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

Chapter 23- Families Fight

Sean Hotchner had never quite gotten along with his twin sister. It was a common enough issue. Most siblings would tell you that they don't get along with their brothers or sisters, especially when the sibling is of a different gender. That was Sean's first issue. His second issue is that it was extremely hard to constantly be overshadowed by his twin.

Where Sean was smart, Amanda was brilliant. Where Sean was athletic, Amanda was a star athlete. Sean was popular but Amanda was adored by everyone and anyone. It was frustrating being her twin because everyone always expected more than he could give and he pinned it on her. It took him about 10 years to realize he was being unfair and try to make things right but better late than never right?

However, even when he resented his sister, there was one thing that always remained, something that almost any set of siblings would confirm. Nobody messed with his sister but him. This included Aaron. That was one of the reasons he volunteered to talk with his older brother for Amanda. The other was that while Kristen was beside herself fawning all over his older brother, the youngest Hotchner had fallen for the brunette knowing deep down that she would never return the feeling. Then he grew to resent her for loving his brother and not him, leading to him being cruel to her to hide his feelings.

Perhaps that was the true reason he agreed to handle this. Maybe Sean felt that if he helped Amanda and Kristen with their problem he could finally absolve himself of the guilt he feels for hurting them despite them never actually doing anything wrong. With this thought in mind, he walks through the doors of the BAU and focuses on the light in his brother's office. The BAU looks different than the last time he had been there.

Now, instead of a walk-up that has two offices before leading to a conference room, the entire room has been expanded, leaving more room in the bullpen, and right at the beginning of the walk-up is a new office that wasn't there when he came to tell his brother of his choice not to go to law school. He knows that it's his sister's office without even having to check as, from the doorway, you can perfectly see the entire bullpen, even without making your way to the railing.

He smiles to himself, proud of his sister and her accomplishments, before walking to the next office door and knocking. He's surprised when his brother answers, despite having asked him to meet him there this early. Maybe he thought his brother wouldn't show after Sean had missed his ex-wife's funeral. Maybe he thought that Aaron might have to do something for Jack who wasn't even old enough for kindergarten the last time he saw him about two years ago, possibly even three.

Sean shakes this off as he looks at his brother before blowing out a disappointed breath in a similar manner to their father that had always done that before speaking to any of his children. "We need to talk," he finally says and Aaron frowns but opens his door to allow Sean in.

If the eldest Hotchner were being honest with himself, he was a bit confused about why Sean had called him and even why he was in town. Yet all the blond would say was that they 'need to talk' and that worried Aaron. He hoped his brother wasn't in trouble. "What's this about Sean?" He finally gets up the nerve to ask and Sean sighs.

"You know what this is about Aaron." The brunet frowns in genuine confusion which makes Sean roll his eyes but answer nonetheless. "It's about Kristen, dumbass." The moment the words leave his younger brother's mouth, Aaron immediately stiffens.

"What about Kristen?" He tries as his phone rings. He thanks the welcome distraction but before he can answer it, Sean snatches it away, throwing it on the other seat after silencing it, not realizing how much he would come to regret that action.

"Don't pull that bullshit with me, Aaron. I just came from Amanda's house. You do know that your baby momma is living there right? Or did you just decide that she should do this on her own because she didn't want to abort it?" He shouts. This angers Aaron so when his phone goes off again, he ignores it this time in favor of responding to his brother.