Hotch's Niece | Criminal Minds

Know

Our lips have only just barely touched before I am ripped backwards away from Spencer. Uncle Hotch is standing there, absolutely fuming. Uh oh. I'm totally screwed. When I went on my first date, my dad called Uncle Hotch to Georgia to interrogate the poor guy for two and a half hours straight.

"Avery and Reid," Hotch says in a very forced voice, clearly struggling to not yell. "We're going to go into one of the other rooms and discuss this. Like adults." Yeah, okay. Like adults. Let's see how well that works for my uncle.

With that, Hotch grabs my wrist and Spencer's forearm and practically drags us past the faces of very confused Morgan and Rossi and giggling JJ and Emily. Morgan doesn't seem capable of comprehending the fact that "geeky" little Reid just kissed someone in front of a room full of people.

As soon as we enter into one of the other rooms, Hotch slams the door shut and turns to face a very pale, very scared Spencer. "What the hell did you think you were doing, kissing my niece like that?" Hotch shrieks at Reid, who shrinks away from the confrontation and blushes furiously.

I, worried that my uncle is close to punching the younger agent in the face, quickly inject myself between the two men. "Uncle Hotch," I say slowly, in a calming tone, "Calm down please. I'd like to point out that technically, I kissed him, so if anything, you should be yelling at me." This is really not true, it was Spencer who kissed me, but I'll say anything to try and get Hotch to calm down before he does something he's going to regret.

Hotch pouts like a little child. "Well yes I know but I can't yell at you, you just almost died. By the way, I'm really glad you didn't die," he pulls me into a tight hug, and then realizes that I have successfully derailed the conversation.

"BUT I'M STILL VERY PISSED AT YOU TWO!!" he reminds himself and us.

"Uncle Hotch, please, can't this wait? We've got our suspect, we didn't lose any people, it's a good day. I just nearly died, I could really go for a good burger and fries," I plead, and there is a long moment of silence before he finally sighs.

"Okay. But don't think I'm just gonna let this go, what you two did was completely unacceptable."

With that, Reid and I head back to the rest of our team, while Hotch takes a minute to regain his cool composure. As we walk in, I am bombarded by the agents. First is Morgan.

The second I pass the doorway, Morgan is scooping me all the way off the floor and securing me in his arms. "What you did was stupid and ridiculous and very badass, Sherlock. I'm happy you're alive," he murmurs into my hair. The burly man is squeezing me so tight that I can't breathe.

"Thanks, Morgan," I choke out, "But I really can't breathe."

"Oh, sorry!" he squeaks as he sets me down. Next, Emily and JJ rush to me.

"That was really cool, twisting the gun like that. I've never seen anyone go about it that way," Emily mentions, and I smile. "You know, I train every Saturday at the Academy's martial arts center, you're welcome to come work out with me if you like."

I've become really fond of Emily, she reminds me a lot of a friend from back home in Georgia. "Yeah, that sounds fun, I'll be sure to come out some time!"

JJ hugs me, and I raise myself up onto my tiptoes to match her height, kind of. I'm still shorter by a solid inch.

The next half hour or so flashes by me faster than I can blink. We return to the precinct, give a few statements and let the press know that we've apprehended the suspect and all is fine here in Kentucky now. I'm sitting in the conference room alone, packing up the board, when the door opens.

Spencer is there, and he stares at me, our eyes locked, for several seconds, before sucking in a breath, sharply shutting the door, and drawing the blinds shut. Then he takes a seat at the table and resumes watching me, not speaking until I sit down on the table, unsure of what to say. There is a long silence where Spencer seems to be committing every single detail of my face to memory, the way he's staring at me.

Finally, "I kissed you." Spencer says.

Not knowing a proper response, I just nod. "You kissed me," I say, uncertain.

"I kissed you because I was so sure I was never going to get to talk to you again, that Annie was going to kill you," Spencer says, and I can tell that he's nervous.

"Spence, you've known me for less than a half a week," I reason.

He scoffs lightly. "Yes, Avery, I realize that this is completely insane of me. Don't ever think I don't know that, I do. But I also know that I've never met anyone who even comes close to my level of intelligence. You do. I know that I've never met anyone who makes me smile every time that I get to see them. You do. I know that I've never met anyone who has made believe in love at first sight. You do. And I know, above all, that when I look at you, all I can think is, 'Wow, I really would love to spend the rest of my life with that girl.' And to me that is so terrifying," Spencer spills.

My eyes fill with tears of joy and I make my way around the table to him. "Stand up," I say, and my voice cracks a little bit.

Confused, Spencer rises to his feet, and before he can ask what I am doing, and before I can doubt myself, I push up on my tiptoes, grab him by the collar, and pull his lips down to meet mine. He's frozen for a second, but once he realizes that I'm kissing him, he wraps his gangly arms around me and kisses back.

When we finally break for air, he pulls me into a tight hug, and I tuck my head underneath his chin. Our chests rise and fall at the same rate and I can't help but know, with all my heart, that right here, in his arms, is where I'm supposed to be.

Yay, another #Avereid kiss! That's nice! I actually made myself cry with Reid's little speech there, hot damn. I want a cute guy to say that to me!