Aeipathy

CHAPTER 9.

TW: Typical case briefing, mature language, mentions of weapons, a stalker, significant injury, car crash, suicide, blood/gore and murder/death. Case based off 4x23.

As soon as you wake up, you notice that the other side of the bed is empty, flicking your gaze to the bathroom, you notice there's a small note on the table, informing you that Hotch had gotten a call and headed into the station early. Padding over to the shower and stepping in, you let the water wash over you, along with thoughts of the night before; you'd had sex with your boss, you'd had sex with Hotch. Maybe it was a good thing you'd woken up alone this morning, you didn't regret it, but you knew there would have to be a conversation at some point, Hotch wasn't one for spontaneous one night stands, or at least that's what you thought, but then perhaps things were better just left unsaid? Putting on your outfit of the day that consisted of a plain black t-shirt, forest green blazer and plaid trousers that you'd rolled up at the bottom along with your signature jewellery and doc martens, you gathered your things and headed out the door, ready to meet the others and drive to the station.

"Morning, you're lookin' good today, Lee" Morgan greets you in his silky voice, smiling as you join him and the others. Some good sex the night before works wonders you thought, not that you told them that of course.

"Morning guys. Are you saying I don't look good every morning?" you tease, hand to your chest in mock pain.

"Yeah Morgan, that's no way to compliment a lady" Reid chimes in, taking your side as he moves to greet you, waving with his coffee cup in hand.

"No Hotch this morning? Did you really piss him off that badly, huh?" Prentiss asks you, raising her eyebrows as JJ laughs beside her, their hands intertwined as normal.

"No, he left a note saying he'd gotten a call and headed into the station early". You say as you shrug your shoulders, not wanting to seem any more bothered than normal. Making your way to the SUV's you join in with the small talk, listening to Reid's stream of facts and statistics, which are shortly drowned out by the noise of the local radio and before you know it, you're hopping out of the driver's seat as you arrive at the station.

The four others walk ahead of you and as you move to follow them, Rossi pulls you to the side. "Everything okay, Cara?". The use of the Italian word for 'dear' showing that his concern was genuine and you couldn't help but wonder if he'd noticed Hotch's strange behaviour yesterday and somehow knew what happened between the two of you last night and you began to panic slightly, but played it off as best you could.

"Sì. I'm okay, everything's fine, Zio". You tell him, reassuring him with yet more smatterings of Italian, something that the two of you often did, both of you finding humour in the fact that you chose to call him 'uncle' rather than addressing him as his true relation to you; it was incredibly ironic, not that the team knew that of course. Making your way inside of the station a few moments later, you thought over what you'd said. You genuinely did feel okay, you didn't regret your actions last night with Hotch at all, you didn't feel awkward about it and part of you knew it was because he was more than likely never going to be the one to bring it up, and quite honestly you knew you wouldn't either.

As soon as you walk in, accompanied by Rossi, you feel Hotch's eyes on you and see a flash of concern in his eyes. "Everything okay?" he questions, moving toward you, not noticing the items in his hands.

Nodding in response you reply. "Yeah of course" and you can't help but to smile at him and you're pleased to see him return it ever so slightly, not wanting to seem any different than normal in front of the team.

"Good. Before we make a start these are for you, figured you didn't have the chance to get breakfast". He speaks to you, handing across a freshly made tea and a raspberry muffin and you force yourself to ignore the watchful eyes of the team that are very much focused on the current interaction between the two of you. He doesn't give you the chance to thank him as he turns to the rest of the team. "Let's get started, focus on where we left off yesterday" he announces, his instructions taking most of the focus away from you, but you still feel a few lingering stares.