Thanks again to Hope and to all of you, reading this. Enjoy the next chapter!
Hotch had completed the surveys at the Presbyterian. Darcy Cole actually did some research. Nurse Hill remembered one or the other occasion when Darcy was more than interested in certain events. Hotch again spoke with Dr. Hayden, who had calmed down again and did his own researches on the medical records. Aaron striked off the doctor from his mental list. Although he was certain that Hayden had fulfilled the last wish of his wife, otherwise Hayden was a man of integrity and obviously concerned about this things, going on in his hospital. Hotch left it to Reid and Morgan, to investigate further. Spencer assured him that Alix was all right, a bit shaken, but ok. For now, Hotch thought, he slammed his palm on the steering wheel and cursed. How could she do this? Leave without a word, putting herself in danger?
He was still mad at Alix, when he entered the loft. Alix sat with Jack and Rossi at the large dining table and put together a puzzle. Gandhi was sitting in the middle, trying in his own way to participate. Jack sat on Alix lap and laughed, she hugged Jack with an arm around his waist and her other hand tenderly stroke over his hair. Aaron's rage fizzled out almost completely and made room for a completely different need.
"Daddy!" Jack had discovered his father and rushed to Aaron.
"Hi buddy, having fun with Ally and Uncle Dave?"
"We´re putting a puzzle together, Gandhi repeatedly mixes everything up. That´s so funny, Daddy. Will you join us? "
"Maybe later, Jack. There´s a playground, just around the corner, wanna go there with Uncle Dave?"
Jack shrugged.
"Playground would be great, Jack", Dave now said. " I haven´t been there for a long time."
"I think you're too big for the swing, Uncle Dave, but you can nudge me." Jack suggested and toddled off with Rossi.
Alix looked doubtfully at Hotch. He didn´t give the impression that he wanted to slap her, but Alix didn´t want to bet on this.
"Aaron," she said softly, taking a step towards him.
"Don´t you say anything, Alix."
Hotch gave her a rough push, pressed her at the exposed-brick wall of the loft and kissed her demanding. Before Alix knew it, Hotch had removed her shirt, pulled up her skirt and slid down her panties. Alix felt his arousal at her thigh and moaned in surprise. She wrapped her right leg around his hip. Seconds later, Hotch pushed into her, hard and fast, their faces were barely an inch apart from each other, their breath almost mingled.
Alix was captured by his eyes and she suddenly could see everything. She saw his pain, his passion, his grief and his anger, his fear of losing her, she saw everything, everything Aaron would never dare to say. Alix looked at him and felt it at that moment. She scraped her back on the bricks, she felt no pain, only Aaron, who was such a perfect fit inside of her. Never before she had felt so close to him, as in this moment, he made himself practically naked for her. Hotch came fast and furious and Alix cried out loud, when she came, seconds later.
"No more solo efforts, Alix, do you understand that?"
Hotch still pressed her against the wall and held her gaze fixed with his. Alix amber eyes almost had turned into the dark brown colour of Aaron's.
"What ever you want," Alix gasped and wrapped her other leg tightly around Hotch. He had not yet withdrawn from her and Alix took advantage of that fact, shameless. Her hands and her lips were suddenly everywhere, Hotch felt that he was getting hard again.
"Well then, I know, you can do this again" he heard her say hoarsely and gave her once again, what she wanted so badly.
"Your back looks terrible, Alix," Hotch said, startled, as both were tangled up in bed together. "I should not have been so rough, I´m sorry."
"Well, you've made your point very clear," Alix answered, "You thought I earned some punishment?" She laughed softly.
"That's not funny, Alix, please." Hotch was not proud of it, he didn´t lose control, never, but his feelings for Alix probably broke more than a dam inside of him.
"Oh, Aaron, come on. I'm not an innocent girl anymore, I've had some punishment-sex before. You and your wife, you never slept together, when one of you was pissed?"
"No, mostly I slept on the sofa and Haley remained silent." Aaron admitted cautiously. "It's odd, lying in bed with you and talking about my wife."
Alix put her head on his chest, "I do not mind, tell me something about her, I'm kinda like her?"
"I cannot think of two women who are as dissimilar as you and Haley. I joined a theater group, because of her, back then in high school. Our marriage was going well, when I was a prosecutor. After changing to the BAU things got difficult and when Jack came Haley couldn´t stand my job anymore, I refused a transfer, one thing led to another and we ended up in divorce court. "
"You still loved her, right? I know how that feels." Alix took a deep breath, "I didn´t leave my husband because I no longer loved him. He's an old friend of my father, they were comrades in the Army. God, I was so in love with him, so many things I didn´t see, things, that had been so obvious. I wanted to be happy with him, I wanted to have children, but I didn´t get pregnant. In hindsight, it was probably better that way. He has never loved me, like I loved him. I was only a substitute for the other one. I left, because I could not stand it anymore."
"I'm sorry," Hotch replied.
"You don´t have to, it was long ago. Moreover, I have now found the right guy," Alix said, kissed Hotch and got out of bed. "Dave cannot deal with Jack for ever, I have no idea how long the two of them are already gone."
Morgan and Reid were able to find something useful in Darcy's apartment. Darcy had notes to everyone who worked at the Trauma Unit and still some more. Morgan stopped at a Chinese restaurant and then at Alix loft.
"Information and food" Morgan answered to the intercom.
Hotch opened the door, "You found something?" Reid showed the box with the notes.
Aaron nodded, "We´ll eat, first. Alix, you´re comming?"
"Immediately," she called from the bathroom. Her hair was still wet, just like Hotch´s, Reid thought. And she was wearing jeans and shirt, also just like Hotch. It was true what they said about people in a relationship, they looked alike.
"Hm," she said, "Chinese Food. There´s beer in the fridge, if someone likes, but there is also juice and water. Shouldn´t we wait for Dave and Jack?"
"I have just spoken to Rossi, they´re going to Jess." Hotch said.
Alix grinned, Jess, where else. "Is there some chicken soup?"
Reid nodded and handed her the soup.
"Is Hefe-Weizen what you meant with 'beer'?" Derek asked, undecided standing in front of the open refrigerator.
Alix joined him in the kitchen, "it´s probably not, what American´s call beer, it something special."
"Well, then surprise me," Morgan said, and watched with interest as Alix took tall glass from the cupboard, held it at an angle and slowly let the beer run. At the end she turned the bottle a little and poured the rest into the glass. "I'm only half American, my mother is from Munich," Alix explained.
"Prost Morgan" she said, and sat down at the dining table.
A few fried noodles and baked duck later, Spencer put the box with Darcy's notes on the cleared table.
"She was very thorough, she has files for each and everyone, who was connected to the Trauma Unit. Nurses, medical assistants, M.D´s and so on. She pieced many things together and made a lot of assumptions. I had a quick previous look." He explained to Alix, wo was looking curious at him. "Um, I´m a fast reader, Alix. I suggest everyone takes a file and maybe, there is a concrete suspicion." Reid said.
"Can I have a file or do you want me to sit here, quiet and look pretty?"
Alix asked Hotch with an innocent look. He handed her the two of Darcy's notepads.
"Don´t push it," Hotch said softly.
Derek laughed, the redhead was cocky, he liked that.
"You don´t have a sister, I guess?" he asked.
"Unfortunately, no, just a brother, but he's already off the market, sorry."
Alix smiled and stuck her nose into the notes again. "Ugh, nurse Hill sleeps with Dr. Burgess." Alix shivered.
"Burgess?" Hotch asked.
"Jep, the small, greasy one with the nerd glasses, the one that looks like a tawny owl."
Hotch knew, whom she was talking about.
"By choice?"
"I don´t know yet, Darcy wrote a lot more..." Alix suddenly stopped reading.
"Holy crap, this is so disgusting! What a dirty pig! He caught her son in the hospital, he was stealing narcotics. Burgess is blackmailing her with it."
"That makes him a pig and a blackmailer, but not a killer," Hotch said.
"What about Dr. Finch?" Reid asked.
"Finch? I don´t know him very well, I´ve seen him sometimes.. Bradley has talked to him, often. If I remember correctly."
"You´re not sure about it?" Reid wanted to know.
"I will, I´ll call Brad," Alix said, reaching for the phone. She went into her bedroom, to be undisturbed.
"Everything is ok, with you and Alix?" Morgan asked.
"Sure, we have," Hotch was looking for a suitable formulation, "talked it over."
Morgan grinned, he had a pretty good idea how this debate had looked like. He almost envied Hotch for the redhead, she was the complete package, heart, brain, body. Like a swiss army knife.
"I think Finch is the first choice," the swiss army knife now said. "He talked to my brother about suicide and life after death."
She hugged Hotch from behind and kissed him on the neck. "Thank you, for talking to my father and explaining everything to him. He is very upset about Mami's death. We all are. Brad told me, you found so nice words."
Hotch turned in his chair, placed Alix on his lap and hugged her without a word. It didn´t matter to him that Morgan and Reid were still there.
Morgan pushed Reid almost off the chair, "let´s see if we can catch Finch in hospital", he said.
"Why we had to leave so fast?" Reid asked blankly at the door.
"Sometimes I really don´t know, what planet you´re from, kid. They´re gonna be friendly to each other, very friendly, kiddo."
"Oh... OH," Reid said, he suddenly understood. "We gotta go and catch our killer. Fast."
After being very friendly to each other, Hotch and Alix looked for some distraction, made themselves comfortable on the sofa and watched a movie.
"Things are going well with Dave and Jess?" Hotch asked, reaching for the popcorn.
Alix smiled, "You noticed?"
"It wasn´t hard to miss, Alix. Besides, I´m a profiler"
"Now, that I often take care of Jack, she has a little time for a private life."
"With Dave?"
"Why not, Aaron? I don´t know how serious their relationship is, but they met very often, period. Would that be such a problem for you?" Alix was confused, "I thought you're friends with Rossi?"
"I am, but that's not the point."
"So? What is the point, then? Just because Haley didn´t get along very well with your job, Jess must not have the same problems, automatically. I guess, she knows the risk very well, just like I do."
Alix sat upright, "Or do you think that it´s not clear to me, how dangerous your job is? I deal with the fact that you have a bulletproof vest in the closet, a Glock 17 at your hip and a 26 for back up at your ankle. I have an uneasy feeling when the man I love leaves our home to chase crazy serial killers, but ... what? "
Hotch looked at her attentively, "the man you love?"
"The man I love," Alix repeated.
"You never said that before," Hotch said.
"When we were together the first time, I was a bit emotional, remember?"
Hotch nodded.
"I made a promise to Jess, not to overcharge you, so I was crying, because it had almost slipped out of my mouth. I love you, Aaron, since the moment I first saw you."
"Come here," Hotch put the popcorn away and looked into Alix's eyes, "I love you too, Alexandria Talbot. So much, I hardly can find words to tell you," he kissed her gently on her mouth," and I have nothing against Dave and Jess, I just feel responsible for Jess, I owe her a lot, nothing more. And it drives me crazy, how incredibly sexy you look, when you get upset. But it scares me a little that you can tell it´s a Glock 17, and you recognize a 26."
"My ex-husband taught me that stuff," Alix grinned. "And also, how to handle it, just for your information," she added, slipping back against Hotch´s chest, snuggling close to him.