ɪᴍᴍᴏʀᴀʟ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀɪᴛʏ || aaron hotchner

THREE - yesterday

He was silent for a while before he turned to look at Gianna.

"Happy?"

Gianna returned a smug look to him. She had won.

"Very."

She noticed how a slight sarcastic smile was teasing at the ends of his lips. It was very small and almost unintelligible, but she could sense that it was there. Hotch rolled his eyes with sarcasm before he turned to look back at the road.

She looked to his hands on the steering wheel. She noticed how there was a slight tan line around his ring finger... he had been married. She didn't want to pry... but she was suddenly very curious about his life. But she wasn't going to ask about it. Even Gianna respected boundaries.

"I grew up in Hampton for the first 14 years of my life,"

Gianna began, fiddling with her shirt buttons.

"And then when my mother died, Dave took me in. At the time I was living with him, he wasn't working for the BAU, so he had time to be a full time dad."

Gianna didn't look over to Hotch, because she knew he wouldn't be looking over to her. Although she could feel that he was listening.

"My dad was never around, so Dave practically raised me from day one."

Gianna continued to play with her shirt buttons.

"He's what got me into profiling."

Hotch ever so slightly nodded his head to indicate that he was, in face, listening.

"Dave's a good man."

That's all Hotch said for the rest of the car ride. Gianna wanted to crawl out of her body because of the long silence, but she knew talking to him would only make it worse. Something inside of her was proud about making her boss open up to her, even if it was barely anything. It was a small victory, but she knew she would win him over in the end.

﹝•••﹞

"COD was asphyxiation."

Gianna and Hotch arrived at the morgue without another word to each other. They simply went in and met the coroner, who showed them the body. Gianna had only seen a few dead bodies in her time at the FBI, but she still wasn't comfortable with it yet. The idea that the body on the table was once a person who walked and talked just like them make Gianna want to ralph all over the cold, tile floor.

"What was she suffocated with?"

Hotch spoke with his hands down by his side.

"Looks to be a pillow or some other soft object. There were no marks around her face to indicate a hand. In addition, there was no bruising around her neck to indicate choking of any kind."

Gianna thought for a moment.

"How long had she been dead before the body was found?"

"Only about twenty minutes."

Gianna turned to Hotch.

"The unsub must live on the mountain somewhere. After the body was found, police did a full canvas of the mountain from the base up and found no cars, no shuttle buses, nothing. Everyone was at home asleep."

Hotch bit the inside of his cheek.

"What makes you think that?"

Gianna huffed.

"You saw that mountain. There is no way someone could kill a girl, place the body, and get down to the main city in less that twenty minutes. It took us thirty minutes to get down here without even moving a body." 

Hotch stayed silent, seemingly processing Gianna's information. But she wasn't done.

"And when the police canvassed the whole mountain, they looked for strange men walking alone, seemingly in despair. They wouldn't have thought twice about a resident who lives on the mountain. Especially if that resident was a woman."

This made Hotch perk up in frustration. 

'Here we go again...'

"Can you give us a minute?"

Hotch spoke calmly to the coroner, who shook his head and exited the room swiftly.

"I told you to drop this."

Gianna looked at him pleadingly.

"Are you serious? Look at the evidence. Everything in this case points towards the unsub being a woman. Why don't you believe me?"

Hotch didn't answer. Gianna wanted to scream- to slap him, or even run away and ransack this entire place. But she needed to be civil and respectful.

"You have to trust that I am here to solve this case and get justice for these families. I'm not here to play games. These girls lives are not a joke to me. Please- treat me like I'm any other member of the team and listen to what I have to say, Agent Hotchner."

Hotch looked at her, seemingly holding back immense anger. But before he could lash out, he took a deep breath and cooled himself down. Did... did he actually listen?

"Okay."

Hotch bit the inside of his cheek.

"Let's look at this from a woman's perspective, then. Why would I kill a young girl if I saw her as my daughter? And why pose her with remorse?"

"Because she showed a sign of illness or some sort of defect. The woman's delusion made it seem like these girls were in pain, so she wanted to put them of their misery. Hence the remorse, lack of sexual assault, and the absence of violent behavior."

Hotch nodded, taking in Gianna's theory.

"And you're willing to take the fall if it turns out wrong?"

"Yes."

With that, Hotch simply huffed and turned back to Gianna.

"Then I think we need to call the team."

﹝•••﹞

A/N:

yuhhh hey everyone! i hope yall like this chapter. it was a lil boring, but trust me, it will get more spicy in the future. by the way, ive actually been to stratton and its an AMAZING place. you should def look up pictures of it ;)

ty all so much for reading!

- goobstan <3