A Bit Of Death

Surprise

Reid's POV
Downstairs Emily is just taking the pizza out of the oven, she turns to us and says "perfect timing". Aaron grabs me pizza and I go into the living room to put a movie in. I throw in a random moving and then grab the three of us waters from the kitchen. We eat and watch the movie, Hotch has an arm draped over my shoulders. When we finish eating I cuddle in his side but am wary of his chest and we stay like that till the movie ends. After the movie ends we turn on the lights and chat. Emily looks at us smiling and asks me, "so what are you doing for your birthday?"
I shrug and look at Hotch, he smiles as he looks at me and says "I have a few ideas, do you want to do anything specific?"
I consider the question and then answer, "I don't care as long as we spend the day together".
He just says "I think I can do that". Emily then says "well I'm going to crash at Morgan's place so you guys have to house to yourself, Jack comes back the next day right?"
Hotch nods and says "yeah".
I grin and ask, "can we decorate for him?"
He says "yes". I yawn and he chuckles, I snuggle into him and he says "I think we should go to bed".
Emily nods and says "me too". We put away our dishes and then shuffle up to bed. I immediately climb under the covers and groan when Aaron's phone buzzes.
He types back and I bury my head under the covers and he slips into bed and says "it's okay, it was just Rossi".
I uncover my head and ask "what does he want, it's late".
Aaron places his hand on the side of my face and says, "shhh it doesn't matter, let's go to sleep". I don't protest and let him pull me close and fall asleep.
* * *
When I wake up Hotch is kissing me, I smile into the kiss and he whispers "morning". I sit up he grabs my hand and I stand up, we go to the closet and pick out outfits. I pause and look at his chest and say "pretty good" he just smiles at me and kisses my forehead then we turn back to the task at hand. Aaron wears one of his usual suits and I wear black pants a light purple button down and a black tie. I pull out a waistcoat with a black front and a colored design on the back and wear my hightop. Hotch finishes getting dressed first so he turns to me and ties my tie and buttons my waistcoat. I lean in an give him a small kiss before we head downstairs. Emily has already made coffee so we each fix it to our liking and then go to the car. Aaron drives with Emily in back and me in shot gun. The whole ride we casually talk. At the BAU Emily goes up to the conference room and it looks like we're the first to arrive. Hotch has me follow him to his office and I give him a confused look. He gets a text and then kisses me deeply, still confused I walk out with him to the conference room, he opens the door for me and I step in. I gasp and grin as I look at the conference room, it's decorated with a cake and everyone is yelling happy birthday.
Aaron closes the door and everyone comes up and hugs me, then Garcia says "so you know the project I was working on that I wouldn't tell you and Hotch about, well here it is, it's from all of us". I nod and take the wrapped gift from her, and Aaron stands next to me with his arm around my waist. I lean into him as I unwrap it, it's a book, on the cover it's a picture of Hotch and I leaving the Chinese restaurant, is a dark picture but you can see the outline of us holding hands. I smile thinking about it and then slowly open it. Inside it's filled with quotes and pictures. The majority of the pictures were taken secretly so I'm surprised when I see the first page has a picture of Hotch feeding me popcorn. There's pictures of him hugging me, us kissing or cuddling, there's some of us laughing and sleeping on the couch.
I laugh when I see a picture of us at Rossi's, I'm on the floor and Aaron's on the couch and we are laughing, I say to them, "hey, this is before we told you guys".
Garcia giggle and says, "we were guessing". I see more pictures of us at the movies and on the couch at our house, we laugh and point out all the memories when we see each picture. Hotch and I laugh when I close the book, the back is a big picture of our backs, it's from last night and the pizzas. My hair is a bit messy and we are both working on the flour, Aaron's back is covered in flour hand prints and I have hand prints on my ass.
He says "so that's what it looked like" and I giggle innocently.
Everyone laughs at us and I say, "this is from last night".
Garcia shrugs and says "my minions and I work fast". We all laugh and have cake and sit around.
The door opens and I quickly hide the book as Strauss walks in, she freezes and asks, "what's going on". We all have the same thought right now: we're dead.
Immediately Garcia starts to apologize, "we are so sorry ma'am, it's Reid's birthday and we wanted to do something to surprise him".
I can't read Strauss's expression when she faces Hotch and asks "did you know about this Aaron?"
He nods and everyone waits for her to speak, "next time please see me first, you can continue as long as you get your work done" Garcia offers her cake and she excepts it, she stays to talk for a moment and says "Aaron, I don't know why you approved to this, I hope you have a good explanation". Everyone stays quiet and I worry about what he'll say next.
He frowns at her and says "come with me" she looks confused and as he reaches the door he turns and says "you too" to me. I look back at the team to exchange a worried look and then follow them to Hotch's office. Inside I sit on the couch, he sits behind his desk and Strauss at the chair across at his desk. He folds his arms and leans back and ponders the question more, his gaze shifts to me and I relax a little, to anyone else they would think the gaze is cold. When I meet his gaze I can tell he is worried and sorry and he looks back at Strauss and says, "I approved it because we've gone out as a team for everyone's birthday but Reid's. When we try to do something for him he changes the subject or says he will be out of town. Which is usually a lie, so we decide to surprise him while he's here" he doesn't look at me as Strauss thinks about what he's said.
"Fair enough Aaron, just don't make it a habit, as for you" she says turning to me, "happy birthday".
I smile and say "thank you, ma'ma" and then she leaves. To avoid suspicion we leave with her and head back to the conference room, the second Aaron closes the door I surprise him. I lean in and kiss him, the kiss is strong and passionate and then I ignoring everyone's shocked expression, including his, as I walk back over to my seat and sit down and resume eating my cake.
Everyone is speechless for a moment until Hotch clears his throat, "so that went well I guess".
I nod as I eat my cake and the Rossi tries to ease the mood. "Well umm okay, let's let that be and I will eat more cake".
Everyone laughs and the things become light and cheery again. "So what was that for" Emily asks, gesturing at us with her fork.
Hotch shrugs and I say, "he did us a favor". No one questions us and Morgan's phone goes off and he looks to Hotch and nods. Hotch grins and I freak out, "what is happening?!" Everyone laughs and JJ stops and says confused, "wait, what is happening?" Everyone goes quiet and Hotch's says "we'll tell you guys tomorrow" I pout and he just chuckles. The day goes by quickly and soon we are heading out.

Hotch's POV
I smile as we walk to the car, the director and the board approved dating with other coworkers. In the car I drive and Reid rides shot gun, with Emily in back. At the house we order take out and talk some more before we head off to shower and go to bed. Reid crawls under the covers but I pause and tell him, "one second, I have to make a quick call" he sits up and nods and I leave the room.
I make sure I go to the basement so he can't hear and call Strauss, "What do you need Aaron?"
I hate when she calls me that but I try to ignore it and say, "Morgan said the director and board are allowing relationships within the BAU now..."
I pause and wait to hear what she says, "yes, why?"
I sigh and say, "how would it effect my team if two members were to be in a relationship? Would there be transfers?"
At first I grow worried when she doesn't answer but then she says "it depends on who it is". I sigh loudly so she can hear that I'm clearly frustrated that she's prying but I when I don't answer immediately she says, "your worried because your involved aren't you?"
I nod but then realize she can't see me nod so I say "yes..."
Then she sighs and says "Aaron, you know that this worries me. I won't make you tell me who, but since when?"
I hold back a groan and say, "I don't know maybe a week or more...I'm not really sure, with the past couple days everything has blurred".
"Around the time of what case?"
I silently cringe and mumble "Tobias" the line is silent and I think she might not have heard me.
Then she says "and this hasn't effected your work?"
I think and say "no".
Strauss then says "I haven't been able to pick up on anything noticeable in your reports, if you two can continue to properly function at work then it will be fine".
I nod and say "thank you ma'am, have a nice evening".
She says "you to Aaron, take care of him" and then she hangs up. I laugh to myself as I walk back to our room, I knew she suspected us.
I slip into the room and Reid asks, "is something wrong?"
I beam at him and climb into bed with him and say "everything is perfect". Then I kiss him and we fall asleep.