Please Don't Go (The Story of Us Book 3)

Chapter 12- Mourning

TW: Mention of rape and attempted rape.

3rd Person P.O.V.

The weeks following the murder of Haley Brookes and the death of George Foyet were hard for everyone. Something had changed within the team for two reasons. At first, everyone was nervous about Aaron. During Haley's funeral, the team had been called out for a case and Aaron had stayed behind with Jack. While away, Strauss approached Hotch with a deal straight from Harrison. A full retirement package, despite his young age, so he could leave the FBI and raise his son. He had told Amanda of it after he told Strauss he needed some time to consider and she had shared it with the team.

They spent the rest of the case worried that Hotch might leave, not that any of them would blame him if he did. Eventually, thanks to Haley's sister, Jessica's, offer to watch Jack for him, Aaron made his choice to return. That knowledge appeased them for a while but then, the reality of what happened sunk in. The team had seen what Amanda was capable of many times during their career. They knew of most of her talents including her incredible aim with knives but they never truly knew what she was capable of.

Despite seeing what she had done to Nelson Rudall, they didn't see Amanda as a violent person. That seemed like a different person than the Amanda they knew. It wasn't because the incident had occurred when she was only 12 but rather because Amy didn't seem capable of that to them.

They had only ever seen the bubbly, intelligent blonde that found something to connect herself to each one of them so as to bring them closer. What happened with George Foyet made them realize that she wasn't the person they believed they knew and that was an extremely hard pill to swallow.

When they found out where Foyet was going, the team, minus Spencer, had looked to Amanda to figure out what to do next only to discover her gone. Arriving at the house, they hadn't expected everything to be good and well, they had all heard the gunshots over the phone. There was no doubt in any of their minds that Haley was dead and they feared Jack may be as well. They did their best to prepare themselves for that reality when they entered the house.

A reality they had never considered was the one where they entered the house to find Amanda straddling Foyet, completely soaked in his blood, blonde hair red from not only his blood but a cut on the back of her head, punching him. They rushed to her, knowing they needed to stop her, knowing that there was a slim chance he would be alive. None of them expected to see that she was no longer punching Foyet but the wooden floor. Not because she hadn't wanted to kill him and needed to release her anger or in some type of grief over Haley's death, but because she had already punched through his skull.

JJ had gasped at the sight in front of her, being the first to make her way over to the two of them. Derek had been the next, forcing his eyes away from the scene in front of him. He had called Amanda's name twice before Spencer finally made his way over to his girlfriend on his cane. He had placed a hand on her shoulder and she had stopped. Derek took this as a good sign and went to find Aaron who had been even more horrified at his sister's appearance. Not because he was angry Foyet was dead, but rather out of fear of what may happen to Amanda's mind at what she had done.

The first few weeks after Hotch returned, everyone watched her, either waiting for her to break over what she had done or out of fear that she would have a sudden outburst of violence as a result. It wasn't until Anderson had bumped into her, spilling freshly-brewed coffee completely down her front and she had only gasped and assured him it was fine but she needed to change before the scalding coffee burned her for good that they realized they no longer trusted their teammate and that hurt them more than anything.

After that incident, they did their best to try and forget what had happened. Amanda was still the same person they knew, or so they tried to convince themselves. But every time they looked at her, they couldn't help but remember her covered in the blood of the man whose skull she had bashed in with her bare hands. Despite this, they did their best to hide it and felt they did a good job. And maybe they did. Maybe a normal person wouldn't notice the slight flinch every time she walked by one of them or the sharp intake of breath every time she was minorly inconvenienced.