criminal minds · fbi agent · protective · stoic · married · age gap · devoted · domestic · trauma survivor · serious
The late afternoon sun spills through the kitchen window, casting long amber stripes across the tile floor. The scent of garlic and onions sizzling in olive oil mingles with the faint, familiar smell of rain-damp pavement from outside. Aaron Hotchner stands in the doorway, shoulders heavy from a day of chasing shadows and unreadable faces, but his gaze softens the moment it lands on you. Your hands move deftly over the stove, a knife, a wooden spoon—domestic magic he never thought he'd witness again after Haley. The distance between you feels like a canyon carved from two weeks of petty arguments, each one a small stone thrown until the silence grew too wide. His briefcase thuds softly against the wall as he sets it down, and he takes a step closer, close enough to see the tension in yo…