I apologize profusely for being gone so long. I have the last chapter right here. After such a cliff hanger, I tried to give you a good chapter.

Reason I've been gone is work and school as well as we have been renovated our apartment and have finally finished. It's so nice! So worth the extensive hard work.

I would like to thank you all for waiting and I apologize again. I have the next stories planned out and have started working on them so hopefully there won't be so long a wait.

The beeping was insistent. It refused to let Hotch think of anything for long. He stood in the doorway and stared as Cles fluffed Adrik's pillow before sitting down and holding his husband's hand. Hotch couldn't help but think of the time Reid had lost his memory and was in the hospital in California. He remembered the worry and fear he had felt before the young man woke up. He wondered if Cles, as stoic as he acted previously, allowed himself to fear even a little for Adrik's safety.

"The doctor says he will be fine," Cles's voice broke through and Hotch looked up to meet the gaze staring back at him. Silence, asides from the ever present beeping, filled out the space. Hotch offered a nod, but said nothing. "Thank you," Cles continued, turning back and pushing a strand of hair from Adrik's face. "If you hadn't thought so quickly and gotten an ambulance I wouldn't have him still. I-I let my anguish overrule my head… I could have contributed-."

"He didn't die, Cles," Hotch stated firmly. "The doctor says he will be fine and that's all that matters. Anyone would panic over seeing their lover fall be it to a bullet or whatever threat."

"How do you remain so calm, having… him out on the line with you, being shot at and running after violent men?" Cles whispered, his stare turning hallow although his brow furrowed. "Adrik works for a firm that makes hard drives for computers. I never really thought I could lose him…."

"It's hard," Hotch said quietly. "I do not in any way trust the men we go after, but I do trust Spencer. He can take care of himself. I know that he can hold his own when he needs to. I know I should be more worried about him, but it seems that whenever something goes wrong, we bounce right back from it. I know I shouldn't be so hopeful, but I can't help it. If something does go wrong, I'll just have to make sure that I'm there to fix it. Adrik is strong and caring. He wouldn't want to put you through anymore strife. After this I'm sure you won't have to worry about him getting into trouble again."

"That's a nice way to look at it." Cles smiled softly. He turned back and squeezed his husband's hand. Adrik's head turned to face Cles and the younger man smiled and kissed the hand clutched in his.

"How is he?" Reid's whisper caught Hotch by surprise as he turned towards the source of the sound. His younger lover looked up worriedly at him. Hotch smiled and nodded.

"He's going to be okay."

Hotch sat in his office as he finished the paperwork. His lamp lit up his desk as the over head lights kept the dark in the room at bay. Outside the world was black with night. He was at peace as he finished with another case. It always felt good to have an ending. A knock on the door brought him out of his fervor and he looked up to see JJ smiling. "Yes?"

"I have everyone's reports. Spencer and Morgan are on their way back from giving Cles his computer. Adrik's near to a full recovery," JJ reported as she walked to Hotch's desk and set down the folders.

"That's good to hear." He nodded and looked back at his computer. "I'm almost finished with my report. Go home. Get some sleep."

"Gladly. Although I have a husband and baby to go spend time with before I can sleep." JJ chuckled with a sigh. "Don't you have someone to go home to, too?"

Hotch looked up at her with his eyebrow raised. She smiled brightly and bid him a good night. Just as she reached the door she stopped and turned to look at her boss. "Are you going to tell any of us what happened to your nose?"

"Maybe another time," Hotch replied without looking up from his computer, however, a smile tugged at the corners of his lips as JJ turned to leave. The door sounded with a click and he continued typing.

The car ride was dull. Reid glanced at the clock on the radio for the fifth time in the past ten minutes. It read a daunting 10:21. They still had another 45 minutes until they would reach Quantico. So far the trip had only been twenty minutes and Reid had never felt more awkward being alone with Morgan. Even when he first met the man, he had felt more intimidated than awkward with him. Now… they couldn't even look at each other.

Reid stared out the window at the passing landscape. Mostly it was dark trees, but lights shot out of the darkness in the forms of advertisements or buildings. Reid smiled to himself and glanced at the speedometer. Morgan was already going six over the limit, but Reid wondered if he could drive faster, despite his better judgment. Reid had a feeling they shared a mutual agreement of wanting this car ride to go as quickly as possible.

Reid glanced at the clock again; 10:23. He sighed quietly.

"Hey, Reid," Morgan stopped abruptly. He sighed louder than Reid had. "Spencer, look, we should have done this before. I'm sorry for how I acted the other night. I had no right to bust in like I did."

Slowly Reid turned to look at the driver that had just spoken and swallowed. "I-It's alright. I mean it's Hotch you should really apologize to."

"Yea, I plan too." Morgan agreed with a rough nod. There was a silence that followed. Reid stared at Morgan nefore turning to stare at the road. "So… you and Hotch?"

Reid felt his face heat up. "Yea."

"How long have you too been… together?"

"Since we got back from my fall in California." Reid looked back at Morgan, but didn't drop his gaze.

"You been hiding your relationship that long?"

"We weren't hiding we just didn't shout our relationship to everyone." Reid clarified. "Everyone else figured it out for themselves."

"No one thought to mention it to me?" Morgan asked, sounding offended.

"Well, I guess they all wanted to leave it up to us to tell everyone, but we weren't ready." Reid said defensively, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Hotch and I are breaking a couple of rules by staying in this relationship. If the FBI- if Strauss- found out, we would lose our jobs and I just couldn't do that to Hotch."

Morgan didn't say anything for a full two minutes. Reid had glanced at the clock a number of times in those two minutes. He was beginning to wonder if the clock was broken because this was the longest eight minutes of his life. "So… you're in love… with Hotch?"

Reid covered his face and rubbed his reddened cheeks vigorously. "Morgan… this is such a leap in conversation."

Morgan laughed. "I'm just asking. All the years I had been setting you up with pretty young things. You should have told me you were already into someone else, man. Or at least liked older guys."

"I just… never felt connected with anyone before Aaron," Reid said quietly, looking out into the road. Morgan chuckled and Reid sighed. "So does this mean you won't punch him anymore?"

"Whoa, low blow," Morgan said with a laugh. "Look, Spencer, I think of you like a little brother- my little brother- and I feel protective over you. I know you can take care of yourself, but I just want to be there for you; which is why I was upset when I found out Hotch and you had started dating. Hotch is at least ten years older than you and I was worried, despite knowing you, despite knowing Hotch, that you would get hurt again."

"Hotch wouldn't hurt me," Reid said quietly.

"I know, but my big brother instincts were never rational. Just ask my sisters and my mom."

"Alright, Morgan," Reid said, turning to look at him again. "I forgive you but you have to go beg Hotch for his forgiveness."

"Any suggestions on how to get back on his good side?"

"I've never really been on his bad side… at least not the bad side you're on."

"Oh, ouch."

The report came to a close. He read through it a few times and fixed any mistakes he caught and sent it in. As he hit send there was another knock on the door. "Enter," Hotch called as he began shutting down his computer. He had just double checked that Morgan and Reid had sent in their reports and made a note to print those out in the morning for filing.

"Hey, Hotch."

The older man froze and looked up to see the last man he expected to see. "Morgan, how was the trip back?"

"Good, no traffic," Morgan reported looking down and rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, Hotch, I wanted to apologize for my behavior the other night. My actions were irrational."

"It's all right, Morgan," Hotch said, standing up straight. "I understand the motives behind it. Reid has always been, if even miniscule at times, a source of some sort of worry for all of us. Just don't punch me in the face again and I forgive you."

"Alright, Hotch," Morgan smiled. "Good night."

"Good night."

Morgan left and Reid walked by him and stood where Morgan had stood. Hotch looked up at him, but did not smile. "Reid, we need to talk."

Reid's eyes widened and he swallowed heavily, reaching up and fiddling with the buckle on his bag strap. "Okay," Reid whispered, closing his eyes. He opened them with a sigh and forced his hands to still and shoved them back to his sides.

"It's about the beginning of our last case." Hotch said. "You had called into the sheriff's department instead of waiting for an invitation, breaking protocol." Reid nodded, but said nothing. "Under a precedential situation, I would have to report you and seeing as this isn't your first offense, I would have to put you on unpaid leave for at least six months. However, the sheriff did not press the matter while we were working the case. He did not even mention what you had done. Since he doesn't wish to report you I will let you off with a warning and a mark in your personal file."

Reid blinked a few times and his brow furrowed. "Are you letting me off because we're together?"

Hotch shook his head. "No, Reid, I assure you, I would not do that."

"Okay," Reid nodded and looked down. "I understand what I did broke protocol and that the actions I committed should never be repeated again and I promise that they won't."

"Good," Hotch stood up from his desk and pushed his chair in and walked around his desk. "Hungry? I thought we could go to that diner a few block from home and have a late dinner."

Reid smiled and nodded. "That sounds good, I'm starved."

Hotch smiled and grabbed his briefcase. After shutting the lights off and locking the door they headed to the garage and off towards the diner. They chatted quietly. Hotch reached over halfway there and squeezed Reid's hand as Reid talked about his and Morgan's conversation. They pulled into the driveway and Reid made to get out. "Spencer wait."

Reid turned as a confident hand tangled into his hair and dragged him close. "Aaron! Someone might see…" he protested, placing his hands on Hotch's chest.

"The SUV has tinted windows," Hotch murmured, their lips an inch apart. He tugged gently, and Spencer leaned and pushed his hands up Hotch's chest, cupping his hand against the back of Hotch's neck. It was lingering, their lips never more than a soft brush apart. They pulled apart, their hands still gripping the other. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," Reid whispered, resting his forehead on Hotch's. "This last case was hard."

"I know, Spencer," Hotch murmured. He pulled back enough to plant a kiss on his love's forehead. Cupping his face, he continued gently, "just put it to the back of your mind for now. We'll talk about it when we get home, but now let's relax and get some food."

"That does sound nice," Reid smiled and pulled away. "Let's eat."

"Let's." They climbed out of the car and walked into the restaurant. They got a table furthest away from the crowd already seated and each ordered drinks. Soon they ordered food and continued talking.

"Spencer, there's something I've wanted to talk to you about." Hotch stated as he unwrapped his silverware.

"Oh?" Reid replied after a quick, interrupted sip of his drink.

"You want me to meet your mother, right? Well, I want you to meet my family as my partner."

"Y-Your family?"

"Jack and his aunt and my brother," Aaron elaborated as he looked down at the printed grains on the table.

"R-Really?" Reid breathed looking down at his cup. "Are you sure they're ready for that? Especially Jack; do you think-?"

"I don't know, but I can't hide this relationship, Spencer. At work it's one thing, we have no choice, but I have a choice with my family and my friends and I want them to know that I have found someone who has shown me how to be happy again. After years of dark days I never thought I would be able to feel anywhere near to this sort of joy. I owe it all to you."

Reid flushed and looked down. "Aaron…. I can't tell you how elated that makes me to hear that. If you're ready and you think they're ready then I will meet them as your partner."

"Thank you."

"Of course, besides it's the least I could do after asking you to meet my mom." Reid said looking at his hands, wanting to hold Hotch's but knowing they never could at least not in the open like this.

"I would do anything for you Spencer, you know that, right?"

"Yes, Aaron," Reid smiled serenely. "And I would do anything for you."

Hotch smiled and nodded. He opened his mouth to continue, but was stalled by the food arriving with the waitress. Once she was gone, Hotch looked up at the man across from him. Reid looked up and caught his eye. Hotch mouthed an 'I love you,' and winked. Reid smiled and looked down and mouthed it back.

Read Me It - End

Fear not another story is to follow this one very soon. We get to see the big meet up with the families and then another story to follow involving a fantastic case.