Dreamer

The team was heading back to Virginia after a particularly hard case involving children. Although the case finished with a fairly happy ending, cases with children always affected the team slightly more than others.

Especially Hotch.

As the six BAU profilers sat on the jet, they each went through the usual routine that followed this type of case. SSA Derek Morgan sat with his IPod on, eyes closed as he let the music erase the painful memories of the past couple of days.

David Rossi sat to the left of Morgan, gazing carefully around the plane at his fellow colleagues, his family. Reid was sprawled out on the couch trying to get some shut eye, hoping he could keep the images of the mangled children's bodies out of his head.

Emily and JJ sat opposite each other, switching between chatting quietly and sitting in short periods of silence.

Meanwhile the sixth team member, Aaron Hotchner, sat across the table from Morgan and Rossi, silently arguing with himself over whether he should call Jessica or not. He really wanted to talk to Jack, just hear his voice for a few seconds, but he knew it was too late to be calling. It wasn't fair to Jack or Jessica, for him to be waking them up at this hour, just for his own peace of mind.

After much deliberation, Hotch decided not to call, and instead tried to get some sleep. A task which turned out to be less difficult than he thought it would be.

A short while into the flight, Rossi looked over at Hotch as a small sound left the younger agent's mouth. He continued to watch his friend and colleague shift slightly in his sleep. David Rossi was sure that Aaron was having a nightmare of some sort and no-one would think anything of it after what they had recently witnessed.

They all had nightmares at some point, so it was nothing new for Rossi to see one of his team members tossing and turning on the jet.

However, the next noise that Hotch made confused the older profiler and also caught the attention of Reid, JJ and Emily. It sounded more like a pleasurable moan, a sound of arousal.

Was it Possible? Was SSA Aaron Hotchner having a sex dream?

As if that thought wasn't strange enough, the next muffled moan that left the sleeping agent was sure to cause confusion.

"Emily." Hotch let out quietly.

Rossi witnessed as Emily Prentiss' eyes nearly fell out of her head and JJ turned around in her seat to glance at her boss, with a small smirk on her face.

Reid sat up straight on the couch, his cheeks slightly reddened. "Did he just…? I mean, did he say…?" The youngest team member was unable to finish either of his questions.

Rossi smiled, before pulling the ear pieces out of Morgan's ears. He knew that Morgan would never forgive them if they let him miss this.

"What the hell, man?"

Rossi quickly shushed Morgan, before gesturing to Hotch.

Morgan glanced over at his boss and was about to ask Rossi what was going on, until another soft moan left the lips of the unit chief.

"Oh." was Morgan's first response. "Is he dreaming about what I think he's dreaming about?"

"Emily." Once again the female profilers name slipped from his lips.

Morgan looked over at Emily was an expression of glee. "Wow princess, you must be good."

"What are you talking about?" Prentiss replied, shakily. "It sounds like he's having a nightmare."

Another pleasurable groan left Hotch.

"Nightmare?" Rossi questioned. "I wish I enjoyed my nightmares that much."

Emily was about to respond, when she heard her given name leave Aaron Hotchner's mouth for a third time. "It's…" She paused. "It's probably about Doyle."

"Who are you trying to convince there, Em?" Morgan grinned at her like the Cheshire Cat. "Us or yourself?"

"Shut up Morgan!"

Emily Prentiss jumped up from her seat and moved towards her boss, kneeling on the seat next to him.

"What are you doing?" JJ asked her friend.

"Waking him up."

"Why?" Morgan flashed his teeth again. "Like what you're hearing just a little too much?"

Emily chose to ignore her ex-friend. "Hotch." The brunette whispered quietly, gently shaking the man before her.

Hotch's eyed flickered open and caught the gaze of the doe eyed brunette in front of him. "Emily." He breathed out pleasantly, smiling up at her.

His vision then found the other members of his team and he realized where he was, and what he had just been dreaming about. He noted the smirking expression on his team's faces and prayed that they didn't know what he had been dreaming of, who he'd been dreaming of.

He locked eyes with Emily once more. "Prentiss, what's going on?" he asked, as formally and innocently as he could manage.

"You were dreaming sir. I think you were having a nightmare… about me." She added.

"Oh." He kept his expression bland. "What made you think that?"

"You…" She took in a breath of air. "You were saying my name and shifting about a lot."

"Oh, sorry." He replied bluntly. "I don't remember." He lied.

"That's very unusual." Reid piped up. "Usually when someone is woken during REM sleep they remember their dreams, especially if they are questioned about them immediately. The majority of studies show…"

"Reid! I don't remember."

"Sorry sir." The young profiler practically squeaked.

Emily gave her boss a small smile, before getting up and returning to her original seat opposite JJ, and engaged her in a conversation.

Hotch glanced up at Morgan and was less than impressed with the smug smirk plastered across the younger agent's face. "Yes?"

"Some 'nightmare', huh?"

"Like I said, I don't remember." He hissed, through gritted teeth.

"Sure you don't." Rossi added, a smirk of his own, spread across his cheeks, sarcasm lacing his tone.

Aaron Hotchner glared at the two men.

After a short silence, Morgan finally spoke again. "Looks like somebody can't deny it any longer."

"Looks like somebody's getting extra paperwork when we get back." With that said, Hotch closed his eyes again, but he wasn't going to let himself fall asleep again. He did want to continue his dream, of course, but only when he was alone.