[Criminal Minds] years before love

Hotch struggled to open his eyes, he was still dizzy, his limbs could barely move, his vision was blurry, he struggled for a while before slowly regaining control of himself.

He was alone in the room, not big, without windows, but not a dungeon or cage, and not restrained by other measures.Just tossed on the bed, coat thrown aside, shirt ripped.

After reconfirming that no one was around, Hotch barely sat up with support.

He still didn't think Jones was the murderer, but it was clear that the other party was more involved than he thought.While his situation was undeniably dire, Hotch guessed that Jones hadn't bothered to tie himself up because he had put too much faith in the drugs.

— but not even noticing the holster on his ankle, which just means that Jones is very, very flustered and nervous, and doesn't have much time to think further.That said, it was unlikely that Jones was an accomplice, otherwise he and his companions would have had plenty of time to deal with themselves.

Hotch sighed in his heart, and there were indications that they thought the missing Benjamin Green was probably the murderer.

And Jones knew.

Hotch was thinking quickly about what Jones wanted to do. If he had no malice towards him and just wanted to hide it for his partner, it would be better to ignore his surveillance and inform Green not to come.And if you have decided to fall with him, then even if you don't kill yourself, you should exercise more personal control.

And Jones behaved chaotically. He used drugs on himself, but did not kill him. Obviously, he has not yet made a final decision.Intellectually, he knew what was right; but perhaps for emotional or other reasons, he couldn't let go of his partner.

Hotch shook his head, stretched out his hand to unholster the gun, moved out of the bed softly, approached the closed door, and stuck it.

There is an argument outside the door, between Jones and someone unknown.

Probably Green, Hotch guessed.

Of course, he could just open the door like this, and then shoot the two people, or more ideally, the person who quarreled with Jones on the spot - since he was hijacked, of course he had a reason to protect his own safety.But he wished he didn't have to shoot, choosing to shoot twice in such a short period of time, or shooting an FBI agent without witnesses who had no definite evidence of guilt, he would have to deal with a lot of investigations.

Also, taking another deep breath, Hotch told himself, don't rely on guns to solve problems.

The quarrel outside the door continued.

"...you must stop!"

"Do not."

"We get out of here and we can start over and go where they can't find it."

"Too late, already too late."

"No, they don't know it's you. We disappear, they just think we're dead, and we can start a new life."

"after this?"

Hotch heard an eerie laugh.

"It's my fault, I shouldn't have pulled you in."

"I did it. I did it all by myself. What the hell does it matter to you?"

"I won't let you face it alone."

"Jones, kill me, or pretend you don't know anything. Then go back to your office and continue your messy business." There was a loud bang, something knocked over, and then there was no sound.

After a few seconds, Hotch heard someone approaching, and he gripped his gun tightly.The door was pushed open so hard that Jones didn't even notice, walked into the room with his head down, and slammed the door shut.

"Hold on," Hotch said softly.

And he was stunned for two seconds, slowly raised his head, staring at the gun in his hand, "How could I not have discovered that you have another gun."

"Because you don't want to do it at all. Jones, you have no talent for hurting people."

"Is that the guy you were talking to, Benjamin Green?" Hotch continued.

Jones bit his lip and nodded in acknowledgment.

"Jones, do you know about this?"

"…I didn't find out sooner." Jones sighed.

"Is he still there?" Hotch motioned out the door.

"Don't hurt him, it's not his fault."

Hotch didn't rush to refute, he looked at the other person seriously, "Jones, I don't want to hurt anyone. Green needs help, what you should do is not take him away."

"Should I send him to jail? No, no." Jones shook his head desperately.

"You should tell him to stop." Hotch stepped forward, slowly retracting the arm that raised the gun. "You know very well that he can't escape."

Jones was silent for a long time, slid along the door and sat on the floor, looking up at him, "He didn't know you were here - I was going to take him away, and you can leave when you wake up...why did you leave so soon woke up?"

Hotch shrugged, and instead of answering the question, said, "You need to get out, get out of here."

"why?"

"Seeing me Green will think you betrayed him, which complicates the situation." Hotch paused. "And you have to notify the Bureau."

"I can not."

"Jones, you may have done something wrong, but you're trying to protect your partner, which is fine. But you have to do the right thing."

After a long silence, Jones finally nodded.