Chapter 35

I wake up surprised I slept so well with such frightening thoughts in my head. Mainly about how pissed Aaron's going to be today if the kid actually did tell on me, which I'm sure he did since he's prone to do so.

I go to the bathroom and shower before returning to the bedroom to put on the spare suite I have stashed in the closet. My pants are halfway up when I hear Derek yell, "ALEX," then he comes storming into my room in a hot rage.

"What the hell did you do to Jack last night?" He roars.

"I-I didn't do anything."

"I just got off the phone with Hotch and he says the kid told him you manhandled him and threw him around last night. He just yelled at me for half an hour because I let you do it. I ended up telling him what really happened and now he's pissed at me for breaking my promise and not keeping an eye on you two. What the hell is your problem?!"

"I-I wasn't that rough with him." I try to defend but my voice is hesitant and soft from fear after all his yelling. "I can't help it if the brat can't handle a little manhandling."

"He's SIX YEARS OLD! I don't care how tough you expected him to be, you are not supposed to hurt a child, you immature little boy."

Derek takes me by the arm and drags me over to the bed. He sits down and flips me over his lap. Instinctively I try to stand back up but he keeps me down with a firm hand. My pants fall to the ground and then he yanks my briefs down behind them.

"No," I scream reaching back to cover my ass. "Please, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry," He smacks my ass hard. "I don't care *Smack* how sorry you are. *Smack* I trusted you to do one thing, *Smack* keep an eye on the kid, *Smack* and you couldn't do that."

This is the first time Derek's ever given me an actual, proper spanking. I can tell his time at the gym is well worth it, his smacks hold some real sting behind them.

Derek gives me one more heavy-handed smack before pushing me off his lap.

"Get dressed. Hotch is on his way to pick you up."

I stand with tears in my eyes and rubbing my butt. "You-you're not going to take me to work?"

"No. I think he wants to unleash his anger on you before we make it to the Bureau." Derek leaves me to ruminate on those words and what they mean. Is Hotch going to tear me a new one physically or verbally? Probably both.

I straighten my clothes, put on my socks and shoes, throw on my jacket and tie on, and grab my briefcase. In the kitchen, Derek sits at the table silently drinking coffee and reading from his iPad.

"N-no breakfast?" I ask shyly.

He glances up at me for a moment before saying, "Hotch is bringing breakfast." There's a loud banging on the door and we both know who it is immediately. "Speak of the Devil." He mumbles. He seems even less excited about Hotch's arrival than I am.

"Wait," I implore. "I…I don't wanna go with him."

"You should've thought of that before you decided to batter his kid." Derek says brushing past me and answering the door.

Aaron enters holding a Panera Bread bag and a cup of coffee. The most expressed feature about him is the scowl gracing his face.

As always when meeting him and his anger, I greet is with shy awkwardness.

"That cup for me?" I ask shifting from foot to foot.

"No," He answers simply. "Go to the car."

"But…what about breakfast?"

"Do not argue with me!" He yells. "I'm mad enough as it is. Mostly because I only have time to take care of one of you this morning."

I flinch and walk cautiously to the door. I risk a glance at Derek. He looks angry and anxious.

Wouldn't want to be in his shoes …too bad I will be.

I wait in Aaron's car for him. He's in there for about fifteen minutes before he comes back out, still scowling. Derek follows behind him with his hands in his pockets, obviously trying his hardest not to rub his behind, and a surly pucker on his face.

Aaron says something to him that I can't make out but I can read Derek's lips when he replies yes sir. The two then part ways, Derek to his car and Aaron to his.

When he gets in the car, Aaron hands me a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel and then starts driving to the bureau.

"You're coming home with me tonight." He states.

I pass the bagel back and forth in my hand. "I…I don't wanna." I mumble staring straight down in my lap.

"Alex, don't start. I will turn this car around."

"No, no, that's okay. I'll wait until tonight."

"What were you thinking? Why would you hurt my son?"

"I-I wasn't trying to hurt him. I just tossed him on the bed…I was mad. He hit me first."

"He did what?!" Apparently Jack neglected to tell him the whole story. "I've never known Jack to hit anyone."

"I'm not lying." I growl.

"I didn't say you were. It's just…something I will have to talk to him about later. But that still gives you no excuse to hurt him. You are not a child. If he hit you, the best course of action would've been to go to Derek so he could've handled the situation like a proper adult."

I see there is no changing this man's mind so I stop arguing. I sit back and start eating my bagel quietly. "It's cold." I grumble.

"What was that?" Aaron demands, still angry apparently.

"N-nothing," I reply timidly.

"I'm sure it was nothing." Aaron proceeds to lay into me for the rest of the ride and all I can think is, I am definitely never babysitting for his spawn again.

Derek's in the bullpen when we arrive. He comes over to my desk and flops a pile of paperwork on it.

"You've failed on your half of the deal." He says. "So you can do your own work from now on." Then he leaves.

I fight the tears of frustration hard as I work silently. This feels like something I should talk to Dave about but I know he'll just yell at me like Aaron did. What was I thinking? He was just a kid. I'm twenty- four freaking years old for goodness sake. Too old to let a kid get me riled.

But that doesn't mean I desire to be punished all the same. I would much rather just give a heartfelt apology to the kid and sweep this under the rug but I know Aaron won't go for that.

When lunch rolls around, Derek doesn't offer to buy me lunch like normal. I'm not the only one who notices this.

"So what's the deal with you and Derek?" I look up from my desk and see Spencer hovering above it with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I reply turning back to my stack of paperwork.

"Oh I think you do," Emily enters the conversation. "You've been sitting here for…what, four hours?"

"Actually, three hours and forty-six minutes. He came in late." Spencer corrects.

"So four hours." Emily responds sarcastically. "With your tie on backwards and Derek hasn't made even one snide comment."

I look down and notice my backwards tie for the first time all morning. My mind was so focused on Aaron and Derek this morning that I couldn't even dress myself properly.

I quickly take it off and put it on right.

"So what happened?" JJ now enters the inquiry.

"Nothing." I mutter.

"Oh c'mon," Emily sits on the edge of my desk. "If you can't tell us, who can you tell?"

I roll my eyes and glare at the group now circling my desk. "If you must know…" I question voicing the truth but figure they'll probably find out sooner or later. "I got a little rough with Jack last night and now Derek and Aaron are angry. Well…I think Derek's mostly angry because I was supposed to babysit Jack last night while he had a girl over but because I messed up, Aaron blames him too."

"What do you mean you got rough with Jack?" JJ asks surprised. I instantly fear she'll be as mad at me as Aaron is.

"I just…I yelled at him and threw him on the bed. It wasn't really as bad as they try to make it seem but now…" I take a sharp look around to make sure no one else is listening to our conversation. "Aaron's taking me home with him tonight." I whisper inconspicuously. I don't have to elaborate any more than that because they understand what it means.

"Wow, does Dave know?" Emily asks.

"No. And I don't want him to know. After what Derek did and what Aaron still plans to do, I don't want to add Dave to that equation."

"Alright, c'mon," Emily gets her purse. "We'll finish this conversation over lunch."

"I can't," JJ says. "Will's taking Henry and me out for lunch but I will meet up with you guys after work for drinks." Emily nods in agreement.

"I can't either." I groan. "I've got to work through lunch if I plan to get done with even half of this before quittin' time."

Spencer looks around to make sure no one's watching before taking the stack of paper off my desk. He reads through the pages before taking the pen from my hand. Quickly he fills out the forms and puts them back on my desk.

"There. Now all you have to do is sign. After you eat. Let's go before you start biting off heads in a burst of hunger."

I stand happy that they don't hate me for bullying Jack like I thought they would.

...CM...

Emily, Spencer, Penelope, and I go to our favorite café for lunch and sit at the booth of our favorite waitress, Patrice. She's our favorite because she makes sure we never have an empty cup and our food is always made to order, no matter how outlandish. And she always gives me free pie. I swear, if I weren't gay I would marry this woman.

"I'll have the chicken breast on Kaiser," Emily orders. "Everything on it, wheat, and add Dijon mustard."

"Ohhh sounds yummy. I'll have that too." Penelope says.

"And I'll have the tuna sub." Spencer orders next. "Everything on it, white bread."

When Patrice turns to me she lets out a playful sigh, "Let me guess, two cheese burgers, extra fries, and a strawberry shake?"

"Oh, you know me so well, Patrice."

"Coming right up, cutie."

"You really should start eating a healthier diet." Penelope says when Patrice leaves.

I roll my eyes and moan. "I get that enough from Dave and Jason."

"You should listen to them. It's fine now but it's gonna hit hard when you're our age. Maybe Derek could start you on one of his exercise programs. He's a pretty good trainer."

I furrow my brows and mumble, "Are you calling me fat?"

"Of course not. You're as fit as a fiddle but that won't last forever. Sooner or later your metabolism is going to slow down and that perfect physique of yours is going to be trash if your appetite doesn't slow down with it."

"And you think having Derek as a personal trainer is the solution?" I think about it for a moment. Having Derek as a personal trainer could be useful. It means I can go to the gym more regularly than I have since returning. "How do you know Derek will even agree to train me after what I did?"

"Oh, come on," Emily retorts. "Derek isn't that petty. He's throwing a tantrum now because he's still upset but he'll get over it soon enough. I'll talk to him."

I smile in satisfaction and we change the conversation to talking about Penelope and Kevin. Apparently they're on a 'break' now. I don't really know how that works but she doesn't seem too torn up about it so it doesn't worry me very much

Patrice comes back with a tray. She gives everyone their food but me. She does have my shake though and I'm happy to have that at least. "Your burgers are on their way." She says to me.

I take a big gulp of my shake and nod, "Soon I hope. I'm starving."

"Well here," She sets a basket of onion rings on the table. "On the house."

"Oh, thank you my guardian angel." I dig into the onion rings and she hangs around for a little longer before disappearing.

"Alex…I think our waitress likes you." Spencer says when she's gone.

"Whoa, really. Do you think she'll give me more free food?"

Emily rolls her eyes. "You shouldn't lead her on, Alex."

"I'm not leading her on. I can't help it if she has a crush on me and likes to give me free food."

"Yeah but you can stop taking the food and actually offer to pay for your own meals."

"Fine," I give in. I hold up an onion ring and say, "But do I have to pay for these? I mean, they were a gift. That's just disrespectful."

She exhales. "No. But consider this your last free meal, Romeo. Anymore and I'll be forced to tell Neal."

"Trust me; I don't mind Neal being mad at me for a while." I smile devilishly. "It's just means I'll have to make up with him."

Before Emily can argue anymore, my phone rings. I look at it and my smile completely disappears at seeing Aaron's name.

"Great," I grumble before pressing talk. "Hello, Hotch."

"I want you in my living room in fifteen minutes." He growls.

"Wh-why?"

"I just left Jack's school. He got into a fight." Aw crap-crappity-crap. "Alex, tell me the truth. Did you tell my son to fight the boy who's been giving him trouble?"

"I…I-I…I just-"

"Who are you with now?"

"Spencer, Penelope, and Emily."

"Get Emily to bring you here. I'll be waiting."

I sit staring at nothing for a while after he hangs up.

"Alex," Penelope says pulling me back to reality. "What happened?"

"He…he wants Emily to take me to his place."

"Why? What happened?" Spencer asks.

I take a deep breath and squirm. I can still feel the sting of this morning burning across my butt. "I kinda taught Jack to fight this kid who's been bullying him at school…and he kinda actually did fight him."

"Oh my god," Penelope exhales. "Is Jack alright?"

"I don't know. I guess so. Aaron didn't say. But…he wants me at his place, like, now. I think we should go before he comes find me." I stand up and the four of us leave.

"We'll meet you back at the bureau." Penelope says as she and Spencer get in here car. "Keep us updated."

"Will do," Emily answers. We get in her car and she drives to Aaron's place.

Great, I think to myself. I was hoping to have a few more hours of pain-free sitting before I had to go through with this.

So there was this review asking me not to bring Agent Blake in because it would "mess up the flow" and I'm taking this review into consideration. That's why I haven't brought her in yet. I'm trying to find a way to do it without messing up the flow.

If anyone else thinks I shouldn't introduce Blake, let me know. Or if you'd like to see her, let me know still. The more I know about what my readers want to read the better.