Undercover Lovers |Aaron Hotchner|

Chapter Nine: Recovery

Everything was cancelled for a few days because of Craig. No one left their houses for any reason, but everyone checked up on each other. Julie, Claire, most of Hotch's coworkers, some of the women from the country club, and even random neighbors called to make sure we were alright.

Hotch insisted on pretending like nothing happened because we both knew that that would piss Craig off even more. We wanted him to come back to try to finish us off. Well, that's what he wanted. I wanted someone else— like the so far worthless cops who were supposed to protect the community— to catch him instead of us. I worried about Hotch's leg, even though it was pretty much completely healed after a few days.

"It's just a skin wound and look how much better it's gotten. You don't have to take care of me." He reminded me. He'd said it dozens of times since the day it happened.

"I care about you, so I'm gonna take care of you." I pushed. "There's nothing you can say to stop me."

"No, but there's something I can do." He smirked and pulled me up to his lips. He was quite a bit taller than me, but we always angled ourselves perfectly so it wasn't awkward. It wasn't me, it was all him— he was just naturally perfect.

I pulled back and walked away to answer weak knock at the door that I so badly wanted to ignore. Hotch was just a step behind me the whole way. I opened the door without looking at who it was and was shocked when our eyes met.

"Melissa? Hi, uh, come on inside." I said, sidestepping out of her way. She moved slowly toward the couch, which was to be expected. Half of her body and most of her face was covered in gauze, tape, and bandages. "When did you get out of the hospital? How are you feeling?"

"I heard about everything that happened and- and everything he did, and I can't begin to express how sorry I am." She said in a hoarse voice.

"You have no reason to be sorry." I shook my head. "His actions shouldn't be deflected onto you, and you had no way of knowing anything would happen."

"There were warning signs, Olivia, and I ignored them because I was too scared to do anything about it."

"You can't blame yourself for being afraid; it's only human."

"Things from your house would suddenly appear in ours, including your clothes. He would make me dress up as you, so I knew it was only a matter of time..." She trailed off. "He killed Hannah and buried her in your clothes."

"Han- he killed Hannah? Hannah's dead?" I asked. My throat felt tight and my stomach did a flip.

"Yes. I know I can't face Paul or anyone else, so I'm leaving. I set up an apartment in the city and I'll call you in a few days to see if he's shown up yet. God, I hope he doesn't."

"Are you sure that's the best idea? Should you be driving?"

"I can't stay here." She shook her head and started to get up. Hotch helped her when she began to lose her balance, but she pulled as far away from him as she could. I gave him a look for him to stay back and escorted her out. She looked closely at my eyes before getting in her car. I pet her dog one last time, wished them both luck, and watched her drive off.

It wasn't surprising to see her flinch from physical contact, but it didn't make it any easier to watch. It seemed like she and Craig loved each other all the time I knew them, so I had to wonder what happened. She wasn't going to report what he did and she wasn't seeing anyone else, so there was no reason for him to try to hurt her— not that there was ever any excuse. I walked back to the house and collapsed in Hotch's arms.

"Hannah's dead and now Melissa-" I cut myself off when my voice cracked. Tears threatened to spill over and I didn't stop them.

"It's terrible what happened. Melissa will be okay, Craig will be caught, Hannah will get justice, and Paul will get closure." He assured me. "It'll be okay."