Airing Aaron (HotchxOC)

Something More.

The first few days after their meal weren't too bad. Both of them went home and tried to act like nothing was happening. But Mariah wasn't slow to catch on to her almost immediate mood change. 'Hey, we're off to see a movie tonight, and then we're heading for a walk. Should I say you're going?' She asked as she peeked her head into the office in the back.

'No, thanks. I'm going to have a long night here tonight for court tomorrow,' Alessandra admitted one evening, but just as Mariah opened her mouth to pester her boss about it, she saw the dead, tired look in her eyes, and she thought it would be best if she waited another day before asking.

However, three more days passed with the same look in her eyes, and if anything, she was growing more tired, deader and miserable. Court cases became difficult to focus on, and despite her schedule claiming she should have been in court for six cases, she stood in for none of them and claimed they were fantastic learning experiences that could teach new beginners learn how to work. But Mariah knew it was something else.

What no one else knew was that every time Alessandra closed her eyes, every time she laid down to sleep, her mind filled with the memories of what happened to her in the abandoned building. It had been weeks since she was taken, and yet she couldn't stop reliving the scene in her mind like it was a drug. She could remember how they hit her, they started on her stomach, but as they grew angry, she was smacked across the face.

They too grew tired, and they knew that it wouldn't be long before the police came. They knew how long they should have had, and they knew what they wanted to know. So they tried to step up their abuse, stripping her of her outer clothes. One of them noticed that she didn't look like she was breathing. Upon further inspection, he noticed that she didn't have a pulse and in a blind panic, they redressed her before moving her outside to bury her. It was morning by then, and the sun was peaking back to life, but they kept fighting as they threw her into a shallow ditch, and they began to cover her, but something kept taking them away for moments at a time.

That was until the team came. And she knew exactly what had happened. Hotch's harsh hit that made her ache and regain control of a few of her digits. She remembered his cheek against her face and the ambulance. A few people visited her in the hospital. And they all commented on how Mariah had forced them to bring the baby in with them so that they could be together. Mariah herself didn't visit often, but when she did, she sobbed and apologised for what she had done. For her neglect of her friend.

Her real issue? It was all a trap. The FBI was trying to draw out a suspected group of attackers and joined the CIA to set up a trap, and it worked. The issue was, a confidential fact that wasn't even a real fact had been leaked. She had been abducted and tortured for a weapon that didn't actually exist just because she agreed to sign a document a few months prior. She didn't even think about it again because they told her it was done all the time, and it rarely even worked.

Alessandra's nightmares were getting worse, and unlike last time, the seductive face and voice of Aaron Hotchner didn't swoop in and save her. He didn't even make an appearance other than the few times she recalled how he pulled her free and the one time he visited her. When she woke up, her bed was empty, cold and too big. Other men had been chosen, and she happily found a dark corner to press her body up against them, but none of them knew who she was. He had slipped into her mind. Aaron knew more about her than anyone else, and she was the one who told him everything she ever kept secret.

Hotch's assumption that they were in a relationship could be forgotten, and at times, she pondered what it would have been like if they did officially date, but then she was reminded of why she really fought with him. He had the audacity to be jealous. As if she was going to let the waiter quickly slip it in while Hotch was still eating his burger. And then there was his comment.