─── RUNAWAY
CHAPTER TWO...!
❝ SEASON ONE , EPISODE TWO ❞
THE TEEN GIRL sat on a stool across from Spencer, as the two were seated near his desk, playing chess.
"And─ check." Jennie moved a black piece, a proud smile formed on her lips, "Checkmate in three whole moves."
Spencer looked down at the board, his eyes widening, and his eyebrows furrowing with confusion, "What?!"
Derek Morgan was seated at his own desk, watching the two play in amusement, before teasing his colleague, "You know, you'll beat her when you start learning."
"Learning what?"
"To think outside the box." The man replied, a playful smirk creeping up on his lips as he extended his hand to high-five Jennie, which she gladly did.
The girl laughed, before turning back to Spencer, "Another round?"
Before the man could answer, a woman walked into the room, "Question for you."
"Shoot."
"The Footpath Killer─ why did he stutter?" The woman asked, walking over to the desk in front of Spencer and Jennie, leaning against it.
"Come on, Elle, we've all asked him, and he won't say." Derek leaned in his chair, referring to Gideon.
Jennie looked at the group, before looking back at the chess board, moving a piece while furrowing her eyebrows "You guys haven't figured that out yet?"
"Wh─ you know?" Spencer asked, his tone shocked.
Elle cocked her head towards Jennie, giving Derek a confused look. The man then spoke, introducing the two "Elle, this is Jennie, Hotch's daughter. JenJen, this is Elle Greenaway. She just joined the BAU."
Jennie gave the woman a wave, accompanied by a soft smile. Elle returned the smile, but it was quickly washed over with a questioning look, "Wait, so you know why they have a stutter? Why is it?"
"Agent Gideon told me not to tell anyone. He said he wants you guys to figure it out." Jennie told the group, moving another chess piece, "I'm surprise you guys haven't done so, yet. It only took me a night."
"Okay, smartie-pants, not all of us have Hotch as our dad." Derek remarked, throwing a crumpled piece of paper towards the girl.
"Well, fine. He wants us to figure it out on our own? I'm up for a challenge." Elle spoke confidently, shrugging her shoulders.
"Good. Because these go to you." JJ walked up to the group, a stack of files in her hands. As she placed them down on Elle's desk, she extended out her hand "Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. JJ, if you'd like."
"Elle." The brunette shook JJ's hands.
"Greenaway." Jennifer nodded, a smile on her lips, "Highest number of solved cases in Seattle, three years running. Speciality in sex offender cases."
Elle looked at Jennie, her eyes widening, impressed "Not bad."
"Well, Im the unit liaison." JJ began walking off, talking over her shoulder, "My speciality is untangling bureaucratic knots. You'll probably be talking to me a lot. My door is always open, mostly because I'm never in my office. So, just call me on my cell, okay? We'll talk."
As the blonde walked towards Hotch's office, Elle's eyes widened. The room was silent for a moment, before Jennie moved a peace on the chess board, then cheering "Checkmate!"
Spencer's eyes widened once more, his face written in shock as he looked down at the board, "How?!"
Jennie could them hear her father come out of his office, as JJ asked him "Did you watch it?
"Yeah, I think everybody should see it." Aaron told the blonde, beginning to make his way to the conference room, while speaking over the railing "BAU team, can you meet me in the conference room, please? I need to show you something."
As everyone got up from their seats, Aaron moved his eyes to his daughter, "Jennie, honey, buy yourself some lunch from that shack down the street. Pick me up a sandwich too, please."
The man took his wallet out of his pocket, throwing it to his daughter. Jennie caught the wallet, sighing as she stood from the chair she had been sitting in.
Derek let out a faint chuckle, ruffling the girl's hair before following the rest of the team into the conference room. And with that, Jennie left the building, and walked down to the food shack.
───
WHEN THE case was solved, Hotch sat at his seat on the plane, looking out of the window, emotionless.
That was when Gideon had sat across from him, reading his face like a book, before speaking "Thinking about her, again?"
Aaron's eyes adverted to Jason, noticing his presence, his voice low as he spoke "Yeah."
The man's eyes went back to outside the window, while Gideon only continued staring at him, "She's a good kid, you know."
"Not good." Hotchner shook his head, a small smile forming on his lips, "Perfect. She's perfect. Don't know how I managed to pull that off."
Gideon's lips formed into a small, compassionate smile, slightly motioning his head to side in wonder "Then what is it? What are you thinking about."
Aaron remained silent, a slight shake of his head. However, that was enough for Gideon to analyze in his mind what was happening.
The older man let out a small sigh, "Maya Gonzales."
The father turned his head to Gideon, but still remained silent.
That was when the older man continued, "Jennie's biological mother. You two were attached to the hip. But, when you decided to propose to her, that's when things began to take a turn.
Aaron couldn't help but tense up in his seat, avoiding eye contact with the man by looking out the window.
Gideon's eyes, however, remained on Aaron, "That was until she told you she was pregnant with Jennie. And soon enough, everything felt like it was all becoming good again. The yelling stopped, the fighting decreased. Everything was good. But there was something off about Maya. And you knew that. She knew that."
Aaron let out a sigh when Gideon stopped to let the man process everything, before continuing, "And then, one day, you come home from work. And all you want to do is to see your daughter. Because she makes everything better."
Aaron and Gideon shared a faint laugh, before he continued once again, "But, you look into her room, and you can't find her. You look around the house, you can't find her. You look outside, can't find her. But then, that's when your eyes moved to the car. Backseat, windows rolled up, car turned off. And there Jennie was. Sitting there."
Gideon continued, "She left your little girl in her hot car for six hours. And that's when you knew that Maya Gonzales betrayed your daughter."
Aaron shifted in his seat slightly, as Gideon spoke, "On the case today─ when you saw those kids be betrayed by their own friend, all you could think about was Jennie. How she was betrayed by the person you thought she could trust the most."
Gideon stared at the man for an extended moment. He then leaned closer to his colleague, "It's okay to feel, sometimes, Hotchner. It's okay to have emotion. It makes you human. It makes you─ a dad."
With that, Aaron let out a small, faint chuckle, muttering with a nod, "Thank you."
And after that, the two men sat in a comfortable silence for the remainder of the flight, grateful that Jennie Hotchner was happy, healthy, and alive.
───
THE team had finally made it back home, walking into the BAU building, exhausted.
Aaron had followed Gideon into his office to continue talking about old cases, when they met the face of Jennie Hotchner, fast asleep on Gideon's office's couch.
It wouldn't be the first time Jennie had done so. According to her, Jason Gideon's office held the comfiest couch out of every couch in the building.
The two shared a laugh, as Gideon placed his briefcase on his desk, and Aaron went to his daughter's side. Beside her head, he saw a couple school worksheets. He held them up, a small smile on his lips, showing them to Gideon.
"She's a hard worker." Gideon commented, picking up a textbook that was also beside her head, " 'Criminal Masterminds'? Classic."
"I got her that for Christmas last year." Hotch laughed out, shaking his head, as he gathered all of the worksheets Jennie had beside her, placing them into a folder.
"Got to start them early." Gideon nodded, handing the book to Aaron, before walking back to behind his desk.
The father had then shook Jennie awake, causing her to groan. After a few minutes, the two were finally ready to head home.
As Aaron walked out of the office, Jennie began following him. Before walking out, however, Jennie looked back at Gideon, speaking the words she wanted to say ever since the team left for the case, "You saw him, the other day, didn't you?"
Gideon looked up from his desk, "I'm sorry?"
"The Footpath Killer?" Jennie spoke, watching Gideon's expression fall, "Whenever you go to the gas station, you usually buy that one, old chocolate bar so we can share it. This morning, you came with no bar. Instead, you came with the same outfit you wore yesterday. And your shoulders tightened when I asked you if you saw him. Not to mention, the profile said something about a menial job. Convenience store cashier seems pretty menial to me."
Gideon widened his eyes, impressed at the information Jennie had gathered, "Not bad."
Jennie gave him a smile, swinging her backpack over her shoulder, "Don't worry, Agent Gideon. Your secret's safe with me."
Before Gideon could say anything, Aaron came back into the room, narrowing his eyes at his daughter, "You coming, kiddo?"
Jennie turned to her father, giving him a nod. Before leaving, she looked back at Gideon, running her index finger and thumb around her mouth, representing her zipping her mouth shut.
And with that, Jennie Hotchner left the room, and headed home with her father.
AUTHOR'S NOTE. |
not really the biggest fan on how this turned out, but it's fine 🙏🙏 also jennie hotchner is what 14-year-old me wished she could be tbh
thank you so much for reading!! hope you enjoyed <33
𝗐𝗈𝗋𝖽 𝖼𝗈𝗎𝗇𝗍.
1708.