Between The Cases (HotchxMaleOC)

Part 8: The Hotel

**TRIGGER WARNING: I start to go into some of the nightmares Bird is dealing with over the end of this chapter and the next, more in depth warnings will come at the start of the next chapter too, relating to the contents of the nightmares, so please just read with caution, thank you :)**

It had been a pretty rough day, no unsub caught yet (but since when did they ever make it easy on us? I guess we should be grateful or we'd all be out of jobs). We hadn't even got a lead yet though, which was moderately frustrating. Hotch has called it a day, to be exact, he had said, "I know we are all frustrated and tired, let's head back to the hotel and come back with refreshed eyes tomorrow."

The BAU had a thing where all of our names were put into a bag and we had randomly selected roomies for the entire case. I didn't mind, I had gotten pretty comfortable around the whole team, so anywhere I was put, I'd be okay. JJ and Emily had objected, and roomed together. It made sense. They got their keys and went up to their room after saying goodnight to all of us.

We had one single room, and then two doubles left. Morgan put his name, mine, Rossi's, Reid's and Hotch's into a bag and he asked me to start pulling names as he sat and nursed a beer at the hotel bar. Hotch and Rossi had chosen a scotch of some sorts, I really couldn't navigate the world of fancy alcohol. It was intimidating. I was perfectly happy with Reid, we sat sipping our glasses of soda. I rustled the names in the bag and started in my best TV show presenter voice, "Tonight's lucky winner of this single luxurious hotel room is.... Drum roll please!"

Morgan was laughing and he and Reid tapped the table, building the atmosphere while Hotch and Rossi just shook their heads in amusement.

"We have, one David Rossi, scoring the single room to himself!"

He laughed and gave a triumphant air punch.

"Next up for grabs, we have two gorgeous hotel rooms, with two comfortable double beds, I wonder which of our lucky guys will be roomies"

I dramatically rustled around the bag and snatched a folded piece of paper up, reading it to myself.

"We have our own genius, Dr Spencer Reid! Withhhhhh..."

I shook up the bag and flicked the bottom making a piece of paper fall onto the table. I snatched it up and presented it to them.

"One SSA Aaron Hotchner! Congratulations guys!"

Hotch rolled his eyes and laughed whilst I got put into a gentle headlock. I looked up and saw Morgan laughing down at me whilst he pinned me, "Guess it's me and you then kiddo! I hope you don't snore!"

I pretended to glare at him and he let me go, so I punched him playfully in the arm. Hotch interfered with a smirk and a chuckle, "Now now boys, no fighting please, I wouldn't wanna have to call local law enforcement in"

It was my turn to laugh and roll my eyes at him.

After we had all finished up at the bar, we took off to our room to get in some much needed shut eye, Morgan and I went up to our room to get settled. He spoke as he unlocked the door, "You know kiddo, you really helped everyone wind down tonight, helped us take our minds off the case for half an hour or so. I don't think you understand how much we all needed it, so, thanks kiddo, you did great today" A huge smile took over my face and I blushed a little at the praise. I loved Morgan already, he took me in like a little brother and I couldn't be more thankful for it. He made me feel so comfortable. I gave him a one armed hug, trying to say that to him through it. He took me into a proper hug and I really tried to hold back the tears. It was just a lot, you know? But a good kind of 'a lot'.

I laid my bag on my bed, which was the one further from the door, but there was only like 1ft separating the two beds anyways. It was okay, I had definitely seen worse living situations. I found my old Bon Jovi t-shirt, and a pair of pyjama shorts and set them on my pillow. I also prepared tomorrow's outfit too. A black shirt that I would iron in the morning super quickly, a pair of grey pants, matching the same colour of waistcoat I had picked. I liked to put outfits that were super easy to mix and match in my go bag, purely for the ease and practicality of it all. I set the outfit in the first drawer of my bedside cabinet. I heard Morgan chuckle, "Someone like feeling prepared?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Good point Bird, good point"

I smiled at him and went to get my wash bag and pjs, "Hey I'm just gonna grab a quick shower if that's okay with you?"

"Sure thing man, as long as you don't take 5 hours", he laughed and started to change "I usually go for morning showers, so don't worry about me"

"Ah okay, thanks Morgan" And with that, I headed into the bathroom.

I have a system. Under the shower, wash hair once, rinse, wash hair a second time, rinse, conditioner in, wash body, rinse hair and body. Done. Minimise the amount of time I spend and keep me focused. Get out of the shower, towel off. Dry hair a little. Put pyjamas on. Style and blow dry hair. Get the hell outta there.

I clean up the bathroom and see Morgan on his phone. He look up at me, eyebrows raised, "Wow, that was efficient"

"Thank you?"

He laughed and shook his head, getting up to use the bathroom. I put everything away and took out my sketchbook, just sketching little things I see in the room. The fruit bowl, a dresser, a vase of flowers, my watch on the dresser, my shoes. Anything that remotely interested me really. It was nightly practice, and it helped me chill out and wind down ready for sleep. It also distracted me from thinking out the nightmares. Damn, the nightmares. I haven't slept in the same room as someone since before the nightmares started. Well fuck. I hadn't thought this through. Should I warn him? What if he thinks I'm crazy? They might not even happen at all tonight. Maybe tonight they'll leave me alone. I really hope so. But I don't have Rumple tonight to keep me company. Maybe the extra pillow could substitute. Yeah, I could do this. It's just a night or two. Right?