Theme Eleven: Memory

Everyone knew that Reid's memory was incredible. There was no doubting that. If Prentiss were to walk up to him and ask what she was doing last Monday at ten-thirty in the evening, he would tell her that she was complaining about how she still had six files to rummage through and that she gave up on it and left early. If Garcia asked him what it was that Kevin had said to her when the three of them were standing together getting coffee, he would recite it back to her perfectly so that she would have no doubt that Kevin's statement had seemed odd for whatever reason.

But one thing about Reid's memory was that every one he had of Hotch seemed to blur sometimes, as if he couldn't exactly remember what was going on around that time. He couldn't fathom why it was this way, but he didn't bother telling anyone. People would begin to suspect things, and Reid wasn't sure he wanted to try to explain anything.

Sure, Reid liked Hotch, but why would that be the reason for the random skips in his memory concerning the older man? Reid pondered this several times, but couldn't ever come up with a logical answer.

Which was very troubling. Reid even flipped a table once because of how frustrating this made him.

One day, he decided to talk to Hotch about his problem. But he went about it a different way.

"Hotch, do you remember the day we met?" It was a question that Reid had known the answer to, but it was the only memory of Hotch's that he could remember vividly. Well, the moment they had met, per se. He didn't remember what else happened that day, as if none of it had been important.

Hotch blinked at him for a moment before smiling ever so slightly. This confused the young genius greatly. Why was Hotch smiling?

"Of course I do," Hotch answered. "Gideon brought you into the office and said that you had filed to be a member of the BAU. He asked me if I would consider accepting you. I was seriously confused because you barely looked over twenty, but I decided that if Gideon had confidence in you that I should as well. So without even bothering to look it over, I welcomed you to the BAU."

Reid's eyes widened. He never realized that Hotch had never even looked over the paperwork. So…he was accepted to the team just like that?

"But why?" Reid asked. Hotch's smile faltered.

"Huh?" Hotch looked confused. "I told you why not long afterward. Don't you remember?"

Reid scratched his chin. "N-no…"

Hotch put his hand on the top of Reid's head. "Because I saw something special in you before you even said anything. You didn't have to. I just trusted my instinct. And I was right, wasn't I?" He shook Reid's hair and chuckled. Reid blushed.

"S-sure…" Reid said.

"But…" Hotch removed his hand and stared at Reid. "Did you really not remember me telling you that? I thought you had a perfect memory."

"Nothing can ever be defined as perfect," Reid said. "I-I guess I just have gaps in it sometimes…but mostly concerning you…"

Hotch blinked. "Me?"

Reid nodded. Hotch put a finger to his chin for a moment before leaning forward.

"Well, will you remember this?"

Before Reid could begin to wonder what he meant, Hotch planted a quick kiss on his cheek. Reid stood frozen for a minute before allowing the blood to rush to his face. He suddenly dizzy and put a hand to his head.

"W-w-w-w-wha—?" Reid couldn't even speak in a complete sentence. Hotch laughed warmly and patted the genius's shoulder.

"It's okay," Hotch said. "Just in case you forget that one, I'll give you a few more every few days so that at least one of them should stay in your memory." He then walked out of the room.

Reid could swear steam was flying out of his ears. Of course he wouldn't forget that.

But he would decide to act as if he didn't, just so Hotch would keep doing it.