Yes! Another one of my favorites! I love Hotch. He is my absolute favorite. I am so sorry. I am terrible at updating I know. I am trying harder now that my schedule allows more time. Definitely will be writing over Christmas Break, which starts this Friday! Anyways, onto the story!
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"(Y/N)! Just get up! It's not that hard."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I'm hibernating."
"Sweetheart ... it's not that cold out. And you're not an animal!"
"I can be what I want to be!"
"(Y/N) ... We have work today."
"No."
"Come on just get out of bed!"
"Do we need to get you hearing aids?"
I pulled down the bed sheets to peep out at my stern-faced husband. One of his giant bear claws was covering his forehead and his eyes on his shaking head. I hid my smile beneath the heated covers. I loved playing games with my fake stubbornness. It is not easy for me to be stubborn. I am a rule follower. So why do I play these games?
Because it makes my husband smile.
Not often does he smile. But if anyone can make him smile ... it's me. His eyes were suddenly revealed as his claw slipped off his face and out in front of him. Those dark pools, filled with amusement, glanced down to the small surface and checked the time.
"(Y/N) can I put this into perspective?" Hotch asked.
I groaned. "Whaaaat?"
"It's seven thirty right as of ... now."
"Oh god ..." I flipped off the covers, now fully alert and ready. We have to be at the BAU office by eight. To get through early morning rush hour to Quantico takes about ten minutes. Which means I had twenty minutes to fix ... oh my.
I looked in the mirror and what I saw was not the best. My hair, curled from late night date night the night before, was now frizzy and in uneven waves. My eyes even looked tired and sunken and I needed a shower. There was no way I could do all of this in twenty minutes!
I heard Hotch laughing from the other room. "Sorry honey! Not my fault you stayed in bed. I rolled my eyes and started grabbing a towel from the cupboard as I watched my husband walk into the room, freshly ready but still in a t-shirt and sweats. As I got up from the floor with my towel in hand. he came up and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"I'm all ready, but another shower couldn't hurt you know ..."
I smiled into his face and kissed it slowly. "I'll grab another towel then."
~~~~~
"Good morning everyone! Sadly, today is not a chillax type of day," Garcia stated sadly as she stood up from her conference chair and stood next to the board.
She clicked the remote and three graphic images of blistered and scarred boys popped up on the screen. You almost gagged at the site of these boys. Every inch of their body was covered in blisters, burns, and bruises and their skin was shriveled. You could see the rest of the team grimace along with you, including Garcia, who would not look towards the board in any way possible.
"These boys are fifteen-year-old Tommy Enklemier, seventeen-year-old Adrien Michael and sixteen-year-old Damien Rivera. Tommy was found last Friday in a ditch near I-25 in Denver, Adrien on Tuesday behind a local downtown Denver bar and Damien was found yesterday near an oil drill by local police."
"Okay, so we clearly have an Unsub who gets of on watching people suffer by the hands of heat, specifically teenagers," Prentiss stated.
"And they're also accelerating," Morgan said. "A four day period between dumping and now only a two day. As far as we know, he could be dumping a body tomorrow."
"But how were they burned so badly that they died but didn't become black as you would from being burned by fire?" Rossi asked. "These burns look pretty severe, but there is no indication that fire had been used. How is he killing them?"
"Well, sir, you are absolutely correct. He is not using fire. Nothing like that was traced on any person's body. That's also the other thing," Garcia said. "All three of these boys ... were put in an industrial dryer."
Your stomach churned at the thought of all of these teenagers being tossed around in industrial dryers, put on high heat and left in there for god knows how long to suffer and die. Pass out from heat strokes, burn and never make it out of there alive. You could see everyone's faces fall in sadness and mourning for those teenage boys.
You looked over at Hotch, who glanced at you. His eyes told the story of sadness and distress and the longingness to be home with you and not dealing with psychopaths. You received the look and threw back understanding and kindness, sharing that feeling of mourning. Derek sighed and Reid, who had surprisingly stayed quiet throughout the whole briefing, now spoke.
"Guys I just noticed something. So if you look here," he said, standing from his respective chair and pointing to Damien's lifeless, shriveled body, "There are no signs of a struggle between Damien or any of the victims even. There are no antemortem ligature marks or bludgeons to any of the bodies."
"So what does that mean?" JJ stated.
"This Unsub is most likely a charismatic psychopath," Reid said. "They are charming, attractive liars. They are usually gifted at some talent or another, and they use it to their advantage in manipulating others. They-They are usually fast-talkers and possess an almost ... demonic ability to persuade others out of everything they own, even their lives. These people often come to believe in their own fictions. They are practically irresistible."
"So the Unsub is using some sort of tactic to lure his victims either along with them or out of sight from any witnesses and shoves them in a large vehicle. These dumping spots are all so different from each other, it's hard to know if they're symbolic or random. We need to figure out what this Unsub's MO is, where he is hiding these kids and where his lair is," Prentiss said with ferocity.
"Alright wheels up in thirty. (Y/N) ... can we talk?"
Everyone shuffled out of the conference room with their files to grab their go-bags and head out to the jet but you smiled and walked over to Hotch in your flowy black, low cut blouse tucked into your bright red pencil skirt and your black suede heels. He watched as you walked up to him and he put his arms around you, locking in the back as a protective gesture. You put your arms around his neck and, leaning his head down into your neck, his mouth breathed out a warm gust of air, making you shiver. He growled playfully.
"You look so mmf today, (Y/N). My angel also smells like heaven itself."
He pulled you in tighter and gave you a long and slow kiss filled with intensity and passion. Once he unlocked your lips, you looked at him with a confused expression on your face. He returned the look back to you after a moment.
"That was very unlike you."
"What do you mean?" he asked still holding you.
"Interfering with work to do something like that."
"You look so amazing today and everything about you is just so ... perfect I can't help myself."
You smiled and kissed him again, having no idea that the whole team was grinning up at you two, watching through the parted blinds. Garcia awwed, Prentiss and JJ giggled and smiled at you. Reid stared and smiled, thinking about how you were just the thing Hotch needed to make his life happy and complete. Derek just shook his head, wondering how you two were meant to be, and Rossi smirked and bathed himself in his very own approval for this whole thing.
"Trust me, (Y/N). I know we have to go work a case, but when we come back," Hotch said, raising his eyebrows, "you will have such a great night, you won't be able to sit up in bed for hours."
You grinned, liking the things you were hearing. "Well let's go work this case fast."
And with that, both of you grabbed your go-bags, walking hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder out the conference room doors and past the OTP shipping team, ready to solve another case.
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Word Count: 1428