August 16th, 2013 - 34 weeks pregnant
Hotch drove home in a foul mood. Jack was at Disney and Beth had been home alone while he had chased an UnSub for 3 nights. The sick son of a bitch had left nearly a dozen bodies in his wake and the team had been dismissed by the police force when it became evident that the UnSub had moved on to a new city and they would have to sit and wait before pursuing him again. He turned the car off in the garage and took a few deep breaths trying to reset his attitude before entering the house. It didn't really work but he exited the car and went into the house anyway.
The house was spotless, clearly Beth had been productive during her nights alone. "Beth? I'm home."
"I'm in the nursery!"
Hotch climbed the stairs and met her in the nursery. Nearly everything was done and ready for the baby. The crib and dresser were assembled. There were sheets on the bed and a changing station ready on top of the dresser. A comfy rocking chair sat in the corner next to the book shelf and framed paintings of animals hung on the wall. It was perfect and now all it needed was the baby. Beth was standing near the closet hanging impossibly small onesies onto hangers before hanging them up.
"Can you believe we're going to have something so tiny that they will actually fit into this thing?" She held up a small onesie with little elephants on it.
Hotch didn't respond; just walked up behind and wrapped his arms across her and pulled her tight against his chest. He let one arm travel down to rest on her belly and she brought her hands up to clutch the arm still across her chest.
"Are you okay? You were gone a while on the case."
Hotch kissed her temple and released her. "I'll be okay." Beth turned to face him.
"With this being the last night before Jack comes home I thought we could make it special. I booked us a room at the Mandrain Oriental in DC. I thought we could have a nice dinner in the city and relax, but if you'd rather stay here and decompress I'd totally understand."
"No, that sounds really nice. Let's do it."
Beth smiled at him. "Well we can check into the room anytime since it's after 3PM. I'll make us a reservation for a restaurant in the hotel unless you'd prefer somewhere else?"
"That sounds perfect. I'm going to shower and then I'll be ready to go." He kissed her and walked towards their bedroom to shower. In all honesty he didn't really feel like going out. He wanted to order Chinese food and lay on the couch drinking beer before sleeping in until it was time to pick Jack up. But Beth had clearly put thought into this and soon they would have two kids to take care of so who knows when the next time they'd have this opportunity would be?
They took the train into DC and walked to their hotel, it was a hot day and being nearly 9 months pregnant Beth was exhausted and sweating by the time they got to their hotel despite it being less than a half of a mile walk from the train stop.
"Oh my god, we need to start going on runs together once this baby is out. I'm so out of shape."
Hotch laughed and moved a piece of hair that was stuck to her face with sweat. "You're not out of shape, it's nearly 100 degrees outside and you're incubating a whole other human."
"Regardless, we're training for something once this little babe makes their appearance. Will you check us in? I'm going to grab a drink of water, I put the room under your name."
Hotch nodded and went to the front desk to get their room key. They had less than an hour before their dinner reservation but Beth wanted to freshen up in the room before heading back down to the restaurant.
Hotch laid on the king sized bed in their room while Beth claimed the bathroom to apply makeup and fix her hair. The bed was impossibly comfy and despite his hunger Hotch didn't feel like leaving it.
"Ready?" Beth asked as she exited the bathroom. She looked amazing. Her hair was pulled back into a low loose bun with some curls escaping to frame her face. She was wearing the same light pink floral dress she wore to her baby shower and it looked beautiful on her.
"You look amazing." He told her and got off the bed.
"Thank you," she kissed him softly before taking his hand. "I'm starving! I was looking at the menu while you showered and everything sounds amazing!"
"Well we might just have to try it all, then."
"Baby and I think that's a great idea."
They got to the restaurant and truly everything did look delicious. Hotch ordered a drink and they shared appetizers. Hotch ordered steak and Beth ordered salmon and they stole bites of each other's meal. They talked for a long while about Jack and the new baby, their jobs, just enjoying each other's company. By the time they were sharing an order of the carrot cake it was late into the evening and Beth heard a voice next to her.
"Beth? Beth Clemmons?"
Beth looked up and saw a familiar face. "Oh my gosh, Derek! How are you?!" Beth stood up to give the man a hug.
"Wow!" He said, noticing her belly for the first time. "Look at you!"
"I know, crazy right?! Derek, this is my fiancee Aaron Hotchner. Aaron, this is Derek. He's an old friend."
Aaron stood up and shook the man's hand.
"Well Aaron, you're a lucky man for snagging up this one. Congratulations."
Aaron gave a brief nod and just said thank you.
"It was good to see you, Beth! We should catch up one of these days, it seems like a lot is new with you!"
"Yeah, good to see you Derek!"
Derek walked away and Beth sat back down at the table to take another bite of carrot cake.
"You used to have sex with him, didn't you?" Aaron asked her point blank. He didn't seem like he was kidding.
"What?! What makes you say that?"
"Just answer the damn question." He was clearly annoyed and Beth couldn't figure out why.
"Yeah, we used to see each other on and off. What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is that you're clearly still friendly with a man that you had sex with! He still finds you attractive."
"Aaron, it's not like we chat. We'd get together when we were both single to have a good time. That's it. He didn't even know I was pregnant!"
"That's even worse!" Hotch argued. "He's clearly at home waiting for your next phone call with no idea that you're pregnant and engaged."
"Aaron this is ridiculous, he's not at home pining for me. He has a life. Honestly, move on."
"How many other fuck buddies do you have roaming around the DC area?"
"Seriously Aaron, that's what we're gonna do right now? Slut shame me?"
"I just want to be prepared. One down, how many more can we potentially run into? Five? Ten? Exactly how many men have you slept with?"
"Fuck you, Aaron."
Beth got up from the table and walked out and Hotch flagged down the waiter to get the check. He sighed. He knew he was being irrational and wrong but his frustration and exhaustion was making it hard to think clearly. They had never fought like this, was this even a fight? Mostly it was just him being an ass. He sat there by himself, trying to figure out what to say to his pregnant partner, that would make her forgive him. After 5 minutes he was still coming up empty so he got up and went up to the room without a plan.
He exited the elevator and Beth was standing outside their hotel room door, she had clearly been crying. Her eyes were red and black mascara was smudged down her face. He briefly wondered why she was waiting outside and then he remembered. Shit he had the only room key in his wallet.
Beth didn't look at him as he pulled the room key out and unlocked the door. He pushed the door open for her and she went straight to the bathroom turning on the shower. He felt like the world's biggest douche bag. After a few minutes the shower went off and he just heard the occasional sniffle.
He knocked on the door gently. "Beth? Beth, please open the door. I'm so sorry."
Beth opened up the door and walked past him. She had removed her makeup and had changed into the clothes she was wearing before dinner.
"I want to go home." She told him.
"Beth, it's late. I'm sorry, let's just stay here and we can go home in the morning, okay?"
"Aaron, I'm not sleeping in the same room as you, let alone the same bed. So I'm going to go home. You can stay here if you want."
Hotch realized there was no point in arguing with her and he sure wasn't going to let her go by herself at this time of night.
"Okay, give me a minute and I'll be ready to go."
Hotch gathered up what little he had taken out of their bag, used the bathroom, and was ready to leave. He left the room keys on the bed and they headed out. Beth didn't say anything to him as they walked to the train station. It was after 11PM and the night had cooled to a much more comfortable temperature. They got on the train and Beth sat down rubbing her belly and Hotch sat next to her. As they got farther out of DC less and less people were on the train and soon he and Beth were the only ones in the train car. Only a few exits before their stop a scrawny man got on the train. He was wearing a beanie over his greasy blond hair and his clothes were basically falling off of his skinny body. He couldn't have been much past 20 years old. He looked around the train and Hotch made eye contact with him. The kid quickly looked away. Hotch noticed the kid glancing over towards them every so often and he was making Hotch extremely uneasy.
"Switch seats with me." Hotch told Beth. The first thing he had said to her since they left the hotel room.
"What?" Beth sounded annoyed and confused.
"Switch seats with me." He said again trying to emphasize the urgency in his whispered voice. Hotch got up and Beth shifted over to his seat closer to the door, putting Hotch in between Beth and the kid who had been trying to subtly move closer to them. They were nearing a stop and as the train slowed the boy pulled out a knife at them.
"Give me your purse and your wallet and nothing bad has to happen."
Beth looked over at Hotch terrified. Hotch put up his hands signalling he would comply before slowly reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. The kid looked scared. Hotch could tell he was inexperienced and nervous. The knife was barely larger than a pocket knife, he had encountered worse and he had the scars to prove it.
As he was reaching for his wallet the boy looked to Beth.
"Your purse, lady! Hurry up."
Hotch took advantage of his momentary focus on Beth and quickly grabbed the wrist that was holding the knife. He stood and wrenched the kids arm behind his back effectively immobilizing him.
"Drop the knife." Hotch used his most menacing FBI tone on him and it worked. The kid dropped the knife and it clattered onto the floor of the train.
"Beth, hit the emergency button."
Beth scrambled to her feet and hit the big red button alerting the staff of the problem. They were nearly at a complete stop and soon there was a commotion around them of passengers in other cars, passengers at the train stop, and workers. The cops were called and soon he was being put into the back of a police car. Hotch spoke with the police and gave them their recount of the story - it took longer than it should have been Hotch knew this was the protocol. Ask every question at least twice, get all the facts. It was after midnight by the time they were allowed to go home and Hotch felt dead on his feet.
"We've called you a taxi to take you home. We'll be in contact if we have any further questions for you."
Hotch nodded at the officer. "Thank you."
For the first time since the incident at the restaurant Hotch looked Beth in the eye. "Are you okay?"
She burst into tears and reached out to pull him into a hug. He rubbed her back as her tears soaked through his shirt. "Hey, it's okay. We're okay."
He encountered so much trauma and danger at his job that a kid with a knife barely phased him but seeing a knife being held in the direction of Beth had him terrified and furious. He continued to hold and comfort her until their cab arrived and he held the door open for her. The ride back to their car was quiet but for a different reason than before and Beth kept a tight hold onto his hand. The cab dropped them off at their car and Hotch drove them home, he unlocked the door for them to enter into the house.
Beth, about before. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean any of it. I was just-"
Beth shook her head and cut him off. "We can talk about it tomorrow. All I want to do is go to bed next to my big strong FBI agent who makes me feel safe."
Hotch nodded and took her hand and led her to their bedroom. They changed into PJ's and climbed into bed. Beth turned onto her side facing away from him and Aaron figured she didn't want to be touched right now so he laid on his side of the bed.
"Will you hold me?" she asked him softly.
Hotch moved himself next to her and curled his body around hers draping a hand over her belly. He kissed her shoulder blade and soon they were both fast asleep.
