Do We Seriously Have to Do This?

[matilda3948]

Hi all. Here's a brief little one-shot just because I felt like torturing this totally smoking hot, though fictional, character I know I still have that Morgan/Garcia fiction out there waiting to be finished but the pesky muse is simply not cooperating on that one.

(I own nothing but I do enjoy playing)

Okay, story time...

The whole team—well almost the whole team—was standing around the hotel lobby looking nervous.

“You think he’s okay?” Reid asked. “He’s never late.”

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Rossi said, although his facial expression said otherwise. “Probably talking to Jack or something.” The “he” in question was their Unit Chief, Aaron Hotchner. The team had just wrapped up a case in Portland and was going to go out for a late dinner to celebrate, before heading back to DC first thing in the morning. They were supposed to meet in the lobby at 9:30pm and it was nearly a quarter of ten and Hotch still hadn’t shown.

“Okay,” Emily said, squaring her shoulders. “I’m going to go check on him. If I’m not back in ten minutes send in reinforcements.” She meant it as a joke but they all knew that given their line of work and previous experience, she was at least a little serious. Emily took the elevator back up to the eighth floor and stopped in front of Hotch’s door. She knocked on the door and when she didn’t hear anything she reached for her sidearm and knocked again. This time she heard the door unlock and she breathed a sigh of relief when her boss opened the door. “Hey, did you forget we were meeting for dinner?” she asked.

“What?”

“Hotch, are you alright?” she asked as she stepped inside the dim hotel room. He ran a hand over his face and sighed.

“I must have fallen asleep.” She flipped on the hall light and frowned when she got a clear look at him. Both his hair and his clothes were rumpled and he seemed oddly unfocused, just standing there as though awaiting instructions.

“Hey,” she said and ducked down slightly to catch his eyes. “What’s going on?

I, uh…I” he stopped abruptly and cupped his hands over his nose and mouth before sneezing a harsh ahhhngchhew!! Hahhntchheew!!

“Bless you!”

“Thag you,” he said as he walked into the bathroom. He grabbed a handful of tissues and blew his nose. When he returned he brought the box of tissues with him and sat down on the bed. Emily pulled out her phone and dialed Rossi. Hotch barely listened to her side of the conversation as he felt the nagging tickle in his nose begin to grow into yet another sneeze.

“Hey. No, he’s sick actually. Looks like a bad cold. Yeah. Would you bring us both back something to eat? Thanks.” She hung up and sat next to Hotch who held a handful of tissues at the ready. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow. His leaned his head back with each breath Hahh ahh hahhh before finally snapping forward with a violent HahhAHHktchheew!! “Bless you,” Emily said.

“Thank you,” he said. “I’m sorry. You didn’t to skip dinner. I’m fine.” She resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

“You are many things, but ‘fine’ is not one of them. How did you get this sick this quickly?” she asked.

“I’ve been fighting it for a few days. I think the adrenalin kept me going because it seemed like as soon as we caught the unsub it really caught up with me.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” she asked. He shrugged.

“Didn’t want to worry anyone. It’s just a cold.” As if his body was determined to make a liar out of him, he turned away from her before launching into a fit of nasty sounding sneezes. Ahhhngtchhew! Tkchhhew!! HahhAHHngtchheew!! AHHHTCHSHHEEW!! Emily cringed.

“Bless you. It was just a cold. Now it sounds like monster, miserable beast of a cold.” She swore she saw the corners of his mouth twitch. It made her just bold enough to reach across and lay her hand on his forehead. Emily frowned. “You’re a little warm. Have you taken anything?”

“No,” he said before coughing into his fist. She waited until he was done. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“It’s okay. I have some Tylenol in my room. I’ll go grab it. Why don’t you change and I’ll be back in a couple minutes?”

“You don’t need to—”

“Hotch, do we seriously have to do this?” He held her gaze for a second before giving her an almost imperceptible nod. She smiled and went back to her room. Emily dug through her bag until she found the Tylenol. She also found a couple cough drops from the last time she was on the road with cold. She took her favorite hooded sweatshirt out of her suitcase and pulled it over her head before going back to Hotch’s room. He opened the door as soon as she knocked. Although she was glad to see him in sweatpants and a t-shirt, she had to admit it was a little unnerving to see him in clothing reminiscent of his days of recovering from Foyet’s attack. Almost as if he could read her mind, he said,

“Just a cold, remember?” She blushed.

“Right. Here,” she said and handed him the bottle of pills. “I found a couple cough drops in my bag too.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Of course. The team should be back with food in about an hour. You want to watch TV until then?”

“Yeah. I’m going to take these first,” he said giving the pill bottle a shake. Emily heard him go into the bathroom and get a glass of water before shaking out a couple pills. He blew his nose and coughed a bit before filling up his glass from the sink again. He turned the light off and walked into the bedroom to find that Emily had turned his bed down and found a baseball game on TV. He made it halfway to the bed when he was overwhelmed the urge to sneeze. Luckily Emily saw what was happening and grabbed the water glass from his hand before he spilled it. Ahh…Hahh…AhhHAHHTCHHSHH!! Ahhhktchheew!!

“Bless you,” she said and handed him several tissues.

“morahh Hahh…more” HahhAHHtchhew!! HuhhAhhhTCHHEEW!! HehhhHihhNGKTSHHEEW!! He couldn’t keep from groaning slightly at the sneezing that tore at his already tender throat.

“Oh, bless you Hotch,” she said and held the tissue box out to him. He pulled another three from the box and blew his nose before coughing harshly. “Here,” she said and handed him the water. He took a couple slow sips before handing it back to her. “You don’t do anything halfway do you?” she asked. “Come on, lay down.” He got into bed and she pulled the blankets up to his chest. Emily handed him a cough drop and he unwrapped it and popped it in his mouth. She put the tissues on the bed within easy reach. “Got everything you need?” she asked. He nodded.

“Thank you Emily.”

“Anytime,” she said and sat down on the bed next to him, leaning up against the headboard. He raised his eyebrows in question. She shrugged. “It’s a good ballgame.”

“And you don’t have a TV in your room?”

“I thought we weren’t going to do this?”

HahhIHHNGSHHH!!! he sneezed suddenly before grabbing the tissues. hehhAHHngktCHHEEW!! Emily patted his arm.

“Bless you.”

[silentdreamer789]

Oh, I love your Hotch-fics. And this one was as brilliant as usual, possibly my favourite so far. I liked the team getting nervous that he was late, and the little mention of the Foyet arc. And, of course, sick, stoic, sneezy Hotch is always delightful.

The only bit I didn't like was the word 'oneshot'.

[Hawkeye]

*flails*

I died.

Normally I'm not a big fan of coldfics, but this was awesome. I've been on a huge CM kick lately - I'm trying to catch up on the last couple seasons before season 7 starts in a couple weeks - so any Criminal Minds fic I can find is gold. ESPECIALLY if it's sneezy Hotch and EVEN BETTER if it involves Hotch and Emily.

I like.

[sarahsneees]

Love your writing! It's so in character

I love criminal minds and this although short was very VERY sweet. Love sneezy hotch (well I love sneezy anyone when it comes to criminal minds) but yeah Hotch *goes off into a dream world*

[Akahana]

Lolz! "I thought we weren't going to do this." XD It's really good. I like!