Chapter 17: I Think I'm Losing my Mind now

Aaron had practically locked himself in his office while he went over the case file and autopsy reports. There had to be something that they were missing. If only he could figure out what it was. He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. His eyes landed on the clock across from him. It had been eight hours since Aria was abducted and they had nothing.

Come on Hotchner. Focus. Aria's depending on you to find her.

He glanced at the autopsy report of Halle Roberts and compared it to Alyson Stevens. Their cuts and bruises differed here and there but the major things were the same. The words shattered right knee cap due to repeated blunt force trauma caused by unknown object stood out for him on both reports.

"Why would he do that?" He asked himself as he made a note of it. He flipped to the autopsy photos again. Aria's face flashed in front of him causing him to roughly slam the report closed.

"Wow. What did that file ever do to you?"

Aaron looked up to find Dave standing by the door.

"Don't you ever knock?" He asked as he rearranged the files on his desk.

"I did. You didn't answer." He said then moved towards the desk. "What are you doing, Aaron?" He asked when he spotted the autopsy reports.

"Trying to find a lead." He stated simply.

"By torturing yourself?" He asked, knowing that he was probably picturing his own daughter's dead body while looking at the autopsy photos.

Aaron shook his head. "I don't know what else to do, Dave." He sighed dejectedly. "There has to be something that we're missing."

Rossi was just about to say something when Hotch's cell phone rang. Aaron pulled his phone out his pocket, looked at the caller ID, then placed his phone on the table, making no move to answer it.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Dave asked.

Aaron sighed. "It's Aimee."

Dave frowned. "That's not an answer."

Hotch shook his head. "I can't speak to her right now."

"Why not?"

"Her parents want to offer a reward to anyone who has information on where Aria might be." He said before his phone stopped ringing.

"And that's a problem because..." He prompted.

"Aria's not the only one missing Dave. What about Stephany? You and I both know that the Dawsons' can't afford to put up reward money. They have two other kids they need to see to." Aaron shook his head then sighed.

"How much are they offering?" Dave asked.

"Fifty thousand dollars."

Rossi blew out a breath. "That's a little steep."

"Exactly." He replied as his phone started ringing again. Aaron groaned when he saw it was Aimee calling yet again.

"Let me talk to her." Dave told him.

"Be my guest." He said as slid his phone across the desk towards Dave.

Hotch sat back and watched as Dave spoke to what he assumed to be a very pissed off Aimee as he paced back and forth. Aaron zoned out after a few minutes. His eyes landed on the framed photo of himself and Jack. He realised that he needed to print and frame one of Aria as well. Or one with her and Jack together. Yes. That would look good on his desk. A little reminder of why he did this job. To make the world a safer place for them. But it wasn't safe enough for Aria.

"Aaron. Aaron?" He looked up to find Rossi looking at him with a concerned look on his face. "Are you alright?"

He frowned. "What? Yeah, I'm fine. What did you tell Aimee?"

"Were you not listening? I told her to come here."

"What? Why would you do that?" He asked as he stood from his chair, shooting Rossi an annoyed glance.

"I have a plan."

"Better be a damn brilliant one." He huffed.

"Oh it is. And the best part is that it doesn't involve you." Dave said with a smirk.

"What are you talking about?"

"Go home, Aaron."

"What? No. I'm not going anywhere." He said as he crossed his arms.

"It'll just be for a couple hours. Go spend some time with Jack."

"I can't." He said then shook his head.

"Aaron, you need a break. Go clear your head. The team can manage without you for a few hours."

Hotch opened his mouth to argue but stopped when he realised that Rossi was right. His head wasn't in the best space and he was painstakingly close to punching a wall. "Fine. Just a couple hours then I'm coming straight back here." He decided as he packed up his briefcase and grabbed his phone.

"If you find out anything..." He started.

"You'll be the first to know." Rossi assured him.

"Hey. You're home early." Jessica said with a smile as she saw Hotch enter the front door, "Jack, come see who's here." She called out, watching Aaron put down his briefcase.

"Is everything okay?" She asked when she saw the expression on his face.

He shook his head slightly. "Have you seen the news today?"

"Er, no. You told me to keep Jack away from the TV. Why do you ask?" She asked worriedly.

"It's..." He started but was cut off by Jack.

"Daddy, Daddy!" Jack cried excitedly as he jumped into his father's arms. "You're home."

"Hey, Buddy." He said with a smile as he hugged his son tightly. "Later." He whispered to Jessica, not wanting to talk in front of Jack. She nodded in understanding.

"Are you staying for dinner?" Jack asked. "We're having pizza. Right, Aunt Jess?"

"That's right, Jack-Jack." She replied with a smile.

"Yeah. That sounds good." He said as he took off his suit jacket and loosened his tie.

"Hey Jack, why don't you go wash up before dinner, okay?" Jessica told him just as the doorbell rang.

"I got it." Hotch told her, grabbing his wallet on the way as he watched Jack run off to the bathroom to wash his hands.

After paying and thanking the delivery boy, the three of them sat down at the table as Jessica hand them each a slice of pizza before taking one for herself. Jack chatted happily, telling his father about his day. Hotch smiled and nodded, trying his best to pay attention to what his son was saying. He occasionally glanced at his phone. Something that did not go unnoticed by Jessica.

"Daddy?" Jack said, trying to get his attention.

"Sorry buddy. What were you saying?"

"I'm still seeing Aria tomorrow, right?" He asked.

Aaron froze. He had forgotten that the two of them had made plans for the next day.

"Who's Aria?" Jessica asked.

"She's my new friend. I'm gonna teach her how to play soccer in the park." He replied excitedly. "Is she meeting us there?" He asked.

Aaron sighed. "Jack... about that. Aria can't make it tomorrow."

His smile faded. "What? Why not?" He asked

"Something else came up. Something she wasn't expecting." He replied vaguely.

"But she promised." He said sadly as tears filled his eyes.

Hotch swallowed the lump in his throat. "I know, Buddy. She's really sorry about that." He said as he placed his hand on Jack's back.

"No." He said as he moved away from his father. "She's a liar! She broke her promise." He yelled out, surprising both his father and aunt.

"Jack..." He tried again but Jack stubbornly pulled away then ran off to his room. Aaron ran a hand over his face and sighed.

"Should I go check on him?" Jessica asked softly, still surprised by Jack's reaction.

Aaron shook his head. "Not yet. Let him cool off first. There's a couple things I need to tell you." He told her as they both made their way to the living room. Jessica sat down on the couch while Aaron remained standing. "I should have told you sooner but things have been so hectic and now this case..." He trailed off the shook his head.

"What is it, Aaron?" She asked.

"It's about Aria. She's..."

"One of the missing girls." She guessed.

He closed his eyes then nodded. "That's not all, Jess." He said then looked away. "She's also my daughter."

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You have a daughter?"

He nodded.

"How old is she?" Jessica asked.

Aaron sighed. "She just turned sixteen."

"I don't understand, Aaron." She said as she shook her head. "Did Haley know about this?" She asked.

"No. I only found out about her a little over a month ago." He said as he sat down in front of her. "And I know what you're thinking. But I swear to you, I did not cheat on your sister. Haley and I weren't even together when Aria was conceived. We broke up, remember? I wanted to focus on Law school and she wanted to travel. We just weren't on the same page."

She nodded. "Yeah. I remember. And I'm sorry for assuming the worst. I know that you'd never cheat on anyone. You're too much of a gentleman."

He smiled slightly.

"I'm guessing Jack doesn't know who she is." She assumed.

He shook his head. "No. They've met but he doesn't know that she's his sister." He sighed. "I was waiting for the right time to tell him but now it might not even matter."

"Aaron. You'll find her. Okay?" She said as she squeezed his knee.

"I hope you're right. I can't lose another person I care about. Not like this."

They sat side by side in silence for a few minutes.

"Do you have pictures?" Jessica asked.

Aaron frowned. "Pictures?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Of Aria."

"Oh. Er, yeah I do." He said as he reached for his phone in his pocket. He scrolled through the photos until he found the ones he took after Jack's soccer game the previous Saturday. He handed it to Jessica.

"Oh, wow." She said softly as she saw the first photo. "Aaron, she's gorgeous."

He gave her a sad smile. "Thank you."

She scrolled to the next one with Aria and Jack sitting side by side in a booth. They were laughing over something she couldn't see in the picture. "He looks really happy." She said, referring to Jack.

Aaron nodded. "They hit it off pretty quickly. I mean, there were some nerves in the beginning but it dissipated eventually."

She nodded. "You ready to fill me in on what happened."

He sighed then got up and started pacing. "I don't even know where to start."

"How about when you found out you had a daughter." She suggested.

He nodded then began telling her everything up until what was happening with the case.

"So, you have no idea who might have her or the other girl?" She asked.

He shook his head.

"Aaron... I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine what you must be feeling right now."

"I don't even know what I'm feeling right now." He admitted. "It's all just one big mess." He stopped pacing. "I'm gonna go check on Jack." He said then left the room.

Rossi, are you sure this is a good idea?" Morgan asked skeptically as they stood outside the conference room, watching the two couples that sat across from each other.

"Probably not but they need the distraction." He said, simply. "You ready?" He asked JJ who gave a quick nod.

"I don't know. The doc looks kinda pissed." Morgan pointed out just before Aimee stood up from her chair and started pacing. Morgan gave them a look that said 'I told you so'.

"You're not really helping, Morgan." JJ glared at him. "Let's just get this over with." She said as Rossi followed her up into the conference room.

"Hi. Sorry to keep you all waiting." JJ apologised. "I'm Agent Jareau." She introduced. "I believe you've already met Agent Rossi." They nodded.

Rossi then introduced the two couples.

"Do you have any news? Is that why you called us in?" Mr Dawson asked.

"Unfortunately not." He said as he gestured for the group to sit down. The Dawson's and Daniel complied but Aimee remained standing.

"Then why are we here?" She said as she crossed her arms. "And where's Aaron?" She asked turning towards Rossi.

"He's not here. I told him to go home."

"And he just listened to you!? Our daughter's missing and he's not even here trying to help find her. Does he even care?" She yelled.

"Amelia, stop." Daniel told her as he reached for her hand. "You're not the only one affected by this." He said referring to the Dawson's who seemed almost frightened by Aimee's outburst. "Sit down." He instructed.

She sighed then nodded before taking a seat next to him. "How are you so calm?" She asked him.

"Well, one of us has to be." He grinned. "Think you can stay calm enough to let the agents explain why we're here?" She asked her.

She nodded. "I'm sorry." She apologised to the Dawson's. "It's just been a long day."

"We understand." Mrs Dawson told Aimee. "It's been a long couple days for us, too." She said.

Although it wasn't intentional, that statement made Aimee feel bad. Aria had been missing for just over 9 hours. Stephany had been gone for almost 5 days. Yet, she was the one losing her shit instead of them. She observed the older couple across from her. Both of them had bags under their eyes like they hadn't had a decent night's sleep in days. Considering the fact that their eldest daughter was missing, it was probably true. She wondered if she'd end up looking like that if Aria wasn't found soon.

"So, why are we here?" She asked again, although much calmer than before.

"Agent Hotchner said you mentioned something about offering a reward to anyone who has information on who has Aria and Stephany." Rossi said.

"My parents suggested it, yes. But Daniel thinks it could attract unnecessary attention."

Smart man. JJ thought.

"And what do you think?" Rossi asked.

"I don't know." She shook her head. "I want this guy found but would it even help?"

"Honestly, there's no guarantee that it would but if it's what you want, we won't stop you." Rossi explained.

Aimee bit her lip. She had no idea what to do. Should she listen to her parents or to her fiancé?

"What do you think?" She asked as she turned to face the Dawsons.

"You want our opinion?" Mrs Dawson asked surprised.

Aimee nodded. "This affects both our daughters. You should have a say as well."

"We don't... we can't afford to offer reward money. I mean, we could but it wouldn't be much." Mr Dawson admitted.

Aimee shook her head. "No, no, that's not why I asked." She explained. "I don't expect that from you."

"Stephany's our daughter. We should contribute towards the reward. It wouldn't be fair to let you pay the full amount alone." Mr Dawson reasoned.

"My parents want to offer the reward, so technically Daniel and I aren't contributing anything either." Aimee told them.

Mr Dawson was about to argue but Aimee stopped him.

"Please, Mr Dawson. Just let them do this. I don't care where the money comes from. I just want to do whatever it takes to find my daughter. Yours too." Aimee told him.

Mr Dawson looked at his wife, who gave him an encouraging smile and nod. "Why would you do this? You don't even know us." He said incredulously.

"Because we all want the same thing. Our daughters are probably in the same place right now. They're smart girls. I bet they're probably working together to try and help each other out. Why shouldn't we do the same?" She reasoned.

The Dawson's looked at each other as if they were having a silent conversation. "Excuse us." Mr Dawson said before they stood up and left the room.

Aimee glanced at Daniel, unsure of whether or not she had gotten through to the couple. He gave her hand a soft squeeze before he leaned in closer.

"I'm proud of you." He whispered then placed a kiss to her temple. She gave him a small smile.

After what seemed like hours, the Dawson's finally made a decision. "We're in."

Aimee smiled then nodded. "So, what happens now?" She asked as she turned towards the two agents in the room.

JJ stepped closer. "We organise a press conference. Hopefully we'll be ready before the 8pm news tonight. That gives us roughly two and a half hours to put it all together." She explained.

"Would we need to be part of the press conference?" Mrs Dawson asked. "I don't think I can go through that again."

"No, that's okay." JJ told her then turned to Aimee and Daniel. "Would you two be okay with giving a statement?" She asked.

They nodded. "Yeah, of course. Anything." They both agreed.

"Okay. We should get started. This what I'm gonna need you to do..." JJ explained in further detail. They spent the next hour or so preparing for the press conference. Once they finished up, the Dawson's said their goodbyes as they needed to get back to their kids.

"You ready?" Daniel asked her.

Aimee nodded. "As I'll ever be." She replied, squeezing his hand.

Twenty-Four hours.

That's how much time had passed since Aria had been abducted.

She had been missing for twenty-four hours before they got their first credible lead. And it had come from none other than Aria's best friend.

"Agent Hotchner, there's someone here to see you." Agent Anderson informed him as the team stood gathered in the bullpen.

Hotch nodded as Anderson opened the glass doors to reveal a tired looking Danny Evans.

"Danny?" Hotch asked.

"Er, hi." He greeted awkwardly as the entire team stared at him. "I hope it's okay that I stopped by." He said hesitantly.

"Of course." Hotch nodded. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. I just needed to get out of the house for a while." They frowned. "Izzy stayed over." He explained.

Hotch nodded in understanding, being the only one on the team that had met Izzy. "She must have been a handful." He guessed.

Danny smiled faintly. "Oddly enough, she wasn't. I would've preferred that to the current Izzy." He said softly.

"Why don't we go talk in my office?" Aaron suggested, sensing that Danny wanted to talk without an audience.

Danny nodded gratefully then followed Hotch up to his office as the rest of the team got back to work.

"I'm sorry." Danny apologised once they were in the office. "I'm not usually this nervous. I just felt like I was being analysed out there."

"It's alright. I understand. Trust me, they don't do it intentionally." He told Danny as he cleaned up his office and made room for them to sit on the couch.

Danny frowned. "Did you sleep here last night?"

Aaron turned around to face him. "Yeah. We stayed really late. I figured it was safer staying here than trying to drive home at 1 in the morning."

"Did you get any leads?" He asked as he sat down on the sofa.

"A few but nothing solid."

"Oh." He said, trying not to sound disappointed. "I just thought that after the press conference..." He trailed off.

"I know." He nodded, understanding what Danny was trying to say. "It was a long shot anyway but maybe we'll still get lucky."

"Right."

"So, what did Izzy do to make you want to leave your own house?" Aaron asked him as he sat down on the other side of the sofa.

"Nothing really." He shook his head. "It's just ever since yesterday she's been kinda down and unizzylike."

Aaron raised his eyebrow. "Unizzylike?"

"Yeah. You know. Not like herself. She was actually nice to me." He said incredulously. "I'm sure Aria's told you that the two of us can't stand each other."

"She may have mentioned it once." He nodded.

"So, now she's all mellow and quiet. I mean, you've meet her, right? Would you use those words to describe her?"

"Er, no. Not exactly." Aaron answered.

"See? Hence the term, Unizzylike." He explained then leaned back on the sofa. "Sorry. I usually vent about Izzy to Aria. She's actually the one that came up with the term."

"I figured." He replied as he watched Danny try to hide a yawn. "Did you get any sleep last night?" He asked the teen.

He shrugged. "A couple hours, maybe." He answered, unsure of how long he actually slept.

"Come on, I'll have an agent drive you home." Aaron said as he stood up.

"I'm fine." He insisted as he yawned again.

"Danny, you need to sleep." Aaron told him.

"I know. I just can't. Not right now. I wanna help."

"Danny, I understand how frustrating it is. But right now, there's nothing you can do except try to get some rest." Aaron said softly. "Do it for Aria."

Danny swallowed the lump in his throat as he blinked away tears. "I just want her to be okay." He said softly.

"I know. Me too." Aaron told him.

Danny cleared his throat. "Okay. I'll go. Just give me a minute, please?"

Aaron nodded. "Of course. Take as long as you need." He said as placed his hand on Danny's shoulder and gave a soft squeeze, then left his office.

Danny walked past the drawing board when something caught his attention. "Where did you find Aria's bag?" He asked.

Hotch frowned. "What bag?"

"The one in the photo. It is Aria's' right?"

JJ pulled the photo off the board then handed it to Hotch to show Danny. "This one?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Danny, that isn't Aria's bag. It's our second victim's." He told him. It had been left abandoned at the crime scene. "Why did you think it was hers? I'm sure there are other kids who have the same one."

Danny shook his head. "Not this one. Those are limited edition. You can't just go out and buy one at the store."

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked him as the rest of the team gathered nearby.

Danny pointed at the picture. "You see that emblem and the abbreviation above it. MDA."

They nodded.

"It stands for Monroe Dance Academy." He clarified.

"The dance studio that you and Aria go to." Hotch said remembering the name.

Danny nodded. "Only members of MDA get a bag like that after they join. I know because I have one just like it and so does Aria. Which means the second girl had to have been a member." He explained.

"Do they keep a record of that?'

"Yeah. Each bag has a specific number that gets assigned to each member. Makes it easier to distinguish since all the bags are identical."

Hotch nodded in realisation. "Garcia, can you cross reference our victims' names with the names in the MDA database?" He asked.

"Wait, don't you need a subpoena for those records?" Danny asked, confused.

The rest of the team gave their boss a sceptical look, knowing that the kid was right.

"We don't have time." He answered, simply. It was risky. He knew that, being a former prosecutor, but they finally had a lead and he didn't want it to go to waste.

Danny nodded in understanding. He wanted Aria found just as badly as he did. It had already been 24 hours. They were running out of time.

"Garcia..."

"I'm on it, Sir." She told him, knowing what she needed to do.

Everyone watched her silently as her fingers flew over the keyboard. They waited anxiously for her to find something.

"Oh..." She said after a minute.

"What?" Hotch asked.

"They're all here. They joined at different times, but they're all here. Including Tahlia." She told them.

"That's our connection." Rossi pointed out. "The dance academy."

"Hotch, I'm so sorry. I should've seen it sooner." Garcia apologised.

"No, Garcia. Don't apologise." He told her. "You didn't see it because you weren't looking for it."

"Hotch is right, Baby Girl." Morgan told her, rubbing her shoulder.

"Garcia, try to get a hold of whoever's in charge."

"Of the academy or the studios?" Danny asked.

"Studios? There's more than one?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. There's three in the DC area."

"That's why they didn't know each other. They went to different studios." Reid pointed out.

"Get me whatever information you can on who runs the studios and academy. We need to look at their employee records. And this time we're actually going to need a warrant."

"I'll call Detective Fisher." JJ told them.

Hotch nodded.

"You thinking disgruntled employee?" Rossi asked.

"Or someone that holds a grudge against an employee or owner." Hotch answered.

They both watched as the rest of the team got back to work, while waiting for further information from Garcia. Danny stood quietly one side.

"Hey." Aaron called to get his attention. "You did good. This could really help us."

"I don't see how." He said sceptically.

"It's kind of hard to explain. But, the more we know about the victims, the more it tells as about the Unsub." He explained.

Danny nodded, not really understanding how that was supposed to help find Aria. Maybe if he had gotten more than a few hours of sleep, it would've made sense. He turned his attention back to the rest of the team as they worked, gathering the new information they had received and adding it to what they already knew. He sat down on a nearby chair as his head starting swimming.

"Danny? Are you okay?" Hotch asked when realised that the teen was no longer standing behind him.

"Yeah. Just felt a little dizzy there for a sec. I'm fine." He insisted when he saw the rest of the team looking at him concerned.

"When was the last time you ate?" JJ asked him, noticing how pale he looked.

Danny shrugged. "Yesterday, some time?" He answered but it sounded more like a question.

JJ shot Hotch a worried looked, her motherly instincts kicking in. "Come on. I'll buy you breakfast." She offered as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine, Agent Jareau. You don't have to do that." He told her.

"I want to." She insisted. "Besides, I think we could all use some more coffee. There's a cafe just around the corner. We could go there."

He thought about rejecting her offer until she spoke again.

"Think about Aria." She told him. "She wouldn't want you to not take care of yourself because you were worried about her. Would she?"

He shook his head. "No." He answered softly. "She'd probably kick my ass."

"I need you, I need you, I need you right now, I need you right now, so don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down, I think I'm losing my mind now, It's in my head, Darling I hope that you'll be here when I need you the most, So, don't let me, don't let me, don't let me down, Don't let me down, Don't let me down..." Don't Let Me Down - The Chainsmokers (Feat. Daya)