Florida Spring

[matilda3948]

This is for Krazykat who was kind enough to trade story prompts with me. And since I am suffering through a crazy awful allergy season in Florida, I figured I'd make Hotch suffer through it as well

Okay, story time:

"Remind me to come back here when we're not working a case," Emily said as she walked off the plane and took off her jacket. The team had just landed at a small airstrip a few hours north of Miami and the weather was a far cry from the bleak, damp they left in DC. The sun was warm, there was a light breeze, and not a cloud in sight. It was beautiful; too bad they had to track down a serial killer instead of lounging on a beach. The team piled into the SUV's and headed to the local sheriff’s station. A short drive later and they were seated around a beat up table picking through the meager evidence local law enforcement had been able to collect. Hotch cleared his throat and asked,

"Can you show us on this map the locations where the bodies were found?"

The sheriff picked up a marker and circled three places on the map.

"What's in the surrounding area?" Morgan asked.

"Not much," the sheriff replied. "This area is mostly farm land. Citrus trees mostly. It's seasonal work so we get a lot of migrant workers coming through the area when the oranges are ready for harvest. Then they move further north for the tomatoes and strawberries. After the winter harvest, things really slow down. Two of the bodies were found in groves, and the third was found off the road."

"We need to take a look at the dump sites," Hotch said. "Morgan and I will take the two in the orange groves. Rossi and Prentiss, take the third one off the side road. Reid, start working up a geographical profile based on what we have and coordinate with Garcia to see if our victims overlap anywhere." With that the team split up and got to work. Hotch and Morgan took one SUV and drove a few miles before pulling off the road and into the orange grove. After a few minutes they found the area still roped off with police tape. They got out of the car and surveyed the area. "What do you think?" Hotch asked.

"First impression? This guy's from the area," Morgan said. "A stranger wouldn't take this many turns and go this deep into the orange grove just to drop a body. He'd dump it and run. This is somebody who knows the land."

Hotch cleared his throat. "I think you're right but given the transient nature of the population, it may be hard to track down the people who passed through here. I'll need to have Garcia--" he stopped again to clear his throat. It had been bothering him since they landed. "I'll need to have Garcia pull employment permits from all the local farms and see how many people were on record as employees this season." He paused again and swallowed hard. His throat just seemed to feel scratchier by the minute. Morgan didn't notice but did pull out his cell phone to call Garcia and relay Hotch's instructions. Aaron was thankful that Derek was busy flirting with Garcia for a few minutes because it gave him a chance to take a few steps away and have a moment of privacy. His nose was beginning to run and the tickle in his throat was growing more persistent. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and held it over his mouth so he could cough properly and give himself some relief. He also blew his nose before folding the fabric back up and returning it to his pocket. A moment later, Morgan finished talking to Garcia and hung up.

"Want to take a look at the second site?" he asked Hotch.

"Yeah." They took a minute to review the map and then set off deeper into the orange grove. As the SUV moved slowly through the unpaved farmland, Aaron felt his nose and throat beginning to itch again. Ever aware of the expert profiler sitting next to him, Hotch tried to avoid drawing any attention to himself for as long as possible. After a few minutes, however, the irritation became unbearable. He turned his head and coughed slightly into his fist and sniffed once before turning his eyes back to the road. He felt Morgan's gaze shift towards him, but neither man said anything. Unfortunately, Hotch was getting no relief. His nose was beginning to burn and he felt a sneeze slowly building.

"It should be another five hundred feet up ahead of us," Morgan said pointing up the row of trees. Hotch nodded but didn't say anything. He was afraid that the minute he opened his mouth, he would sneeze. There was a tickly sensation that seemed to have settled in his sinuses and throat. Thankfully he saw the yellow police tape not far off. As Morgan exited the car, Hotch took the opportunity to scrub at his nose. It seemed to be just enough to push him over the edge and he pinched his nose shut with his thumb and index finger, his head bobbing forward with a silent sneeze. He paused and when he was sure there wasn't another sneeze lurking, closed the car door and joined Morgan. Both men crouched down and looked at the area where the body was left.

"Did they find any tire tracks out here?" Morgan asked.

"No," Hotch said. "No footprints either."

"It's weird. There's no drag marks, no tire tracks, no indication of how they got all the way out here. It's not easy to get a body a half mile into an orange grove without any help." Hotch agreed and planned to tell Morgan so, but was too preoccupied holding another sneeze at bay to do anything. If Derek noticed, he didn't say anything. Silence was a natural state of being for Hotch; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That all changed though when the men stood up and Aaron finally lost the battle. He spun away from Morgan and caught an irritated sounding sneeze in his hands. Ihhkishhh!! Almost immediately, he took a large shuddering breath and sneezed again. HehhhIHHtschhhh!! "Bless you," Morgan said.

"Tha--" he stopped mid-sentence and sneezed again. Hehhtcsheww! This seemed to at least temporarily quell the irritation in his nose. He coughed slightly and returned to his earlier sentence. "Thank you. Excuse me."

Morgan opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it. They walked the perimeter of the crime scene, pausing every now and then to bag a potential piece of evidence the police may have missed. "There certainly are worse places to leave a body," Morgan commented. "It's quiet, peaceful, and the smell of the orange blossoms is amazing. You think this place has a positive connotation for the unsub?" he asked.

"Maybe. It's also a place where migrant workers are exploited for cheap, illegal labor. It's going to be difficult to tell if he chose this place to send a message or because it's beautiful," Hotch replied. He stopped and really took in his surroundings for the first time. Morgan was right; it was pretty. The meticulously manicured rows of trees ran parallel to each other, channeling the breeze. The trees were dotted with white blossoms--the next season's future harvest. Occasional overlooked oranges hung low off the branches. "We need to take two different approaches to the profile," Hotch said. "First we need to profile those who would view this as a sa...ahh...ahh…a sanctuary. Second, we need to look at those who would view leaving a body here as a sign of protest. Have Garcia pull any police reports for vandalism at citrus farms for the last five years and..." but he could keep going. The terrible, tickling sensation in his nose surged again and he barely had time to turn away from Morgan before sneezing. HehhItcshhh! Heh..Hehhtschhew! Unfortunately, it did nothing to alleviate the itch. Aaron pulled out his handkerchief, held it tight against his nose and mouth and sneezed repeatedly. HehhhIHHtschhhh!! Heh…Hehh…Hihhtscheew!! HehhItcshhh! HehhTSCHEW!!The itch nearly gone. He paused, eyes closed, handkerchief still in front of his face, and took a few shaky breaths. He felt Derek's hand on his shoulder.

"Bless you! You alright, Hotch?" he asked.

"Fine," Aaron replied. He lightly blew his nose but didn't put the handkerchief back in his pocket quite yet.

"Man, I've worked with you for seven years and I've never seen you so much as yawn. You coming down with something?"

"It's nothing," Hotch barely got out before sneezing again. HihhIhhktscheew!!

"Doesn't sound like nothing. Sounds like you caught a cold." That earned Derek a warning glare. But, as much as Hotch was reluctant to admit it, he couldn't deny that there was definitely something wrong with him. That's when he remembered something Derek had said earlier.

"Morgan, did you say you could smell something out here?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, the orange blossoms. The air's thick with it. Why?"

"I can't smell anything but I've felt like sneezing since the plane landed."

"Hotch, your head would have to be stuffed with cotton not to smell these flowers," Morgan said.

"My head feels like it's stuffed with cotton," he said. "I think I might be slightly allergic to the orange blossoms." As if to prove his point, Hotch sneezed several harsh, irritated allergic sneezes. HehhItcshhh! HehhhIHHtschhhh!! HihhIhhktscheew!!

"Slightly?" Morgan quipped. "Man, go back and turn the air conditioning on in the SUV before you pass out."

"I'm fine. Let's finish walking the scene and then we'll head ba...bahhh…. HehhhIHHtschhhh!! HehhItcshhh! back."

"Bless you. I'm going to finish walking the scene and you're going to go breath in some filtered unnatural air until this allergy attack passes." When his boss looked ready to argue, Morgan pulled out his ace in the hole: "Hotch, man, if the situation was reversed, would you let me stay out here miserable and sneezing my head off?"

He scowled but didn’t argue and walked back to the SUV, sneezing the whole way. Once ensconced in the quiet and privacy of the SUV, Aaron allowed himself a moment to acknowledge how miserable he really felt. He’d only had an allergy attack like this once before—it was to scented candles Haley had bought one week. He smiled slightly at the memory of their romantic evening ruined by his frequent sneezing attacks. They ended up just laying in bed, Aaron sneezing his way through a box of tissues and Haley running her hand through his hair and keeping a cool cloth against his eyes to take the burning sensation away. She felt so guilty. It was early in their marriage and they didn’t have much money so candles were definitely a splurge. He’d been working long hours and she thought they would be a nice way to set the mood, but Aaron hadn’t even had time to take his tie off before the sneezing started. Even after Haley blew the candles out and put them out on the patio, it didn’t help much. In between sneezing fits, he apologized for ruining their evening but she just smiled, grabbed a box of Kleenex from the bathroom, and pulled him into bed. He was still lost in his memory when Morgan opened the car door and slid into the driver’s side of the SUV.

“Hey man, you alright?” he asked. Hotch saw genuine concern in the younger man’s face.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. But can we stop by a drugstore on our way back to the station? I need to pick up some allergy medicine.”

“Of course. You ever had an allergic reaction like that before?”

“Once,” Hotch said. When he didn’t elaborate any further, Morgan put the car in gear and the two men headed back towards the main road.

[silentdreamer789]

Loved it. You're making me like allergy fics, which I didn't think would ever happen!

[ID2006]

You!!!! It's all your fault that I love Hotch now! And this, this is AMAZING <3

[matilda3948]

Oh yay!! I'm glad you both like it!

[Zane]

Allergic Hotch? I love it!!!! thanks for writing this!

[krazykat]

Oooooh me likey! You managed to get Morgan and Hotch down pretty perfectly - and I loved typical stoic Hotch trying to hide how he was feeling

THANK YOU!!!

I've just started your fic - it's called the abyss and it's going to be quite dark, but then again you asked for care taking

[katia]

thanks!