SECT BOUND . aaron hotchner

3.1

Aaron Hotchner had been watching his team discuss the case for the last ten minutes, but his mind was fixed elsewhere. Though Annie had been with the team for just over a month now, the woman seemed to have been taken aback by a case for the first time. It was as if, the moment the young boy's face had appeared on the screen, the case had become personal for her. Even as they sat on the plane, Aaron could see her fixating on the image of the blonde boy seemingly detached from the conversation occurring beside her.

Annie was taking in every small detail on Daniel's face, memorising the way that his hair sat on his shoulders and how his smile seemed to remain innocent despite the knowledge of his final breath. Photographs were immortal collages of moments that were often faked; Daniel may have been smiling in the photo before her, but she knew that the likelihood was that his parents had created that situation. However, it was once she had found the strength to pull her eyes from the young boy that her breath caught in her throat. The date at which he had been found had been highlighted in her report as the day the missing persons case had been closed. That was the day before, which meant that it was currently the 28th of November.

Judiciously, Annie moved her gaze towards the file in her lap ignoring the pull of the tears forming in her eyes. In her current state of prosperity, she had grown unaware of the days that wore on regardless of her exultation. Unknowingly, she had forgotten the day that she was given the gift that altered her entire outlook on her existence. Despondency was clear on her face, as she recalled the date that should have brought her nothing but joy.

Celebration should have been the only thing on her mind that day; she should have been singing to a pair of identical girls who were being treated like royalty. Her friends should have been fighting over whose present was going to opened first and which of them got the first slice of cake. Annie should have been surrounded by family, each of them fixed in a state of mirth. However, that was impossible, the two girls she should have been smiling with were unattainable. One, she had lost for good, the other, she didn't know when she would see again.

Aaron – who had been leaning on the edge of her chair during the case discussion – had noticed Annie retreating into herself, and he had soon become overly concerned by the change in behaviour. As the rest of the team began to talk casually about the case in hand, he shifted to take her hand in his. The team had become used to the casual contact between the two, so no one questioned it when his attention shifted to her and she rested her head on his upper arm.

Since the summer, Aaron had become adept at noticing when Annie was on the road to becoming subdued by melancholy. The silence, her gaze transfixing on something seemingly irrelevant, that was how it had begun every other time. Following those moments, she would delve into her work and he would lose her emotionally for days. With a case involving a child, he couldn't risk the woman withdrawing herself completely.

Rubbing the back of her hand, Aaron softened his tone as voice vibrated through his chest, "What's going through your head?"

"It's November 28th." She explained, causing the man slightly more confusion than he had been when he had asked. "It's the twin's birthday, I forgot about it until just now. How could I forget it?"

Gently, Aaron squeezed her hand in his, the cracking of her voice breaking him slightly inside, "It doesn't take a lot for dates to slip. We've had a lot of cases recently, so it's not a stretch to say you simply lost track of the days."

Timidly, Annie nodded letting out a soft breath as she muttered, "this case is going to be difficult, isn't it?"

"Probably, it's your first one coming with us that involves children." He explained, completely aware that his sincerity was, and always had been, the most reassuring thing he could give to Annie. "Those cases are difficult for all of us, those of us with children more so."

Remaining silent, Annie closed her eyes, leaning into Aaron and increasing the contact between the two. Unwillingly, Aaron smiled at the knowledge that, when in need of solace, it was him that she turned to. When she had made the decision to move out of his apartment and into Emily's spare room her had thought he was losing her once more. Yet, he had watched the woman adapt to her new life quicker as she laid the foundations, ensuring that they were competently dug and not allowed to become a trip hazard. Had she have stayed with him she would have been left with an unstable structure. This easy, Annie had something to build from if she and Aaron crumbled for any reason.

Feeling the woman's breathing level out, Aaron let go of her hand taking the seat opposite her. There was a slight mundanity to the way the duo had learnt to act that countered what either was typically used to. For Annie, the freedom she had with Aaron was a welcome divergence from what she at become so accustom to. The man never snapped at her from the times she had disagreed, though at time she had more than expected it.

Turning back to the team, Annie pushed the thoughts of her daughters - and the countless other children that seemed to have infiltrated her mind - away from her immediate focus, keeping only a single child in her thoughts. Giving Daniel's family closure was the only thing she wanted to worry about for the duration of the case, no matter the personal demons she was trying to drown. Looking at the file once more, Annie stated, "The Pennsylvania police had Daniel's father as a suspect. They even interviewed him, multiple times. Yet, he was never formally charged."

"Without a body, they couldn't." Spencer explained to the woman, still circling radii on the map in front of him. "There wasn't any physical evidence to say that he had abducted his son, so without a body the police had to drop the case."

Leaning into the group, Annie stated, "So, the discovery of the body makes him a suspect once again."

"Exactly," Aaron announced, catching the attention of the ginger once more. "But I want you to speak to him when we get there."

The woman grew confused, the rest of the team mimicking her own expression, "I've only observed the interrogations before, I've not even sat in yet."

"But this won't be an interrogation." The Unit Chief clarified. "This man had been part of an investigation for a little over a year, he's been subject all of the different techniques. He may just tell us more if he thinks he's been questioned as a father, not a suspect."

While Annie had become aware of why she had been given the role, she still aimed to understand what she was being asked to do, "So, you want me to convince him that we no longer see him as a person of interest?"

"He needs to think he's only being questioned as the father of Daniel." Aaron agreed, Annie signalling her understanding.

After that moment, the team returned to individual conversations, Emily moving to the place where Aaron had been leaning before he had taken his seat. She began her conversation with Annie, both women laughing slightly at something that had been mentioned. The lack of worry on Annie's features was a relief to the entire team, who had seen her at her worst many times. All they hoped was that she remained this way for as long as possible, because the higher she climbed the further she had to fall.