Ghosts • Aaron Hotchner

Chapter Nineteen

The next several weeks were tough on the entire team, but especially Hotch. He went through all the stages of grief, while also trying to be the best single parent he could. He blamed himself for Haley's death, and he blamed himself for failing Jack, even though he wasn't failing his son. 

Fallon did as much as she could to lighten the load, whether it be babysitting Jack when she was free, or bringing the two a meal so that Hotch didn't have to worry about food. He was gone from work for a little bit, joining them after about two weeks, which was much earlier than they had thought was necessary. It was better than Fallon's couple of days of coping after each of her siblings' deaths, but Fallon was good at things like that. 

Currently, it was Hotch's first case back and they chasing down their unsub, Schrader, who had kidnapped his daughter. They weren't sure if he was going to harm her intentionally, but all they knew was that if he grew unstable, she was going to be the first person in harm's way. 

The team had finally managed to find his cabin, and Morgan kicked the door open, storming inside, SWAT and the rest of the team following behind closely. The house was clear, so they split up into teams to search the woods for Schrader, and Jenny. 

Fallon was waiting back with the majority of the team with Jenny, who they had found hiding behind a patch of trees, but Shrader was nowhere to be found. 

Fallon sighed in relief when she got the call that Morgan and Emily had found Schrader. Fallon sat with his daughter and Detective Bunting, while they waited for the two of them to make their way back to us. 

Jenny protested over seeing her father but Fallon assured her that he couldn't do anything to her, before Morgan came over rubbing his arm.

"Are you alright?" Fallon asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," he answered, dropping his arm to his side.

"Well, what happened?" She asked, grabbing his arm and pulling up his sleeve to see a nasty bite mark on it.

"The son of a bitch bit me, but I promise that I'm fine Fal," he assured her. Fallon pursed her lips, not believing him, but she nodded before making her way over and getting into the passenger seat of a police cruiser, next to Bunting. Schrader was in the back, since the two of them were bringing him in. 

"Killed a random woman and kidnapped his kid, used the same truck. Not the brightest bulb," Bunting said as they were driving along the road back to the precinct. 

"He's been locked up for eleven years, he's out of practice," Fallon commented, taking a short glance behind her at Schrader, who looked pissed off.

"Don't they say these guys come out better criminals?" Bunting asked.

"Smart ones do," Fallon responded, adding in the dig just for kicks and giggles.

"You saying I'm dumb?" Schrader asked, finally breaking his angry silence.

"You're impatient, angry. You took your own kid just to get back at your ex," Fallon replied.

"You got it all figured out," he commented sarcastically, and Fallon resisted the urge to reach back and tighten his handcuffs.

"Well your ex-wife said.."

"She was a liar, and I should have killed her," Schrader announced, cutting Fallon off.

"Like you killed Stacy Ryan?" Fallon asked in return, making eye contact with him. "Why did you do it?" 

"You wouldn't understand," Schrader answered after a moment of silence. 

"Try me," she retorted. She held his gaze, and he looked away first, making Fallon smirk. "Here's what I don't get about this guy."

"What's that?" Bunting asked.