Notes: Inspired by @unionjackpillow's brilliant plot bunny. I changed it up some because I am weak but I think the feeling is still in tact. There is a bomb threat at a school that puts Jack at risk while Hotch and the team are away. It's a heavy storyline but it's ultimately just sweet sweet Hotchgan with a happy ending, I promise. It's chaotic and hopefully coherent.
Warnings: bomb threat at a school, kids in danger, explosion(s)
Words: ~2500
**
“You stay here,” Aaron says, eyes downcast. He simply can't look at any of them while they're watching him, waiting for him to crumble. Normally they wouldn't expect it but after the couple of weeks he's had, none of them could blame him. He'd just come back from a week off, bleeding out the last of whatever it was that Peter Lewis did to him. Things he wouldn't tell any of them, things he never included in any of the reports. “The team needs you.” It's all he can do to push the words out, to produce logic over emotion. A true test of his will. Derek advances on him, looms over him in a way he doesn't often have occasion to and he shakes his head. He's adamant, subordinate, there is no changing his mind. The world has stopped spinning on its axis, people have ceased to exist outside of this room, they're in a vacuum. Sealed in with the overwhelming scent of fear. 150 miles lie between them and Aaron's undoing.
“That's my kid, too,” Derek says through gritted teeth, aggressive body language but soft almost pleading voice. Gravelly, emotional. Muscles in his jaw flex and release awaiting Aaron's next move, expectant. Prepared for a fight that doesn't come. Aaron never looks up but he sighs and nods almost imperceptibly, overcome by the hugeness of what Derek has just said. He loves Jack, everyone knows that, but he's never said anything like that before. He can't deal with that right now, he can't unpack what it means when Derek calls Jack his kid, he just knows it's inexplicably good and he doesn't deserve it but Jack does so he agrees. “You left me behind when Adrian Bale threatened our family,” Derek continues, strong, steady fingers lacing with Aaron's. His trembling steadied by Derek's might. “I'm not about to let that happen again.”
“You guys take the jet. We'll finish up here and drive back to Quantico.” Aaron recognizes Dave's voice, a balm on his soul, but it feels far away, he tries to swallow and nod but he's losing himself and his ability to lead his team. Losing, or lost, he's not sure. His veins run with ice and he's incapable of doing the things that have always come naturally to him. Derek steps forward and thanks the team for understanding, pulls Aaron toward the door and it's all Aaron can do to keep himself upright.
“Aaron? It's Will,” the voice was too calm, too collected for the sounds of chaos behind him. Sirens, people shouting, engines roaring. “Jessica's been tryin' to reach you for an hour but I guess you've been in a prison so I thought I'd call JJ – there was a bomb threat at the junior high, Jack's band class was over there practicing for their concert – as far as I know, they're all still inside. There's no word on injuries and there haven't been any explosions yet. I'm here working, SWAT and the Bomb Squad are here –”
Aaron squints to try and reconcile the words coming out of Will's mouth, they don't seem to make sense. Bombs and Jack and the junior high? Jack is in fifth grade, it doesn't...his brain can't seem to form the connections. He hands the phone to Derek, pleads softly and silently and watches as Derek talks to Will, absorbs the information Will so graciously hands out for a second time. As he watches Derek, things are clicking and he's suddenly aware of every muscle, every pore, every inch of him lit up, coiling. They storm out of the prison quickly, leaving their inmate and the guards wondering what the hurry is. By the time they find the team at the precinct they all know, JJ's on the phone with Will making plans, everyone is doing something important and Aaron...he's frozen, he can't move.
It never takes long to get the jet ready to go, they still can't believe they're not driving. 150 miles separates them from Jack, from a school full of terrified children. 150 miles doesn't seem like much to men who travel so often, until they have to cross those miles to get to someone they love in danger. They might as well need to get to the moon now as they settle into their seats awaiting take off. Aaron fumbles with his phone, calls Garcia to see if she's been able to remote into the school's security cameras, calls his contacts with SWAT to get details they aren't able to give. No one seems to know anything and his anxiety is growing like a tumor in his belly, snaking its tendrils into intercostal spaces, twisting around his sternum until he feels like he's about to explode.
“I'm gonna make us some tea,” Derek says, trying to maintain some semblance of peace or tranquility. He's usually the last one to remain calm, the roles have reversed and he's fumbling around trying to think of what Aaron would do if it were him. “Stop looking at your phone, please. It isn't helping. There's nothing we can do until we land.” He gets up and walks to the back, letting his hand stop momentarily on Aaron's shoulder, squeeze softly before he drags it away. Instead of putting his phone down, Aaron searches out news, finds a live feed and stares. If he was working this he'd be furious at the irresponsible coverage, the way they're talking and rolling cameras while distraught parents are watching but being so helpless, so high above and far away, it connects him to his son.
When the first explosion rocks the gymnasium, he sees it in real time. Listens to the boom, the smoke, hears bits of shrapnel rain down on the news vans. The journalists are wild, in a frenzy, shouting DID YOU SEE THAT? WHAT WAS THAT? The feed never goes black but no one is talking, the scene goes quiet as law enforcement tries to get a handle on the damage. A heavy feeling settles over everyone as things become too real - a bomb threat just became an attack on a school. Aaron doesn't blink, doesn't swallow, feels electricity crackle over his skin and with a fist he didn't remember balling up he lashes out, punches the hull, smashes his fist into the jet's belly hard enough to feel his bones crack and the thin skin over his knuckles break wide open. He leaves behind a smear of blood and a startled grunt, a shock of pain washes over him. He's not breathing, not registering anything when Derek comes flying out of the kitchenette to find Aaron crouched on the floor, curled around his hand, eyes wild and feral.
“What happened?” Derek shouts, kneeling beside Aaron. “What did you do?”
“There was an explosion,” he mutters through gritted teeth. He's barely human, just a ball of rage bound by an elaborate textile prison. Derek steadies the tremble in his muscles in order to pull Aaron to him, one hand splayed over the back of his neck, warm skin, downy hairs against his fingers. He pulls Aaron in, forehead to forehead until the tips of their noses touch and he closes his eyes.
“We land in ten minutes,” he whispers, tightening the grip on Aaron's neck. “I'm going in with the bomb squad when we get there, you go find Jess.” This snaps Aaron out of his trance, panic flashes bright behind warm amber eyes.
“No,” he says with a finality Derek refuses to accept. “You're not going in there.”
Without gracing Aaron with a reply, Derek pulls his hand toward him, kisses his bloody broken knuckles and Aaron breaks down and cries. Ugly, messy tears. Derek is careful with his hand and pulls him close, wraps his arms around Aaron's shoulders, presses his cheek to his chest. He's going into that building, he's got to see for himself. “My son is in that building,” Derek whispers, lips soft against the top of Aaron's head, rustling soft black hair. “And so are a lot of other people's kids. I have to do something.”
Aaron wants to plead that he can't lose both of them, but Derek already knows. He doesn't need to say it. Derek is holding his hand so gently, cradling broken fingers against his heartbeat covered in ice because even if Aaron can do that himself, he's perfectly capable of icing his own broken hand, Derek needs to be touching him. Aaron is beside himself, tangled inside of dangerous thoughts. Wondering why the hell he does the job he does, they're out trying to catch one maniac and another is right on his heels. Like weeds, capture one and three more pop up – they can't catch them all, no matter how they try and they'll never be safe. By the time the jet lands, his phone is ringing off the hook.
“The bomb squad just sent in a first group,” she says, barely hiding the panic in her voice. “You're almost here aren't you?”
Derek is already on the phone with Will, making plans while Aaron sinks into the passenger seat and just listens to Jessica's voice. It soothes his nerves somehow knowing she's there, she dropped everything to go to his son, to try and protect him and be there. Jack may have lost his mother but he had no shortage of people who loved him, who tried to fill in the spaces. Derek turns on the sirens in spite of Aaron's resistance, as much as he wants to get there faster he's already broken enough rules to get himself and his entire team fired. It's all he can do to sit and listen, knowing that the sirens and the flashing lights were for him. Again.
Jessica reaches out for Aaron instinctively, wrapping her arms around his neck, standing on her toes to get herself as close to him as she can. He holds onto her for dear life, breathes her in, unruly blonde curls tickling his nose. She'll ask him about his hand later, he doesn't seem worried about how gruesome it looks.
“Derek's going in, isn't he?” she asks, already knowing the answer. He just nods and buries his face in her mop of hair, trying to gather his bearings. Trying to remember that he runs scenes like this in his sleep, he needs to pull himself together. “They don't think anyone was in the gym when the bomb went off,” she offers, pulling away to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. “Just a show.”
They watch as Derek suits up and runs in with the second wave of SWAT, watch as Will stands and directs from behind the barricade. Like a wave crashing against the shore they storm the building, flood the entry ways in a sea of black, shields high heads down. Another explosion rocks the east end, far away from the entry points and brick crumbles to the ground, sprays onlookers with shrapnel. Aaron drapes himself over Jessica protectively, holds her close to him, turns his back to shards of glass and pebbles flying through the air. People are screaming and then it goes silent as the dust settles but Aaron can't look – too much of his life is wrapped up inside of that building, he can't watch it come crashing down.
“Aaron!” Will hollers and Aaron pulls Jessica with him, ducks under the tape and past the line of officers holding parents in place. He flashes his credentials in his broken hand, makes his way to where Will is calling out instructions to his team. “Aaron,” he says quieter. “It was the maintenance building in back, no one was inside but we have to get those kids out of there before they stop playin' around and start hurtin' people. Me'n my team are going in when Derek gives us the go ahead, you think you can handle this mess out here?”
There were very few times in Aaron's life that he didn't think he could handle something but this was up there. His head was foggy, spinning wildly and he clutched his credentials with broken fingers because there wasn't anything else he could do. “Be safe,” he says sternly, putting on his best imitation of the SSA Hotchner mask – it's cracked and fragile but still functional. Still useful enough, it gets the job done. He's not very helpful, he's holding parents back and saying words that he'd never want to hear if it were him.
When lines of children begin flowing through the doors, directed by big men in black, hurried terrified faces rushing into the shrieking crush of parents waiting expectantly, he lets out a shaky breath. Aaron did his best to remain detached, he couldn't watch the flood of children and teachers, he couldn't let his eyes wander over those scared faces searching for his own. Above them the sky opens up, dumps a torrent of angry rain on the burning embers of the buildings. Beside him Jessica gasps and he lets his eyes close, expecting the worst somehow – he's not in the head space for this, he's barely overcome the trauma inflicted by Peter Lewis, unable to trust his own judgment, his own eyes. Reality is still off kilter and he wonders how much longer it can go on, how much longer he can sustain the feeling that everything is wrong, or he is wrong.
“Aaron,” she says, nudging him and he starts to turn when he hears Jack's voice.
“DAD!” Jack cries, flying toward his father with arms outstretched and then his arms are wrapped tight around Aaron's waist, face buried in a now tear soaked shirt. “Dad...” he whispers again, holding tight enough that Aaron thinks he might pass out, knees like jelly beneath him.
“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice hoarse and Jack nods, cheek against his father's stomach.
“I knew what to do dad,” he says softly, pulling away from his father to wrap Derek in a hug. Derek who hadn't been there a moment ago, Derek who was covered in soot and was coughing into his elbow, Derek who was a little worse for wear but alive. Before Aaron can process the scene, he sees Will and a teacher approaching them and he holds himself firm against everything that tells him to wrap his family in his arms and never let them go. The family he never deserved, never thought he'd have, almost lost.
“Jack is a hero,” the teacher says, ruffling Jack's hair. “He saved his friends by thinking on his feet, they were in the gymnasium minutes before the blast.” Aaron smiles, nods, doesn't know how to respond. His son was nearly dead and he was still in the air, his hand throbs suddenly, becomes almost unbearable. Derek can sense it, the desperation, the way Aaron somehow knew without knowing and he puts his hand on Aaron's shoulder, squeezing.
“Guess I'm not the only hero in the family anymore, huh?” Aaron croaks, smiling at Jack with tears in his eyes, and Derek coughs, rolls his eyes.
“Hey, what about me?”
Aaron smirks and leans into Derek while Jack's teacher continues to tell Jessica what he'd done, how he saved his band class. “You're my hero. You did that,” he says softly, slipping his arm around Derek's waist, thick padding against his throbbing hand. “You taught him how to handle these situations.”
Derek nods, beaming proudly. He'll take the credit here and he'll clutch it close. He can hardly believe the words he's about to say, the words he's privileged to say. “That's my boy.”
Monday School Threat at Tracy City Elementary Deemed Substantiated
On Monday a potential threat was reported to school administration at Tracy City Elementary over the weekend. Upon receiving the report, school officials immediately began a thorough investigation in coordination with law enforcement. Following the investigation, the threat was determined to be substantiated.
In accordance with Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) and Grundy County Board of Education…
im in an active threat rn (12:04) and ive been in one since around 10:45. only just now got permission to have my phone out around 11:40. what is life even. why should i be worried about having my phone taken away when im trying to figure out if my moms picking me up from a possibly life threatening situation. fuck our government
South Pittsburg 6th Grader charged after making threat to school
South Pittsburg 6th Grader charged after making threat to school...
A sixth grade student at South Pittsburg Elementary School has been charged after making a threat against the school on Friday afternoon.
According to statement made after the incident, Marion County Schools say the child made the threat to the school at dismissal time on Friday afternoon.
The statement from the school district says that law enforcement was called and the student was charged and…
Sequatchie County High School Threat Handled by Sheriff’s Office and Partner Agencies
Press Release:
High School faculty, S.R.O’s, and deputies of the Sequatchie County Sheriff’s Office responded quickly to threats of violence made against our High School. Due to everyone’s actions, the threat was quickly eliminated, and there was never any danger on or near the school campus. This investigation has resulted in the arrest of a juvenile and involves bordering jurisdiction. The…
my school had a gun threat a few weeks ago and the amount of kids missing is INSANE, like my first period only had like 12 kids. Some people knew a ton of stuff about the shooting so they had to be pulled out for questioning. And me being the silly goober I am kept asking if people were ready in the most excited tone in the world
