SECT BOUND . aaron hotchner

3.12

David Rossi tried to move away from Aaron as Annie stalked over, her eyes narrowing as her arms crossed forcefully over her chest. However, Annie had called after him requesting that there be a witness to whatever Aaron was about to tell her. David knew that this meant the situation was not stable, and that Annie had not agreed to the press conference as willingly as the Unit Chief had suggested when he shared the information with the group. Of course, they had been shocked when Annie – who always refused to partake in press conferences, or kept gaze dropped down to her feet as they passed crowds of paparazzi – had agreed to be the centre of attention for this case. Yet, not one of them had suspected Aaron of lying to them. That was until she arrived, her face as flushed red as her hair and eyes trained on her boyfriend.

In the time that he had known her, David had not once seen Annie as riled as she was in that moment. If she was even approaching it, it was normally aimed at the people behind the heinous crimes they investigated. In fact – if her were honest with himself – David had never seen her and Aaron at all hostile towards one another. Perhaps they were simply good and compartmentalising and returned home of an evening and dealt with their irritations then, but he optimistically believed that they simply had not had any disagreements since Annie had returned.

His thoughts of their perceived bliss were stopped firmly as Annie stopped before them, her fingers tapping impatiently on her upper arm, "I don't want to do this, Aaron."

"I've weighed every possible outcome, there's no other way to do with that will give us as high a chance of the desired outcome." The Unit Chief had known that he had pushed her when he asked, but believed it to be their best option. "If there had been any other way to complete this with even a similar level of certainty, then we would have taken a different route."

"What if he sees it?" She asked, her face having dropped. "We don't know where he is, so he could be in DC."

David watched as Aaron's eyes widened. He hadn't thought through the reality of her situation, the way that the uncertainty made everything more dangerous. For the last month, she had relinquished the control she held on her life and given herself a great deal more freedom. She had gone to the park with Jack the previous week and had not once called Aaron in a panic. However, now, she was trying to grip to any control she could, and under any other circumstances he would have supported her. But he needed her to relieve the control for the rest of the day.

"Do you trust me enough to keep you safe?"

She nodded, letting out a sigh, "Of course I do, Aaron, but I have to think of Eden as well. If he knows I'm alive – and she is still living – he may see my betray as hers as well."

"There is a woman out there, who needs you to do this." Aaron countered, causing David to clear his throat at the raised volume he had used. "No, Annie, right now you need to think like an employee of the bureau, not a woman scared of becoming a victim again."

"Aaron." David snapped, having seen the woman before him widen her eyes in shock. Aaron had never once spoken to her that way, no matter how much she had pushed him. "She is terrified, and rightfully so, try listening to her concerns and addressing them."

Aaron calmed himself, knowing that he had overstepped many boundaries that day and pushed Annie too far. She was not afraid of being a victim, she hardly saw herself as a victim anymore. She was a survivor and an inspiration to everyone who watched her. Picking up the pieces was difficult, and everyone knew that she was doing just that and stopping at nothing until she had built a city from the rubble she had been gifted.

However, discovering that you had been living on a graveyard for a decade was not an easy task and Aaron had been expecting Annie to take the time off after he had confirmed her theory. From the moment he had discovered the news, he had been preparing for the worst possible reaction from Annie and trying to work out that she would not be alone as she came to terms with knowledge. However, he had – admittedly – gone too far when he had asked Anderson to check on the woman every so often as she worked in Quantico. As the Agent had timidly told him, Annie didn't need a babysitter. This had all helped to fuel the woman's hostility towards him in that moment.

"Look, when you're up there, you will be in a wig and contacts. You won't look like yourself."

"If you put me up there, you are painting a target to my back, Aaron." She continued, growing angrier and he continued to push. "If you put me up there and he sees, I won't make it Jack's parent teacher conference."

Aaron shook his head, "You can't use our personal relationship to get out of doing what your unit chief is asking of you."

"You can't use our personal relationship to get me to do something, I don't feel safe doing." Annie argued, squaring her jaw as she stood away from him and straightening her stance. "But, if you are asking me as my Unit Chief, I will of course do it. As long as you know that any and all consequences are on your hands."

Aaron closed the gap between them, gritting his teeth and squaring his jaw, "All due respect, Agent, we are trying to save lives and you are our best chance to do so."

"All due respect, Sir," Annie spat, having narrowed her eyes at his change in behaviour and posture, "but you do not seem to understand the danger that I am in if that broadcast is seen by the wrong people. It may be a shock to you, but I rather value my life."

Aaron called after the woman as she walked away, joining Derek who then handed her the bag with a wig and make up in. He began to go after her, but David pulled him back before he could, "Give her a minute, when she's done getting ready talk to her."

"We need to do this." He muttered. "I was right to think that, wasn't I?"

The other agent nodded, "She knows that too, after the initial fear of being seen. She knows it."

"Strauss called me this morning, the BAU are being brought in on her case. After today, she won't be able to work with us until it is closed." He explained, finally letting the truth behind his worry leave the confines of his mind. "I have to tell her, but how do I tell her we need to interrogate her until we know everything from the last decade? She has tried to hard to keep parts of it a secret, but she can't anymore."

David placed his hand on Aaron's shoulder, "I don't have any advice there. For the simple fact that I have not been there before."

"Look's like I'm flying blind." He joked lightly, trying to relieve the fear he felt towards the conversation he needed to have. She would not be comfortable, and she would likely never forgive him.

Sorry for taking so long to update this, and surprise, surprise I'm not thrilled with how this is reading. But I feel like I owe you all an update. I will come back and edit this when I have a bit more times, as currently I am packing for Uni which is more time consuming that I believed it to be.

Thank you all so much for your continuing support, and the messages I have received surrounding this story are incredibly uplifting. 

As usual thank you for reading, voting and commenting this far and stay safe!

Katey. xx