Hotch took his time walking to from his car to the house. His head was spinning, his tongue sneaking subconsciously onto his lips, tasting her banana lip balm. Reliving the moment in his head. He quietly stepped into the house, assuming that Jessica crashed in the guest room. He was wrong. She was channel surfing when he got home and looked at him with raised eyebrows.

He hesitated. "Hi…" He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and understood the greeting. He had taken his jacket, tie and shirt off before going into the restaurant with Lex, leaving only his tee shirt on. Realising what took place while he was wearing this shirt and who was touching it, he swore he would never again wash this shirt.

"What's up with you?" she snapped.

Hotch was taken aback. "I… Is everything alright?"

"Yeah… there's food in the oven."

"I've already eaten."

"Jack was upset. We thought you'd be back earlier."

"Yeah… there was a large workload and I worked through dinner so I grabbed some food with… a friend… before I came home." He and Lex had kissed: did they constitute as friends now?

"A call would have been nice." She stood up and walked into the kitchen, filling a glass of water.

"How long has he been down for?"

"A while." Hotch walked towards Jack's room. "You'll wake him."

"Tomorrow's Saturday. Does it matter?" He sat next to Jack for fifteen minutes. He listened as the little boy sleepily talked about his day and affectionately held onto his hand. Hotch finally convinced him to fall back to sleep.

"Do you want to hear something funny?" Jessica asked him.

"Always."

"Jack was asking me when Lex was coming over again." Hotch smiled. Jessica scoffed. "You're kidding."

Hotch looked at her, the smile gone from his face. "What? I'm not allowed to like the idea of my son liking someone? I'm not allowed to like that my son doesn't get scared of every new person that comes into our lives? I'm not allowed to like the face that my son knows there are decent people in the world?"

"That's not it… Do you remember her?"

"What? Of course I do, I see her everyday."

"Not Lex," she said through gritted teeth. "Haley."

Hotch looked away. "How can I forget?"

"Remember what you said to her on March 5th, '84? You told her you'd forsake all others."

"And we both agreed 'till death did us part, but she didn't hold tight on that one did she?"

Jessica slapped him. They stood there for a moment, stunned. "I should go."

"Yeah, please do." Hotch made a bee line for the fridge.

Lex knocked on Garcia's door. Garcia was dressed for bed, but let her friend in. "Remember Jack's birthday party? What you said about Hotch?"

Garcia grinned. "I didn't say anything about Hotch."

"What you implied?"

"I didn't imply anything about Hotch." Garcia cut Lex off before she could say anything. "I merely described your perfect man who picks up clothes for you and has a little boy. You picked up Hotch from that."

Lex smiled and bit her lip. "We kissed." She flopped down on the couch.

Garcia sat too, too shocked to stand. "Details." Lex described everything. Garcia looked disappointed. "That's it… No tongue?"

Lex shook her head. "He was the perfect gentleman."

"No weird… double jointed… abnormally long tongue?"

"No he's perfect. He didn't hold me too tight either."

"Look at you… You're smitten."

Lex blushed. "Pen… I think I really like him… I shouldn't but…" Lex put her head in her hands.

Garcia wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"Things are different around him… When I stayed at his… It was nice having someone taking care of me… it was nice having lunch with him and Jack. Having him defend me. I… I don't know…"

Garcia took her hand. "What's wrong sweetie?"

Lex shook her head. "I… I feel weird…"

"What is it?"

Lex ran her fingers through her hair. "Remember that case a few weeks back? The rapist who-""Yeah! Kitten… I remember…"

"And I disobeyed Hotch and ran after the unsub and we caught him… But when we got back to Quantico, I asked for his approval for what I had done. I… I grew up, not caring about what people thought about me: about the way I dressed, or my looks, or my attitude… But I find myself… I want to impress him. Jack's birthday… I got dressed up… not for Jack… For Hotch." Lex looked up, tears were in her eyes. "What am I going to do?"

"You breathe… and you remember that he kissed you." Lex smiled. Garci always knew how to make her friend smile.