Disclaimer: Criminal Minds and its affiliated characters do not belong to me. I mean no copyright infringement.

Author's Notes: This short story was written for Criminal Minds Weekly Prompts Week 3: Your character gets a visitor in the middle of the night. This will only be 2 or 3 chapters. Everything will be done by the end of Monday (tomorrow). I like the anticipation of chapters :) This is a Hotch/Prentiss themed story despite the fact that Beth is in the "background."

If you Love me, Let me Know

Chapter 1: Is Hotch Dating?

Normally, Rossi wouldn't be in much of a hurry to get to Quantico, especially the day after they finished an out of town case. But there were always creeps on the streets and Garcia had called him out of a dead sleep. He wanted to stay mad at her for a little while longer, but he just couldn't. First of all, the tech kitten was too bubbly not to like. Second, she had additional news to share with him. The team of singles went to the bar the night before. If he had gone with them, he would've had the news sooner. At least he wasn't as miserable as the party goers. He had gotten a few more hours of sleep and at his age he admittedly needed it.

According to Morgan, Hotch scrambled out of the office once he found out it was Valentine's Day. His friend never cared about Hallmark ® holidays… ever. Not even when he was with Haley. He claimed every day should be about love. So this was not the kind of behavior he was accustomed to and he planned to get to the bottom of it.

Rossi spotted Hotch about to get on the elevator once he rounded the corner. He ran to catch up, hopped in the elevator and hit floor button #6 while his friend greeted him. With a smirk on his face, he looked him over for any signs. It was so reminiscent of a few days earlier when he had cornered his friend about finding a new reason to see Beth that he could barely contain the full grin that threatened to break free.

"Let's just get it over with. What?" growled Hotch.

Rossi's eyebrows rose in mock surprise. "I wasn't expecting you to be grouchy, today, of all days."

"Excuse me?" answered Hotch.

"Don't hide, Aaron. We both know I'll get to the truth. Might as well surrender now."

Hotch glared at him. "I don't know what it is you think you know."

"Right," drawled Rossi. "So, where did you take Beth last night? And don't lie to me. You know I can convince Penelope to check your credit card activity."

Hotch let out a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. Thankfully, the elevator door dinged its arrival to the floor of the BAU.

"It's only a temporary reprieve, Aaron. We will talk later," he called to the back of the retreating unit chief.

~oOo~

When the two men entered the BAU round table room, the rest of the team was already there. The room immediately grew quiet letting the men know that Hotch's where-abouts were already being discussed.

Rossi chuckled in amusement. "Profilers," he mumbled.

"Garcia, please get started," Hotch directed sternly.

~oOo~

"Out with it Rossi," came the voice of Penelope Garcia over the computer.

"Not this again," whined Rossi. "At this point, all of you know more than I do." Five pairs of eyes looked at him suspiciously. "Honest. When I get to the bottom of it, I'll let you know… maybe."

JJ laughed at the playfully disgruntled Garcia. "All you need to do, Rossi, is tell Garcia. I'm sure she can handle passing on the news."

"I don't doubt that," he answered distractedly. He was concerned by the expression on Prentiss's face. He had also noticed her distance from other conversations regarding their boss and any talk of his potential love life. He supposed he was going to have to get to the bottom of things with both of his close friends. And the sooner the better.

~oOo~

In the next chapter, who will be visiting who late at night in the hotel?