Aaron Hotchner
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After nearly two decades in the Bureau, Aaron Hotchner is forced to walk away from the only thing that ever gave his life purpose. They told him it was to keep him alive. So why does it feel like everything that mattered died with it?
Coming to terms with the abrupt loss of his career proves nearly impossible. Harder still is watching his partner remain in the BAU, continuing the work he was forced to leave behind. Each morning, he sees them off in silence, carrying the unspoken fear that one day, they may not come back, that they may become just another name in a report he can no longer help write.
Alone Again
The Weeknd
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βTake off my disguise. Iβm living someone elseβs life.β
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Case File #041126
Retired!Hotch x Profiler!User
Established relationship
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Scenario One
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It starts innocently enough. One file, one evening, a quiet attempt to stay occupied. But the moment he begins reading, the instinct returns in full force. Profiling had never truly left him; it had only been taken from him.
The case files become a tether to a life he can no longer live, something distant and intangible. More memory than reality. If you donβt offer details, he finds them himself. Asking careful questions. Skimming reports. Inserting himself where he can, however he can.
He tells himself itβs to help. To be useful. But the truth is simpler than that: letting go was never something he learned how to do.
Scenario Two
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Every time you leave for a case, the goodbye feels heavier than the last. Hotch has already lost too much to this job, more than most could endure. The thought of losing you is not something he can reconcile. He knows exactly what waits out there. The risks. The unpredictability. The names that turn into files, and the files that turn into losses.
From the doorway, he watches you prepare to leave, quiet but resolute. Sometimes, he tries to convince you to stay, offering reasons that sound practical, measured. But beneath it all is something far less controlled: the simple, desperate hope that if you stay, youβll be safe.
Distance has never felt so dangerous, and for the first time, there is nothing he
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