Serre-Moi Fort; Hold Me Tight

The Closeness of You

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are the mark of weakness, but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and unspeakable love"

Rossi POV

It must have only been a few minutes before she fell asleep, but being able to look down and see her was one of the best feelings. Through the entire shootout, all I could think of was if she was ok and now that she's here, in my arms, I feel relieved. I was able to keep an eye on her, and even if I was the only one awake, Ive never felt closer to her.

~

Hotch was one of the first people from the rest of the team to come in. Without even looking at him, I could see the look that he was giving me.

"Well, it looks like you two have gotten pretty cozy. Hope nothing happened in here," he said jokingly.

"You're funny Hotch, real funny. Nothing happened, she was just having a hard time with Reid being hurt and I just happened to be here. That's all."

"Sure, ok. Whatever you say," Hotch said with a smirk.

~

I don't know when I started doing it, but I noticed that I was running my fingers through her hair. It was almost so instinctual that I didn't even know I was doing it. I wish we could have more moments like this. Just the two of us, enjoying each others company.

Alex POV

I must have been asleep for at least an hour because when I woke up, everyone was there talking to Reid. I tried to get up as slow as possible so people didn't notice, but as soon as my head was off his shoulder, Rossi turned and smiled.

"Well, good morning sleepy head."

I could feel my face starting to blush, so I knew it was time to go.

"Sorry, didn't mean to fall asleep on you. I think Im gonna head back to the hotel room, it's been a long night," I said getting up "Reid I'm glad to see that you're awake, try to get some rest," I kissed him on the forehead and left as fast as I could without looking in Rossi's direction.

Walking out of the hospital, all I could think of was how it felt to be in his arms for that long. Not one part of me felt uncomfortable or wanting to leave, until the end at least. It was nice to be able to let my guard down in front of him, and even though I didn't tell him what was wrong, I felt better. I felt like I had someone to turn to who would always be there to listen and be a shoulder that I could cry on. Part of me did feel bad that I didn't completely open up, but I didn't want to be a burden on him or anything. He's had a long day too.

~

I had just gotten in to the cab when JJ started calling me, "So, are we gonna talk about what happened in there?"

"Ya, you and Rossi looked pretty cute together," Garcia chimed in.

"I don't know what you guys are talking about, I just must kinda leaned over on him. We're all pretty tired."

"As much as I love you hon, you can't try to cover that up. Everyone saw you guys when we walked in," Garcia said.

"I'm pretty sure he was even playing with your hair at one point. Whether or not he knows that we noticed is a whole different story,"

I slightly chuckled to myself at the thought of him doing that, "I don't know, I'm sure it was annoying not being able to get up. What if he had to go to the bathroom?"

"Alex, Im pretty sure he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else."

~

As soon as I got to my hotel room, I just kind of lost it. Even though the girls were keeping my mind off of it on the car ride over, when it was just me again, all I could think of was Ethan. It's been a few years, but today with Reid hit a nerve. Half of me wanted James because it was his son too, but the other part of me wanted Dave because I couldn't get the feeling of being that close to him out of my head.

Rossi POV

I stayed with Reid for a little while after she left and between Hotch and JJ and Garcia, I knew something was up. Occasionally I would look up and the three of them would be over in the corner whispering about god only knows what. As I was getting up to say goodbye, JJ nudged Hotch and he followed me out of the room.

"We all agree that Alex seems a little shaken up, and not just about Reid, so we think you should be the one to go talk to her. The two of you seem the closest, and I think she could use some time alone with someone to talk about whatever she is going through."

"Do you think she really wants to see me though? She left pretty quickly when she realized what had happened."

"The only way you are going to find that out is to go and see her."

With that, I took a cab over to the hotel. The car ride over all that was going through my head was what if something happens, bad or good. We could have a nice talk or, since it would just be the two of us, we could end up doing something. If she wasn't married it would be a different story, and I know they're in a rough patch, but there's always the possibility that they'll figure it out. As much as that's the last thing that I want to happen, in the end, I just want her to be happy.

"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars"