#okay so i'm noticing now that i said that nothing in tvs contradicts this...

[mean-scarlet-deceiver]

When did Edward get his branch line? My friend says 1923. I saw somewhere that it was 1945, it might have even been here on your blog. What is canon? 

- A Former Anon

Welcome to non-lurkerdom, Former Anon! Pull up a chair. Get yourself a profile pic. Stay a while.

*strokes chin philosophically* What is canon, indeed...

First, let's stipulate that we're talking RWS. I don't actually think TVS contradicts anything I have to say here but its weird-ass chronology certainly doesn't help so let's pretty much set it aside.

Second: you might be thinking of a time way back—like, way back—when I cited 1948. That was what TTTE Wiki said in 2020, and I hadn't read all of RWS in order so I trusted it. However, I don't think there was ever any canon basis for this date specifically—and I think the Wiki editors realized it too, since that fact has long since been scrubbed from the site. It's still not a bad choice, though; just way too specific to be called canon.

Third, and tl;dr: As far as I can tell, you could say anywhere between... 1923 and 1965 and still be canon-compliant?? Yeah, that's right, a spread of forty-plus years. It's actually kind of incredible to me that the window is that wide open but there you are.

Now, it is extremely common for fanworks to have Edward "get his branch line" in the early 1920s, like after TTRE or TTTE. But I don't think that's a good reading. Technically it's not incorrect but it doesn't harmonize well with what we see him doing in canon throughout the FC1 era—which, again and again and again, is main line work.

The confusion here, I think, is that as early as Thomas the Tank Engine (set 1925) Wellsworth is referred to "Edward's station" (and in this book Edward even refers to it as "home").

But! All these references, from here and throughout the next 10+ books in the series, only mean for sure that Edward is resident shunter/banker there. We don't actually have a clear reference to "Edward's branch line" until Main Line Engines (1965).

Yeah, you can argue this is splitting hairs I guess? But, the thing is, Edward as a sort of main line utility/rescue engine as well as Wellsworth station pilot makes far better sense of what the heck he's doing in the FC1-era stories. During all this time, we don't even have a confirmed sighting of him on the Brendam branch. No, not even throughout all the Edward the Blue Engine (1952) stories. (Personally I imagine his accident in "Cows" took place on the branch but, fact is, it's entirely ambiguous.) A non-exhaustive list of what we do see him doing in the FC1 era includes: "odd jobs" at the Big Station, filling in for Henry when Henry fails on his passenger train, picking up goods at Tidmouth harbour, dropping whatever the hell he usually does to help out in the aftermath of the big engines' strike, being on hand at what Rev. Awdry identified as Vicarstown to shunt Gordon prior to the Ditch Incident, etc., etc.

The first time he's confirmed to ever set a wheel on the branch line is when we find that he's timetabled on the evening Tidmouth-Brendam "fast" in MLE. Which, as mentioned, is actually the same book we find out that "Edward's branch line" is, like, a Thing. So, a reading that makes the answer to your question "1964/5, right before Awdry started writing, when Edward and BoCo were assigned to manage the line together" is actually perfectly plausible (*small voice* and kinda cute. This would also mean that, even as BoCo is being trialled, the enthusiasts' train was also part of a trial period to decide whether Edward should be in charge of the line's passenger work... and that's certainly a Take. an unprecedented Take i believe, but a valid one.)

For my money, though, the most plausible year is 1952. After the "Old Iron" overhaul.

Lemme end with what I think is the most probable timeline for Edward's Sodor career. I'm not gonna break out all my canon citations coz this post is already ungodly long for such a simple ask... but feel free to ask for the receipts for anything in this timeline:

1915-1920 — pretty much the main line engine. especially as the other wartime loans are sent home. probably in charge of the express (which existed in a lighter and probably less tightly-timed form than we know it from Gordon's day).

1921-1922 — as the railway manages to acquire a motley collection of big, new, powerful, and extremely volatile engines—largely troubled prototypes—Edward is knocked down the roster to eventually being "the spare." since "these big engines" are "always going wrong," especially during this crazy period, that actually keeps him plenty busy until, well... things start to settle down. FC1 clearly doesn't feel the need to reassign Edward right away (anticipating, correctly, more instances of Confusion and Delay at Vicarstown, where it's nice to be able to shout "Find another engine!" and not have the answer be "... there's only Thomas??"). but before he does Edward turns on the puppy dog eyes and his new driver proves that Ed could be really valuable as station pilot at Wellsworth...

1923-WWII — Edward is based at Wellsworth to manage the depot, shuttle some goods to and from Tidmouth, and bank trains as needed. i'm gonna guess that he's often tapped at crazy hours when FC1 has what i am sure were his roughly-biannual clandestine "business meetings" where he either obtains or deploys blackmail in order to drive his devilish bargains. but Edward also remains a main line pinch-hitter, and does odd jobs all over the place until...

WWII — sometime during or after the war, another engine replaces Edward on banking duties (the goods trains at the time having gotten significantly heavier). Edward is assigned a couple of main line "Locals" each day while still fulfilling the rest of his old utility role

1948 — the clay pits at Brendam are opened. Edward makes a lot of the deliveries required for them to set up shop. he also meets Bill and Ben when they arrive. his ability to keep the new engines (roughly) in line is a powerful pull factor in getting him down the branch line more often, though his role doesn't officially change yet.

1952 — post-overhaul, Edward is assigned to the morning and evening Tidmouth-Brendam fast trains. so from here on he's on the branch line daily and thus, given his long experience at Brendam and especially at Wellsworth, is considered to be in charge of the line

1959 — despite his new role as a branch line engine, Edward is not completely relieved of all his main line utility work (in particular, please take note of Edward carting Rheneas around, the type of job to soon become very Caledonian-coded) until both Donald and Douglas are purchased. this frees Edward up to take on more branch line goods

1965 — BoCo is acquired and takes over Edward's share of the branch line goods work, which leaves Edward free for the ever-increasing special trains (stuff like excursions or wedding trains or other charters, which are frequent during the summer and holiday seasons). of course, while both are pretty happy with their usual jobs (the magazines established that BoCo doesn't really care for passenger work, and i find that harmonizes well with his appearances in canon/basis history so i accept it as canon) they do swap timetables sometimes for a change of pace

aaaand then we get to the Christopher Awdry era, where Nothing Ever Changes, and the TVS era, where Time is Meaningless, so i suppose that's that forever. cheers! (she said, with slight sarcasm)

[jackcinephile]

LO Fans: "I love Lore Olympus because it deals with serious themes, like sexual assault, abuse, gaslighting, trauma, and mental health issues!"

Me, who spent my life discovering and obsessing over masterpieces like this:

"You're gonna have to try a lot harder than that to impress me."

Yeah, I never understood that kind of praise. For one thing, people act like LO is groundbreaking for that reason, despite there being countless movies, books, tv shows, comics, and video games that also deal with the same themes. That isn't to say there can't be more stories like this, however. I, for one, am begging for another video game that comes close to the emotional resonance of Silent Hill 2, or for a faithful adaptation of Dracula and/or Phantom of the Opera, or for a horror movie as unsettling as The Howling! But to say any new story that deals with these themes is unique for doing so, is just simply not true. Lore Olympus is no more unique than any of these stories. Also, I don't understand the praise that Lore Olympus is great just by virtue of having these themes in the first place. Just because a story has serious themes, doesn't automatically make it good. Far too often does LO use its themes as a crutch for a plot that is standard issue among romances, as opposed to stories like The Howling, which has a very intriguing, outlandish plot that serves as a catalyst to explore themes of very real and relatable horror. Lore Olympus, without its intense themes, is just another story about the CEO falling in love with his intern. And don't get me wrong, I LOVE those kinds of stories, but Lore Olympus just doesn't really do it for me. And the poorly executed themes just hamper it even further for me.

If it wasn't already apparent, has anyone noticed a pattern between these titles? All but one are horror stories. In my opinion, that is one of the key differences between them and LO: Horror! The themes within, are ones that illicit terror, and the stories reflect that (even Phantom of the Opera--don't listen to anyone who says it's a romance). Starting with Dracula, one of the scenes that horrified me the most in the book was the one where Count Dracula sneaks into Mina's bedroom. The book describes him slitting open his own vein and forcing her to drink his blood. Mina then expresses feelings of violation, much akin to what rape survivors feel. It doesn't pull any punches in its shocking, horrific portrayal, but it never comes off as exploitative. That's because the best horror stories rely on the audience's empathy. In this case, nobody wants to feel violated, so we feel as horrified as the characters do when we read about this grotesque event. And because it is about illiciting fear through empathy, Dracula succeeds where Lore Olympus fails. Lore Olympus, before all else, is a romance. And rape should not be in a romantic story. Especially not when the narrative of LO uses this trauma to validate the relationship between the two leads. I'm not a fan of stories that use trauma to validate a relationship between romantic interests, and I think that partly stems from reading the Phantom of the Opera.

If you ask me, Phantom of the Opera is one if the best books to discuss abuse and gaslighting ever written! Despite misconceptions generated by the popularity of the musical, PotO is very much a horror story with hardly any romance at all. And it's one of the best examples about why using trauma to validate a romance is a very bad idea! You see, all the conflict of the story begins with The Phantom and his trauma. He was born with multiple physical deformities that cause him to look like a living corpse. Because of this, he is despised and rejected by the world in order to escape the hatred of the world, he commissions the construction of the Paris Opera House, complete with intricate catacombs where he can live out the rest of his miserable days. Then one day, a woman named Christine comes to work at the Opera as a chorus girl. She is sad and alone due to her being orphaned, without a friend in the world. She too is emotionally damaged and the Phantom thinks this means she'll understand him. The trouble begins instantly when he claims to be a character from a folktale that Christine's father used to tell her. This is when the manipulation and gaslighting begins. Part of what makes this so effective is how we see it from an outside perspective. The protagonist, Raoul, is in love with Christine and we get to see his confusion and growing concern when he starts realizing Christine is showing signs of an abusive relationship. What makes the relationship even worse is the fact that Christine actually does understand The Phantom. So she doesn't run away not only out of fear, but also compassion. She knows what it's like to feel isolated and dead to the world and The Phantom uses that against her. The more I describe this, the more parallels I begin to see to Hades' and Minthe's relationship. Yes, Minthe abused Hades in much of the same way as The Phantom abused Christine. Notice how Minthe keeps convincing Hades that they're the only people who understand each other, even going so far as to say, "We're the same." The funny thing is, that's exactly what the narrative uses to validate Hades' and Persephone's relationship! It tries to establish that Hades and Persephone relate to each other and they say, several times, "We're the same," to each other. But this is exactly how Hades got stuck in a toxic relationship with Minthe, so why is it suddenly okay now? Relationships that use shared trauma to validate themselves are almost always doomed to become toxic, in one way or another.

So what about the healthy relationship in Phantom of the Opera? Well, it's kinda interesting actually. You see, Christine eventually comes to realize that she needs help, so she turns to the protagonist, Raoul, to get her away from the Phantom. Raoul has an interesting character arc because he starts the novel being pretty immature and kinda selfish. He doesn't really take Christine's feelings into consideration. It's more like a boy chasing his childhood crush (actually that's exactly what happens). However, over the course of the story, as he becomes increasingly concerned with her well-being, he learns to care more about her feelings and her needs. This culminates in the climax, when he's willing to crawl through hell itself for her sake. I bring all this up because I wanted to compare Raoul with Hades as well. Hades is a very consistent character. He doesn't need an arc like Raoul because, from the very beginning, he's willing to put all of Persephone's needs before his, to a fault! That is his entire purpose within the narrative of LO. He exists to serve Persephone. Raoul didn't exist to serve Christine. He had his own journey of growing and maturing. And Christine didn't exist to serve Raoul either. It bothers me that a novel from 1910 has a more well-rounded relationship than a modern comic! Actually, now that I think about it, isn't Persephone's entire character arc supposed to be her learning that she shouldn't exist to serve others? Well, that totally contradicts Hades' role in the story, doesn't it? He exists to serve her! I guess, in the eyes of LO, it's only okay if men serve women, but not for women to serve men. Newsflash: neither is okay.

Now Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) remains, to this day, one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen! That's all thanks to its brutal depictions of domestic abuse. So Dr. Henry Jekyll believes the solution to enlightening the human race is to separate the good and evil in our souls. He solves this problem by creating a drug to do just that, which transforms him into Edward Hyde, but he becomes addicted and starts terrorizing a woman who was once a former patient of his. I think what makes this so effective, when compared to LO, is one simple factor: Fear. I am terrified of Edward Hyde, but whenever Apollo shows up, I'm just annoyed. That's because Hyde isn't being used to sell an agenda, while Apoll is. Apollo is all about making a statement about toxic masculinity, which always bothered me from the very beginning! Being an abusive cunt who rapes women has nothing to do with masculinity! It doesn't matter if you're masculine or feminine, anyone can be a cunting abusive rapist. If you are a rapist, it's because you're a monster who lacks empathy, not because of masculinity. And if you think masculinity has something to do with a lack of empathy, fuck off! Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is not about toxic masculinity. It's about how drug addiction can often hurt other people around us just as much, if not moreso, than ourselves. It also doesn't use rape to validate a relationship between characters. I'm sorry, but that is just the laziest storytelling technique. When the antagonist is a rapist OF COURSE the male love interest is going to look better by comparison! But when you take Apollo out of the equation, Hades stops looking like a desirable love interest real fucking quick.

So yeah, I think Hades makes for a bad love interest. That's mostly because he's so much like Shinji Ikari from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yeah, the one title from the list above that's not a horror, but is no less relevant. The thing is, both Hades and Shinji have a lot in common, such as hating themselves, having a bad relationship with their father, and not caring at all about their own wants and needs. Oh, also Asuka's a better written character than Minthe, but that's a whole other topic. What makes Evangelion work, in my opinion, is that Shinji's whole journey is about learning to love himself, while Hades is portrayed as being perfect the way he is. Hades in LO is like a flawless beacon of virtue, solely because he worships the ground Persephone walks on. But the guy just doesn't care about himself at all! Like I said earlier, Hades guilty of the same self-destructive behaviors as Persephone but he's praised for it, while Persephone is encouraged to look after herself more often. Compare this to Shinji, whose life only gets worse the more he neglects himself. The only time Hades does something beneficial for himself is when he breaks up with Minthe, but immediately after that, he starts devoting every ounce of energy to Persephone! All that matters is her! He doesn't give a single fuck about himself. Sorry, but that's not good qualities in a male love interest. In all fairness, this is a problem with the romance genre as a whole. Most romances give priority to the protagonist (in this case Persephone) while neglecting the love interest (Hades). It's why I have a serious problem with the entire genre.

Now what could Silent Hill 2 have that is in any way relevant to Lore Olympus? Two words: Nightmare Fuel. Personifying trauma as literal demons is one of the smartest ideas anyone's ever had, because speaking from personal experience, that's how it feels. I just don't feel like the trauma experienced by the characters in LO is a waking nightmare like it is in real life. For one, the characters' trauma only pops up when it's convenient for the plot. Like whenever Persephone starts experiencing ptsd, it happens when she's with Hades so we can get a scene with Hades cuddling her. After that, it shows up in a scene to make her look badass by confronting Apollo. No, just no. The Howling did it better too, by making the protagonist's trauma such an inconvenience in her life! I never felt that way in LO. When you uss traumatic encounters to make your character look like a badass, kindly fuck off.

[brynnwrites]

Sleep Snuggler

Aaron Hotchner x Reader

Summary: Hotch unexpectedly shows up at reader’s hotel room when he has a nightmare during a case. Reader consoles him and discovers something interesting about his sleeping habits...

Type: pure blissful fluffiness (soft!hotch makes me weak)

Warnings: none

Everyone on the team had nightmares, even though they were rarely openly discussed.

You had reconciled long ago that it was just part of the job. You had been on the BAU team for almost three years and had come to accept fighting sleepless nights several days a week with melatonin drops and your favorite TV show.

Spencer was the only one with whom you had actually discussed nightmares with out loud. He reassured you that they weren't constant, but warned you that they never did truly go away. That much you had figured out for yourself, but it was nice to have verbal reassurance that you weren't alone.

That's when you and Spencer agreed that whenever either of you woke up from a nightmare you would call the other and, if it was bad enough, come keep them company until they felt comfortable going back to sleep. That's why when you heard a knock on your hotel room door during a case, you were confused as to why you didn't have any missed calls or texts.

You assumed it was Spencer but looked through the peephole anyways. What you saw made you question for a moment if you were actually awake.

"Hotch?" You asked quietly, opening the door and squinting at the brightness of the hallway light.

"Y/N, I'm so sorry to wake you, I just..." he looked scared and was breathing hard, prompting your next question.

"Is everything okay? Is the rest of the team okay?" You asked groggily, teaching up to rub one of your eyes.

"Yes, yes, they're fine," he nodded, "it's just...gah, this sounds so stupid when I actually try to say it."

"Hotch, if something's bothering you, you can tell me," you said softly.

"I had a nightmare," he said, his usual stoic, confident tone much more quiet and unsure, "you were in it, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Oh, Hotch," you placed your hand over your heart, "that's really sweet of you to check on me. You have absolutely nothing to worry about, well, I mean, besides the case, but you don't have to worry about that until tomorrow." That was your attempt at making him smile, but when he remained uneasy you continued, "I'm fine, okay? Look at me, no harm done at all, everything is functioning."

You have a little twirl and wiggles your fingers and toes for emphasis. That made him crack, sighing into an almost-smile. That was sufficient for you.

"It just seemed so real, I needed to make sure," he shook his head at himself, "again, it sounds so stupid when I say it out loud."

"It's not stupid, Hotch," you reassured him, boldly reaching out to grab his hand, "But if we're going to continue this conversation, we better do it in here before we wake up the whole floor."

Hotch pursed his lips and nodded, allowed you to lead him inside your small hotel room, "you can stay as long as you need to, and we can just talk. That's what me and Spencer do sometimes when we have nightmares. We go to each other's apartments and just chill until the other feels okay going back to sleep again."

"You and Reid go to each other's apartments at night?" He asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.

You could've sworn you saw a spark of jealously flash in his eyes for a moment, but you blamed it on being sleep deprived.

"Sometimes, yes," you giggled, "we never do anything, if that's what you're asking. We're just friends. We'll sit on the couch and usually watch Star Trek if we're at his place or baking shows if we're at mine. It helps just having someone there, not being alone."

Hotch nodded wordlessly, still standing there while you sat with one leg tucked under you on the edge of the bed. He looked contemplative as he scanned the room you were in, allowing your eyes to rake over his form without him noticing.

He looked so much softer, so domestic in his pj's. It was what you expected him to wear, a plain white tee shirt and some plain black sweatpants, and from the looks of it they were thrown on hastily, as they were on backwards. You giggled to yourself, until it registered in your mind that that most likely meant he slept in just his tee shirt and boxers. Or maybe just the boxers. That was enough to make your cheeks flush pink, thankful that the room was dark enough to conceal it.

"What?" Hotch asked quietly.

"Huh?"

"You're staring," he said in his profiler voice.

"Oh, sorry," you giggled, "it's just that your sweatpants, they're on backwards. And inside out."

Hotch laughed, he actually laughed and ran a hand over his face, "I'm just really doing well tonight, aren't I?"

"You sure are," you teased, glancing over your shoulder at the clock on the nightstand, "It's three am, you should try to get some more sleep."

"I know, this is entirely inappropriate, I shouldn't be in here," he said quickly, turning to go but you called out his name, causing him to freeze.

"Or you could stay. That way if the nightmare comes back you can know that I'm still okay?" You offered.

"Y/N, I really shouldn't," he began to argue, although you could tell he didn't want to go.

"I won't tell anyone, I promise," you pushed, "please, just stay."

And so he did, turning on his heel to face you once more. You slid to the other side of the bed, getting comfy as you waited for him to climb in next to you."

"Do you mind if I fix this?" He asked, referring to his askew sweatpants.

"Not at all," you chirped, unable to control the words that left your mouth next, "And if you're more comfortable without them, I really don't mind you taking them off all together."

Even in the darkness, you could tell that flustered him. He shook his head, looking down at his feet with the slightest smirk on his face before removing the article of clothing and slipping under the covers.

"Goodnight, Hotch," you said, turning away from him so that he couldn't see how much this was getting to you, having him so close.

"Goodnight, Agent Y/L/N," he murmured into the dark. That's the last thing you heard before you fell back into your once uninterrupted, peaceful sleep.

With morning came the sun shining through the crack in the hotel window curtains. It filled you with warmth as you fluttered your eyes open, startling yourself when you felt an unfamiliar weight on you.

You looked down to see a mass of dark brown hair almost blocking your view of the arm draped across your waist, and the memories of the night came flooding back. Aaron Hotchner was in your room. In your bed. And now he was snuggling you.

You almost couldn't believe it and definitely couldn't control the widespread grin on your face as you tilted your head to the side to get a slight look at his own. You were on your back and his face was snuggled into your tee shirt clad chest. His lips were rosy and parted, letting out little puffs of air as his nose was pressed into the fabric causing it to scrunch slightly. His eyelashes looked so long from your point of view as they rested gently against his flushed cheeks. You then noticed one of his legs was tangled with yours as you shifted slightly, the hairs on his leg rubbing against your bare one, causing you to shudder slightly at the sensation. You tried really hard not to focus on the fact that he was also wearing just his boxers on the bottom, choosing to let your mind linger on the more innocent parts of the delicate moment.

You laid like that for what felt like an eternity, but you didn't mind one bit. You spent the seconds carding your fingers through his surprisingly silky hair, moving it off his forehead lovingly before letting it fall back into place. Your other hand traced tiny shapes on his muscular back.

You wished you could stay like that forever.

But alas, there was a job to be done, and it just so happened that Hotch naturally woke up every day at 6:45 like clockwork, if he wasn't woken up by a work call sooner. His eyelashes fluttered as he struggled to open his eyes, his body obviously content in the sleepy state it was in, not wanting to wake.

He moved slowly, face lifting slightly to register his surroundings before meeting your gaze.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty," you cooed, somewhat teasingly, but with a hint of meaning behind it. He was, indeed, beautiful when he slept.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to crowd you," he said, voice gravelly and way too good sounding for it to be that early in the morning, "I hope I didn't wake you."

"Not at all," you hummed, deciding to resume the movement of your hand through his hair, to gauge his reaction, "the sun had no trouble doing that."

Surprisingly, Hotch made a noise of amusement, relaxing into your hand that was in his hair, letting his head rest on your chest once again. He must've still been really tired to not question the action.

"How come you didn't warn me you were a sleep snuggler?" You asked smugly, relishing in the feeling of his warm breath on you when he laughed lightly.

"In all honesty, I didn't know I was," he said with a shrug, "I kind of like it, though."

"Me too," you agreed sweetly, "and I kind of like this Hotch."

"What do you mean?" He asked curiously.

"I like you all sleepy and warm and not worrying about it being unprofessional or whatever," you replied with a giggle.

He screwed his eyes shut, his voice lowering to its usual Hotch tone, "It is unprofessional," but his actions contradicted him as he snugged his face further, "however, this is far to comfortable for me to fight you on it, so I'll let it slide, just this once."

Your balloon of hope in your chest deflated as reality struck. Of course, this was a one time thing.

"Right," you mumbled, shifting uncomfortably underneath him. He could sense the change in mood, as he rose up and propped himself on his elbow next to you, removing his arm and his leg from you.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Nothing, it's nothing," you shook your head, mustering up a fake smile, "I'm fine."

"For a profiler, you really are bad at hiding that you're lying," he smirked.

"I'm not lying!" You defended quickly, "Really, don't worry about it."

"It? So there is something wrong," he said triumphantly, "tell me."

You sighed, grabbed the pillow behind you and plopping it over your face dramatically, "I don't want this to be a one time thing."

"I couldn't hear you," he said teasingly, "move the pillow and speak up."

You cursed yourself for being so attuned to following his orders as your body automatically removed the pillow from your face, now flushed a dark pink.

"I don't want this to be a one time thing," you admitted sadly, knowing he would tell you that he didn't feel that way or that relationships within the team were off limits.

He sighed, a small smile tracing his face. You could get used to him smiling. He looked down at your arm, now resting where his was on your tummy, and placed his hand on it lightly, ghosting his finger up and down the length of it. Goosebumps erupted over your skin.

When he finally spoke, it was soft, "I was hoping you would say that."

You were taken aback, "Huh?"

"I don't want this to be a one time thing either," he said, meeting your surprised gaze. You must be still asleep, you knew you had to be dreaming.

"Really?" You asked dumbly, unable to coherently put together a better reaction.

He chuckled, "yes, really. I've been trying to figure out a way to tell you how I've been feeling for months. I guess I can thank my nightmares for giving me an excuse."

You shook your head with a dumbfounded smile, "What now?"

"Well, we'll have to work out the logistics of it professionally, of course," he said solemnly before smiling once more, "but I have a feeling we can make it work just fine."

You smiled, giddy with all the possibilities of a future with Hotch. Your Hotch.

"Get back down here, sleep snuggler," you demanded with a laugh as you pulled him down unceremoniously on top of you once more.

You spent what was left of the morning before Hotch had to sneak back to his room under the covers, all wrapped up in each other.

It was bliss. Pure bliss.