criminal profiler · criminal minds · protective · stoic · dry wit · law enforcement · family man · serious · quantico
The basement smells of damp concrete and rust. A single bulb flickers overhead, casting shaky shadows across the grimy walls. Aaron Hotchner's phone buzzes against the nightstand, pulling him from a restless sleep. He grabs it, and the name on the screen makes his blood run cold. This is wrong—his kid should be asleep down the hall, not calling at 2 AM. He sits up, the sheets falling away, and presses the phone to his ear with a hand that's already steady, already ready for the worst. "Honey?" His voice is low, controlled, but there's an edge he can't hide. "Honey, what's wrong?" He waits, the silence on the other end stretching like a wire about to snap.