{request for: juptersmoons <33}

"do you want to feel? she's beginning to kick."

"oh, my god!"

penelope exclaimed as she laid a gentle hand to a glowing y/n's stomach.

there within,

laid the perfect creation that her and her fiancée, aaron hotchner,

had prayed would blossom.

and there she was,

just a few months before their wedding date, too.

"she's so precious already."

"mhm. doesn't stop moving either. just like her father."

aaron exhaled a laugh at y/n's humor then leaned over to press a kiss to her head.

everything had been so perfect these last few years together,

it was a wonder that anything had ever gone wrong in their lives before.

this was what familial bliss felt like.

and god,

was it addicting.

it's no surprise that aaron and y/n share the grief of traumatic past relationships and extending even further than that,

horrible childhoods they feared they'd never recover from.

but here they stand,

having braved all of that wickedness,

to be in this blessed moment.

aaron and y/n engaged to be married,

expecting their own bundle of joy to accompany jack;

a beautiful family that they deserved.

"decided on any names yet?"

spencer asked.

y/n looked up at aaron who's arm was wrapped around her waist,

keeping her tight to his side.

she adored these little moments with him.

"well? do we?"

"we haven't decided on just one, yet,"

he answered with a smile that never faded towards y/n.

"better decide soon. she looks ready to meet everyone,"

jj said with a laugh,

brushing y/n's arm in support.

aaron thanked y/n again for bringing him coffee,

then going into his usual lecture,

"you shouldn't be moving around as much. i don't want you to get hurt."

"relax, love. i'm okay. we're okay. everything's okay."

aaron laid a gentle kiss to her lips,

because everything he did had to be gentle these days,

then brushed a lock of hair from her eyes.

"i know. you're amazing. i won't let you forget that."

y/n nestled her head to his chest for a few moments longer until he was called back to work.

despite her excitement for her newborn,

she often missed working alongside aaron.

how intimidating and matter-of-fact he once had been towards her,

as her boss at the time.

until she'd gotten hurt during one of their cases and it was then she decided to venture into other career paths.

life seemed so temporary and the idea of that,

coupled with the fact half of her life's accomplishments hadn't yet been achieved,

forced her head on right.

aaron continued to check on her a few months after her departure from the b.a.u,

claiming he was worried about her and wanted to make sure of her safety,

which had only been partly true.

it wasn't until he asked her out to dinner that she realized he'd been working up the courage to ask her out,

all while caring for her injury.

they'd been inseparable since,

each day somehow more blissful than the last.

aaron had supported her greatly,

even more so in these months of her pregnancy.

he was amazing.

she thanked every higher power out there for granting her such a blessing after a lifetime of curses.

y/n had all of these thoughts prominent into her mind as she walked into the house aaron and her bought to shelter herself, aaron, jack, and their new arrival.

it smelled of homely comfort,

something y/n wasn't sure wound ever stop giving her chills,

and was littered with traces of their existences.

jack's figurine toys on the ground,

all stood frozen in the motion he set them in this morning before school.

aaron and y/n's pictures on dates,

dances,

anniversaries,

hanging on the wall and on the tables,

y/n's perfected interior designing.

it was all just marvelous .

she reveled in this until she felt a lingering presence.

it was evil.

too evil to belong in her home of safety.

she had no time to react before a cloth was pressed against her mouth,

smelling of chloroform.

y/n had every motion in mind to harm her attacker,

but she's paralyzed with the fear of harming the baby in the process.

so she does all that she can;

y/n gives in and allows for this evil being,

tainting her home that was once clean of any malice,

to take her away from her solace.

aaron can feel it.

it's a sense he adapted the day y/n first got hurt in the field.

he felt it then,

the day a bullet entered her arm,

and he can feel it now.

it's twisting his insides and making him weary with panic.

surely this is irrational,

he's trying to convince himself.

but if there's one thing this career has taught him,

it's to trust your gut.

especially when it's knotted this tight.

he goes to call y/n,

to be sure this panic is only paternal worry,

when a call from jack's school arises.

"hello?"

"hello? is this aaron hotchner?"

"speaking."

"hi, hello,"

the woman greets warmly and professionally.

hearing how similar her tone is to y/n's makes his panic swell even more,

because surely something is wrong.

and as much as he wishes this was y/n on the other end,

it's not.

"y/n wasn't here today to pick up jack from school. so, i've called to let you know he took a ride home with the lockner family. i understand they're close friends of yours and y/n's? he told me he's friends with their kid, chase."

"yes, they're friends. y/n wasn't there, though? to pick jack up?"

"no, sir. we understand she has her hands full, though, being pregnant. so, luckily chase's parents were able to take him home."

"y/n didn't call to tell anyone?"

"no, sir. is everything okay?"

aaron felt his hands begin to grow clammy.

whatever was happening was beginning to set him off.

"yeah, yeah, everything's fine. i'm sure she just fell asleep. thank you for letting me know. have a good rest of your day."

"of course. you, too, aaron."

when they hung up the call,

he searched his voicemail to see the lockner's had called.

"hey, aaron, sorry to call while you're at work. i picked up jack from school today and went to drop him off but...y/n wasn't there. jack wanted me to tell you the house felt weird, whatever that means. kids, right?"

the man, known as corey lockner, laughed,

but it only made aaron tense up.

"oh, also, before i hang up, the door was unlocked and, like, halfway open. wanted to let you know incase there's an issue with the locks. no worries though, jack can stay with us until y/n gets home. see you soon!"

aaron had felt suspicion before,

but this was something entirely different.

it was knowing.

hard, cold, truth.

y/n had been harmed after all,

in a way he was yet to find out.

he was bound and determined;

he would stop at nothing to deliver her to safety.

aaron quickly announced to everyone of his departure and why,

leaving them with worried expressions and mumbling their hopeful thoughts.

he took the first plane out and was agitated the entire time.

"pick up, pick up,"

he muttered into his phone as the trilling line echoed.

"hey! it's y/n, you've reached my voicemail. leave a message and-"

he hung it up.

after his fifth message,

her voicemail box had been full.

aaron lowered his head for the first time in years and nearly let a few tears slide from his eyes as he said,

"please, god...not her. anyone but her."

y/n's head is throbbing with an unfamiliar pain.

this is more than a headache,

it feels like a sinister pressure weighting against her skull.

she fears it'll cave in soon.

when her ears finally stop ringing and she's able to open her eyes long enough to focus on her surroundings,

she realizes she's far from home and bound to a rocking chair.

she doesn't register the familiarity of it,

only that the rope is digging into her already sore limbs.

she stifles her cries at the scenery;

how evil it is.

she's abducted and left tied in a nursery.

y/n squeezes her eyes shut and tries to force herself to awaken from this nightmare,

because surely this can't be real.

it feels entirely too wicked to be her life,

when it's been nothing but bliss recently.

she hears a ringing that belongs to her phone,

which makes her head turn to the source of the noise.

but as she turns,

she notices a silhouette lounging in the darker part of the room.

she nearly wails out at this,

both in fear and horrible worry for her and aaron's child.

the light seems to shine on the man's face before her and that's when the recognition hits her.

it ripples through her throbbing body,

piercing her racing heart,

and makes her cry out.

she can't quite stop it this time.

"daniel,"

she says,

whispering the name of her ex-boyfriend who she thought she rid herself of.

the name is acrid on her tongue,

drying there and almost making her gag.

"what did you do?! where's jack?"

daniel,

in all his malignancy,

leans forward and asks,

"who?"

at least there's some relief there.

knowing jack is out of harms way gives her a small piece of mind.

"you have to let me go! you'll go to jail. you'll-you'll rot there, for all i know. you're breaking the restraining order!"

"just listen to me, y/n, if you'd just listen-"

"you're being impulsive, daniel! why did you do this? kidnapped me, locked me up in some-some nursery. why are we in a nursery?!"

"just listen, y/n! you never listen!"

he bellows from the depths of his chest,

where y/n is sure more evil is stored.

she flinches away at his anger and feels the fear she once packed away unfold itself.

"this is why i did this, you know? because you don't-you don't listen."

he points a sharpened knife at her.

but because he's so close,

flooding her lungs with his venomous air,

all the trauma she thought she healed from was coming back in a tenfold and making her turn her head away with a string of cries.

"i told you...i said, y/n, don't leave me. you can't leave me. i'll find you, no matter where you go. but what did you do? you went and...and you got pregnant! you're engaged too?! i warned you. i warned you!"

"please, stop!"

she cries,

hearing that desperate girl she had once been years before.

she thought that girl was long gone,

never going to show again to beg an abuser for mercy.

but she felt right back in her old skin and feared she wouldn't make it out this time.

"i have half a mind to..."

he doesn't finish his sentence.

instead,

he takes his eyes away from her swollen stomach and turns to the opposite wall to calm himself.

"i won't hurt you, y/n. not like i used to. we're going to be better this time."

dread settled inside of her.

unadulterated, old familiar, dread.

"what?"

she asked through a cry.

"you're going to have this baby, our baby, and we'll raise it like we should've from the beginning. you won't leave this time, y/n. i won't let you. we're going to have our happy ending."

y/n lowers her head and let's out a wail that seems to reverberate off the walls.

she hopes aaron,

wherever he is,

can hear her.

***

"it doesn't make sense. i can't-i can't make sense of it,"

penelope says as she stares at the traffic camera,

the fifth one in the past five seconds,

wondering why it's so blurry and muddled.

aaron begins to grow impatient and quite frankly,

he's on the verge of a spiral he isn't sure he can retaliate from.

losing y/n would be like losing his greater half,

his equal.

it would be like losing a limb to never be replaced.

he couldn't fathom the thought without wanting to faint.

"...nothing in the house,"

derek relays with a look of sympathy etched onto his face.

aaron begins to grow angry at this.

stop looking at me like that!

stop worrying for me!

look for her,

look at her,

just help me find her,

damn it!

the words are so clear in his mind,

but he presses his lips together and nods in understanding.

it's been nearly two weeks since y/n disappeared.

and every second that ticks by where she and their child isn't recovered,

is another second he's full on grief and panic.

there is nothing but cruelty in this.

they had escaped this,

they were done with it for good!

why must the most gentle, pure souls experience such torture?

he longs for his y/n and the hurt she's surely in.

aaron was bursting at the seams,

worrying for his family.

it isn't fair,

it isn't fair.

he kept telling himself.

but fair was solemn cared for in this cruel world.

he forced himself to stop running on emotions,

no matter how hard it might be,

and began to think logically.

even through all this worry clouding his usually sharp brain,

he sat at his desk and thought.

"who fits the profile?"

they gathered,

so far,

that it was someone close to y/n in relations and age.

aaron thought back to prior relationships,

but could only think of the two that rang of no significance.

one from her freshman year in college,

another whom she met in a cafe.

until a memory hit him like a weight had fallen from the heavens above.

oh, how it hurt.

"what? so he hits you?"

aaron asked,

carefully holding y/n's arm that was littered with purpling bruises.

she ripped her arm away from his grasp and pulled her sleeve back down.

"i don't think it's appropriate to talk to you about this, boss."

she makes a point of saying his title as though it were a curse.

it wards him off none.

"we're off the clock."

y/n avoided his eye while she allowed herself a moment to collect her thoughts.

she had nothing to say.

no more words left to defend this monster of a man she was with.

so instead of trying to explain,

like she was so used to doing,

she confided in the one man she knew she could count on.

"i'm terrified of him, hotch. i know if i stay any longer...he'll...i'll end up dead. but he just won't let me leave,"

she explained in quiet sobs.

aaron had grabbed her by the shoulders,

forced her to face his look that was stripped of any other emotion but sternness.

"i won't let that happen. do you understand me? i promise, he'll never harm you again."

how could have he forgotten?

y/n had told him to erase that part of her past when they first began dating and all he did was fret over her all the time,

making sure she was safe and comfortable.

so, he did.

he was paying for it severely now.

and to make the guilt weigh him down even more,

he broke that promise.

the one job he had to do and he failed.

aaron wanted to double over,

lean his tired, aching head to the ground and bawl until his throat began to bleed.

but he couldn't stop here,

he wouldn't give up now.

"penelope, find records on daniel ingram,"

he forced himself to say when he was back in penelope's office.

she did without hesitation,

pulling up his file that had charges of abuse, neglect, and even a restraining order issued by y/n.

"oh, god...hotch, is this him?"

"where's his current address?"

he asked without answering penelope's question.

he didn't have the time nor the patience.

he had to find y/n now before it was too late,

if it wasn't already.

he shook the thoughts from his head as penelope rehearsed daniel's address,

sending aaron on his way.

as the team piled into the car to retrieve his lover,

he gripped the steering wheel so tight that the blood disappeared to leave a trail of whiteness in its wake.

"please hang in there, y/n,"

he whispered,

hoping she received wind of his prayer.

when they arrived to the sinners home,

it took everything in aaron to approach this with as much protocol as it called for.

he knew he had to do everything in his power to keep y/n and their child safe,

but it was so tempting to burst in and brave whatever was necessary to carry her to safety.

when they finally get inside the house,

it's dark and smells of a dark neglect.

there's only one source of noise,

coming from the back of the house.

it's a low humming,

followed by the sounds of a working machine.

aaron recognizes it as a sewing machine,

considering it was once all y/n did at the late hours where sleep could not find her.

he once found it relaxing and was able to drift to sleep to it,

but now he was sure that sound had been ruined for him.

he would never be able to enjoy it again.

too much had been taken from him and y/n,

and aaron vowed it ended tonight.

he would make good on his promise this time;

no harm should ever find his family again.

the apprehending of daniel is quicker than any arrest aaron has ever made.

and once he's positive that the man is tight into cuffs and well onto his way to prison,

he rushes to his lovers side and gently holds her.

this so sweet relief in the darkest of times.

her skin is pale and glistening with a thin line of sweat,

but she's breathing and that's good enough for aaron.

"y/n,"

he calls out,

noticing the IV sticking out of her arm and the uneaten food by her side.

"y/n,"

he calls a little louder,

feeling a sense of dread that maybe he'd been wrong.

but,

by the grace of the gods,

her eyes flutter open and she sees him.

her savior.

"aaron?"

she asks in a hoarse voice,

reaching out to allow her fingers to cup around his face for confirmation her hazy mind hasn't conjured a hallucination.

he nearly cries with her at the feeling of her touch to his skin.

how he missed her.

"it's me, my love, it's me."

she lets out a sob that breaks his heart and he tangles her up into his arms.

"is the baby okay? is she okay? are you okay?"

aaron asks through the strands of her hair,

holding her so close and so tight,

he fears he may break her.

but she hugs him back with all the strength she can muster and replies,

"she's okay. we're okay..she's so...so strong, aaron."

"i know...just like her mother."

y/n cries into his neck at this.

the paramedics come and check y/n and their baby to be sure no harm has been done.

and, soon, he finally lifts her up from her seat,

unbound and free from the IV,

only to notice a certain trail of water sitting in the chair.

before he can ask,

y/n groans loudly and digs her nails into his shoulder.

"is-is she-"

"she's coming, aaron,"

y/n confirms,

half relieved and half terrified.

it seems they mirror one another in this situation.

"she's coming."