Mastermind || Aaron Hotchner

Chapter 23 - Sofia

Aaron and I stay silent. I keep my gun pointing to him, he keeps his gun pointing to me. I know I'm not going to shoot him. Maybe he knows it too. He should shoot me. Because I don't want to walk away without him. He's the only thing I've ever had, and I can't leave him. It's ripping my heart out as I realize we could never work out; he's too good, and I'm too messed up. I'm too messed up...

"End it, Aaron" I beg him, almost pissed off at how well-composed he still is while I'm a crying mess.

He finally moves and drops his gun to the ground. I look at him shocked. His shoulders fall. His expression betrays his sadness and exhaustion. He stares at me with tears in his eyes now. His tough composure from a second ago has faded, like he took off the Agent Hotchner shield.

And now, he's just Aaron; my Aaron. The man who always had to hold me while sleeping to make sure I was by his side. The man who always hugged me to make me feel better. The man who never judged me for crying. The man who brought me my first birthday cake. The man I fell in love with.

I put my gun down and run to him. He doesn't hesitate to catch me and pull me in a tight hug -one hand on my back and the other spread on the back of my head protectively. I hold him just as tight. I don't care if I can't breathe. I prefer to breathe him.

He lets out a huge breath of relief and I feel his chest deflate against mine. And I feel his heart beating like crazy against mine.

"I'm sorry" I whisper

"Sh, sh. It's ok. We'll figure everything out" he reassures me. I will take care of everything" he promises.

Two gunshots go off and cut my breath short. Their force cause me to fall on Aaron completely. He catches me immediate and panic sinks in his eyes.

"No, no, no, no" he says over and over again as he lowers me to the ground as softly as possible. As soon as my back touches the ground I feel the bullets and I feel my lungs getting heavier.

"She's lying" I hear my dad's voice. "She was going to kill both of us" he says, holding the gun I had just dropped.

Before he can say anything else, Aaron pulls his second gun out of his ankle holster and shots him right in the forehead.

"Thanks for that" I smile between small breathes.

He ignores me and picks up his phone. He calls someone and puts the phone between his ear and his shoulder. He lifts my back from the ground slightly and places his jacket under me, holding it against my wounds.

"This is SSA Aaron Hotchner, FBI. I need an ambulance at Minden Cemetery ASAP" he says into the phone and then hangs up.

"How did you even find me here?" I wonder

"By your reaction when I mentioned your father in the interrogation. And then took a wild guess" he answers, still trying to stop the bleeding from underneath me.

Breathing is getting more and more exhausting each second. My lungs are probably filling with blood. And I can't feel anything from the waist down. That's not good. And the closest hospital here is 30 minutes away.

"Ah!" I jolt as Aaron finds the spot

"I'm sorry. I understand it's painful and uncomfortable but I have to do this" he says

"It's ok. The good thing is there were no exit wounds" I admit, because we were hugging when I was shot.

"You are probably the most pessimistic person I've ever met, and you decide to make an optimist point now?" he notices

"The blood loss must be really--" I get cut off by blood coming out of my mouth.

Aaron immediately turns my head to the side so I can spit it and not choke. But when I'm back, my chest feels a hundred times heavier, like a hundred pound rock is pressing down on me while I'm trying to breathe and I don't have the energy to move it.

I meet Aaron's eyes. I haven't seen him this scared before. I haven't had anyone care for me so much before.

"I'm not a monster..." I fight to complete the sentence. "I'm not like them-- I'm not..."

"You're not a monster, Sofia" he finally says as he caresses my face. "You're not a monster" he repeats

"I'm not..." I repeat as tears roll down the sides of my face

"You're not" he reassures me.

"Thank you" my sobs during my short difficult breaths make it much harder to breathe.

"Please, save your energy, angel" he tells me.

"Don't leave me" I squeeze his hand

"I'm not going anywhere" he squeezes my hand, making me realize that I never actually squeezed his hand. "Everything will be alright" he adds, but he doesn't sound convinced.

"It's not... I'm sorry"

"No--"

"I love you".

I notice his lip tremble. "I love you too. I love you so much..." he says and kisses my forehead. He keeps rubbing over that spot, like he's pushing away all my bad memories.