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Haley usually moves in silence, that is unless she wants something, of course. Aaron, her husband (of only three months) knows everything about her, is extremely intimate with her body and her occasional mood swings. He knows she wants something the moment she opened the door, dropping her backpack onto the new wooden floors as her high heels climbed across the room. Sometimes he likes to play this game — guessing what she wants — but sometimes, he can't help himself. Can't resist the urge to kiss it out of her. Today, he learns early on, is not one of those days, undoubtedly.
"Hey, you." Aaron said. A light smile taut across his lips as he extended his arms out, waiting for her to sit on his lap. Cat and Mouse. Haley knows that's what he wants… she's not sure if she wants to give it to him yet. "How was work?" Within seconds, she folds, seeing the look on his face change and he puts his arms at ease, no longer wanting her as she walks to the kitchen, unable to grab a glass of water before he scooped her up, tickling her sides as Haley gasped for air, a chuckle stuck in her throat permanently when he was around.
"Aaron!" She yelps, hitting his arms glued to her waist as he tickled the sides of her stomach, gently biting her neck as if he wanted to imprint his love into her veins. (He does. He's tried several times.) The ring on her finger holds people off, not as much as he'd like, seeing as how she's only twenty-two. "Stop it. Stop." She tried to pull away, but he kept pushing her back playfully, whispering I love you over and over as she struggled to comb through her thoughts. "I had something to tell you."
"You're pregnant?" His expression is tight and almost looks like it hurts as his pupils widened, suddenly devoid of any color on his cheeks, tightening his grip on her stomach like he's hurting someone. "Hales?"
"No, Aaron." He exhales but the air still feels caught in his lungs. It's stuck somewhere in the middle of his chest. "But good to know where you're at on that."
"I didn't—" mean it like that. He never did. He loved Haley and slowly but surely, the idea of becoming a father didn't terrify him. He had been away from his own for long enough that he had unlearned his practices. Still petrified at the thought, he found himself musing about it every once and a while, seeing a couple of campus with their own, stopping to wave at a baby as Haley cooed in his ear.
"I know, honey. That wasn't a bad thing. You're getting there. I'm not ready to be someone's parent yet, either."
They were just so young. Her parents kept whispering that in her ear. Claiming she had rushed into marriage and that a divorce would take their life savings at her age. Haley doesn't know why she doesn't believe them — or when she stopped — but she knows they're wrong. She tells them that repeatedly. Standing up to them as they whisper in her ear hymns of how she's doomed, stuck in this line of sin. "We're not even out of college yet, Aaron. We shouldn't have a kid until we're at least thirty."
"But if it happened." He trails off, "I'd be okay with it. Just so you know."
Haley laughed, tilting her head down as he kissed her chin. "Right. Should we announce that to everyone? Aaron Hotchner wants to fuck a baby into his wife, Haley Hotchner." The use of his last name — their — last name drives him insane. Everything she says does.
"Haley." His eyebrows raised and he couldn't hide the laugh rising from his belly as he held her. "You said you had something to say?"
"Smooth recovery, Aaron."
"Thank you."
"I want to dye my hair. Cut it all of and then bleach it. Would you help me?"
Aaron would go to the end of the earth's if Haley asked him. She flashes a hesistant smile as one side of her lip curls and the other remains down. "Honey, of course."
She clapped her together with excitement, wrapping her hands against his waist as she pulled him in for a long kiss, overdue since the last one they shared — this morning. "Good." Haley says as she pulled away, Aaron keeps his lips puckered, knowing she'll come in for another round. "I got some tequila on the way over…"
Aaron looks down at her backpack and then back up at her, he can taste it on her lips. "And someone started without me, didn't she?"
Haley shakes her head, the worst liar he's ever met. "Of course not."
"Hales."
"It was a long walk back!"
He kissed her lips hastily. "You're going to end up on the evening news, baby."
"Local woman drinks tequila on her way home and then fails at seducing her hot husband." Haley says, voice deep like she's trying to mock him, attempting to sound like a news-reporter.
Aaron can't get over her. He wishes she could always make him laugh like this. His sides hurt after a while as she rested her hands against his neck. "How much did you have?"
Haley smirks, "I had to go back and buy another bottle, baby."
"Haley."
"Aaron."
"What are we going to do with you?"
"Very telling coming from my husband…" Aaron rolls his eyes and she leans forward, nearly brooding his noise in the process, unable to help herself.
"Jesus, Haley." She laughs, over and over until her lungs burst.
"Something wrong, Hotchner?" Haley asks.
He shook his head, sliding her off his lap as she stood, still holding onto him for support as he towered over her, intertwining their hands immediately. Aaron looks around for his car keys, Haley just follows him around, as if she wants to annoy him. He shakes his head as he finds what he's looking for. "Not to my knowledge, Hotchner."
"I think you stole my last name." Haley said.
Aaron grabs her jacket, gently pushed it on her shoulders as she snarls out a half-assed protest. "Pretty sure it was the other way around, sweetheart."
"Brooks doesn't sound as good."
Aaron agreed, sneaking another kiss as he opened the front door. "Hotchner suits you, honey."
Haley scoffs. "Tell that to my parents."
"Should I get a basket?" Haley's barely walking in a straight line. Aaron has to pull her back and move her aside as a family walk in together, silently apologizing as his wife waves at the little kid in the shopping cart. "Haley."
"Don't you want one of those?" Haley sways as he holds her shoulders right, trying to fix her posture as he grabbed a shopping basket, something feasible, that way she wouldn't keep running into his heels. "They're so little."
"One day." Aaron reminds, turning her as she goes the wrong way. "Haley, sweetheart, dinner. We need dinner. What do you want?"
"We could get chinese…"
"With those egg rolls you like." Aaron adds for her.
Haley squeals as they walk into the beauty section, her hand on his tricep, so close he can feel her heart beating inside her chest. "Have I ever said you're the best husband in the world? Because I mean it, Aaron. You're great."
"You've never told me that." Aaron says, grabbing a box of bleach as he shows his wife. "Bleach blonde, baby? Or something a little more muted?" His finger moved across the shelf, visualing her options as he asked, "Like a light blonde?"
Haley shakes her hair, too aware that she's already explained this to him. "Bleach blonde and a bob, babe."
He bites his bottom lip as he tossed the bleach into the basket, staring up at her as he tried to imagine it. Haley had always been blonde, but as she grew up, it turned darker and darker, nearly brown up until now. She needed a change. Temporary or not, she needed an out. "You'll look fantastic. Do we have scissors at home?"
"Not ones for my hair."
Aaron begins to move again. Haley takes a second, distracted by something as he walked back and pulled her along. "Chinese for dinner." He reminds. "You want ice cream?"
"Mint chocolate chip?"
"The worst kind."
Haley gently hits his shoulder as they walk through the aisles. "That's ground for divorce, Aaron."
He scoffed, "I'd like to see you try."
“You’d like a lot of things from me, Aaron.”
“Haley.” The sweet sound of her laugh stays in his head the entire drive home, her constant talking and singing along to the radio makes him fall even further in love with her.
"Just let me know if any of this hurts.” Aaron says quietly, resting a hand on her neck as he ran a hand through her long hair, fixing her posture as she looked at him in the mirror. "And if I'm cutting too much off, Hales, don't hesitate to yell."
"You say the same thing during sex, Aaron."
He glares at her from behind, she sees his reflection and can't help but avoid his heavy gaze. Aaron cracks open his beer as she hums a tune. "I do not."
"You do too."
"No, I don't."
"Aaron, yes, you do."
He leaned forward a little as his back collided with her head. "I win." Haley says, handing Aaron her brush as she stole his beer, taking a sip before she handed it back to him. The look on his face is priceless — what's mine is yours.
"You always win." Aaron admits while gently brushing out her hair. Haley has on a tight tank top and her knees cradled against her chest, closing her eyes as he brushed out a knot, so much better than when Jessica did it. "I love you, Haley."
She keeps her eyes closed as she says, "I know. I love you, too. You nervous?"
"Like it's our wedding day again." Haley lies, waiting to see the reaction laminate on his lips. He freezes. The stakes are high and time is running out. "Aaron. I'm joking. If anything, I'll just have a professional fix it, but I trust you."
"Yeah?"
"Aaron, if you can believe it, I married you for a reason."
"So I could do your taxes for you." He murmurs, under his breath, parting her hair as she settled into the chair, knees drawn to her chest, taking a sip of her drink as she laughed.
"Right." Haley admits. "Once I figure out how to do that, I'm breaking up with you."
"So we have at least a decade." Haley hits his shoulder and he bites his bottom lip, pretending like it hurts.
"I would just have my dad do them." Haley says admittedly, even though she hasn't heard from Roy in a couple months. "Simple fix."
Aaron smiled as he grabbed a hair tie, sectioning off her hair evenly as she fiddled anxiously with her wedding ring. "You alright?"
"Fine."
"You miss him, don't you?"
"That sounds like he's dead. He's not dead. He just — he doesn't want to see me." Haley chokes on a sob, setting the bottle down as tears sprouted down her cheeks against her will. "Neither does Mom. She left a voicemail the other day, Aaron, talking about how I'm going to hell for abandoning the church the way I did. Her and her bible study dissect me every week. She never has anything good to tell them."
He shifts, one swift movement as he moves in front of her, cradling her close as she buries her body into his, molding into one as she sniffled. "Why don't they love me anymore? I didn't even do anything."
"It's me." Aaron says softly. "They're mad at me, Haley, and they like to take that out on you, but it's not your fault, sweetheart. Nothing is ever your fault."
She exhales shallowly, "Everything is always my fault, Aaron."
He grabs the scissors and watches as she moves away, back onto the chair as she fixed her posture. "Maybe we shouldn't do this."
"But you wanted to."
"They'll hate it."
"Haley, sweetheart." Aaron's quiet, gentle. "They don't matter. Not anymore. Not ever. If you want to do this, I'll help you. Through sickness and in health."
"Sap."
Aaron denies that claim, always has, always will as he gently begins to cut off her hair. Haley tightens her jaw and closed her eyes, putting all her trust into her husband as her hair becomes short again for the first time since middle school.
He hands her a smaller mirror twenty minutes later, half her dignity on the ground as he watches her. "You like it?" Aaron asks, heart on his sleeve.
Haley kisses him as a way of response, short and sweet as she nodded. "Great. You look amazing, sweetheart."
"You'd look good as a blonde." Haley muses, as Aaron grabs the bleach, reading the directions over and over until he understands. Running a hand through his hair, she licks her lips. "Really good, Aaron."
She knows she's lying the second it leaves his mouth. "Maybe one day." Imagine her surprise when he shows up with a bleached buzz-cut three months later, out of the blue and in the middle of finals.