Finding the Sun

Chapter 9

Either way, they had been in the mall for hours at this point, and they were all getting tired. Aster probably had enough room decorations at this point to decorate the whole house, although that was mostly Penelope's influence over things, she had been texting Hotch photos all afternoon.

At this point, Jessica noticed how lost in thought both Aaron and Aster were, so she decided to interfere. "Hey. is everybody ready to go? It's getting pretty late."

"Oh my gosh, finally." Jack dragged out the last word, already tugging on his fathers arm, trying to drag him to the exit.

"Hang on, buddy," said Aaron. "Are you ready to go Aster?"

"Yes, please. I feel like I've run a marathon" she replied happily.

...

A few hours later, Aster was completely exhausted. Her walls were decorated with polaroid style pictures of her and her friends. Her bedspread, newly out of the packaging, was a simple deep purple colour. It matched the different accent pillows and decorations scattered around the room.

The two of them had just finished setting up a bookshelf for her, which sat horizontally on her wall, a 2 by 4 grid of squares. It currently sat devoid of books, Asters collection still in transit from Camp.

Aster didn't realize how much work getting her room put together would be, but she couldn't be happier. Sure, she loved her cabin at camp. She had it all to herself, so she was able to decorate it however she wanted. But similarly to the Hades cabin, it was dark and moody and just felt like the people who built it assumed whoever would live in it would be a disney villain.

Just as Aster was about to belly flop onto her newly made bed, her phone rang.

"Hey babe!" came the voice on the other end.

"Hi Leo, what's up?" Aster replied, eyeing Aaron who stood awkwardly near the door, not sure if he should leave and give her privacy or not. Aster shrugged, letting him know that she didn't mind if he stayed.

"Nothing new with me, and you know that's not why I'm calling. Is it late over there? Probably, okay I'll keep it quick. How's everything over there? Are you settling in well? Need me to come over and burn his house down?"

Aster laughed at her boyfriend's joke, although she was sure he would be actually willing to do it if she said she wasn't A-okay. "Everything is fine Admiral. No need to call in the troops." She glanced over at Aaron, who had decided to stay and was currently inspecting the bookshelf they had just put together, as if he wasn't listening to every word she said. "I actually just finished decorating my room. I think you'd like it, it's pretty. You can relay that to everybody else too, if they're not all already listening in to this conversation. I'm doing great, I think I'm really going to like it here, and no, he isn't a psycho."

Aaron looked up at that, raising his eyebrows. Aster just smiled at him.

"Well that's good to hear. I don't know if you can hear her, don't know how you couldn't because she is right in my ear- seriously Piper lay off- but Piper wants to see the room so IM when you can." Aster laughed aloud again at this.

"I'll try my best. I miss you guys a lot already."

"We miss you too, Ash. Visit soon, okay?" Leo told her. Aster could hear in his voice that he was less upbeat than usual, she guessed that the stress of being a cabin leader was taking a toll on him. Not only that, but they had just been reunited after the whole dying and coming back to life thing. Both Aster and Leo hadn't thought they would be this far apart so soon.

"I will, I promise. I love you." Aster whispered the last part into the phone, slightly embarrassed. "I love you too, Aster. I'll call you again soon so you can give me a proper update, with all the details." he replied. Aster smiled as she hung up the phone.

She looked over to her father, "That was Leo, he was just checking up on me."

"Ah. How is he?" Truthfully, Aaron wasn't particularly interested in how he was, but he was interested in delaying the conversation he was sticking around for.

"He's doing okay, I guess. He's been busy, which is good." Aster didn't elaborate any further.

She watched as Aaron sighed, and walked to the side of the bed she was currently sitting on, her back against the headboard and legs spread out before her. She scooched over and patted the spot next to her, an invitation.

He sat facing her and gave her a brief smile. "Before I say goodnight, I was wondering if I could ask you a question." Aaron said.

Oh gods, thought Aster. Here we go. "Uh, sure." she said instead.

"I know you just got here, and are just settling in. But this past couple of days must have been very hard for you. These past couple of years, even." He was referring, of course, to the fact that Aster had lived with Shauna Fitzgibbons, a mother so abusive she drove her son to murder. He could only imagine what life must have been like for Aster in that house. "I was hoping, if you feel like it is something that would be good for you, you would consider talking to someone. Professionally."

This was not what Aster had been expecting. A lot of adults in her life always seemed to think that they were entitled to know about her trauma. Foster parents, social workers, even police. They saw a troubled kid and assumed that they would want to unload all of their problems onto the first adult that gave them a smile. Some seemed actually shocked when Aster didn't.

She supposed that Aaron, having seen a lot of traumatized kids in his career, and experiencing his fair share of trauma himself, would know better.

"Like... therapy?" She questioned, perhaps a little unnecessarily.

"Yes. I'm not going to force you to go anywhere Aster, not unless I think it's absolutely necessary, but I think it could be good. I hope you know that you can talk to me about anything, but I also know it is a lot to ask of you." Aaron knew that she wasn't going to divulge her every secret to him, that trust was going to take awhile to build.

Aster was looking down at her hands, which were fiddling mindlessly in her lap. She never really thought about going to a therapist, especially a mortal one. If she was being honest, it wasn't Shauna Fitzgibbons that haunted her nightmares, it was her own mother. Not that she could tell him that.

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course Aster, take your time." He looked away then, and slowly stood up. "It's been a very long day, I think we both need some sleep. Goodnight Aster."

"Night, Aaron. See you tomorrow."

This is unedited as of now, I apologize for any mistakes <3