Eye to eye, heart to heart

Chapter 7: The Announcement

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Hotch pushed open the doors to the restaurant and let everyone through. I gave a smile in his direction as I walked into the dimly lit room. There were red lanterns hanging from the ceiling and paintings of dragons on the wall. This place was the teams favourite place to go for a celebration which had me confused. Why did Hotch gather us here? What were we celebrating? Once everyone was inside we sat at the biggest table in the restaurant, which seated 8 so we had a spare seat. Everyone's coats were damp because it had started storming just before we got inside. Morgan shrugged his leather jacket off, hung it over the back of a chair then pulled the one next to it out for Garcia, she grabbed his chin and squeezed it before sitting down. Rossi and Prentiss sat across from them listening to Reid ramble on about Asian culture as he sat next to Prentiss. I sat next to Garcia, and Hotch sat at the head of the table closest to me, then we ordered drinks and our meals. We made small talk and had a few laughs while waiting for lunch, work did come up but when dining with profilers it comes with the territory.
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Two waiters carried our dishes over and placed them in front of the right people. When we weren't at work this bunch of people were just fun, ordinary people. Morgan and Garcia shared their meals and Garcia hand-fed him as they both giggled and flirted, as per usual. Rossi and Prentiss made fun of Reid because after all these years he still hadn't worked out how to use chopsticks. Hotch had his hand on my thigh under the table and we were just casually chatting, not bringing any attention to ourselves. Suddenly Hotch stood and tapped his wine glass twice waiting for everyone to settle and quiet down.
"Now I know we normally come here for celebrations and I'm sure you're all wondering what we're celebrating." I nodded in agreement, still waiting to hear the news.
"I have an announcement to make and it will probably surprise most of you." He said smiling down at me briefly, all of a sudden I knew exactly what we were celebrating. As subtly as I could I shook my head mouthing 'No!' He ignored me and continued, this was going to be so awkward!
"JJ and I are seeing each other." He said casually but had a slight hint of seriousness in his voice.
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I struggled to hold in the water that I was about to spit out. I wanted to see everyone's reactions but I couldn't bare to turn and face them. I choked down my mouthful of water and turned. Morgan and Prentiss were just in utter shock, their jaws were open as far as they could go but Reid just looked confused. Everything was silent for what felt like an eternity, but was only a few seconds. Garcia turned to Rossi and started speaking,
"Sir you have a gift!" She said before handing him a wad of cash.
"I've had some experience." Rossi smirked and it made everyone break out in an awkward laughter but I was still confused and it looked like Morgan and Prentiss were too.
"You knew?!" Morgan and Prentiss shouted at Rossi and Garcia in sync.
"You didn't?" Reid asked as if it was obvious.
"Ok!" I started, making sure to grab everyone's attention.
"Can someone explain this to me... very sloooowwwwllly."
"Dave guessed," Hotch admitted.
"Well you know how I know." Reid said awkwardly, his face turning red when everyone looked at him.
"How did you know?" I asked, turning to face Garcia.
"I know you too well jayje." She smiled putting her hands up.
"And you didn't tell me?" Morgan asked with a hint of sadness in his voice.
"I'm sorry hot chocolate," she frowned rubbing his shoulder.
"Considering we work with profilers I think we hid it pretty well," Hotch said with a cheeky smile.
"Then Rossi and I made a bet as to when you would admit it," Garcia said with a smirk, that turned into a frown when she remembered that she lost. Once we got past the awkwardness we continued our lunch pretty normally except for the occasional tease from Morgan. Hotch and I decided we weren't going to act affectionate at work, ever so we wouldn't lose focus on cases. One by one everyone left and the only ones left were Hotch, Rossi and I.
"What about Strauss?" I asked, recalling the reason why we kept it a secret in the first place. Rossi stood and put his dark overcoat on then looked at me with a smirk.
"If she called you two out for fraternisation she would be a hypocrite." And with that shocking statement he left. Hotch gave a chuckle and shook his head as if to say 'Classic Rossi'. I couldn't help but show off my gleaming smile, having the weight of not telling the team was off my shoulders and I could finally be happy with Aaron. He looked deep into my eyes and took my hand that was sitting on the table.
"What?" I asked blushing.
"I want you to come with me and Jack to the park tomorrow." He said holding back a smile until I responded.
"I'd love to!" I accepted feeling great, he wanted me to spend time with his son.
I leant over the table and kissed him in an act of gratitude and excitement.
"Let's go," he said showing off his dimples, which were a rare sight. He pulled out his wallet and left the right amount of money on the table, with a pretty decent tip. We pulled on our jackets and he took my hand, intertwining my fingers with his and we headed out into the rain. We ran to the SUV covering our heads with our arms, not that it made a difference. By the time we got to the car I was overcome with laughter but I stopped when Aaron grabbed me by the waist and pushed his lips against mine until he needed a breath.
"I love you," he said, I could feel his hot breath on my neck.
"I love you too!" I almost yelled, not meaning to say it so loudly, causing him to laugh at me.
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Aaron opened the door to his apartment and gestured for me to walk in. He threw his keys and wallet on the table at the door and I did the same with my handbag.
"This is our last night without Jack," he said while taking off his jacket, subtly making hints. I decided I wouldn't play any games with him, he deserved a good night.
"Well I guess we better take advantage of that then." I said grabbing him by his tie and pulling him into his bedroom, closing the door behind me.