Chloe Wallace needs a new start. When she lands in Washington, D.C. she hopes for the best. Finding a new job, meeting new people, and living a normal life away from her abusive ex-husband.
She moves into the Capital Plaza Apartments, right across t...
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cw: crime scene photos, implied sexual assault.
spencer.
"I specifically told you to get rest and stay out of this," Hotch snarls as I sit in his office with a bloodied nose while Sandy Marsh is being processed.
"I know, but I just—"
"You just what? Thought you'd run off to a potential suspect's house alone with no backup while we're hunting a serial killer? You know better, Reid! I could fire you!"
He's right, he could. But Hotch has always given me a pass. He knows how valuable I am to this team, and how hard I've worked to get here.
"Hotch, Garcia gave me a lead, and—"
"Garcia's been spoken to about giving you too much information."
My stomach knots and I swallow another mouthful of iron. My nose hasn't stopped bleeding and I fear I may never get the taste of it out of my mouth.
"Hotch, please." I sigh. "I know it was irresponsible, and I know I shouldn't have—"
"Where was Morgan during all of this?"
"Staying with Chloe. Sir, if you have to discipline someone, you discipline me." I let out a breath. "You know as well as I do that Morgan couldn't have stopped me even if he wanted to."
I swear I see a flicker of amusement in his face.
"No, but you could have picked up the phone and made a call. We could have made the arrest without incident."
His jaw ticks and he loosens his tie. I remember a joke Morgan made about him tying them too tight and that's why he never smiled. Hotch doesn't smile because he buries who he really is. He thinks that if he builds up enough armor, he'll be an unstoppable force. This job is his life and even though its destroyed parts of who he is, he'll never let it go.
It's become a vice.
Sometimes I think I'm falling into the same trap.
I'd be nothing without the BAU. I love lecturing on criminology, but this is where I thrive. Each case is a puzzle, each unsub is completely unique and part of me enjoys hunting them. Gideon once told me that the only thing that separates us from them is empathy. It's what allows us to catch them. We humanize them, we get to the core of their very being. Some of them don't even know why they kill, they just feel a compulsion to take life after life.
And some of them are acutely aware of their specific breed of monster.
"Reid, I know this is about Maeve," Hotch says softly. "I know it's personal for you, but you put yourself in danger. I cannot lose another agent... or a friend."
It's a weak point in his armor and I know I shouldn't continue to pry that spot open, but I need to get into that interrogation room more than I need oxygen.
