"Good god, Hotch, was your head in the clouds this much when you first started dating Haley?" Dave asked as they entered their hotel room after working the latest case they had been asked to consult on. Giving his best friend a small frown, he set his bag down on the bed and took out his clothes, hanging them in the closet so that his shirts wouldn't wrinkle too badly. There was nothing he could do about the pants, however, though he did slip them over a hanger as well in an effort to mitigate the wrinkles that might settle in. "You can get away with the silent treatment to everyone else, especially since they don't know who it is you're dating currently, but it won't fly with me."

Rolling his eyes a little, Aaron turned to look at his best friend, seeing that he was stretched out on the bed closest the door, his feet crossed as he scrolled through an app on his phone. It was a carefully constructed pose, as if to tell Aaron that he wasn't truly interested in what Aaron had to say, but he noticed the man's eyes darting towards him every so often as he waited for Aaron to reply. Deciding to drag things out a little, since he didn't want to give Dave the benefit of having the upper hand, Aaron shrugged out of his suit coat, hanging it next to his shirts before stepping out of his loafers and then taking off his shirt and folding it carefully before placing it in his bag.

"And now, you're pretending not to hear me. Real mature."

"Look who's talking," he responded evenly as he padded over to his bed and took a seat, making himself comfortable as he plugged in his phone charger and then plugging his phone in before taking a look at the notifications he had received while working the case. He was strangely disappointed not to see at least a text or email from Erin, and he frowned a little as he leaned back against the headboard before turning his head to look at Dave. "And I am not that bad. My focus was entirely appropriate through the entire day."

"You keep telling yourself that. I, however, can tell that you're mooning over Erin. Which is a weird mental picture to have, since she's our boss, but if you're happy, then I will be content with it. Still, I know that you're probably missing her, since you can't see her whenever you want."

Aaron rolled his eyes a little as he let out a huff of breath. "If you must know, I have permission from the head of the rehabilitation facility to visit Erin whenever I like, since my job takes me away from home so often. According to Erin, she's been trying to set us up from the second time I visited Erin."

Dave laughed, giving him a wry look. "Still, did it have to be Erin? You know that we have history."

"I do, and believe me, I never meant for things to turn out like this, especially so quickly. But I won't deny that there is a spark between us that I am enjoying seeing develop into a bright flame."

"Ugh, if I have to listen to you become this saccharine over our boss, I don't know what I'll do. And you need to get it out of your system before the rest of the team cottons on to the fact that not only are you dating someone, you're all too quickly falling in love, and that it's with our boss. Can you imagine Emily's reaction?"

"I can. And I think I can honestly say that I wouldn't care about her opinion in this case. Or anyone else, because my personal life is just that, personal."

"Then you need to do a better job of keeping it under wraps, all right? And call her, get it out of your system, and then we can work the case without having to worry about you accidentally slipping up around the others. All right?"

He nodded, suddenly glad that they were in the same time zone, which meant that it would still be an appropriate time to reach out to her. "Would you mind taking a walk, then? After all, I'd hate for my personal business to become known to all and sundry."

Dave chuckled as he shook his head and got up from the bed. "You're lucky I'm still dressed, Hotch. I'll be back in about an hour."

Aaron gave his best friend a look as he shooed him from the room, and then he picked up his phone and unlocked it, opening up his call log and pressing Erin's name before bringing the device to his ear and waiting for her to answer. "Good evening, Aaron."

"I hope this isn't too late to call," he said as he made himself comfortable on the bed, staring out the window to watch the night sky as they talked. "Dave said that I needed to get my mooning out of the way tonight, otherwise the entire team will know that we're a couple before we're ready to tell them as much."

There was a brief pause before Erin let out an almost strained chuckle. He waited for her to speak, knowing that there was something wrong, but not knowing what he had said that had made her uncomfortable. "I didn't realise that there was an us, Aaron. We've kissed, yes. We're tender with each other, yes. But you've never asked me to be anything to you, we've just spent time together. Pleasant time, trusting time, but you've never hinted that I was yours. And I don't know if I want to be yours so suddenly. I want, I desire, I crave, your presence in my life, because you've helped keep me on an even keel while I'm here, but being yours is a rather large step for me, and one that I don't know I'm ready to commit to at this point in my recovery."

"Oh."

"Aaron, please don't sound like that. I'm not saying that I don't want you to visit me, that I want this nebulous beauty between us to go away, because that is not what I'm saying at all. I just need a little more time before I can allow myself to consider us in a relationship." She sniffled a little, and he knew that he had somehow made her cry, which tore at his heart. Seeing her cry had been hard enough, since he had been there to comfort her, but hearing it was heart wrenching. "I've fucked this all up, haven't I? I ruined the one good thing that was happening to me because of my overweening pride. I was growing to love our visits."

"I love our visits, too, and I'll see you when I'm home from this case. Because you haven't ruined anything, not on my end. All right?"

"All right."

"And before you do anything rash, we have an hour to talk before Dave returns and I have to let you go. I wish that it was longer, but I know that we have to get a good night's sleep in order to close the case quickly and accurately. What's something that you want to hear about from me? You were emotionally honest with me, so it's only fair that I return the favor."

Another small pause, but when Erin spoke once more, her voice was a little softer and open. "Tell me something about your family. You know a little about mine, after all."

"Of course. It's not a pretty past, but I'll tell you about what I grew up with. It might help with when you see my scars for the first time."

"I know about the scars Foyet left on your body, Aaron."

"Those are on my chest. My back has a different set of scars. My father was a violent man, and I learned at a young age how to direct that anger towards me so that Sean wouldn't bear the brunt of it."

"Aaron…"

"It made me who I am today—stoic, unfeeling, and a bit of an asshole."

"No, darling, you're not any of those things. The man I saw this weekend loves his son very much, cares about family and friends, and while quiet, is also a deep well of feelings that aren't easily shared unless he trusts someone. And I'm glad that you trust me as much as I trust you. Why would he hurt you, Aaron?"

"Because he was a mean drunk."

"Oh," she gasped out, and he cursed himself for blurting that out. "I suppose that I should be grateful that I was a functioning drunk."

"This is the second time I've hurt you in this conversation, Erin."

"The truth can be hurtful, yes, but I'd rather have honesty with you than having you lie to spare my feelings. When you get home, please come see me. I want to hold you in my arms. Even if I'm not ready to consider us an us, I want to be close to you."

"Of course," he replied gruffly, trying to hold back his own tears. "And now you know what makes me cry, too. It's nice to find someone I can be vulnerable with."

"It is," she replied before steering the conversation into something a little more happier, and he followed her lead, knowing that this was the best way to get closer to her, while not being quite so stripped bare emotionally. He just hoped that he could figure out where they would go from here, as he wanted that relationship with Erin, and he didn't know how long he could wait.