Seaver took a breath before knocking on the door to Hotch's office. When he said "Come in", she entered.
Hotch was pacing behind his desk with what looked like a case file in his hand. When Seaver entered, he immediately closed the file and gestured for her to sit down while he did the same.
"In light of recent events, Seaver, I've been doing a lot of thinking," he said.
Seaver simply nodded, waiting for him to continue.
"I've come to the conclusion that – I'm not exactly sure in what words I can put this." He paused for a moment. "Your remedial training here was done under the supervision of Agent Prentiss. I understand that you will still have to continue your training before you will be able to make a decision, but…would you at least consider-," he stopped. This was going to be harder than he had initially thought.
"Consider what, sir?" Seaver asked, though she had a good guess at what was coming.
"Consider taking Prentiss' old job. I understand that it's a lot to take in right now, but we will need someone to take her place – specifically a woman so that our team doesn't look biased or sexist. Also, you've pretty much been going through the same thing as the rest of us these past couple of weeks, and it would be better than having someone completely new who doesn't understand what we've been going through. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"
"I do, sir. And, with all due respect, Hotch, despite my working closely with E- Prentiss during the past couple of months, I still feel like I'm intruding on all of you. You're all a family and I feel like I'm that in-law that marries someone's brother after his wife died that was always a favourite to everyone. No offence, sir," she added, suddenly remembering what Rossi told her about Hotch losing his wife.
Hotch noticed this, but decided to push it aside, for now.
"You will consider my offer, won't you?" he asked.
"I'll be giving it a lot of thought, and I'll be sure to give you my answer once my training is complete, if that's alright with you, sir," she said.
"Very well. That is all," he said.
Seaver got up to leave, but once she reached the door, she turned back to Hotch.
"For curiosity's sake, sir, if I were to take the job, would you at least not give me Prentiss' old desk?" she asked.
"That can be arranged when it's needed, Seaver," Hotch responded.
With that, he turned back to the case file he had been looking at, satisfied that he now had one less thing to worry about, while Seaver retrieved her now cold coffee and plucked up the courage to go and talk to Reid and Morgan.