No strings attached

Part thirty four

"Aaron? Are you home? It's Beth"

You almost dropped your mug when you hear that name, you vaguely remember some of the team members mentioning Beth as being Hotch's ex. You weren't sure if you were pissed or hurt but whatever it was you were feeling it was strong. Aaron just looks between you and the door not exactly moving.

"Aren't you gonna answer the door? I'm sure you wouldn't want to keep Beth waiting, right Aaron?" your tone was unbelievably cold and you refused to cry, simply walking behind him and grabbing your car keys before opening the door to face the woman standing there. Her smile drops as soon as she sees you

"Oh I didn't know you had guests" she says to him before flashing you a fake smile

"Don't worry I was actually on my way out" you walk to your car, ignoring the fact that he was calling out your name. You drive away, not really knowing where to go, if this was about anyone else you would probably knock on Derek or Emily's door but it felt weird to drag them into you relationship with Hotch and even though you had called Prentiss last night, she is Aaron's best friend so you were a little lost.

You drove for what felt like hours until you decided to go to your old apartment, you were still wearing pajamas and going back to Hotch's was not an option specially because you needed some time to cool down before talking to him. If he had an explanation you needed to be on your correct mind to hear it and not make matters even worse so you arrived home and took a shower, taking a moment to access how weird it was to be back, living with Aaron seemed so right, so natural. You thought back to what Emily told you last night, he seemed so sure of you both, would he just throw everything out?

You can't hold back the tears that begun falling, you sit on the edge of your bed, towel still wrapped around your body and you think back to every moment you shared with him. You love that man with every inch of your being and the thought of not being enough, it makes you feel like your heart has been ripped away from your body.

When you finally regained strength to get up you it was already 2pm and you were starving, you grabbed your phone to see a million missed calls from Aaron and a couple texts from Emily wanting to know if you were okay. You ordered yourself some pizza and curled up in a ball watching some sitcoms on your couch, after you ate you got up and cleaned everything before heading back to your car.

You build up the courage to go back to Aaron's house, this conversation had to happen and there was no point delaying it. The longer you took the more you hurt yourself with something you still didn't even know was true. You walk inside the house to see Jack coloring on the kitchen table and Aaron was preparing him some snacks.

"Hey buddy" you say giving him a kiss on the top of his head, Hotch looks at you and lets out a breath he had been holding the whole day. His gaze meets yours, a mix of emotions flashing through his eyes "we need to talk" you say hoping your voice wouldn't crack

"Jack, take your snack and go watch some cartoons, we'll be right there okay?" Hotchner gives his son a plate and the boy runs off to the TV "I was worried about you"

"I needed some time. I need to understand what is going on with you Aaron, and why the hell that woman was here at 7 in the morning because that isn't really a normal time to visit someone."

"You're right, look I don't know how you'll react to what I am about to tell you" you feel your face loose all color but you nod for him to keep going "Beth and I dated for a couple months, it didn't really work out and we broke things off a little time before you joined the unit. I hadn't really heard from her until she called me that morning asking for help, her brother in law was killed and the police had no leads, as a favor for her I took a look at the files and traced a simple profile to help the local PD, I had to work outside office hours since it wasn't really an assigned case that's why the early hours. And I didn't tell you at first because she really needed the help and I.... I don't know I thought maybe you wouldn't like me helping her, I know it's stupid but..." he searches your eyes and you feel tears rolling out of yours. "After I traced the profile Strauss was giving me some heat because of the way in which I took the case and I reckon it was a mistake so I also had to deal with her. And all week Beth has been calling me but I warned her that I was in a relationship with a woman I love very much and I didn't have any interest on going back to her. This morning she showed here to try and change my mind but I told her to leave and me and Jack just stayed here the whole afternoon playing."

"Look, I am hurt that you didn't trust me enough to share what was going on, for us to work we have to trust each other and I've been completely honest with you before so I expected you to do the same to me. So, answer me with full honesty please, did anything happen between you and Beth? Because I can't forgive you if it did"

"No" you can see that his own eyes are glassy with tears "Nothing happened baby, I would never do that. I love you so much and I was weak for not telling you the truth about Beth and then I didn't want you to worry about Strauss. I am sorry y/n" you can hear the honesty in his voice, so you get up from the chair you were sitting and move to his lap cupping his cheeks and wiping away the tears that were threatening to fall.

"I love you Aaron, but most of all I trust you, so all I ask is that from now on you trust me as well, promise me that you won't keep secrets, even if you think I might get worried or upset. I need to know we are in the same page in this relationship."

"I promise" he breaks the short distance between your faces with a gentle kiss. It wasn't hungry and filled with lust, it was like a guarantee that he loved you the same way you loved him. At that exact moment it was like both your hearts were one, you were one and you knew it would be that way forever.

"I love you" he says pulling away almost in the exact second Jack returns

"Y/n, I'm bored of cartoons. Can we play a board game please?"

"Of course we can, go grab it and then we can make daddy  loose" you wink and the kid laughs

"You need to stop doing that " he says pulling your waist tightly his face flustered

"But I won't it's too much fun"

And that's how your evening went the three of you playing games and having fun together. You couldn't see it but Aaron's eyes were shining with happiness, he loved you and Jack more than words could describe and seeing you act like a family, his family, it was all he needed to be the happiest man on earth.

A/n: sorry this took so long but I had to rewrite it 5 times hahah. Anyways I kinda love this chapter so here you go.