Hotch rose at first light, unsure if he even slept during the night. He looked over to see Alex passed out, her hair spread across the pillow and her leg almost reaching him on the other side of the large bed. "Glad it wasn't a queen or I would end up on the floor," he uttered to himself.
He quickly got dressed, picked up his room key and quietly closed the door as he left the room. He noticed only a few people were up and about that early in the morning as he went into the café. Hotch approached the counter where people were in line to order their coffee.
"I hear they make the croissants fresh every morning," Rossi turned around to tell him.
"That sounds great," Hotch responded, with the pretense of not knowing each other.
"How are you enjoying your stay? Did you sleep well?" Rossi flashed a subtle smirk.
"I slept just fine, thank you," Hotch shot him a glare in return.
"Well, you should always enjoy yourself when you are on vacation." He then turned and pointed out that Sloane had been sitting alone in the corner of the café reading a newspaper. "I have the first shift," he whispered. He then nodded as he walked away.
Alex felt the rays from the sun on her face forcing her to wake up. She let out a soft moan as she stretched out her arms. "Did you get enough sleep?" She asked without opening her eyes.
After receiving no response, she shot up in bed and looked around to find that she was alone. "Wow, I've woken up alone before, but I usually got lucky the night before," she scrunched her face wondering where her pseudo boyfriend was.
Just then her door opened and Hotch came in with his back holding open the door as he held a tray in front of him. He let the door close and walked toward Alex. "Good morning. I have brought you some coffee and some fresh made croissants."
Alex pulled her legs in allowing him to sit on the end of the bed. "Breakfast in bed, thank you, Aaron," she grinned. "I think I'm going to like this relationship."
"So, what's the plan for today?" Hotch asked then took a sip from his cup.
"We need to make our presence known around the pool and beach-side today while the others do some poking around."
"Are we trying to attract Sloane's attention?" Hotch questioned.
"Not necessarily. What we need to do is figure out what he wants. Let's see if he comes to us, if he wants our attention. If we try too hard, that might push him away. We need to follow his lead."
Hotch nodded, "got it."
They each enjoyed their breakfast before Alex got up and started to dig through her bag.
"What are you looking for?"
"I need to figure out what is the better thing to wear," she called out while she focused on her clothes.
"Wear to what?" Hotch took a few steps closer.
Alex turned around holding up two sets of bikinis. "What do you think, the purple one or the blue one?"
"Uh, either is fine," Hotch was visibly uncomfortable.
"You're so cute," she teased as she went into the bathroom.
A few minutes later she came out wearing a muscle shirt and shorts over her purple bathing suit. She picked up a few things and threw them into her small bag. "Oh, one more thing before we go down there." Alex placed her hands on the sides of his face and pulled him into a kiss. Hotch stared at her speechless. "Since we are going to continue to play a couple, the time might come where we might need to kiss each other, and I thought we should get past the awkwardness of our first kiss."
"Yeah, we wouldn't want that to be awkward," Hotch raised his eyebrow.
Reid leaned against Old Yeller with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He tipped his sunglasses down as he saw Morgan and Prentiss steadily approaching. "You guys ready?"
"You better believe it," Morgan boasted.
"The way he tells it, you would think we were taking down Hitler," Prentiss added.
"I just need you both to be safe. It is just a fact-finding mission, nothing more," Reid reminded with caution.
"Just hand over the keys, pretty boy," Morgan smirked.
Reid tossed him the keys. "Remember this is an older car. Sometimes the clutch sticks."
Morgan plopped into the driver's seat, "It's always fun when I get to drive stick-shift." He revved the engine. "See ya later!" The car sped out of the parking lot.
Prentiss tried to control her hair as it flew into her face. "Wow, look, a tape-deck." She pulled out the cassette that was in the eject position.
"What is it?" Morgan asked as Prentiss read the label.
She turned to him with a smirk then popped the tape back into the slot. Moments later I Get Around by the Beach Boys blasted through the speakers and they both rocked-out while enjoying the tunes.
The morning was coming to an end and the pool was already packed with vacationers. Hotch and Alex could hear the music before they stepped out the doors. Once outside, there was a party already in full-swing.
They walked past the row of chairs and took noticed of a few members of the team who were already a fixture by the pool. Hotch took a seat on one of the open set of lounge chairs.
Alex stood in front of a seated Hotch and pulled her shirt over her head, "I haven't seen him, have you?" She asked casually.
Hotch quickly turned his line of sight from the pair of distractions in front of him. "Not yet." He turned his attention to JJ who was sitting across the deck. She shook her head confirming that Sloane hasn't made his entrance yet.
Alex sat with her back in front of Hotch and held a bottle of sunblock over her shoulder. "Do you mind?"
With a few dollops in his hand, he rubbed the cream onto her body. She looked up to see a familiar face. "Spencer just got here."
Reid sauntered through the door toward the Tiki bar. He chose a seat on the end with the best view of the area and ordered a drink.
"Hiya, Spencer," a high-pitched voice called out.
Reid closed his eyes and let out a deep breath followed by a fake smile as he turned to the girl standing next to him. "Hi, Aimee."
She stood with her hand on her hip and smacking her gum. "I was hoping to see you at the Paradise but you haven't been around much the last couple of days."
"Yeah, I've been kind of busy," he said as politely as possible.
"I am sure that it must have been really important to keep you away." Her fingers went to fix the small hairs that fell out of place onto her forehead. She then tried to bat her eyes at him.
Reid grinned, "It wasn't like I was trying to save the world or anything."
Aimee let out a sharp, nasal chortle that was instant repellant for anyone within a 5-foot radius. "Oh, Spencer, you're so funny," she laughed as she lightly slapped his arm.
Reid gulped down his drink, hoping to numb his pain.
Alex noticed the pixie-cut blonde chatting up Reid and grinned. "Oh poor Spencer."
"Why? What is it?" Hotch looked up to see him talking with a girl in a baby blue polka-dot bathing suit.
"That's Aimee, she has the hugest crush on Spencer and just doesn't know when to give up." Alex's smile changed as she saw Sloane walk past Reid with two very young looking women with him. He headed toward the large cabana and a waitress instantly served them. She looked back to Hotch, "It's show time."