Warnings: Car accident/drunk driver - be safe out there tonight, peeps!
Genre: Criminal Minds
Notes: You thought I was going to leave today with only a cute little fluffy story? No way man, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh (as my 5 year old son says in his sassiest voice). This is intended to be a two part - New Years Eve and New Years Day, inspired by Firecracker by Ryan Adams. See you tomorrow!
Part One: New Years Eve
Single on New Years Eve hadn't been in Aaron's plans. In July, he'd been seeing Beth for nearly two years and they were having a great time, not taking anything too seriously. In August, he'd made reservations at a very upscale restaurant in DC where they could sit and watch the fireworks at midnight on New Years, he'd planned it all out. Then Hong Kong happened, and when it came to decision time, he'd come to the stark realization that as happy as he was with her, and as lovely as she was, it wasn't what he wanted. She wasn't what he wanted, and he was getting far too old to settle for things he didn't want. She would make someone else very happy, she was just that kind of a person, but he knew it was no longer him and he wouldn't drag it out and hurt her or force her to give up a job that would make her happy. They parted on good terms, mutually, and that was the end of it. He never really told anyone, except in passing, it was just his way. It wasn’t a big deal, it was just a thing that happened.
And so, on New Years Eve, Aaron found himself seated in his car dressed in a beautifully tailored suit and tie, waiting for Jessica Brooks, Haley's sister and actual angel who had, on multiple occasions, saved his life. He hadn't wanted to give up the reservations he'd made, they were too hard to come by and it was something he'd always wanted to do, so when Jack was invited to a New Years slumber party at a friend's house, he knew exactly who he'd ask to join him. When she walked to the car, he caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of his eye and for a split second thought he was seeing Haley, her hair pulled back away from her delicately beautiful features. He felt his heart catch in his throat for a moment and swallowed it back down, shaking his head and jumping out of his car, careful not to slip on the sheet of ice parading as a sidewalk. He opened her door for her just as she reached him and closed it behind her with a smile, slipping and sliding back around to his side. Dress shoes and ice were not an ideal mix.
“You look beautiful,” he said softly, putting the car in drive and heading for DC. She blushed.
“Thanks,” she replied, playing with her hair. It had been a long time since she'd been dressed up for anything, and she had half expected Aaron to find someone better to take with him to dinner, used to always playing second fiddle. She knew him well enough to know that she wasn't his first choice, but he was too afraid of his first choice to do anything about it – she saw it all. She'd fantasized about dinner and fireworks on New Years Eve since she was a child, but she never imagined she'd be going with her dead sister's ex-husband, that detail hadn't occurred as a possibility in her youthful mind.
“Are you nervous?” he asked her, eyes trained on the road ahead of him, feeling the tires slide more than once beneath them on the slick roads. “I am. I was bluffing when I made these reservations...”
She laughed. “You...nervous? Aaron, when are you not nervous? And when have you ever let your nerves stop you? You wouldn't have the life you do if you let nerves stop you, even once.”
He was taken aback, he'd forgotten who he was talking to for a moment he supposed. She sounded just like Haley. The two of them were so alike, unwilling and unable to put up with anyone's nonsense. Especially his. Aaron smiled and drove, silently, peering at her out of the corner of his eye every now and then.
“So,” she started, but realized they were pulling into the garage for the restaurant and decided she would breech the subject of who he really should have asked to come later. Maybe over dessert, after a glass of wine but before they got to the champagne. Confronting Aaron over anything personal was a delicate matter, one misstep and you would set in motion the self-destruct sequence which had no manual override code. You were dead in the water. But if you played your cards just right, you could get into the fortress and it was worth all the time you spent devising your strategy. Instead of confronting him now, she simply asked him this: “Do you know what you're planning to order?”
“I'm not sure,” he lied, and she knew it so she laughed. They both knew he'd looked at the menu the day his reservation was confirmed and he'd already had his order plugged into his calendar, in the unlikely case that he'd forgotten. “You?”
“Absolutely not,” and she was being truthful. She hadn't even looked, she wanted to be genuinely surprised by the beautiful options and the outrageous prices. She wanted the romance, especially before she ruined it all by asking him why he hadn't asked someone he could kiss at midnight to this fancy dinner. She may never get another opportunity to live out this fantasy, unless she married a prince or someone equally as majestic. In truth, she didn't want to do any of that, so this was perfect, and if she played her cards right, she’d still find someone to kiss at midnight. They exited the car, allowing the valet to take it to a spot, and found themselves being escorted into the building by a hostess in a black satin dress that sparkled as she walked. Up a flight of gorgeous, wide stairs beside the picture windows overlooking the entire city and the Potomac, overlooking thousands of people below who were waiting in the freezing cold for fireworks that were hours off yet. She'd been one of those people many times, huddled with her family to keep warm, drinking hot chocolate and cider and coffee, children running and playing around them. Their table, once seated, was beside the same window – a view of everything.
“Oh, Aaron,” she gasped, hardly able to contain herself. He just nodded.
“Yeah...” he mused, unable to tear his eyes away, even when the waitress came by with glasses of wine and the menus. Service was flawless, the food impeccable, and the company was top notch. They'd always been good friends, in fact he'd been friends with Jessica before he'd started dating Haley, she was just a genuinely fun person, and she'd never once been interested in him romantically which helped. He was glad he'd asked her, because their friendship lately had been one more built on his own convenience than anything else and he felt terribly guilty about it. When dessert came out, he had a faraway look on his face, and that was when she decided to strike.
“So,” she said, dangling a piece of chocolate mousse off of her fork before pushing it into her mouth, slowly, savoring every morsel of a dessert that cost more than an entire day's food for her regularly. “Why didn't you ask Dave to come with you tonight?”
Aaron stared at her, dumbstruck. “What?” he asked, choking on the wine he'd just sipped, pretending he hadn’t heard what she’d said. It burned up into his sinuses, causing him to cough more, pressing his napkin to his mouth. She just smiled and took another slow bite.
“You heard me.”
“I...” he stammered, but he knew he was poached. “I don't know. He's at Penelope's party with the rest of the team and their families, and he'd said he might be bringing a date along...I guess I just...”
“You, Aaron Hotchner, chickened out? Is that what you're telling me? I never thought I'd see the day.”
“No, that's not...I just...” still stammering. He sighed. “How long have you known?”
“Not important. What is important is what you plan to do about it. You're single again and you're not getting any younger. Why not tonight?”
“Because I'm here with you, and we're going to watch the fireworks above the city. Because you've dreamed of this your whole life and you're my family. Another day, maybe.”
“No. Tonight, Aaron. You go, leave me here. I'll find a way home...I always do. I'm seeing the fireworks, you're going to make some. There's gotta be some handsome waiter I can find who'll kiss me at midnight and give me a ride home before I turn back into Cinderella. Just...please pay first, you know I can't afford this on what you're paying me.”
Aaron just sat, all the color having drained from his face, and thought maybe he'd blacked out for a minute. Finally, he just sighed and resigned himself to doing what she told him to – he always had, and to the best of his knowledge, it had never steered him wrong.
“Here,” he muttered, handing her more than enough cash. She laughed and tucked it into her purse, wondering how it must have looked to anyone who happened to look at them at that moment. She hoped maybe it gave off some Pretty Woman vibes, she could handle that. “I'll go take care of the bill but that's...that's for you to have fun. Enjoy yourself. And...call me if you need me to come get you? Are you sure about this?”
“I'm always sure, Aaron. Go. Get the New Years kiss you want before its too late. Time stops for no one, not even you.”
…..............................................
There were cars lining the block up and down by Penelope's apartment and Aaron had parked quite a distance away, cursing the slippery sidewalk in his dress shoes. At one point he'd resigned himself to walking in the snow, which was soaking through into his shoes, just to stay upright. He was a sight by the time he'd reached her door, his pant legs wet at the ankles and his shoes dripping, but he hadn't fallen and that was a miracle. It took only a short time after he'd knocked before the door was flung open, revealing Emily's cheerful face which, at 10pm, was definitely barely holding onto consciousness.
“HOTCH!” she cried, wrapping her arms around him, spilling what was left of her drink down his back immediately. He smiled anyway and hugged her back, glad to see her. He scanned the room as everyone turned his direction, noting the groups of people chatting all over the small apartment. Garcia came teetering over on heels that made her as tall as he was and shook her head, shooing Emily away.
“Here, let me take your jacket...I have some club soda...” she said, unbuttoning his jacket without even waiting for him.
“It's fine, Penelope, really,” he protested, but she'd already slipped it right off of him without a care in the world and brushed off toward the kitchen. He followed her, a few steps behind, peering through the groups to see if Dave was in there somewhere, until finally finding him in a corner playing a game of poker with Will and Morgan and a few men he didn't recognize. None of them had looked up when he entered, which was exactly what he'd hoped for. It would give him time to get a drink or two in before he did anything stupid.
“I thought you had plans tonight!” Garcia said, dabbing at his jacket delicately with a grin. “I'm so happy you came!” He just smiled, sipping at whatever it was that had been handed to him by JJ standing nearby.
“I had dinner with Jessica, but she gave me the boot.”
“Oh, she did not! Why?”
Did he lie? Tell the truth? No, certainly not the truth...but he hated lying to Penelope. “There is just something she wants me to do.” His eyes darted toward Dave almost automatically, before he could even stop himself, and she followed the gaze and then nodded. She nodded. He could hardly believe it. Was he so obvious?
“I understand. Loud and clear. Well...good luck, sir! But I don’t think you’ll need it.”
The party raged on, and after a second drink from JJ and a good visit with her, he'd approached the poker table where all of them shouted out greetings when they saw him. He recognized the other players now from around the building, and they'd all rearranged themselves to make room for him between Morgan and Dave.
“Good to see you,” Dave said quietly, dealing Aaron in without even asking. Aaron just nodded, feeling a knot growing in his stomach. He wasn't going to be able to do it, he knew already. The clock was ticking closer and closer to midnight, and he was convincing himself more and more that it was a bad decision. That it was too bold. That he could ruin a decades old friendship in a split second. He'd lost three hands of poker before the room erupted in a countdown to midnight.
10!
9!
He started sweating and put his cards down on the table, rubbing his clammy palms together. He felt like he was going to be sick.
8!
7!
6!
Was his left arm numb? Was he having a heart attack?
5!
4!
3!
Why on Earth had he gone along with this? What could be gained from being so stupid?
2!
1!
He leaned over, and with sweaty, trembling hands, took Dave's face and pulled it to his, pressing a kiss hard against his lips. He drug it out just a moment, ready to let go when he felt Dave's hands come up against his chest – was he pushing him away? No, his hands slipped up and grabbed Aaron’s shoulders, pressed harder, kissed back. Aaron felt lightheaded and he couldn't stop himself shaking, his ears were ringing long after they'd separated and were just looking at each other. Aaron glanced around the room, and to his surprise and elation, almost no one was bothering to look in their direction – they were all still kissing their chosen partners. Reid and Garcia had seen it, and Garcia was clapping wildly, bouncing on her heels. Reid just looked...mortified? Embarrassed, maybe, but he was smiling. Aaron looked back at Dave, who was now shuffling the deck of cards again like nothing had happened.
“Happy New Year,” he said softly, turning to look at Aaron again with a warm smile. “Took you long enough.”
“Shut up.”
“Jessica put you up to this?”
“Maybe.”
“Smart woman. Let's get out of here, huh?”
Aaron just stared at Dave a moment, watched as he put the shuffled deck of cards into the middle of the table and grabbed his leather jacket off of the back of his chair. They left without saying a word to anyone except to thank Penelope for a lovely party.
Once outside, they got into Dave's car, because it was closer and Aaron didn't think he'd be able to walk gracefully to his own. Dave's car smelled like leather and something sweet like cherries or pipe tobacco, though he knew no one was allowed to eat or smoke in the vicinity of his vehicles. Aaron settled into the seat and leaned his head back, enjoying the nervous swimming sensation he was now experiencing, like he'd just had his first ever kiss all over again. Dave drove quietly toward his home, intending to take advantage of what had just begun that night – he wasn't like Aaron, he didn't mess around, he wasn't a patient man and now that Aaron had made the first move, he wanted to make sure it didn't end there.
At 12:17am, plans changed. The car that slammed into the back of them came flying out of nowhere, sending them fishtailing on the black ice until they hit a light post head on. Moments later, the car that had hit them bashed into the passenger door, and everything went black.
