This is my entry for the Fanfiction Challange, Round 7 - Happy New Year's Challange. I would like to thank Skye and Spark Shark for being my betas. I do not own Criminal Minds.
My pairing is Hotch and Prentiss. And the three items that I had to use were New Year Eve's Party, Fireworks, and A Kiss When Midnight Strikes.
I hope you all like it. Please Read and Review.
Hotch snapped his briefcase shut.
With tomorrow off, he was tempted to bring some of his paperwork home with him, but had stopped himself from doing so. He needed to keep his mind on something, anything.
This was going to be first New Year since Haley's death; burying himself with work or drinking a full bottle of scotch would be the easiest distraction. But he knew tht he had to be strong for his son's sake.
He saw his team down below through his office window, talking and generally taking it easy. He had no doubt in his mind that it was probably about Garcia's New Year's Eve Party that she was throwing back at her apartment tonight. A small smile escaped his lips as he wondered of what kind of party that the crazy computer anazalyst had plan.
His eyes wandered to Prentiss who was smiling as she leaned back into her seat. He watched her running her fingers through her dark hair. His feelings for her that he try to keep buried once against stirred, but he shook his head to clear them.
He knew that his marriage with Haley was long over before her death. Even so, he still loved her, he wasn't in love with her. She was still his friend and his confident, a woman who made him happy for years and the mother of his child. This made the guilt of her cruel murder even worse.
He wished that he hadn't killed Foyet. It one of those rare times that he had a passion that Foyet had lived so he can kill him again, but this time in a slow and torturous way. He let out a breath, shutting Foyet out of his mind. That miserable snake wasn't going to ruin his New Year with his son.
He remembered the time he sat down with Haley, talking over coffee after Hotch dropped his son off after an afternoon in the park, a few weeks before Foyet stabbed him in his apartment.
"He fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow," Hotch said as he making his way into the kitchen.
She smiled, pouring coffee. "Coffee," she offered.
He nodded, accepting the cup as she slide the cow-shaped cookie jar closer to him.
"I still can't believe that you still have that," he commented. The container gave a moo sound when he opened it to pull out a chocolate chip cookie.
She shrugged her shoulders casually, "I like it. Not to mention, I can tell when Jack is trying to get a cookie behind my back."
He smiled, taking a bite of the sweet treat. She smiled back at him, but it was a very different smile. Not the one from telling him about Jack or laughing at a joke. This was something completely different.
"What are you smiling at," he asked as he took his sip of coffee.
"You . . . you are in love," she answered.
He raised his eyebrows up at her, a subtle twitch that displayed his confusion at her statement. It was the same twitch that he would make when Garcia would do something that was completely outrageous. "I beg your pardon."
"You heard me," she firmly said.
"Really," he said sarcastically. "Then I suppose that you are going to tell me who I am in love with?"
"Prentiss," she answered in a matter of fact tone. He raised his thick eyebrows up at her, strongly believing that she was joking. But she wasn't.
He did have very fond feelings for the newest agent. But the meaning of them toward her were complicated and fuzzy at best. Hotch often wondered of how she felt toward him.
"So what are you going to do about it, Aaron Thomas Hotchner?"
"Nothing." He answered, shaking his head no. "I am her boss and it is against protocol. Strauss would either give us a choice of ending it or transferring one of us out of the BAU. She is a good agent; I don't want to lose her," he said, trying to think of any other valid reasons that came to his mind, but nothing else sprung up.
"And what if this doesn't work out? It is going to be awkward working together once this is . . . out in the open," Hotch explained.
She stared him, where he knew that she didn't believe him. "And what if it does? And since when did you care of what Strauss said."
She was right, of course. He was in love in Emily Prentiss; if it came to it, he could keep the relationship under Strauss's detection.
He buttoned on his coat and wrapped his scarf around before leaving the office, flicking the light switch.
Everyone looked up when they noticed their unit chief was walking down the ramp.
"Are you sure that you are not going to come?" Garcia asked quickly as he approached his team, "You can bring Jack along . . . he can sleep in my bed when he gets tired."
He smiled faintly. The offer was tempting, especially the chance to kiss Prentiss at the stroke of midnight, no matter of how small the chance was.
"Thank you, but I think it is best that he stays home where he is more comfortable. You'll all have a good time"
"How is he doing," Rossi asked.
"He is doing good. I know he still misses Haley; he asked Santa to bring mommy for him this year." Then an uncomfortable silence descended upon the group as to no one knew of what to say.
"We'll be fine. I'm going to pick up a couple of Disney movies on the way home. He wanted to have spaghetti and chocolate pudding tonight."
He walked out of the office, calling "I will see all next year."
He saw Prentiss standing alone behind the group and he could have sworn that her face held a disappointed look, but he assumed that it was about his son and Haley.
It was late into the evening and almost midnight when Hotch woke. He didn't realize that he had fallen asleep and it was the knocking on the door that roused him.
Jack was sleeping with his head on his leg with his tiny body curled up on the couch beside him. The TV screen showed the main menu of "Toy Story", patiently waiting for them to choose an option.
Hotch carefully moved his son off of his lap then made his way to the door, peeking out the peephole, seeing Prentiss standing awkwardly on the other side, wearing a satiny black cocktail dress.
"Prentiss," he greeted as he opened the door.
She smiled, "Hi, can I come in."
He stepped aside, "Can you please keep your voice down. Jack is sleeping on the couch," he said, watching her walking into the room. She did look beautiful in that dress he thought. She nodded her head.
Hotch gently picked up his sleeping son and carried him to his room. There was a silver framed photo of Haley sitting beside Jack's bed. When he was home, before Jack would go to bed, they would pray together by his bedside.
Jack would either ask God to keep mommy and daddy safe. But there were a few times that he would ask him to bring mommy home. He knew children at his age do not have a gasp of what happened to their parents. Hotch straightened out Haley photo before shutting out the lights.
Prentiss watched him disappeared into the bedroom. She saw the TV was still on where she picked up the remote and shut it off. She set the remote back on the coffee table where she could see dishes on the coffee table with remains of a spaghetti dinner and a two chocolate Jell-O pudding cups. Hotch found her in the kitchen, scrapping the dishes into the garbage can.
"You don't have to do that," he said.
She shrugged. "I know, but I can't stand dirty dishes. I guess it is one of my numerous pet peeves."
"I didn't know that," he replied carefully. When he realized it, it quickly became one of the little quirks that he loved about her.
"I thought you would be at Garcia's party," he said.
She placed the plates into the sink, "Yeah I was, but it didn't feel right."
He raised his eyebrows up at her. "In what way," he asked. Before she could answer, they both heard this loud popping sound outside. They walked into the living room where they saw different colors lights flickering against the windows.
Hotch pulled back the curtain, seeing fireworks. He opened the door that lead out to the baloney where the two agents stood there outside. Prentiss wrapped her arms around herself trying to keep warm in the cool weather.
Hotch smiled, noticing the little Goosebumps forming on her arms. He excused himself, returned with his jacket, draping it over Prentiss' shoulders.
"Thanks," she said with a smile. The fireworks were still going as they heard his clock striking midnight from his livingroom.
She gave him a smile, "Happy New Year Aaron," she said.
"Happy New Year, Emily." He leaned closer to her, to the point where he can feel her breath on his lips. He gently brushed his lips against her, hoping for the best. He could claimed it was tradition to kiss on the stroke of midnight on New Years. Instead, she didn't.
As he hoped, she deepened his kiss before breaking it off. He could see the surprise in her eyes.
He stood in front of her, placing both hands on either side of her face, kissing her again. She gave in, sliding her arms underneath his, holding him close.
Hotch started walking forward with her walking backward until they were back in the warmth of his apartment. He heard his jacket landing on the carpet which he ignored. He kicked the door shut with his foot, still holding her in his arms.
He stepped back, threading his fingers with hers, holding her hand holding it. She nodded her head where Hotch lead her to his bedroom.
Hotch spooned Prentiss in his bed, enjoying the warmth of her skin on his.
"I should go," she whispered with a smile on her face as she sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the mattress.
Hotch propped his head up with his hand, still facing her. "You can stay," he offered gently.
She picked up her bra, slipping it on, and reaching to clasp it in the back. "I don't want to upset your son," she reasoned. Digging through her pile of discard clothes, she found her panties.
She slided them on as Hotch sat up. Even though, Prentiss gave a very good reason for not staying. The last thing, he wanted to do is to confuse his son. But he wanted her to stay, even if it was a little while longer.
"I don't regret it," he said.
She twisted her body around, facing him with an inquiring look.
"I still care for Haley and I always will, but I am not in love with her. I'm in love with you."
Prentiss tried to swallow, but her throat was dry. He could see the surprise look on her face, it wasn't the look that he just made a mistake of telling her. It was a look that he had feelings for her, the same feelings that she had for him.
He moved closer to her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "Forget about Strauss; forget about protocol. What does Emily Prentiss want," he whispered.
"I want to stay," she answered in a soft voice.
The End