Title: Caught Unaware

Disclaimer: Not mine, no profit made

Rating: PG-13

Summary: Aaron wonders why Spencer can't see what he see's.

Prompt: Hotch is out with the girlfriend, and runs into Reid who is also on a date... with a man. Hotch finds himself very bothered by it but has no idea why.

"Do you think its too late to catch a movie?" Beth asked as Aaron opened the restaurant door for her.

"No I'm pretty sure the theatre a few blocks away is open till midnight. What are you in the mood for?"

Beth was about to answer when Aaron heard a quiet "Hotch?" behind him. He turned and was surprised to see Reid who was, rather jarringly, dressed in a white shirt with the first two buttons undone and black jeans.

He looked amazing, so different than Aaron was accustomed too. He was standing next to a tall, dark haired man who seemed a little older than him.

"Erm .. Hi. Hello." Aaron found himself floundering and he didn't know why. He was unused to seeing Reid out in the real world, at least unplanned. And in the company of handsome men looking at him with affection. That part was definitely new. It was ... interesting.

Beth, thankfully, seemed to sense Aaron's hesitation and took charge of the introductions, "Hi, I'm Beth." She said pleasantly as she reached out a hand.

"Spencer Reid," The genius answered, shaking said hand, "This is Daniel Torde."

"It's nice to meet you Daniel. And Spencer," Beth teased, smiling, "I feel like I know you already, Aaron talks about you so much."

Reid raised his eyebrows in surprise, "He does." His tone made it seem as though he had never considered the possibility of Aaron thinking about him outside of work. Aaron fought the urge to frown. Was he really that distant?

"Mmm, mm. Resident genius, getting better with a gun, physics magic." Beth listed off the subjects he'd broached in conversation.

Once again, Aaron had to resist frowning at himself. Did he really talk about Reid that much? He and Beth had only been on a few dates, so for her to have that much knowledge. He must.

"So," Beth asked, obviously realizing she had to carry the conversational weight here, "You doing anything nice?"

"Nothing spectacular, just getting dinner." Aaron couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Reid so ... casual. It wasn't just his clothes, his entire demeanour was one of comfort and contentment. Where was the awkward young man who'd spilled coffee on JJ his first day at the BAU.

Aaron couldn't answer that because the only people before him where Beth and a completely adult, completely confident man.

And Daniel.

He didn't like Daniel. He didn't trust him. He seemed ... smug. Just stood there all "Oh look at me. I'm just hanging out with Reid and not letting anyone else get near."

Not that Aaron wanted to get near.

'What the hell are my thoughts doing right now?'

He was drawn from his confusing internal monologue when he heard Daniel squeal. He actually squealed. Jesus.

"Second date. I'm kind of nervous." He said, bumping a shoulder against Reid's while laughing. Reid however was looking at Aaron with a strange expression on his face. Daniel saw this too and after a moment, his face fell, "Oh. Have you not ...Oooh, sorry."

He now knew what the problem was, Reid hadn't officially outed himself to the team yet.

After an uncomfortable silence where Aaron continued to be completely engrossed in his mind and Reid glanced at him, worried by his silence, Beth said, ""No, he doesn't care. Right Aaron?"

Aaron was offended. Both by Reid's concern and the edge he heard in Beth's voice. He wasn't hesitating because of Reid's sexuality, he ... didn't know why he was hesitating. But he knew it wasn't that.

"Of course. Why would that bother me?" He said, overly casual. God he sounded so insincere. What, he thought for the tenth time, was his mind doing? Why couldn't he think? Why did he have the urge to interrogate this ... this ... Daniel?

Staring at him for a second, Beth finally chimed, "Well, we'll, erm, we'll let you get to your dinner."

Everyone said their goodbyes and eventually, the two men entered the restaurant. Reid, not without throwing a troubled look back at Aaron who, pathetically enough, could only smile and wave.

When he turned and put on a smile for Beth, it immediately fell. She was standing cross armed and smiling, but the smile seemed ... dangerous.

"Aaron?" She asked, making it very clear that any future dates between them would depend on the answer to her question, "You don't have a problem with your friend being on a date with another man. Right?"

Aaron finally let himself frown, so deeply it may have been a scowl, "No. I ... just. I'm tired or something. I don't really know." He rubbed his stomach, which suddenly felt as though it had a lead weight in it, "I think there might have been something wrong with my shrimp."

Beth stared for a moment longer before smiling slightly, "I believe you." Her smile settled into a look of gentle concern as she asked, "If you're not feeling well you should go home, rest."

Deciding that was a good idea, he reached out and stroked her arm, "But you wanted to go to the movies."

Shrugging, Beth smiled, "I have plenty of movies at home. I was just trying to spend as much time with you as possible."

Aaron smiled back, leaning down to meet her for a chaste kiss. It made him feel warm inside to be around Beth. It wasn't the fire he'd had with Haley but then, he'd been a teenager when they met. Hormones and tragic, mortal love and all that. Beth was like an amazing friend. So much so that he actually felt a secret hesitation to take their relationship further, concerned it would take away from what they had now.

"Okay, should I call a cab? You should get straight home." She asked, seriously.

Aaron gave her a mock glare, "Yes, because I'm not going to drive you home." He said, before grabbing her hand, giving her a twirl which made her giggle and walking her to his car.

After driving her home and wishing her goodnight, along with one more quick peck on the lips, Aaron headed home.

Laid in bed that night, Aaron was as far from sleep as he could ever be. Why had seeing Reid with that guy, Daniel, bothered him so much? Why did it make him so uncomfortable? Why couldn't he think of the other man's name without sneering? He may not be able to figure out why he was effected but he stalwartly refused to believe it was because he was a homophobe.

He. Was. Not. He never had been and it was ridiculous to believe that Reid being the one who was gay made it different. Even thinking the words 'Reid is gay' didn't bother him, it was just the image of him with Daniel.

In fact, Aaron thought as he turned again onto his other side, the man Reid had been out with was the issue for Aaron, not Reid being on a date.

It was Daniel that was the problem.

He'd just seemed so ... false. As though he were trying too hard to seem normal. He remembered his behaviour, how he'd put on an act of awkwardness; the perfect ruse for getting close to someone like Reid who'd feel an instant connection.

Suddenly, it all made sense. The bad feeling he got around Daniel, the hesitation.

The only conclusion he could draw was that his profiler instincts had kicked in and Daniel was an UnSub.

Now he just had to warn Reid.

Aaron was pacing in his office, rubbing his hands together. His mind was working a mile a minute trying to work out the best approach to take when telling Reid of his fears concerning his ... concerning Daniel.

He'd managed to calm himself down from last night and decided that Daniel probably wasn't a serial killer, but he knew he couldn't be trusted. Aaron Hotchner trusted his gut and it was telling him to get Reid the hell away from his guy. Stilling in the middle of his office, Aaron released a heavy breath and strode over to his phone before he could change his mind. Pressing the extension for Reid's desk, he plainly asked to see the agent in his office for a moment.

When Reid finally arrived, Aaron realized that the problem with a spur of the moment plan was that it didn't allow for much planning at all. He had no idea what the hell he was gonna say.

"Is there something you needed?" Reid asked, his tone laced with a tension that Aaron only wished he didn't know the source of. He thought Hotch had a problem with him homosexuality.

He really needed to sit everybody down and have the 'I'm not a bigot' talk because this was getting ridiculous.

Deciding to just go for it, Aaron motioned for the genius to take a seat as he sat in his own chair, hands clasped on the desk. He briefly wondered if making this so formal was a good idea before guessing that it was too late to change that now.

"I wanted to talk to you regarding a rather ... sensitive subject." Aaron said in what he hoped was a diplomatic tone.

"I really don't see how me be gay effects my work." Reid blurted.

Aaron couldn't stop his eyes from rolling, "Will everybody please stop assuming I'm a homophobe. I don't care that you're gay Reid. That's not the problem."

Eyebrows lifting, Reid asked sharply, "Oh, so there is a problem."

Aaron took a deep breath, steeling himself, "It's just ... I got ... I don't trust your boyfriend." He felt his cheeks immediately redden and burn with embarrassment. Now that he'd said the words he realized how ridiculous this was. He had no proof, no reason to hate Daniel and even if he did, it really didn't have anything to do with him. If there was anyway for the earth to just swallow him up right now, he'd take it because this was probably the most humiliated he'd ever been.

Reid, on his part, looked incredibly amused, "Excuse me?" He asked, his tone letting Aaron know just how much bite was behind his smile.

"It's just ..." Aaron began pathetically, every single ounce of confidence in this conversation gone, "I got a bad feeling. He seemed to be ... trying too hard." His voice was quiet and his eyes glued to his hands.

He needed to stop talking.

"Of course he was trying too hard Hotch." Reid said in the voice you reserve for a particularly slow child, "It was a date. That's pretty much the standard operating protocol. Unless of course, I'm expected to believe you wear $150 shoes every day."

Hotch winced at the reminder of his own date-inspired extravagance. Everything Reid was saying made sense and made Aaron feel even more foolish.

But, even with these logical arguments, Aaron still couldn't muster up the image of Reid's date without recoiling.

Feeling an urge to say SOMETHING, he blurted, "There's something wrong with him." He desperate and not thinking. Why couldn't Reid see what he saw?

Looking at him like he was insane, Reid stood up and circled the chair, "I don't think he's the one with something wrong Hotch. If that's all, I'd like to get back to work."

Out of things to say, Aaron could only nod.

Nod and wonder what the hell he had been thinking and what the HELL he was going to do now.

When his door clicked closed, marking Reid's departure, an idea clicked. An incredibly bad idea.

Once again picking up the phone, he pressed another extension and awaited answer.

"Cave of all knowledge. How may I dazzle your world today?" Came the ever exuberant greeting.

"Garcia, I need you to run a background check on a Daniel Torde and report back to ME as soon as possible." He said, making sure the tech understood to report her findings to him and him alone.

There was a curious pause on the other end of the line before Garcia answered, "Sure thing boss man, I'll get right on that." Her tone somewhat absent of it's usual lustre.

Not having the time to wonder what was distracted the woman, Aaron quickly thanked her and found himself actually hoping she'd find something.

The next time Aaron looked at the clock, he saw that it was already after nine. Cursing himself for his habit of getting distracted, he quickly called Jess to make sure Jack was okay, wished the boy a goodnight and began packing up his things.

Suddenly, he realized that Garcia hadn't called him back all day. Frowning, he wondered what he hold up was. She wasn't one for procrastinating and no cases had come up. Why wouldn't she have contacted him.

He was about to call her when his office door suddenly opened without a knock. Reid entered and he looked extremely pissed.

"Reid, I was just heading ..." But he was rather jarringly cut off by Reid snarling at him.

"Shut up." The man hissed.

Shocked, Aaron raised his voice, "Excuse me?"

"Listen, I waited until everybody was gone because I didn't think I'd be able to control my temper and I didn't want to make a scene but ..." He paced once before spinning back to Hotch; who didn't think he'd ever seen Reid so angry, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

"What the hell is your problem Reid?" Aaron asked, confused. This kind of behaviour was incredibly unlike him and Aaron could already feel his defensive walls going up.

"What's my problem? You're asking me that?" Reid yelled, "What's your problem? You had Garcia run a background check on my boyfriend? Are you insane?"

Instead of taking responsibility for the invasion of privacy, Aaron went with a much better and very transparent tactic; blame shifting.

"How do you know about that? That was a confidential order."

'Oh' He thought, 'That was weak.'

Reid actually growled in frustration, "Garcia told me. I told her about Daniel last week and you're request convinced her that I'm dating an UnSub." Reid said through gritted teeth, "And, when I tried to brush off her concern, she figured I was in denial so told Morgan. Now I've once again outed to someone without my permission and I've had to spend the better part of the day convincing Morgan not to kick Daniels door down and put him in handcuffs. So once again, I have to ask you if you are in fact fucking KIDDING ME?"

Aaron realized he probably looked rather silly stood there, suitcase dangling from his hand and jaw on the floor but, he really hadn't expected so much to come of one simple request.

"Reid. I'm ... I'm sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen." It was all he could manage.

"Yeah, no shit." Reid bit, cheeks red with anger, "What is the problem Hotch?" Aaron was about to answer when Reid waved his hand in the air, "No, you know what. I already know what the problem is, you're just too much of a coward to admit that you can't stand the idea of a member of your team being gay." The matter of fact tone Reid used really struck Aaron close to the heart. How could he, how could anyone, think so little of him.

Taking his own turn to be angry, Aaron threw his suitcase on the desk and turned back to Reid, "I couldn't care less if you're gay Reid, I just don't trust Daniel okay? I can't explain it, but I trust my instincts and my instincts are telling me to get you the hell away from him." His spoke in a low voice, which he realized belatedly may be misconstrued as aggressive.

Reid however, paid it no mind, "Do not give me that crap. You were weird with me as soon as you saw us last night. You'd already made up your mind to hate Daniel before you'd gotten more than a cursory glance so tell me Hotch. What could you have gotten from him in that time to convince you he's a bad guy?"

Aaron really wished he had an answer for that.

Reid laughed bitterly, "See. I knew it, this isn't about Daniel at all. This is about you." He said, punctuating his words with a jab of the finger towards Aaron, "And me. So what? If you're not bothered by my sexuality then what? You like to see me alone and miserable? You prefer me to spend my days pining after you like I used to? What?"

"What?" Aaron asked. Pining after me? Since when?

Reid seemed in that moment to realize what he'd said and visibly paled. "I didn't ..." He swallowed as all the fight seemed to drain from him. Closing his eyes, Reid whispered, "I just … I have to go."

As he made his way to the door, it was like something snapped in Aaron. Without the slightest conscious hint of what he was doing, he rushed forward and stopped Reid before he could open the door.

"Wait." He whispered, suddenly breathless. He was stood so close to the other man that he could feel the heat emanating from his body, even through his suit.

When Reid turned, it was like everything suddenly made sense and every answer he'd been looking for seemed to exist right there, in Reid's large, expressive eyes and his full, soft looking lips.

"Oh." Aaron breathed, finally seeing what his real problem was. It was seriously as though the realization had knocked all the breath out of him.

When he raised his hands to trail his fingers across Reid's cheek, down to his neck, Reid whispered, "Hotch."

As the heat overwhelmed him, he couldn't resist any more, he hadn't even been aware he was resisting anything. He leaned in and pressed his lips against Reid's in a passionate kiss.

The feeling that surged through his body wasn't so much a fire as it was a supernova.

It became even more intense when Reid wrapped his arms around Aaron's neck and return the kiss. Quickly responding with a passion that rivalled Aaron's own. He groaned into the kiss when he felt Reid's tongue press against his lips and happily parted them; his knee's going weak when the hot, rough surface of Reid's tongue stroked over his.

All too soon, however, they parted, panting and flushed.

"Spencer. I ..." He couldn't say more because. He knew that Re... Spencer knew he'd had no idea. He hadn't even considered the possibility that the reason he hated Daniel so much may be jealousy.

Looking down at his lips, Spencer asked breathlessly, "Aaron." As though testing the name. By the minuscule turn up of his swollen lips, Aaron assumed he liked it, "What is this. I'm sorry but ... I need to know.

He understood that. He had Daniel to consider just as he had Beth. He desperately hoped that she'd understand. He'd hate to lose her from his life.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he focussed on the beautiful man before him, smiling when he remembered thinking Spencer beautiful before; he really shouldn't have been so surprised.

"Everything." He said, "I want this to be ... everything. I hope you do too"

Spencer's smile lit up the entire room, "You have no idea how long I've wanted that."

Amazed that he was actually free to do so, Aaron smiled back and leaned in for another kiss.