The bullpen was empty when Liz Ryan got to the Bureau for work that day. The silence made her head pound, she hated it. She was also, to her surprise, very tired. Regardless she got started and looked through cases. One by one the team made their way in. Reid was first. "Morning Ryan." He greeted her.
"Morning Reid."
"How was your night?" He asked.
"Alright. You?"
"Good."
Reid rustled around for a minute, getting his things together, then the room fell silent again.
Morgan, then Garcia, Rossi, and JJ came in next all making their way to their offices settling in then coming back out filling the room with small noises finally breaking the silence. Hotch walked in and made his way to his office without saying a word. Liz watched him until she could no longer see him. And the last one to show was Agent Simon Ruck, her best friend and newest to the team. Liz was more than excited when he joined the team two years ago.
They all made small talk for a few minutes before Hotch came from his office. "Conference room, we have a case." He announced.
They made their way to the round table room and took their seats. Liz ended up between Simon, whom she didn't have a problem with, and Hotch, whom she did. She felt him tense next to her obviously unhappy with the seating arrangement.
---
The thing with Hotch was that Liz has known since she was six years old. He was twenty-five, leaving a massive nineteen years between them. A new agent at the time and the first on the scene of her parents' murder. He was the one to comfort her and her brother, Ben, who was ten then. Liz fell in love with Aaron the minute she met him, at six years old. She somehow knew he'd be important to her. She was right. After her grandparents took custody of the children Hotch asked to stay in touch.
"Of course." Liz's grandmother said.
Aaron called every night. He watched her grow up. Pulled some strings when she was eighteen to start her FBI career alongside him as a profiler. And she watched him grow too. She was there when Jack was born and there when Haley passed and there for everything in between. They were apart of each others lives and every body knew.
It was after Haley passed though that everything changed. Aaron created distance between them. He wasn't as open with her has he once had been. She thought at some point he'd stop talking to her all together. But she'd made Haley a promise to help take care of Jack and Liz still went to see him every week and called him every night just as Aaron had done when she was young.
Things got even worse after Aaron met Beth. Liz hated Beth because she was convinced Beth hated her, Beth saw Liz as a threat. Aaron of course took Beth's side pushing Liz away even more, still Liz kept her promise to Haley and her commitment to Jack. She felt like a stranger to Aaron though.
Then four years ago she met Simon and things got better. They became instant best friends in the small coffee shop down the street. He was much older than her, at the time she was twenty-one and he was forty-eight. Still the two bonded instantly and he helped her cope with the distancing Aaron.
---
Right now, both Liz and Hotch found themselves uncomfortable. JJ finished briefing them and Hotch stoop up. "Wheels up in twenty." He said before leaving the room.
They were going to LA to help find the unsub who was taking mothers from their home in the middle of the night and returning them to their yards two days later dead.
The team all cleared the room, but Liz was lost in thought staring down at the table.
"Alright kiddo, what's up?" Simon asked her.
"Nothing." She lied.
"You're lying."
She sighed and looked past Simon towards Hotch's office.
"You know one of you has to break eventually."
"It's been six years since we last had a real conversation, if he wasn't so damn stubborn I might try to talk to him."
They had spoken since then but never more than small talk or a 'good morning' or 'goodnight' when she called or visited Jack.
Simon sighed. "Maybe you're stubborn."
Liz was done with the conversation then. "We have to go." She simply said before getting up and walking out.
They had a five hour flight to LA. After working on as much of the case as they could the team fell asleep, besides Aaron and Liz. Liz got up to get some water, trying to a avoid eye contact with Aaron as she made her way to the back of the jet. Right when she looked up however, so did he and they locked eyes. "I'm getting some water. You need anything?" She said calmly.
"No, thank you." He politely replied.
She got her water and started to make her way back to her seat. "Liz?"
She turned to Aaron's voice. "Yeah?"
He motioned for her to sit across from him. She did and sighed. "What's up?" She questioned rather confused.
"How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"I'm well."
"How's Jack?" She said trying to avoid awkwardness.
"He's good. He's looking forward to you coming over on Saturday."
She smiled a small, shy smile.
"That's his favorite day, when you come over."
"I'm honored." She stifled a laugh. This was all it was small talk nothing more, nonetheless she was glad to talk to him.
"Hotch?" She called him that at work and more and more outside of work in the last few years.
"Aaron." He corrected. "What's up?"
"When we get back, would you want for go out for lunch sometime?" She asked. "Just to talk." She clarified.
"We talk all the time."
"That's not what I meant." She rolled her eyes.
"Oh. Yeah lunch is good."
"Okay." She got up then and walked away no longer wanting to engage in the awkward conversation.
