The envelope
Aaron cheated on his girlfriend with her own daughter. How awful and exciting.
Minutes before Stella hopped on the plane back to California, Allison hugged her so tight, telling her how proud she was. Her mom has never said those words before. And Stella felt so guilty when her mother also said: "I know I don't tell you this often but I love you so much".
What have I done she kept repeating to herself on the plane.
She fucked her mom's boyfriend and didn't say anything to her. She hugged her back, how cynical and what a horrible thing to do.
But Stella couldn't stop relieving the night before, and her stomach tickled every time. She had real feelings for Aaron and although what she did to her mother was terrible, she didn't regret it. Not one bit.
In Aaron's case, he didn't talk to Allison the entire day after his encounter with Stella, responding to her messages in monosyllabic words and making the only phone call 30 seconds long. He was ashamed.
That night in the kitchen neither said a word to each other and stayed quiet while they both adjusted their clothes back on, but their eyes said it all.
It was their secret.
After they did it for the second time on the living room and a third time in Stella's room, she stayed there, locking her door hiding while Aaron cleaned every kitchen counter surface with some wipes he found under the sink, like he was getting rid of the evidence.
As he cleaned he doubted whether to stay and pretend that nothing happened, or make an excuse and leave before Allison came back.
What Aaron had with Stella was the best and most exhilarating sex he's ever had. And he couldn't get the woman he fucked three times in one night out of his head. Her inked body, her beautiful moans, her eyes, her exquisite lips. Everything about Stella made him lose it.
He came to the realization he wasn't ready to face Allison so he left that night like the coward he was, texting her "I got called too, we have a case, I'm sorry", which was a lie in the beginning but ended up actually happening.
"What's up with you, you've been distracted," Rossi asked while they were on the jet on their way back from the case, two days later.
Aaron had zoned out thinking about her.
"Uh, nothing," he responded, standing up to go to the bathroom, subtly adjusting his pants that were a little too tight on his crotch area.
He couldn't even look at his reflection. He felt embarrassed, and even when it was a mutual decision, he felt like he took advantage of her. But he hadn't stopped thinking about her.
When the team arrived at the BAU, Aaron went straight to his office just to grab his laptop and a few files. But something else caught his attention. There was a big red envelope on his desk with the note: To Aaron Hotchner. He sat in his chair and unwrapped the string around the button that was extremely tight.
Taking out everything from it, he saw at least fifteen pictures of him and Stella, from the night in the kitchen and from the weekend at the lake cabin.
He swallowed nervously as his heart rate increased.
What the hell.
He got up to look around outside his office and then closed the door and blinds. He was screwed.
He checked the pictures one by one. Some of them were taken very close. Whoever took them had a professional camera and clearly has been stalking them.
The photos didn't have any message written on them but he found a letter at the end of the envelope.
"Dear Aaron,
I thought you were better than this. You disappointed me and for that I am compelled to punish you. If you don't confess to Allison what you did to her, there will be blood spilled. And it's not going to be yours. You have until Wednesday to tell her. That's all I want, for you to be single. You were almost mine, love, but that whore appeared and ruined everything.
I will know if you confess or not, do not even try to fool me. Or I will send these pictures and more, to your soon to be ex girlfriend.
Remember, Wednesday 16th".
As he read the letter, his mind got full of people who could or couldn't have sent it.
It was Friday 11th, meaning he had five days to come up with a plan.
Aaron had a stalker. And this crazy person made a clear threat. Someone will get hurt, whether it's physically or psychologically. The only thing he had to do was tell Allison about what had happened, which he was going to do eventually, just not confess the entire truth.
How will this person know if I tell her though? He thought, checking everything in his office, looking for cameras and microphones. Nothing. They could have tapped his phone, so he got the backup one he had sealed in his office drawer, writing down in a paper the important contacts before he crushed his old phone with his foot, crushing it until it turned into dust. He felt sick.
He went to pour a glass of scotch and drank it in one sip, then poured another one. He had to let Stella know that she was in danger. He called her two times but she didn't pick up, then texted from the new phone, 'This is Aaron, call me ASAP'.
Aaron finished his drink and put everything in his briefcase. Even when he drank alcohol he still drove back home that night. He thought about telling Rossi about it, he was in a complicated situation and wasn't sure if the right thing was to take care of it on his own.
Sleeping that night wasn't an option. He prepared a pot of coffee and installed in his desk, studying the letter over and over. The black ink was marked strongly on the plain paper, some words were more marked like 'whore' and 'blood', almost ripping through the paper, clearly written by an angry person. There was no way to say if it was a male or female, just someone who was obsessed with him since the person called him 'love'. It could be anyone.
Why Wednesday 16th, why that specific date? He kept wondering, trying to think of what was next Wednesday. He hasn't even planned that day yet. Then went back to every Wednesday of the past two years, and every 16th of every month. Nothing. His head was empty.
He will definitely have to tell someone.
The next morning he got to work earlier than usual, ready to investigate his own case. Stella didn't call him back until ten a.m.
They hadn't talked since that night, and speaking through the phone felt a little awkward for the both of them, but Stella missed his voice and Aaron was so worried about her.
"What happened, why the new number," she asked nervously.
Aaron sighed deep, glad to hear her voice. "I'm being extorted by someone, a stalker and you might be in danger. I got an envelope full of pictures of us, of our night and the cabin."
Stella's heart dropped to her stomach. She thought about the night in the cabin, when she saw those pairs of eyes creepin through the bushes. It was real, it was someone and not something.
Aaron told her about everything he was going to do to solve the situation and that he had already sent someone to her apartment to look after her, insisting that she shouldn't go to classes and stay inside until he said so.
"Aaron, are we gonna talk about it?", Stella hesitated, not wanting to sound to needy. She wasn't sure what that night meant to him, even when for her was everything.
"I do want to talk about it, believe me, but right now it's not the time. We should only worry about being safe and careful. So please do everything I say, I'll be texting you constantly," he demanded in a soft voice.
After hanging the call, Aaron was still unsure about whether telling the entire team or not, so he started with David first, telling him everything.
"I think we should take care of it, you and I, and Garcia. If you want to keep your privacy of course. We can handle it," Rossi adviced, Aaron immediately calling Penelope to his office. She swore she was going to get reprimanded for playing that online game she promised she wasn't.
"I need you to be discreet about this, which I know it's hard for you," Aaron said after he explained his situation.
"Yes sir absolutely, but what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"I need you to investigate me, look for every 16th of every month, of my entire life. And focus on the ones that landed on a Wednesday." Aaron didn't have anything to hide. At least until now.
Later the three of them made sure none of his equipment in his office was being intervened.
"So how the hell will she know when you confess," Rossi wondered, still looking around the room.
"I don't know," Aaron said, holding his temples, he already had a headache.
"When are you gonna tell Allison anyway."
"I wanted to do it today, but if I tell her that I cheated with Stella..." he sighed deep, "She could lose her mom forever."
He truly was more worried about Stella than Allison and didn't even realize it.
During the day Aaron texted Stella checking on her as he promised, discussing if she was okay with telling her mother about what had happened.
"What if she takes it terribly wrong and hates me for the rest of my life."
"I don't think she would, she might resent you for a while but I'm not that important to her, not more than you."
"You think she'll understand?"
"I don't know to be honest."
"What will happen to us?"
That last question was something Aaron hadn't thought about. What is a one time thing only? He didn't want it to be, but he wasn't sure about anything at that moment.
"Let's focus on staying safe while I deal with this first."
After not getting a response, Aaron went to check on Penelope.
"Have you found anything?" He asked scooting a chair closer to her.
"Yes sir, I was about to find you," Garcia said while typing fast on her keyboard "So I went through everything, every document signed, every article, every report since you were born, mom, dad, Haley, everyone I checked everyone, including your son. The only thing I found that matched the date you gave me was that last year on January 16th that landed on a Wednesday, your son Jack won a science contest, do you remember that?"
"Yes I remember, he was the youngest contestant."
"That is correct. And I don't think you know this but it made it to the local newspaper and your face was in it. A picture of you, Jack and his science teacher. Does the name Rose Miranda ring a bell?"
And just by hearing that name everything made sense, finally putting the pieces together in his head. He remembered the day he asked Stella to look after his son and went to pick him up at school. Rose was the one Aaron let know that a young woman was going to pick up Jack.
His son's teacher was his stalker.
...
Rose is a broken woman. And delusional. In her head she was about to form a family with Aaron and Jack, who reminded her of her own deceased son. Timothy passed away of a brain tumor at the age of six and since then Rose wasn't the same. The sweet science teacher that was real once disappeared forever and the one that Aaron met was the delusional.
The first time Rose saw Aaron was at a parent-teacher meeting. She noticed how he referred to Haley as Jack's mom only, noticing he didn't wear a wedding ring. Then the day Jack won the contest she became obsessed, seeing the picture of the three of them in the newspaper made her think that they were a happy family. So she started to stalk Aaron. She would follow him home, to his early morning runs, wait for him to arrive from a case until 3 a.m. sometimes. Her life started to revolve around him only.
She was in love.
Until the day Stella went to pick Jack at school. Her blood was boiling. She was so much younger and prettier than her. She was a bigger threat than Allison. And when Rose followed them to the cabin she thought 'he cheated on us', as if her and Allison were one. She even self harmed once on purpose to be treated by her, visiting the hospital she worked at, but the injure wasn't that severe so she ended up being treated by an intern.
And seeing Aaron make love to Stella was the last straw.
Rose has seen him have sex with Allison, taking pictures too, but that night in the kitchen Aaron was a different person. She's never seen him act like that with his actual girlfriend. She could see the desire on Aaron's face and body. He wanted Stella more than he'd ever wanted Allison.
So she had to do something. Take justice into her hands, for herself and Allison.