How can one be warm alone?
"Again, How if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?"
Ecclesiastes 4:11
Taking Emily back to his place was to be expected. They had checked her out of the hotel, both convinced that the few hours spent talking in her hotel room was to be sufficient. They had driven to the bar in companionable silence, content with the chance to have shared the intimate details of their life for the short period. They had chatted and laughed with the team, happy to have the comforting comradery present once more and yet, what they hadn't expected was that spending those precious moments, would further fuel the furnace of their desire to be closer.
Emily stole a sideways glance at Hotch's profile, smiling peacefully at the next step they were about to take. When Hotch looked across at her a few minutes later, she instinctively reached across and squeezed his thigh. As he turned off the engine, he took her hand, threading her fingers through his.
'I have a spare bedroom Em. There's no pressure. We can have a nightcap and I'll wake you when it's time for the flight.' He was looking at her fingers when he spoke, fearful that looking into her eyes would reveal, that what he was saying was not what he was feeling.
Her mind flashed back to when Derek had offered to take her back to the hotel and when Pen had instead suggested that Emily could stay with her and not that stuffy hotel. Naturally, Dave had piped up that she should stay at his stately home and Reid had simply looked uncomfortable, uncertain if he was to jump in the conversation and offer his place.
When Hotch had brazenly and she had to admit bravely said that there would be no need for their offers as Emily would stay at his place, since her bags were already in his car, the looks on everyone's faces had made her smirk internally. Emily gracefully rescued him though by adding 'And he is the closest one to the airport.'
That final factor had sealed the arrangement and when she had left with Hotch, she had known she would not be staying in any spare bedroom.
She decided to bait him.
Placing her left palm on his right cheek and turning his head up to face her, she asked him 'Is that what you want, Aaron? Me in the spare bedroom? Because you can have me there. I won't mind.'
The double entendre evoked his million dollar smile and as she was confident her point had been made, she opened her door and started for the house.
After grabbing her bag from the back, he quickly followed her, opening the front door with ease.
She hesitated for a few seconds at the doorway, thinking that bounding up the stairs behind him would be too forward. When Hotch suddenly bent down, picking her up by the knees, her arms gently curled around his shoulders. They would retrieve her bag in the morning. She wouldn't need clothes for the spare bedroom anyway.
When he opened the door at the top of the stairs, she knew he was taking her into his room and her heart beat faster at the realisation of it.
'It's a cold night. One can't be warm alone.'
'True.' is all she said as he laid her on the bed.
The soft glow of the moon and the spots of snow falling outside the window was enchanting and as he snuggled up beside her, she felt wonderful.
A gentle kiss to his cheek turned into two, then three, then four until he finally turned his head to kiss her lips.
It was with hope of new beginnings that they lay thinking six hours was indeed sufficient to give, take and make love.