or what, sir? |a. hotchner| ✔️

five

We both managed to make our way into his car, but he couldn't seem to start driving it back to Quantico. I finally decided to break the silence,

"You can't tell anyone I just said that" Aaron instructed. I turned my head to look at him.

"You can't tell anyone I feel the same way" I blurted, and that caught him by surprise. We were staring at one another like we were both the damn boogyman.

He opened his mouth to speak, "You do?"

"Since I got back" I admitted, moving my eyes to my lap. There it was once again, the silence that I hated so very much. "What uh... What do we do?" I asked, "Do I leave again? Say I can't do it?" he shook his head, putting his hand on my thigh.

"Wow, of course not. I would never ask you do to that" He started, "And even if something did happen between us, neither of us would have to leave" He explained. My face turned a bright red at his words.

"If something happened between us?" I repeated.

He thought something could happen between us? He wanted something to happen between us?

"I don't know," He tried defending his statement, "I just thought..." He couldn't figure out what to say, and neither could I. I was still in complete shock about all of this.

I was still convinced he was married and in love with Haley. And honestly, he probably was. He was probably just confused by me coming back. I did look different, everyone told me I changed.

A bang came from my window, and Aaron quickly let go of my leg as we both jumped. I looked to see who it was, revealing JJ. I rolled the window down, "Hey, you feeling better? Em said you didn't look so good on the jet" She looked worried. I let out a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of my neck.

"Just worried about Pen, I'm okay" I mean, it wasn't a complete lie. I was worried about Spencer, but all I could really think about in that moment was the fact that Aaron may actually have feelings for me. Any, any at all.

"I'll take her home" Aaron suggested, and JJ nodded. "Goodnight" He said to her, and she smiled faintly.

"Goodnight, guys" She walked away, and my window started to roll back up again. Aaron started the car, pulling out of the driveway. I really wanted to speak, but I was afraid to. I couldn't get the fact that he was my damn boss out of my head.

"Sir?" I spoke, and he hummed to show he was listening. "Are you taking me home?" I looked at him, seeing he was looking straight ahead. He didn't respond for a moment,

"Would you like me to?" I shook my head,

"No, not really" I admitted. Instead of going straight, which led home, he turned right. He was going into the city. I raised an eyebrow,

Interesting.

We drove, no one speaking as we continued further and further into the city. My lips curled upwards as I thought about what just happened. Little surges of excitement kept filling me up every time the situation re appeared in my mind. And now I was sitting in the car with him, going somewhere I didn't know.

We pulled into an empty parking spot on the side of the street, and I examined the location. It was all too familiar, and I furrowed my brows.

"Whitebird?" confusion filled my voice, "How did you remember that?" He looked at me with both his eyebrows raised, trying to signal that it was obvious. It was either that or he didn't want to admit out loud that he had remembered something from two years ago.

It was mine and Spencer's favorite place to go, open till 3 am. It was small and cute, with a variety of books to choose from. Spencer and I had read all of them more than once, the amount of time we were in there was insane. On our days off, we would sit in there and drink our coffees and our teas and read and talk for hours.