dangerously ↝ a. hotchner

t w e n t y

The flight back to Virginia was extremely uneventful. Ana bought a packet of nuts and ate it. But that was it. As pointed out, uneventful.

Her whole Monday was also seemingly uneventful, Charlotte didn't question Ana's whereabouts the past two days that much and she'd only seen two patients this morning.

The only thing was, she was actually physically aching to see Aaron and Jack. Ever since she got back to Virginia, which was only around eleven hours ago, she wanted to see them. But every time she picked up her phone to call, she set it back down again. The whole Peter situation was stressing her out to the max and just thinking about Jack just made her mind wander to the cemetery. All in all, it appeared that she had begun to distance herself from the Hotchners.

Two weeks passed and she felt almost empty. The reappearance of Peter had dug up emotions she'd buried along with her daughter. Or at least, she thought she did. She was walking out with Charlotte, the both of them making idle chit chat about their day and eventually splitting up. Ana waved at Charlotte as she drove away, a small smile on her face as she watched the blonde wave excitedly back. She then walked to her car, unlocking it and opening the door, first putting her bags in the passenger seat and then going around to the drivers side. She was about to get in when suddenly she was yanked back from behind.

She let out a strangled yelp as her attacker shoved her up against the side of her car, wrapping his hand around her throat roughly as he shoved her up against her car. Her eyes went wide as she recognized that familiar dark hair and suddenly her instincts kicked in and she started thrashing around in his hold, clawing his hands around her neck roughly.

"Peter." She croaked our, her voice was strained by the amount of pressure he was putting on her throat, causing her breathing to constrict almost painfully.

The malicious glint in his eyes only grew stronger as he tightened his hands around her throat, his force so strong against her that she could fell her feet slowly lift off the ground. Her vision started spotting as the lack of oxygen to her brain sent her body into over drive, her mind fighting with her body to stay conscious.

"Tell me why you did it." He growled.

He let go of her entirely, setting her down and watching with annoyance as she rubbed her neck gently and gasped, coughing and then breathing in deeply, allowing her lungs to fill with air.

"Why I did what?"

He hit his hand against her car, the loud noise of his fist against the metal making her flinch. "Why did you kill our baby. Was it because you thought I wouldn't be a good father? Was that it?"

She tried so hard to keep her tears at bay, but the fear that was blossoming inside her only grew — the man in front of her truly terrified her.

"I didn't kill her Pete." She choked out. "She died."

"What?" He whispered. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that it was a girl. But Ana didn't realize when she carried on talking.

"She was forming outside of my uterus. It's rare, but it happens. There was nothing the doctors could do to save her." Ana said tearfully. She hated that she had to live through this again, even if she was only recounting those memories she'd stored away three years ago.

Peter finally went out of defensive mode and instead let the car support his weight as he leaned against it, next to Ana.

"Ana I-" he reached out for her but his hand fell back to his side when she flinched and shifted away from him. "I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Go back to New York Peter. And stay there." He nodded, turning around and going in the direction of where he'd inconspicuously parked his car. He stopped when she called his name again, "She's buried at Green-Wood. If you ever think of visiting her."