ALEX | a. hotchner (sequel to BLAKE)

11

A/n: posting two days in a row? that's never happened before

"Alex almost got into a fight, so I let her sleep on my couch," Spencer explained.

We were standing in Aaron's office after the briefing of our new case.

"It was a very nice couch, too," I smiled, "my back doesn't even hurt."

"You got into a fight?" Aaron scowled.

"Almost," I corrected him, "I almost got into a fight."

"Are you out of your mind?" He glared at me, "you're a federal agent for god's sake."

"Since when do you care what I do, huh?" I snapped back. "You haven't acknowledged my existence for weeks now."

"What?" Aaron's frown disappeared from his face, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Do you know how frustrating it is to not only be spoken down to, but downright ignored?" I spat.

He scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. Spencer chose this as a good moment to carefully leave Aaron's office. I couldn't blame him, our voices were laced with venom, waiting for the right moment to attack and kill. My fists were clenched at my sides and I fought hard to control all the emotions that had been building up over the past few weeks.

"You haven't tried to talk to me," he defended himself.

"That is not the point," I snapped, "the point is that I am a part of this team and-"

"The team was just fine before you came back."

Ouch.

"I can't talk to you like this," I breathed, "you're not even trying to listen."

"What were you really doing at Reid's place?" He asked then, his eyes bore into mine and set my soul on fire.

"Is that what this whole thing is about?" I scoffed in disbelief, "you think Spencer and I are together?"

"Are you?" he questioned, eyebrows raised.

"No," I frowned.

"Then you're free to go," he said and turned to gather some files on his desk.

I scoffed, "are you fucking kidding me right now?"

"Just get ready for the jet," Aaron sneered.

"Whatever," I mumbled and left his office to get my go bag.

I harshly put the files from the briefing in my bag and threw it over my shoulder, walking behind the rest of the team to the elevators.

"Just try to relax," Dave said and patted me on the shoulder.

"Why don't you try to relax with my foot up your fucking ass," the words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and then I immediately felt bad. "I'm sorry," I said, "I'm so sorry, I don't know why I said that."

Dave just laughed at me and I could feel myself slowly coming back down to earth.

"Is it true you never finished college?" Derek asked as we headed to the jet.

I nodded, "dropped out."

"Why?"

"Rose and I moved around, my job got in the way and we couldn't pay for it anyway," I explained.

"You ever think about going back.

I shrugged, "not really."

That week had been just as Aaron said it would be, everyone on the team had been called up about offers from other divisions. Ashley had already left to work for the Domestic Trafficking Task Force, JJ was wanted at the Pentagon, Morgan was still getting calls from the New York office and Spencer was wanted by, well, everyone. ViCAP had called me, wanting me on one of their task forces, I told them no but they gave me some time to think about it.