❝ But I'm only human
and I bleed when I fall down ❞
The Behavioral Analysis Unit team around Aaron Hotchner gets called in to assist on a serial killer case in New York where they meet the young and surprisingly talented Special Agent Skylar Brown...
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"Where did Reid go?"
It's weird, I know, this being the first question to ask when entering a room, but Skylar was confused. She had expected him to be there.
Hotch gave her a look she couldn't quite decipher. "He went to check on some of the information Garcia sent," he said.
The rest of the team was at Bryce's apartment. That, she knew.
Skylar nodded, confused at first, but then she stopped questioning it. "Alright," she said.
"Abomination," Hotch quoted her.
She couldn't possibly tell if he was disappointed. His expression resembled a stone — cold and dismissive. So well, maybe he was a tad disappointed.
"You let your emotions get in the way of work," he said. It was like a shot to the chest. "I know this was supposed to be an act, but even if Prentiss wouldn't have come up with this strategy, you would've reacted just the same." He looked over at her. "This isn't going to work, you know?"
Skylar sighed. "You're mad at me, I know, but—"
"I'm not mad at you," he cut her off. "I'm worried. I thought you were stable enough to do this job, but I'm seriously starting to doubt that."
"Hotch, please, let me—"
"You would've jumped him if Prentiss didn't intervene. You had no control over what you were going to say or do in there and that's what disappoints me."
"What," Skylar spat, "am I not allowed to speak the truth anymore?"
She crossed her arms, a defensive action. Once she realized that, she tried holding them back by her sides, but her mind and body wanted two different things.
"You can speak the truth," Hotch said. "Just not like that. This was supposed to be an act and things are fine the way they went, but you have to learn how to control yourself." His eyes looked almost genuine when they grazed hers.
He turned back to the one-way mirror.
Skylar exhaled a shaky breath. His words hurt her. She knew damn well that she had lost control over her life, over the mess that it was. Everything wrapped rather chaotically into one big ball of complicated.
But how could she possibly stop this ball now that it was already rolling down the hill? The cliff would come eventually and then it would fall and the darkness would swallow it whole. But that wasn't a good thing; it's never a good thing.
"I'm sorry," she said, at last. "I'm sorry, Hotch. I didn't mean to disappoint you."
"It's okay. I know the baggage you're carrying is heavy, but I also know that I have a duty to protect this team. The way you're behaving isn't going to make that any easier."
