Lex sat at the back of the plane playing snap with Garcia, while the older agents discussed the case at the four seater. The girls had attempted to keep up a conversation via mouthing, not wanting to give Strauss any ammo, but had given up when they realised neither was very good at lip reading.
Garcia looked up and suddenly dropped her cards on the table. "Water."
"What?" Lex followed her with her eyes and saw Hotch heading for her. She began chewing her gum more slowly and ran her fingers through her hair and turned towards the window. Hotch placed his hand on her shoulder and looked at her.
"May I?" He gestured at the vacant seat.
"Yeah, but Garcia'll be back soon so…"
"I should've told you. I-I don't know- I was just trying to protect you."
"You wanna hear a secret?" Hotch looked at her and nodded. "I'm a big girl."
Hotch sighed. "I figured that out…" He froze. "That came out wrong." He stood up. "If you need anything, please tell me."
Lex managed to suppress her smile until he had walked away.
While Strauss had accompanied Hotch to reception, Lex looked around the room. "Right, if anyone needs me, I'll be right over there…" She pointed to the fish tank. "…before anyone sees me."
"Lex?" Lex spun around, deflated, hearing Rossi mutter under his breath joyously, "Too late." She slid her shades up on top of her head
Lex came face to face with a short brunette girl about her age who, upon reaching her, pulled her into a hug. Lex slowly hugged her back. "Claire." She smiled. "How've ya been?"
"Good. You?"
"Not doing too bad."
"I hear you're a fed now." Lex nodded. "Are you here because of the murders?"
Lex took a deep breath. Not sure what exactly to divulge. She glanced over Claire's shoulder. Hotch was beckoning her over. "I have to go. Um, look, we'll catch up. Later."
Lex hurried over to Hotch. "Are you alright?" Lex nodded. "Ok, Garcia, you're tackling the locals." Lex's head shot up but she said nothing. Locals? "Dave and Lex, I want you to go to the dump site. "He turned to Strauss. "We can go to the station."
The team set off in their separate ways.
A/N Please support AJ and Paget. Paste this onto your stories: SUPPORT PAGET AND AJ and then sign the petition: .