or what, sir? |a. hotchner| ✔️

sixty four

It had been a month since everything happened, and things were finally starting to look up. That week off that Strauss gave us was really helpful, both for my friendships and relationships. Since then I had been staying at Aarons, with the occasional sleepover at Spencer's or Emily's. Recently though, Emily had been acting really weird. Like she was hiding something, which I mean, was her business and all, but I was still worried. 

She was my best friend. When Elle left, Emily and I really had a connection that I feel like no one else on the team got to experience with one another. Typically we told one another everything, and by that I mean even the weirdest of shit. 

But sadly, I couldn't be worried about Emily or what she was hiding. Because right now I was rushing around to set up Jack's seventh birthday party, which was hard for everyone. Not because of the planning, but the one year anniversary of Haley dying was coming up in less than two weeks. It was hitting both Jack and Aaron incredibly hard, whether it was the people calling to send their condolences, or if it was simply just a reminder by date. 

That's why I took up the role of rushing around to send invites and planning and setting up, because the two needed something to look forward to, not something to stress about. 

"Babe?" I looked up from my computer and put my tea mug down, revealing a sleepy looking Aaron still in his pajamas. I glanced over at the time, revealing the numbers 6:34am. I was surprised he was up, I hadn't made any noise and I kept almost every light off. 

My eyes went back to Aaron, who had been rubbing his. "Why are you awake? It's so early. We don't have work for another two hours" I questioned, and he made his way over to the table to sit next to me. Once he did, I tried to fix his bedhead for him, while he still tried to wake up fully. 

"Why are you?" He replied, groggily. I let out a small smile at his voice, 

"Birthday planning" I revealed, and I stood to go pour him a cup of coffee. "It's tomorrow, I was just making sure everything would be at my house in time" I explained, taking a mug out of the cabinet. I began to pour the coffee I had already made for him when I woke up into the cup, "I didn't wake you up, did I?" 

He hummed to say no, "It got cold without you in bed," He admitted, and I started walking back over to him, handing him his coffee with a large smile on my face. 

"Yeah?" I asked him, and he put his coffee on the table.

"Mhm", he took my hips gently and pulled me closer, signaling me to get on him. I straddled him, my smile not leaving my face as I watched his grow. I ran my hands up his still messy hair, pressing my lips onto his. He instantly kissed back, squeezing my sides as he pulled me even closer to him. 

His hands started to slide under my satin pajama shorts, until we heard, "Good morning" I almost fell by how quickly I jumped off of him, revealing another sleepy Hotchner. Thankfully, he was obviously not fully awake, he was rubbing his eyes just like his father had been only moments earlier. 

I let out a nervous chuckle as I rested a hand on the chair Aaron was sitting on, "Good morning, sleepyhead" I let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding, 

"How'd you sleep, buddy?" Aaron asked his son, making Jack walk closer to us,

"Meh"

"Meh?"

He nodded, "I had a bad dream" He admitted, and I kneeled down when he finally made his way over to him. Aaron stood and flicked the lights on, 

"Yeah? Do you want to talk about it?" I acted as if I wasn't incredibly nervous by the words that had just came from his mouth. I wasn't a doctor, but I did know a lot about dreams. Jack did have bad dreams sometimes, but it was getting closer to the anniversary of his mothers brutal murder. I just wanted to make sure everything was fine,