𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐌𝐄 ━━ Aaron Hotchner

iii. hallucinations

     "What is it?" Haley questioned, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head lightly.

     "N-Nothing," he answered rather quickly. In all honesty, he didn't know what the hell that was. Evangeline's sweet voice kept repeating over and over in his mind, 'you can't deny your feelings for me.' Hotch shook his head once more, "It's nothing." It sounded as if he was trying to convince himself. "I'm sorry, honey. It's been a long day," he said, leaning over and placing a quick kiss to his wife's lips, "I'll see you upstairs." With that, he left a confused Haley sitting alone on the couch.

▬▬▬

     The sound of the phone ringing stirred Evangeline out of her sleep. Groaning softly, she grabbed her phone and answered groggily, "This is Vrubel."

     "—Agent Vrubel," A man's raspy voice said from the other side, "don't waste time on the first victims. They were unrepented bad men." Evangeline opened her eyes slightly, furrowing her eyebrows as he continued speaking, "She's the important one. Remember, everything starts at the beginning."

     "Who is this?" She asked, slowly sitting up in her bed.

     "There won't be much time," he told her, "The youngest holds the key. You must help him save her." With that, the mystery man hung up, leaving Evangeline bewildered.

━ meanwhile, at the Hotchner's!

     Hotch heard the phone ringing, but he was too tired to acknowledge it. Haley repeatedly tapped on his chest with the palm of her hand, silently telling him to pick it up. He reached over and grabbed the phone, sighing softly as he answered it, "Hotchner." The mystery man had told him the exact same thing, leaving him just as confused as Evangeline.

     "What's going on?" Haley questioned, yawning softly whilst trailing her fingers across his chest.

     Hotch's eyebrows knitted together, "I don't know."

▬▬▬

     Evangeline walked next to JJ and up towards Hotch, Elle, and Morgan. Hotch seemed to slightly tense up as she took her place next to him. "Frank Giles left Jamaica last night on the red eye," JJ informed them, "He flew to Florida, then got onto another flight to Virginia."

     "Virginia? You mean that son of a bitch is from here?" Elle asked.

     "I don't know if he's from here, but this is where he flew to. Arlington. He's got a long criminal record. Manslaughter, robbery, rape."

     "What about the victim, Marty Harris?" Morgan questioned.

     "Uh," JJ started as she looked through the file, "he's a two-time convicted fetish burglar, registered child sex offender."

     "—And we have his head," Gideon said, walking up beside Evangeline and joining the conversation, "CSU just positively identified the one delivered to my cabin."

     Hotch glanced down towards the notebook he held in his hand, and read aloud, "Don't waste time on the first victims. They were unrepentant bad men. They only got what they deserved." Evangeline instantly perked up at this, recognizing those exact words she had heard from that mysterious man.

     "What is that?" Gideon asked.

     "—Uh, a phone call," Evangeline spoke up, causing Hotch to turn in her direction, "I got a call last night from someone who said those exact words." Hotch's eyebrows creased slightly as he met her gaze. He wondered why she had gotten the same phone call as him, but the sight of her blue eyes completely clouded his thoughts—taking him right back to the hallucination he had the night before. Gulping lightly, he removed his eyes from her—though, he found the task quite difficult.