[Criminal Minds] years before love

Reason told Rossi he shouldn't have walked into the church, and the priest didn't seem old enough to answer his questions.But his intuition made him follow, or he didn't know why, so he followed. Hotch didn't like church, and Rossi really believed church made him sick, and didn't think simple phobias could explain it.

But from any point of view he knew, in most cases, such physical pain came from the spirit after all, and this was probably the source.

At night, the lights of the deserted church were dim, and Rossi looked at the statue of Jesus on the cross and the rows of long tables, and took a deep breath.He always thought that he was barely a believer, but all this reminded him with a vague sense of strangeness that it had been too long since he had really come to church.Perhaps after so many years of going against the teachings, and having glimpsed more than once the sin that this place concealed, he surmised that God had long since stopped trying to save him.

"Do you need anything. Maybe... want to repent?" The priest in robes turned his back to him and bowed his head slightly towards the cross.

"No. It's only the guilty who repent." Rossi almost subconsciously refused, moving his lips, "I'm only here to find a friend."

"Everyone in the world is guilty." The priest whispered, as if he was just talking to himself.

Rossi narrowed his eyes sharply, "Then what is your crime?"

The priest didn't answer him, but turned to him and said, "You can call me Alex. If you really want to find friends, you won't come in with me. There are no friends for you here—stranger, you are very lost." .”

"is it?"

"Wandering outside a strange church, I guess, it's hard to say that you are firm enough to your goal." There was a smile on the corner of Alex's mouth, his tone was gentle, but his attitude was not gentle.

Rossi frowned slightly, and retorted slightly dissatisfied, "I didn't even realize it was a church before you showed up."

"That can only show that you are emotionally confused, and you didn't even observe where you are before parking the car." Alex unnecessarily lit the candlestick, bathing himself in a halo of yellow light, and his whole body was inexplicably warm.

Rossi was almost a little surprised. Although theoretically speaking, most priests did not receive education in psychology, but with the help of faith, they obviously played the role of a psychiatrist, and this one in front of him seemed to go further.

Priests don't guess at the congregation, let alone try to hypnotize them.

Rossi became inexplicably nervous. Before he went out, he glanced at the criminal records of this small town. Except for some minor crimes that are hardly necessary to call the police in big cities, there is nothing worth noting, but this Alex really makes him feel uneasy. "I've come to find my friend, his name is...Hotchner." Past.

Rossi saw the other party squinting his eyes and looked at himself, then sighed, "I'm sorry."

"what?"

"Judge Hotchner's cemetery is to the south, but in any case, I wouldn't recommend that you go to the cemetery at night."

Rossi was stunned for a while before he realized that the other party had misunderstood, but he immediately realized that he didn't need to explain, "Do you know him?"

"Unfortunately his funeral was just over when I came here."

"Come here?" Rossi questioned. Priests are different from most professions. They rarely move around and rarely leave their hometown. "Why did you come here?"

"God's will." Alex avoided his eyes for the first time, though they soon met them again.

"...Then have you ever heard the story of Hotchner?" Rossi sat on the nearest bench. Probably just the youth of an ordinary priest.Although he didn't feel evil, it was impossible for him to miss this sense of strangeness stuck in his throat.

"Story?" Alex didn't follow, keeping a close distance, "Mr. Hotchner was a judge, not a knight. What do you want to say, or what do you want to know—"

"Anything," Rossi said softly, he needed everything, an opinion from someone other than Hotch.

"Overall, Mr Hotchner is a generous, good man and a judge."

"What about his... family?"

"Little Hotchner was a good boy, kind and religious."

Rossi was a little surprised, no matter from which point of view, Hotch can't be called pious, let alone judging from his age, he can never be called a child by the person in front of him, "What?"

"Sean Hotchner, his kid, is still in town." Alex stepped forward and lightly pressed his shoulder, "Do you want to know him?"

"Sean - what about his other kid?" Rossi wondered, remembering that Hotch had indeed mentioned a brother.

Alex looked at him, almost pityingly, "Never heard of him having another child."

Rossi was quickly seized by suffocating panic after a brief shock, and one can certainly forget someone who has been away from home for years, but if earlier, Hotch never had the opportunity to establish any personal relationship with anyone here. Contact, that means very terrible answers.

And Alex has almost moved to his side, "Stranger, aren't you going to tell me your name?"