ALEX | a. hotchner (sequel to BLAKE)

19

"It's very important that you're all on time tomorrow," Aaron said when we got back to the bureau.

He gave me a meaningful glare before going into his office. I rolled my eyes and stuck my tongue out after him.. It felt good at the moment.

"What is up with him?" I asked and sat down in my chair, "he's been a jackass all week."

"Didn't you hear?" Penelope asked, her lips forming into a smirk.

"No?"

"Beth and Hotch broke up," she said.

I felt my heart stop in my chest, "they what?"

"Yeah, she took a job in Hong Kong, so they decided to end things," a smile started to appear on her face. "You really didn't know?"

There was an explosion in my brain. The good sort. The type that carries more possibilities than you could be conscious of. I shook my head and ran a hand through my hair.

"Should.. uhm.. should I go to him?" I swallowed thickly and looked at Pen.

"Uh, yeah," she answered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh, okay," I shuffled with my paperwork, putting the papers in stacks on my desk, "alright." I stood up and took a deep breath, "do I look okay?"

"Considering you've been on a plane for the last hours, I'd say you look pretty good," Pen winked at me, "go get him."

I took one step and then stopped, "what if it's' too soon?" I frowned, "they obviously just broke up, and what am I even supposed to say? That I love him? It'll scare him half to death!"

"Stop thinking," Pen grabbed my shoulders and shook me gently, "go. get. him."

I couldn't help but smile, "alright."

I was smiling the whole way to his office. Whatever was ahead could be a great challenge, and there could be tears, but it would also be worth it, and so I couldn't stop smiling. I knocked on his door and at the sound of his approving word, I took a step in, closing the door behind me.

"Hey," I said quietly, biting my lip so I would stop smiling.

"Is it important?" He didn't look up from his paperwork, "I'm very busy."

"Oh," I hesitated, maybe it was a bad idea after all, "I thought maybe we could talk."

"As I said,"he  paused to stare at me for a second, before returning to his oh-so-important paperwork, "I'm busy."

The look he gave me, it was cold, not at all what I had imagined.

"You don't even know what I want to talk about," I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Have you changed your mind?" He looked at me through his lashes, "are staying?"

I frowned and shook my head, "no."

He looked down again, "then I'm not interested in what you have to say."

I sucked in a breath, grinding my teeth together. I tried to leave the burning pain alone, but it took over a part of my brain.

"You're not even going to give me a chance to speak?" I narrowed my eyes at him, but he was too busy scribbling on the piece of paper in front of him to notice.

"I think you said everything you needed to say earlier today," it was horrifying how normal he sounded, like it was easy for him to hurt my feelings.

I bit my lip to not scream out the angry thoughts that started to cloud my mind. I just backed away, turned around to open the door, and took one last look at him. This was not how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to be the mature one.