Emily Prentiss was an extremely heavy sleeper, but relaxation was doing its best to avoid her on this particular night. It had been nearly eighteen hours of staring at images containing mutilated bodies, and the case was the only thing on her mind. As her eyes slowly shut out of exhaustion, she was not greeted by darkness, but blood, horror, and death. Although tired, she knew that it would be extremely hard to sleep whilst painting such a horrible picture in her mind.

The hotel room provided little comfort; the bed was too soft and the walls were unforgivably faded. The complete silence that surrounded her did nothing but cause her to feel lonely and depressed, which is clearly not a helpful emotion while trying to fall asleep. Emily rarely found herself this disturbed because Hotch was beside her for so many nights. Tonight would have been no exception if a certain Erin Strauss hadn't bothered to tag along with the team, naturally creating a looming black cloud over everyone in her path. They were forced to follow the rules, and that meant that sharing a bed was off-limits. Emily rolled her eyes at the thought of Strauss discussing her personal life.

A vibration from her phone, indicating that it was midnight, shut her out from her musings. The hell with it. She wanted to see him.

Her room was locked and empty in a matter of seconds. She found herself slowly making her way down the dimly lit hallway, hair tangled and face barren of makeup. She soon stumbled upon her destination. It was a lounge like room, complete with vending machines, couches, and a suit-clad Aaron Hotchner, who was lazily sitting on a sofa with a case file in his lap. Emily silently crept over to the side of the couch.

"Hey." He looked up from the file, completely emotionless even as his eyes rested on her.

"Why are you still up?" he asked, still showing no trace of feeling.

"I couldn't sleep," she replied honestly, settling herself down beside him. Hotch nodded and averted his gaze back to the file, completely conscious of the woman sitting next to him. She continued, "I figured you would be here, still studying this case. You could use some sleep yourself. Even I've managed to get more rest than you, and I've gotten little." She let out a sigh and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Not here," he said, squeezing her thigh with his hand. She removed her head from its previous position. "Strauss."

"She ruins everything."

Smiling he replied, "It's her job to do so. But I respect her."

Emily rolled her eyes in good nature. "You always have the most politically correct responses. You should say what you feel."

"But she could be watching," he teased, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips.

"If that's the case, then you and I just got fired for fraternizing on the job. Way to go," she said sarcastically. "You know, if she wasn't here we could do that as much as we wanted. Kissing and sharing a bed, I mean. Like usual. No one cares except for her."

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Hotch said, chuckling. "I do recall a certain incident where Derek, Garcia, and Dave all came stampeding into my office asking for the latest on you and I. Apparently it's a huge deal around the workplace. Well, anything that gets Garcia out of her lair must be, am I right? The other two are always messing around in my business, so I shouldn't have been as surprised as I was."

"What did you wind up telling them?"

"What, about us?" She nodded, staring at him intently. He looked up at the ceiling and said, "I just told them to get the hell out of my office."

Emily laughed. "And you wonder why people think you're a pain in the ass."

"I don't particularly like going into the specifics," he replied, squeezing her hand. He yawned. "I'm tired, but I really need to-"

"Don't look at the case anymore, Aaron," she whispered. The use of his first name was always used outside of the workplace, but the thrill of hearing it come so naturally from her lips sent a surge of masculine pride through his body. "We'll have plenty of time tomorrow. Will you lay here with me for a bit? " He hesitated, and upon seeing this Emily said, "Strauss is on a completely different floor and the rest of the team's asleep. Just give me fifteen minutes with you. We can go to our own rooms afterward."

It was a convincing invitation. He slowly rested on the soft cushions of the couch. Emily stared at him, smiled, and gently placed herself on top of him, her head resting on his heart. His hands drew shapes, words, and pictures on her lower back, causing her body to contract and shiver. She loved it when he did that.

"I missed this," she whispered, her eyes closing.

"Me too," was the answer. He yawned, "Don't fall asleep on me. Strauss can't see this."

"Stop worrying," she said with a smile that he could feel through his shirt.

The couple simply rested there in silence, taking each other in with every breath and beat of their heart. Emily could feel his chest slowly raise up and down from beneath her, exactly in time with her own breathing. The silence around them was untouched; no one dared to walk down the hallway, to slam a hotel room door, or to turn on the ice maker located only a few yards away. The moment was as peaceful as they could have hoped for, and that, in their minds, was just what they needed. Peace and quiet. Love.

With that last word on their minds, the pair slowly drifted off to sleep.

"Should we wake them up?" Reid asked.

"Yes!" JJ hissed, glancing over to the hallway. "If Strauss comes down here she'll throw a fit and fire them on the spot."

"I'm just amazed that Hotch has emotions," Morgan teased. It was true, though. The entire team couldn't get over the way he was holding her, with his left arm was wrapped around her waist and his right twisted so that a hand rested on her shoulder. The team knew about their involvement with one another, but actually witnessing it was something completely different than just accepting that it was true. The action just seemed too out of character for someone like him, but there again, they were alone when it began. He was a different person around the team than he was with her, just as it should be.

"Wake them up," JJ urged, pushing Reid towards the couch.

"No, you do it!"

"Come on, Kid," Morgan pressed, trying not to burst out laughing at the horrified look plastered on Reid's face. "Look, if Strauss sees them like this they'll lose their jobs, no questions asked. Do you really want to be the one who ruined Hotch's life?"

"Why can't you do it?" he whined.

"You're younger and I don't want to be punched."

"Yeah, that really makes me want to do it now," he replied, simultaneously rolling his eyes with JJ. With that, he slowly walked over to his sleeping colleagues and loudly said, "Wake up."

Emily replied with a groan, prompting Morgan to say, "You're lying on your boss. You might want to get up before you're fired." She immediately did as she was told and managed her way off of the couch, waking Hotch up in the process. He quickly sat up, embarrassed to be under the watchful eye of his amused team. "There we go. Much better. You're in the clear now, Hotch."

"We need to get working," he mumbled almost incomprehensibly.

"Looks like you were already working to me," came the reply from Morgan as he raised his brows in mock speculation. Hotch shot him a death glare but couldn't hide the smile that was dying to escape.

"It was an accident," Emily offered, laughing like a little girl and glancing over at a half-grinning Hotch. "Well, the sleeping was an accident. Being with him wasn't. Honest mistake, am I right?"

"Whatever you say. But I know I'll be hearing all of the dirty details at some point," JJ said, ignoring the look Emily gave her. "You're just lucky that Strauss didn't see you."

"Good morning, agents." The team watched as their boss walked into the room, right on cue, with a small smile on her face. It was hard not to stare, especially since she looked almost human for once in her life. The atmosphere in the room quickly changed from that of a joyous, carefree mood to one of tension and hesitation. Strauss frowned and said, "I don't want to know the reason why you are all staring at me like that. Isn't there some work you could be doing?"

"We were just going to go over the case file," JJ replied quickly, glancing over at Emily.

"Agent Prentiss, you're going to do this in your pajamas?"

"I didn't have time to change," she said. "I'll, uh, I'll go do that now."

Her boss only nodded and went about pouring herself a cup of coffee, pretending not to notice as every body in the room slowly shuffled out, whispering about something incomprehensible. As she took a sip of the steaming drink, a very clear picture of one Aaron Hotchner and Emily Prentiss sleeping came flooding back to her brain. She paused and smiled at the thought, glancing towards the doorway where a very confused JJ stood. The smile was quickly removed from her face.

"Isn't there something you should be doing, Agent Jareau?" The young woman mumbled her apologies and walked out, curious as to what could make the devil smile.