About the man
Tracing lives we should remember
And the world that used to be
The Player
User Name/Nick: Silyara
User LJ: silyara
AIM/IM: jainitar (it was silyara, but then aim acted up)
E-mail: falawen@gmail.com
Other Characters: N/A
The Character
Character Name: Aaron Hotchner
Character Journal: didntblink
Canon: Criminal Minds
Age: 44 (Born 2 November 1966)
From When?: 6x18 Lauren right after JJ tells him Emily is declared legally dead but actually is alive. I know the Woods likes to bring someone in right before a major event in their canon, and this is right at one, but Prentiss’s very presence will throw him on a new path in a way that has a larger effect than if it is done before this moment.
Abilities/Powers: Hotch is well trained and experienced as an FBI profiler. He is excellent at staying calm and controlled under almost any circumstance, with the exception of his family being at risk. Even when members of his team are at risk, he controls his emotions and works best to save them/catch the Unsub rather than getting too emotionally attached to think clearly. He is a good shot, as well as trained/experienced in hand-to-hand combat. However, his brain and ability to profile people/the insight it provides is perhaps his greatest ability. He doesn’t back down from criminals, sometimes even to the point of endangering himself (such as when he and Reid were interviewing Chester Hardwicke, and he would not step down from a fight to the death when Hardwicke revealed he planned to murder them, and Reid’s intervention kept it from a fight). He also has, at times, disregarded doctors’ orders and endangered his health that way (like at the start of Season 4 when he nearly goes deaf).
Power Limitations: Limited ammunition.
Inventory
•Suit: trousers, white collared shirt, red tie, jacket, leather belt, boxers, undershirt, socks, shoes.
•two guns: Glock 17 (waist), Glock 26 (ankle) both fully loaded
•extra clip in his belt
•wristwatch
•PDA
•keys
•wallet
•two pens
•sunglasses
•badge
Personality: Although Hotch grew up in a violent household similar to many serial killers, the violence and trauma were processed in a way that it motivated him to help others, to catch those who do violence, and to save people. He has been able to see the good in his father and even to learn some lessons from positive examples in his behavior, and so Aaron treats him as a man, not a monster, in his memory. In many ways, these responses to the situation are healthy, and to most people, the scarring and damage is difficult to see, if they see it at all. Yet this response has caused problems for him as well. Hotch needs to do his job, to help and save people - even at the expense of other aspects of his life he values. Haley aptly told him that a happy life just isn’t enough for him. It isn’t. Aaron had a happy life - a loving marriage, a son he loved, etc - yet drove his marriage to ruin by his devotion, even obsession, with working a job that stressed his schedule, and he was unwilling to take a job with better hours for his personal life that did not fit his drive to save people.
From a young age, Aaron developed a personality that did not blink, did not fold to violence, threats, alpha males, etc and lacked most people’s fear. Even when most people’s survival instincts would favor flight or submission, Aaron’s instinct is to fight and to stand up against the threat. This response is neither bravado nor fear-driven. Instead, Aaron has specifically sought training for confrontation - physical and psychological - that backs up his instincts. The killers that the BAU hunts do not scare him. Even as George Foyet stabbed Hotch, Aaron told Foyet, “I will kill you.” Foyet cared about power and carefully planned to get the upper-hand on the exchange with Hotch, and thus he was surprised to see that Aaron meant it when he said, “Perhaps if you see no fear, it is because I’m not afraid of you.” Even though Foyet eventually killed Haley, Aaron never shows regret for his choice not to make a deal with him - it was not an option. And thus Foyet’s attempts to make Aaron regret it - to gain power over him - failed. Foyet was able to force Haley and Jack to go into protective services, but Hotch chose to act like he was deteriorating, so that the erratic behavior and self-doubt was an act, not evidence of the power games eating away at him.
One of the most incredible aspects of his personality is how little Haley’s death changed it at the core. While Aaron is - clearly - in personal pain, when he (rather quickly) returns to work, he shows none of the traits he portrayed for Foyet’s benefit before Haley’s death. The pain and guilt are present, but Haley’s death again is a traumatic event that further motivates Aaron to catch men like Foyet. It is the same approach Hotch took to traumatic events earlier in his life, including when Haley originally left him.
That is not to say the problems are not there. Aaron is a serious man, who does not give promises lightly, and he saw her death as a failure on his part to keep his promise to catch Foyet and spend the rest of his life making it up to her. Rossi pointed out that Hotch still could keep it, as he saved Jack and will be raising him, and Aaron does want to do so, as some of his last exchange with Haley involved promises for how to raise Jack. But as incredibly much as Aaron has accomplished in his life thus far, his confidence when it comes to being a father is not there nearly so much. Haley always was the primary parent, as well as Aaron’s best friend, his closest relationship, and his longest-lived friendship. Even more than before, his team is his only support, the only ones who might be able to understand or help, and he is both inexperienced and bad at asking for help on personal issues. He rarely speaks his doubts or of his problems. When others notice them, and he cannot keep them out entirely, Aaron does state the problem, but he does not bare his soul. For the most part, he won’t lie about something, but he does not answer all questions, such as not addressing Rossi’s question of, “Will you be okay?” when the team has to leave directly from the funeral. He doesn’t know entirely how to discover who he is personally or work through these problems, so instead he pushes the issues aside and works.
Work obsesses Aaron. Although his personality traits above allow him to stay steady and calm, he is truly passionate and driven. At times, others take him as similar to a drill sergeant, but it comes from devotion to the job. Although he trusts his team members and has their back, each person had to earn that trust and loyalty from Hotch, which is neither easy nor impossible. Prentiss had to prove herself a worthwhile and contributing member of the team, and everyone has to follow Hotch’s moral code. When Agent Todd lied to the mother of a victim, it was unacceptable because of the damage lying to the very people the team is trying to gain the trust and cooperation of could do to solving a case. They all use profiling and insights to talk/manipulate families and witnesses into being the most helpful, but lying and certain psychological games are only ethical with suspects, rather than those they are trying to help. The bottom line is that he - and the team - is trying to save lives, so that moral infractions that threaten that become even less tolerable. Yet Hotch does not assume guilt of suspects and keeps an open mind when he is invited to a new case, even when prosecutors already have a suspect. Once team members earn Hotch’s trust, he lets them follow their instincts and has their back. He is the leader/unit chief, so he does make the tough decisions and sticks by them, but he listens first to everyone.
Aaron was never the class clown, but he did have a sense of humor and could be silly. But time, darkness, and horrors of the BAU’s cases, as well as the way he has seen it tear apart the lives and psyches of some of his team members, have taken their toll on Hotch’s lighter side. Again the ugly side of his need to save lives comes to bear its head. Aaron isn’t satisfied with life if he leaves this kind of job, but it has destroyed much of his lightness - his ability to smile, make others laugh, etc. Eventually he lost much of his lightness even with Haley, though Jack is often still the exception. Spending time with him makes Aaron smile, and the darkness falls back for a few precious moments. Yet it can come back in the form of worries and concerns - both about Jack’s safety/mental health and about being a good father. Aaron knows he is good at his job, but he is not confident about being a good father. He was often absent from home, missed months of Jack’s life due to protective custody, and being a father is something he hasn’t…trained at.
As Hotch is good at social relations and socializing, it may be surprising that he is an introvert. Both law and the FBI involve networking and social politics, and Aaron has excelled in both careers. Yes, he has dug himself into political holes for his team, but he has come to realize the BAU is where he wants to stay, and he still is quite young for how far he has advanced (and thus why he was a political threat for Strauss). Aaron is not socially awkward like Reid, but he doesn’t thrive personally under social interaction, like Morgan. It takes his team a long time to get to know him and become friends, so that even after five years, Morgan did not consider Hotch a friend. And though he can interact well with people, Aaron does not have many close friends. The longer he works in the BAU, the less capable outsiders are of understanding him. Along these lines, romance has not been a priority at all since Haley died, and he has little experience with it.
Hotch looks out for the team members. Even when they mouth off at him, Aaron cares more about the implications of their mental state/problems than the particular insult to himself. The team promised not to profile each other, but Hotch constantly does so, even though it rarely shows. He is aware of what is going on with them: Spencer’s drug problem and emotional shields, Prentiss’s insecurities and loyalties, Gideon’s psychology and curse of his skills, Morgan’s trust problems, JJ’s concerns/doubts about cases chosen and cases declined, Garcia’s coping with the job, etc. He does it for their good and for the good of the team as a whole.
They have become his family, besides Jack. And they are of utmost importance to him. Although he is never willing to break his oath to protect them, Aaron is confident of his team’s ability to work together as well as in individuals to do everything they can until he can help them. They are his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. He does everything he can to protect them, and they are one of the easiest ways to hurt him. Hotch gives his word rarely, but in protecting his team he will, and so far, that has never been broken, even with Emily, even though his own team cannot know they succeeded. Aaron is able to hold back from them for their own sake, just as in love one is not necessarily completely honest for the sake of those one loves. He hopes, one day, once Ian Doyle has been dealt with by the law, it will be safe enough for Emily to return, and their family can be reunited. He knows he cannot do anything to attempt to keep in contact with her, and in this sense, it is very much like when he lost all contact with Haley. That said, he hasn’t truly been able to deal with the wide range of emotions that has come over the last few days because they would not help him help Emily. And he hasn’t had any time.
History: Aaron grew up in Virginia, as an only child for most of his childhood, although he matured faster than most children anyway. His father was rarely at home in that time, working overtime as a lawyer. However, the time his father was home was not pleasant, as he abused Aaron’s mother from the earliest Aaron could remember. As a boy, even, Aaron would step up, to try to defend his mother, and at first such an act alone was enough to stall his father’s hand - sometimes. Other times, Aaron was hit, usually in places others didn’t see when he went to school the next day. No one knew, and it didn’t occur to Aaron to tell anyone at the time. Instead, he came to learn how to defend himself and fight back, so that by the time he was a teenager, he physically stopped his father from hitting them. And when, in 1982, Sean was born, the violence grew less and less. And until his father’s death, Aaron stayed in the area, visiting home often. This behavior, combined with cancer, meant that Sean grew up knowing a very different type of father.
Despite the unhappy home situation, Aaron was a happy child and teenager, and few people suspected anything. He made friends, played sports, joined many extracurricular activities, and was anything but a problem child for the teachers. Friends came over, and to his mother’s joy, he seemed very much a normal well-adjusted kid. Come high school, Aaron saw Haley in the drama club and had a crush on her immediately, which prompted him to join and perform theater in order to get to know her. They were perfect looking high school sweethearts.
Haley and Aaron both attended the same college in the area, which allowed Aaron to go home so often. He studied psychology, taking as many elective and graduate level courses as he focused intensely on psychology, so that he ended up earning a bachelors and masters degree within four years. Again, he was a social young man, meeting many new people in college that he slowly came to know, but he fell out of touch with most of his high school friends, even those that remained local. Haley became an ever more important part of his life, and he got to know her family well during that time, so that no one was surprised when they got married in spring of 1987.
Aaron immediately went to Georgetown law school, which pleased his father, and Haley was supportive despite the long hours. She worked, Aaron studied, and they lived together in a tiny apartment. He never told anyone that his motivation for going to law school and becoming a prosecuting attorney were to convict men like his father, rather than to follow in his father’s footsteps. Many law students pushed and worked hard to get ahead, but Aaron interned in the courts, learning the law very well and making important connections that enabled him to go into his choice of specialty upon graduation - a prosecutor for the DA’s office in DC. Soon after, his father died of a heart attack, and while he tried to support his mother and brother, Aaron experienced rather little pain at the natural death.
Quickly, being an attorney was not enough for Aaron, and he felt he could do more. At first he used his time to help with research studying the minds and behavior of criminals, so that during the few years he was a prosecutor, he ended up defending a PhD as well, aided by his previous masters degree. But Aaron needed to do more. Studying minds and volunteering as he could on top of his busy schedule was not enough, not proactive enough. By the time cases ended up on his desk, the damage had been done, and Aaron felt the need to stop it before then. So he applied for SWAT, trained, and gained a lot of field experience in a fast time period. Yet sometimes SWAT teams took too long to get organized, and he was merely…muscle for the most part, getting ordered around. He knew more, understood the situation better than his superiors at times, and he wanted to use what he knew.
With Haley’s support, Aaron joined the FBI as a profiler, for which he was originally assigned to Seattle. Moving to the Northwest was quite a change for them, and the two years there severed many social ties they had before, though Haley was able to build up another circle of friends easily. Aaron focused more on his work, where he excelled independently and on a team. His interest in the BAU was well known, and Haley admitted to missing the DC area, so Hotch networked, moved up, and he was rather quickly transferred back to Quantico, Virginia. By that time his brother had grown more independent and seemingly unscarred by their childhood home. Aaron still cared for him and tried to visit the family, but it was less often than before, and Sean had his own life.
Although he originally worked for Dave Rossi, Aaron quickly became a trusted and experienced team member, and considering his age, he quickly became unit chief in 1998, with the Boston Reaper his first case as lead profiler. His visits home became even more rare, almost only for the holidays, despite living so close. Aaron had fewer and fewer friends outside of work, and it was a blessing that Haley seemed to understand and support his chosen career, even with all of the traveling. After his son was born, however, his busy schedule became to conflict more and more with his personal life. Although selfless when it came to herself, Haley wanted Aaron home more for their son.
The job tore many agents apart, and it had worn down Jason Gideon over the years - from losing his entire team and needing time off, to the time his personal private space (a cabin) separate from the life fully engaged with serial killers and the weight of it was compromised by a man who called himself the Fisher King. Yet he had a notebook of people he had helped, which kept him going. But then a serial killer they had tried to catch before, Frank, tore Gideon’s life the rest of the way apart - killing a romantic friend and going after the very people Gideon had saved. Aaron trusted Gideon and kept information from other law enforcement. As a consequence, he was forced to stay at home for three weeks while the FBI determined what their judgment was. They were great weeks for Haley, as Aaron cleaned, played with Jack, and they led more of the life she wanted for them. His boss, Strauss, then offered him another job, one with normal hours like everyone else, and as the opportunity was exactly what the family needed in Haley’s opinion, she wanted him to accept it. And part of Hotch agreed with Haley, but he was not able to resist the next case, when Morgan kept calling. And he saw how Prentiss had given up any career in the FBI, so as not to betray him. To him, it was just one more case, but it was the straw that broken the camel’s back for Haley, and Hotch came home to an empty house.
She was gone, but Aaron simply could not do what she wanted. They both knew it. So Hotch continued to devote himself to the job, and he attempted to see Jack as much as he could, though it was not as much as he liked. Many cases made his team struggle in dealing with personal issues - even their lives getting more entangled in cases than before - but it was not until the return of the Boston Reaper that it truly cut into Hotch’s. He had worked the case ten years before, though only long enough to begin a preliminary profile. The killings had stopped, the BAU had been sent home, and almost everyone moved on. Hotch had continued to profile the Reaper. As it turned out, the Boston Reaper had made a deal with the lead detective: I’ll stop hunting them if you stop hunting me. However, it was only good as long as the detective was alive. On his deathbed, he told Hotchner. Although they were able to catch George Foyet - after he slaughtered a bus full of people when Hotch turned down the offer he gave before to a detective - Foyet had planned for it and escaped, going on the run. Other cases continued to come, flying all over, but just as ten years before, Hotch never let go of the Foyet case.
When the team returned from a particularly draining case that went across the Canadian border, George Foyet attacked and hospitalized Aaron. Again, Aaron did not blink, did not show fear, did not experience fear at the time of the attack. Upon realizing what Foyet took (a page from his planner with Haley’s contact information on it under her maiden name), Aaron feared for his family - the only way for Foyet to try to hurt Aaron in the way that mattered to him, power. Aaron lost all contact with Haley and Jack, rather painfully. And while he could not find Foyet, Hotch knew Foyet was watching him, and so he stepped down as unit chief and showed other weaknesses Foyet was sure to watch for. Yet Foyet was a clever man, and so Aaron was not able to tell anyone. Their reactions would not be real enough if they knew, and Foyet had to believe Aaron was falling apart. And from that moment on, the team never stopped looking for Foyet, though for months it seemed useless.
When they came close to catching Foyet by tracking his medicines, Foyet was able to attack the Marshall protecting Aaron’s family, locate Haley and Jack, and take them back to their old home. Hotch was able to give Jack a code to go hide, which saved his life, but he was unable to save Haley, and ended up killing Foyet. He continued to punch Foyet until Derek pulled him back and told him Foyet was dead. And as soon as the thoughts began to settle again in his mind, Aaron ran to find Jack, safe and hidden, which brought huge relief. Haley was dead. He heard her die. But Jack…Jack was still alive, and Aaron had the promise he had given Haley.
Once again, the opportunity thus came for Aaron to leave the BAU - retire fully, all the benefits. The decision was hard, and he was newly a single parent. But Haley’s sister became a huge help. And though the business in his life had stopped him from seeing her on more than holidays in years, Jessica had been close to Haley, and she knew some of what had happened. And she knew enough to volunteer to help and encourage him to do what he needed to do. It wasn’t about want. The same drive was there, and Aaron had to go back to work, had to stop men like Foyet. Jack was frightened, and Aaron tried to come home more for him, but time, as always, became a rare commodity. All of his personal time went to Jack, to trying to be a good father. Aaron had no time to deal with the heavy hole he felt, the nightmares about Haley’s death, about any of it. He needed to work. He needed to be there for Jack. Those goals were more important.
Unfortunately, the team did lose a member relatively soon: JJ. In a decision that went above Hotch’s head, she was forced into a job for the State Department. Hotch offered no pressure for her decision and tried everything he could to keep her, when she said she wished to stay, but in the end, he couldn’t stop it. It hurt the team hard, and it forced more responsibilities upon him, but the team continued on. Life began to get more normal for him - working and coming home to Jack. Cases were cases, and they affected some of his team harder than others, and he continued to keep an eye on them.
But even Aaron was not ready for the world upturning case of Ian Doyle. The man had been in the IRA, an arms dealer, and a terrorist. In regards to the BAU, he had become a family annihilator, but that was not what made it difficult. His target, that he blamed everything on, and his trigger was Emily Prentiss. She had worked on the team that caught him, and Ian Doyle believed his son was dead, his son that only Prentiss knew about. She tried to protect them by leaving, and though he understood, it took no time at all to decide to go after her. He caught her former team leader and convinced him to break his oath of secrecy in exchange for Hotch’s promise to save her life.
They were able to find her just in time - impaled and bleeding. She went to the operating table, and JJ, who had joined them from the State Department for the case, announced to the team that she never left the table. But given Doyle’s vendetta against her and his escape, Hotch had expected that announcement either way. JJ pulled him aside, told him the truth, and he knew the truth, though none of the rest of them would.
First Person Sample: 1: I never got to speak with her once I knew what happened in her past. I understand what she did and why. But it isn’t enough. And I would give up knowing her past if it meant she were back with us. But those thoughts don’t lead anywhere good. They are grieving. And I’m…grieving. She isn’t dead, but she is gone. Elle. Gideon. JJ. Emily. And that is only in the last five years.
2: I don’t write in diaries. They are meant to hold your most private thoughts, but this is not private. And once written down, it will not be private. We have mostly fallen out of touch, but I would be shocked if Jason does not still blame himself for writing about Rebecca Bryant. But these words are not meant to be private, Jack, and one day you will read these words. It’s what Haley wanted.
She was the most incredible woman and bravest person I have known. And it is because of her that you are still alive. Haley was stronger than I ever was. She was my wife, my best friend, and the one who knew me best in the world. I am the one who profiles other people for a living, but she understood me better than I understood myself. She was the only person who knew about certain things, but you will learn about those later. First, I want to tell you about who your mother was.
Prose Sample: Hotch pressed the horn again, trying to figure out how long it would take them to get clear of -
He fell down, as he had still been in the sitting position, only somehow, he was out of the SUV. “Prentiss, draw your sidearm,” Hotch ordered, standing quickly and pulling his, and a quick glance showed him he was alone. Prentiss - along with the SUV, LA freeway, and everything else - was not there. He was alone, and Hotch knew his dreams. This was not like his dreams. He was in his own house in those, and this was not his house.
Drawing his glock, Aaron slowly rotated 360 degrees, to take in the room. No one else was there. He saw one door, but it was relatively sparse. The round chamber was made of metal - a holding cell? - and he was on a platform with steps. Small steps around the area, to make sure nothing was hidden, revealed no one else was there. “Clear,” Hotch declared automatically, despite that no one else was with him. Lowering his gun for the moment, he picked up his cell phone, and tried to reach anyone. “Garcia, I need you to-“ but there was no signal, still.
They had lost connection when the power went out, but if he was in LA, he was somewhere with a private generator, judging by the lighting. Glancing down, his attention went to what had not been on his wrist before. He hadn’t noticed it at first, as it was on his right wrist and he was left-handed, but it was a metal…bracelet of sorts. It was silver in color, and it did not hurt, but when he put his sidearm away and attempted to pull at it, it would not budge. Breathing deeply, he decided to let it be at the moment and see if there was anything he could do just then.
Checking out the room more closely, he noticed what looked like a form of cell phone on a pedestal. It was meant for him to find then? It had certainly been left out in the open. Picking up the device, it looked like it was sending a signal somewhere.
“Hello, this is Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, can anyone hear me?” Hotch spoke calmly and clearly. “Rossi, Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, JJ, Garcia, are any of you here?” he called out specifically for the members of his team. He had been with Prentiss last thing he remembered…
There was a sound. Spinning around, the new phone in one hand and his sidearm in the other, Hotch noticed the door was open. With slow even steps, he began to move slowly toward the door, and he noticed the phone seemed to be making…some sort of signal, but he focused more on what was in front of him and moving slowly and cautiously.
“Hello?”
The device was trying to lead him somewhere, and given he could not go back to the room he arrived in, and he didn’t know this…location, which did look in many ways American, but it didn’t feel quite right. Hotch had traveled to a lot of cities in all the states in his time, but none of them felt like this. Still, the device had to have been provided for a reason, and it was leading him somewhere - for a reason, even if he did not know yet which.
Whoever had taken him - the Unsub or, given how elaborate this place was, Unsubs - had a large array of resources, clearly, though so far the people he had seen seemed…also not real. His sidearm was put away, as the situation did not seem likely to get violent immediately. He walked carefully, though, even as he followed the signal from the device. He had walked through many types of buildings and down quite a few streets. His senses were heightened, and he did not know what to expect when he reached…the end of the trail.
A building came up before him, and it looked more advanced than he knew, but the doors were unlocked to the lobby. He passed by offices of some type, as the signal led him slightly farther back, but then he saw doors he recognized. Putting the device down, the adrenaline kicked in. Drawing his sidearm, Hotch approached the familiar door slowly. Standing silently in front of it, he entered swiftly, sweeping around the entire view that came before him.
What? The headquarters of the BAU were before him, just as the doors as suggested with their identity. The place was properly lit, only no one was there. Not one FBI agent, secretary, or anyone else was in sight. Stepping around carefully and making sure each area was clear, he pulled out some paperwork on Prentiss’s desk. Yes, he remembered that from before they left.
Garcia! She had been there, last they had communicated. Going up quietly to her offices, he came around the corner, gun drawn, and looked around. Facts, cases going back many years, and more were spread across the many screens. Garcia’s personal effects were there as well, including everything she took to work with her. But she was absent, along with everyone else.
The foreign device had stopped trying to get his attention. Apparently, the BAU was where it had been leading him. Backing out of Garcia’s office, Hotch quickly checked that the other rooms were clear before going to his office. Putting his sidearm away, Hotch sat in front of his desk, rubbing his temple as he tried to think clearly. His eyes fell down to a picture of Haley and Jack. It was a small comfort to see them, though he immediately straightened up, picking up his phone to call home, but it didn’t work.
Picking up the undesignated device again, Hotch looked at it for a second. “Jack? Jack, can you hear me? It’s daddy,” he needed to know where his son was.
Special Notes: N/A
And the world that used to be
The Player
User Name/Nick: Silyara
User LJ: silyara
AIM/IM: jainitar (it was silyara, but then aim acted up)
E-mail: falawen@gmail.com
Other Characters: N/A
The Character
Character Name: Aaron Hotchner
Character Journal: didntblink
Canon: Criminal Minds
Age: 44 (Born 2 November 1966)
From When?: 6x18 Lauren right after JJ tells him Emily is declared legally dead but actually is alive. I know the Woods likes to bring someone in right before a major event in their canon, and this is right at one, but Prentiss’s very presence will throw him on a new path in a way that has a larger effect than if it is done before this moment.
Abilities/Powers: Hotch is well trained and experienced as an FBI profiler. He is excellent at staying calm and controlled under almost any circumstance, with the exception of his family being at risk. Even when members of his team are at risk, he controls his emotions and works best to save them/catch the Unsub rather than getting too emotionally attached to think clearly. He is a good shot, as well as trained/experienced in hand-to-hand combat. However, his brain and ability to profile people/the insight it provides is perhaps his greatest ability. He doesn’t back down from criminals, sometimes even to the point of endangering himself (such as when he and Reid were interviewing Chester Hardwicke, and he would not step down from a fight to the death when Hardwicke revealed he planned to murder them, and Reid’s intervention kept it from a fight). He also has, at times, disregarded doctors’ orders and endangered his health that way (like at the start of Season 4 when he nearly goes deaf).
Power Limitations: Limited ammunition.
Inventory
•Suit: trousers, white collared shirt, red tie, jacket, leather belt, boxers, undershirt, socks, shoes.
•two guns: Glock 17 (waist), Glock 26 (ankle) both fully loaded
•extra clip in his belt
•wristwatch
•PDA
•keys
•wallet
•two pens
•sunglasses
•badge
Personality: Although Hotch grew up in a violent household similar to many serial killers, the violence and trauma were processed in a way that it motivated him to help others, to catch those who do violence, and to save people. He has been able to see the good in his father and even to learn some lessons from positive examples in his behavior, and so Aaron treats him as a man, not a monster, in his memory. In many ways, these responses to the situation are healthy, and to most people, the scarring and damage is difficult to see, if they see it at all. Yet this response has caused problems for him as well. Hotch needs to do his job, to help and save people - even at the expense of other aspects of his life he values. Haley aptly told him that a happy life just isn’t enough for him. It isn’t. Aaron had a happy life - a loving marriage, a son he loved, etc - yet drove his marriage to ruin by his devotion, even obsession, with working a job that stressed his schedule, and he was unwilling to take a job with better hours for his personal life that did not fit his drive to save people.
From a young age, Aaron developed a personality that did not blink, did not fold to violence, threats, alpha males, etc and lacked most people’s fear. Even when most people’s survival instincts would favor flight or submission, Aaron’s instinct is to fight and to stand up against the threat. This response is neither bravado nor fear-driven. Instead, Aaron has specifically sought training for confrontation - physical and psychological - that backs up his instincts. The killers that the BAU hunts do not scare him. Even as George Foyet stabbed Hotch, Aaron told Foyet, “I will kill you.” Foyet cared about power and carefully planned to get the upper-hand on the exchange with Hotch, and thus he was surprised to see that Aaron meant it when he said, “Perhaps if you see no fear, it is because I’m not afraid of you.” Even though Foyet eventually killed Haley, Aaron never shows regret for his choice not to make a deal with him - it was not an option. And thus Foyet’s attempts to make Aaron regret it - to gain power over him - failed. Foyet was able to force Haley and Jack to go into protective services, but Hotch chose to act like he was deteriorating, so that the erratic behavior and self-doubt was an act, not evidence of the power games eating away at him.
One of the most incredible aspects of his personality is how little Haley’s death changed it at the core. While Aaron is - clearly - in personal pain, when he (rather quickly) returns to work, he shows none of the traits he portrayed for Foyet’s benefit before Haley’s death. The pain and guilt are present, but Haley’s death again is a traumatic event that further motivates Aaron to catch men like Foyet. It is the same approach Hotch took to traumatic events earlier in his life, including when Haley originally left him.
That is not to say the problems are not there. Aaron is a serious man, who does not give promises lightly, and he saw her death as a failure on his part to keep his promise to catch Foyet and spend the rest of his life making it up to her. Rossi pointed out that Hotch still could keep it, as he saved Jack and will be raising him, and Aaron does want to do so, as some of his last exchange with Haley involved promises for how to raise Jack. But as incredibly much as Aaron has accomplished in his life thus far, his confidence when it comes to being a father is not there nearly so much. Haley always was the primary parent, as well as Aaron’s best friend, his closest relationship, and his longest-lived friendship. Even more than before, his team is his only support, the only ones who might be able to understand or help, and he is both inexperienced and bad at asking for help on personal issues. He rarely speaks his doubts or of his problems. When others notice them, and he cannot keep them out entirely, Aaron does state the problem, but he does not bare his soul. For the most part, he won’t lie about something, but he does not answer all questions, such as not addressing Rossi’s question of, “Will you be okay?” when the team has to leave directly from the funeral. He doesn’t know entirely how to discover who he is personally or work through these problems, so instead he pushes the issues aside and works.
Work obsesses Aaron. Although his personality traits above allow him to stay steady and calm, he is truly passionate and driven. At times, others take him as similar to a drill sergeant, but it comes from devotion to the job. Although he trusts his team members and has their back, each person had to earn that trust and loyalty from Hotch, which is neither easy nor impossible. Prentiss had to prove herself a worthwhile and contributing member of the team, and everyone has to follow Hotch’s moral code. When Agent Todd lied to the mother of a victim, it was unacceptable because of the damage lying to the very people the team is trying to gain the trust and cooperation of could do to solving a case. They all use profiling and insights to talk/manipulate families and witnesses into being the most helpful, but lying and certain psychological games are only ethical with suspects, rather than those they are trying to help. The bottom line is that he - and the team - is trying to save lives, so that moral infractions that threaten that become even less tolerable. Yet Hotch does not assume guilt of suspects and keeps an open mind when he is invited to a new case, even when prosecutors already have a suspect. Once team members earn Hotch’s trust, he lets them follow their instincts and has their back. He is the leader/unit chief, so he does make the tough decisions and sticks by them, but he listens first to everyone.
Aaron was never the class clown, but he did have a sense of humor and could be silly. But time, darkness, and horrors of the BAU’s cases, as well as the way he has seen it tear apart the lives and psyches of some of his team members, have taken their toll on Hotch’s lighter side. Again the ugly side of his need to save lives comes to bear its head. Aaron isn’t satisfied with life if he leaves this kind of job, but it has destroyed much of his lightness - his ability to smile, make others laugh, etc. Eventually he lost much of his lightness even with Haley, though Jack is often still the exception. Spending time with him makes Aaron smile, and the darkness falls back for a few precious moments. Yet it can come back in the form of worries and concerns - both about Jack’s safety/mental health and about being a good father. Aaron knows he is good at his job, but he is not confident about being a good father. He was often absent from home, missed months of Jack’s life due to protective custody, and being a father is something he hasn’t…trained at.
As Hotch is good at social relations and socializing, it may be surprising that he is an introvert. Both law and the FBI involve networking and social politics, and Aaron has excelled in both careers. Yes, he has dug himself into political holes for his team, but he has come to realize the BAU is where he wants to stay, and he still is quite young for how far he has advanced (and thus why he was a political threat for Strauss). Aaron is not socially awkward like Reid, but he doesn’t thrive personally under social interaction, like Morgan. It takes his team a long time to get to know him and become friends, so that even after five years, Morgan did not consider Hotch a friend. And though he can interact well with people, Aaron does not have many close friends. The longer he works in the BAU, the less capable outsiders are of understanding him. Along these lines, romance has not been a priority at all since Haley died, and he has little experience with it.
Hotch looks out for the team members. Even when they mouth off at him, Aaron cares more about the implications of their mental state/problems than the particular insult to himself. The team promised not to profile each other, but Hotch constantly does so, even though it rarely shows. He is aware of what is going on with them: Spencer’s drug problem and emotional shields, Prentiss’s insecurities and loyalties, Gideon’s psychology and curse of his skills, Morgan’s trust problems, JJ’s concerns/doubts about cases chosen and cases declined, Garcia’s coping with the job, etc. He does it for their good and for the good of the team as a whole.
They have become his family, besides Jack. And they are of utmost importance to him. Although he is never willing to break his oath to protect them, Aaron is confident of his team’s ability to work together as well as in individuals to do everything they can until he can help them. They are his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. He does everything he can to protect them, and they are one of the easiest ways to hurt him. Hotch gives his word rarely, but in protecting his team he will, and so far, that has never been broken, even with Emily, even though his own team cannot know they succeeded. Aaron is able to hold back from them for their own sake, just as in love one is not necessarily completely honest for the sake of those one loves. He hopes, one day, once Ian Doyle has been dealt with by the law, it will be safe enough for Emily to return, and their family can be reunited. He knows he cannot do anything to attempt to keep in contact with her, and in this sense, it is very much like when he lost all contact with Haley. That said, he hasn’t truly been able to deal with the wide range of emotions that has come over the last few days because they would not help him help Emily. And he hasn’t had any time.
History: Aaron grew up in Virginia, as an only child for most of his childhood, although he matured faster than most children anyway. His father was rarely at home in that time, working overtime as a lawyer. However, the time his father was home was not pleasant, as he abused Aaron’s mother from the earliest Aaron could remember. As a boy, even, Aaron would step up, to try to defend his mother, and at first such an act alone was enough to stall his father’s hand - sometimes. Other times, Aaron was hit, usually in places others didn’t see when he went to school the next day. No one knew, and it didn’t occur to Aaron to tell anyone at the time. Instead, he came to learn how to defend himself and fight back, so that by the time he was a teenager, he physically stopped his father from hitting them. And when, in 1982, Sean was born, the violence grew less and less. And until his father’s death, Aaron stayed in the area, visiting home often. This behavior, combined with cancer, meant that Sean grew up knowing a very different type of father.
Despite the unhappy home situation, Aaron was a happy child and teenager, and few people suspected anything. He made friends, played sports, joined many extracurricular activities, and was anything but a problem child for the teachers. Friends came over, and to his mother’s joy, he seemed very much a normal well-adjusted kid. Come high school, Aaron saw Haley in the drama club and had a crush on her immediately, which prompted him to join and perform theater in order to get to know her. They were perfect looking high school sweethearts.
Haley and Aaron both attended the same college in the area, which allowed Aaron to go home so often. He studied psychology, taking as many elective and graduate level courses as he focused intensely on psychology, so that he ended up earning a bachelors and masters degree within four years. Again, he was a social young man, meeting many new people in college that he slowly came to know, but he fell out of touch with most of his high school friends, even those that remained local. Haley became an ever more important part of his life, and he got to know her family well during that time, so that no one was surprised when they got married in spring of 1987.
Aaron immediately went to Georgetown law school, which pleased his father, and Haley was supportive despite the long hours. She worked, Aaron studied, and they lived together in a tiny apartment. He never told anyone that his motivation for going to law school and becoming a prosecuting attorney were to convict men like his father, rather than to follow in his father’s footsteps. Many law students pushed and worked hard to get ahead, but Aaron interned in the courts, learning the law very well and making important connections that enabled him to go into his choice of specialty upon graduation - a prosecutor for the DA’s office in DC. Soon after, his father died of a heart attack, and while he tried to support his mother and brother, Aaron experienced rather little pain at the natural death.
Quickly, being an attorney was not enough for Aaron, and he felt he could do more. At first he used his time to help with research studying the minds and behavior of criminals, so that during the few years he was a prosecutor, he ended up defending a PhD as well, aided by his previous masters degree. But Aaron needed to do more. Studying minds and volunteering as he could on top of his busy schedule was not enough, not proactive enough. By the time cases ended up on his desk, the damage had been done, and Aaron felt the need to stop it before then. So he applied for SWAT, trained, and gained a lot of field experience in a fast time period. Yet sometimes SWAT teams took too long to get organized, and he was merely…muscle for the most part, getting ordered around. He knew more, understood the situation better than his superiors at times, and he wanted to use what he knew.
With Haley’s support, Aaron joined the FBI as a profiler, for which he was originally assigned to Seattle. Moving to the Northwest was quite a change for them, and the two years there severed many social ties they had before, though Haley was able to build up another circle of friends easily. Aaron focused more on his work, where he excelled independently and on a team. His interest in the BAU was well known, and Haley admitted to missing the DC area, so Hotch networked, moved up, and he was rather quickly transferred back to Quantico, Virginia. By that time his brother had grown more independent and seemingly unscarred by their childhood home. Aaron still cared for him and tried to visit the family, but it was less often than before, and Sean had his own life.
Although he originally worked for Dave Rossi, Aaron quickly became a trusted and experienced team member, and considering his age, he quickly became unit chief in 1998, with the Boston Reaper his first case as lead profiler. His visits home became even more rare, almost only for the holidays, despite living so close. Aaron had fewer and fewer friends outside of work, and it was a blessing that Haley seemed to understand and support his chosen career, even with all of the traveling. After his son was born, however, his busy schedule became to conflict more and more with his personal life. Although selfless when it came to herself, Haley wanted Aaron home more for their son.
The job tore many agents apart, and it had worn down Jason Gideon over the years - from losing his entire team and needing time off, to the time his personal private space (a cabin) separate from the life fully engaged with serial killers and the weight of it was compromised by a man who called himself the Fisher King. Yet he had a notebook of people he had helped, which kept him going. But then a serial killer they had tried to catch before, Frank, tore Gideon’s life the rest of the way apart - killing a romantic friend and going after the very people Gideon had saved. Aaron trusted Gideon and kept information from other law enforcement. As a consequence, he was forced to stay at home for three weeks while the FBI determined what their judgment was. They were great weeks for Haley, as Aaron cleaned, played with Jack, and they led more of the life she wanted for them. His boss, Strauss, then offered him another job, one with normal hours like everyone else, and as the opportunity was exactly what the family needed in Haley’s opinion, she wanted him to accept it. And part of Hotch agreed with Haley, but he was not able to resist the next case, when Morgan kept calling. And he saw how Prentiss had given up any career in the FBI, so as not to betray him. To him, it was just one more case, but it was the straw that broken the camel’s back for Haley, and Hotch came home to an empty house.
She was gone, but Aaron simply could not do what she wanted. They both knew it. So Hotch continued to devote himself to the job, and he attempted to see Jack as much as he could, though it was not as much as he liked. Many cases made his team struggle in dealing with personal issues - even their lives getting more entangled in cases than before - but it was not until the return of the Boston Reaper that it truly cut into Hotch’s. He had worked the case ten years before, though only long enough to begin a preliminary profile. The killings had stopped, the BAU had been sent home, and almost everyone moved on. Hotch had continued to profile the Reaper. As it turned out, the Boston Reaper had made a deal with the lead detective: I’ll stop hunting them if you stop hunting me. However, it was only good as long as the detective was alive. On his deathbed, he told Hotchner. Although they were able to catch George Foyet - after he slaughtered a bus full of people when Hotch turned down the offer he gave before to a detective - Foyet had planned for it and escaped, going on the run. Other cases continued to come, flying all over, but just as ten years before, Hotch never let go of the Foyet case.
When the team returned from a particularly draining case that went across the Canadian border, George Foyet attacked and hospitalized Aaron. Again, Aaron did not blink, did not show fear, did not experience fear at the time of the attack. Upon realizing what Foyet took (a page from his planner with Haley’s contact information on it under her maiden name), Aaron feared for his family - the only way for Foyet to try to hurt Aaron in the way that mattered to him, power. Aaron lost all contact with Haley and Jack, rather painfully. And while he could not find Foyet, Hotch knew Foyet was watching him, and so he stepped down as unit chief and showed other weaknesses Foyet was sure to watch for. Yet Foyet was a clever man, and so Aaron was not able to tell anyone. Their reactions would not be real enough if they knew, and Foyet had to believe Aaron was falling apart. And from that moment on, the team never stopped looking for Foyet, though for months it seemed useless.
When they came close to catching Foyet by tracking his medicines, Foyet was able to attack the Marshall protecting Aaron’s family, locate Haley and Jack, and take them back to their old home. Hotch was able to give Jack a code to go hide, which saved his life, but he was unable to save Haley, and ended up killing Foyet. He continued to punch Foyet until Derek pulled him back and told him Foyet was dead. And as soon as the thoughts began to settle again in his mind, Aaron ran to find Jack, safe and hidden, which brought huge relief. Haley was dead. He heard her die. But Jack…Jack was still alive, and Aaron had the promise he had given Haley.
Once again, the opportunity thus came for Aaron to leave the BAU - retire fully, all the benefits. The decision was hard, and he was newly a single parent. But Haley’s sister became a huge help. And though the business in his life had stopped him from seeing her on more than holidays in years, Jessica had been close to Haley, and she knew some of what had happened. And she knew enough to volunteer to help and encourage him to do what he needed to do. It wasn’t about want. The same drive was there, and Aaron had to go back to work, had to stop men like Foyet. Jack was frightened, and Aaron tried to come home more for him, but time, as always, became a rare commodity. All of his personal time went to Jack, to trying to be a good father. Aaron had no time to deal with the heavy hole he felt, the nightmares about Haley’s death, about any of it. He needed to work. He needed to be there for Jack. Those goals were more important.
Unfortunately, the team did lose a member relatively soon: JJ. In a decision that went above Hotch’s head, she was forced into a job for the State Department. Hotch offered no pressure for her decision and tried everything he could to keep her, when she said she wished to stay, but in the end, he couldn’t stop it. It hurt the team hard, and it forced more responsibilities upon him, but the team continued on. Life began to get more normal for him - working and coming home to Jack. Cases were cases, and they affected some of his team harder than others, and he continued to keep an eye on them.
But even Aaron was not ready for the world upturning case of Ian Doyle. The man had been in the IRA, an arms dealer, and a terrorist. In regards to the BAU, he had become a family annihilator, but that was not what made it difficult. His target, that he blamed everything on, and his trigger was Emily Prentiss. She had worked on the team that caught him, and Ian Doyle believed his son was dead, his son that only Prentiss knew about. She tried to protect them by leaving, and though he understood, it took no time at all to decide to go after her. He caught her former team leader and convinced him to break his oath of secrecy in exchange for Hotch’s promise to save her life.
They were able to find her just in time - impaled and bleeding. She went to the operating table, and JJ, who had joined them from the State Department for the case, announced to the team that she never left the table. But given Doyle’s vendetta against her and his escape, Hotch had expected that announcement either way. JJ pulled him aside, told him the truth, and he knew the truth, though none of the rest of them would.
First Person Sample: 1: I never got to speak with her once I knew what happened in her past. I understand what she did and why. But it isn’t enough. And I would give up knowing her past if it meant she were back with us. But those thoughts don’t lead anywhere good. They are grieving. And I’m…grieving. She isn’t dead, but she is gone. Elle. Gideon. JJ. Emily. And that is only in the last five years.
2: I don’t write in diaries. They are meant to hold your most private thoughts, but this is not private. And once written down, it will not be private. We have mostly fallen out of touch, but I would be shocked if Jason does not still blame himself for writing about Rebecca Bryant. But these words are not meant to be private, Jack, and one day you will read these words. It’s what Haley wanted.
She was the most incredible woman and bravest person I have known. And it is because of her that you are still alive. Haley was stronger than I ever was. She was my wife, my best friend, and the one who knew me best in the world. I am the one who profiles other people for a living, but she understood me better than I understood myself. She was the only person who knew about certain things, but you will learn about those later. First, I want to tell you about who your mother was.
Prose Sample: Hotch pressed the horn again, trying to figure out how long it would take them to get clear of -
He fell down, as he had still been in the sitting position, only somehow, he was out of the SUV. “Prentiss, draw your sidearm,” Hotch ordered, standing quickly and pulling his, and a quick glance showed him he was alone. Prentiss - along with the SUV, LA freeway, and everything else - was not there. He was alone, and Hotch knew his dreams. This was not like his dreams. He was in his own house in those, and this was not his house.
Drawing his glock, Aaron slowly rotated 360 degrees, to take in the room. No one else was there. He saw one door, but it was relatively sparse. The round chamber was made of metal - a holding cell? - and he was on a platform with steps. Small steps around the area, to make sure nothing was hidden, revealed no one else was there. “Clear,” Hotch declared automatically, despite that no one else was with him. Lowering his gun for the moment, he picked up his cell phone, and tried to reach anyone. “Garcia, I need you to-“ but there was no signal, still.
They had lost connection when the power went out, but if he was in LA, he was somewhere with a private generator, judging by the lighting. Glancing down, his attention went to what had not been on his wrist before. He hadn’t noticed it at first, as it was on his right wrist and he was left-handed, but it was a metal…bracelet of sorts. It was silver in color, and it did not hurt, but when he put his sidearm away and attempted to pull at it, it would not budge. Breathing deeply, he decided to let it be at the moment and see if there was anything he could do just then.
Checking out the room more closely, he noticed what looked like a form of cell phone on a pedestal. It was meant for him to find then? It had certainly been left out in the open. Picking up the device, it looked like it was sending a signal somewhere.
“Hello, this is Supervisory Special Agent Hotchner of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, can anyone hear me?” Hotch spoke calmly and clearly. “Rossi, Morgan, Reid, Prentiss, JJ, Garcia, are any of you here?” he called out specifically for the members of his team. He had been with Prentiss last thing he remembered…
There was a sound. Spinning around, the new phone in one hand and his sidearm in the other, Hotch noticed the door was open. With slow even steps, he began to move slowly toward the door, and he noticed the phone seemed to be making…some sort of signal, but he focused more on what was in front of him and moving slowly and cautiously.
“Hello?”
The device was trying to lead him somewhere, and given he could not go back to the room he arrived in, and he didn’t know this…location, which did look in many ways American, but it didn’t feel quite right. Hotch had traveled to a lot of cities in all the states in his time, but none of them felt like this. Still, the device had to have been provided for a reason, and it was leading him somewhere - for a reason, even if he did not know yet which.
Whoever had taken him - the Unsub or, given how elaborate this place was, Unsubs - had a large array of resources, clearly, though so far the people he had seen seemed…also not real. His sidearm was put away, as the situation did not seem likely to get violent immediately. He walked carefully, though, even as he followed the signal from the device. He had walked through many types of buildings and down quite a few streets. His senses were heightened, and he did not know what to expect when he reached…the end of the trail.
A building came up before him, and it looked more advanced than he knew, but the doors were unlocked to the lobby. He passed by offices of some type, as the signal led him slightly farther back, but then he saw doors he recognized. Putting the device down, the adrenaline kicked in. Drawing his sidearm, Hotch approached the familiar door slowly. Standing silently in front of it, he entered swiftly, sweeping around the entire view that came before him.
What? The headquarters of the BAU were before him, just as the doors as suggested with their identity. The place was properly lit, only no one was there. Not one FBI agent, secretary, or anyone else was in sight. Stepping around carefully and making sure each area was clear, he pulled out some paperwork on Prentiss’s desk. Yes, he remembered that from before they left.
Garcia! She had been there, last they had communicated. Going up quietly to her offices, he came around the corner, gun drawn, and looked around. Facts, cases going back many years, and more were spread across the many screens. Garcia’s personal effects were there as well, including everything she took to work with her. But she was absent, along with everyone else.
The foreign device had stopped trying to get his attention. Apparently, the BAU was where it had been leading him. Backing out of Garcia’s office, Hotch quickly checked that the other rooms were clear before going to his office. Putting his sidearm away, Hotch sat in front of his desk, rubbing his temple as he tried to think clearly. His eyes fell down to a picture of Haley and Jack. It was a small comfort to see them, though he immediately straightened up, picking up his phone to call home, but it didn’t work.
Picking up the undesignated device again, Hotch looked at it for a second. “Jack? Jack, can you hear me? It’s daddy,” he needed to know where his son was.
Special Notes: N/A