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xdamnitdean · 7 years

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Without A Trace

Prompt: The reader is a member of the BAU and they are working a case where the victims all look a lot like her. Hotch wants her to stay and work the case from HQ because he’s trying to protect her. She refuses to do this and ends up arguing with him until he lets her go with the team. During the case, she gets abducted just like everyone had feared (shocking lol), and it’s up to the team to find her.

A/N: Ok so this is my first fic for the criminal minds fandom and I’m just hoping that it’s alright. I like it, but I guess we will see. This is just the first part of a four or five part series just depending on how people react. Not as much HotchXReader goodness in this part, but I promise it’s coming. This is mostly set up for the next part. Hope you enjoy :)

Warnings: details about abduction, some murder details but nothing too gruesome.

Rating: T

Words: 2.5K

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

The BAU had been called in to work a case in Raleigh, North Carolina. Eight women had been abducted and murdered over the past three weeks, the newest victim discovered this morning. There was a two day cooling off period between kill, then the third day a body would turn up and another woman would go missing. The victims had all been found on various park benches around Raleigh. All eight victims had sustained seven long cuts down their backs, a deep slash to the throat that severed the carotid artery which was the COD, and their abdomens were torn open. There had also been signs of other forms of torture present on the victims as well: cut from various other surgical tools, cigarette burns, electrical torture, and sexual assault. It seemed like this guy was using any method of torture he could think of. During the briefing, Reid pointed out a fact that immediately unsettled everyone at the roundtable. The victims all bore an uncanny resemblance to you. All of them had (Y/H/L) (Y/H/C) hair, were about (Y/H), and all had been career driven women. Three were corporate lawyers, three had been college professors, one had been a publishing agent, and the most recent victim had been a successful TV reporter. The media coverage of all the murders had skyrocketed after her death and the press had given him a name: The Raleigh Ripper. Hotch told the team to grab their go bags and that wheels would be up in thirty. As the team rushed to grab their things, Aaron hung back to have a word with you. “Maybe you should sit this one out.”

“Why? Just because I fit his type? I’ve fit into plenty of serial killer’s victim pools before and I’ve never sat back and let the rest of you handle it,” you argued.

“I’m just trying to keep you safe.”

“And I’m just trying to do my job,” you shot back, “Aaron, I’m not going to be benched because this sicko has a thing for (Y/H) (Y/H/C) women? I’m going to help catch him.” Hotch seemed a bit taken aback by your outburst. You never used his first name in the workplace.

“Fine, but you’ll go nowhere alone. You will be accompanied by a partner on every part of this assignment and if there is any sign that the unsub has taken an interest in you I will assign you a police detail. Am I clear?” he spoke firmly, staring you down the whole time. You knew that look. He wasn’t going to budge.

“Fine,” you replied and walked away. Hotch sighed, rubbing his hands over his face in frustration before following you out. That should’ve been the end of the whole thing. You would have worked the case and caught the unsub without being stalked and abducted, but there are times when all plans, no matter how perfect fail. This happened to be one those times. You and Morgan were coming out of the autopsy for the most recent victim. After confirming COD was the same and examining the torture, you and Morgan were headed back to the police station to meet up with the rest of the team when a man approached you asking for directions. He was a white man, mid to late thirties, tall, and dark brown hair. He’d asked you if you knew how to get to some grocery store that was supposed to be somewhere near the M.E.’s office. “Uh, sorry I’m not from around here, but maybe-” you’d tried to politely suggest that he walk inside and ask the receptionist, when you’d turned away from him to point to the door, making your first mistake. As soon as your head had swiveled away from him, the man had grabbed you from behind trying to cover your mouth with one hand and the other wrapped around your waist lifting you off of the ground. You could tell there was a rag in his hand and you assumed it was doused in chloroform. “Derek!” You screamed, as you ripped his hand away from your mouth and kicked your feet trying to get him to drop you. Morgan came around the SUV in record time, gun drawn and trained on your attacker.

“FBI! Let her go!” Morgan shouted. This seemed to scare the man into submission. He roughly threw you toward Derek and took off down the alley. You felt the chloroform that had managed to get into your system start to take effect as you started to feel woozy and sleepy. You managed to catch yourself with your hands, so you didn’t face plant on the cold concrete. “Damn it. (Y/N) you ok?” Morgan asked kneeling down next to you.

“I’ll be fine. Did he get away?” you asked grabbing both his arms and letting him help you off of the ground.

“Yes, but we’ll get him. C’mon let’s get you back to the station,” he replied, sliding your arm over his shoulder and walking you over to the SUV.

“You should’ve gone after him instead of helping me. I’m fine,” you said, hand shaking slightly as you buckled your seatbelt.

“Mama, if I chased him down he could’ve circled back and run off with you, then where would we be? You’d be in the clutches of the unsub and Hotch would have my head on a platter for not thinking about what was actually important: the victim in this case you,” Derek said trying to reason with you. He ran around to the driver’s side and climbed in.

“I know. It just feels like he got away because of me,” you muttered, leaning your head against the window.

“(Y/N) it’s not your fault. If you and I can put what we saw together, we might have enough for a composite sketch to release to the media to warn people so that he can’t hurt any more women,” he replied trying to ease your mind. You gave him a small smile. The ride back to the station was relatively quiet, you and Morgan talked about what the unsub had looked like trying to keep the image fresh in both of your minds. When you finally reached the station, you were dreading going inside and facing Hotch. Morgan helped you out of the car, arm winding around your waist to keep you steady because you were still pretty woozy. Walking into the station, Hotch immediately rushed over to the two of you.

“What happened?” he demanded, slinging your other arm over his shoulder.

“Guys, I’m fine. I can walk,” you protested as they basically carried you into the briefing room where the boards had been set up.

“She got attacked when we were coming out of the M.E.’s office from the autopsy,” Morgan said as they gently set you down on the couch.

“Are you ok?” Aaron asked as he knelt down in front of you concern clearly present in his eyes.  

“I’m fine. He, uh, was just asking for directions to some market or something. When I turned my head to look for it, he grabbed me and covered my mouth with a rag. I think it had chloroform on it or something like it at the very least. Morgan came running when I screamed and scared him off,” you explained, grabbing your head which was starting to hurt.

“Do you remember anything about what he looked like?” JJ asked as she walked over with some water and an ibuprofen.

“Yeah, he was tall, white, dark brown hair and in his mid to late thirties,” you replied, taking the water and medicine from her.

“I think between the two of us we have enough for a composite,” Derek added. You nodded, glancing over at Hotch whose eyes hadn’t stopped studied you since you walked in a few minutes ago.

“We’ll grab one of the sketch artists and have you both sit down with them. JJ, round up some of the reporters and give them the sketch when it’s done,” Hotch delegated. Everyone nodded. Rossi left to go find one of the sketch artists, and Reid went back to his map trying to come up with a geographical profile. Hotch looked over at Morgan who was leaning against the wall. “Morgan, you’re with (Y/N). I’m going to get her a protective detail to stand outside her hotel room, and I want you with her at all times.”

“Hotch, c’mon this is ridiculous,” you protested.

“Clearly it’s not. Look what’s already happened. If you don’t like my orders I’ll have you on the next flight back to Quantico,” Hotch snapped. You flinched back a bit.

“I’m going to give you two a minute and I’ll go help Rossi,” Morgan said and darted out the door and dragging Reid with him. Your eyes followed them out and then flicked back over to glare at Hotch.

“What the hell, Aaron?”

“I’m just-”

“Trying to keep me safe? That’s bullshit, you’ve never done this before and you always try to keep the team safe.”

“You’ve never been almost kidnapped before.”

“And that somehow changes the equation for you?”

“Yes!” he said roughly, thrusting a hand through his hair.

“Aaron, I’m going to say this one time: Do not treat me like a victim, because makes me feel like that’s all I am.” you spat.

“I’m not-”

“Yes, you are! It’s making me feel weak and like you don’t think that I’m good at my job. You’re making me feel inferior!” You shouted and stormed out of the room.

“(Y/N) wait-”

“Let her go, Aaron,” Rossi said, walking back in. Neither you or Hotch had noticed that he had been standing outside the door.

“Dave, I’m just-”

“I know, and I think deep down she knows that too. But right now you need to let her calm down and process what just happened,” Rossi said, trying to calm his friend. Hotch sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. “Everything ok?”

“She’s so stubborn,” he muttered, chuckling humorlessly.

“So are you,” Rossi pointed out sitting next to him. Aaron rolled his eyes.

“I’m just trying to do my job and keep the team safe.”

“The team or (Y/N)?”

“Same thing,” Aaron answered, walking up to the map and studying it.

“Uh huh,” Rossi chuckled, “So how long have you been interested in her?” he asked casually.

“Not relevant,” Hotch replied, dodging the question and willing the slight blush to disappear from his cheeks.

“Aaron-”

“Awhile alright?”

“And you haven’t acted on this because?”

“Because she’s an attractive, young woman and I’m an older divorced man with a child. Why would she possibly want anything to do with me outside of a work setting or a casual team get together?” Hotch grumbled. Rossi stared at him almost incredulously. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s just focus on the case so we can go home. I need coffee,” he muttered, walking out the door. David watched him go and shook his head.

“If only you’d notice she looks at you the same way you look at her,” he said and followed Hotch, noting his own need for coffee. You tried not to look at Hotch as he passed you by, headed directly toward the break room in pursuit of coffee you assumed. You were being childish and fuming, you were well aware of that; however, you felt your actions were somewhat justified. You didn’t care whether or not you had been attacked, you weren’t the victim and didn’t deserve to be treated like one. You especially didn’t want to be treated like one by the man you work so hard to impress and get to notice you.

“How ya holding up girl?” Prentis asked, standing beside you.

“Why does everyone keep asking me that?” you fumed crossing your arms.

“Because you just-”

“If anyone brings up that stupid attack again, I’m going to-”

“You and I both know you’re not actually upset that people keep asking if you’re ok. You’re upset about something that Hotch said to you,” she said effectively cutting you off. You drew back from her hugging your arms around yourself. “You don’t need to be a profiler to figure out that you’re really into him, and I do not mean that you respect and admire him. I mean into him, into him.”

“If you don’t need to be a profiler, then why hasn’t he figured it out yet,” you muttered. Emily gave you a sympathetic smile.

“He probably has but he’s brushing it off as something else because he doesn’t think that you would ever be interested in him.”

“Why does he-”

“Can we ever really explain anything men do?” Emily asked. You rolled your eyes smiling and shrugged your shoulders. “Exactly. I know that he made you angry, and I don’t know exactly what he said but based on your attitude I can make a pretty good guess. He’s not trying to make you feel inferior or that you’re at fault in some way here. He’s just frustrated that someone he cares for very deeply was in harm’s way and he wasn’t there to stop it or help you. If he’s being unreasonable or being too much of an alpha male for his own good and he’s driving you insane, just know it’s his own special way of telling you he cares.”

“I just-”

“We found out who’s been taken,” JJ interrupted rushing in with a new photo and pinning it to the board.

“Oh god!” you gasped, eyes widening.

“What do you know her?” JJ asked.

“No, that’s the M.E. that was performing the autopsies,” you muttered, pacing when it suddenly hit you. “He was on his way to kidnap her when he saw me and deemed me more convenient,” you said absolutely horrified. “I think he might have worked in all the buildings in some fashion. Janitor, electrician, IT guy, something.”

“We did profile that he worked with his hands,” JJ mentioned looking through one of the files that were spread out on the table.

“Where’s Hotch?”

“I think I saw him walk out for some fresh air with Rossi a minute ago,” Emily said gesturing over her shoulder.

“Have Garcia look into anyone who’s worked in all the victim’s workplaces in the past couple of months. He’s gotta be finding out about these women’s schedules somehow. I’ll run and tell Hotch,” you said starting to walk outside.

“I’ll go-”

“Emily please don’t. I’m literally just walking outside,” you pleaded. Emily glanced to look over at JJ who was nowhere to be found because she’d wandered over to Reid helping look over the geographical profile and was on the phone with Garcia. “Just come right back and don’t talk to strangers,” she finally conceded. You rolled your eyes at her and ran outside.

“Hotch? Rossi? I think we-” you said, but suddenly realized that neither of them was out here. You glanced around looking for them. You groaned in frustration and turned to walk back inside when someone tasered you in the back. You shrieked in pain, falling to the ground. You landed with a loud thud on the concrete and groaned. Out of your peripheral, his face came into view.

“Too bad, you didn’t just come with me earlier. Much less painful that way,” he snickered, covering your face with the rag and dragged you back into an alleyway. You tried to scream and fight, but you felt yourself fading in and out of consciousness until your whole world went back. Noticing that you were out cold, the unsub reached into your blazer pocket and took your credentials. He tucked a handwritten note into one side and threw it back toward the doors of the station. He tossed you in the back of his service truck and drove off. The whole abduction took less than three minutes, and you were gone without a trace.

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