Criminal MInds - Hotch/Garcia - #22 Hidden

Mar 22, 2012 16:48



Title: Hidden In Plain Sight
Author: avferreira
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Characters: Aaron Hotchner; Penelope Garcia; Derek Morgan; Spencer Reid
Pairings: Hotch/Garcia; Morgan/Reid
Prompt: 022. Hidden
Word Count: 1537
Rating: T
Summary:  A kidnapping is foiled and Derek Morgan comes to believe there's more to Hotch and Penny than meets the eye.
Other Info: SF AU: human animal hybrids
Disclaimer: None of the characters here represented are mine.

Morgan and Reid were sitting outside a coffee house in the park. Spencer loved the place because they actually served real coffee, instead of the reconstituted stuff most places had. The minimals had been strolling through the park, and were now lounging under a tree a few feet away from where the two men sat.

A small boy approached them, and dropped a ball in Hotch’s lap. Morgan started to get up, Hotch was even less friendly with strangers, but he saw the minimal pick up the ball and throw it. Delighted the child ran to catch it, and then rolled it back to Hotch, who threw it again, with an amused smiled on his face.

The child’s mother looked up from where she was sitting with a friend, saw the lit controller on Hotch’s wrist and relaxed. All minimals were required to have a controlling implant: it continually broadcasted their position, it carried the information of who owned them, and most importantly, it injected a powerful quick-acting sedative into their blood stream if their hormonal levels became too imbalanced. There had only ever been problems with minimals who were unconstrained, or who had had their implants damaged.

“Isn’t it cute?” Reid said, beside him. “He’s playing fetch.”

Yes, he is, Morgan thought, but he isn’t the one doing the fetching. He watched as the boy brought the ball to Hotch once again and, apparently tired of all the running, climbed onto Penny’s lap, snuggled up against her, and started playing with her ears. He was struck by how different Penny and Hotch’s demeanour was; as the two exchanged a look over the boy’s head, there was something about them that seemed far more aware than usual. Or maybe that awareness had always been there and he had just never noticed it.

It had been a week since he had overheard Penny and Hotch - or was it Aaron? - talking. He’d gone back to bed that night, and had fallen into a restless sleep, crowded with nightmares about the minimals rising in rebellion against their enslavers, and Hotch and Penny trying to convince their peers not to execute Spencer and him. When he woke up in the morning, with the bedding tangled around him, and Reid’s arm protectively tossed across his chest, he was almost convinced the exchange he had witnessed had been just part of his dreams. Almost.

He’d spent the week carefully monitoring his pets, whenever he was home. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary on the surface, but once in a while he’d catch a look that was just too knowing, or he’d hear voices that were quickly silenced when he drew nearer. Still, it was all so fleeting, so vague, that he couldn’t be sure of anything, and it was driving him crazy.

He turned to Reid. “Spence, something happened a few nights ago, while you were working.” And he told his par everything.

When he was finished, Reid shook his head. “You’ve dreamt it. There’s no way minimals could be evolved without people knowing. They’re given intellectual development tests twice a year - and before you ask, no, it’s not possible to cheat the tests by acting dumb - any minimal functioning at the level you’ve described would’ve raised some serious red flags.

“I’ll grant you that Hotch seems smarter than most, but he’s still just an improved dog, nothing else.” He leaned over and kissed him. “You worry too much.”

Morgan kissed him back and allowed himself to relax a bit. Reid was right. All minimals had to be taken to special MCU facility twice a year, where they stayed up to a week. His work at the MCU had never taken him to one of those centres, but he knew what kind of work they did there: they tested the minimals’ intelligence, their physical and mental health, how they reacted in specific situations and if there was reason to worry they might become a danger to the public. Finally, it was assessed whether their implants were in working order, or needed to be replaced.

His thoughts were interrupted by the scream of a child. His eyes quickly went to his minimals, but the little boy was back with his mother, and Penny and Hotch were standing on alert, their attention fixed on an area further into the park.

Even at this distance, Morgan could tell what was happening. The number of child abductions had increased in the past few years. Some said the children were being taken and sold to rich families who could not have them; some said they were being taken to populate the outlying colonies; some said worse. No one knew for certain, but the fact remained that the kidnappers were becoming increasingly brazen.

He got to his feet and started running towards the man who was dragging a girl that looked about eleven towards a more densely wooded area. More people were doing the same, but they were almost as far away from the scene as he was.

He soon lost sight of the kidnapper and his victim among the trees, but he could still hear the girl, who was putting up quite a struggle, by the sound of it. He came to a clearing. In the far side of it, the man had just pushed the girl into the back of a transport, and was about to get into the driver’s seat. Morgan started running faster, even though it was clear he wouldn’t reach them before the transport took off.

Suddenly, a long form jumped from the bushes near the man, and tackled him to the ground. Morgan froze, it was Hotch. While the male minimal kept the man pinned down, growling menacing and exhibiting his long fangs, his mate emerged from the other side of the clearing, and opened the transport, releasing the girl, who feel sobbing into her arms.

As Penny comforted the scared child, she gave the kidnapper such a ferocious look that he barely recognised her, but as soon as she noticed him, her faces went back to its usual happy blandness. “Good Penny!” she said, with a grin that Morgan could no longer believe in.

“Yes, you are,” Reid said, startling him. His par walked past him, and took the girl from Penny.

Hotch had gotten off the kidnapper, and two of the area’s custodians were arresting him. No one seemed to find it strange that he had been able to attack the man even though his implant was fully functional.

“His hormones must not have reached critical level,” Reid said, later at home. “He didn’t really attacked the kidnapper, he only kept him controlled. If the man had fought back, and Hotch had tried to harm him, the implant would’ve probably kicked in.”

Morgan wasn’t convinced. He remembered the efficient way Hotch and Penny had worked together, the way they’d looked at each other when the situation was under control, the changes in their attitude when he and the other humans had arrived. It was all too intelligent, too orchestrated.

“It’s just instinct,” Reid said. “A lot of pack animals hunt like that. A few animals chase the prey while the others go around it on each side, until all three groups come together, leaving the prey with no escape. They see you as their alpha. They saw you chasing that man, and they followed suit. That’s all.”

Morgan had a great respect for Reid’s intelligence and knowledge, but for all his brilliance, his par could be terribly stubborn and near-sighted when he had made up his mind about something. He knew what he had seen in that clearing: not two animals hunting, but two operatives falling the steps rigorous training had drilled into them.

He went into the kitchen. Hotch was once again sitting by the window, but this time, Penny was curled up against him. He was nuzzling the side of her face in what seemed like a mere caress, but Morgan noticed for the first time that his lips were moving. Penny’s face was tense; whatever her mate was telling her seemed to have her worried.

He took another step into the kitchen, and the two looked up, alert and wary as he had never seen them. They’ve been hiding in plain sight, Morgan thought, and now they know I know. He wondered if all minimals were really like this, or if it was just a handful, grown wise and self-aware beyond their status, and forced to feign dumbness for fear of termination.

Hotch stood up. “Sleep,” he said, and walked towards the door, with Penny closely behind him.

“Aaron,” Morgan called softly. Hotch startled, and stopped. The look on Penny’s face was close to terror.

Morgan stood in front of his pets. Hotch held his gaze. Morgan was reminded of what Reid had said just a few minutes earlier and almost laughed. He certainly didn’t feel like this little pack’s alpha male, at the moment.

“Aaron,” he said, “You can trust me.”

Hotch smirked. “Trust,” he said, and his tone wasn’t that of an animal repeating a word it couldn’t quite grasp; it was the tone of someone who’d stopped trusting most beings a long time ago.

author: avferreira, fandom: criminal minds

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