An Acknowledgement (A Clock)
"Friendship needs no words - it is solitude delivered from the anguish of loneliness."
-Dag Hammarskjold
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
She watched him standing with J.J. He had his head cocked to the side, listening. Spencer was reading at the table, Rossi and Morgan were discussing an old case. She was supposed to be going over a report she had written, making sure everything was in order. They had opted for the briefing room even though no one seemed to be working on the same thing.
Tick. Tock.
J.J. moved away to work on what she and Hotch had been talking about; he now stood staring at the table.
"What is he thinking?" Emily tapped her pen as the thought came to her.
His shoulders sagged.
Tick. Tock.
"Why can't he let someone else take a little weight?" Emily thought. More specifically, "Why can't he let me?"
Hotch continued to stare at the table. No one else seemed to notice his distance. She continued to look, captivated by the look of regret that graced him.
Another thought: "Sadness permeates everything it touches. It seeps into the fabric of life only to leave remnants of itself there forever." She knew Hotch was lost in sad thoughts. "Maybe of Haley." As the idea hit Emily she felt a pang somewhere deep in her chest.
She shuffled the papers in front of her, wondering just when her heart had decided to give itself away to someone who probably didn't want it.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
She closed her eyes and tried to remember what life used to be like- when things were easier. She grasped the folder tightly in her hands and tried to take herself from the BAU for just a moment.
Tick. Tock.
She opened her eyes and found them met with matching dark ones across the room. Hotch stared at her, a curious and unreadable expression on his face.
Tick.
He smiled.
Tock.
He sat down next to her, his forearm resting slightly next to hers. She had the overwhelming urge to press herself against him. Her senses were flooded with one feeling: comfort.
Tick. Tock.
Neither of them spoke to the other. They both worked independently on separate things, sitting in the middle of a crowded room.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Her heart did not race, her palms did not tingle and sweat, and her body was not overtaken by a carnal want. But her heart did swell and she felt completely content to sit there with him, with only their forearms touching.
Tick. Tock.
She reread a sentence. And again. She glanced next to her, at Hotch, who was staring at the vacation request in front of him, his eyes unseeing.
Tick. Tock. Tick.
His hand smoothed the corner of the form. He must have felt her gaze because he turned to look at her.
Tock.
"Having trouble concentrating?" he asked.
No smile, no sparkle of the eye; this was Hotch. Though his eyes did soften and roam her face.
Tick.
"Mmhmm." She pressed her lips together and held his gaze.
"Me too." He turned back to his work and she turned back to hers.
Tock.
A/N: I didn't want this to be fluffy or overdone. I simply wanted a little recognition of something between them. Reviews are welcome!