In the conference room Sarah and the rest of the team were frozen in shock at what they had just witnessed. Hotch had known Bailee as a strong confident girl. When she first started at the BAU she was shy and reserved but when she learned to trust each of the members of the team. They saw the real Bailee, a sarcastic, passionate, kind-hearted girl who was obsessed with her blueberry lollipops and making up nicknames for everybody on the team. She had been involved with many tense and emotional cases in the past, so for her to suddenly leave when Sarah was speaking caused Aaron to become concerned for his daughter. He had a feeling it was about the circumstances of the case, he had heard Bailee whisper about Sarah never giving up on her son. This added to the regret and guilt he felt, this is why he thinks of telling Bailee about the truth of her abandonment.

Looking towards Sarah he clears his throat "I apologize for her sudden exit, this case has brought a lot of memories and past feelings up for her"

Sarah looks at the door when Bailee had just left "Is she okay?"

"She will be," Hotch states, turning his head to JJ "Get an article of Aimee's clothing."

As the team stand up from the table Garcia who was confused asks "What for?"

Prentiss sighs "It's for the dogs."

When Aaron had finished given out orders to the team, he was walking to his office when he notice Reid, Derek in Rossi's office with Rossi. Hotch changes his directions and walks towards Rossi's office. Knocking on the door, he enters seeing different expressions on each other the three agents faces.

"Is something wrong?" He questions. The men glance and each other wondering how they would explain their opinions to their boss and Bailee's biological father.

"Bailee" Reid states bluntly.

Aaron's eyes widen in panic hearing his daughter's name is the cause of their conversation "What's wrong with her? Is she okay? where is she?" He asks question after question.

"She's sick. Won't be helping on this case. I'm taking her back to our apartment when she's collected her stuff." Derek explains.

"Sick? Does she need the hospital? Does she have a temperature? A cold? The flu?" Aaron blurts out losing his professionalism at the thoughts circling his mind.

Rossi sighs "Not that kind of sick Aaron, she's mentally sick, ever since she has arrived to the BAU it's been a whirlwind for her, she hasn't been able to have a chance to breathe. I think everything has eventually caught up to her and she's slipping again."

"I love Bailee like a sister, in fact she is my little sister Hotch and whenshe was kicked off this team..." Derek starts to explains.

Seeing Hotch opening his mouth to defend himself he continues. "....I know you did it for her protection, but she went to a dark place, her drinking wasn't even the worst part, it was her outlook of life she just didn't care what happened to her anymore she gave up and I won't let her go back to that"

"We have finally gotten Bailee to a stable place by limiting her drinking and her mental health, but this case it's caused her to take a big step back and she's struggling to keep it together" Reid adds.

Hotch deeply sighs and sits down defeatedly on Rossi's sofa "I don't want to control her Dave; we've just gotten on a good path again repairing our relationship I don't want to jeopardize that."

"You don't have to control her; you just have to be her dad. She will break soon, and you need to be there for her with no complications" Derek says to his boss.

"How do I do that?" Hotch rubs his temples, the three men exchange glances.

"Start by being completely honest with her. No more secrets" Reid says.

"Tell her the truth about her abandonment" Derek concludes.

"I am not throwing the blame onto my ex-wife, her mother who was murdered not that long ago. Do you know what that would look like?" Hotch states.

"Bailee will always feel the pain and sadness of being abandoned. That will never leave her. She thinks that she was never good enough as a daughter for her parents, but Jack her brother was. If she knows that you physically didn't leave her that night and had no clue of Hailey's plan, she will definitely feel hurt at first but at least she will know that she wasn't forgotten about for a long time. It won't be enough to stop her from hurting but having some sort of positive side to think about could change how she breaks."

Aaron chuckles lightly "She was the reason I am here today." He stares off into space.

"When Hailey had left her, those first few years were awful, most likely the reason our marriage didn't work out. After I had graduated from Law school I thought I would be excited, all that hard work paid off but for that full day I cried. I didn't go to any parties or celebrations; I didn't think I deserved to go to them if I was honest. The determination of being a lawyer just disappeared after the years Dai-Bailee was gone, so in the end, I changed my career path, I had my law degree, so I joined the FBI."

"Gideon's team" Reid mumbles in realization.

Hotch nods his head "He had mentioned that he saw sadness, remorse, regret, sorrow, and determination in my body language in certain cases."

"involving children?"

"Yeah. More so with foster family cases." Hotch rubs his hand over his face "I thought that maybe. Maybe if I couldn't find Bailee, i could find criminals instead. I know it sounds ridiculous but it made sense to me, putting criminals away meant that the world would be safer."

"Safer for her" Rossi says. Hotch nods again "I couldn't just give up on her. She was my daughter, is my daughter"

"If I hadn't been at court that day, if I wasn't in law school, I would have been home that day. Things would have been different " He adds wiping the single tear that rolled down his cheek.

As the four men were deep in their own thoughts, they were startled when there was a knock-on Rossi's office door, When the door opened it revealed Bailee with her jacket and bag.

"Um did I interrupt something?" She questions looking at the other agents.

Derek shakes his head "No. you didn't. We were actually finished. You ready?" Bailee nods in response and waves goodbye to the other agents walking out of the office.

As Derek and Bailee got into the elevator in silence, Derek notice the frown on her face as she looks down at the fingers that she was fiddling. He knew that was a sign of her anxiety, debating whether he should say something or not was decided when he heard her sniffling.

Derek sighs pulling her into his chest "You heard the conversation?" half stated half questioned.

Bailee tightens her arms around his waist "Yup"

————————————

She never gets a break Bailee :(

There is a reason why she found out this way.