Reid's eye actually visually twitched as he sat at his desk. He shouldn't have to deal with this… this… shit! He sure as hell wasn't supposed to, either. God had graced him with an awkward enough of a demeanor and high enough IQ to deviate any potentially interested females a long time ago, so this sudden intrusion of his personal space was both annoying and unforgivable to the young doctor. He stood up, locked eyes with Hotchner through the slotted blinds in an almost uncanny way, and then stormed the office. His eyes clearly indicated that the direct look was enough of an invitation to count.

The sudden invasion of his work-space by the one person Hotchner had lately been trying to… handle, well Hotch was at a loss. Reid wasn't usually the assertive type, so it was very odd that he would storm in with personal matters, but he was intrigued. In fact, he was almost intrigued enough to ask him to lunch for a casual explanation, luckily he held off until Reid had exploded into dialog.

"I have had ENOUGH of this!" He started, Hotch still baffled, didn't seem to understand what the hell was actually going on. It didn't seem like the most logical way to start of love confession, though he was sure Reid could make an argument that it was somehow, or maybe that was wishful thinking? "Every day for the past two weeks… What the hell, I'm in the FBI you'd think SOME PEOPLE would actually be on edge about openly fraternizing with fellow employees… Hotch I want to file a sexual harassment complaint!"

Hotch's eyes suddenly went wide, "…What? Wait… with who?" He was trying to catch up to the genius, hard to do, especially when he was ranting or shooting off statistics. This couldn't be about Garcia and Kevin, Reid adored Garcia and would only want her to be happy… But if not that, then was HE coming on too strong? Was Reid taking the signals and suddenly upset? No, that made no sense, for starters, Hotch hid his agenda well, but more importantly Reid would have just gone to Strauss or another executive if he felt the threat was from him, so why this and why now? Who else could it be…?

"Morgan."

'Morgan.' They derived simultaneously, "What about Morgan?" After all, Reid interacted with only so many people, JJ had Will and Henry so she was by no means straying or even acting slightly out of character, Rossi and Prentiss were sending enough possessive pheromones between the two that they could probably walk the same path as the other did an hour apart, like insects, Hotch added for edification to his own imagination. Morgan, on the other hand was out of place at the moment. It had blind-sided him when Garcia suddenly started dating some technician that they never really interacted with. It made sense, of course, Garcia stayed behind, the rest of the team traveled, of course she would have more time to mingle with other FBI agents, besides the out-right contact.

The moment Morgan probably realized he should label it, and suddenly the chance was gone. Hotch resonated that feeling, it made him acutely aware of his own feelings for Reid… but back to the subject at hand…

"He…" Reid's face was crimson red, up past his ears and snaking around his neck, "He…" Hotch imagined this was either mortifying or Reid was livid, quite possibly both, "He propositioned me for sex!"

Hotch's eyebrow twitched, much like how Reid had from the bullpin, though Hotch couldn't have noticed that intimate of a detail from afar. He let out a slow breath, not realizing he had held it but he played it off into a pensive, thoughtful sigh. "Are you sure it wasn't meant as a joke, Reid?"

"…And what's the punch-line supposed to be then, me knocking him in the face?" Reid took a deep breath in and then out, his hands clenched and shaking. "No… no it wasn't a joke. Not the way he said it, he said it way too …too… no it wasn't a joke!"

"Reid, calm down… You know about what's going on in his life right now. Maybe it wasn't a joke in the funny sense so much as an off-handed comment."

Reid's eyes narrowed, "Don't take his side in this, you have no idea what he even said to me." Saying that seemed to make Reid even more ill-at-ease than he already was, maybe for chastising his own boss, but Hotch wasn't certain.

He did realize, however, that Reid had taken whatever had been said seriously enough to have to investigate it. Even if he didn't prefer to go through his profiler's lives, or even their dirty laundry list… apparently an exception had to be made.

"Then tell me what he said, and I'll discuss it with him."

"Oh right, and you're really going to discuss his talking about taking me over his knee and giving me the best pounding up the ass in my life?" Reid managed to work in key components from Morgan's statement before turning pale.

Hotch's eyes had probably alit too much at the image, because now Reid seemed uncomfortable even discussing such a sensitive subject with him.

"Oh the things I would do to you, pretty-boy. How I would rock your world. I could just take you over my knee and give you the best…"

"I got the picture." Hotch said, putting a hand over his face, oh he had the picture alright, a little TOO alright. He wondered if he could bribe Garcia to actually photoshop something of that nature, of course… that was probably not the best idea given her attachment to Morgan. Morgan might not have realized it, but Hotch had. It wasn't that Garcia had never loved Morgan, or even had moved on… no, if anything she was lost after being shot, and she had had an identity crisis about being single forever, forever waiting for her shining knight to make the move so she gave up and moved to a shining squire. She had merely settled. The same way Morgan had taken grievances with Penelope's mortality, except she didn't think she had a chance with him, her self esteem was far less built that Morgan's.

That was the problem, there, though. Morgan's pride had been hurt. He thought he could saunter over whenever he was ready and that she would wait for him. Now he was probably trying to connect with a person he trusted and felt safe with, safe enough to show the insecurities, whether he meant the advance in a sexual way or not it wasn't that he was expressing even the same kind of love… if anything he was seeking comfort, and apparently hit a nerve of Reid's in the process.

He moved his hand from over his face back to the desk. "Reid, I don't think he actually meant it in a physical sense. He's going through a difficult moment, I'm sure you've had times where you've felt it necessary to rebound or project your feelings from one person to another…"

"I haven't, no." Reid said, a bit too matter-of-factly for Hotch's taste.

"You mean to tell me you've never dated anyone and had a bad break-up?"

"I've never dated anyone let alone have a bad break up." The way he reiterated was barbed with sarcasm and annoyance. Obviously he felt he was about to be teased, or was being teased… Hotch wasn't certain.

"Reid, you're 27 years old… how could you not have dated someone…?"

"I've been in the academy since I was 21, and in college I was 12, you can figure out how old I was when I was in the PhD courses and the average age of people in that program aren't exactly… well… you know what I mean."

Hotch understood, he was surprised though. Sure, he knew Reid was awkward around women when they went to clubs or bars, which they did either as social functions or as field-agents in cases, but it was still odd to let that set in. Reid always seemed so worldly yet other-worldly. He supposed he should have realized it, after the thing with JJ that is. And oh how Gideon had tried to be a wing-man, but a father-figure really shouldn't try to interfere in such a way… apparently Hotch's thoughts had wandered for too long, because before he could reply, how he had no idea as to do, Reid was already talking again.

"You don't even see a problem with this, do you?" Reid sighed, "You know what, fine… forget about it. I thought I could talk to YOU of all people about it, that you'd get it… He's on the same team as me, he knows enough about me where he should know better, he even knows I like someone, but apparently that's pointless so why not? Maybe I should just let him 'take me for a ride', it'll give me experience or something."

Hotch blinked, he didn't really mean to be pushing that, "Reid, now that's not fair… I'm just trying to see the situation for what it is. You're getting very emotional over it."

It dawned on him, why. Morgan was as much of Reid's confidante as Reid was for everyone else on the team. Morgan knew he had a crush, even, apparently. Hotch felt jealous momentarily and he wasn't sure if it was because of their close bond or the fact that Reid had a crush and he didn't know who it was. It probably was for the better, though, because Hotch wasn't sure he'd be able to use his powers for good if he heard the name of whomever Reid was crushing on.

"Of course I am. Why aren't you? I thought it might be more mutual than this!" Reid said.

Hotch gave him a look, "What do you mean more mutual?" Sure it could easily mean about being upset, but the way Reid's eyes just went wider, how his pupils suddenly began enlarging, all the subtle clues that this was not as simple as to mean being upset… after all, those were all prompts of a person about to lie. "And don't lie, Reid. I can tell."

Reid bowed his head, "…I thought you liked me too. I thought you might be upset about it too, because I'd be upset if someone said something like that to you, like if Dave… for example…"

"I can figure out what you mean, you don't need to list examples. Especially ones like Dave." He sighed. "How long…?"

"A while." Reid sat down in the chair in front of Hotch's desk, pretty sure he'd have to sit down if he had to remove his badge and gun for any official subsequent termination.

"I had no idea you felt the same way."

Reid's head snapped up, locking onto Hotch's eyes, "If that's a joke it isn't funny…"

"…Well that's good. It wasn't meant to be a joke." Hotch leaned over his desk onto his arms, propping himself on his elbows. "Why don't we discuss that over dinner, unless you're uncomfortable with it…"

"No, no that would be …amazing… when? Where?"

"Tonight, I can pick you up at 7 if you'd like. I'll get back to you about where, I have to set up a reservation." And babysitting, Hotch added to his mental checklist.

"Def…definitely." Reid blushed, this time a rosy pink, the kind befitting him over the angry ire of crimson. "But that still doesn't clear things up about Morgan…"

"Believe me, I'll have a chat with him. He'll be on the same page soon."

Reid nodded, looking at the floor the entire time. Apparently he had become dumb-founded after confirming date plans, lost in his own world of torrid emotions. He stood up from the chair, still watching the floor as he shuffled out of the office and back to his desk, dazed and still blushing.

Meanwhile, Morgan caught glimpse of Reid coming out of Hotch's office, staring lackadaisically at the ground. He sighed audibly.

"Great, now am I the only single member left in this whole damn team?" Morgan let out quietly, but apparently Prentiss caught it.

"Pretty much, why do you say that, did Reid and Hotch just…?"

Morgan nodded in defeat, "It's not supposed to be this way, you know."

"What, you single?" Prentiss smiled sympathetically.

"Yeah. And Garcia… and that GUY Kevin… he's with my baby-girl." Garcia stood behind Morgan, suddenly, and he had no idea from where but he was certain Penelope Garcia had the same precise hearing as bats when it came to gossip. Her techy-senses probably tingled at the mention of Hotch and Reid FINALLY getting together.

"…Aww, Morgan, you know I'm still your baby-girl, we're still friends… just because I'm dating him, I know he gets a little jealous but he just doesn't understand the dynamics of our…"

"Yeah, yeah you're right." Morgan said, not having the heart to break it down for her, or breakdown in front of her for that matter. But then, that would come later, a week later actually… in Alaska when Morgan would opt to room with her.

The End.