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

Summary: This is going to be the first of a collection of one-shot scenes in the BAU's elevator. I love Hotch and Rossi talking in the elevator, but all of the one-shots won't be about them.

Author's Note: This was written for the Criminal Minds Weekly Prompts for week 9. You can find them in the Criminal Minds forums.

Elevator Talk Series

#1 Crime Fiction

Reminiscent of a few weeks earlier when Rossi interrogated Hotch about Beth, Rossi hopped on the elevator in the last seconds before the doors closed and then gave his friend an once-over. Something was definitely going on. Thankfully, they were alone and David Rossi always gets the answers he wants.

Hotch on the other hand was more than ready to handle Rossi. He had learned well from his friend and he was going to play his game as long as he could.

"What's got you so cheery this morning?" asked Rossi. "Didn't spend the night alone?"

Hotch rolled his eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Rossi's eyebrows shot up. Did Aaron knock his head on the bathroom wall a little too hard during shower sex?

"Because you're stuck living vicariously through the stories of others."

Rossi snorted. "I do fine," he defended. "Besides, I have a lifetime of memories to hold on to."

"Obviously. Very colorful, too."

"I've certainly never been vanilla."

"That was made very clear."

"What? I never suspected you to be one to listen to gossip, Aaron."

The elevator doors opened and he responded as he walked out. "And you were right not to suspect it of me," he revealed without giving away anything because of his practiced stoic expression.

"Whoa! Wait up there. You can't be cryptic about my sex life and then just walk away."

"I don't think this is the time or place to talk about it. Enough people enjoy talking about your escapades. We don't need to encourage them."

Hotch wasn't sure, but he thought Rossi actually growled in dissatisfaction. He followed him down the corridor by-passing his own office.

"I know way more than I should. At least I didn't have to see it. The mental pictures were disturbing enough. But it was very educational," he offered once he was in his office.

He left Rossi standing in the doorway with his jaw dropped. It wasn't a look often seen on the man.

Hotch got right to work looking to see if he had any time sensitive messages.

~~~ Flashback Begins ~~~

Although Hotch was improving with working less extra hours, he was the last one to leave that evening. He only needed to deliver a handful of files on cold cases to Rossi and the present time was better than the next day when he would surely be in his office to complain.

He didn't even bother turning on the lights in his office. When he set the files on his desk, his arm accidentally bumped his keyboard waking up the monitor. Hotch always shut down his computer at night. It saved energy. He would have to have a talk with his best friend, maybe the whole team. Actually, it would only require a quick memo by email. His computer was shut down for the night, but he could quickly send it from Rossi's computer so he wouldn't forget. All he needed to do was log in and out of his account. But before that could happen, he was distracted by what was on the screen in a word document.

~~~ Flashback Ends ~~~

Around noon, Rossi reappeared at the open door of Hotch's office. "Time for lunch?" he asked.

Without even looking up, Hotch declined. "No, I have too much to do."

"You've got to eat, Aaron."

"I will. I have some fruit and vegetables I can snack on."

Rossi snorted. "That's hardly enough. Those files are not going anywhere. They're not growing legs."

"They could grow in other ways, like into a larger pile." Hotch remained unaffected by Rossi's reasoning.

"You'll survive. Get your coat on. We're going."

Hotch glared at him.

"My treat." Rossi gave him his best pleading grin.

"You do know that I'm the boss here?"

"I have a right to be bossy right now. You're hiding something."

"I have nothing to hide. Apparently, soon you won't either."

"That's enough. We're going to lunch and you're telling me what the hell you're talking about. I have done nothing worth all of this secrecy."

The elevator dinged its arrival and they entered the crowded box of metal. Hotch stared straight ahead while looking out the corner of his eye and noticed that Rossi was staring at him.

Surprisingly, Rossi said nothing during the drive and only made small talk until after they ordered.

"Okay," began Rossi calmly. "Out with it. What big news flash are you not telling me about?"

"I imagine a lot of females would find it newsworthy," Hotch replied with a smirk.

Rossi glared at his humored friend before sighing in temporary resignation. "Fine. Whenever you're ready."

Rossi raised his water glass to his mouth and started to drink. Hotch found his moment.

"The Case of the Scorned Mistresses?"

Rossi choked on his water, spitting it out making a mess of himself and the table in front of him.

"What?" Rossi asked with wide eyes. It was possible that he could actually be blushing.

"Crime Fiction, Dave? Seriously?"