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𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞
"CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR DAY BEFORE YOU RECEIVED THAT PHONE CALL?"
A heavy sigh echoes over the faint beeping of heart monitors, and the woman lets it out shakily. "It was a normal day. Jack, he was in daycare before everything started, but they decided it was safer to keep him out for now. At least until,"
She stops, looking down at her nail beds she'd picked to pieces in her anxiety-ridden state.
"Take your time, Doctor."
"Right," Jane cleared her throat, giving a forced smile to the woman beside her hospital bed. "Like I said, it was a normal day. Haley and I were on our way to our supervised park visit with Jack when she got the phone call,"
When the phone rang, Jane instinctively tensed. For the past two months, every time the phone rang she expected news that either Foyet had been caught, or that they had to move locations again and stay away longer.
When Haley answered with a shaky echo of the U.S. Marshall's name, that fear only solidified, cementing in her chest.
Haley turned to look at Jane, worry shining in her eyes, and Jane instinctively bent down and picked up Jack, swinging him over her hip with what she hoped was a soothing smile for the boy as they abruptly stopped their walk.
"What?" Haley reaches for Jack, her pale hand trembling as he wraps his tiny hand around her fingers. "Yes,"
Jane's brows furrow deeper on her forehead and she steps closer to Haley, nudging them out of the middle of the sidewalk slightly. "Haley? What is it?"
She shakes her head, gesturing to the phone as the person on the other line speaks. Sudden horror flickers across her face and she visibly contains her reaction, making Jane's stomach flip with nausea.
"Oh, god," She breathes, eyes flickering to Jane's prodding gaze. "Aaron."
Jane's hands tightened around Jack's frame on her hip, and he grunted, pushing her off slightly. She forced herself to relax, muttering a quiet apology to him as she bit down on her tongue hard enough to taste copper in the back of her throat.
"Okay," Haley nodded, swallowing harshly around the lump in her throat. "Are you– are you sure Aaron is– are you sure?"
There was a moment's pause before Haley flipped the phone shut and let out a shaky breath, turning to chuck the cell into the trash can beside them. She turned and faced Jane, forcing a quivering smile for her curious son. "Something's happening. We need to go, now."
"We, um, we left after she ditched the cell phone," Jane fumbled with her IV, fidgeting nervously with anything she could get her hands on.
She swallowed roughly, squeezing her eyes shut as she willed her beeping pulse to calm. "We took a cab back to our house– the– the one we all lived in before the divorce. I was going to go back to the safe house I'd been put in, but Haley was rattled and she couldn't handle Jack alone thinking that– that Hotch was dead. She asked me to come with her, because she couldn't keep it together."
