The Secret Love Of A Unit Chief

9: Dinner At Hotch's House

Saturday

It was 3 weeks since Hotch had come out to his team. Nothing seemed to have changed since then. Except of course one thing, he didn't have to hide. He was a lot calmer, and not as stern as he used to be, he still didn't smile though. 

The team had decided they wanted to get to know Nathan, beyond what Garcia had already digged out. Hotch had therefore decided to host a team dinner, with Nathan as well. 

Hotch had talked to Strauss about the team dinner, he hadn't told her the reason, he didn't feel he was ready for that yet. For now it was just the team who knew. 

8=====D

It was 18:54, Aaron and Nathan were busy making lasagne when the doorbell rang. 

"I'm gonna go get that" Aaron said as he put his kitchen cloth down on the counter. He walked over to the door, he opened it and saw that it was JJ and Spencer. JJ held a bouquet in her hands, Spencer were just standing there awkwardly smiling. 

"Welcome." Aaron uttered in a casual, yet stern tone. 

"Thanks" They responded almost simultaneously, they walked inside hanging up their coats, and taking off their shoes. They walked into the living room, that was right in the next room. The room was big, with a lot of space. The living room had two sections, one with beautiful black couches, facing a big tv. The other section had a two big comfy chairs, facing a fireplace, and a bookshelf by the wall. 

"Here these are for you" JJ said as she handed her boss the bouquet. It was a mixture of pink and blue flowers, with a touch of purple. 

"Thanks, these are beautiful" Aaron expressed, with a hint of smile. "I'm gonna go put these in water." Aaron announced as he walked towards the kitchen. 

JJ and Spencer stayed back, and looked around the house. There were no pictures, they seemed to decorate the walls with art instead. 

After a couple minutes the doorbell rang again. Aaron opened, greeting them the same way as with JJ and Spencer. The whole team were now sitting in the living room, chatting, while Aaron and Nathan finished up the last bit of the cooking. 

"Dinner is ready" Nathan said as he entered the living room, gesturing for them to follow him. They walked through the door, and entered a nice spacy room, with a big table inside. Aaron had planted the bouquet he got from JJ in a nice vase on the table. 

"Oooh, i LOVE lasagne" Penelope exclaimed, as she sat down at the table with Derek on her right and Emily on her left. On the other side of Derek were Rossi. 

"I love it too." Nathan agreed "This is actually a family recipe." He continued, as he sat down on the other side of the table, next to JJ, who had Spencer on her other side. 

Penelope and Nathan started to discuss whether carrots in lasagne was a good choice. Aaron came in with a two bottles of wine, and passed one to Emily, as he sat down in the seat next to Nathan. 

"So how did you guys meet?" Penelope asked, after everyone had gotten a plate full of lasagna. 

"Babe, do you wanna answer or should i?" Nathan asked his boyfriend, who just gave him a 'go ahead look'. "So i was at Washington College, my dad was a professor there and i was visiting him, since i graduated high school early, i had a couple of weeks to spend before summer officially started... I accidently bumped into Aaron one day on my way to my dad's office, and... Then later that weekend i had been invited to a party, i was on my way outside and i bumped into him again. He made some joke about me being blind."