Criminal Minds One-Shots

I'd Probably Still Adore You With Your Hands Around My Neck (Hotch x Fem!Reader)

The sound of a heavy knock at your front door echoed through the house, breaking the previous silence that had settled in. You slowly placed your glass of wine down on the table next to you before rising from your seat. You were suspicious of this whole situation, to say the least. You didn't exactly have many friends and those that you did have knew better than to drop by your house unannounced late at night. That paired with your line of work made you cautious as you carefully peeked through the curtain in the living room. From there you couldn't get a clear line of sight to the porch but you could see the road outside. It was surprisingly empty, no sign of a car that your mystery guest could have come from.

You knew better than to answer the door with no idea who was on the other side but still, you made your way into the hall, standing in silence for a moment in hopes that whoever it was would simply leave if they got no response. Perhaps it was someone that had gotten turned around and was now lost. There was another loud knock against the door but this time, it was followed by a voice.

"I know you're in there, Y/L/N. Open the door." Your body tensed at the sound of his voice, a voice you would recognise anywhere. You'd heard that voice taunting you enough to never forget it. At first, you were sure you were hearing things, your paranoid brain playing tricks on you because there was no way he would have the nerve to actually show up at your house in the middle of the night. You risked a glance through the peephole in the front door then, needing to assure yourself that you weren't going crazy and sure enough, Aaron Hotchner was standing on the other side of the door.

What seemed more out of character than him showing up at your door was the way he leaned his weight against the wall next to him, lacking all of his usual confidence. Your eyes trailed down his body and it was then that you noticed his hand clutching his side, even in the dim light you could make out the slight glisten of blood across his hand.

Part of you considered turning your back on the door, ignoring his call for help and just walking away to leave him to deal with whatever kind of shit he'd found himself in now alone but your hands acted quicker than your brain. Before you could even fully process what you were doing you heard the lock click and your hand was slowly twisting the door handle. You were painfully aware that this could easily be a trap, some kind of ploy to get you to open the door and make yourself vulnerable by pulling a classic fake injury act but you also knew that to show up at your door, Hotch had to be seriously desperate.

It was no secret to anyone who knew the both of you that you had been at war with Hotch for months. It started when you were hired by a member of one of Hotch's rival gangs to help take him and his group down. When he found out he swore he would stop you, take you down with him if he had to and since then you both took any chance to try and destroy the other. Yet it seemed you both always somehow fell just short of the mark. You'd lost count of how many near misses you'd had now.

"Well, you look like shit." You commented bluntly as you finally pulled the door open fully, standing directly in front of him. Hotch looked up and met your gaze as he grinned at you, his confidence returning - even if it was fake - as he tried to steady himself away from the wall. Now that you could see him clearer you realised just how pale he was, a look of concentration on his face like he was fighting hard to hide the pain of his injury. 

"Hello to you too Doll." He said as casually as he could, a barely hidden strained tone to his voice. He'd pulled himself up to stand straight now but you could see in the rapid rise and fall of his chest that it was taking everything he had.

"Don't call me that." You gritted out between clenched teeth as your tried your best to hold back your annoyance. "Why the hell are you here Hotchner?"

"I'm willing to admit, I'm in a little bit of trouble. I may have been stabbed." He started to explain far too calmly for someone who was currently bleedingly all over your front steps. When he moved his hand away from his side to show the slice across his skin you could see where the blood had already soaked a dark stain through his shirt. It was deep and most certainly needed stitches but it wasn't anything life-threatening.  "I don't want to worry any of my team and I think we both know with how I got myself this nasty cut I can't just walk into a hospital. Then I remembered Garcia telling me you had medical training before you changed career paths."