ALEX | a. hotchner (sequel to BLAKE)

8

I woke up before he could kill me, but I could still feel the presence of the gun held to my head, digging deeper into me. My heart was in my ears and the sweat on my forehead could probably fill an entire bottle.

It was only a nightmare. I'm still in control.

I covered my heart with my hand and punched it lightly, trying to slow it down, trying to keep it from exploding. Punching the skin over my heart helped, it kept me from feeling it in my chest, and I wanted to be numb.

The nightmare wasn't as bad as the other ones. My breathing became steady faster than usual and my vision wasn't as blurry. I noticed then that the light was turned on and Penelope was standing at the foot of my bed.

"Come on, Alex, you gotta get up," she said as she tried to pull the covers off of me.

"What are you doing?" I asked and grabbed my sheets, pulling them over myself, "it's the middle of the night." I tightened my grip on the cover so that Penelope couldn't pull them off.

"Let go," she said through gritted teeth, and so I did.

The sheets flew off me, leaving my body cold and exposed. Penelope fell to the floor and landed right on her butt, "ouch."

"What the hell, Alex?" She sat up on the floor with a frown on her face, putting her glasses back on.

"Sorry," I murmured tiredly.

"We got a case, Hotch is calling everyone in," she stood up and rubbed her butt, it was probably sore.

"Now? But it's still dark outside."

"I know, I think it's a bad sign," she said with a worried expression, and with our luck, it probably was.

"Alright, I'm up," I yawned and dragged myself out of bed.

"Hey, wait a minute," she said and looked at me intensely.

"What?"

She came closer to me, her nose was only a few inches away from mine.

"Did you cut your hair?" She asked.

"Yes," I answered, "yes I did."

She smiled then, "I like it."

"Thanks," I smiled back.

"Alex, honey," Penelope said as her smile disappeared and she took a step back, "you should shower first, you're sweating."

I glared at her, "so what? It's only natural."

She nodded, "take a shower," she whispered and gave me a pat on the back.

Kevin Lynch met us at the entrance of the building, him and Penelope had been seeing a lot of each other lately. He was nice, but that's all. He was just nice, and she deserved better than nice.

"Sweetie, relax, I'm sure it's nothing," he tried to calm her down as we entered the elevator.

"When was the last time you drove to work in the dark?" She asked and anxiously tapped her fingers against her coffee cup.

"It's probably a bad case," I said and leaned against the wall. "And if it is, then we'll solve it, we always do."

"But this is different, when there's a case he texts me," she said. "This time he left a voice message, it's gotta be life altering."

"That's a bit dramatic," Kevin said with furrowed eyebrows.

I laughed, "it probably isn't."

"And if it is?" She asked.