Deception - Hotchniss

Chapter 14

"Alright, I think we got it," Emily said, taking a step back from the bed in their room.

They had spent the last few minutes trying to think of a way to separate it into two parts, and had finally found a large body pillow in the closet, perfect for dividing the bed right down the middle. In addition to that, so no one hogged the covers, they each had their own blanket underneath the king sized comforter.

"This would have been a lot easier for you, had you let me sleep on the floor," Aaron said, placing his hands on his hips.

She scoffed. "Yeah, that would be really nice of me."

"Well," he sighed, "You'll leave me no choice, if you're a kicker."

She rolled her eyes and walked to the dresser, where she began to unpack her clothes. Aaron went to one of the two windows in the room and looked outside at the setting sun. It was nearly down, and they had already eaten dinner with the rest of her family. He got along with them all very well. Especially one of her uncles, Ben, who had been a policeman for ten years before getting his law degree.

He looked outside and couldn't help but wonder what the rest of the BAU team was doing. He couldn't even imagine them knowing about this trip they were taking together. It was needless to say that he'd never hear the end of it. Especially from Rossi.

Pulling him from his thoughts, he heard a heavy sigh from behind him. He turned around and saw Emily opening his drawer in the dresser. "What?" he asked, puzzled.

"Your clothes," she complained, "they're not organized at all. Your t-shirts are all scattered across your jeans and sweaters."

"So?" he asked, taking a step forward. He looked down at the drawer and didn't see anything wrong with it.

"You're such a guy," she muttered under her breath, sorting through his drawer and beginning to organize it.

"What?" he said and leaned down, a small smirk on his lips. "Emily, you don't need to organize my stuff. If it mattered that much to you, I'd do it myself."

She looked up at him and cocked her head. Yeah, because that was believable. Besides, she liked doing it anyways.

"Okay," he said in a softer voice. "In that case, I'm going to go take a shower."

She nodded and looked back down. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Mhm." He walked past her, briefly placing one of his hands on her shoulder in the process. It was one of those gestures that people don't really think about, but Emily noticed how his hand sort of lingered, then drifted across her shoulder as he walked away.

About a half an hour later, after Emily, too, had taken a shower and gotten ready for bed, she walked out of the bathroom and found him lying in bed, an extra pillow behind his head, reading what looked to be an old book, with reading glasses resting on his nose.

She hesitated for a moment to get into bed, but then finally pulled back the covers and climbed in. "What are you reading?" she asked when he didn't look up from the book.

His voice was lower than usual. "The Swiss Family Robinson."

"Ah, a classic," she said, looking over the body pillow at the old illustrations in the novel. She looked up at his face, noticing that he shaved the scruff around his chin.

"It was lying in the dresser. It makes better reading material than a case file, I guess."

Emily smiled and settled back into her spot. It was cold outside, nearly 50 degrees, and inside it was probably in the upper sixties. This is when she regret not bringing any warmer sweaters, besides her coat.

She pulled the blanket up over her shoulders and adjusted it as it wrapped around her. "Sorry," she muttered when she pulled the shared comforter to her side a bit more.

He glanced at her quickly. "Cold?" he asked.

"A little. It's okay, though."

Emily was a bit surprised when he put his book down on the nightstand beside him and walked to the dresser. He was wearing gray sweats, which was a sight that Emily never imagined herself witnessing.

He reached inside of his drawer and pulled out a thick, forest green sweater. He then walked back to the bed and handed it to her simply. "Put this on if you're cold. It's warm."

"Hotch, I'm okay, really," she insisted, trying to hand it back to him.

"First of all," he said, sitting down. "You don't have to call me that-"

"Sorry, Habit."

He smiled. "And second, you should put the sweater on now before you get sick or something."

Emily couldn't help but smile at this. Both the gesture of him getting it for her, and the sight of him in his glasses and sweats was enough to provoke her amusement.

"Thank you," she said finally, then pulled the warm sweater over her head. As she expected, it smelled exactly like him. Some kind of spruce scent, but at the same time smelling like some other type of expensive cologne. It was actually kind of nice.

"Goodnight," he said as she settled back into her side of the bed, pulling the blankets back up over her shoulders.

"Night, Hotch," she said quietly, unaware if he heard her or not.

He did. And when he did, he smiled. The nickname would probably never fade from her vocabulary, and that made him smile.

Not long after this, he turned the light beside him off, leaving them to the darkness surrounding them. He could hear the faint chirp of the crickets outside, and later, the soft breathing of the woman beside him.