Chapter 15.
Strauss had been all over him since New York, and with his subsequent threats to a district attorney, she crawled even further into his pocket. He kept his eye on Emily, watching the bruises yellow and disappear.
He spent weeks locked behind closed doors with Strauss, arguing the logistics of the team, debating the need for almost each line item in the budget, occasionally meeting with the director for final mediation.
They had gone close to six weeks without a case – and all of them caught up on the paperwork that piled up in their absences. JJ continued sorting the piles of requests that came across her desk, Garcia updated their firewalls and forced them all to change passwords. Reid, Morgan and Prentiss recertified in firearms and fieldwork. All the while Hotch sat in his office and signed his name on endless stacks of paper.
He was exhausted and frustrated by the bureaucracy of his job. He wanted a case, something to work on. His team spent the time doing consults, usually directing the local law enforcement to direct the focus of their investigation. Usually, they were on the right track, just needing a fresh set of eyes to point them the right way. But there were no new cases for them to fly to – nothing requiring their rapid deployment. Morgan and Reid quickly dissolved into a prank war – Emily disappeared from the bullpen after the third paper aeroplane missed its target and hit her in the back of the head.
The only positive was he had been able to establish some routine with Jack. He picked him up on the way home from work on Friday afternoons and he spent the night with him, Hotch dropping him off after dinner on Saturday. Despite his desperation for Jack to spend the weeks with him, he understood that Jack would see it as a rejection if they had to suddenly stop when he went out on a case. So instead they spent Friday nights building forts, cooking outrageously unhealthy desserts and watching whatever movie was currently obsessing his young son. Saturdays were spent playing in the park, building with blocks and LEGO before a big cooked dinner and taking him back to Hayley's house.
Hayley opened the door on a Saturday evening, smiling at Jack who was clinging to Aarons side.
"Hey baby" She said, scooping him into her arms and kissing his cheek. Looking Aaron up and down she smiled as he put down Jack's backpack just inside the door.
"Still no case?" She asked, leaving the door open as she walked, still carrying Jack, into the kitchen.
"No still nothing" He called, debating whether to come in. They had managed to avoid fighting for a few months now – a tentative peace emerging between them. It had taken weeks for her temper to thaw after he showed up with the scratches Emily had left on him, and he kept his visits short and casual, desperate to avoid another fight.
"You must be losing it" She said, walking back into the living room – Jack following her, drinking an apple juice.
"Budget meetings" He said shortly, leaning on the doorframe as she nodded. "Jack's had dinner"
"Thanks – Honey come say goodbye to Daddy" She called, and Jack ran into the room, throwing his arms around Hotch's legs.
Driving home he let himself into his apartment and started cleaning up the tornado of mess Jack always seemed to leave in his wake. Looking around he couldn't find his wallet, he usually kept it in a dish on his coffee table, but the table had been taken over by a multicoloured tower Jack had built. He shrugged and figured he had probably left it in the car. His credentials were in his dresser, and his service gun locked safely away. He figured it had fallen out of his pocket in the car and made a mental reminder to get it in the morning.
He left the LEGO tower standing on his coffee table and looked at it with pride. Itching around his apartment he decided to forgo his usual Thai take out and make a good dinner for himself. Rossi had sent him a recipe a few weeks ago after he had offhandedly mentioned his lack of home cooking and he had all the ingredients. He thought it would be nice to cook a good dinner, drink some wine and blow off some steam of his own.
Without thinking, he texted Emily to join him.
He ignored the profiling part of him that was trying to analyse why he asked her over. He showered and shaved and quietened his mind by telling himself he needed the company of a friend. He dressed in comfortable clothes, further proving to himself that it wasn't a date. He got dinner with Dave often, so why was it different to have dinner with Emily. He didn't bother putting on shoes and double-checked the floor again for LEGOs, waiting somewhere in the carpet to embed itself into his feet.
She knocked just after 8, he opened the door to see her standing in yoga pants and a red shirt, carrying a bag slung over one shoulder, this comforted him, she didn't think it was a date either. She was wearing no makeup and her hair was up in a ponytail – she greeted him with a smile.
"Hey! Come in – make yourself at home" He shut and locked the door behind her and went into the kitchen, starting to chop garlic on his cutting board. Emily kicked off her shoes, dropped her bag behind the couch and sat on one of the barstools at his kitchen bench.
"Am I here for a cooking lesson?" she asked, her eyes confused, looking over the ingredients he had laid out on the counter.
"Nope, judging by that grilled cheese you sent me a few weeks back, you're a lost cause. I'm making us dinner" He answered, looking at her with a grin from below his brows, he felt the tension leaking from him as she smiled.
"What can I do?" She said leaning forward on her elbows, inhaling the fragrance of the garlic he had just added to the pan. He turned and grabbed two wine glasses from the cabinet. Opening the fridge, he grabbed a bottle of white wine from the door and turned around.
"Open this and drink it" He said, sliding the bottle and a corkscrew across the kitchen bench. Emily did so and poured two glasses of wine. Walking around the bench she handed his to him as he added oil and pepper flakes to the pan. Watching him she hopped up on the counter and sipped her wine
"What are we having?" She asked, dangling her legs off the bench and watching him as he chopped parsley.
"Pasta Aglio e Olio" he answered, sipping his own wine before draining the pasta on a rolling boil.
"Pasta with garlic and oil" She answered, raising her eyebrows "Rossi recipe?"
"Of course, who else" He answered, dumping the pasta into the pan of garlic and chilli flakes. "Though is it really a recipe if you just dump everything in a frying pan?"
She watched him as he moved around the kitchen, her eyes travelling the length of his bicep, focusing on his forearms as he stirred. Grabbing a fork from a drawer he twirled a length of pasta on a fork and held it out to her. She tasted it – it was delicious.
"When did you learn to cook" She asked, wiping a spot of oil off her chin.
"Single dad remember – can't feed my kid box mac and cheese forever" He answered, stirring parsley into the pan before plating it for each of them.
"Oh, that's not your kickass Lego tower?" She said, taking the offered plate and following him with the bottle of wine to the dining table. Sitting across from him she refilled both their wine glasses.
"Afraid not – if you want to leave, I understand" He said in mock embarrassment. He reached his wine glass to hers and they clinked together.
"Mmm, I'll stay for the cooking" She said, starting on the pasta, which was delicious.
He watched her for a moment as she ate. Her shirt was loose fitting and she looked comfortable, smiling as she ate and drank her wine.
"Garlic is a weird choice for a first date" she said, finishing her plate and refilling both their glasses of wine, emptying the bottle. He choked slightly on his final bite and looked at her, startled. She was smirking at him over her wine glass. "Kidding! Strauss coming down on you this week?" She asked kindly.
"Yeah, budgetary math, the most boring meetings in the world that we still somehow manage to fight over" He said with a sigh, grabbing both of their plates and taking them back into the kitchen.
Emily grabbed both glasses of wine and followed him, jumping back up on the counter. She handed him his glass of wine as she took a long swallow of hers. He started loading his dishwasher, stopping long enough to finish his glass of wine and put it on the counter.
"There's another bottle in the fridge" He called over his shoulder and Emily jumped off the counter to get it, opening the second bottle and pouring him a glass. She hopped back up on the counter and refilled her own glass, swinging her legs back and forth on top of the bench. He started the dishwasher and turned to look at her.
"Comfy?" He asked, sipping his own wine, feeling the heat of the alcohol settle underneath his chest
"Very, I like to be tall" She said stretching her arms above her head, holding her glass of wine. Her shirt rode up, exposing the skin above her waist, it was lightly flushed, and he figured she must be slightly tipsy too. His eyes flicked to it and unconsciously his tongue darted out and licked his upper lip.
He crossed the kitchen and stood between her legs as she gently hooked her calves around his waist. He rested both his hands on her upper thighs as she draped her arms on his shoulders.
"Hi Aaron" She said as his hands travelled up her thighs to rest on her hips.
"Hi Emily" He replied and tilted his head to kiss her. She tasted like wine and garlic and he let his hands wander up her back beneath her shirt.
"You aren't wearing a bra" He said, breaking the kiss and looking at her.
"Or underwear – I didn't want to give you the chance to steal another pair" She said with a smirk. He laughed, the pair he had were still folded in his top drawer.
"Come on" She said, hopping down from the bench and leading him to the couch, carrying their wine. She sat on the couch with her legs spread, pointing to the floor she nodded at him until he sat between her legs on the floor.
Leaning forward she put both hands on his shoulders and gently kissed his neck
"You need to relax – find some background noise" She said, nodding at the TV. He flicked through channels until he found a channel playing gentle music as Emily started rubbing his shoulders.
She massaged gently from his neck across his shoulders, pausing occasionally to drink her wine, Hotch felt the last of the tension leave his body as she brushed her lips across his neck, moving her hands further down his back. She found a deep knot beneath one shoulder blade and dug her fingers into it, causing him to squirm
"Spending time at the range are you?" She teased, burying her fingers deeper into his skin as he sucked air between his teeth. "These are shooting knots aren't they?"
"Yes, and ow," He said, tilting his head back to look at her with a slight grimace. She was relentless and pressed her fingers harder into the knot until it finally gave way.
"Feels better though, right?" She said, sitting back on the couch and draining the last of her wine. Hotch rolled his shoulder and found she was right, that knot had been in his shoulder for months and he could never quite stretch it enough. She got up to grab the bottle from the counter and came back to find him sitting where she had been.
"Your turn, sit." He said throwing a pillow onto the floor between his legs, and she emptied the bottle into their glasses and obeyed, sinking cross-legged to the floor.
His fingers were gentle at first, pulling her hair out of its ponytail and letting it fall around her shoulders. He started at the nape of her neck, rounding each vertebra before moving to her shoulders. He let his hands rest briefly on her shoulders, fingers twitching as though they itched to round her neck. Pressing his thumbs into her back he found the knots in her shoulders and back and adjusted the pressure until she let out a low moan
"Jesus that's nice" She said, her head rolling to the side and resting on the inside of his leg.
He worked on each knot out of her shoulders, varying pressure and speed until they had all slackened under his fingers.
Emily had let her eyes drift shut as he worked on her – she knew already, of course, he had talented fingers, but feeling them work out kinks in her neck that had been there for months gave her a new appreciation for how much effort he put in.
He brushed her hair to one side and leaned down to kiss her neck. He felt her pulse through his lips and dragged them up to her earlobe, giving it a light nip. He kept his lips on her neck and jawbone as his fingers ghosted across her collarbones. Emily tilted her head back and looked at him, he had a smile behind his eyes as he kissed her gently.
Trailing his fingers lightly down her neck and across her collarbone, he felt her pulse skip slightly as he dragged his lips back over her jawbone. This he knew, was why he invited her over. Something about the feeling of her skin beneath his fingers had a hold on him, somewhere deep inside, primal. She twisted herself around until she was facing him now, still between his legs on the floor, looking up at him through long lashes.
"I've been thinking" She said, putting both hands on his upper thighs and squeezing gently.
"Mmm?" He said, feeling the blood move to his groin as he saw her in this position.
"You've made me beg – maybe it's time I return the favour" She said, dragging a finger across the seam of his sweatpants. Aaron felt the smile creep across his face, and he slumped back, sitting back on the couch and meeting her eyes.
"You can try"