L A Y L A ' S P O V

"Jump. Jump. Jump!"

Hushed whispers, quiet giggles and scampering of paws gently stir me awake. I roll over to see the source of the noise and I can't help but smile at the scene in front of me. 

Aidan is on the floor by the foot of the bed, carrots in hand while he plays with the bunnies, rewarding them with every trick they complete.

I rub my eyes as I pull myself up in the bed. It's still bright out. I'm not sure how much of the story I got out to Averie between my sobs, but im pretty sure she got the idea of what happened. By the end of it, I was physically exhausted and just about able to drag myself up to the guest bedroom for what I'm guessing was a couple hour nap.

"Uh oh." Wide eyed, Aidan blinks up at me. "I wasn't meant to come in here and wake you up."

"That's okay," I say through a yawn. "Are you having fun?"

Aidan and I play around with the bunnies for a few minutes before they start to get worn out and hop into their carrier for a nap.

"Here," Aidan says as walks towards me and hands me a sucker before crawling into the bed beside me. "I brought you a lollipop. Lollipops make me feel better when I'm sad."

I smile at him. "Did anybody ever tell you that you're too smart for your own good?"

As blunt as his father, Aidan nods. "All the time."

When he asks why I'm sad, I'm in the mists of coming up with a peppy it's a grown up problem you don't need to worry about speech when Aidan beats me to speaking first.

"Mom had a knife," He says casually, as if it's a common occurrence in this house. "She said she was going over to uncle Derek's house to cut his balls off. My dad had to hold her back until she gave up."

That unfortunately doesn't surprise me one bit. Averie would kill for those she loves and clearly, she takes that very literally. But still, I say, "Your mom was just kidding."

"No she wasn't," Aidan shakes his head, not buying my lie for a second. "She's really mad."

Don't doubt that either for a second, so I try to steer the conversation away from that topic. "Well, it's a good thing that you don't need to worry about anything other than playing with the bunnies."

A bright smile stretches across his face. "Okay," He hops down off the bed before he pauses, sighs and bites his lip in question. "But.. should I be mad at uncle Derek too?"

"No way," I say, keeping my voice as positive as I can right now. "He loves you more than anything."

Aidan's big brown eyes stare innocently back at me. "But he made you upset and I love you more than anything."

My heart squeezes inside my chest. Such a sweet boy. I probably squish all his little bones with how tight I hug him, but he doesn't complain.

"Aidan?"

With a nervous wince, Aidan's eyes flash with warning at his mom calling out to him from downstairs. "I'm in big trouble."

"Quick," I whisper, pulling back the comforter back and ushering him underneath. "Hide."

Averie steps into the room, visibly out of breath. She spots the lump in the comforter immediately and shoots me a remorseful look. "I'm sorry but the stairs, the bump and an excitable toddler really don't mix." She blows out a breath and drops her voice, low enough for only me to hear. "He's like the fucking road runner. I can't keep up."

I try not to laugh as she collects herself and fans her face, like she just conquered her own Everest, the common household staircase.

"Aidan Andrew Reid," She says and once again, I try my best not to laugh at her mom voice and the stern way she crosses her arms over her bump. "I told you not to come in here and disturb Layla"

"But mom," Aidan emerges from underneath the comforter, waving his hands in the direction of the floor, giving her the same puppy dog look she probably taught him. "The bunnies."

Averie frowns at the carrots on the floor before she plants her hands on her hips and turns back to her toddler. "Did you.. did you steal my carrots I chopped up for dinner?"

Aidan looks at me. Guilty.

I look at him. Run.

"Can you do me a big favour?" I ask Aidan, swiftly changing the topic. "Can you take them outside and show them around the back yard?"

Averie and Aidan take the bunnies downstairs with them while I get out of bed and splash some cold water on my face. I need to get out of here. I know Averie wouldn't mind mind me staying here, actually she would probably prefer it, but I can't impose like that.

By the time I make it down the stairs, I can hear Spencer and Averie talking in the kitchen as I approach and sue me, when I hear mine and Derek's name, I pause to hear what's being said.

Averie sighs. "Tell me again what happened last night."

"I don't know," Spencer says. "Derek and I went out, had a few drinks, shared an Uber home and I watched him walk into his house. Alone."

"You two didn't talk to anyone all night?"

"Other than the guy serving us drinks, no."

"I'll cut your balls off too if you're lying to me."

"Averie, stop threatening to cut peoples balls off."

"No. It's completely justified in my opinion."

"Well, I'm not staying married to you if you go to prison for slashing."

Averie's snort is automatic. "Yes, Spencer. Yes you would."

So is Spencer's sigh. "Yeah, I would."

I don't linger any longer and make my presence known when I enter the kitchen and tell them an Uber is outside waiting on me. They both insist I stay with them, but I can't look at the pity behind their eyes any longer. Luckily it's not a I feel sorry for you look, it's a I'm hurt for you look, but still, there's only so much you can take.

I decide to leave freckle and Speckle with them for a few days while I figure everything out and to say Aidan is ecstatic about it is an understatement.

The lease on my apartment isn't up for a few weeks so I head over there. When I get up there I flip the light switch on the wall and it illuminates the room. The apartment that greets me is actually quite fitting with how I feel right now. Dull and empty.

There is next to nothing left in here only a few stray pieces of clothing, an armchair, the vanity that Derek built me that he was going to move to his house this weekend, and a handful of toiletries that got left behind in the whirlwind excitement of moving in together.

Practically everything I own is over at his house. I'll have to get somebody to go over there to get my things, but for now, I'll survive on what I can find around here.

I know this feeling might not last forever, but right now it feels like it will last an eternity. It's like a weight has been dropped on my chest and it just gets heavier with each second that passes.

He touched someone else after telling me I'm the only one he's ever loved.

I don't know if knowing it was just a drunken mistake would make me feel better or not, but the outcome is the same no matter the situation. Derek ruined everything we've built over the last year for sex. It makes me feel physically sick to think about him with somebody else.

Derek and I hadn't had sex in a few weeks because we were travelling, then things got weird when he got distant, so the last thing I was thinking about was having sex with him. But clearly he was thinking about it. He wasn't getting it from me so he went out and got it from someone else. Scratch that, he didn't even go out. He brought her to our bed.

The same bed that he promised I was the only one ever in. Was that a lie too?

While we're talking about promises, how stupid was I to believe him when he promised we'd be together forever and when we babysat Aidan and he said he can't wait till it's our child we're doing the bedtime routine with.

How did we go from happily living together, still in the blissful bubble of moving in together, teaching our bunnies to flop over, sharing good mornings with sweet kisses, always having someone to talk to over dinner, spending every second together because there's no where else we'd rather be to.. nothing.

What now? Is he expecting us to continue to work together, see each other in the office everyday, make casual chit chat in the hallways like I wasn't planning the rest of our lives together? Absolutely not.

I'm crying when I text Hotch and ask him to take another personal day tomorrow.

I'm crying when I get into the shower and scrub my skin so hard it turns red, feeling dirty even though I'm not the one who touched someone else.

I'm crying when I get a box and angrily gather up every single remnant of him from around the apartment, along with the vanity table he built for me and haul them outside and leave them on the side of the street for someone to take because I can't bare to look at them.

I'm crying when I close the curtains, encasing my bedroom in darkness before I crawl into bed.

I'm crying when I torture myself by reading some of our old text messages. Part of me hopes that he texts. I cry even harder because I know he won't.

I don't know when I stop crying.

Or if I ever will.

-

A/N: Thank you all for your sweet messages on the end of the last chapter, it is really appreciated🤍 I can't promise when chapters will be out but I'm trying to use writing these chapters as something else to focus on right now :)

Also, I do apologise that there will be one more short chapter before we get Derek's pov on the situation, but all will be explained then🫶