"What are you doing here?" I asked, my feet finally touching the ground again as Mike put me down. "Shouldn't you be back in Chicago?"

The look of surprise on my face must have matched the sheer pleasure in Mike's face. As much as I was embracing my new life in Virginia and with the BAU it was not the same as my years in Chicago with my friends and my mother back home.

"I'm on a much needed annual leave." Mike's smile was electric; it almost seemed that is was making his blue eyes shine even brighter. "So I decided that I needed to come see my number one girl."

Something about the way he addressed me as his 'number one girl' felt funny, he had never called me that before. Was it possible that I'd been away from home for too long?

Since my mind was still working on shifting from the disappointing case I had just finished working with the team back to my everyday self I didn't want to question him about it yet, I just wanted to enjoy his company without having to crack a new case even if it was personal.
"Where are you staying?"

"Some hotel not too far from here." Mike shrugged his shoulders.

"Why don't you come over tonight and we can hang out like old times," I suggested warmly. Maybe I would be able to shake this feeling that something had changed between Mike and I, hopefully it was just the fact that we were standing in my team's conference room

Mike pulled me into another tight hug. "God, I miss you Samantha," he whispered gently into my hair.

A light rapping on the door caused me to let go of Mike and whip my attention to an emotionless Aaron Hotchner standing stiff in the doorway.

"What's going on?" Aaron's eyes were fixed on Mike's hand which was wrapped around my waist.

My face blushed bright red and I could feel my blood rushing through my veins under Hotch's glare. "Just catching up with an old friend from Chicago," I said, my voice was shaky.

"My office please, Sam." Hotch walked out leaving a heavy amount of tension in his wake.

"What's with him?" Mike asked with a chuckle. "He seems like more of a tight ass then McLaren."

I swallowed hard. "It's just Hotch," I sighed wondering what I'd done wrong now. "I'll see you later, so I'll just text you my address."

"Alright," he agreed and flashed me a reassuring smile. "You better get going."

"Hotch," I began as soon as I entered his office, "I'm sorry that having Mike here-"

Hotch was sitting behind his desk and just silently held up a hand to make me be quiet. "If you want to go ahead and take off for the rest of the day I understand," he interrupted, not looking up from his desk. "This case was hard for you and I want you to go home and regroup, I'll see you in the morning."

His face was hard and cold, there was even less emotion on his face than normal. Aaron looked as if someone had just kicked the wind out of him, that look was tearing me up inside. I couldn't deny that I had fallen head over heels for Aaron, even if I still fought with the ethical ramifications every day.

"Thank you, Aaron." I was just about to turn and walk out of Hotch's office when I did the one thing I shouldn't have done. "Are you alright, sir?" I asked.

Please, just turn around and walk before he answers, I begged myself.

"Sam, I'm fine," he lied. Aaron was refusing to look at me instead he kept his gaze fixed on a picture of Jack on his desk, his tone assuring me he was anything but fine. "Thank you though, Sam."

/0/0/0/

"Since when do you watch National League baseball?" Mike asked, returning from the kitchen with a bottle of Budweiser in hand.

"Ever since I couldn't see my White Sox every day." I shrugged, pulling my legs closer to my chest as I sat on the couch. Truthfully, I wasn't even aware of what was going on with the game so if Mike were to ask me if the Nationals were winning I wouldn't have a clue.

He took a long drink from the bottle of beer and took a seat close to me on the couch. "Makes sense, I guess."

Mike tried to rest an arm over my shoulders, something that I really didn't want to have happen so I scooted a little bit out of his reach. It was beginning to seem as if the brother-sister like relationship that Mike and I once had was gone.

Glancing at the larger space between us Mike shot me a glance as if he was asking what was wrong.

"I'm still dealing with the case I just got back from," I lied effortlessly.

Had that much change in nearly four and a half months that would allow me to lie to one of my best friends so easily? Did my seeing Mike every day before leaving make me blind to see that just friendship was not what Mike wanted?

"Tough one?" he asked.

"You could say that."

"You seem different Sam," he added causing me to almost tell him that I could say the same about him. "You're not the same girl from Chicago, especially when I saw you with your team."

"We seem some gruesome stuff, Mike." I didn't lie, we did experience things I would have never imagined when working Organized Crime.

Of course Mike would have to point out the flaw in my reasoning. "We saw some pretty ugly stuff too, like that time we were undercover-"

"I know," I interrupted, jumping off the couch clutching my chest. There still some things I never wanted to talk about and that was one of them. "Sorry Mike, I didn't mean to snap at you like that."

From behind I heard a squeak in the couch and Mike's quiet footsteps on the hardwood floor. "Don't worry about it," he assured me, gently rubbing my back. "We've all got things that haunt us at night. That's just part of the job."

"You've got no idea," I whispered soft enough so Mike wouldn't hear me.

We stood not saying a word; the only sound was cheering coming from my television and traffic from the street below. As confused as I was by Mike's abnormal behavior he was still my best friend, even back to our days at the academy.

How could I hold onto my best friend when he wanted so much more when I wanted more from another man?

I turned around a faced the man that I saw as more of a brother and had been there for every cut, bruise, and tear since joining the FBI and looked into the set of eyes that had been so familiar for so long, now there was clearly something new.

Something I really didn't want.

/0/0/0/

"Morning sleepy head," Emily teased when I rushed into conference room with my blouse half tucked into my black slacks. "What kept you up all night?"

The team was already seated around the round table, some busy messing with their phones while others had been holding side conversations. Until I came rushing in that is.

"What's going on?" Reid asked, sometimes I felt like Spence was far too innocent for this team, he just seemed blissfully unaware of what Emily meant. "Did I miss something?"

"It's nothing Spence," I assured him while glaring at Emily. "Some people just like to pry into others personal lives."

Looking around the room I noticed that one member of the team was missing. "Where's Hotch?"

"I'm right here, so who's prying into whose personal lives again?" Aaron asked walking into the room frowning, with a stack of files cradled in his arms.

Opening my mouth far too quickly my voice cracked making it only more obvious everyone was talking about me, "It-it's nothing, sir."

"I doubt your lover boy would agree," Emily hissed at me under her breath.

"Will shut up," I whispered, but looking over at Hotch I was certain he had heard Emily.

Alright I'm back...sorry for the delay but apparently college does like to take up a lot of free time.

So...yeah...what'd you all think? Can't wait for Mike to leave and Sam and Hotch to get together? Or are you team Sam/Mike instead of team Sam/Hotch? Please leave me your thoughts and feelings. I promise I won't make you wait too long for the next chapter, I'll even tell you it's called "One Unwanted Accusation"

Before letting this Author's Note get too long I'll just say you should also go check out my other story titled "All The Missing Pieces". It has nothing to do with this story.