The bedroom lay concealed in the dark of the night, save for the small glow the bedside lamp offered the tired reader laying on his new bed. Still clothed in his general work clothes, a half-eaten dinner resting on a plate beside the lamp called his attention as the first fly found its way to it. Cringing slightly, the BAU agent finally set down his book, a personal favorite, before throwing his long legs over the side of the mattress so that his bare feet touched the carpet. Flashes of that day blinded him a moment, and he felt his hand twitch and reach for his pocket; Not yet, Spencer. If you have no other choice, wait until they're asleep, at least.

Since his own run-in with a horrible fate, he hadn't seemed to be quite right; everyone on the team had noticed that. But, since Haley's death, Aaron hadn't been the only one to have an adverse reaction. He'd sunken back into that state of listlessness, of sleepless nights, and of over-complicating the most simple of things, and under-thinking other things. Nobody seemed to know exactly what was wrong with Spencer Reid, but they all knew something was going on in that brainy little head of his, and he wasn't letting anyone know what it was. Not even his best friend; who did seem a bit put-out at that fact.

With a sigh, he shook his hand a little as if to inspire it to another action, picking up his plate instead and forcing himself to walk for the door, turn the knob, and, finally, head down the stairs. Finding the kitchen to be abandoned for more favorable lounging areas, he quietly scraped scraps from his plate (which nearly consisted of the entire meal he had felt obligated to take to his room), and set the plate in the sink. After a moment of contemplation, he decided to rinse it, which evolved into a full-on washing of all dishes in the sink. Sure, it wasn't necessary, but it was what he felt he had to do.

Suddenly, he was shocked out of his thoughts by the voice of a small child calling for who he could only assume to be himself.

"Mommy!" Ever since Spencer had come over to stay, the full two days, now, Jack had called him 'mommy'. He supposed it had something to do with the fact that a mother lived with the family and took care of the child, and the genius tended to spend a lot of time with Jack, coaching him for Harvard like he was meant to. Already, the boy looked up to him quite a bit, and never wanted to be separated (just so long as his daddy could play with them, too).

"Mommy!" Little feet ran with a pitter-pat as they brought the small child ever closer to those pressed pant-legs. Clinging tightly to them, he raised both arms and gave the most stubborn yet cute expression, silently telling his 'mother' to heft him and carry him away. With the equally stubborn look he received, he gave an irritated, impatient sigh, as most children would, before leaning up on his tip toes, "Please?"

A smile broke out over his face, and the elder male leaned down to pick up the child. "You wanna go see daddy?" With the enthused 'mhm, mhm, mhm!' he received and the spastic nodding, he only assumed it was time for Jack's nightly movie. What would it be tonight? Some kind of Disney movie? Maybe they'd watch Fern Gully again. Ever since he'd introduced it to Jack, the boy had liked it a lot. If not that, it was possible they'd be watching the Bob the Builder movie(during which Hotch would lean over and whisper over his son's head, 'Why can't they make a criminal profiling show for children?', to which Spencer would always reply, 'Because no child should know the true nature of our job.' There were always more frowns than usual to be passed at these times, but soon enough that smile and laughter from between them seemed to calm both BAU agents.

"Here's daddy~ How about you go pick out a movie?" At least Jack's movies weren't very long, and they usually tired the child out. Thankfully... As he set the boy down, his eyes trailed over his boss' face, his body, his position on the couch... Altogether, he took more and more notice to the attraction he'd felt for him from the day he'd met him every single time he took the other into account. Maybe that was another reason that he'd started back on the Dilaudid... There was no way he couldn't keep his mind to himself now that Aaron Hotchner was a single man. A single man who understood his coworker to the core, save for just one little thing. These... Odd compulsions he'd felt ever since encountering his first undoubtedly attractive man.

Wait... Something had been said to him, right? Crap... The best he could come up with?

"U-uh... What did you say, Hotch? I... I was kind of lost in thought..."

SSA Aaron Hotchner was currently sitting on the sofa with the TV switched on in front of him. His eyes were staring ahead at the screen, seemingly interested to any passers by but really his mind was elsewhere, definitely not focused on the children's televission show that Jack had wanted to watch. A breath escaped him before he was aware of uttering it and he hastily covered it with a slight cough before returning to his seemingly endless staring competition with the screen. He felt almost mechanical, like he was just going through the motions of life at times without experiencing any of the emotions that were suposed to come with the events. There were times when he did feel something, of course there were, but at others...at his low points...he was just thankful he had Jack to keep him grounded, keep him from slipping into that emotionless state for too long. It was draining and he felt more tired although he didn't let it show when he was on asignment or around Jack...which basically meant he didn't let it show at all since he had no time to himself, not really. He was either at BAU headquarters or at home spending time with his son.

He heard Reid come down the stairs and his head jerked as he heard the other in the kitchen. Jack had already gone to find the young genius and Hotch could hear his son enthusiastically interacting with the youngest member of his team. It was remarkabe how quickly children adapt to situations given the chance and Jack had taken to having Spencer Reid around like a duck takes to water. It seemed that when the Las Vegas genius was around Jack would forget about his father almost entirely. It was good in a way, giving Aaron some time to himself, a little time to pull himself together once more. He was still rather bemused that he and Reid were now sharing a house, his house, but he had to agree with his team that it had been the right decision to make in the long run. That and Jack was getting a brilliant tutor out of the situation and that wouldn't go astray.

Hotch heard a scraping noise from the kitchen and knew that Reid was emptying most of his dinner into the bin. There hadn't been much, just a simple pasta concoction that Rossi had shown him how to make years ago but he hadn't given Reid too much. The other hadn't been eating right and it was becoming more and more apparent to Hotch despite Reid's numerous atempts to hide the fact. He wondered if sometimes the other fergot that Hotch was also a profiler. Jack was carrying on once again and it brought a slight smile to his face as he heard his son chat Reid's ear off. Pretty soon the pair were coming through to the sitting room. Hotch tried to get Reid's attention but the other was clearly away in a world of his own, a theory that was proven correct when Reid asked uhim to repeat what he said.

"I asked if that pasta was alright," he said, giving the other adult a hard look before moving over slightly on the sofa so taht Jack and Reid would have enough room to sit down comfortrably. "If not then blame Rossi. He's the one that gave me the recepe."

Was it his imagination or did the other adult look paler, more drawn than usual? He also looked skinnier although it was hard to tell since the other was so lanky in the first place. He consciously stopped himself from raking his eyes up and down Reid's body, knowing that to do so would not indeer him to the prodigy. Instead he pushed himself back into a more comfortrable position and waited for the two younger males to join him on the couch.

Smiling slightly, he shook his head, "The pasta was fine, I just was a little... Not hungry. I had a filling lunch." However, his 'filling lunch' had been a Soy Joy he'd taken privately in one of the bathroom stalls at work. To be honest, he just didn't eat as much as he should, because he couldn't find the need to. "I'm sorry, Hotch, I didn't mean to offend..." He added sheepishly after a moment before rubbing the back of his neck as he moved to sit down.

Jack climbed up onto the couch, bouncing excitedly as he tried to get the other's attentions. Holding up his current favorite movie, he passed it onto Spencer, who made his way to the DVD player. Once it was inside, he made his way to comfortably sit beside the young child, conveniently sitting far enough away from his boss to keep himself under control. Taking in a deep breath, he gasped slightly when he felt Jack get up and try to push the two of them together. Once they were pressed almost uncomfortably close, Jack settled between them for the start of his movie.

With his leg so close to the other's, Spencer closed his eyes and missed at least the first five minutes of the Bob the Builder movie that Jack had chosen. With clammy skin, shaking hands, a tapping foot, it seemed that there was something on the younger adult's mind, something he probably should not have been thinking with a child in the room. Sighing softly, he pried open his eyes in hopes he could focus on something else.

A smile pulled at Hotch's lips as he watched Jack hand the DVD to Reid. It was indeering to see the way his son acted around Reid, if a little shocking that it had sprung up so soon. He suposed it made sense in some way but Reid was his co-worker and subordinate and it was strange to have his child treating his team mate like a.....what exactly? Mother figure? He hesitated to use the term, even in his own mind, but it was the only way he could think to describe it. The corners of his mouth pulled back down however when he thought of Reid's words. He was quite sure that he hadn't seen Reid eat earlier but he decided that, for the moment, he would not push the other. He would wait and, if this persisted, then he would confront the young Las Vegas genius. Until then he settled back to 'enjoy' the film his son had chosen for the evening. Really there was only so much you could watch a film before you started to say the lines inside your own mind.

Reid's reaction to being pushed closer together furthered Hotch's impression that something was wrong with his young team mate. He was sure that, if he touched Reid's skin, it would be clammy and uncomfortable. He was glad taht Jack could not see his expression because it would have definitely ruined the child's mood. Something was definitely wrong with Reid. The film dragged on and Hotch eyed the other adult, glad to see that he had finally opened his eyes after about five minutes give or take. He wasn't paying attention to the film anymore, instead choosing to spent his time observing Reid over his son's head. They were almost uncomfortably close thanks to Jack pushing them together.....could that have something to do with Reid's reaction? It would make sense. This was a rather strange and unorthadox situation to be in, especially considdering Hotch was his superior.

A loud sound from the televission startled him out of his thoughts adn he jumped slightly, a reaction which he quickly hid by pretending to cough, covering it up, refusing to show even that perceived weakness to his son and co-worker. It was silly really but it was an instinctive reaction drilled into him from his years of being first an atourney and then a criminal profiler. You couldn't let them see weakness because if they did they would exploit it and then you were in trouble. There was no two ways about it. Either you learnt how to cover yourself or you were eaten alive.

While his eyes were intently glued to the television, his mind danced about too many topics at once. He was slowly growing dizzy and feeling a sickening pull in his stomach that only intensified when he noted that there were eyes on him. Just in time for the loud noise to pull Aaron's attention back to the screen, Reid glanced over at him, wondering what he could have been looking at. Had he done something? Or was the elder male thinking about things he shouldn't have been, as well? It was a mystery even he couldn't tell exactly.

Maybe he was just too distracted. The happy sound of Jack laughing between them shook him from his own thoughts and he spared the child a half-thought-out chuckle in order to appease him. It certainly was odd, thinking about all of these things while watching a movie with a child. One would think that these thoughts were for another time, that a child should be spared them...

And yet, here Reid was, right hand twitching to get into his pocket so he could see things more clearly through the haze that had become his everyday life. Everything seemed to blur together, and, anymore, he almost needed his guilty pleasure to get through the day. He wouldn't tell anyone, but he had also spent quite some time trying to figure out the best ways to get more... Perhaps he really did have a problem...

Jack's film seemed to stretch on and on and Hotch honestly couldn't even remember what had happened. He guessed that they were about half way through, maybe a little more, although he wasn't sure. The image blurred before his eyes into a constant whir of colour and distorted shapes that didn't have any real meaning outside Jack's imagination. His son was enjoying it at least so that was enough to keep him seated rather than moving to his room to get some work done. After the film was done Jack would be put to bed. Only about another half an hour to go.

Reid didn't appear to be handling the film much better, giving a half hearted atempt to join Jack in his enjoyment in the film. At least he was trying which brought a small source of relief to Hotch. At least the genius wasn't completely in a world of his own. Had he been imagining it earlier or had Reid actually looked over at him when he'd looked away earlier? They hadn't actually talked since the film started, not wanting to disturb Jack. Or at least that was the reason he wasn't talking.

He focused on teh film to realise taht there was a part where his son always paid extra close attention and he thought it would be safe to lean over Jack's head to talk to Reid. He waited a moment longer before tilting his head and whispering. "Reid? Are you alright. You look paler than usual."

Oh no! He'd been caught! Nothing could possibly be worse than this moment right here. Hotch had noticed there was something wrong with him, that he was pale, and he knew that this was going to be a huge problem tonight. He may not get left alone with his guilty pleasure...

"I'm fine, Hotch, uh... Just been a little... On the down side, I guess. Stuff just.. Getting the best of me. Nothing to worry about." With a smile, albeit faked beyond belief, Spencer turned a little to face the movie, half-wishing it were Ice Age. At least, during that one, he could use his vast knowledge to bring himself a little bit of random factoids to light. There were things in those movies he could keep himself entertained with, even if he could feel for some of the characters.

Shaking his head a little, he licked his lips before chewing at the bottom one, "Are you doing alright?" A little bit of genius-psychology could, hopefully, turn this around.

Hotch's eyes narrowed further at Reid's answer and his subsequent actions. All spoke of nervousness.....perhaps guilt? He couldn't be sure but the other was clearly uncomfortable; that was a given. What could be happening to make the other so worried about Hotch noticing that he was paler than usual? Reid's eyes flicked back to the screen and Hotch wondered if he was using that genius mind of his to analyse it, to take appart the mechanics of the movie, the characters, and try to form some kind of profile of the fictional characters. It was always a possibility. It was something h'ed found himself doing on occasion out of pure habbit although he tried not to bring his work home.

Reid's question took a moment to register but when it did Hotch made a slight shrugging motion, determined not to disturb Jack while the other was so engrosed in the movie. "I've been better," he replied honestly but he didn't elaborate, deciding to let Reid take the lead for the time being. He would let the other ask the questions if he wanted to adn then he would flip it and ask his own.