Retribution, A Spencer Reid/Criminal Minds Fanfic

Chapter 57. Gone

The good news was that the case was solved in near record time.

The bad news was the way it reached resolution.

The unsub, a serial rapist, had taken his fourth victim hostage. Despite the combined negotiating talents of Hotch and Rossi, he’d opted for the coward’s way out. And he’d brought the twenty-six-year-old mother of a toddler along for the ride. When the shots rang out, the team, along with a substantial contingent of local police and SWAT agents, had stormed the house where the unsub was holed up. They were too late.

At least the young woman had died quickly; a single shot behind one ear…execution style.

It was a grim group that sat in silence, wrapped in their individual thoughts, making the return trip home the next morning. Each agent was rerunning the sequence of events, wondering if they could have prevented a string of rapes being capped off by a murder-suicide.

Sullen outrage seethed beneath the surface when Hotch thought of the man who would never face trial, never face his victims. Personally, secretly, he was glad the unsub was dead. But he regretted the fact that his death deprived the families of those who’d been harmed a chance to see the slow wheels of justice crush the monster.

And then there was the matter of a two-year-old who would grow up motherless.

The job was to stop the criminal, not to fix the devastation he left in his wake. They were supposed to disengage, to avoid personal involvement. In that regard, Hotch rarely practiced what he preached. He regularly checked on the survivors in the aftermath. There wasn’t anything he could do, but he needed to know. This time he’d found there were no relatives available to take the child. It would be consigned to the foster care system. His father’s heart ached as he stared out the window during the long flight home.

xxxxxxx

Rossi sat where he could keep an eye on Hotch.

He’d never intrude on the man’s privacy, or disabuse him of the belief that no one knew how he brooded over the fate of victims…particularly those too young to have a say in what happened to them. But everyone knew when the cases hit their leader, no matter how skilled he thought he was at concealing his feelings.

Hiding’s an art he’s been perfecting all his life, Rossi thought sadly. He never learned how to play, but he certainly learned how to hide. Just not from those who love him. Maybe because there wasn’t anyone around who did when he developed his hiding skills.

When Hotch rose and made his way to the tiny lavatory, several team members exchanged glances. They all knew he’d eventually emerge with eyes reddened from the sting of salt tears.

And no one would say a word.

The alpha wolf with the big heart needed his hiding place. No one would take that away from him.

xxxxxxx

Reid didn’t notice Hotch’s emotional state, or the subtle interactions between the other agents.

He was lost in thoughts of his own. Thoughts that revolved around children. Particularly children who lost a parent. Particularly children who lost their mothers.

As disturbed as his own mother was, he would have been adrift without her after his father abandoned him. In spite of the rough road they’d traveled, Reid was eternally grateful for Diana’s presence in his life.

The only thing worse than losing a mother, is losing a child.

He stared at the clouds roiling outside the tiny, oval window, taking a moment to give thanks to whatever forces moved the universe for how his own life had turned out.