xii. Cherry Blossoms
When he sees her in his office, he thinks of cherry blossoms. It's nowhere near cherry blossom season in D.C., but she has them tattooed low on her left hip. He remembers them vividly, all too clearly in his dreams, even four years later. He remembers the skin that he tasted, trailing kisses from the vibrantly-colored cherry blossoms on her hip leading lower down her body.
"They remind me of my favorite city," she had explained to him as he mindlessly traced his fingers over the petals when they were on the beach one morning. "Moving around a lot, I got to see a lot of breath-taking places. But D.C. cherry blossoms in the springtime always stood out as the most beautiful. My favorite happy memory."
Now she's standing there in the center of his office, looking like a bona fide FBI agent in a professional navy dress shirt tucked into her gray skirt. Her hair is short and straight, compared to her long waves from years ago. He can't help but wonder if it's still as soft.
She meets his eyes as he walks around to the other side of his desk, a blatant power move. He might be imagining it, but he swears there's a look of sadness there. She has no right, since she's the one that walked away. Twice.
"Agent Hotchner," she greets formally and extends her arm for a proper handshake.
"What can I do for you?" He doesn't mean for that to come out as short as it does. He really should work on being more hospitable. Maybe next time.
"Uh, well, I guess I was hoping you could tell me where to put my stuff," she stammers out and it's the complete opposite of the calm and collected woman he remembers. But when his brain finally catches up to her words, he can only tilt his head in confusion.
"I'm sorry?"
"I'm supposed to start here. Today. At the BAU," she clarifies slowly, attempting to cover the doubt etched across her face with a friendly smile. She presents a file folder to him and he flips through it without reading a word.
"There's been a mistake." Those words couldn't be any more true. Everything involving her has been a mistake.
Her face falls for a split second before her fiery defiance gets the best of her. "I don't think so, sir."
"No, there's definitely been a mistake." He doesn't give her time to explain before JJ knocks on his door for their next case.
"I didn't approve this transfer, Agent Prentiss," because that's who she is to him now. "I'm sorry for the confusion, but you've been misinformed. It's been very good to see you again."
As he heads out the door, he takes some sick pleasure in being the one to walk away this time.