Aaron was sitting behind his desk focusing on his paperwork when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in", Hotch said, not paying attention to who it was.
"Hey, it's almost time to leave, the team and I were wandering if you wanted to come for a few drinks?", Derek asked. "It is the weekend after all".
Hotch leaned back in his chair considering the offer. He had been a lot more open with the team lately, emotionally and physically. For the past few days he couldn't help but feel anxious around them. It was nothing they had done, it was what they didn't know about him that scared him.
"Thanks for the offer Morgan but I think I'll pass. Raincheck?" Hotch said.
"Sure Hotch, if you change your mind you know where to find us."
As Derek left his office, Aaron let out a sigh of relief.
In the bullpen, Derek was explaining the situation to the rest of the team.
"Did he say why he didn't want to come?" asked Reid.
"No...maybe he's just tired, this was a hell of a case", said Derek whilst shrugging his shoulders.
"Maybe, I just think it's a little strange. Lately he rarely passes up the opportunity to spend time with us", Emily said.
"Yeah... he's probably just busy, got a lot of stuff to do", JJ said.
"Probably. Anyway, if we plan on getting out of here anytime soon we should finish this paperwork", Rossi said.
Back up in his office, Aaron sat behind his desk trying to focus on his work but his mind kept wondering. He couldn't stop thinking about this huge secret he was keeping from his friends... his family. He wanted to tell them but he didn't know how. He was good at lying and acting like everything was ok, he'd kept this secret from the age of 12.
Aaron shut his eyes and leaned forward with his head in his hands. He stood up and collected his things, making his way towards the door.
As he walked down the stairs and towards the elevator Aaron couldn't help but feel eyes following him. He looked to his left and saw his friends quickly avert their eyes. Aaron started walking faster, he just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. He reached the elevator and stood shuffling his feet until it pinged to a stop. He got on and turned to face the doors, he didn't dare look up though so he stared at the floor until the doors slid shut./p