the sound of silence - criminal minds

seven. no coincidence

(tw: abuse, trauma, etc.)

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"alright, this is the cooper family, they were all found dead in their home, only identified by the location of their home, the entire family's life was ruined when their home burned down, with everyone in it." penelope garcia says, the remote in her left hand clicking through photos of the family and their demolished home.

aria froze. she couldn't help but feel a pain in her chest at her bestfriends words, shredding her heart into a million pieces.

aaron hotchner, looking over at the younger girl, with a stern look of concern, and a sad look on his face. aria had seen hotchner look at her, she knew he had looked into her life before she joined the bau, it's not surprising.

aaron had been someone good for aria, through any case that he knew aria would struggle with, he had always been there for her, something she never got growing up, he seemed like her father.

"any survivors ?" spencer asks the blonde woman, her response being a no, showing the team more images and details.

"so why are we working on this ? it could be an accident, or a suicide." jj speaks up, questioning again, the peppy blonde.

"this is the third house fire in quantico in the last 21 months," penelope added, one of those fires being the fire aria lost her family in. penelope knew what aria went through, but she didn't want to put aria in a place to speak up, "they weren't started by any accidents, no stove left on, or anything by any means accidental, a gas pipe was broken, in all of their homes, someone else started them, on purpose." penelope said, now, fixating her gaze straight to aria.

aria looked up in freight and disbelief, "all of them ?" she asked, sitting up straight in her seat.

penelope felt unimaginable sadness for her friend sitting at the other end of the table, as she nodded. she wished aria could not be involved in this case at all, but they needed her, and she would find out eventually anyways.

the team continued talking about the fires, a pattern shown in each of the fires, gas pipe, families lacking a parental figure, and nothing stolen from the house, at all.

spencer looked bad at aria, who was still sat at the table, next to aaron hotchner, the rest of the team gone, penelope to do research on the case, and the others talking more about the case.

"close the door behind you, reid." hotchner spoke up, dismissing spencer from the room, leaving only the two agents together in the room.

the man turned his body towards aria, with a straight, but concerned face, "aria, you know you don't have to work this case, i can dismiss you and you can take days off." he finally broke the silence.

"no, i'm not leaving. if, if this was not an accident, and my family died because of some psycho, i need to find them," aria broke down into tears, she tried her best to keep calm and hold her emotions back, but she couldn't anymore.

hotchner pulled aria into a hug, holding her until comfort was the only thing she felt. he had always helped her with anything, he had a soft spot for her, he treated her like family.

"it's going to be okay, aria. we will catch whoever did this, i will make sure of it." he replied, still in the same hug with the young girl.