You Can't Talk to the Man

[katewallace.livejournal.com]

Title: You Can't Talk to the Man
Author: Kate Wallace
Summary: Dave and Hotch continue a long-running argument.
Rating: FRM (to be safe)
Pairing: Hotch/Rossi
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended,either for "Criminal Minds", ABC,CBS or the song "Smackwater Jack",written by Gerry Coffin and Carole King, copyright 1971,Screen Gems-EMI Music.
My first fic in the CM 'verse. Inspired by the line from the song: "You can't talk to a man with a shotgun in his hand." and "You can't talk to
a man when he don't want to understand."





“Damn it, Hotch, you know I was right!” David Rossi stopped at the foot of the hospital bed and aimed his most intimidating glare at the man in it. Not that he really thought the glare would work,it never really had before, but he was tired and right now it was the last thing left in his arsenal.

“I could have talked him down...he was on the verge of giving up. You didn’t have to shoot him.”


“Aaron, he had a 12 gauge pointed right at you! The same one he hit you and broke three of your ribs with...you wanted to see if he was going to shoot you too?” Rossi wrapped both hands around the frame at the foot of the bed. He was running on adrenalin and coffee and had to fight back the almost overwhelming urge to just go up to Aaron, grab him by the shoulders and just shake some sense into him. Two things stopped him: Aaron had three broken ribs,...and a wicked left hook.
Dave knew that the younger agent was just as wired as he was and wouldn’t think twice about fighting back,despite the fact that he was injured. He stretched out his arms and leaned down to put his forehead on the cool metal of the bed. Maybe it was time to switch tactics.

“How long are they going to keep you here?” He stood up and crossed his arms across his chest,suddenly the very picture of calm and reason. The amused glint in the hazel eyes at the other end of the bed told him that this move was only going to get him so far. ‘That’s okay,’ he thought ‘I’ll take what I can get.’

“I think..” Hotch leaned against the pillows, recognizing Dave’s gesture as a flag of truce. They would have this argument again, when one of them did the ‘Hey, I’m a human target.’ routine.He coughed and winced from the pain and Rossi was at his side in an instant.

“You think what, babe?” Rossi held the water cup so Aaron could take a few sips, the placed it back on the bedside table.

“They said something about letting me go home tonight if I had someone to keep an eye on me.” He smiled and relaxed further against the pillows. He hated fighting with Dave, but he had to admit, sometimes the 'making up' part that came after made all the angst that preceded it worthwhile. They were both stubborn men and had accepted the fact that intense arguments were going to be part and parcel of their relationship.


"So, you need someone to stay over with you?" Dave gave him a sideways look out of those deep brown eyes..a look that indicated that the older man recognized the game Aaron was playing and had decided,for the moment, to play along.

"Yeah, to make sure I take my meds, you know." Aaron managed to summon up a slight smile. He was tired and sore and he just wanted to go home with Dave and sleep. David Rossi might present a gruff, no nonsense face to the world, but Aaron Hotchner knew better.The Dave Rossi he knew would take him home, tuck him into their king sized bed and watch carefully over him all night. There would be omelets and toast in the morning and Dave would help him out to the recliner in the sunroom. A few days of pampering and the the doctors would let him go back to work. And one day, when he least expected it, Dave would bring up the man with the loaded 12 gauge and the familiar, long-running argument would begin again.

The squeak of a wheelchair coming into the room roused him and he sat up carefully on the edge of the bed. Dressed in sweats and hospital slippers, he was wheeled out the door a few minutes later. The hallway was deserted and he looked up at Rossi, more than a little confused.

The older man smiled, "I sent them back to the office, told them to start writing up their reports. They knew you were going to be okay and I didn't want them to hear us fighting." He gave an eloquent Italian shrug..."They know we argue, they just don't need to hear us doing it."

"They're not kids..." Aaron made a half-hearted protest.

"They are to me!" Rossi laughed, then reached down patted Aaron's shoulder. A stop at the hospital pharmacy for the prescriptions and they were on their way.

****************

"Aaron?" Rossi turned a bleary eye to the alarm clock on the nightstand. Three o'clock in the morning. He heard another noise in the bathroom across the hall.
A muttered 'damn it!' and the sound of something plastic hitting the tile floor and rolling away. Dave levered himself off the bed and padded over to the bathroom.
Hotch was leaning against the counter, pale and shaking, the prescription bottle on the floor at his feet. The glare he got from under the black eyebrows made him swallow the mild reprimand that was on the tip of his tongue. He picked up the bottle, got out two of the pills and handed them to Aaron. He drew a glass of water from the tap and gave him that as well. The younger man managed to down the medicine without spilling any water. He put the glass down and turned to face Dave.

"I didn't want to wake you."

"It's okay," Rossi leaned forward and kissed Aaron gently on the cheek. "I don't mind. Let's go back to bed. You need more sleep, and so do I."

They got back in bed and Dave curled up carefully next to his injured lover, pulling the blankets up over them both.

"I could have talked him down." Aaron's voice was almost inaudible.

"Doesn't matter, I shot him dead. End of story. I win."

"This time."

Rossi leaned up on one elbow. "This time, and the next time, too. Now hush up and go to sleep." He waited for a response, and when he didn't get one, smiled slightly. His last thought before he drifted off was that he hoped that the 'next time' would take a long time to get there.