Criminal Minds 2!

Chapter 13: Evaluation!

      Aaron sat in his office. He sighed as he thought about Emily. He misses her a lot. JJ walked in and Aaton looked up at her. "Hey." JJ greeted. "Hi." Aaron greeted. "You wanted to speak with me?" JJ asked and he nodded as he stood up. "Yes, I do." Aaron replied and JJ nodded. "Okay." JJ agreed as she sat down and Aaron sat back down too. "I just got off the phone with Strauss. She wants us to do evaluations so we can properly get through Emily's death." Aaron told her and she nodded. "I see." JJ commented. "I told her I will do the evaluations, so some stranger doesn't come in and talk to everyone." Aaron added and JJ nodded. "And she agreed?" JJ asked. "At first, no. She thought it wouldn't go well, because of my relationship with Emily. But she said I could if I agreed to let her come in and evaluate me after I evaluated all of you." Aaron replied. "But we know something that no one else knows." JJ told him and he nodded. "I know." Aaron agreed. "What now?" JJ asked and Aaron sighed. "Pretend we don't know anything." Aaron replied and JJ nodded. "I can do that." JJ agreed. Aaron nodded as JJ left his office.
      JJ walked downstairs and everyone walked up to her. "What's going on?" David asked. "Hotch is going to evaluate all of us over Emily's death. Orders from Strauss." JJ replied. "And she's going to let him do it?" Derek asked. "The condition is that she has to evaluate him." JJ replied and he nodded. "That makes more sense." Derek commented. "He actually wants to see Garcia first." JJ told her and sbe sighed as her eyes filled with tears. "Why do I have to go first?" Penelope asked. "To get it over with." JJ replied. Penelope nodded and took a deep breathe as she walked up to her boss's office.
      Penelope knocked on his office and Aaron knew who it was. "Come on in!" Aaron called. Penelope walked in and closed the door behind her. "Hotch." Penelope greeted. "Please, sit." Aaron told her and she nodded. "O-Okay." Penelope agreed and she sat across from him. "We are here to talk about Emily." Aaron told her and she nodded. "I know. But I don't want to talk about her death, okay? Could I talk about how she made me laugh?" Penelope asked and Aaron gave a small smile. "Of course." Aaron replied. Penelope let a few tears fall down her cheeks. "She was rough around the edges, sure. But she was kind, loyal, honest, and she had a really pure heart. She didn't think a lot of herself, but she is.... Was a good person." Penelope explained. "I know." Aaron agreed. "That's why you loved her. That's why we all loved her." Penelope told him and he nodded. "And always will." Aaron agreed.
     Aaron sat across from Derek. "I'm suppose to tell you where I'm at, aren't I?" Derek asked and Aaron looked at him confused. "Where you're at?" Aaron asked. "On the list of stages you go through when you lost someone." Derek replied and Aaron nodded. "Just say what you need to in order to get it off your chest." Aaron told him. "Okay. There's denial. That's not me, because I know that she's dead. There's bargaining, which isn't me either. Depression. Acceptance, I know that she is gone and that I'll never see her again. What's left?" Derek asked. "Anger." Aaron replied and Derek nodded. "Yeah, I'm angry. I'm angry at Doyle for taking her away and I'm even angry at her for not telling her what the hell wss going on." Derek explained and Aaron nodded. "Yeah, I get that." Aaron agreed with a sigh. Derek stood up and paced. "I just. I don't understand!" Derek exclaimed. "Understand what?" Aaron asked. "From what I know, she hasn't had the best or the easiest life. She was a good person who did amazing things and all she wanted was the help people who couldn't help themselves. She deserves so much better then this. From Doyle of all people." Derek explained and Aaron nodded as he wrote things down on his notebook.
      Derek was sitting across from Spencer. He was being very quiet as he looked down at his lap. "We are going to have to talk about this soon." Aaron told him and he sighed. "I don't want to talk about her. It hurts just to think of her." Spencer commented and Aaron nodded. "I know, but it's the only way to get through it." Aaron told him and he sighed as he looked up at his boss. "I miss her." Spencer told him and Aaron nodded. "I know." Aaron agreed. "She was like a sister to me. You're all my family, and I love you all. Loosing one of you, is like loosing a part of me." Spencer explained. "We all feel this." Aaron told him. "You know those headaches I just told you about yesterday?" Spencer asked and Aaron nodded. "I remember." Aaron replied. "Emily already knew. She was the only person I told for a while. She promised not to tell anyone, and the kept it. The only reason why I finally told you was because I thought Emily would have wanted that, instead of me keeping it in. I know she struggled with keeping everything in, and I don't want to do that as well." Spencer explained. "Yeah. If she told us, maybe we could have helped her before it was too late." Aaron commented. "I know we could have. If only she trusted us." Spencer commented. "I don't think that was it. A part of her wanted to tell us. But the part of her that wanted to protect us was bigger, and at the end that part of her won." Aaron explained and Spencer sighed. "I just wish I could see her one more time." Spencer told him.
      David walked into Aaron's office and sat down. "I was trying to figure out what to say when I was down there." David told him. "And what did you come up with?" Aaron asked and David sighed. "Nothing. There's really nothing to say when someone you care about dies." David replied and Aaron nodded. "You get that, you know loss. We all do. You lost your first wife. I lost Haley. JJ lost her sister. Garcia lost her parents. Morgan lost his dad. Reid has issues with both of his parents." Aaron explained. "We all know how it is. We just never thought we would loose one another, which is ridiculous because of our job." David added. "Emily acted as if she was invincible, because of her past." Aaron commented. "She seemed like it." David agreed. "Yeah." Aaron commented and David sat up. "How are you doing?" David asked and Aaron sighed. "My evaluation isn't until tomorrow." Aaron replied and David nodded as he leaned back. "You're as stubborn as her." David commented and Aaron laughed at that.
     Aaron walked into his office the next day and saw Strauss was already there. She sat on his chair, behind his desk, and he sighed. "Sit." Strauss told him as she pointed to the chair across from her. "Alright." Aaron agreed as he sat down. "Okay. Now talk." Strauss told him. "About?" Aaron asked. "Agent Prentiss." Strauss replied and Aaron sighed. "I got that part." Aaron commented. "Tell me how you feel." Strauss told him. "I miss her." Aaron told her and she nodded. "I bet you do." Strauss agreed. "I love.... Loved her." Aaron commented. "And I know she loved you too." Strauss agreed. "Then why didn't she talk to me?" Aaron asked and Strauss sighed. "She just wanted to protect you from her past." Strauss replied. "There's more, I know there is." Aaron told her. "I don't know. Only Prentiss knows." Strauss told him and he nodded. "I know." Emily agreed. Strauss leaned forward and looked at him. "Your whole team can take some time, if you want." Strauss told him and he immediately shook his head. "We will all do better if we can work and put Emily in the back of our heads, so it won't hurt as much." Aaron told her and she sighed as she leaned back. "You'll have to deal with this." Strauss told him and he nodded. "I know, and we will." Aaron agreed and Strauss nodded as she and him both stood up. "Okay, I have your report and I'll be expecting everyone else's tomorrow." Strauss told him and he nodded. "Will do." Aaron agreed and Strauss walked out.
     Aaron was cleaning out of his office at the end of the day. He looked at a picture of Emily and sighed. He looked at her beauty and gave a small smile. He does miss her a lot. The door was open and someone stood at his doorway and watched him. Aaron likes having a picture of her on his desk in the office. So he decided to keep it there, even if she's not here. "Hotch." A familar voice commented. Aaron looked up and his eyes widened at what he saw as he gripped his picture of Emily.