For my mother, the Hotch to my Garcia and the Rossi to my Hotch.
He stacked the paperwork on the side of his desk and fought a sigh.
As Aaron waited for the computer to log in, he glanced up at the clock, frowning. He had meant to leave the office an hour prior. He considered wasting a moment to check traffic reports, but he knew it wouldn't help. There was no speeding up this work, and Jack could wait. He wouldn't go first, Hotch doubted Jack would even see him among the back of the crowd.
Still, Aaron thought, he might be more efficient without the guilt. He moved to open his browser, only to find it had not yet finished logging in.
Swearing to himself, eyebrows shrinking together, Hotch rose from his seat and left his office. He shuddered as he walked among silent desks and abandoned hallways, what was normally quiet made lonely by the impending holiday.
He turned the corner and knocked on Garcia's door, eyebrow rising when she answered almost immediately. He looked down at her, watching her eyes widen, her face curl up into a nervous, apologetic smile.
"Is it the computers? I'm working on it." Then the clipped quality left her voice, replaced with whining: "I was doing some scans and something went wrong with the registry and…"
"When will they be back up?" he asked, curt.
"Midnight-ish maybe? I don't know!" She frowned. "What do you need it for? I have a wireless card if you just need the internet."
"Data entry, mostly. I have some paperwork that needs to be filed electronically."
"Oh! I can do it for you!" She chirped. "If I have clearance for it, I mean."
He considered, frowning, running the items through his head. He wanted to blurt out a no, but as he analyzed each item he realized she was authorized for eveything. And clearly, she had time…
"I wouldn't want to impose. It's my paperwork."
"Oh, no imposition! The digital goddess that is me types twice as fast as you do, and I'm going to be here all night fixing it anyway. You go on home."
Unable to argue, he relented, taking her to his office and explaining what needed to be done. He glanced at his watch on the way out, and frowned.
"I don't drive as fast as Morgan, but I can drive faster than you."
His head jerked up. Dave stood there, a twinkle in his dark eyes.
Aaron started to argue, but Dave stopped him. "Everyone's already there, and JJ saved you a seat up front."
Bewildered by his good fortune, Hotch followed Dave out. It was only when Dave paused at a computer, logging out of a game of Gods of Combat, that Aaron realized it was not fortune at all.
Author's Note: Well, after searching the CM archives on this site for anything similar and finding everything I wrote here not quite covered, I've elected to post this work. While the prose here in complete, I originally book-ended this story with quotes, much like cases in the actual show. Due to 's specific policies on that practice, I have excised those quotes. If you'd like to read the story with them, well, try one of my other accounts.