Work Text:
Of Innocence and Empathy: A Logical Constant
by Frogg
Hotch frowned, tipping the legal-sized manila envelope almost upside down. The contents slid into his opposite hand, a pale, pastel green envelope, standard greeting-card sized. Block letters in black ink read "Hotch", nothing else.
Setting the interoffice envelope aside, he turned the smaller envelope over, read the Saturday logo on the flap, then back over to inspect the writing.
'Reid's the handwriting expert, but this gives me nothing,' he thought to himself with a shrug, slitting the envelope across the top with a blunt nail.
The card was white, with a simply-drawn bunny holding a huge bouquet of brightly-colored flowers, with a caption of "FOR YOU".
"Ooookay," Hotch said to himself, opening the card.
The left hand side was full of very familiar, elegant scrawl: Reid's handwriting. The right hand side was printed with "Hope you're having a hoppy Mother's Day!", with a little carrot and the word belated written between "a" and "hoppy".
Unable to entirely suppress a wince, Hotch had to smile ruefully at the reminder, memories of Morgan reduced to helpless laughter vibrant in the back of his mind. At least now he understood the hesitant, uncertain look Reid had given him as he came in to work this morning.
"Hotch--
All gender stereotypes and such aside, I wanted to thank you for all the support and guidance..."
Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling his eyes tear up and holding them back by sheer force of will as he read.
It wasn't like he didn't know Reid looked up to him; they all did, to some degree.
But...
He didn't deserve this.
end