Title: She Didn't Sign Up for This
By: snoozie2105
Pairing: Hotch/Haley
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Rating: G
Disclaimer: As ever, I do not have any claims to CM or its characters.
Summary: A very short one-shot from Haley's POV after Hotch's attack.

***

She didn't sign up for this.

When Haley Brooks married Aaron Hotchner, her high school sweetheart, he was going to be a federal prosecutor. And he was. Life was good. They had a perfect marriage – well, as perfect a marriage as a marriage could be – a beautiful home, an active social life, everything.

Until he got it in his mind that he wanted to join the FBI and join the BAU.

When he was accepted to the academy, and she'd been briefed on what to expect as the spouse of an agent, she didn't believe it would be as difficult as she'd been told. At first she admired his dedication, his drive, his desire to help people who could not help themselves, but as time went on and their family included a baby, Jack, the late night calls became more frequent, the trips away from home became longer, and his presence in their almost perfect marriage and beautiful home became less and less.

And now he had brought this monster, George Foyet, into their lives, and he lay in a hospital bed, alone, recovering from a horrific attack, and she and their son were in protective custody, alone.

Oh, God, she'd been a bitch, she thought to herself as the tears streamed down her face, every time she'd made a remark about his having to leave, every time she'd made her irritation at his career interfering with their life known, every time she'd turned away as he tried to hug and kiss her good-bye.

But she hadn't signed up for this.

Where did she draw the line between being an understanding, supportive wife, and protecting her family?

She honestly didn't know.

But what she did know was that she loved him, had never stopped, in fact. As she wiped her eyes, she admitted to herself that she probably loved him more now more than she ever had.

When he told her at the hospital that he would spend the rest of his life making this up to her, she wanted to believe him, wanted to comfort him, and let him comfort her, but deep down, she knew he'd never change, and it wasn't fair to ask him to be less than he was – a kind, caring man, a man who would go to the ends of the earth to ease someone else's pain and suffering.

If only he could end hers.

***