down to grab his hand and pull him up, once he was over the ledge he lay on his back breathing hard. The other two men climbed up and Hotch opened his mouth to speak but Alex's eyes were already closed. Even as one of them called his name and he could faintly feel hands on him. When he woke up he was on a leather sofa and Hotch was sitting at a desk that was not his own watching him. Alex couldn't quite place Hotch's current emotion but he knew he was in trouble.
"How's the kid?" Alex huffed out pushing himself into a sitting position grunting in pain as he did so. His left hand immediately crossed his body to hold his side.
"The kids fine. You however. What on earth were you thinking?" Hotch fumed, ah angry, that's how the older man felt.
"You can yell at me in a minute" he waved a hand "I've got to see the kid first" Hotch just blinked in shock. Alex was on his feet and out the office before Hotch's brain had even caught up properly. Ash who had been sitting on a chair with his mother was now wrapped around the agents waist thanking him profusely. Alex bent down so he was balanced on one knee ignoring the pain up his back.
"Listen kid, trust me when I say you're gonna do great things OK? Never let anyone tell you different because of who you are. But see next time someone walks in your house and you don't know them, start screaming" Alex said holding the child's hands in his own."You've got this. I wish someone had told me this when I was your age but I was alone, you on the other hand you've got your mother and I can see she loves you very much no matter what you do or who you are."
"You're like me" he gasped out and Alex nodded with a small smile. "When did you know?"
"I think I've always known" Alex responded and let the kids hands go leaving behind a single white card "Thats got my number on it. If you need anything or anyone to talk to who maybe gets it a bit more than your mom just call" the kid hugged him once more and Alex stood up facing down Hotch. The office door shut behind them, not that it made a difference.
"What on earth were you thinking?" Hotch almost screamed at him, clearly leaving him to stew had been a bad idea "Do you have any idea how reckless that stunt you pulled was? What if you had misjudged and fallen to your death! You are a member of my team you have to gain my trust and you've done a good job of loosing it today. You're supposed to trust me too and you didn't not enough to tell me what you were planning" Hotch kept going and Alex just kept looking straight at him his eyes never wavering. Then the door was slammed open and the kids chest was heaving and his face bright red, his mother was trying to drag him away.
"You have no idea how brave he was!" he was screaming so loud that Alex did wince and took a small step back towards Hotch "He saved my life and your yelling at him. Because he never told you! You just don't like him! You are no better than bullies!"
He broke free of his mother's grasp and ran, Alex looked at Hotch with raised eyebrows before running after him. His chest hurt when he inhaled while running and wondered if he'd broken a rib when he fell. He had been so preoccupied with his possible broken bone that he almost ran past the kid who had sat down on a bench. He stopped and took a couple steps backwards.
"Hey, what was that about?" he asked sitting next to him trying to ignore the pain he felt.
"I shouldn't have yelled at him" Ash murmered "He made me feel bad, he was just like the bullies at school"
"Ash, bud you weren't the one in trouble. I was" Alex sighed rubbing his face with his hand "He had every right to yell at me. I didn't listen to him or anyone else. I went off by myself and did something silly that could've gotten the both of us hurt. Bosses yell at you sometimes, you learn from it. It makes you a better person"
"But he said he doesn't trust you" Ash said.
"He doesn't mean it like that. He just means that I broke his trust which is something I'll have to earn back. People say things they don't mean when they are angry. I'm new to his team. He doesn't know me very well or what I can and can't do but he was still right" Alex said ruffling the boys hair "Now let's get you back before your mother has a heart attack" he walked the boy back into his mother's arms and went back to Hotch to let him finish his lecture. Hotch left the room and Alex went to follow.
"Stay" Hotch directed pointing at him and Alex nodded. He leaned against the desk and pulled out his phone looking at flights home, then remembered he didn't have his passport with him so he started looking at trains. The earliest he would get home would be tomorrow afternoon and that's if the lines went to theory. He pocketed his phone and took a deep breath, day one had he had fucked up, big time. The team were beginning to leave and he rested heavier against the desk.
"Kid, come on we're leaving" Morgan said poking his head into the room. Alex frowned and instead of being yelled at again he was bundled back into the SUV to go home, however Hotch had placed him between Morgan and JJ so whenever the car went over a vicious pothole he would be thrown into one of them and pain would shoot down his spine. He had expected to be told to make his own way home but Hotch never said a word, until half way through the flight when everyone had fallen asleep. The man slid into the seat opposite Alex, who had sat in the back corner away from the comfort of everyone else, and rested his hands on the table.
"I'm sorry" Alex whispered and then cleared his throat, Hotch looked at him "I should have told you what I was doing. I should have communicated."
"All I ask is that you try. I get that you're not used to working in a team but you're part of one now." Hotch said lowly and he nodded "Be honest with me. Tell me your plan before you jump headfirst into it. The kid told me what you said" Alex froze
"Which part?" he asked keeping his breathing even.
"The part about you agreeing with why I yelled at you" Hotch said and the man noticably relaxed.
"It's true. Plus you didn't make me find my own way home, which is an added extra bonus." Alex said shrugging sending a wave of pain down his back and hissing.
"It's four hours by plane. Why would I make you go home yourself?" the older agent asked, Alex just looked away focusing on the arm of the seat opposite him.
"The point stands that you didn't. Thank you" he said and that was the end of the conversation partly because Hotch could see the man's eyes closing where he sat and partly due to Alex not wanting to share the information.