Nicotine // Aaron Hotchner

Quarante

The seasons came and went. Before they knew it ten months had passed since their trip to California. Aaron and Victoria had both settled into a routine as she was now happily leading her own unit. Aaron was happy for her, but missed spending more time with her. Takuma had become an important member of their family. He was like an uncle to Jack. A fun uncle who took care of him. 

Aaron sat in his office as he tried to comb through the mountain of paperwork that was set before him. He didn't look up from his paperwork despite sound of his office door opening and closing. He already knew who it was. 

"Are you hard at work or hardly working," Rossi joked as he took a seat.

"I should say the same about you," Aaron replied.

"Touche. So have you thought about telling the team about your little relationship with my daughter? It has been over a year now." Rossi gave him a look. "It's only going to get harder the longer you wait."

"You know how they'll react. Garcia and Morgan will relentlessly bother us with questions. I like keeping it on the quiet side." Aaron put the finished file into the stack of completed paperwork before moving onto the next file. 

Rossi shook his head. "Well as long as she's fine with it then so am I. But you can't keep this a secret for long. Garcia is already snooping around. She's suspected something since Halloween."

Aaron chuckled as he remembered the costume party that Rossi had hosted. JJ had been kind enough to take Jack trick or treating with Henry. It had left him and Victoria free to have a little fun. "Oh I remember," Aaron said.

"You better wipe that look off your face. It's not hard to tell what you're thinking of." Rossi gave him a disapproving look. "So how long until you actually plan on proposing?"

Aaron almost choked on the coffee he was drinking. "Excuse me?"

"Oh don't think Gideon and I will allow the two of you not to get married. Well... more like Gideon rather than me. I just like throwing parties."

"Dave, you know I want to marry her, but she says she doesn't believe in marriage."

"That's not what I overheard Victoria tell JJ. Garcia brought in a catalogue of engagement rings. The women were practically drooling over them. I'm sure she'd reconsider if it was you."

"We've only been together for a year and four months. I don't want to make the mistake of taking things too fast."

"Aren't the two of you considering moving in together?"

"We've talked about it. It's something we are considering but it's not final yet. Jack seems to like the idea, but I'm worried about how it would affect the dynamic of our relationship," Aaron told the older gentleman.

Rossi understood what the man was saying. "You're scared that you two will run into some speed bumps by moving in together like who sleeps on what side of the bed, division of household chores, whose turn it is to wash the dishes. Stuff like that."