D.C |Aaron Hotchner|

twenty five

The next morning, I was awoken by the smell of.... bacon?

I opened my eyes and looked around, quickly remembering what occurred last night. I'm at Aaron's.

I rolled over to face where he once was. I patted the bed and saw that he was no longer there. I yawned and sat up to look at the alarm clock that read 10:15 am. I grabbed my phone off the nightstand to see I had a text from Penelope in our group chat.

"JJ and I took your car back to your place. Text me in the morning please!"

I smiled at the text, they were too kind.

I stepped out of bed to feel the soft carpet underneath my toes. I entered his bathroom, used the toilet, then stood in front of the mirror.

I looked horrible. My eyes were swollen from all the crying, and the cut on the side of my face was beginning to scab. I washed my face with cold water, being careful not to get soap in the cut.

My hair was in shambles, multiple pieces falling out of the braid. I took out my pony tail holder and undid the braid. My hair unfolded into loose waves. I brushed my fingers through them to make them a little more presentable. There wasn't much more I could do to help my appearance, so I made my way out of the bathroom, exited his bedroom, and walked down stairs to join him in the kitchen.

He was facing away from me, at his kitchen sink. He was wearing the same grey zip up, but with jeans. He was on the phone.

"Alright, thanks." He spoke before turning around to see me in the open doorway.

My lips curled into a soft smile and I waved.

"Oh, she's awake. I'll call you later, okay? Bye." He then ended the call.

"Who was that?" I asked quietly.

"Emily."

"Oh." She must have explained the whole situation.

We stood in a somewhat awkward silence before he broke it,

"You hungry?" He asked.

I nodded.

"Good, I made waffles and bacon. I hope that's okay?"

"It's perfect." I said as we both made our way to the table to sit down and eat.

I started cutting my waffles into smaller pieces and took a bite from my fork.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked, causing me to look up from my plate to him sitting across from me.

I swallowed the food in my mouth before speaking, "What's up?"

"Why'd you want to come here?" He questioned.

"Um," I blushed, "I don't know, honestly." It was the truth; I really didn't know why I needed him.

"I mean, I obviously don't mind." He spoke. "I just want to make sure you're okay."

I nodded, and looked back down at my plate to take another bite of my waffles.

We continued eating in silence, just the sounds of our forks hitting the glass plates.

All I could focus on were my thoughts. Why did I want to come here?

"What are we?" I blurted without thinking.

He chuckled as he chewed his last bite of food.

"I don't know, Devyn. What would you like us to be?"

I blushed, I loved it when he said my name.

I shrugged my shoulders, too embarrassed to speak my mind.