History

By ROSSELLA1

Note: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of its characters. I was just wondering one day why the Reaper case in particular would stick with Hotch so much and then rewatching the scene where Hotch and Rossi talk to Foyet I noticed that the majority of the time Foyet was looking at Hotch. Even when he was talking to Rossi he keeps glancing back at Aaron. Then I was also wondering why Foyet didn't go after Hotch after he shot up the bus. Especially with a line like, "See you soon." (I know they're random thoughts but that's what happened) So anyway, this is the result.

He should have known. He should have seen the way Foyet had fixated on him; talked to him more than he had to any of the law enforcement officials in Boston and more than any of the other members of the BAU. He should have realized that the attentions paid to him were unusual for a grieving boyfriend to pay someone only days after his girlfriend had been murdered. Should have noticed that while Foyet seemed interested in Hotch, his job, his hobbies, he never wanted to hear about Haley or his home life. If he'd just paid more attention, looked at Foyet the way he did at every victim, he might not have been in this situation; seated in a chair in an apartment the rest of the team knew nothing about with Foyet pointing a gun at his head. The worst part about it was that his cell phone was turned off so the team had no way to even trace him.

Ten years ago the BAU had been called in two weeks before the 911 call that announced that the Reaper had killed two more. Hotch was relieved when this proved to be false. He was glad of course that Foyet had survived but also (guiltily more so) that they finally had a break. Two weeks and they had almost nothing to go on but instincts. No witnesses, no DNA. Not even a fingerprint and no way to trace the knife. At this point Aaron had been starting to get disheartened and he was hopeful that Foyet would be able to provide them with something; a name, a face, even a type the type of car the unsub drove (if he even drove one) would have been nice. He had made sure to be the one to interview Foyet in the hospital after the police had finished questioning him. This, as Hotch now saw, had been a mistake. The unit chief being the first to agent to talk to him showed Foyet that the BAU considered this case more challenging than others and had only fueled his ego.

When Hotch had talked to Foyet the first time Foyet had seemed to be in shock over what had happened, repeatedly saying he couldn't believe Mandy was dead and that this wasn't supposed to happen to them. He kept asking if it had been his fault for stopping and giving the guy directions, for driving along a deserted highway, even for taking Bertram out when everyone knew there was a serial killer out there who killed couples. Then he had started to cry and Hotch, thinking of how he'd feel if something like this had happened to him and Haley, had reached over and put his hand on Foyet's shoulder telling him that he'd had no way of knowing that this would happen and that the only person who was responsible was the bastard who did this and promised to catch the guy. He'd left that day without asking all the questions he should have; every time he'd thought he'd seen an opening Foyet's emotions seemed to well up and Hotch had ended up comforting him again.

This had led him to come back the next day and this time Foyet was seemingly less distraught. He'd thanked Aaron for the previous day; said he had convinced him that he couldn't look back or feel guilt about what happened. Hotch knew that grief was different for each person and didn't think to question this sudden recovery. After all, George made certain to stop often enough when discussing Bertram for Hotch to avoid probing any sensitive topics. Oh, he'd gotten all the facts; but he hadn't been as thorough on Foyet's and Bertram's relationship as he usually would have been and maybe if he had Foyet would have let something slip and they would have caught him years ago. On that second visit George had given him a nonspecific description of the unsub, gone over in more detail what had happened that night, and apologized profusely for not being more helpful. Aaron should have found it strange that he didn't fit the pattern of most trauma victims, remembering some things but not others, but George had seemed genuinely sorry that he couldn't help more and told Hotch that he'd contact him if he remembered anything else.

After that Foyet called Hotch at least every other day with new tidbits of information. He remembered that the unsub's hair had been brown specifically, instead of just dark, that the unsub had driven a dark green, not black, SUV. These were helpful but led to nowhere. As the case went on Foyet became more relaxed. Hotch had thought this was caused by him slowly recovering but he now saw that it was caused by a feeling of power gotten from having Aaron and the rest of the BAU at his beck and call, relying completely on him for all evidence and all the while he was just playing games with them. He told Hotch to start calling him George and started inviting Hotch to stay for drinks, chats, and even meals. Now, he started asking more about Aaron's life. What made him join the BAU? How long had he lived in Washington? What did he like to do when he didn't have a case? The only thing he never asked about was Haley. Whenever the topic happened to come up, he started talking about Bertram and got all worked up so eventually Hotch stopped mentioning her all together. Sometimes Foyet called him up just to chat and while Hotch knew he should discourage this, that getting too close to a victim was risky, that he'd have to leave after the case was over, he allowed it because he knew what it was like to be a victim and couldn't imagine what he'd feel if Haley and him had been attacked and he had been the one in Foyet's shoes with Haley in Bertram's.

After Shaunessy had called off the hunt for the Reaper, Hotch had been the one to break the news to Foyet and while George flew into a rage at this information none of his anger had been directed at Hotch. Aaron took this as a sign that Foyet understood that it wasn't Hotch's decision but looking back there was no way George could have known that. During the time that Hotch was there his team and him secretly continued to work on the case, talk it over with each other and investigate within the boundaries they'd been restrained to by the police, but Foyet seemed to want more and more of his time. Though repeatedly thanked Hotch for looking into it for him he didn't seem to care how much time Aaron actually spent doing this. If he invited Hotch out for a drink while the team planned to discuss their findings over dinner, he told Hotch he needed to relax and enjoy himself more. If he called while Hotch was studying the crime scene photos he said that Hotch shouldn't be filling his mind with that stuff. Under the guise of further interviewing a victim Hotch found himself giving George almost all his time, free and otherwise.

When six weeks after the case had been officially called off Shaunessy had sent the BAU away, Foyet had been furious. How could Aaron even think about leaving him? The case was still open, the Reaper still out there! If the Aaron left, who would keep Foyet from being attacked in his own home? Aaron had tried to reason with him saying that if the Reaper had wanted to attack him again he would have done so with or without Hotch being in Boston and that unless the police told them to stay his hands were tied. It was no use and the meeting ended with Foyet kicking him out. After Aaron had been home for a few days Foyet had called apologizing for his behavior and asking for forgiveness. Hotch had granted it readily but was careful not to be more than polite. He blamed himself for letting Foyet come to depend on him and felt the only way to right this was by ending the friendship. He didn't say this in so many words but after a few calls Foyet must have guessed and about two weeks later he stopped contacting Aaron.

Ten years later while interviewing Foyet again, Hotch had noticed that George hadn't forgotten how close they had been; talking mainly to Aaron and for the most part ignoring Rossi. He wasn't too surprised when his phone rang almost immediately after he had hung up on the Reaper and it was George inviting him over to an apartment across town to talk. At first he had said that he was busy working but then Foyet had said it had to do with the case and that he'd prefer talking with him alone. Wondering what it could be he had foolishly left without informing his team where he was going. Once he got to the apartment Foyet welcomed him warmly, sat him down, and plied him with food and drinks. He said that he knew he should have told Hotch and Rossi about the apartment earlier but he wanted to keep something for himself. He started talking about what had happened between them ten years ago and how he'd missed having Aaron under his thumb. Just as Hotch had started to realize that something was wrong, Foyet had pulled a gun on him and said that the thing he regretted most was sending Aaron away. He'd removed Aaron's gun and made him turn off his phone. Now it was just the two of them and Hotch was left wondering why he'd missed all the signals that Foyet wasn't what he had appeared to be.