[For Aaron]

[wildlyconflictd]

It was 1:05 AM by her watch when Pepper woke up in a strange bed next to the very tangible, sleeping body of Aaron Hotchner. The night was warm, and while they'd opened the shutters to let in a breeze, the sheets had been mostly habitual. Aaron was stretched out across the bed with the top sheet bunched low over his hips, and when Pepper sat up

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[o_heart]

He wakes and finds her gone. For a moment, a brief, split second, he lets himself think that it's a different bed, and that Haley must have slipped down the hallway to see to Jack.

And he knows that's not true. And it takes him a minute to get his breath back.

Pulling on his underwear, he pads out of the open door and finds her, leaning against the rail, the hem of his shirt brushing the tops of her thighs. He sits, settles himself in the chair on the porch, and looks up at her.

"What?"

[wildlyconflictd]

"Just thinking."

Pepper turned her head and offered him a subdued smile, moonlight in her hair. "I'm sorry if I woke you. I tried to be quiet."

[o_heart]

"You didn't," he says, looking back up at her, relaxed back in the chair (though he feels anything but relaxed). "I've never slept deeply."

He's barely slept at all since that day at home; he sees it all again when he closes his eyes.

[wildlyconflictd]

"Aaron," she began, turning to look back up at the sky, "I don't want to give the impression that I'm not happy this happened, because nothing could be further from the truth, and maybe it's a little premature of me, but we've established that I like to be prepared." She glanced to him again and fixed him in a patient stare.

"I think that if this is going to be more than a one night stand, we should talk about some things."