Title: The Start of a Good Trail
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: No Warnings Apply
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid
Tags: Getting Together, Alternate Universe
Summary: Aaron never thought the trail of blood would lead him to happiness.
Word Count: 4,723
Beta: Grammarly



The trail wasn't one that Aaron had ever thought he would be following. The blood trail inside his own home led to who knew what. There was, of course, the fear in him that it was going to lead him to where Reid was dead. Aaron had been out of town for a week to deal with something for the FBI outside of the BAU.

It had been a shit show of corruption and so much other shit. Aaron had been needed to figure out what was going on and work a case with the local PD to make it seem like the BAU was working. That case had made it much easier to figure out what was happening, but Aaron didn't like going without his team.

There had been no call from Reid over the last four hours, and Aaron had tried to call the house line, but it was messed up. The cell phone was not connecting either. Aaron listened as he entered the kitchen to find that there was even more blood in there. He swallowed as he thought about the last time he had gone through a house where people he loved were, and there was blood.

The approaching sirens were getting louder. Aaron hoped that he found something before the officers got there.

Aaron stopped when he found a body around the side of the island in the kitchen. He closed his eyes and threw up a prayer to a God he didn't believe in anymore, but sometimes it was hard not to fall back on his childhood with it. It was some random guy by the tattoos on his neck and hands. There was a trail of blood away from the body, and then it stopped in the mud room.

If there were more dead bodies, Aaron knew he would have to move and never buy a house ever again. It was the kind of thing that he just couldn't do after the last house.

"Shush, Dad will be here soon, Spence."

Aaron sighed in relief and looked into the mud room to see Reid focused on Jack and where Jack was crouched over him. There was a little movement from Aaron, and a gun was raised to aim right at Aaron. It took a few seconds of nothing for Reid to realize who it was.

"He's here," Reid said.

Jack turned around, but he didn't move. The little movement that was there showed Aaron that Jack was holding a towel pressed to Spencer's gut.

"Dad, Spencer's stabbed. Two guys broke in, and one of them stabbed Spence. I got the gun out of the safe and brought it to Spencer. He shot the one guy in the dining room."

"I saw the other guy. I'm going to meet the cops as they are getting closer. I hope they dispatched an RA unit."

"They cut the phone line, and my phone was stepped on in the fight with the guy who stabbed me. Jack's been good at taking care of me."

"I can see that." Aaron was, for the first time in his life, happy that he hadn't had Jessica watching Jack this week. She had wanted the week off to relax a little and go out of town, and Aaron had been more than happy to allow it.

Reid had stepped up to watch Jack, which had been the biggest shock for Aaron. Jack and Reid got along really well over the last year as Aaron had started to try and include the younger man in a lot of things. There had been a lot of things that Jack loved to listen to when it came to superheroes. Jack's love for them hadn't waned and had just gotten stronger. Jack was even drawing his own comic for his school art class. Aaron was happy when Reid stepped up to help Jack with a few things. Reid's love of comics wasn't well known, but Aaron knew about it. He went for more science fiction like Guardians of the Galaxy and Superman, but he did read a lot of other comics as well.

The little project had taken over the dining room, which hadn't upset Aaron at all. He pulled himself out of his thoughts as the sirens got too loud. He took off his gun, took off the one from Reid, and headed for the front door. He laid the guns on the planter just beside the door and held up his hands as well as his FBI badge to be seen as the cops came screaming in.

Aaron chuckled to himself as the first officer stopped and stared as he got out of his car. The ambulance was just behind, which was good.

"I have two dead suspects, a cut phone line, blood all over the house, and my babysitter, who is also an FBI agent, has been stabbed. My son is applying pressure in the mud room at the back of the house. I just got back from a trip for work."

"How did the suspects die?"

"My subordinate shot them with my secondary gun. It's there. I touched it to bring it up[ here but it will have mine, my son's, who is the one who got the gun out of the safe, and Spencer Reid's prints on it."

"Calls were received about shots fired in an FBI agent's house. Your neighbors care about you. Does Agent Reid need the paramedics to go to him?"

"Yes. I don't think it's a good idea that he walks. He was stabbed, and my son is applying pressure. I know you need to clear the house before sending them in. Please feel free to head inside."

The cops didn't even hesitate, and Aaron stayed where he was until the all-clear sounded out, and he escorted the paramedics back to the mudroom. One officer was inside there, talking Jack through getting ready to swap out with the paramedics and how the guy was going to lift him up and out of the way when it was time to make sure it was the least amount of time with Jack's hands not on Reid's side.

Aaron was glad that the officers were acting with respect. It was the kind of thing that wasn't always there. Even in good neighborhoods, the cops were not always the best people. He had seen a lot of corrupt cops over the years, and he didn't like them any more than he liked when he found corrupt FBI agents. There was bending the rules to make things work for innocent people and making things work so that those who were guilty went free.

"Doctor Agent Reid, this is a shock," one of the paramedics said as he came into the room.

Reid blushed, and he sputtered out something and then just shut his mouth.

"Agent Hotchner, a commendation on making sure your son understands first aid. Jack, you did a great job."

Aaron wasn't sure how the guy knew that much about them without Aaron having told him their names. The blush on Reid's cheeks was something that Aaron thought he would never see when it wasn't Morgan teasing him about sex. Aaron knew that Reid wasn't as virginal as the others tried to make him out to be. Yet, this was a new side of things. The only ones Aaron had ever seen Reid talking to and even hesitantly flirting with were females. The whole bisexual, or maybe even that one that liked all people no matter their gender, was something that hadn't even blipped on Aaron's radar.

"Thanks," Jack said.

Arron looked at where an officer who had lifted Jack up was still holding Jack in place with firm but gentle hands. Aaron held out his hand, and the officer let him go, and Jack ran to Aaron. There were a lot of things going on as Reid was stabilized for transport, but Aaron wasn't going to leave his sight. He wasn't going to let Jack out of his sight either, not until Redi was going in the ambulance.

"Okay, Spencer, this is going to hurt like a bitch."

"We can give him something for it," the other paramedic said.

"No," the first paramedic said at the same time Aaron and Reid did.

"Okay."

"Sorry, I'm...I don't want anything given to me right now," Reid said.

The second paramedic looked at the first with a raised eyebrow, but the first just shook his head.

"How are you feeling?" Aaron asked once Reid had been moved to where he was on the gurney that barely fit into the room.

"Not as bad as when I was shot in the leg. Worse than when you found me in Georgia."

Aaron couldn't help the snort.

"Jack and I will follow you to the hospital as soon as we are cleared by the cops to go."

Reid nodded, and he held out his hand for a fistbump from Jack as he passed by him.

"He'll be good. Doesn't look like it nicked anything, just bleed a lot," the first paramedic said.

"Thanks."

"Steve," Reid said.

Aaron remembered Steve being mentioned once to JJ, and he had not heard much more than the name. He hoped it was something good and not someone who likes to make fun of him.

"What? You don't want me to make sure that they are worried about you?"

After that, they were too far away for Aaron to hear any of it. He looked down at Jack, who was looking pretty good, given everything. It was a lot, and Aaron was going to throw so much therapy at his son and probably himself. It was the kind of thing that would not be the best for them if they didn't get ahead of it.

"Agent Hothcner, we can talk to you here and get statements. You can sit in with your son. We will go in chronological order, and when you come in, Agent Hotchner, please chime in with everything after that."

It really didn't take long as Jack didn't know a lot other than Reid yelling for him to hide and then the gunshots going off. It could have been a lot worse as Reid had been napping on the couch when he had been stabbed, which was how the one guy had ended up dead elsewhere and dead.

"You were brave getting the gun for him. How did you know it was safe to cross?"

"The first guy was dead already. I had seen him from where I was. Dad likes to have a gun in a safe on each floor and makes sure that I know how to get it if needed. Of course, Dad's actual work guns are in his bedroom when he's not wearing them or taking them with him because he's working."

The talking was over, and Aaron was glad that things were pretty much open and shut. A detective would be going to the hospital to talk to Reid.

"You did good, Jack," Aaron said as he pulled his son close. He knew that Jack needed to clean up, but there were still cops going through everything, and Aaron didn't have a go-bag packed for him.

"Ready to go and wait on Reid?" Aaron asked.

"Yes, can I clean up there?"

"I'm sure that I can talk someone into it. Are any specimens needed from him?" Aaron asked.

"We can do that collection at the hospital. We need the clothes anyway. I can make sure that someone is there to help with those who he won't be upset at," the officer said.

"Good. Am I allowed to drive him?"

"Sure. I'll send an officer with you just for the whole chain of custody to make sure that things are on the up and up. I doubt that anyone is going to fight over the death of two men who tried to rob an FBI agent's home and stabbed another FBI agent as well, but just in case. If this is the ring that I know of, there could be...repercussions about it all."

Aaron knew about the people who were breaking into homes across all suburbs of DC and robbing and killing where it was not an empty house. There was not a lot that needed to be dealt with when it came to that, but given the attack, the FBI might want to become involved.

Getting to Reid was going to be the biggest thing. Aaron needed to get a hold of Dave and make sure that Morgan and JJ were notified as well, but that would wait. He checked the phone and saw it was still in an evidence bag.

"Officer, when that's processed, we don't want the phone. It's just the SIM card and SD card out of it."

"I'll make a note of that and make sure that it's all processed for recovery of those items above all. We will make sure it's all good. Don't worry. We will take care of it."

"Dad, can we go?"

"Of course." Aaron only grabbed the bag he had dropped in the entryway when he had been going inside and found the door unlocked. He had seen an officer go through it already, and there was a marker that it was allowed to go on it. He was glad because it had case files that the cop hadn't even looked at a little bit.

---

Jack moved, his leg kicking out at Aaron but not hitting him hard. He reached out and laid his hand on his son's leg.

Morgan was across the room, and JJ was pacing as she talked to Will on the phone in low tones. Henry was asleep beside Morgan. Garcia was on her way, and Dave was getting them all dinner. It was a late dinner, but it was still dinner. Aaron had existed on coffee since he arrived, and he knew he needed to eat. Jj had taken Henry and Jack down to eat dinner.

Callahan had stopped by but then had gone home again since she wasn't nearly as close to them. She would be good to cover the morning when they all went home and got changed and got showers without having to take turns, and Aaron was glad of it. There was no getting most of them out of the waiting room as they waited for Reid to come out of surgery.

The knife wound hasn't done a lot of damage, but there was enough damage that the best chance of recovery was for Reid to get surgery to make sure his abdominal wall was supported by everything going on inside of there.

"Is everything okay?" Aaron asked when the nurse came into the room.

Yes, everything is fine. He's in a room right now and will be there for the next two hours. Then we will be moving him to a new room. Once things are fully set up, the doctor will come and talk to you about what is going on and what to expect."

"he's not going to be able to go home. The elevator is out more often than not lately," JJ said.

"I know.: Aaron rubbed his hands over his face, and he sighed. "He's going to pick who he wants to stay with. No one is going to pressure him."

"Even if he picks Rossi to be an asshole?" Morgan asked.

Aaron tried not to laugh, but he could see Reid doing that because the older man would take care of him, and he would be the one to do what was needed if Reid wanted to stay. He would also make sure that a nurse came and took care of him.

Aaron hoped that Reid would pick him, but he could also see Reid not wanting to go back to the house for a while. There was a lot of trauma there now, but he hoped that Reid was able to get over it. Aaron seriously wasn't above using Jack to get Reid at his place.

"So it was just a random attack?" Dave asked as he came in the door. He paused and looked at the two kids before seemingly calming down a little.

"It was. They are part of a ring of thieves, but this is the first time anyone had bitten off more than they can chew when breaking in. Jack was calm enough to get the gun for Reid, and then Reid was able to kill the second guy with it after the man refused to stop and leave. Jack heard a lot of what went on, but the guys were unwilling to kill a kid. I guess they did have a line they weren't going to cross. They thought that since I wasn't there, Jack was gone as well, from what Jack said."

"This is just insane. Stabbed on your damned couch. How did they get in?"

"An in with the security company. I got a text from the detective that he's resetting my alarm to something different with the okay of the security company and that it's going in a very new direction. He changed it to something he texted me, and I can change it when I go home next." Aaron had been glued to his phone, getting as many updates as he could.

The detective who had talked to Reid had been more than willing to go out of his way to make an FBI agent happy. Aaron typically didn't like that kind of thing, but in this case, he was okay with it. In this case, it was something that made him feel a little safer.

"And we are sure that Reid's going to be okay?" Morgan asked.

"Yes, he seemed fine when I was talking to him. He was a little in shock but focused on protecting himself and Jack. He didn't lower the gun until he was sure they were safe and saw me. He nearly shot me, and I know it."

"Of all the things," Dave said as he handed over the box of noodles to Aaron. "I got you something simple since you don't tend to want something hard when you are stressed. Do you and Jack need anything?"

"Not right now. The house hasn't been cleared to get clothes for him. I'm going to go to Jessica's tomorrow and get the clothes there for Jack to wear. He's having fun with the kid-sized scrubs. Reid will be moved to a room with a second bed; the nurses have already said that given the nature of the crime, they are going to just treat the room as a single unless there is a mass casualty event that they need the monitoring for. Jack can sleep there, and I'll take the other bed, just in case Reid wakes up swinging."

"Again?" JJ asked.

Aaron snorted at that. He remembered the last time that Reid had gotten sick on a case. It had been hilarious since Morgan had gotten caught with the right hook that had given him a bruise. It was not funny to Reid, who had been mortified, but Morgan took it as his working with Reid on making sure he could protect himself was shaping up into something.

"You going to get some sleep?" Dave asked when he finally sat down to eat his food.

"In the chair next to Reid? Yes." Aaron hoped that Dave didn't press him about something that he had tried to do a few times before this, but there had been wonderful timing on the part of everyone.

Aaron didn't need to burden Reid with his feelings. Aaron was more than willing to admit their age difference, but the whole being saddled with a kid wasn't what Reid was looking for. There was no chance of Reid agreeing just because he was scared of what Aaron would do if he said no. Aaron just didn't want to lose his friendship with Reid now. It was the kind of thing that, no matter what, changed someone. He wanted to stay like he was because he would rather have what he did than have nothing.

"You aren't going to miss him less," Dave said.

It was like Dave was reading his thoughts, but Aaron would ignore him. Aaron wasn't going to play that game right now. He knew that not being with Reid wasn't going to make it hurt less if Reid died. That wasn't the issue at all, but Dave thought that he knew it all. Aaron just wanted to focus on making sure that Reid wasn't alone over the next while.

---

In the end, Aaron didn't even need to use Jack at all to get Reid to go home with them. He wanted to be there for Jack more than anything. Aaron wondered if that was something that was left over from Reid's childhood and the relationship with his mother. If she had times where she was in the middle of needing more care than he could provide and she had to go somewhere, and he wasn't able to remind himself that she was fine.

Of course, Reid also tried not to let on how abusive the whole situation was. The parentification of Reid in having to be the one in control from a young age was apparent to them all, but no one ever mentioned it. They never touched on each other's pasts unless it was needed because they were making it all harder by not touching it. Aaron's own past loomed at the front of his mind all the time when it came to raising Jack and making sure that he was not his father.

"How are you feeling?" Aaron asked. He handed over the Kindle to Reid and waited for the look of displeasure on his face, but it didn't come at all.

"I'm feeling pretty good. This is your better one, right?"

"Yes. The one that you like the best."

"Thanks. What's Jack doing?"

"I am not sure. At least he's too old to have too many stuffed animals in his room and bring them out to make you feel better."

"First-hand knowledge?"

"Yes." Aaron moved to sit at Reid's hip, and he grabbed the blanket that was on the back of the couch and draped it over Reid's legs. He did need to check the wound to make sure that the stitches didn't tear when they had been moving him home.

"The surgery found that the worries were for nothing for the most part. There was a small bleed that they found that could have torn into something bigger if left alone, but on the whole, the damage they thought was there wasn't."

"That's good. The surgeon did tell me that when he talked to me."

"He also said he wasn't sure how much got through. I figured that all of it did. Your face doesn't like to move in certain cases." Reid was smiling as he said it.

Aaron laughed a little, and he leaned over a little, bracing his arm on the arm of the couch. "Let me know when you are ready to move upstairs."

"Into your room?" Reid asked.

"I have a perfectly serviceable guest room that Jessica loves the bed on." Aaron really hoped that Reid was just trying to joke in his drugged-out state and was doing it badly. Aaron didn't need to think about Reid in his bed.

"I thought that people in love slept in bed together."

"Reid."

"Spencer," Reid said.

Aaron closed his eyes and realized this had come to a head in a way he never thought possible. He had hoped that Reid would never see it. Aaron hadn't been able to figure out if Reid even liked him anywhere close to how Aaron liked him. Reid wasn't acting like he did when it came to Maeve.

"Aaron, talk to me."

"I think that maybe you have seen a lot more than I thought you were."

"I thought I was as well, but yesterday in the room before the doctor came in to talk about long-term and scars and all of that, you were acting a little strange, and then I realized that it was how JJ and Will act when one of them is hurt, only a little worse as you are the biggest mother hen in the world. I thought I was feeling what I felt in a vacuum, and you had no idea what I felt. Which I don't think you knew at all, but I learned what you felt about me in that instant, and I made myself promise that I was going to make sure that you knew how I felt before this all was done."

Spencer reached out and cupped the side of Aaron's face; the subtle pressure made Aaron follow the hand down to where he was pressing a kiss to Spencer's lips. It was a simple kiss, but it felt so good. Dating had been shitty since Beth and Aaron had just kind of given up. Beth had been a good trial, but in the end, Aaron knew that he wasn't going to move past what he had for Spencer, so he gave up trying. He didn't like leading Beth on, so he just made sure that he let her down easily. It had allowed her to take a job elsewhere when it came up. She had contacted him briefly to tell him so that he didn't worry about her if he didn't see her where they ran before.

"I love you," Spencer whispered.

"I love you, too." Aaron laid his head on Spencer's, closing his eyes again and just enjoying the touch of their foreheads. He wanted to stay like this for a while and hoped that Reid did as well. It would make them both a little happier if they had the touch.

The sound of Jack coming toward them had Aaron sitting up again, and he smiled down at Spencer.

"Here," Jack said as he handed over the pillow that was covered in superheros. It was an accent pillow that Jessica had a friend make for Jack. He used it to sit up in bed and read when he didn't want to be in the living room on the couch. "I remember when Dad was hurt before that when he coughed, it hurt without something to hold onto, and I hoped this would be good."

Spencer took it, and he laid it on his stomach.

Aaron remembered the pain of coughing and even just moving sometimes and how much it hurt. He had been stabbed more but, in a way, much better. Spencer had been blind-stabbed to hurt him, to kill him.

"What's for lunch?"

"I was thinking pizza," Spencer said.

"How about you take a nap first, and then we can discuss that. I can tell you are getting ready to pass out."

Spencer made a noise, but it was softer than it should be.

"We can discuss everything about you staying here after you get that nap."

Spencer nodded, and he tucked the Kindle into the space between the pillow his head was on and the arm of the couch. He started to roll over but stopped again. It had to hurt, given the pain on his face. It was interesting to see it all and the way that Spencer wasn't hiding it. The last time Spencer had been hurt, he had tried to hide most of it, and Aaron had been the only one to notice that, but now it was like he was an open book.

"Let's go and find other things to do, Jack," Aaron said as he slowly stood up to not rock the couch too much and hurt Spencer more.

"Okay. Have a nice nap." Jack headed back to the kitchen stairs to get to his bedroom quickly.

Aaron brushed the hair off Spencer's forehead, and it was like he passed out between one second and the next. There was a lot to talk about, but Aaron wouldn't make decisions for Specner now that he knew Spencer felt the same about him.

What started out as a horrible return from work had turned into something that would make his life a lot better.

The End