Hey everyone! Once again, taking a break from my other stories to post this quick little story that popped into my head. It'll probably only be about 2-3 chapters long, but then again, it's me, so it'll probably end up being a novel that I don't even finish :P I don't really know how to put trigger warnings on here, but this story WILL include a lotof mentions of a physically and mentally abusive relationship, so please don't read this if it's going to trigger anything or upset you. This is also only one representation of what an abusive relationship looks like, and I am definitely not saying that this is what they're all like, or how they all appear.

OK :)) And of course, I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters blah blah blah

Paperwork.

It started with paperwork.

It was quiet. A dusty gloom had settled in the office, as it so often seemed to do after a long case. Hotch sighed slightly as he lingered in the doorway for a moment, gazing out over the bullpen. The team had long since dispersed, and all that remained were the few late night stragglers who were beginning to yawn and glance down at their watches. Within the next ten minutes, Hotch knew, glancing down at his own watch, they would begin to filter out, to bars, to pubs, or to their beds. Probably the latter, Hotch decided, as it was a Wednesday night (or was it a Thursday morning?). No matter, because within the next ten minutes he knew he would more or less have the office to himself. Resigning himself to his fate, as per usual, Hotch slapped the files down on his desk and settled into his chair. Paperwork was a lonely affair, but in all honesty, he wouldn't wish it on any of the other members of the team – except maybe Reid. He'd probably enjoy it. In fact, why didn't they get Reid to do all their paperwork? It'd get done much faster.

Hotch chuckled a little at this thought. He supposed the kid must have a life – even if it didn't match the mould of typical 28 year-olds. Picking up a pen, Hotch began to grow accustomed to the silence that surrounded him. He heard the doors to the bullpen close, and, just as he had predicted, he realised he had the office to himself.

It'd been a bad one. They all were, probably, but anything with kids… The unsub had been killing kids and dumping them at the steps of their parents' workplaces. Before they'd been called in, three kids had already been murdered. Later, the team had figured out that the unsub wasn't killing kids for the pleasure of the kill, but rather so that they could watch the parents unravel. Their search had eventually led them to Donnie Richards, who'd been ignored by his own mother following the death of his little brother. That explained why he'd only been killing only children…

Hotch hated dwelling on cases, but that was the point of paperwork. It wouldn't let him forget, not until it was done. Better to get it done early, he thought, and purge the memory from his mind. Leaning back, Hotch pulled a file from the ever-growing heap on his desk. Strauss was away, and the pile-up was larger than ever.

Just as he'd signed off the first document and swiped it to the side, Hotch heard a noise. Hypersensitive as he was to noises after he knew the office was empty, something made Hotch look up. It sounded as though someone else was here. He glanced down at his watch; slightly panicked, thinking that maybe he'd dozed off somewhere in the middle of the first form, and it was actually morning. It wasn't, but there was definitely someone in the bullpen… He was about to get up, or call out, when Garcia appeared in the doorway, jumping slightly as though she hadn't expected him to be sitting there.

"Garcia?" Hotch said hazily, confusion swamping him. "It's one in the morning. What are you doing?"

The analyst looked strange – almost afraid, and incredibly hesitant to reply. "I-I just thought that maybe you might need a hand y-you know with the paperwork or something… I feel bad that you always do it all alone and I thought you could want some company o-or…"

Hotch put a hand up to stop the young agent from babbling. He could tell that there was something wrong. Ghosts of tear tracks in her normally expertly applied make-up could be seen, running down her cheeks, and there was something else… Something about the way she was talking and moving wasn't right. Everyone knew Garcia for her confidence, and Hotch even admired her for it… But the Garcia sitting in front of him was a mere shadow of the one he spoke to every day, and though the thought terrified him, it was clear that whatever was bothering Garcia was something she didn't want to share.

Deciding to take a risk, Hotch pressed the matter slightly, hoping she might open up, so he could help her. "What about Kevin? I'm sure he's expecting you home."

There was no disguising the shadow that fell across the woman's face at that. The look in her eyes was so far from anything Hotch would ever dream of seeing, especially in her eyes. The team knew she was vulnerable – the incident with Jason Clarke Battle had told them that a hundred times over – but this was a different kind of fear entirely… Hotch couldn't place it. It was just… Wrong.

Garcia and the Internal Affairs analyst had been openly dating for just over 6 months now, and the two had recently moved in together. As far as Hotch knew, things had been going well with the two of them, though he tended not to pry too far into his team's personal lives, he'd heard snippets, and it was hard to ignore Garcia when she was excited about something – the way she'd appeared to be about the move in. Was there something he'd missed?

After the look he'd seen in Garcia's eyes, Hotch made a decision not to press the matter any further. He waved his hand, inviting her to sit down, without demanding an answer to his previous question. She all but collapsed into the chair, and Hotch saw her hands almost shaking with relief.

Over the next few weeks, she'd come in after a case. After a while, there didn't need to be any discussion, she'd just come in and sit down like it was a normal thing. Sometimes they'd chat, about work or goings on, but often they'd sit in a mutual and comfortable silence, which Hotch didn't mind at all. One particular time, she came in looking almost entirely distraught, and proceeded to babble about panda bears for an hour and a half, while Hotch listened in amused silence, adding to the conversation here and there. Anything to keep her happy, and distract her mind from what Hotch was slowly piecing together. He'd suspected from the start that it was something to do with Kevin, but at the time he'd thought (and hoped) it was only a fight or a rough patch in their relationship, but as time went on, Hotch had to admit he'd been kidding himself. No small, domestic quarrel could cause the fear he'd seen in the young analyst's eyes on the first day she'd approached him, and through small snippets of conversation and an overall hunch, Hotch had developed a theory that he wanted nothing more than to disprove. The thought of it was horrific, but a sickening feeling in his gut told him that it was true, no matter how badly he didn't want it to be.

So, one night, after a particularly gruelling case, Hotch set down his pen and looked Garcia in the eyes. They were mildly bloodshot and there was darkness in them that broke Hotch's heart, but he held his gaze as he said in a low voice:

"Garcia… Have you talked to Morgan or anyone else on the team about what's been going on…?"

She didn't look confused, and though she tried to act it as best she could, a thick cloud of fear and shock masked any attempt. Hotch felt a twang of regret, but he knew he had to say something – for her sake.

"I…" Garcia's voice seemed to be as quiet as a human voice could possibly go, and she looked as though she was trying to decide whether or not to keep talking. "I just don't want them to worry about anything… Really, I'm fine I've just been really tired and Kevin and I are going through a rough patch that's all…" She ended the sentence with a shaky smile, which, contrary to making Hotch less worried, only solidified what he thought he knew.

"A rough patch?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah, you know… Two people living together can be stressful, but we make it work." Before Hotch could continue she yawned and looked at the clock.

"Well, it's late, I'd better go. Catch you bright and early tomorrow bossman." She said, with a hint of her usual cheeriness, before breezing out of the room, without another word. Hotch sighed. It was late, later than he'd usually finish his paperwork. The clock on the wall read 2:13am as Hotch turned the lock on his office door, and headed out towards the car park, still thinking about Garcia. The behaviours were textbook. The profiler in him couldn't deny it any longer. The signs he'd been trying to ignore for the past two weeks all added up, and he realised with a horrifying finality that Penelope Garcia, the woman who constantly made the team laugh and smile in the darkness of their job, was in an abusive relationship.

The next day, Garcia didn't come to his door. They hadn't had a case, but recently that hadn't stopped her. It seemed as though she'd do anything to avoid going home. In fact, Hotch didn't recall seeing her around the office at all today. It wasn't entirely unusual, sometimes she'd stay in her lair all day, because that's the only place she could work, or she'd even work from home, if they didn't have a case to work, but Hotch had a bad feeling. Just as he was trying to decide whether he was going to check her lair or just go home, he saw Morgan and Prentiss walking together towards the door. "Emily! Morgan!" he called, stopping them in their tracks. They both turned to look at him, as he rushed down the steps into the bullpen.

"C'mon Hotch, don't tell me we have a case now," Morgan groaned, while Emily began to complain: "I was having such a nice day..." Both agents seemed to angle their bodies towards the round table room, as though resigning themselves to their fate. Hotch shook his head, lowering his voice as he looked around. "Listen, have either of you seen Garcia today?"

Emily shook her head, but Morgan looked slightly uneasy.

"What?" Hotch demanded.

"Yeah, I saw her, only for a second. She's been cooped up in there all day." He said, pointing towards the door. Something about his tone of voice suggested he'd noticed the same thing Hotch had. Especially when he said, through slightly gritted teeth, "Kevin came in and brought her lunch though."

Looking confused, Prentiss shot them both a questioning look. Hotch glanced around. He didn't know whom he thought would hear – the bullpen was almost empty, but somehow he didn't want to discuss it so out in the open. Eventually, he led them into the round table room – where Reid and Rossi were bent over some old files – and closed the door behind him. Beckoning to the two older agents, Hotch gathered the team in a small, tight huddle, and began to talk in a very low voice. The entire time he was speaking, about the paperwork, about the look in Garcia's eyes, he felt guilt like an iron anvil in the pit of his stomach, slowing his words down so much that he had to force each one. He kept reminding himself of what happened with Reid after his encounter with Hankel.

'Reid handled it on his own' he argued to himself, while his voice monotonously recounted everything that had happened over the past month or so. 'Yeah, but the kid was affected so drastically… I swore I'd never do that again… And these are entirely different circumstances. I mean sure, that was a matter of pride but this… What makes you think Garcia can handle this? It's one thing to destroy yourself and regain control, but when there's someone else who holds control over you… That problem is a lot harder to face, especially on your own. Garcia needs us.'

"Garcia needs us." Hotch finished, repeating the thought that had just finalised itself in his head. The team nodded solemnly. Morgan's fists were clenched so tight his knuckles were blotched with patches of white and blue and red, and his eyes reflected a dark and twisted hatred that Hotch recognised immediately. It was hatred toward Kevin, and it was the same hatred that had been brewing inside his own chest since the night that Garcia first walked into his office. Hotch was about to say something else, when the door to the round table room opened. Five heads whipped around to stare at whoever had entered, and five pairs of eyes had fires inside them, burning white-hot with rage, as Kevin Lynch walked lazily through the door. Hotch put his hand on Morgan's arm, and this gesture was possibly the only thing preventing the agent from snapping Kevin Lynch's neck right there on the spot. In fact, Hotch was only half doing this for Morgan's sake. Having something to control also meant that he himself could suppress the urge to run forward. Prentiss, practically spitting at the analyst, glared him down.

"What do you want?" she demanded, "you're not allowed in here without express permission from a BAU agent, which I, nor I'm sure any of my colleagues, don't recall giving you."

Kevin put his hands up, in an arrogant gesture of mock surrender and laughed. "Calm down, Em. Penelope said I could come in, I need to check some wiring and stuff." He gave an irritating, breathy laugh, and shot Prentiss an almost flirtatious half-smile.

'Bastard.' Hotch thought, clenching his fists. Almost subconsciously, he removed his hand from Morgan's arm. 'Let him.' He thought, his anger welling up inside. 'In fact, do it yourself. The cocky son of a bitch deserves every single punch that could be landed on him. And he knows it.' The image of Garcia standing in his office doorway, almost quivering with fear, burned in front of his eyes. Unaware of all the hateful glares being shot his way, Kevin went about his business, fiddling with the wires and humming a tune to himself. With a quick glance at the rest of the team, Hotch hurried out of the room, indicating that they would continue the conversation later.

THANKS FOR PUTTING UP WITH ME SO FAR

Like I said, I'm intending to keep this story short, so expect only a couple more chapters before it's finished. And, if you're following any of my other stories, a quick heads up that I'm going to be updating 'Trapped' very very soon so make sure you all check it out!

Thanks for reading my dears xxx