141 | | ash

➳ five

dedicated to outerwebs bc she, too, is reading this story and my work is unparalleled to hers like why are such amazing writers reading my stories i dont get it but it makes me so happy so yeah :)

- - -

I wake up at six in the morning with another knock at the door. My heart can't take anymore of this, but Reid texts me to let him in. I let out a laugh and walk to the door. Ashton appears at the stairwell landing looking at me intently.

"It's just Reid," I say putting my hand on the doorknob. He nods but doesn't move. I sigh and turn back to the door opening it slowly. Reid appears with two coffees in his hands.

"Hi!" He says way too excited for six in the morning.

I groan and shake my head. "Why did you have to come so early?" Reid walks inside and laughs. I close the door seeing Ashton's back turn as he walks back to his room. Something like a weight flies from my shoulders. I let out a sigh of relief.

We make out way into the living room and Reid sits on the couch. "Sorry to wake you. Hotch sent me over here." There's seriousness in his voice, and I have a feeling I know what he's going to say.

"Reid," I start. He looks up at me. "If something happened last night, don't hold back."

He sighs and rubs his eyes. "There was another murder. She was sixteen. Her name was Anna Rhodes. She apparently sent male strippers her last night?"

I nod slowly. "I turned them away after pointing my gun at them. I didn't think this would happen, but Ashton talked to me about it last night. God, what am I going to tell him."

Reid raises his brow. "You like him now?"

"He's okay. He really cares about the fans, I can tell. I know this is hitting him hard." I sigh. There's silence between us for a little while. "Anything else?"

Reid nods. "Hotch wants you and Morgan to check out the scene in a few hours. Of course, Morgan is sleeping, still."

I manage a chuckle. "Well, what else is new." The floor creaks, and I whip around putting my hand instinctively on my gun. Reid does the same, and we both spring up. Ashton stands in front of us with a terrified expression on his face and his arms above his head.

I let out a deep breath. "My God, Ashton. Don't do that. Make noise or something." I remove my hand from my hip and fold my arms across my chest.

"Sorry," the curly-haired boy tells me. "I was trying to listen."

"You could've just asked what happened," Reid says staring at Ashton awkwardly. They exchange a glance, but I know Ashton is upset. I can't help but feel bad for him. I can't imagine how he feels. This unsub is killing people for this band, and that's an immense amount of pressure on four teenage boys who aren't even from this country.

I turn to Reid. "Can you run out and get some breakfast, please? I'm gonna need it for later today." Reid gives me a smile and nods. He says goodbye to Ashton and walks back out the door he just came from.

Ashton looks at me with tired eyes. "The girl who sent the strippers. She's dead, isn't she." His voice is harsh. When I nod, his face drops. I pat the seat next to me on the couch, and he takes it.

Ashton keeps looking forward, and the silence between us is killing me. "Are you okay?" I say asking the most cliché and annoying question in the book.

"I feel useless," he says keeping his eyes forward.

"Ashton, you're not useless. This is a difficult situation for all of us-" He cuts me off.

"No, you don't understand. Someone is killing our fans, innocent, teenage fans, and I can't do anything about it. Because everything I do is a danger to me, but everything my fans do is a danger to them. I can't alert them. I can't save them." Ashton turns to me. I swear I see tears in his eyes. "People are dying because of us."

I bite my lip. I'm not very good at these kinds of things, but for some reason, I feel comfortable around Ashton. It's like I can tell him anything. "No they're not. And before you cut me off again, let me finish." He opens his mouth and closes it again.

I sigh. "Ashton, I don't know what to tell you. I honestly don't. But I do know how you feel. My first year here, I felt horrible. The images of the dead victims replayed in my head for at least seven months. Every case we went on I got no sleep because I had the need to find the unsub and save these people. But it got to an unhealthy level. I wouldn't eat. I got at most two hours of sleep. My co-workers sat me down and explained to me this is the job. You feel horrible at first, but you have to understand. We're doing everything we can to catch this person. We should be getting ready to deliver a profile soon."

Ashton remains silent for a while. I basically gave him a whole speech on something he doesn't feel too good about. However, I don't know what else to do. I'm known to be front with people, and I don't usually care. For some reason, this dark blonde boy makes me feel horrible when I tell him the truth. I know it hurts him.

"I understand," Ashton finally says bobbing his head up and down. "I know you're trying. You're in the FBI. You're the best of the best." He turns to me and gives a small smile. It isn't much, but it's real. That's all I need.

"Thanks. It's a hard job, but we get things done. Don't worry. After I see the body today, I'm sure we'll have enough information to figure out the unsub soon enough." I smile, and he returns it. Then, his face drops again.

"Wait. How did you know the girl died if the, uh, unsub was supposed to send us a note?" Ashton furrows his brow.

I cringe. "Oh shit." I pick up my phone and frantically call Hotch. I know he's awake, anyway. He picks up on the third ring. "Hotch," I say not waiting for the initial greeting. "How did you find the fourth victim? The one I'm seeing with Morgan later."

There's a slight pause, and I know he's thinking about it. "A letter was delivered to the station. We're trying to get security footage, and it should be in by nine."

I swallow. "What does the note say?"

There's another pause. "It isn't pretty. You might want to come in here and see it yourself."

- - -

this is a really crappy short filler holy shat i apologize its soOOooOOOo bad. i just needed an update and well i didnt wanna just segway into the next part of her casually rolling up to the crime scene

also sad ashton makes my heart hurt but it adds so much to his character

so please enjoy and tbh i dont blame you if you hate it bc it truely does suck but ill update tomorrow with hannah and morgan at the crime scene and the note and itll be a big and awesome chapter and yay :)

hope you all are having a great new year so far :)

- lauren xx