The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

“This calls for one hell of a celebration!” Derek cheered as the team prepared to leave Quantico for the day, something Aaron immediately found himself rolling his eyes at. Everyone who knew the unit chief, knew he preferred the silent celebrations; the ones he could do at home, with Emily half asleep on his chest, some stupid TV–show on the screen, and Jack sound asleep in the room next door. However, this time around, Emily chimed in with Derek, claiming this was a victory the whole team needed to celebrate.

Not that Aaron understood what was different with this case; they had placed a murderer behind bars, but they did that more or less every case they worked.

“What about you, Hotch?” JJ spoke up, an eyebrow raised as everyone turned to look at the unit chief, hopeful expressions on their faces – even Spencer looked excited about the chance to go out as the entire team.

He gave it a thought; Jack was staying with Jessica until the morning after, when she would drop him off at school, and Aaron would (hopefully) be able to pick his son up after school. “Oh, what the hell, count me in.” He sighed, causing a loud cheer to erupt from the group, several other of the Bureau’s agents turning to look at them in confusion.

Not more than an hour later, they found themselves hunched in a bar, Aaron and David returning to the table with drinks for everyone; a white wine for JJ, a beer for Derek, a red wine for Emily, a cocktail with a tricky name for Penelope, some mock–tail for Spencer (he had strictly told the two older agents that he didn’t want anything with alcohol), while they had gotten two whiskeys for themselves. The drinks were devoured within a short time, Derek and JJ offering to get the next round – though, together with Penelope, had been caught up by the jukebox (somehow the team had found the one bar in all of Virginia with an actual jukebox), fussing over which song to queue. David and Spencer had wandered off, finding a quieter spot to discuss chess–strategies, something that caused Aaron to chuckle.

“Do you think anyone’s watching?” Emily spoke up, causing him to throw a quick look around the room, seeing how everyone was busy with their own things. He responded with a shake of his head, a smile spreading on his lips as her hand found his cheek, cupping his face as she brought her lips to his. “I’m sorry we had to do this here. I know you wanted a quiet night at home.”

He leaned his forehead against hers, chuckling lightly. “It’s okay, Emily. I get to spend my night with you, and I still get to kiss you, and hold you close – even though we’re being a little bit more discreet than we would be at home.” Aaron leaned forward, softly pushing his lips against hers once more, before they parted, his hand finding her lower back as he brought his drink to his lips.

“I’ll toast to that.” Emily chuckled.

“Toast to what?” Derek curiously asked, a bottle of beer in his hand. “I’ll toast to us being the best damn team there is, if that’s what you’re toasting to.”