Die Your Daughter 01
line of sight
|| The bau receives a hint as to someone special to Agent Hotchner is at risk.
⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ made up cases, inaccuracy. reader is in college, set in around season 2-3
w.c 1.1k
warnings: stalking
fluff and angst?
~~~~~
The BAU bullpen felt off before anyone even spoke. They'd been on a case that specifically targeted hotch.
Last December the BAU was assigned on a case, Jason Hayes, 43. He had kidnapped 4 teenage girls and made them play house. in an actual human size dollhouse he built. Luckily the team found the location of the house quickly.
But they were still too late.
4 girls laid dead on the couch in the living room when the team arrived.
They looked almost posed in the way they were all sitting.
Hotch was the one who saw him out the corner of his eye leaving the house, he quickly called it and ran after him. After he was caught. He was detained by Aaron, he also testified against him in court.
He got life in prison.
Forwarding to now.
The bullpen was quiet.
The kind of quiet that means something has already gone wrong.
Hotch stood at the center of it, envelope in hand, that had been addressed to him with one last name.
Hayes.
He knew what that meant.
He had his jaw locked in that controlled way that meant his emotions had already been filed away somewhere no one else could reach. Morgan watched him peel it open, and Prentiss had already moved closer without realizing it.
Inside the envelope were polaroids.
The photos weren’t anything crime related.
Not victims.
His daughter.
Caught in fragments of everyday life that were never meant to be seen like this—walking across campus with her bag slung over one shoulder, hair half-tucked behind her ear.
Sitting outside a lecture hall scrolling her phone. Laughing at something off-frame, completely unaware.
Walking to class with her friends, all looked like they were in a serious debate on where to get pizza for lunch but the frame was zoomed in on her.
And then a closer one.
Standing in front of her dorm room. Coffee in phonend, ruffling for something in her bag with the other. Then another, same place taken seconds later with her hands grasping the keys twisting them in the door.
Too close.
Hotch didn’t move for a second too long.
JJ’s voice dropped. “Oh my god”
He didn’t answer. He had already grabbed his phone from his back pocket and was already dialing.
——————-
your phone rang while you were sitting on the grass near the library steps reading, sunlight too bright, noise all around you in soft layers—students passing, someone laughing nearby, the distant scrape of chairs.
You picked up your phone where it sat disregarded on the ground, youlooked at the screen.
Dad.
That alone made you sit up straighter. He normally didn’t call when he knew you had class, something about being distracted on the phone and not paying attention to your surroundings.
“Hey dad,” you answered, light at first. “What’s up?”
Hotch’s voice came through tight. Controlled, but only barely.
“Where are you?”
you blinked. “Uh… campus. Why?”
A pause.
Too long.
Your smile faded slightly after seconds of silence only hearing the shuffling of papers around him and people talking “Dad?”
“Don’t move,” he said immediately, sharper now. “Stay where you are. Stay in crowds. Do you understand me?”
Your stomach dropped.
“What—why, what’s going on?”
Behind him you could make out some voices. Faint, urgent.
Reid, maybe.
Garcia.
your grip tightened on the phone.
“Just listen to me,” Hotch said, and now there was something in his voice you weren't used to hearing. Not panic exactly—but something dangerously close. “Are you alone?”
“I’m on the main quad,” you said quickly, looking around now, suddenly aware of everything. “There’s people everywhere. Dad, what happened?”
A beat.
“We were given something.” he hesitated
“What do you mean? What were you given dad?” slowly starting to feel the panic rising in your chest.
Hotch exhaled slowly through his nose like he was forcing himself to stay steady. “Derek and Emily are coming to get you. Stay visible. Don’t go inside anywhere alone. Don’t leave the crowd.”
“Dad, you’re scaring me.”
“I know,” he said immediately, softer for half a second—just enough to land. “I know baby, but I need you to do exactly what I say.”
you nodded even though he couldn’t see you.
“Okay,” you whispered. “Okay, I’m here.”
“Good,” he said. “Stay on the phone with me.”
———————-
Across the country, Hotch didn’t look away from the photos.
Each one felt like a violation of something deeper than privacy. It wasn’t just surveillance—it was access. Someone had been close enough to map her life without her ever noticing.
Morgan was already moving. “We’ll get her.”
Prentiss nodded. “Campus security?”
Hotch’s voice was low. “Already called.”
But his eyes stayed on the image of her smiling, unaware.
And for the first time in a long time, Aaron Hotchner wasn’t thinking like an agent first.
He was thinking like a father who had just realized someone had been watching his daughter breathe.
—————
Back on campus, you stayed exactly where you were told.
Even when your instincts screamed at you to move.
Even when every passing shadow felt suddenly too intentional.
And then you saw them.
Derek first—moving fast but scanning carefully. Prentiss just behind him.
And something in your chest loosened so suddenly it almost hurt.
Derek caught your eye and gave a small, steady nod.
“You’re okay,” he said as they reached you. “We’ve got you.”
Emily put one arm around your shoulder and started walking alongside you with Derek on your other side so you were between them.
your voice cracked a little when you spoke. “What is this? What's going on?”
Emily didn’t sugarcoat it. “Someone’s been watching you y/n.”
your phone was still in your hand.
Still connected.
Hotch’s voice came through, immediately sharper now that he heard his colleagues' voices, signaling you were longer alone.
“Are they with you?”
“Yeah,” you said quickly, exhaling hard. “They’re here.”
And then, finally, his voice shifted—just slightly.
Relief. Controlled, but real.
“Good,” he said. “Stay with them.”
You swallowed. “Dad… someone’s been watching me?”
“Yes, sweetheart, they’ve been taking pictures of you from afar and its been sent to us” he said.
That was the worst part.
He already knew.
And you could hear it now—the difference in him. Not just an agent, not just a unit chief.
But your dad.
The one who let you step on his brand new shoes to dance when you were only 4 because you had just finished watching Cinderella, who held you tight at 9 when your mom left, who always told you to wipe your face for wearing too much makeup at 12, who scared away every guy-friend you had when you were 16. But also the one who helped you throughout your entire life, who was your best friend.
“Theyll bring you back here, alright honey?” he added “Dont leave their sight even for a second”
And for once, you didn't argue.
“Okay,” You said softly “i wont”
