Twelve years ago, Aaron Hochner rescued a little girl from a basement. He wrapped his coat around her and said, "It's all right. You're safe now."
Twelve years later, that little girl walked into his office as his subordinate.
Her name was Iris Mellon: a Princeton PhD, the heiress to the Mellon fortune, and the top graduate of the FBI Academy. She was his trainee. He was her supervisor. She called him "sir." He called her "Mellon."
Between them stood eighteen years, a chain of command, and a door that had just closed.
She thought she had joined the BAU to catch serial killers and help more victims find answers. She didn't know that, on this path, she would draw ever closer to the one man she wasn't allowed to fall for.
And the man who had locked all his feelings beneath a layer of ice began to notice cracks forming across its surface.
"You saved my life," he said.
"You saved my life," she said. "Twelve years ago."
"Then we're even."
"No. We're still keeping count."
Love needs admiration. I admire you, I follow you, I love you.
[In a word] From admiration to deep love, from supervisor and subordinate to partners at each other's side.
Theme: Love makes us strong
