Ghosts • Aaron Hotchner

Chapter Twelve

Fallon's flight to Seattle was the next afternoon, and was both too short and too long all in one. Weston picked her up from the airport, and the two rode in silence back to the house that he had shared with Caroline and their daughter.

"Thank you," Fallon said as Weston opened the car door for her. Fallon had called Jackson, her date from the previous Sunday, and had told him that she was going to be out of town for a few more days, so their date was rescheduled our date for a week from that day. That gave Fallon, enough time to grieve so that she was not out of character when she saw him next.

"Aunt Fally!" Fallon heard. She looked up to see Caroline and Weston's one and a half year old daughter waddling down the stairs towards her, the scene giving her eerie deja vu to that time two years ago, when Fallon was in Cleveland for Michael's funeral and Carson had greeted her.

"Well hello there Gracelyn," Fallon said picking her up, which was much more difficult than the last time Fallon had done it. "My goodness, you're getting big."

"Mommy says that too," the toddler told her, and Fallon's smile faltered the slightest at the girl's statement. Fallon exchanged a brief glance with Weston, and then looked back at the dark haired girl in her arms.

"I'm sure she does," Fallon responded. The brunette kissed her niece on the forehead, and then set her down as Fallon followed Weston into the living room. She was quickly greeted by Anna and Carson who had flown out the day before. Anna had started to date again, and Fallon couldn't be more thrilled for her. Anna would always be like her sister, and Weston would always be like her brother even if they did end up marrying other people.

"How are you?" Fallon asked when she sat down on the couch next to Anna, Carson and Gracelyn both jumping to sit on her lap. It had been awhile since she and Anna had had time to call and chat, so she felt very out of touch with her life. 

"I've been good, how are you?" She asked, and Fallon shrugged.

"I've definitely been better," Fallon admitted. Caroline and Weston's nanny, Elvis, called the kids into the kitchen and Fallon looked back towards Anna.

"How's work?" Weston asked.

"The team and I just stopped a terrorist attack in New York two days ago, which is why I wasn't answering your calls," Fallon responded, and both of her sibling-in-laws' eyes went wide.

"Yeah, what happened? Because there was a loud bang and then the line went dead," Weston asked.

"Well, there was an I.E.D. under the car that I was going to get in with my boss and the head of the New York field office. Long story short, it exploded with us next to it, and I completely forgot about what happened with Caroline until after we stopped the terrorist cell," Fallon recounted. The room was silent for a minute as both Weston and Anna processed what Fallon had just said. 

"An I.E.D.?" Anna asked in horror.

"Yeah, a diversion planted by the cell," Fallon explained.

"Well are you alright?" She then asks, and Fallon laughed lightly.

"I'm fine. I have a mild concussion, but it's just a few headaches here and there at the moment, so it's not bad," Fallon assured her.

"Goddamn. You're blown up and all you have is a concussion. Are the others okay?" Weston asked.

"Kate, the head of the New York field office, unfortunately died during surgery, but Hotch, my boss, is fine," Fallon answered. They nodded and then they change topics from the most recent case to the funeral the next day, and that's how they spent the rest of the day. They went over ever detail, the flowers, the pastor, Caroline's outfit. It was astonishing how fast they had planned the funeral considering Caroline had only died a couple days before.