Fic: Fonder In Absence, Chapter 7 (Criminal Minds, Sean / Cain, Morgan / Reid, Hotch / Chad, J.J.)
Title: Fonder In Absence, Chapter 7
Pair: Spencer Reid / Derek Morgan,
Aaron Hotchner / Chad Christensen,
Sean Hotchner / Cain Christensen
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc
Feedback: Always Welcome.
Criminal Minds Main List
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6
“I should go to the office after all…” Hotch leaned his elbows against the kitchen counter and pressed his face down to his palms. “J.J. said she`d ask Morgan to do my meeting-”
“They can deal with it, it`s Friday anyway.” Chad placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of him. “We had a long nigh. Drink that and go get some sleep.”
“You make me drink coffee and then expect me to sleep?”
“That’s decaf, and you’ve slept like a baby after a full pot of regular.”
“Can’t argue with that…” Hotch took a long sip from his mug. “I’m just glad last night ended well.”
“I’m not sure it did.”
“What do you mean?”
“He snapped and then disappeared for a night. There was something going on they didn’t tell us.” Chad was interrupted by the telephone. He traced the buzzing to the pocket of Hotch`s coat and snatched it out.
“Give it to me-”
“You’re not going to work without sleep and that’s the final word.” Chad flipped the phone open. “Who`s there?” His eyebrows shot up and he send Hotch a sideway glance. “Now? Why?” He listened to the short explanation while the look on his face turned darker. “Okay, we’re on our way.”
“What was that?”
“Your brother, he needs a ride.”
“Ride where?”
“I don’t know, we’ll pick him up from his place. He said his car is… somewhere, he didn’t even seem to know where.”
“So why does he-”
“He just said he needed help and he needs it right now.”
“What kind of help?” Hotch asked and pulled his coat on again.
“Maybe I misheard it, but I’m pretty sure he said we need to prevent a murder.”
---------------------------------------------
“Morning.” Morgan walked into J.J.`s office. “And don’t tell me I look like a bum who just rolled out of the gutter, I didn’t have any spare clothes. I’ll get something from my locker.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to borrow something from mine?” She asked with a little giggle. “I got a lovely summer dress just waiting for you…”
“I’m gonna kill Garcia.”
“You like floral prints?”
“Leave office humour to me.”
“Why? I’m having a lot of fun listening to my own jokes.”
“Well, I’m not having much fun right now. Just gimme the notes and I’ll get going.”
“They’re all in green folders.” She pulled the folders from her desk drawer. “You got a handbag to match the colour scheme?”
“J.J…”
“With your complexion green really is your friend.”
“I got few words for you. You and Elle dancing Macarena on the table in that Irish pub… and some good photographs.”
“If you had something like that, you would have blackmailed me with it years ago.”
“I just got them from Carlson, when he retired. They were in his personal collection. Remember how he tried to get his camera under your skirt? Wait a minute… Sorry, how could you remember, you were so drunk.”
“Did I…” She stammered and her eyes were wide as saucers. “Did I…”
“Yeah, you were wearing panties. Pink ones, with lace and little teddy bears.”
---------------------------------------------
“That house.” Sean pointed at the open gate. That was the first thing he had said after he had finished the abridged version of the events. Hotch had looked murderous and disappointed, Chad worried and agitated. Sean had noticed the worried looks the man had shot at him on regular intervals through the rear-view mirror and occasionally at Hotch.
Chad drove the car to the yard and got out. Sean lead them the front door, but stopped before the stairs. Something large was laying face down on the path and the window next to the door was spread all over the stairs in little shards. Sean recognised the thing on ground as one of the marble cupids, that had guarded the foyer.
“Good morning.” The maid opened the door before they could ring the doorbell. “Would you like to come in?”
Hotch and Chad shared a quick look, and both of them pulled out their badges, flashing them to the woman as they marched inside the house. Sean followed them and took a quick look at the maid. Her weary face was lit by an uncharacteristic grin, as if she was enjoying all the commotion.
“Master is resting in his entertainment room.” She informed and pointed them the right door. “He has had an active night and morning, but he doesn’t require medical assistance.” Her voice took a conspiratory tone. “This isn’t a first time his lifestyle caught up with him. I’m quite capably of patching him up.”
Hotch and Chad walked to the door and stepped in. Sean stayed in the foyer, and tried to block his ears from everything. Chad and Hotch hadn’t seen the room in its regular state, but the havoc was so massive even a blind man could see it. A wall of screens had been smashed with something, littering the floor with glass, and a large statuette that was laying in the mess of sharp pieces had obviously been used as a weapon. The arsenal of DVD players and other appliances had met the same faith as the screens: They were smashed so thoroughly the only thing to do was to pick up the pieces. A large cabinet had been overturned and a selection of homemade DVDs had been beaten to pieces. The maid came in with a bucket and started gathering the pieces.
Last thing the men noticed in the room was the owner himself. He was curled up in the corner of the couch, pressing an icepack very gingerly against his face. He was glaring daggers over the edge of the pack, but hadn’t said anything.
“Like the decor.” Chad commented and listened to the low crackling of glass under his shoes. “Like a post-nuclear electronic store.” He pulled out his badge again. “FBI.”
“That kid called the feds on me?” Robert groaned through the ice pack, not even looking at the two men. “Last ones I just bought off.”
“I’m sure you did.”
“And who’s he to blame me, look at what they did to my house!”
“Sounds like a provoked attack.” Chad glanced at Hotch, as if to ask him to play along. “Extortion, attempted rape. Those are quite heavy accusations against you.”
“That little tease was asking for it. And then he sent his ape-man here to beat me up!”
“I wouldn’t make those accusations, unless you can back it up. I don’t think you got the guts for that.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means…” Chad leaned down and pulled the ice pack off the man’s black and blue face. “Sean Hotchner is not going to press charges, but if you want to report what happened to you afterwards… he’ll have to reconsider.” He sat down on the other end of the couch. “You see, if you file a report about this, people will start asking questions. What was the motivation? And when that comes out… there’s not a court in the country that would take your side. They’d take one look at you, hear about what you did, and decide you’re a sleazy old bastard, who had it coming.”
He handed the ice pack back to the man and got up.
“Take my advise: Cut your losses and be grateful you got off so easy.” He stepped over a pile of shards and walked out with Hotch in tow. Sean joined them in the foyer and followed them outside.
“What did you say to him?” Sean asked. “I mean… is he gonna make some kinda trouble?”
“Not if he knows what’s good for him.” Chad picked the sunglasses he had hooked to his collar and covered his eyes with them. “And you’ll stay away from him.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not-”
“Call Cain, tell him I wanna talk to him.” Chad took a step closer and crossed his arms across his chest. “Tell him we handled this.”
Sean dialled the number, and waited. No one answered.
“His phone was home, so he’s not there.” A thought hit him and he twirled around to take a good look at his surroundings. “I got an idea, I think I know where he is.” He pocketed his phone and headed to the car. “Can you drop me off couple blocks that way?”
---------------------------------------------
“Hotch better have a damn good excuse for this…” Morgan grunted. He pulled out a chair and sat down opposite J.J. “And Rossi too.”
“That bad?”
“They treated me like I’m some little kid. Hotch`s not that much older than I am-”
“Some people get older quicker and some were born old.” She giggled. “Hotch was old when he came out of the womb.”
“Don’t put that picture in my head…”
“What are you picturing right now?”
“Little Hotch with a serious face and a tie, sliding down a birth canal.”
“I was imagining him scheduling his breastfeeding…”
“Jenny…”
“I know, it’s twisted. I don’t know where it came from, but yours wasn’t any less disturbing either.”
“Why couldn’t Rossi do it?”
“I told you, he’s re-negotiating his alimony payments. One of the ex-wives is on the warpath.”
“I thought they were all like one happy family. I mean the ex-wives, not Rossi.”
“They are. I heard they get together once a month to test red wines and bitch about his shortcomings.”
---------------------------------------------
Sean walked into the building and went straight to the counter, where a well muscled man was piling up towels. Cain’s motorcycle outside the building had confirmed his hunch and the only question left was his exact location.
“Perry?”
“Good, I was wondering if I should call you. Can you lure him home?” The man gave him a pleading look. “Not that I mind, but he’s scaring away my customers.”
“Where is he?”
“In the back.”
Sean nodded and went down the hallway, and into the main hall, where people were working lifting weights and training on several machines. The back of the room was practically empty, as most of the other people had stayed far away from the man working on the punching bag. Unlike the others, he wasn’t wearing work-out gear, he had simple stripped down to his jeans and boots. He kept punching and kicking the bag, ignoring the looks he was getting.
“Cain?” Sean tapped him carefully on the shoulder.
Cain stopped and turned to look at him. He didn’t say anything for a while, instead he let his breathing calm down. His session on the punching bag had left him sweaty, but he seemed calmer than he had been the last Sean had seen him. Cain stretched his arms and started peeling off his hand wraps.
“I told you to wait at home.”
“Aaron and Chad dropped me off here, they went to see Robert…” Sean explained. “They told me to say that they handled it.”
“Meaning what?”
“Robert’s not gonna make a fuss from it.”
“I don’t care.” Cain pulled the rest of the wraps off. “Some things are worth the trouble, and beating up that son of a bitch was worth it.”
“Yeah, but you shouldn’t have-”
“We’re not talking about this here.” Cain grabbed his discarded shirt and coat from the bench and pulled Sean away from the main hall and into one of the maintenance closets. He switched the light on and locked the door. “How did you know I was here?”
“Just a hunch, and then I saw the bike outside.”
“I told you to wait at home.”
“And let you kill him?”
“I wouldn’t have gone that far. He got the message.” Cain pressed his hands against the wall, locking Sean between them. “And you better get it too. You don’t go near him ever again.”
“Trust me, I’m not gonna-”
“He’ll never touch you, and neither will anyone else.” Cain leaned closer, pressing them together. His sweaty body soaked the front of Sean’s shirt while he breathed against Sean’s ear. “That’s not negotiable, that’s a rule.”
“Okay…” Sean tilted his head against the man’s cheek, breathing in his scent. “Sounds good to me…” He pushed against Cain and wrapped his hands around the man’s waist. “Can we… go home now?”
“No.” Cain captured his lips in a ruthless kiss. His hand travelled down Sean front and grabbed him through his jeans. “Not until I say so.”
Chapter 8 (NC-17)