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Spencer didn’t know what it was about this case that meant Aaron needed it off his desk so quickly but still, he understood. None of what he’d spent the past six hours working on needed to be finished urgently, he could have left it until morning, but Hotch had stayed to finish anyway.
The thing about seeing so much tragedy, day in and day out, is that you never knew which cases would suddenly lodge themselves in your mind’s eye forever, which ones you’d start to see as you fell asleep for the rest of your life. It was never the ones you expected, the ones that, on paper, sounded the worst. No, it was the little details that ended up haunting them. Spencer might not have known what, specifically, had gotten under Hotch’s skin, but he knew he didn’t want the man to have to go home alone.
So, when the rest of the team had called it a night, Spencer stayed at his desk. He finished every scrap of work he could manage as he waited for Hotch to emerge from his office. His valiant efforts to stay awake lasted until quarter to midnight, at which point Spencer laid his head on the desk for just a moment, and within seconds fell asleep.
Hotch finished the last page of the last report pertaining to the case at five past midnight. Without bothering to tidy up any of his stationary, he grabbed the jacket from the back of his chair and moved to leave the office.
He stopped dead as he reached his door. He didn’t want to be there anymore. But he didn’t really want to go home either. Jack was at Jess’ for the night and as much as he hated himself for it, after a bad day, going back to that empty apartment was more than he could face. Sleeping on the sofa in his office was an option, one that he’d taken more times than he could count. But there was an unspoken rule he kept to about that – he slept on that sofa is he was too busy to get home for the night. He did not sleep on that sofa because he was too afraid step into an empty apartment. So what if the case they’d just wrapped up had elements that reminded his of the one they’d worked just before –
No, he wouldn’t satisfy his own neuroses by putting them into words, even if it was only in his own mind. There was no connection between this case and the one before Foyet, and he wouldn’t be ruled by fear.
When he left his office, Spencer snoring softly with his face buried beneath a mop of hair resting on his desk. Spencer. For a brief, horrifying moment Hotch felt so relieved to see him sitting there that he thought he might cry.
He made his way down the stairs as quietly as he could, not wanting to startle him.
“Spencer,” he whispered, placing his hand on the other man’s shoulder.
Spencer sat upright as he jolted awake, his wide eyes looking up at Hotch standing over him.
“What are you still doing here?”
“I thought I’d stay until you finish. Seemed like you might appreciate the company.” Spencer replied, glancing at Hotch’s hand still resting on his shoulder. When Hotch noticed, he pulled it away instinctively.
Spencer smiled, “I don’t think you need to worry about PDA right now, there hasn’t been anyone here for at least an hour.”
Hotch exhaled the embers of a laugh, too exhausted for anything more.
The team knew about their relationship but it was all still relatively new, and they were still so used to being careful at work. Any kind of physical affection in the office felt strange but, in this instance, it was overridden by the need to feel close. As Spencer stood up to leave with him, Hotch wrapped an arm around his waist and pulled Spencer into a hug, just for a second, before letting him go.
Hotch took a step back, looking embarrassed, “Thank you for waiting for me.”
“Anytime.” Spencer replied.