Undercover | a. hotchner |

Chapter 22

Four Days Later

"I just got the text from Garcia, Carmine cashed the money." I said while Aaron was in the shower.

"How long does that give us till he comes after us?" He walked out of the bathroom with a towel low on his hips.

"I'm not sure, I think the last couple worked for him for a few weeks before... you know." I didn't want to think about it but it was hard not to.

Putting my head down Aaron was quick to walk over to me and put a finger under my chin, lifting my head and making him look at me. "It's okay", he reassured.

"I wanna know something", Aaron nodded, going into the closet for his clothes.

"How are you so alright with this... I know things like this affect people differently but, you don't seem to mind."

"Maybe I'm just better at hiding it externally. Trust me y/n, I'm not ignoring it, I'm just trying to move past it.", he walked down the stairs into the living room.

I understood, he was always dealing with things inside of his mind. Never reacting the way I or Reid would. Aaron was more reserved, the thoughts in his head never stopped though. He was always going back and forth trying to place blame or reason why something went the way it did.

Whereas I always voiced how I felt, at least to him.

I knew his mind was racing when the line between his brows was more evident. I wanted to reach over and smooth it out, tell him it was okay and to talk to me.

I heard the glass doors on the balcony click shut and I knew he was outside. I followed behind and walked out onto the patio.

Stepping next to him, we looked over the city.

Over the railing you could see the busy street below us. We were at least two hundred feet off the ground. Everybody below was oblivious to what we went through, the things we've done.

Guess ignorance is bliss.

The clouds slowly drifted by and the sun heated my skin.

"Would you ever live here?"

Aaron cocked his head to the side, "In New York?"

"Yeah..." I pointed to the city, "right now we have the best view, I'm just imagining if this was actually my life, walking up to this. It's beautiful."

He nodded along to my words, "Then you would be ignoring everything else, life like this doesn't come without a price. But to answer your question, no I wouldn't. I'm not a city person."

"But we live in DC."

"Actually we live on the outskirts of DC, but close enough. It's not crowded out there." We looked at each other and smiled.

"You're not wrong."

We carried the conversation over to the couch, my head laid in his lap and we shared a few laughs. We settled down and he noticed my eyes were closed. He let me sleep knowing what happened a few days ago wasn't allowing me to rest.

He carefully stood up, moving my head onto the cushion, and walked over to the ledge.

Hours went by and when my eyes opened, Aaron was still there. I dragged myself over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head against his back.

He let out a sigh, placing his hand on mine. Aaron tugged me in front of him, my back pressed against the thick glass. My hand cupped his cheek, he leaned into my touch and gazed at me, looking at every detail.