Change My Mind ~ Criminal Minds (Aaron Hotchner x OC)

9.0: Down the Rabbit Hole

"To say goodbye is to die a little."
― Raymond Chandler

After Mrs. Hillridge told the team her story about Charlie they had a sketch artist come in, she was currently with the artist in the conference room. Garcia had contacted all 12 of the families, the team was currently interviewing them all to see if they could tie anymore cases to the same unsubs.

Crystal was interviewing one of the 12 families and their case had no similarities towards Aimee's or Charlie's abductions, "Thank you for coming down to the BAU, I'm sorry about your son Mr. and Mrs. Hymm. Please have a safe travel home, my apologies again for having to call you down here." Mrs. Hymm just smiled, her eyes were glazed. "It's been 9 years, I knew it was to good to be true when another agent called saying they might have a clue about Ryan's kidnapper."

Mrs. Hymm turned and walked out the glass doors, Mr. Hymm turned towards Crystal with a sad look. "I hope you understand this is still hard to talk about, we...we agreed to put Ryan in our hearts instead of always on our minds. I hope you guys find something to help that little girl who went missing, or else you ripped open old wounds for no reason." 

Crystal gave him a sad smile, "I promise you Mr. Hymm that if we had any other option to finding the abductors we would have done it, we would never bring you here if we didn't think it would've helped us. I sincerely apologize that this couldn't help you find closure for your son's disappearance, I would never want anyone to relive the day they lost their child unless it really was important."

Mr. Hymm just nodded, "I understand Agent Archer I really do, but that doesn't mean it hurts any less." There was nothing Crystal could say to that, so she gave him a smile. He returned it as he walked out the glass doors. Crystal followed and saw them out at the elevator bidding them one final goodbye, Crystal sighed as she stood there after they left.

I think I just destroyed whatever progress they had made for moving on.

"Everything alright Agent?" Crystal turned around to see Hotch standing behind her, she gave him a smile and a nod. "I'm fine other than the fact that I just sent a family home who most likely left with more scars then when they arrived, their case didn't match our unsubs." Hotch gave a nod towards the family he just interviewed, "I have a family that has confirmed the same signature we found in Aimee's and Charlie's case. The family I interviewed before them also confirmed the same signature, I'm sure we have more cases confirmed." 

Crystal smiled at this and Hotch and started to walk away when Hotch gently grabbed her elbow, she shot him a confused look. "Is something wrong Agent Hotchner?" 

"Are you sure you're fine?" Crystal raised an eyebrow at him, "You reached behind your back as if you were to tug on an apron if you were wearing one." Hotch concluded and Crystal smiled, "I'm okay Agent Hotchner really, I appreciate your concern. These interviews had to happen to get our answer on how many possible victims these unsubs have, these families deserve closure."

Hotch nodded and gave her a small smile, "Let me know if there's a problem, even if it's a small one. I think Morgan is interviewing the last family, Mrs. Lynch should be in the office right now and I would appreciate it if you could keep her company."

He let go of her elbow while Crystal smiled back and nodded, "Thank you Agent Hotchner I will keep that in mind, excuse me." As she walked in she saw Mrs. Lynch sitting at a table and Garcia walked over with two cups of coffee, Garcia motioned to it suggesting if Crystal wanted one and she shook her head.

Crystal took the seat opposite to Mrs. Lynch and Garcia sat down next to her, Mrs. Lynch looked up at them and then gave a slight smile towards Crystal. "How long have you two been together or married?"