Chapter 2 - Watching Too Closely
"Morning," said Hotch as David Rossi joined him on the elevator. Hotch stood next to the silent Italian man on the lift, and he saw the look that the man cast his way.
"What?"
Hotch could practically feel the man's words coming before he'd even said them.
"You work out this morning?"
Oh…so this was how it was going to be. Yes he'd worked out, but things had changed rather drastically, not that he was going to tell Rossi that. He wondered exactly what Rossi would say if he told him that he'd worked out with JJ and had a date with her on Friday.
"I did," he said curtly, hoping that that would end it, but he had a faint feeling that this wasn't going to be the end of it. Rossi was like a dog with a bone, and could weasel information out of almost anybody, which was why he was so good at his job.
Rossi nodded sagely, and Hotch knew what was coming, so he braced himself for it.
"So, how was the, uh…workout?"
He heard the faint innuendo and quickly retaliated. "It's called training and it was fine."
"Right," Rossi said, drawing out the vowel, voicing his sarcasm. "Training. For what, though?"
Hotch looked towards the ceiling of the lift, trying to maintain an even temper. He wanted nothing more than to tell him who his date was really with, just to shock him, but of course that wasn't going to happen anytime soon.
"Just…stop."
"You know, race day's almost here…you'll need a new excuse to see her," he said obtusely.
Hotch knew that he meant Beth, but in his mind JJ was the only thought and Beth was nowhere in sight. He briefly wondered what JJ would wear, and then covered his smile as he then said,
"It's been handled…"
"Atta boy." The elevator doors dinged open. "When?"
"Friday."
Then from behind him as he exited, he heard Rossi say,
"Come hell or high water, Aaron, I will get us back by Friday…"
Hotch was glad that he was the one in front because he couldn't stop the large grin from crossing his lips at one thought, which was the fact that it wouldn't matter whether they were back or not…his date was going to with him on the case.
He walked into the room and they started to go over the case, but his thoughts kept drifting to JJ.
He realized that during this next case he was going to have to be particularly careful in his interactions with her, so as to not give away the truth about what was going on.
She had a tendency to break down his walls rather easily, and he always let her. She was his oldest friend.
As they got onto the jet, though, one thought kept ricocheting around in his mind and he couldn't shut it off…
…what the hell was he going to cook for the date?
Part 2/?