The Agent and The School Teacher

Chapter Twenty-Three: Happy

Aaron dropped me off at Ten. 

He was an absolute gentleman, opening my car door for me and walking me to the door.

"So um...this was fun and all, but I don't really think that you're my type." I said, smiling as we reached the door.

"Its funny you should say that, I was going to say the same thing. It was fun while it lasted, right?"

"Well, for you maybe. I hated it." We both laughed and Aaron stepped forward, grabbing both of my hands and intertwining our fingers. "But seriously, I had an amazing time. I'm really glad that we did this."

"Yeah, me too." He nodded. "Its just um...if we really are doing this, officially, I just...I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Shoot." I replied.

"My job..." I shook my head.

"I know. I know the life of a Profiler, I lived it my entire childhood. I know you're gone a lot, and there will be days when its difficult, but trust me when I say that I am used to it, and I understand." He nodded again.

"Thank you. Good, that's good."

"However..." I started. "I can't be the only one making compromises here. I know how tempting it is for you to take on extra work, but you have to be willing to prioritize."

"I will. Of course I will."

"Good." I skimmed my thumbs over his hands. "But, also keep in mind that I understand completely that Jack has to come before anything else."

"I really was not expecting to have this conversation on your porch after our first date." Aaron said.

"Oh my gosh, was that too much too fast?" I asked. "Maybe we should slow down, we're getting ahead of ourselves-"

"You're the one who said you liked things simple. Don't chicken out on me now." He said, smirking at me as he let go of my hands and wrapped his arms around my waist instead. I laughed.

"Is now the wrong time to bring up the fact that this is probably insanely unprofessional of me?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck, playing with the ends of his hair with my fingers.

"Yes. Lets try not to think about that." He leaned forward, kissing me slowly, and softly, and I found myself forgetting any thoughts that had entered into my head. The only thing that mattered to me, in that moment was the feeling of Aaron's arms wrapped around me and his lips against mine, and it was one of the most incredible things I had felt in a long time. The porch light turned on and I found myself pulling back from Aaron and looking up at it. The door opened and Ben stood there, in a pair of pajamas, his blonde hair disheveled. 

"Hate to interrupt, but some of us were in the process of sleeping, and I don't really want to lay in the dark and listen to you two make our for twenty minutes." I chuckled.

"Sorry, Ben. Just give us a few minutes to say goodbye." He nodded, rubbing his eyes and shutting the door again.

"Remember that part, where I said that it wasn't weird because he was the girls' father?" Aaron asked.

"But it is weird, dropping me off and knowing that my ex-husband is sleeping here?" I replied.

"Maybe a little." I nodded.

"its just tonight. He was watching the girls." He nodded. "Plus, we talked about it, and Ben and I are in a completely platonic relationship at the moment."

"Well, I should be going. Jack and I have big plans together tomorrow." I smiled.

"I hope you guys have a great time. I'll call you." He nodded, leaning forward and kissing me again, breifly this time, before turning and walking down the stairs.

"Goodnight, Lizzie." I smiled. "What?"

"You called me Lizzie. You only seem to ever call me Elizabeth."

"Is it a problem that I called you 'Lizzie'?" He asked, from the bottom of the stairs. I shook my head.

"Only the people that are close to me call me that so...no. It doesn't bother me at all." He smiled. "Goodnight Aaron." He walked to his car and I turned around, opening the door and going inside. Ben was sitting on the couch, his head thrown back, staring at the ceiling.

"Oh, you called me Lizzie. Only the people that are closest to me call me Lizzie, so of course its ok." Ben said in a girly voice. I grabbed one of the pillows, chucking it at his head.

"Shut up. You shouldn't have been eavesdropping."

"Eavesdropping?" He asked, sitting up. "That door is like an inch thick, its not like its sound proof." I rolled my eyes. "But you had a good time I take it?"

"I had an incredible time." I said, taking off my shoes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, turning around and laying his head on his arms, which were on the back of the couch.

"No offense Ben, but I just...I don't think I'm in a place where I can talk about my love life with you."

"What? Even after the helpful tips I gave Agent Hotchner?" I rolled my eyes again, laughing. "I swear, Lizzie, I just want you to be happy. And if this guy makes you happy, then I want you to be with him."

"Really?" I asked, sitting down on the arm of the couch. 

"Yes, really. I know I caused a lot of pain and drama in your life, and...I know that its too late for me. But if you're happy, and I get to be in the girls' life, I am satisfied with that. I think we could even be friends."

"I would like that."

"Plus, you know, that way if you had any hot teacher friends you could set me up with..." He trailed off, clearly meaning this as a joke. I smirked at him. "Uh oh."

"What do you mean, uh oh?" I asked.

"You have your idea face on, and I just made a joke about you setting me up. I can't say that I like that combination." I just continued to smile. He sighed. "What's her name?"

"Emily. But she's not a teacher though."

"She's not?" I shook my head.

"How do you feel about FBI agents?"