"How's your dissertation coming along?" Aaron asked during our lunch break. I'd gotten into the habit of bringing him a lunch and spending the whole hour with him in his office or else I knew he wouldn't take a break. It was a wonder that the people around us still didn't know we were together.
"Good, I'm about 50 pages in. If I continue at the rate I've been going, I should be done in about a month." I said.
"Assuming we don't get any cases, which you know won't happen. Will I have to read it when you're done?"
"No. It'll only take Reid a few minutes to look it over, so I'll have him do it."
"I'm so proud of you, Valerie. You're getting this done so quickly." He said before he threw a grape in the air and caught it in his mouth. My phone buzzed with a text from Emily.
Put your clothes back on. JJ just got a call about a case, so we're all coming upstairs.
"I'll race you to the round table." I grinned, throwing my half eaten apple in the garbage on the way out. Aaron's loud steps got closer because of his long legs, but I touched the table first. I took a seat and made sure my smirk went away before anyone could suspect anything.
"Two nights ago, a couple was murdered in their house in a small town in New York." JJ started as she tried to connect her phone to the screen behind her. "There was no sign of a break in and none of the neighbors said they heard or saw anything."
"Could've been a murder suicide." Morgan suggested.
"Is there any sign of abuse between the couple?" Emily asked. "Did either of them have violent tendencies?"
"For God's sake, woman, let me do it." Garcia grabbed JJ's phone from her hands and pulled up gory pictures.
"Meet the victims— Julie and Peter Williams." JJ said as she motioned to the screen.
"What did you say?" I asked anxiously. Surely she couldn't mean the same Julie and Peter Williams that Hotch and I knew, right? Right? I looked at the pictures again and it only confirmed my worst suspicion. My friends were in those pictures. My friends were dead.
"Wheels up in ten." Hotch demanded. "Garcia, you're coming with us."
"Do you know these people?" Reid asked softly.
"Val-" Emily started.
"Clear the room and get on the jet." Hotch growled. Everyone left without another word, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pictures in front of me. They were brutally murdered and there was nothing we could do to about it. "I'm so sorry, Valerie." He said quietly as he bear hugged me. "We'll figure it out and-"
"There's nothing to figure out." I cut him off, my voice breaking halfway through. My throat got tight and hot tears streamed down my face. Julie and Peter were dead because of us. I detached myself from Hotch and quickly ran over to the garbage can to throw up. When I felt guilty about something, it came naturally.
"I know, let it all out. I'm so sorry, Valerie. I know how close you two were."
"We have to get on the jet." I panted after a minute.
"Let me clean you up and we'll talk about it."
"What is there to talk about?"
"We're not going with them." He said as he stood me up. I stopped dead in my tracks.
"What the hell? Yes we are!"
"We can't go as federal agents, Valerie. No one from Oak Hills would trust us and it would make the case harder to solve."
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Undercover Lovers |Aaron Hotchner|
FanfictionForced to go undercover as a married couple, Agents Pierce and Hotchner have to confront their worst fears: their feelings. Highest rankings 1st in #profiler 1st in #ssahotchner 2nd in #agenthotchner 3rd in #fakemarriage 3rd in #katecallahan 4th in...
