"I can't believe you picked me up last night" I scoffed at Aaron's words,
"You're welcome!" I replied sarcastically, crossing my arms as I sat criss cross on my bed and watched him rummage through my closet for an extra pair of clothes, which I usually had for him.
"Oh, yeah do you want me to thank you for fucking Reid, too?"
"God, you're such a pain in my ass!" I started, "How many times do I have to say it was a mistake! And you know what? I shouldn't even have to apologize to you! You fucking left me!"
"You killed your sister!"
"Oh, boo fucking who! Cry me a river, Hotchner. You were just trying to find any excuse to break up with me and you finally got one" I got up, and he turned away from my closet to look at me, "You murdered Foyet, and you know what? You would have killed her too if she broke into your house! Would you rather her be alive right now, or me?"
He waited to answer as we exchanged looks, both angry, but I'm assuming for different reasons. "I always knew there was something going on with you two"
"Oh, my God" I rubbed my forehead, "No, you didn't. You want to know why? Because there isn't anything going on between the two of us!"
We had been fighting all afternoon, he was furious that I had picked him up last night. I guess he wanted to get so blackout he didn't know where he was. Like, gee, I'm so sorry for making sure you got somewhere safe.
"I see the way he looks at you! He's in love with you, Veronica!"
Then, there was complete and utter silence as we stared at one another. It took me a bit to say, "Aaron, he's not in love with me"
"You don't seem so sure anymore"
I started walking closer to him, "No, what I'm not sure about is why you care. You left me for a stupid reason without letting me explain myself, then you threaten to fire me, and then you bring Ashley fucking Beauchamp into the BAU to replace JJ!" I was angry now, and I finally stopped maybe six inches away from him, "A girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes" I paused, "Sound familiar?" I was referring to every single one of his ex girlfriends or ex crushes, who all had the same features, "A girl ten years younger than you, a girl with a serial killer father" I clenched my jaw as I shared the similarities to myself, "You're with her all the time, you're mad at me because of Spencer? I should be allowed to be mad at you because of her" I said her like it was trash on the ground.
"What?" was all that came out of his mouth after almost a minute. "You're really jealous of Seaver?" I stood straighter and flared my nostrils as I realized how dumb it sounded.
I wasn't jealous of her, I was jealous she was getting way more attention than I was.
"Wait," he squinted, "You really think I have feelings for Seaver?"
"What am I supposed to think while she's literally two inches away from you stroking your stab wound? What am I supposed to think when you treat her the same way you treated me when I got back?"
"You mean, like we are right now?" He questioned, and I realized how close we had gotten. I stepped back from him, "Veronica, I-"
I cut him off, "No, I'm so sick and tired of this. You find out I killed my murderous sister who broke into my house, just like you did with Foyet, and you broke up with me for it. Remember what I did when you beat Foyet so bad almost every bone in his body was smashed?" I narrowed my eyes at him, "I comforted you and then on top of it, I was sleeping at your house every night. I was helping you raise your son and took every single last one of my personal days off to stay with you. And you?" I scoffed, "You left me in a parking lot in the middle of North Dakota, on my favorite holiday of the year, right after I had just lost our baby and found out that my best friend was still alive after eleven years"
I finally said, "You don't love me anymore, we've already established that. Now get out of my house and go to your son, he needs you way more than I do"
Which made him look like he shattered inside, but I couldn't care anymore. We had been playing this game for way too long, I was way too emotionally drained to have to deal with this every second of my life. "I don't love you anymore?" he asked, as if it wasn't true.
"Aaron, just go. I can't play this game with you. Either you leave right now and we stop fighting or--"
And then, the phone starting ringing. We exchanged looks for a moment, and then he finally picked up the phone. "Hotchner" He listened for a moment, "Yes," He then looked at me, "She's with me," I narrowed my eyes, "Okay, we're coming now"
"Um, no we aren't" I spoke up as he hung up the phone, "It's my day off, I'm not going to work on a case" I defended. There was no way I could be emotionally prepared for another case after everything that just happened.
He grabbed his jacket and phone, "It's not a case, Strauss needs us" He told me, and he started walking out of my room. I looked down at my watch, seeing it was already six o'clock. I sighed and started taking my sweatshirt along with my sweatpants off. In the middle of me changing into a dark green sweater, black pleated pants, and a white button-down, he turned to look at me, "This conversation isn't over" He told me, and then he finally made his way out of my room.
I rolled my eyes and continued changing, and then I grabbed my messenger bag. I left my house with Aaron and didn't talk the entire car ride there, not having the energy to at all. It was pouring, I wanted to listen to the calming sounds of the water droplets pounding on the windows.
It wasn't awkward silence between Aaron and I, I think we were both tired of yelling at one another for three hours straight.
Once we got there, we were instantly greeted by Derek. "She's fuming, man" He told us as we all walked towards the elevator,
"What? Did Veronica do something again?" Aaron said, coldly. I scoffed and looked in front of us, crossing my arms,
"She probably found out about last night. Wouldn't be surprised if she's sending you to rehab" I shot back,
"Guess I won't be able to visit you in prison then" I clenched my jaw and grabbed him by his hair, ripping him down to my height. He hissed at me, and Derek's eyes went wide.
I just held onto his hair and stood like that until it opened, and I finally let go as we walked out. I didn't look at either of them as I said, "The fact that you just let me do that proves a lot, sir" I smirked as we entered Strauss' office, but it instantly faded when I saw Spencer sitting in there with her.
She saw us and her eyes landed on Derek, "Agent Morgan, you can leave" She suggested, and he obeyed, shutting the door behind him. "It has come to my attention that Agent Gordon and Dr. Reid had an affair during this previous case?" I stood straighter at the accusation,
"And as I was trying to explain to her, nothing happened" Spencer said as he looked directly at me. I crossed my arms and instantly agreed with my best friend.
"We did sleep in the same room after the case but nothing happened. He slept on the couch after we watched a movie, I accidentally fell asleep in the bed." I lied too, and that's when her eyes landed on Aaron.
She obviously didn't believe us when she asked him, "Is this true, Agent Hotchner?"
Aaron knew Spencer and I could either get fired or permanently moved because of this, especially because it was during a case. So he said, "Yes, ma'am. I walked in to wake the two up and Dr. Reid was in fact on the couch"
I wanted to look at him with shock, I wanted to turn and thank him and hug him for lying to his boss for us, even though he was obviously not happy about it.
"If any of you are lying--"
"We do know the consequences of lying, and that's why we're telling you the truth" I cut her off, and she examined all three of us for a moment.
"Very well," She started, "You may leave" She shooed us off, and we listened. Spencer shut the door after we all walked out, and we stopped to stare at one another for a moment. I was about to speak, when Aaron basically stormed off.
Spencer looked down at me, "Ronnie, go" He insisted, and I was about to hurry off. Spencer then however grabbed my hand, and I shot my head around to look at him, "No, not just chase after him" He started, "Go get him back, please" he let go of me after he said that, and we exchanged looks. I nodded and basically ran after him.
He could have done exactly what he wanted to to begin with, get back at me for having sex with Spencer. But he didn't, instead he saved our asses while putting his own at risk.
He had already taken one of the elevators down, and I kept hitting the elevator buttons to come to me. However, it was taking too long, and I remembered the staircase. I rushed towards it and slammed the door open, sprinting down the four flights of stairs so fast I almost fell a few times.
I couldn't let him leave, not yet.
We weren't finished having that conversation, after all.
So I got to the first floor and basically broke down the front doors of the building, looking around for Aaron. It was hard to see, it was pouring and almost pitch black out, the only light coming from the light-posts.
I finally saw him walking towards his car, "Aaron!" I called, and he turned to see who it was. I hurried towards the man, "Why did you lie?" I questioned as I reached him, "Why would you risk that?"
"Because you and Reid love this job" He was about to turn back around, but I grabbed his hand. He glanced down at me, the both of us were soaked,
"That's not all of it"
"What do you want me to say, Veronica?"
"I don't want you to say anything yet, I want you to listen to me" I admitted, "Spencer and I had sex, I know I fucked up. I know, but Spencer and I are friends and I don't see him like that. It was a mistake and I..." I bit my lip, "Aaron Hotchner," I hesitated to let the next words I was about to say out, "I still love you"
I didn't let him speak yet, "I love you so much, it consumes me" I couldn't look away from his eyes, the eyes I fell in love with almost four years ago. The eyes that changed my life, "Please, tell me if you love me too" I almost begged, and my eyes started to water.
I was so scared, I let myself become so vulnerable just because he bit a singular bullet for me. "On that undercover case, they were talking about sacrificing you before I went to go see you. They thought you were suspicious" He started, "I turned myself in right after I left you in the bathroom, I was going to tell you then but" He paused and stepped closer to me, "I love you, too" He revealed.
I let out a small gasp at the relief I was feeling, and then he wrapped one of his arms around my waist. His free hand cupped my face, and he pressed his lips onto mine for the first time in a long time.
I felt alive again, I felt like I could do anything and everything. All of the pain, the hurt, the lies. It was all for something, it meant I could finally be happy with him again.
I didn't care about all the bad we had been through, because now I was finally kissing him again, hearing the I love you's again.
He went to sacrifice himself to make sure I didn't get caught, he lied to Erin to make sure my best friend and I didn't get transferred.
He still cared, and he still loved me.
We pulled away from one another after a moment, and I let out an accidental laugh. "Sorry for pulling your hair"
He let out his own little laugh as he pushed a strand of soaking wet hair behind my ear for me, "Sorry for yelling at you for three hours"
I looked back down at his lips, and I pushed his head into mine, our lips locking once again. We made our way to his car without pulling away from one another, him opening the drivers side door. He got into the black SUV, and I followed him. I straddled him as he shut the door behind us, the car warm compared to the freezing cold rain outside.
I ran my hands up his wet hair, his fingers tracing the pant line of my black trousers. Our kisses became more passionate and aggressive, "Veronica Gordon," He muttered in between kisses, "I'm in love with you" He told me. I pulled away, but not too far from his face.
"Aaron Hotchner," Our eyes locked, "I'm in love with you, too"