Angel

I don't know what I ever did without you

the morning before a case always felt uneventful - perhaps it was the retrospective review of the morning compared to the rush of the case or perhaps it was the longing felt by each and every agent to have nothing to do again. The morning before their next case was not really any different. 

that morning, Aurora woke up in the arms of her lovely boss-boyfriend-boss who had been reluctant to leave her alone after the Angelle unit left to go back to interpol in fear she would feel lonely. Aaron woke her up to go grab breakfast before they went into work which of course she was up for because she loved a good sweet treat before work. He bought her the order she brought to work every morning - a black coffee and a pistachio croissant which was still warm when she ate it making it all the more delicious  (well, that and the comfort of her gorgeous boyfriend who looked extremely fuckable in his black suit and red satin tie which Aurora couldn't help but imagine how the tie would feel tying her wrists to her bedpost)  

they weren't at the BAU for long before Aaron called her into his office "is everything okay?" Aurora whispered into the silence of his office as she took in his dishevelled state "Aaron honey are you sick?" she took in his frame which somehow looked smaller than the usually imposing man, he was impossibly pale which was highlighted by his dark features and his hands seem to shake quite softly  

"my first BAU case - the reaper case" Aaron whispered, trying to string a sentence together through his shaky, half breaths "the head detective on the case is dead"

"okay - I know it's hard to lose someone Aaron, I'm so sorry" she whispered to him softly as she moved to sit on his lap to provide him some comfort by stroking through his hair and placing soft kisses on his jawline causing some of the shaking to subside  

"no that's not why I'm upset" he argued, his tone a mix of anger and sadness "I just found a newspaper article, actually Penelope found it yesterday there's been another murder with the same M.O." 

"but why did he stay dormant all these years?"  Aurora asked, her brow furrowed "I've read the reaper case, why did he stop killing just randomly when he was in his prime?" 

"Tom made a deal with him" Aaron responded causing Aurora's head to jerk back in shock "they said that he would stop killing if Tom stopped looking for him - until death do they part" 

"so as soon as Tom died he started killing again?" she whispered trying to make sense of it all, it was abhorrent to hear of a detective striking a deal with a killer so of course it strook her as surprising "are we on the case?"

"I think we owe it to them to solve this case once and for all" he responded causing her to laugh softly at his sense of heroism "thank you for being here for me Rori, I really do appreciate it" 

after the briefing the team on the case, they made a speedy journey to Boston despite that fact that they had not been invited into the police department, Aaron knew that they would eventually be called especially on a case as big as the reaper case which terrorised Boston "I'm still stumped" Emily stated after the debrief on the plane "why would he offer a deal that stops him from controlling and manipulating? It goes against everything we know from his profile" 

"the killing gave him power - over both his victims and the police" Aaron started "after a while, the payoff of these kills started to wear off and become less special" 

"once that happened he decided to switch tactics" Aurora finished noticing how Aaron's brain seemed to be working too fast to put his thoughts into words "be offering the deal he got the ultimate surge of power which was even better than killing and eventually got the police to agree to a deal" 

"but he won?" Derek interjected "so why then start killing again" 

"because the only person who knows he has won is dead" Spencer replied, not even looking up from the case file he had read at least 5 times since boarding the jet "narcists need other to validate their actions - the death of the detective takes away that validation"