Undercover Lovers |Aaron Hotchner|

Chapter Sixteen: Monday

Right, we weren't in Oak Hills anymore. I didn't have to worry about who would get kidnapped next— and it definitely wouldn't be Callahan.

"It's Reid's baby." She said with a straight face.

"What?" He asked. "No it isn't!"

"You should tell Rossi it's his so he'll pay child support." I suggested.

"Don't scare me like that." He said, appearing out of nowhere next to JJ. "It's good to see you again, bella."

"You too, handsome. Now that everyone's here, Hotch and I should get going soon."

"Don't tell me the Director's dragging you away again." Morgan pouted.

"No, we just have a meeting with him. What time is it?"

"8:32." Aaron answered immediately, like he knew he was the one I was asking. He led the way to his office and grabbed a few things before we got on the elevator.

"Nervous?"

"More than I'd like to admit."

"Me too, but I won't let anything come between us." I bit my lip. "We're in this together."

"Until the very end. As long as we're together, everything will be okay. One of us said that in Oak Hills and it became sort of a mantra for me. I love you, Valerie."

"I love you too." I kissed his cheek and straightened his tie before the elevator doors opened. We stepped off and walked over to his assistant's desk to scan our badges.

"He's ready for you." She smiled encouragingly, almost like she knew what we were about to do. I took a deep breath and followed Hotch's lead inside.

"My two favorite agents!" Bartley said excitedly as we all shook hands. Strauss was not nearly as excited. In fact, she looked hungover. "I hate paperwork as much as anyone else, so I thought a verbal record would work better and save everyone time. When you're ready, please start from the beginning and spare no details."

I cleared my throat and told them the general plot and timeline. Aaron filled him in with the important details before I moved on from each occurrence, obviously waiting on telling them about our relationship.

We took hours explaining everything to the two of them. I hated having to fill out paperwork, so I appreciated the fact that he was letting us do this. I couldn't imagine how long it would've taken for us to write everything down.

His secretary silently walked in to set a salad down in front of him with a glass of water. He took a few pills before eating his lunch. I guessed it was around 2:00 as we finished up retelling the case.

Both of them stared at us in awe. I could see a mix of pride, astonishment, and confusion on their faces.

"I allotted twelve to eighteen months to give you enough time to assimilate, yet you finished everything in just six months. I know that you two are the best of the best, but that shouldn't have been possible." He narrowed his eyes. "How did you do it?"

I felt Aaron tense up ever so slightly next to me. It was go time. We had to make our case.

I sucked in a breath. "You said to convince everyone of our relationship and that it was vital to do so. We didn't want any more bodies, so we did our best to act like a couple in front of everyone. We did this for a few months, but it became real after a while. We didn't have to act anymore because we were— and are— completely in love and everyone could see that."

"The two of you..." He raised his eyebrows. "Tell me more about your relationship. When did it begin? How far did it go?"

"That's kind of complicated because we first kissed in February, I realized I loved him in March, we started sleeping together in April, and I accidentally told him my feelings in May." I said, immediately regretting not letting Aaron say it more eloquently. He nudged me under the table with his foot.