SSA Aaron Hotchner walked into the New York City precinct, Jennifer Jareau at his side, her hand already outstretched to Captain Miller.
"Agent Jareau, thank you so much for coming."
"Of course. Hotch, this is Captain Miller. Captain Miller, this is SSA Aaron Hotchner, Agents Prentiss and Rossi. The rest of the team is already at the morgue."
"Again, I really appreciate you guys coming out. I have my best detectives on this case, but still, we're a little out of depth here." She brought the team over to a conference room, where a white board and all the existing case files were already waiting. The team got to work immediately, beginning to pin the pictures of the victims up on the board.
...
Two hours earlier
"Alright my lovelies!" Penelope began, possibly the only woman who could be this bubbly in the face of numerous grisly murders. "Five hours ago, Maria and Patrick Williams became the latest victims in a recent string of murders in The Big Apple, New York City. They were just discovered by their 16 year old daughter Aster Carr. Poor baby."
"Five couples in 3 weeks? Not much of a cooling down period." said Prentiss.
"No, but look at victimology. All white, middle class, straight couples. But most importantly, all foster parents." Dr. Reid interjected, already forming a hundred possible theories.
"So, Aster Carr was the foster daughter?"
"Looks like it. How long was she with the Williams?"
"That's where this gets interesting. Aster Carr was only with them for 3 months. In fact, all of the kids had only been in the care of these families for 2-4 months, and all of the kids are within a year of each other in age. Oh and get this! The bodies of the victims were all discovered by the foster kids in question. Coincidence? I think not!"
"You're right Garcia, definitely not a coincidence." It was Rossi this time, thinking what most of the team already was. It looked textbook, a former foster kid, replacing the true target of his anger with whomever else he could find that fit until he worked up the courage to go after his true target.
"It's clear this guy has a type, and he doesn't look like he's slowing down. We need to talk to these kids asap, try to find as many connections as we can." Morgan was the last to speak, the rest of the team looking to their boss for confirmation. Agent Hotchner looked up. "Wheels up in 20."
...
Present
"The bodies didn't tell us anything new. Classic overkill, this guy obviously has a lot of rage." Moran and Reid had just gotten back from the morgue, joining everybody back at the precinct. The team had gotten there pretty late, but wanted to get started on interviews as soon as they could.
"Wasn't that Aster Carr that we saw leaving?" Prentiss asked Captain Miller. "Do you think she's still around? We need to ask her some questions."
Captain Miller looked at her, but shook her head. "The poor girl was here for hours. We took her statement, she found them at 8:15 pm, after getting home from a date with her boyfriend Leo Valdez. We checked him out too, another foster care kid, but nothing suspicious. She didn't notice anything weird this past week, and can't think of anyone who would want to hurt them."
Captain Miller walked around the table to look at the faces of the foster kids the team had pinned to white board. "She said basically the same as all the other kids. She didn't know her foster parents that well, they were distant but not cruel. Nothing stood out."
"We understand that, but we still need to talk to her. However, I agree that it can wait until she's slept. Have all the kids found other placements or relatives to stay with?" Hotch couldn't afford to piss off the officers that invited his team to help, but he also knew how important it was to move quickly. If none of the foster kids reported the severe abuse the unsub had almost definitely experienced, then the unsub could be picking the couples based solely around the kids age or amount of time spent in the home. "Most of the kids have temporary placements, but Ms. Carr is staying with a friend until further notice. I've got Officer Davis on it, he thinks he's found her birth father. He was named on her birth certificate, but as far as we can tell never even knew about her. Oh, speak of the devil."
Officer Davis appeared in the doorway, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else. He shifted on his feet, eyes zeroing in on Agent Hotchner. The officer had found out with a few quick google searches exactly who Aaron Hotcher was upon seeing his name on Aster Carr's birth certificate, and decided the least he could do was tell the man in person. Sure, it wasn't exactly ideal circumstances to meet your long lost daughter under, but he was sure the man had had it worse. Now however, looking at the man glowering at him like he'd just kicked a puppy, Officer Davis was regretting his decision.
"Excuse me... would it be possible to speak to Agent Hotchner privately for a moment?"
...
He was frozen. He'd been staring at the paper in his hands for at least a few minutes. Staring at his name, written in an elegant cursive, signed neatly next to the name Astraea Carr. Presumably the mother of his daughter.
His daughter, Aster, that until five minutes ago was just the name of another child among countless whose lives he'd seen ruined.
"Agent Hotchner?" It was Officer Davis who got his attention again. Aaron looked up. "Where is she now? Does she know?" Hotch asked.
"No, I didn't even realize until after you got here. I uh, I have to ask. Did you know about her?"
Hotch looked at him sharply. He absolutely did not have to ask him that. Neither was it any of his business. But still. "No," came the reply, "but she knew that you were in contact with him? With me? She was.. okay?"
Officer Davis picked up on Agent Hotchner's hint. He wanted to know if his daughter would want to meet him. "Oh, yea, I let her know. Told her we didn't know how long it would take him to get here, or if he would, so we let her take off. She'll be back tomorrow. She uh, she seemed hopeful. About meeting you.
"Well then I appreciate your discretion, Officer." Agent Hotchner spoke pointedly. "She still needs to be interviewed by my team. I think it would be best for her to find out after the fact, she must be overwhelmed enough as it is."
"Yes sir. I'll find you again tomorrow then, let you know what time she'll be coming in." Davis could take the hint, the man needed some time alone. He gave the older agent a nod, and walked away.
Aaron Hotchner should have been confused. He never in a million years would have guessed this happening. When Hotch had been handed the unassuming looking piece of paper, Officer Davis brought up a paternity test, as was protocol. Most men, upon hearing about a child they didn't know existed, would have called for one immediately, if only to be sure. And Aaron almost agreed, and still might, but something was stopping him.
A vague memory of a drunken night, 16 years ago. He and Hayley had been on a break, long before they had been married. He was out with friends, and probably shouldn't have let them put so many drinks in his hand. He spotted a woman alone at the bar, observing the happenings around her as if she would rather have been anywhere else. She looked out of place enough to be noticeable, but haughty enough that no one was going to say anything to her about it. Except for him.
She was beautiful, that was for sure. Obsidian black eyes, equally dark hair, and a face that no matter how hard you stared at it, wouldn't have any hope of describing accurately. She was mysterious. Aaron was intrigued. So he approached, he flirted. He could tell that he hadn't been the first man to be shot down that night, but he was the first to not cause a scene about it. Drunk as he was, he wished her a good night, and began to walk away.
He was different. Nyx was intrigued. Mortals were all the same in her mind, especially the men. But she had been bored, and was looking for something fun to do, and thought it was time to get out of the house. But that man, who she could tell was so much more wretched and miserable than he let on, was at least a little interesting. For a mortal. Why not, she figured, it certainly has been awhile.
And so she let him take her back to his pathetic mortal home, and admittedly had a better night than she would have had alone. And some time later, Nyx didn't know how long, time was never much of a thing for immortals, she had a demigod child in her arms. She named it, she knew enough about mortals to know that was important. She could have found the mortal man easily, but she didn't really care to. She had a distaste for them, mortals, and that included the child now in her arms. Aster Carr was handed over to some minion of hers, brought to the mortal world, and dropped off on the steps of some firehouse, the only thing with her was a birth certificate and a finer blanket than any baby had a right to be swaddled in. The firemen looked for the woman on the certificate, but it was like Astraea Carr had never even existed.
Aaron remembered this woman, who had introduced herself as Astraea to him, in the same tone of voice a queen would use to address a court jester. He remembered the night they shared, and remembered that she was gone without a trace by the time he woke up the next morning. He knew logically that Aster could be someone else's. Perhaps Astraea had panicked when she found out about the baby and didn't know who else to put down. It was possible. But when Aaron looked at Aster's picture up next to the other victim's families, he knew. She had nothing of her mother. Perhaps superficially, sure. But the dark eyes held a depth of emotion he was sure Astraea's never did, even from the short time he knew her.
The longer he stared, the more he was sure. She and Jack even had the same nose. But Aaron had a job to do, and more people would die if he got distracted. He knew he wasn't going to leave his daughter, that much he was sure of. If he had been given a chance to, he would have happily raised her. Well, maybe not happily at first, but he wouldn't let his daughter go back into the system. End of tomorrow, he thought, she'll know by the end of tomorrow.