Crying Lighting (Hotch x Reader)// ✔

20. Harsh Realm

Summary:

The BAU finally connects the dots - and Hotch's torn in two after your last talk.

Notes:

SURPRISE UPDATE!! 💕
I'm back with a long one which will finally, at last, after 124932003 words, explains what everyone's been up to lmao - and

TW: murder, sexual abuse, kidnapping mention/implied - usual criminal minds themes

*title by the song by Widowspeak, which is a goddamn banger

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Hotch's mind is wiped blank as he drives back to Seattle PD. He doesn't even remember driving – one moment he is out of your house and the next -

he is striding through the halls of the building, young officers wordlessly moving out of his way.

He'd been expecting something else – had felt unbearable guilt and regret for not letting on those first days when he'd interrogated you over everything. Had even thought about how it all made sense: Maria having dealt with torture on the hands of Nathan – traumatized for months before she took matters on her own hands after being fired and then continued to do the same with others. He'd been concerned too – thinking about the possibility of Nathan having done the same with you too.

And now...

He barges into the meeting room, his team inside whipping around to face him once hearing the door slam into the wall behind. He halts in front of the screen where Garcia's showing them something.

"Garcia, I want you to find every single residence and property of Faye Watson – everything he's ever done in his life. Every place he's ever lived in" he bellows.

"Uh, yes, sir"

The others note the scowl on his face, the lines between his eyebrows pulled tight together and his somber expression - not unlike other times but at a more threatening degree. Dave throws him a questioning look but he knows better than to ask now and here, in front of everyone else.

"He's not talking – nothing about his motive"

Hotch turns to Morgan, "Do you still believe it has something to do with the small club they seemed to have?"

"Yes" the other man says, "I believe so."

"Reid -" the tall agent straightens up at the sound of his name, "I want you to look at missing persons in the last 3 years – see if there's a pattern."

Reid nods, furrowing his eyebrows.

"If this man is like Nathan Anderson – we need to prove it and find his victims."

"We have to deduce the victims?" Dave asks, "We profile the unsub from them not vice versa"

"Yes" Hotch confirms, crossing his arms over his chest. "We have no proof that all these men were similar to him. Yet"

Dave looks at him like he has something else to say but thinks better of it.

"We'll dive into Watson's life" he says to Prentiss and Dave as he pulls a chair to sit on.

---

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

You're staring at the dark grey marble surface of the kitchen island, feeling powerless and breathless. Your entire body is shaking – but it's not fear, not the kind that Lucille Anderson instils in you. And it's not guilt – like the one you'd felt when you'd watched Maria drive away that night. You're tired to the bone, shivers running through you at the cool wind that enters the room through the windows you'd opened before...