missing piece, aaron hotchner

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐮𝐦𝐩

TW: case talk (shootings, death)

"Ada, you're back." Someone called as I walked through the glass doors of the BAU. I smiled as I looked up to where the voice was coming from, seeing Derek strolling towards me with a grin.

"Hi Derek." I beamed, he opened his arms as he got to me, pulling me into a warm hug which I reciprocated in an instant. He swayed me back and forth, his hold tight on me, before pulling away and holding me at arm's length.

"You're not still sick, are you?" He questioned suspiciously.

I furrowed my brows, "Sick? I wasn't- oh, yeah. I thought you meant sick as in the adjective, sorry, no, I'm doing much better thank you." I finished, wow, that was not as smooth as I wanted it to be.

Nevertheless, Derek seemed unfazed, putting an arm across my shoulders as he walked me to my desk. I looked up to Hotch's office, seeing him watch the pair of us diligently, his expression was one I hadn't seen before, but it took the shape of a scowl.

"Hi Ada." Spencer spoke from his desk with a wave, I was flattered that he put down his extremely interesting looking book about string theory to greet me.

"Hi all, don't worry I'm not contagious, oh boy, hold on, be careful- the floor and the wall just switched. Walk very carefully." I joked, holding my hands out as I let a smile take over my face. I looked at my colleagues, who watched me as if I had just grown three heads, I dropped my hands with a shocked expression.

"Really? You guys are so uncultured. I'm not crazy." I muttered as I sat down at my desk, ignoring their collective chuckle.

"Team." Hotch's voice boomed down from the corridor outside his office, "We've got a case."

I exhaled as I pushed my chair backwards, lagging behind the team as we walked to the roundtable room. I took a seat between JJ and Hotch at the table while Penelope passed out the files, she strangely attempted to avoid my eye contact as she did so, but I was more concerned by the gruesome pictures in front of me.

"Okay, so we have a series of mass shootings in Chicago, all of which have happened in the last two days. We have fifteen dead, and thirty-four injured." Penelope started, flicking up the many pictures of the victims on the screen.

"Where did all of these shootings happen Garcia?" Spencer asked.

"One was at a mall, one was at a park, the most recent one was during a road traffic jam on the freeway."

"There is often a checklist when it comes to mass shooters," I began, "Usually, they have experienced early childhood trauma and exposure to violence at a young age. Most mass shooters, right before the actual event, would have reached an identifiable crisis point, causing them to become angry or despondent, they usually don't have much of a plan and are disorganised. Also, most mass shooters have studied the actions of other shooters, and have sought validation for their motives, it's the societal fear and fascination of mass shootings which partly drives the need to commit them. Lastly, they won't stop, they will carry on until they die- either by their own suicide, or suicide by cop."