dangerously ↝ a. hotchner

t h r e e

Ana groaned as she woke up, her head pounding mercilessly as she cracked her eyes open, the instant flood of light blinding her vision making it worse.

She lifted her head up, acutely aware of the strong arm slung around her waist, pulling her towards him. She was met with the view of his jet black hair, his face buried in a pillow as he snored softly. She tried to lift his arm up as slowly and quietly as possible, but stopped instantly when she felt him stir beneath her.

He turned his head around, his eyes fluttering open as he did so. A flash of confusion shot through them as he took in the dark haired beauty staring back at him.

"Hi." She said quietly, covering herself up with the blankets.

"Hi." She could practically see herself melt into a puddle as his raspy morning voice filled her ears.

It was such an odd thing to do, greet him like that, as if they were meeting for the first time. Even though their naked bodies under the sheets proved that they'd met before.

She stared at him for a while longer, taking in his deep brown eyes, the way his long eyelashes brushed against his cheeks ever so slightly when he blinked. And she wondered what his name was.

Fuck. What was his name?

He frowned as she cursed out loud.

"Sorry." She apologized, an embarrassed smile gracing her face. "I just have no clue what your name is." She admitted, throwing her hands up in defeat.

Aaron chuckled, then breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god. All I remember is that yours started with an A."

She bit back a laugh, "Ana." She smiled, holding out her hand.

He took her hand in his, his large hand enveloping her smaller one. "Aaron."

She blushed as she got out of the bed, looking around and noticing that it was a hotel room. She held the blanket tightly against her body as she searched for her clothes, spotting most of them in a scattered pile on the floor.

She quickly slipped them on, turning around to see Aaron watching her, a lazy smirk across his face. She blushed, but gained a surge of confidence when she realized he was checking her out. She walked towards him, her hips swaying slightly.

Ana bent down and kissed him sweetly, her hands going to clasp his face gently in hers as they melted into the kiss. "I had fun." She grinned, grabbing her bag. "Call me." She slipped quietly out the door and he could hear her heels clacking against the hard floors as she left.

Aaron looked over to the table her purse was on, seeing a white business card in it's place. It had her name and number on it. That was it. Anastasia Pierce.

—

Aaron felt like he'd been hit by a truck when he got out of bed. The weight of what he'd just done heavy on him, and the hangover wasn't helping one bit.

A million thoughts raced through his head as he tried to piece together the events of the day before. He found out Hayley was cheating, which admittedly he'd suspected when her phone started ringing repeatedly during one of their many fights.

He went to the range. Hotel. Ah, the bar. That was where he met Ana. He quickly grabbed his phone, thumbing through his contacts and searching for Rossi, Reid and Morgan's numbers. He called them all together and they each picked up one by one.

"Hello?" Spencer croaked, sounding like he'd jumped off an airplane with no parachute. "Hotch?"

"You all okay?" Aaron asked, finding the hungover Spencer extremely amusing at this moment in time.

He could hear a deeper voice groan through the phone, "No. I'm in some chicks apartment and she locked me in here with no keys." Morgan grumbled.

Rossi could be heard laughing in the background, but it sounded like he was far away from his phone. "Oh the perks of becoming an alcoholic when you're fifteen."

"I forgot you were immune to hangovers." Aaron complained.

Spencer whimpered as a loud crash could be heard in the background. "So not fair." He groaned, his voice being muffled by his hand.

"I'll see you all at work tomorrow." Aaron yawned, rubbing his face tiredly. "Morgan, at least try and act like you're trying to get out of there."

He heard Morgan chuckle and he ended the call. Glancing around his hotel room, he finally let the silence consume him. He felt a pang in his chest and hot tears pooled in his eyes as he thought about what his life was like now. Sure, he wasn't always there and when he was, he sometimes worked on cases anyway. But he'd been loyal. Until the very end he'd been loyal.

"Dammit." He cursed, aggressively wiping away the tears that fell down his cheeks. He never cried. And yet here he was, in a strange hotel room, knowing his life was slowly falling apart, crying.

His shoulders wracked with sobs as he failed to compose himself. All the emotions that had been building up after all these years were finally catching up to him.

Aaron Hotchner was at his breaking point.

—

Ana waltzed into her apartment slowly, her head was still slightly achey and her feet were incredibly sore from the admittedly uncomfortable heels she had squeezed into the night before.

She threw her keys into the little bowl by her front door, kicking off her shoes as she walked further into her house. She spied a file on her kitchen table from the modeling agency she was part of and sighed, they'd mailed it to her after she mentioned that she was thinking about moving on from modeling. She guessed it was their way of trying to convince her to stay.

Before her insufferable mother had her purposely scouted by a modeling agency, she was a licensed clinical psychiatrist with a PhD in psychology and everything. That only lasted a couple of years before the same modeling agency scooped her up.

Perhaps she'd gotten too comfortable with the world she'd surrounded herself with. All the PR parties, the photo shoots in different counties, expensive champagne and large plates of tiny food. It had become a part of her, and she wasn't sure she wanted that anymore.

But she could change.

She started making calls to local practices and hospitals in need of psychiatrists. Two hours and many, many conversations later, she had an interview with two practices and one hospital. Feeling extremely proud of herself, she rewarded herself with ice cream and a movie — her favorite thing to do on a lazy afternoon.

—