Aberration of the Heart

Part 1

You'd been a goner from the moment you stepped into his office for your interviews as the newest profiler in the Behavioral Analysis Unit at the FBI headquarters in Quantico. From the moment your brown eyes met his, you knew it was over for you; there was no resisting the brooding professional that was Aaron Hotchner but you would try you hardest.

That's why everyone on the team knows you well enough, but him. It's why you're nothing but professional on the job, nothing but the perfect agent that he can depend on. It's why you wear the blandest outfits and why you hardly ever make eye contact with him. You didn't want him to notice you or pay too much attention to you because as soon as he did, you knew you were hook, line, and sinker.

If you were being completely honest with yourself, you already were but you let yourself believe you weren't. But if Hotch knew you and accepted you it would be like an invitation for your delusions of being with him, and you engaged in those enough already. It was him who you pictured when your hands wander between your legs, him who you envisioned bringing coffee to in the morning when your bed was empty and cold.

"We have a case." Hotch's voice booms across the precinct, pulling you out of your thoughts about him. Your eyes meet his for a brief moment before you grab you leather journal and a pen.

You, Derek, Emily, and Reid immediately stand and start towards the conference that Hotch has disappeared in. JJ and Garcia are already standing by the monitor ready to present, Rossi already in usual spot.

Garcia and JJ tag team the case, filling you all in on today's little slice of horror. Someone was killing young women, violently, and dumping them in various parks around the Kansas State University campus. There was a substantial amount of overkill but with the way the unsub posed the victims and covering them the team felt unsure that they knew much about what was going on. You ignored the churn in your stomach as you identified with the victims.

"Alright, we need to gather more information and they've invited us in. Wheels up in 20. Prentiss, Y/l/n, could I see you both in my office, please?" Hotch doesn't wait for an answer before starting towards his office.

You knew that he didn't mean any harm by expecting the two of you to just follow by his addition of please. It was something that had bugged you from the beginning. Even though you had told yourself you wouldn't rock the boat with him too much, you talk to him about it. You remember the shock on his face from a few months ago, when you politely asked if he could say please when asking for things. You'd been on the team for over a year but you just couldn't take it anymore.

"Sir, I know that you mean no harm, but I would really appreciate it, and maybe others would too if you would say please."

The two of you were on the way back from a crime scene where he had abruptly said you were leaving to head back to the precinct. He was your boss, he got to do things like that, but if you weren't going to be asked nicely, an explanation would be nice. In this instance you had gotten neither and it'd bothered you until you had to say something.

He whips his head to look at you, his eyes wider than the horizon. "I - of course. I hadn't meant to be rude, Y/l/n." A light pink blush dusts his cheeks and it takes everything in you not to giggle at his embarrassment.

"Of course, not sir, I just...its just a preference." You fidget with you fingers in your lap, looking away from him and out the window.

"It won't happen again." He says firmly before the car is filled with a comfortable silence.

He'd made an effort since then, not only with you but with the entire team. The team had all talked about it in surprise but you never mentioned that it was you that had asked him. You let them believe that he'd just become more tactful, you didn't want anyone to think it was more than it was. For you, it was more. There was no denying that you had fallen hard for the distant but polite, put together Aaron Hotchner. He was reserved in a way that made you warm, all of his emotions evident in his eyes, never in his behaviors or tone.