A/N: All standard warnings apply. Kids, don't try this at home….unless you've done the proper reading, negotiating, are prepared, and drug-free. Seriously though, be well and happy reading.
Reid was thankful that the time passed peacefully. Reid had resigned himself to give up on the idea of maneuvering himself out of the situation and instead just to manage to stay upright, or better yet, in the room the entire time during the meeting.
"Don't be nervous, Reid." JJ said as she placed a hand on Reid's 'tense' shoulder. "It'll go fine."
JJ knocked on the door with her other hand and when Hotch responded with a terse, "Come in," Reid was happy that JJ had moved her offending hand and had not felt him jump at the sound.
#-#-#-#-#-#
JJ entered Hotch's office first, a blonde energetic light that almost served to obscure the figure following closely behind her. Hotch hoped that the drop he felt in his stomach and the hammering in his chest was not evident by the expression on his face. There stood Reid; stripped of his clothes and cloaked instead in a myriad of bruises, bites, and scratches.
Actually, Reid was attired in nearly the same clothes that he'd worn to Hotch's apartment that night. Aaron wanted to attach some sort of significance to the choice but he knew Reid's wardrobe, all though becoming better-fitting, was still scant and repetitive. Hotch entertained the idea of concluding the meeting early, holding Reid back, and aski-…no, telling Reid, to remove his tie so he could open the first two buttons of his collar to catch a glimpse of his handiwork.
JJ and Reid took their respective seats and JJ launched into her proposal immediately. Hotch caught a few words; 'brief', 'inter-agency reimbursable agreement', 'cost-benefit analysis', and a blur of other bureaucratic terms that he knew were there more for Aaron's benefit when it was his turn to impress his superiors.
Hotch's focus was not-so-subtly focused on Reid for most of the meeting. He successful suppressed the grin that threatened to spread across his face when Reid began to speak. Aaron knew that tone well. Reid was taking every ounce of strength in his lithe frame to force out his words without a hint of a shiver or stammer. Hotch had seen this before, in the professional realm, but what it brought to mind was anything but manila file folders and mahogany desks.
As much as need had demanded that he take Reid right then and there he knew that they both needed something in their empty stomachs, something other than alcohol. Hotch had ordered in Chinese food at Reid's request and somewhere between Reid's nervous fidgeting and the egg-drop soup that ended up more on Reid's chin that in his mouth – Reid's clumsy nervousness was very endearing – the food was abandoned.
As Aaron looked Spencer over, kissing and toying with the new wounds, Reid would close his eyes still enjoying the remnants of that far off place he'd found himself in just hours before. Aaron was content to caress and lavish Spencer with gentle attention until the young man drifted into a sated sleep.
Hours later it had happened as if more on instinct or habit rather than true decisiveness. True, it had been some time since Aaron had shared a bed with someone but the feeling of that warm presence next to him... It had happened without thought or planning… resting a strong arm around the sleeping young man and pulling him closer. Reid's eyes remained closed as he let out a soft sigh and moved into Aaron until their bodies were melted together in a twilight haze of sleep.
Spencer turned languidly in Aaron's arms and as soon as he could feel Aaron's warm breath on his cheek, he stretched urgently forward to capture his lips in a feverish kiss. Aaron kept his eyes closed, afraid that if he opened them that he'd find himself in his bed, turning over to find the other side cold and unoccupied. Spencer moaned into the kiss and wrapped his free arm around Aaron's body and clung to him, nails pressing into the older man's back.
Aaron kept his eyes closed even as he pulled Spencer close, feeling tremors of desire shiver through him as Spencer complied with the pressure of Aaron's lips and parted his mouth and allowed him in. As Aaron pressed closer, Spencer pulled away teasingly. Instead of leaving Aaron behind, Spencer used his grip on Aaron to pull him with him. It didn't take much pressure for Aaron to understand that Spencer wanted to be under him again – Spencer was demanding, insistent, and desperately wanton.
When Aaron opened his eyes he found Spencer already gazing up at him with that same curiously obedient look on his face. Aaron hovered over Spencer, using his free hand to caress the side of the young man's face that just hours ago he'd struck repeatedly to bring him back from wherever his mind had wandered. This wasn't the time for that though, Aaron reminded himself, this time was for enjoying Spencer's new headspace. Spencer ran his hands along the older man's body, caressing, exploring, and teasing places that had Aaron struggling to maintain his dominant position over Reid.
Aaron was nowhere near as confident as Reid appeared to be. Yet each time Hotch would balk in mirroring Reid's ministrations, Spencer would place his hand on top of Aaron's, arching his body up toward the other man, whispering and sending his moist, warm breath cascading over Aaron's ear, "Please sir, please."
As Reid's insistence increased Hotch's experience began to feel extremely inadequate. When Reid suddenly pushed Aaron away from him, Hotch immediately pulled away. But quickly looked at Reid with eyes full of astonishment when the younger man kept the pressure following through until the tables were turned and he was now over Hotch.
Spencer's attention had grown confident and in turn, torturously slow. Spencer licked, sucked, and caressed the man underneath him all the while recounting his favorite memories, and matching mark, from the evening past. Spencer continued this tactic – teasing Aaron with hushed whispers as Spencer's hands led him slowly closer to the edge and then seemed to drift to anywhere but where he wanted them. Aaron had momentarily forgotten himself, allowing himself to writhe a few times under Reid's teasing fingertips, before he fixed Reid with that look that would, in normal circumstances, have him frozen in place.
That couldn't have been a smirk? Aaron thought, his brow darkening even further.
Reid's smirk had grown into an impish grin as Hotch appeared to grow angrier and more frustrated with Reid. Before Reid gave into laughter he ran a slow firm caress over the older man. Aaron tried to suppress his cry of frustrated satisfaction but instead released a noise that sounded, very much to Reid's ears, like a low growl. That growl was quickly answered by a yelp of surprise from Reid. The haze of sleep was forgotten as Aaron firmly clasped Spencer's wrists in his hands and pressed him back into the mattress; grinding and rolling their hips together until each man came to a breathless release.
As the burn of release dimmed to a warm glow, Aaron fought the urge to fall into sleep and back into old habits. However, Aaron had become accustomed to the limited time he had with his loved ones so instead of breaking contact with Spencer, he pulled him close as their breath slowed and sleep beckoned them away again.
When Aaron had awakened to the rude cries of the alarm clock he was greeted with a disheartening sight; Spencer was gone, the space he had occupied was now cold. In fact, if it hadn't been for the remnants of night still sitting on his dresser, Aaron would have thought it had all been a dream.
Yet there was nothing dreamy or fantastical about the current moment in time. Hotch's desk was once again strewn with crime scene photographs, maps, and the formal request from the local police. JJ had paused and turned to look at Reid who was feigning fixation with a duplicate of the map that Hotch now held in his hand. Reid took a deep breath and launched into the spiel that he knew JJ had been hoping for.
Yes. Yes, it was conclusive. They would be leaving yet again and any awkward reminder of last night would have to fade away a lot faster than the marks lining Reid's body.
Hotch nodded. "JJ, please gather the others and brief them on the new assignment. Let's be on our way in ninety minutes." Hotch stood at those last words and began walking both of them to his office door. He wanted to extend his arm and grip Reid's shoulder right where he knew the strap had wrapped around and left small blisters. He wanted to see if it really was as bad as the memory frozen in the front of his thoughts. He wanted to make sure Reid was caring for the wounds the way he needed to and to look him over once again and see that sweet and readily suffering look of obedience on his face. He wanted to grabbed down on that shoulder and squeeze, to share a little of the pain he'd felt this morning upon awakening to an empty apartment.
The last sentiment alarmed Hotch. He could block out work when he was at home, that was easy, but blocking out the nagging voices that tore at him for his desires while his feet were firmly planted in the offices of the BAU. He could hear in his mind a mingling of his colleagues' voices calling out terminology set to stifle his feelings and make Hotch reconsider that maybe he had opened the a door that could never be closed again, a Pandora's box of violent emotion fueled and fed by a target that lusted for the end result to be directed squarely at him.
Hotch kept his hands at his sides; balling one hand into a fist as he watched Spencer walk past him and head in the direction the conference room without a word or look of acknowledgement.
#-#-#-#-#-#
JJ's inferences had been correct. It took the team a solid eight hour work day for things to fall into place and a suspect to be apprehended. The interview would take place tomorrow and if the District Attorney decided to pursue a lesser charge for more information the BAU had to be poised to provide a plan of attack for the interrogation.
Garcia had tried to secure rooms for all of the members of the team in one location but given the layout of the town and the inexplicably massive family reunion taking place the 'newer' hotel - the team's only option was to split up. JJ, Hotch, Reid, and Prentiss stayed in the older and more rural hotel that was, conveniently enough, nearer to the police station. Morgan, Rossi, and Garcia set up shop in the newer hotel and began work on the paperwork and information that they would have to leave with the station captain and lead detective upon their departure.
#-#-#-#-#-#
When Reid opened the door to his hotel room he felt a shiver run through him as thoughts from the last case seemed to flood him (along with the smell of musty tapestry-style comforters). This time, they had arrived just in time and the UnSub had been none the wiser to their arrival. The victim had been spared any major trauma (other than her abduction) and looked to make a full recovery from her otherwise superficial, scrapes and bruises. Always though it wasn't the bruises – it was the suggestion. She didn't need to suffer the way the previous victims had to sense what she was in for. One thing Reid knew well was that there was nothing supernatural about the sense of alarm a person feels in spaces where something horrific has happened – it's our old-as-the-hills sense of survival -the subconscious lifting of old pheromones that set off the alarm bells just as clearly as if blood where to be smelled . That smell of fear, Reid knew, doesn't leave a place once the blood had been washed away.
As Reid unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and the first few bluish fingerprints came into view Reid mused how it was just the same for the body of an individual as it was for a building. That was the reason he wanted those marks, why he wanted to watch them yellow and fade with time, and why he wanted the marks that never would – the smell of pain still lingers.
Hotch had added a whole new level of sadism to the game, long after the scene was over. Reid still couldn't shake the feeling of being encircled in Hotch's arms or the feeling of that iron grip around his wrists. Then there were all of those thoughts that made Reid's stomach drop, his face flush, and part of him wish that the memory had never been created solely for reason because then it wouldn't disquiet him so.
Reid cast a disdainful eye toward his messenger bag as he scooped up his sleeping clothes for the night. How the hell was he supposed to look at paperwork and think of geographic profiles, when all he could think about was that face. The face that was so often filled with concern and tension drained of both, relaxed and flushed, head nestled in the crook of Reid's neck. How could he look at the other man when all he saw was that moment of desperation before he regained the upper hand, and did exactly what Reid had hoped for, and taken what he wanted. Afterwards, just as before, Aaron had treated him like a lover, someone that belong there, and yet they both knew very well that both of those sentiments couldn't be farther from the truth. Hotch would not risk his livelihood, his job, his family, his professional standing, credibility and a litany of other things for over-wrought and infrequent sex.
Reid liked flights of fancy just as much as the next literature buff but he knew that even imagining Aaron making those kinds of risks was unreasonable.
Then, as if he'd made it materialize from thoughts and thin air, a knock came at Reid's door.
Reid walked to the door hesitantly and opened it, all the while hoping that it was someone other than the man on his mind behind that door.
"Spe-Reid?" A familiar voice stuttered when Reid's worry appeared plainly on his face. "What's going on?"
"JJ," Reid said, letting out a sigh of relief and clearing the doorway for her to come into the room.
She'd come to collect the geographic analysis Reid had done on suspected burial sites used by the UnSub. After a short exchange, Reid showed her to the door and worked to reassure her that all was well when she inquired on her way out the door.
#-#-#-#-#-#
"I was coming to see you…" Reid heard in the hallway seconds after he had closed his door – immediately that aching ball in the middle of his stomach, that he'd tried all day to dissipate, hit his middle again like a hot cannonball of nerves. Reid shuffled papers on the table near by the door as he waited for the voice to move away from his suite.
"Hotch," JJ said with a hint of pleasant surprise. "I just met with Reid and he's prepared the necessary information for the local investigators," JJ paused at the recollection that Hotch was coming to see here, "Is there something I can do for you, sir?"
"You may want to check in with the lead local investigator," Hotch said with a note of genuine concern in his voice rather than reprimand, "he called this afternoon saying that he hadn't received the report we'd discussed. Is something wrong, JJ? It isn't like you to neglect this kind of routine procedure."
JJ went on to reassure Hotch that she had sent it, but no matter, if the investigator had not received it, she would be sending it right away so they could move on with filing charges.
Reid couldn't hear their words but he could he the strong resonance of Hotch's voice in the hallway and it seemed to be dimming and moving away from their original conversation spot. Was he leaving? Reid let out a sigh of relief and tried to fight the nervous knots from his abdomen.
Reid turned his back on the suite door and headed toward his suitcase to finish preparing for the rare occurrence of getting into bed before the early hours of the new day. However, a second knock at the door stopped him in his tracks. Reid hesitated for a moment before the sound came again with greater insistence to be answered.
#-#-#-#-#-#
Reid didn't need to look through the peephole to know who was standing on the other side of the door and he could barely move his feet to answer it. He tried to assuage his nerves, telling himself that it was only related to the paperwork JJ had just discussed with him. He wasn't coming to talk about anything other than work. Reid took another deep breath and tried to steady his resolve as he turned the knob, inhaling one last gulp of air.
"Hotch?"Reid said, to Reid's great chagrin his voice seemed a half octave too high.
Before Reid could begin to bluster, Hotch stepped forward just enough to put an uncomfortable tension between the doorway, Reid, and himself, "May I come in?"
Reid's eyes just widened as he took a step back, already he was planning a viable reason to get himself or Hotch – whichever was easiest – out of the room. Why he had relinquished his ground so quickly well, if he was being uncomfortably honest, it was because he could still feel those three letters burning on his shoulder.
Once inside Reid's room, Hotch made no attempt to speak or initiate a conversation and Reid couldn't help but notice the uncharacteristic edge to his demeanor. Unthinking, Reid rubbed at the healing cuts on his shoulder as he spoke, "Something I can do for you, sir?"
Hotch released a deep breath and his face softened into a look of appreciation as he took two stride towards Reid and effectively closed the distance between them. Reid retreated backward leaving him little space to negotiate, if it came to that.
"Well," Hotch began, his face clouded again with an indecipherable smoldering emotion – inscrutable to Reid except that it clearly did not bode well for the one on the receiving end. Aaron's hand immediately came to eye-level and instinctively Reid flinched only to find his superior's hand in his unkempt hair at the base of his skull. "You can start by explaining to me," Aaron's other hand came to rest at the waistband of Reid's nightclothes, "why you've avoided me like one of your often-mentioned mid-century plagues?" That earned a slight smile from Reid and a deep sigh of relief as he relaxed into Aaron's hold. Aaron smiled – Reid had given his permission.
Aaron narrowed his gaze and tightened his grip on his fistful of brown locks. "Don't look too relieved. You may find it to be a fitting analogy by the end of the night," Aaron looked on fascinated, as Reid closed his eyes and slipped into the role that was demanded of him. Reid's emotional release was one of the most satisfying parts of their prior encounter – knowing that he could effect that kind of reaction only made Aaron bolder. The only other thing that possibly came close was the delightfully torturous burn of shame that he felt for days – shame for eventually finding his own release in the act.
Spencer had once openly praised Aaron for his ability to understand him and now it felt like understanding Reid was the least of his abilities.
Aaron leaned in close, releasing a warm burst of breath over Reid's exposed ear, "Why did you leave?" He said in a hushed voice – almost vulnerable.
Reid couldn't explain why he felt the need to be cool to Aaron and egg him on but he did just that when he looked at Aaron plainly and replied, "I couldn't stay."
"So you're saying this time I should go with my first instinct and leave the cuffs on you through the night," The negotiations were done and the game had begun. The smile in Aaron's voice had gone dark as his tone deepened and his fingers came to lace themselves behind Spencer's neck, securing his head in place.
Reid met Aaron's gaze head on and spoke without flinching, "You think there is going to be a next time? What, you think you're going to do that with the others just a few walls apart from us? You and I both know there isn't a next time." Reid tried to look away and Aaron slackened his fingers to allow him the movement.
However, Hotch continued on undeterred, pressing himself further into the weakly defiant young man, "Then again, with the handcuffs on you how would you get that release you seemed to need so desperately in the early morning hours." Aaron chuckled wickedly when he felt Reid bristle with embarrassment. Reid tried quickly to pull away from Hotch, his growing arousal only adding to the sting of humiliation at Hotch's point that was accompanied by the simultaneous scalding flood of recollections.
Aaron caught Reid's chin in his hand and turned Reid's head back to face him.
"Reid, ther-" Hotch began but was promptly cut short by Reid's swift plant of his hands into the older man's chest and vehement protestations.
"I'm not doing this again. Just stop. I can't do this." Reid whined in a strained whisper.
Reid's movements soon proved to be an unwise choice because no sooner had he freed himself from the older man's grasp but he found himself turned toward, and then pressed against, the wall that he had so foolishly backed himself into earlier.
Aaron closed what little space there was between them, placing his arms on either side of Reid, his body hovering just a breath away from Reid's back. "Are you asking me to stop, Spencer?" He asked with grave sincerity.
Reid shook his head slowly.
"That's not good enough, Reid." There it was. That voice.
"No, Sir. I'm not asking you to stop."
Aaron didn't acknowledge him except for the crisp metallic click of handcuffs and then as he moved forward, his fingers slowly, roughly, pressing into tender points on Spencer's back.
Reid squirmed and fought the urge to vocalize his discomfort until Aaron hit on bruise he'd so diligently outlined with his blade. Spencer's pain came out in hushed dry sobs, wept into the wall was pressed into, "Please. Oh. Oh, please. Sir, I don't -. I-I can't,"
"What?" Aaron sounded terse – frustrated with Reid's pleas. "What is it?" Hotch doubled the pressure on Reid's sensitive points.
"I need your help," The constant pain in Reid's back kept him sincere or under other circumstances he may have laughed at what he was about to say, "I-I can't be as quiet as you'd want me to be. Please, I need your help." As if to punctuate his last words, Reid let out a clearly audible groan when Aaron's touch turned from comforting to tormenting once again.
Aaron did not resist the urge to laugh heartily at Reid's request. Hotch turned Reid in one brusque movement that had Reid falling back clumsily against the wall. Reid fumbled for a moment to regain his balance before Hotch's talon-like hand came to snatch Reid by the back of his neck. Aaron pulled him into place and firmly onto his feet, his nails digging into the soft and angry skin at the back of Spencer's neck as his other hand came to cover Reid's mouth.
"You said it yourself, what exactly is it that you think I'll do with a team of profilers yards away?" Hotch quirked an eyebrow at Reid. "Were you hoping for something like last night?" Now he was mocking Reid, mocking and all the while tantalizingly close, making sure not to miss points that had the younger man squirming and moaning with alternating pangs of pleasure and discomfort. Hotch whispered cruelly in Spencer's ear, "Not happening, Dr. Reid."
Reid's eyes went wide with questions and denied desire which just made Hotch's ridiculing smile grow broader. Hotch caressed Reid's cheek, feeling a hot surge of pleasure run through him when the younger man closed his eyes, and then remembering, filled with tension and braced for what the caress may become.
"You are welcome to ask me again the evening after we return," Hotch smiled, tapping his fingers at the side of Reid's cheek, "The night after we return I'll expect to see you – right where I found you the first time." Aaron removed his hand from Spencer's mouth slowly, running his fingertips down Reid's neck, to his shoulder, swiftly pulling the younger man away from the wall and to lean against his superior.
Reid tried futilely to control his breathing as the older man's hands ran down the sides of his body and then with a metallic click, Reid's hand were freed and he was tossed back against the wall, as Aaron walked out of the room – never turning to glace back at the stunned and frustrated young man left rubbing his wrists.
A/N: Thank you to those who continued to read even though this is probably the longest update process ever. I've missed writing it even though I feel like I struggled a bit in this chapter. Hopefully, since there has been a lull in work I'll be able to update more frequently seeing as how we (and Reid) have something fun to get to in the future. ;) Always your comments and constructive critiques are welcome.
Lastly (but never leastly), happy belated birthday to my wonderful muse, patron, and friend - it seems strange to offer you this promise of impending (character) torture as celebration of your birth but I suppose that's how we roll. Cheers!