Stars shone through the sky as Cecile fiddled with her necklace, the same necklace Hotch bought her for her birthday, while quickly walking out to the car that she had parked a few hours previously. Hotch was sat in the passenger seat, meaning that he expected her to drive. 'I need a holiday,' he grumbled as he checked his watch and yawned.
'Backpack for a year around Australia, you might find who the fuck asked,' she retorted while blinking back her tired state.
'Sounds expensive, they don't pay me enough for that,' Hotch confessed with a smirk.
Cecile scoffed as she started the car and waited for Hotch to put the address into the car's navigation. 'Download a dating app, because the next thing you know, thousands of guys are willing to take you on a trip to the lowest point of your life. And, for the low cost of your mental health and sanity, you can visit rock bottom. Travel is a life style, Hotch,' she replied sarcastically, irritation high in her tone.
'Why do you hate men so much? Is it because I wouldn't let you drink the bleach under the sink?' Hotch asked curiously.
'It smelt nice, I just wanted to give it a taste,' Cecile retorted angrily as she pulled up at a set of lights.
'You would have died,' Hotch snapped back as he readjusted his tie to meet his top button.
Cecile scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. 'Keeping me alive is like a fucked up Tamagotchi. A traumagotchi if you will,' she retorted quickly, a little too quickly for Hotch's liking.
'If a genie met you, they'd offer you twenty wishes, because you're such a mess,' Hotch replied as Cecile began driving again, carefully making her way through a surprising number of cars that were out for the night. 'You said earlier that you have ninety nine problems, and money would solve all of them. May I suggest a rich husband?'
'You mean, wait. You want me to get a husband? The thing that killed everyone on Dateline?' Cecile asked incredulously. 'I don't even know if I am a real human yet, how can I make a plan like marriage?'
Hotch laughed, a high-pitched, joyous laugh at her before he managed to stop himself. 'What about a secret admirer? An admirer who sends you money would be enough, they don't have to be so secret about it,' he suggested. 'Boost your confidence without the commitment of marriage.'
'Every admirer is secret if you're bad at reading social cues. And being a heterosexual woman is the worst thing ever. I have to date and encourage my only natural predator. Discounting polar bears,' Cecile remarked as she shifted gear and turned a tight corner. 'See that? I turned quickly and didn't nearly kill you, if only you could have returned the favour all those months ago,' she quipped.
'We got where we needed to. You're incredibly judgemental. Jack would say that you sound like goldilocks,' Hotch retorted as he carefully pushed his palm against her palm that was on the gear stick, her fingers barely reaching across his hand for her to change gears.
'Snow White finds a house in a forest and starts working, and then she dies. Goldilocks gets into the joint, shares some truths, and then gets out of there. However, I would say that I've done the seven little men thing and I appreciated their hi ho,' Cecile commented with a snicker.
Shaking his head, Hotch hid his laugh behind a sigh. 'More like "Hi, hoe". Being attractive doesn't account for everything,' he remarked. 'Maybe that's why you don't like to enter relationships. Unless you count confessing your love for me after attending the worst date I have ever heard of.'
'First of all, if that wasn't such a good play on words, I would be punching your dick right now. And I'm not attractive by choice, my body is just a vessel for pasta. And this vessel is valid. And should I remind you that you also confessed your love for me? In fact, you fell for me first. Let's test the falling fastest and furthest theory, one year with no contact and we can see who gets over it the quickest,' Cecile snappily remarked while quietly smirking under the moonlight.
Hotch squeezed Cecile's hand as he heard her speak. 'Actually, your looks tell me that you're a whore with daddy issues. You have no self-respect and you lack any morals or values. Not only this, but you got smacked in the face with an ugly stick while every other stick smacked your vagina,' he retorted, pushing to see how far she would let him go.
'You wish you saw my vagina. And you're just jealous because you have only ever had vanilla missionary sex before. But if you want to find a desperate slut who is always willing to play into your fantasies, there is a mirror in the visor,' Cecile snapped back. 'Keep attacking me like this and I am going to gain all the weight I once lost and body slam you. After this, I will lose all of my weight again and be a skinny bitch while you suffer from brain damage,' she threatened.
'I hope your crops whither and bear no fruit,' Hotch replied while playing cold.
As Cecile opened her mouth to respond, a car turned the corner behind them and their lights flashed for a moment as they moved over a speedbump. Worried that something was wrong, she glanced up and checked the rear view mirror. As she did so, a loud unexpected yell erupted from her lips as she pulled to the side of the road and slammed the breaks on, the car behind them passing quickly. 'What the fuck!' She shouted before closing her eyes and resting her head on the steering wheel while trying to avoid the horn.
'What's wrong?' Hotch asked as he unbuckled his seatbelt and tried to pull her away from the wheel where she was laughing. 'Why are you laughing?' He asked, growing hesitant of her actions. 'If this is just another stunt to get into my pants then you are out of luck. We need to get to the crime scene. Unless you're trying to get out of your second dumpster body in as many days, then I am going to drive if you can't handle it,' he warned while waiting for her explanation.
Laughing into the wheel still, Cecile managed to free a hand from below her head as she pointed behind them. Hotch slowly turned and his eyes grew wide as he noticed Prentiss and Reid in the back seat with wide, intrigued glances, their lips were sucked into their mouths as they hid smiles. 'So, you two,' Reid awkwardly commented while trying to avoid eye contact.
Caught short, Hotch wasn't sure how to react when Cecile suddenly began driving again, tears forming in the corners of her eyes from her laughter. 'Buckle up, Babe,' she joked before looking in the mirror again. 'You two should probably keep your mouths shut or I will tell Pooh Bear what happened on the last case,' she warned as the navigation told her to go all the way around a roundabout, taking a sharp turn to do it in time since it was such a small roundabout.
'What happened on the last case?' Hotch asked suddenly as he found his professional voice coming to the surface.
Shaking her head, Cecile refused to answer while the other two agents looked out the window as if nothing had been said, both pondering their options. 'Fine, but I want some answers. How long has it been?' Prentiss asked eventually.
Hotch moved to answer, when Cecile cut over him. 'We aren't together. Just some emotions. But we didn't kiss until the other night, my date was awful. I'll update you when we are on the jet back. Even Jess looked ready to fight the man when I told her what happened. I went to Aaron's house after the restaurant,' she informed them. 'Nothing else to know.'
Only time would tell if they could keep a secret, when they arrived at the scene, everyone was already there and stood next to the bin when Hotch stood close to Cecile and nudged her. 'We aren't together? I thought there was something between us. I thought we loved each other and wanted to be together,' he remarked while watching the rest of the team get close to the body.
'I don't do relationships. And you're still healing, is it the best time for us to be together? Jack and Jess are still learning to adapt to the situation they're in. What would Strauss say? There are just so many reasons why being together is a bigger deal than just loving each other. Love is only part of a relationship,' Cecile breathed as she pulled her gloves on.
'Jess told me to go for you. Jack has already asked when you are going to come live with us again, Rossi has assured me that he and Strauss will protect our jobs. We will have a lot of paperwork and an inquest, but it will be discrete,' Hotch mentioned as he finished pushing his gloves on.
The pair walked toward the site as the others checked the marks and tried to engrave it into their mind. 'That solves external issues, but internal ones matter. What if you aren't ready or don't want it? What if I am not ready and don't want it?' Cecile asked just before they entered ear shot of the rest of the team.
Crouching together, Hotch and Cecile glanced at the body before her hands moved to the mouth that sat open, her fingers reaching in to look for something inside. 'I just don't understand why you wouldn't want to. And I know how I am feeling,' he hushed while pretending to try and look at what she was looking at.
'You haven't stopped to consider me in all of this. I'm not just going to agree because you say I should,' Cecile complained, loud enough for the others to hear.
Standing, Hotch glanced at the team and police. 'Until the body can be processed, there isn't much more we can do here. Let's head back to the station and get the pictures sent over,' he commanded with his usual stern voice. 'CeCe, a word,' he then added angrily.
Approaching the cars, Prentiss and Reid liked their odds in another car as they joined Morgan, Rossi and JJ. 'Is it too much to ask for us to actually talk about this rather than just assuming everything?' Cecile asked as they approached the car.
'Maybe you're just too much,' Hotch replied quietly, regretting the words as they left his mouth.
'Then go find less,' Cecile snapped loudly as she climbed into the driver's seat, taking off before Hotch had even managed to close his door as she sped out, the team awkwardly watching the scene while Prentiss and Reid glanced at one another with knowing looks. It didn't take his genius brain to figure out what was happening.
In the car, Hotch placed his hand on Cecile's thigh, but she pushed him off as she angrily drove to the police station. The navigation had been set by Hotch and she had taken the wrong turn, adding time to their already long journey. 'I didn't mean what I said,' he admitted.
'I can't even begin to think about a relationship with you if we are going to fight like this. Aaron, I love what we had, we were playful, we had fun. But now we're bringing this up and we are arguing like an old married couple in the nineteen sixties. I don't do relationships because things like this happen. And I pick the wrong men. It isn't fair on you, me, Jack, the team. My friends or your friends and our families deserve better. We can't give ourselves up to a relationship,' Cecile complained as she tried to make up for lost time after her wrong turn.
'Then we need to communicate. What are you scared of? I'm not worried, but you are,' Hotch explained, even he found himself strangely understanding.
Huffing, Cecile stopped the car and pulled it over. 'You never say sorry,' she murmured. 'You have said the most unkind things to me, and then I was left to forgive you because you made some grand gesture. Life isn't about grand gestures. It's about small mistakes and rectifying them. And it isn't just that, I'm broken. And there aren't enough pieces of me to put back together and make a whole human anymore,' she confessed.
'I am not great at dealing with emotions, but I know that you're hurting right now. I am sorry for what I said, it wasn't true. You are helpful to the team. You're an asset. I can tell you that I said and did those things because the morning that I returned, while I was playing with you, part of me wanted to move on and risk it all for you. I was scared because my ex-wife died weeks ago, it felt wrong to feel that way. I had hoped that you would say or do something that would make me see you as something other than the woman I knew you as. But things only got worse,' Hotch confessed.
Hesitating, Cecile considered her response. 'Aaron, from now on, if I am pushing your buttons too much, or you feel like you just want to lash out at me, tell me and walk away. If you need it, see a counsellor. I can't change who I am, but I can learn to choose my time and place,' she informed him.
'Cecile Sallow, I love you. Will you officially date me? Because I can't even begin to imagine being with anyone else,' Hotch asked formally.
'Only if you promise to hold my hand when I need you to,' Cecile replied as she turned her hand out for him. Taking her hand, Hotch felt Cecile squeeze his fingers before she let it go and she started the engine, turning the lights on as she drove faster than he would have liked.
A/N: as always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. But now the secret is slowly getting out...