Stars | Aaron Hotchner

4

My eyes fluttered open. Above me was a sleeping Hotch, legs extended out onto the coffee table. My head was in his lap, a blanket covering me. He must have covered me up last night. I smiled at the thought, as I looked up at him. He looked so peaceful as he lightly snored, his head resting on the back of the couch. I got up slowly, to not wake him. I took the blanket that rested on me and lightly draped it over his lap where my head just resided.

I quietly sauntered over to the kitchen to put a pot of coffee on. From the snoring I heard floating down from the spare bedrooms, we were going to need a lot of coffee. As I started mixing ingredients for pancakes, I thought idly to myself about how much I loved being a part of this team.

I put the bacon in a skillet, and put some butter in a pan to start cooking the pancakes. It wasn't long before I was flipping the last pancake, and taking the last of the bacon off the skillet. I turned to the kitchen island set put the plate of bacon down when my heart dropped.

     "Ah!" I yelled at the figure sitting at the island, dropping the bacon on the counter. "Hotch, you scared the hell out of me. How long have you been sitting there?" I asked the man who now had his hands up by his head as if I held a gun to him.

     "I apologize. I didn't mean to startle you." He replied with a big grin. I clutched my hand to my heart and tried to stabilize my breathing. A few seconds later, Morgan came around the corner, gun pointing directly at us.

     "Morgan, it's fine. Hotch just scared the daylights out of me." I said to Morgan.

     "Oh," Morgan said, holstering his gun.

     "Is everything ok?" Penelope said, peeking from the staircase.

     "Yeah, it was just Hotch," Morgan explained, now walking towards the kitchen. "Oo, bacon. My favorite." He said, taking a bacon from the plate and popping it in his mouth. Penelope came walking in after him, hand on her head.

     "Got any coffee, gorgeous?" She said, sitting down between Hotch and Morgan.

     "Coming right up." I returned, turning towards the fridge to get creamer. As I poured the coffee into four mugs, I looked up at Hotch who still hadn't taken his eyes off me.

     "Ugh. What time is it?" Prentiss said, joining us.

     "Almost ten," Hotch replied, as I added a fifth cup to the bunch.

     "Damn. It's almost time for me and Garcia to pick you up and do it all over." Emily said, smiling at me. I returned her smile.

     "Where are you guys off to now?" Morgan added, disgusted.

     "Probably a club. Maybe a bar." Emily replied, smirking. "Girls night. No boys allowed." She added.

     "That's a shame," Hotch added.

     "Woah. The man can joke?" Morgan said, looking over at Hotch. However as I looked up at him, it didn't seem to be a joke. I grabbed the plate of pancakes and the bacon and brought them over to the table. Behind me, Hotch grabbed the same stack of plates we had washed last night.

     "I'll go grab Reid," I said, turning to the stairs. I knocked on the door and turned the knob when I heard a groan. "Reid?" I said, walking into the room. He was face down on the bed, his arms and legs star-fished out around him. I giggled quietly as I approached him.

"Reid," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder, and kneeling on the bed.

"Who's there?" He yelled, jolting upwards on his hands and knees.

"Reid calm down, it's just me. It's Catherine." I said, patting his back. He groaned and flopped back onto the bed. "I made pancakes," I said, smiling down at him. He mumbled something. "And bacon," I said, trying to lure him out of bed.