Author: Merle
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Hotch/Reid, Aaron Hotchner, Spencer Reid, some David Rossi, Diana Reid, OCs
Word Count: 9326
Spoilers: Spoilers for Criminal Minds Season 10, Episodes 10 and 11, and for Downton Abbey, Christmas Episode 2014
Disclaimer: Not mine. Sadly.
Tags/Warnings: Las Vegas, Road Trips, Desert, Hospitals, Melancholy, Romance, Hotel Rooms, Gambling, Workplace Relationship, Friends to Lovers
Summary: Long story short, there is a high probability that he is doing it for altogether selfish reasons, but when Reid looks at him with an expression of such sincere, helpless gratefulness, he cannot find it in himself to regret.
A/N: Inspired by romanticalgirl's comment about THE FISTBUMP. This story takes place between S10E10 "Amelia Porter" and S10E11 "The Forever People." There are two minor issues regarding canonical timelines in this fic: First, because of the winter holidays, S10E11 was aired an entire month after S10E10, but in this story, the two cases happen right after another in early January, separated only by a weekend. Second, there is discussion of a Downton Abbey episode in this story that technically didn't get aired in the US until a few weeks after the events of this story. I hope you'll forgive this minor anachronism.
Desert Mirage @ AO3#