Undercover Lovers |Aaron Hotchner|

Chapter Eleven: Birth and Death

"You're sure you're okay if I go?" Hotch asked warily as I packed his lunch. It was finally his first day working for Hugh Phillips.

I nodded. "It's been almost a week and I'm feeling a lot better. I'm fine, so don't worry about me."

"What will you do all day? Will you at least try to get some rest?"

"I will, I promise. Do you have everything?"

"Almost." He picked his lunch up from the counter and put it in his bag before leaning over and giving me a kiss. "Now I do. I'll see you at 5:08, not a minute later."

"I'm locking up at 5:09. Good luck, sweetie." I blew him a kiss as he left. I sat on the couch to watch a morning show, put my feet up, and didn't resist the urge to close my eyes.

There was a soap opera on when I woke up, which meant that it was midday. I shielded my eyes from the bright sun coming in through the open windows and slowly woke up.

It was my first day without Hotch in almost a week and even though I'd been awake for a very short part of it, I missed him. I pulled up my camera roll to look at pictures of him and got an idea. I got dressed and drove myself to the store.

Besides going to the emergency room, the store was my first outing since the bombing. Some people stared, but there was no way of knowing I was there. They couldn't have been staring because they knew what actually happened, right?

I shook it off and continued about my business, wishing Hotch could be by my side. He'd be back in about four hours and I had a lot to do before then. I grabbed what I needed and got home as quickly as possible.

Julie waddled out when she saw me struggling with the groceries. She'd gotten quite large and was bound to pop soon. I felt guilty about letting her help, but it got the job done much faster.

"Thank you." I said graciously, handing her a cold bottle of water once we got to the kitchen.

"Why'd you wait until Graham was back at work to do your grocery shopping?" She asked.

"I was going to cook dinner tonight to surprise him, but I didn't think it would nearly kill us both. I don't think you're making it to June 13, Julie."

"I most certainly am not. I think they'll be here by the end of the week."

"If there's anything I can do to help, let me know." I smiled.

"You just need to make a quick recovery. I have a baby appointment that I have to get to, but call me if you need any help with dinner or anything else, okay?"

"Thank you, and thanks again for your help with the bags. Good luck at your appointment."

She smiled softly and walked back to her house. I got an unused cookbook from the shelf to start looking through recipes.

Red Meat - Page 61

I turned to page 61 and immediately found what I was looking for. Hotch's favorite meal was steak, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and dinner rolls, so I wanted it to be perfect. I even bought all of the ingredients for apple pie and vanilla ice cream, which was his favorite dessert.