Chapter Text
Marine Corps Base Quantico, Navy Yard, 2005
It had all been fine, before. When Kate first joined the team. They had a friendly relationship. She was like the sister Tony never had, giving as good as she got. She was not cut out for the job though, but Gibbs wanted to give her a chance since she got fired because of him. Tony had wanted to scream when he’d found out ; but he adjusted. He always adjusted and welcomed Caitlin Todd into the MCRT. He’d trained her, showed her the ropes, teased her to help her relax during her first cases with them. She’d teased him back just as much, which was fine, at first. All siblings fought, right?
But then she started throwing jabs at him, not so friendly anymore. She started conspiring with Abby. Oh Abby! That was a whole other story. Probably better left for another time. Kate found a sister in her, bound by the idea that they were two women against the world. When they wanted to tease Tony, it was more like a coordinated attack than anything else.
Gibbs, when informed, had royally ignored the complaint and treated it as a phase. He said it would pass, that the girls just needed to blow off steam together. But Tony was sure that wasn’t the case, not like anyone other than Ducky or Morrow had listened to him anyway.
It got better some days. Tony was not under unfriendly fire most of the time. He still got jabs thrown at him here and there, but it had mostly calmed down after he blew up at Kate and Abby one day and made himself very clear on the fact that he was not, in fact, amused by their behaviour. And has never been.
Tony was glad when McGee joined the team. It made them a team of four and they got done with some cases a little bit faster. Even though he played down his past contributions a lot. He let McGee think that he was the only one good enough with computers, a ploy to make the probie more at ease within the MCRT. a plan that hugely backfired on Tony, when McGeek and Kate started actually believing he was a no-good agent with nothing but brawns and childish energy to bring along.
So Tony stopped laughing at their jokes, not like that helped much. He still held friendly conversations with both of them, especially after surviving the goddamn plague. Like, honest-to-god plague. Who would’ve thought?
His relationships were partly restored after that, everyone babying him and doting on him as if he was absolutely incapable of taking care of himself. He enjoyed the affection though, Tony had never gotten much of it most of his life, so he soaked it up while it lasted.
Because of course it had to end. Of course the moment he was having better friendships, one of those friends was killed.
In front of him.
Kate was no more. Because of the man she thought had “kind eyes”.
Tony wasn’t sure he could move on as easily as Gibbs was. He now had another name on the list. The list of the people he lost. He didn’t want to keep the list, but it was one of the only things keeping him sane-ish. So he wrote down her name, for what he hoped would be the last time.
Caitlin Todd.
Marine Corps Base Quantico, BAU HQ, 2005
It was a very Q-word day at the office, and Hotch, despite not being overly superstitious, was not willing to tempt the odds by describing the day. Everyone was relaxed, almost happy even. They were all catching up on their paperwork after the last few cases kept them away for too long.
Aaron, tucked away in his own office, was not disturbed that much, except when one of the team needed his signature or anything case related. Or when they all went to buy lunch and came to ask what he had wanted.
That was six hours ago. It was almost 8 PM, and Aaron should have been home at 6:30 at most, given the lack of cases that day. As much as he wanted to go to his son, spend time with him and hold him, he equally didn’t want to see his wife. Soon-to-be ex-wife.
Haley wasn’t happy with Aaron. She hadn’t been in a long time. When she realised he was serious about getting into the FBI and staying there. She married him because 1: they were highschool sweethearts and that was kind of expected of them by both their families and friends and 2: she thought he was going to stay at the DOJ as a prosecutor and then rise into some higher-up politician. She wanted to be a fancy politician’s wife. Had she not known him long enough to realize he was not interested in politics in the least?
Aaron tried to save their relationship, spending all of his free time with Haley when he wasn’t on a case or at the office. But she did not appreciate his efforts. She was briefly happy when they learnt they were going to have a baby, but that happiness quickly faded and turned into resentment when Hotch didn’t quit his job then and there.
Thankfully, Gideon was there for him. Not as a close friend, but just a reassuring presence throughout the whole ordeal of him being served divorce papers. He hadn’t wanted to tell the team at first, but they’d all suspected something before things had even become official. Every time one of them interacted with Haley, it was not as friendly as it used to be. She was being curt, almost rude, to all Hotch’s team members, blaming them for keeping her husband away. Most of the blame fell on Aaron though, and everybody felt it.
Now, the only thing keeping him from doing something irreversible was his son, Jack. The light of his life. He literally brightened up his days – which were mostly full of the darkest, most disgusting things humanity could offer.
It would be okay. Aaron had to believe that it would. Otherwise he would spiral, go down a dark path and not come back. Or come back damaged and not able to care for his son.
The only thing keeping sane was him. Jack Aaron Dominic Hotchner.