Helpless (Aaron Hotchner Fanfic)

Chapter Three

"There you go," Aaron cooed as he laid his sleeping son down in his own bed. The room was dark and quiet and Aaron knew that since his bed was bigger than his son's that he would be able to sprawl out as much as he wanted. Being sick as a kid, Aaron knew the struggles of sleeping with a fever. Hot, sweaty, tossing and turning, needing to be sprawled out fully.

As a kid, he had a virus for several years that was not treatable and it affected his lungs. It gave him fevers, bronchitis and severe headaches. Sometimes, he was out of school for three weeks at a time, if not more. Truancy charges were made a couple of times because of his absence from school. He had it for eight years before it finally went away, a bizarre case that baffled doctors. He had visited about every hospital and medical center available, even the Mayo Clinic, but not even they could figure out what was wrong with him. So going through this kind of thing throughout eight years of his life, Aaron knew that letting his son sleep in his big bed with multiple fans around him was the best option rather than the comfort of his own room.

He watched as his son lay motionless in bed, and though the dark he could see his pale face and shaking frame. Aaron had picked him up from school and he looked like he had gone to hell and back a couple times. He felt awful and there was nothing he could do but give him the medicine the pediatric doctor had prescribed and let him rest. He pulled the covers over the small figure and kissed his forehead lightly.

"I love you Daddy," Jack said groggily, his voice startling Aaron.

He smiled. "I love you too, little buddy. Get some sleep, okay?" The small boy nodded and Aaron ruffled his sandy blonde hair, exactly like his mother's.

Jack reminded him so much of Haley. His sandy blonde hair much like her own and the same loving hazel eyes that held every bit of happiness in the world. His carefree spirit led him to conquer the world at every step he took and the hugs that he would give every morning and night to him were the warmest and most caring ones he had ever felt. Some days, Aaron would wake up and see his amazing son and others he would see the woman that he married all those years ago.

~~~~~

"Daddy? What's wrong?"

I saw Haley walk towards me, a silhouette of beauty. Her face was concerned as I felt my pant leg being tugged.

"Daddy please tell me what's wrong?"

"Everything is alright honey," I soothed and smiled warmly into her face.

"Daddy I'm hungry and school is about to start."

"Okay honey I'll fix you a nice breakfast and we can head off to-" School? Why would Haley go to ... Oh. I looked down to see Jack with his Spiderman backpack on and tugging on my pant leg. I looked up to see where Haley had went, but she was gone. I sighed and glanced at my watch.

"Crap I have ten minutes to get you to school. Listen bud, I need you to work with me here, okay?" I leaned down and he nodded sincerely. I smiled. "We're going to swing by McDonald's and get you something to eat, okay? Now, I have two jobs for you and they're very important. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Of course Daddy!"

"Okay, job number one is that when we're in the car and driving to McDonald's, I want you to think real hard about what you want and tell me when we get there, okay? Job number two is that once we order everything, you need to eat up as fast as we can while we are driving to school. This way we won't be late and Mrs. Linburry won't yell at me."

He giggled at the mention of his kindergarten teacher yelling at me. "Daddy, you're part of the FBU. She wouldn't yell at you!"

I smiled in appreciation at the effort to either spell FBI or BAU. "Come on, bud. Let's get rolling."

~~~~~

Aaron closed his bedroom door and sank down on to the floor. He knew that is was normal, having hallucinations that your loved ones were still real but that particular one always replayed to him in his mind. He didn't know why it stuck so much but it did. All of those had subsided over the past three years and they were less frequent to the point where he was always surprised when he got one. He ran his fingers through his jet black hair.

I want him to believe in love, because it is the most important thing...

He could see Haley's tear struck face as she whispered those words into the phone.

... but you need to show him.

He could feel warm tears sliding down his own cheeks.

Promise me!

.........

"Haley!" he cried out involuntarily Tears streamed down his face from the memory and he frantically glanced around. He looked around the hallway, remembering the day where he had shot Foyett right in front of where he was sitting. He could almost see himself racing after him as he stumbled down the stairs, the small dresser sitting in the hallway toppling over mercilessly.

Aaron slid up off the floor and stood at the top of the stairs, watching his and Foyet's tangled silhouettes tumbling down the stairs. He watched as both men winced in pain as he climbed down the stairs and Foyet started running again. The past him ran after the bastard and he watched as they crashed into a side table, all the contents showering over the pair. They started slamming each other and Hotch watched as they faded away from his view. He ran his fingers through his hair and needed something to distract him from these painful memories. He whipped out his phone.

"Hey Jessica? Hi. Yes I'm doing fine. Listen that's great but Jack is really sick from a- Yes. It's a fever. He's fine, I assure you Jess. Yes, I gave him the medicine and took him to the doctor." Aaron rolled his eyes at her excessive rambling. Although he was extremely grateful for her concern for his son, Aaron wished she would just listen to him for once. "Listen, Jessica. I need you to come watch him for a little bit. No, I'm going to catch up with a friend. Thank you so much." He ended the call and blew out a breath.

"Hey Morgan? Can you help me?"

~~~~~

Word Count: 1114