The Stuggle of Loving You | a. hotchner | ✔

Chapter 8

I laid awake last night, the pain from my ankle was worse than I thought. I had limped my way over to the fridge to get an ice pack.

"Ok- I wasn't going to mention it but why was Hotch with you yesterday and why was he giving you a piggyback ride."

My heart jumped, I flinched and set my hands on the counter. "First, fuck you for scaring me. Second, while I was running yesterday I fell in... a hole and I hurt my ankle. Hotch was there because he was also running."

Now that I heard it out loud it sounded like a sad excuse, like I was trying to cover something up.

Chloe thought the same thing as she clicked her tongue and sat on the couch, "Yeah okay." Rolling my eyes I went... more like hobbled back into my room and tried to get ready for class.

I didn't have the energy to change so I just put on a hoodie to go with my pajama pants. Class was in an hour and given my physical state I needed to take advantage of that time.

"I'm leaving now whether you come or not", Chloe turned her head to me as I walked into the living room.

"No I'm not feeling good today", I internally shrugged. "Okay."

I grabbed my car keys and slowly made my way out of the apartment, down the stairs. I held onto the railing hoping I wouldn't fall down. When I got to the last stair I took my time going across the lot into the car.

I was happy that it was my left ankle that was injured and not my right; I could still drive.

I drove to the campus, getting there with half an hour left before class. I had stopped on my way to get some coffee, deciding to get Hotch a coffee too as a thank you for yesterday.

I pulled up and carefully got the coffees out of the car before standing up. I was making my way to the hall little by little, passing barely anyone.

It was still 'early' to everyone else but the teachers. I got to the lecture hall door and opened it.

When I stepped inside no one was in there but him... sitting at his desk. He snapped his head up at the sudden opening and closing of the heavy doors, "Why are you here so early?"

I set my coffee down at my desk and tried to go over to him. He noticed I was limping and was walking over to help me.

"I wanted to thank you", I said holding his drink. He took it from my hand and took a sip.

"Thank you, and are you sure you being here early is for the coffee or the fact that you can barely walk?"

I dropped my head down a bit, "The second one."

He hummed, "Thought so..." We were quiet, it was awkward silence but somewhat comforting. I still had my head down looking at my feet.

That was until I felt his pointer finger go under my chin and pick up my head, making me look at him. "How bad does it hurt?", I've touched him before but this felt different.

My cheeks heated and he pulled away, still looking at me. "It's just sore." He turned to the side and pulled the chair from the side of his desk and gestured for me to sit.

I sat down and he took the chair from behind his desk and pushed it in front of me. He sat down and reached for my leg putting it on his lap. My breath was caught in my throat, from here I knew what he was going to do but it still made me anxious.

"Is this alright?", he said before lifting up the bottom of my pant leg.

"Yeah", he lifted it up and started massaging my ankle, it felt great. I didn't have a sprain, It was honestly just sore and I couldn't figure it out. I slowly closed my eyes, just enjoying it.

The pressure was released, "You okay." Hotch said chuckling, looking at me.

I opened my eyes, "What... yeah I'm fine. It feels good." It was like getting a massage after a long day of roller skating, the tension was just gone.

He kept smiling as he continued only stopping because class was in 5 minutes. He stood up and went to his desk, I scooted the chair to the edge.

He went back to working, staring at the papers. "What are you doing?", he glanced over at me. "Looking over the lesson plan, we have a lot to go over."

"I know someone that'll help me understand." I folded my arms on the desk, resting my head on my forearms. Hotch leaned back in his chair, "Is that right."

I nodded, smiling.

"Well they must be very nice to help you out."

I shrugged, "Oh they are." We both started laughing, when we calmed down we were just looking at each other. No one spoke, just like a few minutes ago. I could feel the tension around us, like he was the only thing that mattered.

Hotch leaned towards me a bit. "Y/n-", he was cut off by a student opening the door and settling in a chair.

Both of us were startled, I tried my best to act normal going to my seat, the massage helped a lot. I took steps forward without limping, I took out a notebook ready to take notes.

As I waited for class to start, the hall was flooding with students. Hotch let the talking die down before speaking out.

"Alright, I hope that you guys read the syllabus... if not that's okay. We are going to be starting off with criminal behavior, how it affects their crimes and how it can be reflected in their crimes. If you're trained in the topic you can tell a lot about how the unsub was feeling when they committed the act. Whether that be jealousy, anger, or hatred... now before we continue I should mention that I will be showing graphic images."

Hotch stops and walks to his desk, connecting his computer to the tv in the front of the room.

"I wanted to start off with someone that everyone should already know about... Ted Bundy. He was a serial killer in the seventies and was executed in eighty-nine. He murdered, raped, and kidnapped young women. Bundy killed for dominance, he got off on having power over his victims; wanting all control."

Hotch flipped through photos of the crimes and what they told us.

He continued to tell us about others like Son of Sam, John Wayne Gacy, and one of the earliest serial killers H.H. Holmes.

He spoke out and I was taking notes the entire time, absorbing every word he was saying.

When class was over the other students were quick to leave to go to their other classes. Leaving just Hotch and I.

I collected my stuff and put it into my bag, going up to Hotch who was also putting his things away.

He stood up, "How'd I do?" I found it cute that he was asking about the class.

"It was good, you were nervous?" We started walking up the stairs to the doors. He placed his hand on my lower back in case my ankle gave me any problems he could catch me.

"Yeah", he said laughing nervously. "Mr. FBI, you get nervous? What happened to the badass man I used to know."

Hotch looked at me as if saying 'watch it' , "Put me in a police station working a case with other people and I'm fine but I was just worried if I was doing a good job. I never taught a class before."

"Aaron you did great, don't worry. But I'm sure me being there calmed your nerves a bit", he liked the way his name would roll off my lips.

We went through the doors and he removed his hand. "That it did."

We both smiled at each other then parted ways.