Work Relations || Aaron Hotchner

Chapter 16

The first thing I heard as soon as I got to the BAU was "We've got a case" and we follow JJ to the conference room. I could feel all the eyes on me and Hotch but I tried to ignore it. "Two weeks ago the body of 29-year-old Rachel Collins was found in the woods. She was stabbed 9 times in her torso and her face. Four days ago the body of 26-year-old Alisha Lory was found dumped in the same woods a few miles away from the first. She was shot also 9 times. Both of the victims were prostitutes" she says
"Both blondes and overkill, 8 wounds each time" Emily says
"Yeah, but he's evolving fast. From knife to gun in a week" I say.

"Wheels up in 30. And I would appreciate it if the looks towards me and Grey stopped. We are both consenting adults and we won't let our personal relationship affect our work. Thank you" Hotch says and leaves the conference room.
"What a gentleman" Emily whispers to me before she leaves.

On the jet we found out about a new body. "He's evolving even faster than we thought" Hotch says
"And he changed his MO. This time the victim was brunette" Emily says
"Morgan and Grey, you go to the coroner's office. Reid and Rossi go to the latest crime scene. JJ goes to the local PD and talks with the families. Prentiss and I will go to the latest victim's house" he says.

"So your boyfriend sent you with me again" he says joking as we enter the coroner's office.
"Well, I guess that he doesn't consider you a threat" I say
"Ok... Ouch" he says and pretends to slap himself causing me to laugh.
"Thank you for waiting" the coroner says as he gets in the room "The victim has 3 shots in the head and 6 on the torso. She was killed by one of the shots in the head. Since both of them were lethal. No signs of sexual assault or defensive wounds" he says. I put on a pair of gloves and I take a closer look at her hair. They seemed like they were badly colored because they had that nasty color you get when you try to dye your hair blonde at home with a cheap box dye kit.
"Morgan, tell Garcia that I need the most recent picture he can find of the latest victim" I say.

"Got it" he says and calls her. I open her eyes and I see that they are blue. Exactly like the rest of the victims. "This is from the day she disappeared" Morgan says showing a picture on his phone.
"Still brunette... Can you call Emily or Hotch?" I ask
"Sure, I'm gonna call your boyfriend for you" he says and I shake my head in disbelief.

"Hotch, you're on speaker" Morgan says
"Hotch, are there any empty blonde hair dye kits in the house, maybe?" I ask
"The police went through the trash already, they didn't find any hair dye, why?" he asks
"I think that the unsub has colored her hair blonde before he killed her" I say
"That would explain the change in the victimology. Maybe there any chance she went to the hair salon right before she disappeared?" Emily asks
"I don't think so. It's bad. It's like that night in college that you were bored and you thought 'I'm gonna go blonde. Of course I can do it myself in one night'. And then you end up with that patchy, kinda yellow and burnt from the bleach disaster. My guess, the unsub colored her hair blonde to fit his fantasy but when he saw that he couldn't, he killed her and probably... moved on already" I say
"We should deliver the profile. We'll see you back at the station" he says and hangs up.

When we returned to the station, we found out that another prostitute just came in saying that someone tried to kidnap her last night from the same location that the other girls went missing. She was able to give us a description and a sketch. Blonde, blue-eyed and really attractive guy. It's a shame that he became a killer. We delivered the profile and go back to the conference room.

But before I could go in, Hotch stops me.
"Maybe we will be in and out of here in a day. How about dinner or breakfast depending on when we get back? My place?" he whispers in my ear
"Sounds good" I say and he pecks my lips. "And we have some bath bombs to try" I remind him
"Oh yes. He can't stop talking about them" he says and I chuckle. He kisses me once more and we go to the conference room with the others.

A call came in "Talk Garcia" Hotch says
"I was able to find a match on that sketch. James Bailey. His picture fits perfectly with the sketch and the description. He moved in town only a few weeks ago when the murders started. And we were seen by a camera on his way back from dumping the second body. I've already sent you his address" she says
"Thanks. JJ, David and I will go check the house. Grey and Morgan stay back and wait for hotline calls, he might be on a hunt already" Hotch says and they leave.

"I'm gonna go get some coffee. Wanna come?" Emily asks
"No, thanks" I say and she leaves. Morgan and I stayed alone again in the conference room. "Together again..." I say looking at Morgan and he smiles. We kept staring at the board trying to see something we might miss earlier that could help.
"What if he was adopted?" I ask
"Why are you saying that?" he asks
"Parents both brunettes with brown eyes, James Bailey is blond with blue eyes. Not that it can't happen but it's not very common" I say and he calls Garcia
"Babygirl, check adoptions for the last 40 years in the area" he says
"Well, no one with the name James Bailey... I'm running face recognition now, maybe that will help. Oh..." she says
"What is it?" I ask
"There was a little boy with exactly the same photo with the name Michael Harris. He was taken from child services when he was 9 and was adopted almost immediately. The new parents changed his name pretty much everywhere" she says
"Why was he taken?" Morgan asks
"The mother, Miley Harris, was a prostitute and when James or Michael was born she was dragging him everywhere she went to... work with her and was leaving him in the next room. She was drunk or high most of the time she was with him and she was pretty violent. He also used the name Michael Harris to buy a gun last week" she says.

"What does the mother look like?" I ask
"Blonde, blue eyes, pale..." she says.
"He tried to recreate his mother and then kill her but he wasn't satisfied so now..." I say
"He is going to find her and kill her" he says
"I'll send you an address when I find one" Garcia says and hangs up
"And I'll call Hotch" I say taking my phone out
"Nepotism, right?" Derek asks ironically
"Ok enough. The first time, it was funny. The second time it was less but still funny. And I love you but you have to stop this. It isn't funny anymore. I am doing great at my job and I am, for once, doing great in my personal life. These two parts of my life are separate and they will keep being separate. So I'm not gonna apologize or let you destroy any of them" I say and I walk away. At the same time, Emily was walking in the conference room but I just walked past her ignoring her, calling Hotch.

Meanwhile in the conference room...
"Ok, what did you do?" Emily asks Morgan
"What? I didn't do anything" he says
"That didn't seem like anything" she says pointing at the door
"Ok fine. I may have joked about her and Hotch a few times" he says
"Oh my... Don't you think she already feels guilty about it? And every time Hotch gives an order she has to think is he favoring me or not while doing what he said? So please don't make her feel worse about it. From the first moment we saw them talking in the first case, in the jet, we started betting on when they'll get together, remember? And now that it happened she also needs to feel good about it because it is a good thing but all this guilt won't let her" she says.
"You're right. I'm sorry" he says
"Don't apologize to me. And by the way, we won that bet" she says
"You wish" he says laughing.