D.C |Aaron Hotchner|

five

A/N- I mentioned this in my author's note in the beginning, but i am kind of switching up the time line. This takes place after Foyet, but obviously Elle is still here. Emily and Rossi are already a part of the team, and Gideon is gone. Sorry if this is confusing, but it's the only way I could think to create my story:)

---

As Anderson walked away, the rest of the agents began talking amongst themselves. I couldn't make out what they were saying, which was probably a good thing. Even though I knew all the case details, I wasn't asked to help, and I didn't want to intervene.

I had no business being in the waiting room anymore, so I went to follow Grant.

As I walked out the door and turned the corner, I accidentally bumped into someone.

"Oh my god I am so sorry!" I exclaimed. I looked up and saw the same women I saw on the TV a few hours ago.

"It's all good!" She reassured, "wait, aren't you Anderson's friend?" She asked with a smile.

"That's me, Agent Devyn Carter." I reached out my hand for her to shake.

"Jennifer Jareau. You should probably go check on him, he seems stressed, which is understandable."

I nodded and ran down the stairs to find Anderson. I didn't want to miss him.

As I exited the hospital, I saw him about to get into one of the black SUVs.

"Grant!" I called out.

He turned to look at me.

I ran over to his car, completely out of breath. I forgot how long I had been awake at this point.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I asked putting my hand on his shoulder.

He sighed, "I don't know. I'm just overwhelmed. This is all my fault."

I nodded. It was his fault, but I didn't want to make him feel worse about the whole situation.

"Come with me?" He asked shyly.

I hesitated. This was against policy, and I had been awake longer than I should have been; but I couldn't let him go back to that house alone.

"Sure." I said with a soft smile as I walked around the SUV and hopped in the passenger seat.

--

When we arrived at the crime scene, there were police cars everywhere. We showed the officers our credentials and walked under the yellow caution tape blocking the driveway.

We walked inside and I immediately got the chills. There was blood everywhere. I was not used to this. It was gruesome, but I had to get past that.

"It appears Agent Greenaway was shot on the couch." Another agent said as he pointed toward the largest blood stain.

Anderson walked around the glass coffee table to face the couch with his back towards the back door.

"That means the unsub was standing about here." He stated as he held up his arm with his fingers making a gun.

I began to walk around the crime scene as I walked up the bare wall that had the word "RULES" written in blood on it. I stepped closer to get a better look, when I noticed something in the letter U.

"Hey, Anderson, come take a look at this."

He walked over to me and I pointed towards the letter.

"You see that?"

"No? What am I supposed to be looking for?"

I took my phone out of my pocket, opened the camera app, and zoomed in.

"There's a swirl in the marking, it could be a finger print!" I exclaimed. I probably shouldn't have been excited about this, but this was my first time on a real crime scene.

"Great work, Carter" Anderson said with a smile as he nudged my shoulder. "I'll get the forensic guy over here to take a clear picture."

--

After about an hour of processing the scene, we decided to head back to the hospital.

When we arrived, we walked back to the same waiting room as before. Agent Hotchner and another agent were seated there talking.

"How is she?" Anderson asked.

"No word yet." Agent Hotchner replied. "Is the scene processed?"

"We finished but still have it locked up tight."

"You find anything?"

"Yes actually, we found a partial print. The shooter wrote a message on the wall in blood, and in one of the smudges, we found a whirl pattern. We aren't sure whether it's enough to get a hit, but we are processing it now." Anderson explained as he handed them the image from the crime scene.

"Who found it?" The other agent asked.

Anderson hesitated. "Uh, Agent Carter did."

"Who?" both the Agents said simultaneously.

I slowly walked forward to inject myself in the conversation. I was incredibly nervous, I had never spoken to these agents before, and I was not supposed to be at that crime scene.

"Hi, sir, that would be me." I said as I reached out my hand. "Agent Devyn Carter."

I looked up as he reached his hand out to shake mine, and our eyes locked.

It felt as if everyone else in the room had vanished, we were completely alone. I could feel my heartbeat accelerating rapidly; like I couldn't breathe.

We stood there for a second, just staring at one another until the other agent cleared his throat.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner." He finally spoke.

I looked away, I could feel my cheeks growing red by the second. What just happened? Did he feel that too? Maybe I'm just tired, I have been up for almost twenty four hours at this point.

The other agent reached his hand towards mine, "SSA David Rossi." He said with a smirk on his face. I could tell he was an older agent, I assumed he'd been with the BAU for quite some time, but why the smirk? I brushed it off and began to explain myself,

"Yes, I found the fingerprint in the letter U-" I was then cut off.

"Wait, you were at the crime scene?" Agent Hotchner asked.

"Yes?" I didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but I knew I was screwed.

He pursed his lips. "We'll talk about this later." He said to Anderson as him and Rossi walked away.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding.

"Grant, I'm so sorry." He was already going to get in a lot of trouble for leaving Elle, whether that be with Strauss or Agent Hotchner, I wasn't sure, but I didn't want him to get in even more because of me being at the crime scene.

He sighed and looked down,

"We're screwed."

"We?"