Title: Drabble
Warning: None. Pre-slash.
Pairing: Aaron Hotchner/Spencer Reid
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
A/N: This is going to be really short. I'm really out of the writing game. Haven't written in almost three years and am trying to change my writing style. All my prior fics, which are totally non-CM, are located under SilentStardust . Thanks.
It's a Friday and all the way down the hallway bounce snippets of conversation regarding plans for the upcoming weekend. From where he sits he can hear a word here, a word there, but never the full entirety of it. He's missing so much. He's not worried, however, because that's his life now. Ever since the rageragerage he felt when pounding Foyet's face into the ground and the sorrowsorrowsorrow of Haley's death he's missed out on most things. Before, there would be a regret here, a regret there, but now all he has is Jack. All he has to look forward to is Jack. Sometimes he wishes that there would be a reprieve, a change, a moment where he would for once not stand on that dark and lonely precipice.
That moment hasn't arrived yet and sometimes he's not sure that it ever will.
He hears mentions of a local bar. He knows it. Even used to go once in a while, when he and Haley were relatively happy and Jack was barely an idea. From the sound of it, Morgan's making the rounds of his usual Friday night haunts, when unsubs don't get in the way of life. From experience, he knows that Garcia will join, possibly along with JJ and always with Prentiss. Reid, however, won't.
Before the moment, he would say that Reid had nothing to do on a Friday, but see a 'movie' or dedicate more time to research for his next project, next degree, next idea. Now, he knows that at eight Reid will go downstairs and make his way to the house. By nine, when Aaron finally leaves work, Jessica will have been sent home, Jack will be fed, and a random movie will be set to play in the living room. It's not an easy arrangement and most days Aaron is burdened with more doubt than he feels able to handle. More guilt than he thought possible, because who could tolerate him. Who could stand the late hours, the distance? But then, he'd walk in the door and the surety and just know.
Aaron's been standing on that precipice for a while and he knows that it will be some time before he can leave it. But for now, he can see a small, steady path slowly being etched out for him. One day he'll take it, but right now he finds comfort in the fact that it's there.