fic request: Emily tells her mother that she is pregnant with her and aarons first child
Oh I love this one!
-x-
Maternal Instincts
Words: 2.4k
Warnings: pregnancy
Read over on Ao3, or below the cut!
“This was a bad idea.”
Aaron is grateful for his years of professional training, because it stops him from sighing at his wife. His pregnant, hormonal and very stressed wife.
“Sweetheart-”
“Maybe we shouldn’t tell her,” Emily says, turning her head to look at him, her eyes almost pleading with him, “we’ll just have a nice normal dinner.”
Aaron stares at her before reaching over the centre console of the car, placing his hand on her knee. “She’d eventually notice we have another kid, Em.”
He wasn’t going to mention they were already sitting in Elizabeth’s driveway, the plan to tell her about her new grandchild set in stone weeks ago. Jack was with Jessica and her father for the weekend, the team were off duty and Elizabeth was in town. Which all coincided nicely with Emily entering the second trimester of her pregnancy. So it was perfect, or at least it was until she apparently got cold feet on the 40 minute journey to her mother’s house.
“Or, we can wait until the baby can tell her. Who’d yell at a baby?” Emily says sincerely, and he can’t help but smile at her.
“Em,” he says softly, reaching out and placing his hand on her cheek, “it will be fine.”
She smiles at him, an edge of sadness to it that he wishes he could erase. As if he could wipe away decades of damage done to a relationship between mother and daughter that hadn’t been what either had wanted.
“Nothing I’ve ever done has been good enough, Aaron.” She says, shaking her head slightly. It’s not true, and he knows it, but he knows this isn’t the time to talk about it. “And this means so much,” she places her hand on her stomach, the slight change to it only noticeable to the two of them, “and if she says anything negative about this…I can barely take it when she’s rude to you.”
His relationship with his mother-in-law was much better than it used to be. When they first got together she was cold, at best, towards him. She’d always shown him respect in his line of work, but apparently dating her daughter was another thing entirely. She’d told him once, out of character and likely brought on by one too many glasses of champagne at New Year, that she found it hard to accept that Emily had fallen in love with the man who had faked her death. That the entire time she had been mourning the loss of her daughter, Aaron had known she was alive.
They never discussed it again, never spoke of the one sided conversation that had ended the moment Emily had come back into the room with Jack, both of them laughing, but things changed after that, they became easier.
Like a weight had lifted from both of them.
“She’s better than she used to be.” He says diplomatically. “Em, we’re married, you’re in your 40s,” he smiles again at the way her nose scrunches when he says her age, “you’re a grown woman, and it’s your life. And she loves Jack, she’ll be delighted at the idea of having another grandchild.”
Emily blows out a breath. “You sound very sure.”
“I am.” He leans across and stamps a quick kiss to her lips. “Now we should go in, we’ve been sitting here for 10 minutes and she’s definitely looking at us through the window.”
Emily laughs at him and he’s grateful to see some of the tension leave her shoulders. “You’re afraid of her.”
“Have you met your mother? Of course I am.”
___
Emily is sure her mother figures it out the moment she turns down wine, a slight narrowing of Elizabeth’s eyes when she asks for something else instead. They get through dinner, conversation easier than Emily remembered it having been in years. Her relationship with her mother would never be perfect, but she could accept it as it was. She just hoped her relationship with Jack, and with her baby, would be better. That they’d never feel nervous to let her know anything about their lives, that she and Aaron would be the first people they wanted to tell.
She feel’s Aaron’s hand on her knee, and she looks at him. He looks at her encouragingly as their plates are cleared, and she nods, taking in a deep breath and trying to draw on his strength.
“Mother, we have something to tell you.” She says, and Elizabeth nods at her, indicating that she should continue. “I’m pregnant.” Emily smiles despite her nerves, her happiness the overriding emotion. Still so overwhelming even now, weeks after the test she had taken early one morning, Aaron standing just on the other side of the door.
There’s a flash of something on Elizabeth’s face, she doesn’t cover it in time, and both Aaron and Emily catch it.
“Congratulations.” She says after a beat, her voice clipped, careful. As if she was at work, dealing with something she would rather not handle. Emily tightens her hand on Aaron’s, feels him running his thumb over her wrist in an attempt to soothe her. “How far along are you?”
“Just over 12 weeks.” Emily replies, forcing a smile now, desperate for this to get back on track.
Elizabeth takes a sip of her drink before settling the glass back on the table. “I just want to make sure you’ve thought this through.”
Emily laughs wryly. “That I’ve thought this through?” Having a baby with my husband?”
“Em-” Aaron says, squeezing her hand in an attempt to calm her, wanting to ensure this didn’t escalate too much.
“No,” she says, standing and wrenching her hand out of his, she turns back to her mother, “I won’t let you ruin this for me.” She looks at Aaron. “I’d like to go home,” she clears her throat, hoping it covers the wavering in her voice, “I’ll go wait in the car.”
She’s out of the room in a second, not looking back once.
Aaron stands up himself, clenching his jaw to prevent himself from saying what he really wanted to say, knowing Emily was more important than anything else.
“You can never just be happy for her, can you?” He settles on, his stern gaze fixed on Elizabeth before he turns away not waiting for a response.
When he gets into their car Emily already has her seat belt done up, and she’s pointedly looking out of the passenger door window.
“Em-”
“Can we please just go home?”
The sadness in her voice tears at his insides, his chest tightening. “Ok, love. Whatever you want.”
The drive home is silent, apart from the occasional sniff from Emily, her tears gently sliding down her face.
___
The following morning he’s making them breakfast, just plain toast for Emily because her stomach was still uneasy first thing, when the doorbell rings. He frowns, not sure who would be here to see them so early on a Saturday morning, but he walks towards it anyway, only partially surprised when he sees Elizabeth through the peephole.
Aaron sighs as he opens the door, only remembering that he was still only in a pair of grey sweatpants and a t-shirt when her eyebrows raise. “Good morning.”
He clears his throat. “Morning.” He makes no move to open the door any further to let her in, the memories of Emily crying into his shoulder in their bed the night before still too fresh.
“Are you going to let me in?” She asks, polite as ever.
“I don’t know if that's a good idea.” He replies, running his fingers through his hair to try and flatten it a little, knowing it was likely in disarray. “She’s still upset.”
“She’s my daughter, Aaron.”
“And she’s my wife.” He replies, unphased by the tone of her voice. He sighs when her expression falters, the same look on her face that he’d seen on Emily’s countless times, something he could never say no to. “Come in.”
He steps back, letting her into the house and she immediately walks over to the living room, taking a seat on the couch. Aaron closes the door and sits on the couch opposite, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.
“Why are you here?” He asks, hoping he maintains some of his sternness despite his outfit.
“I want to speak to her, clear some things up.” Elizabeth answers, clasping her hands in her lap. “I’m not unhappy about this, Aaron. I was just surprised,” she sighs sadly, “I didn’t even know you wanted more children.” She looks down at her own lap for a second before looking up at him. “And I know that’s my fault, that my daughter doesn’t share these things with me, and I reacted poorly.”
“If you’re not unhappy, then why-”
“Honey, what’s taking so long? Emily’s voice calls down from the top of the stairs, her footsteps muted against the steps, a pair of his socks that she had stolen a long time ago on her feet. “Are you baking the bread or something? Baby and I are…” she trails off, her smile slipping off of her face as she makes it to the bottom of the steps, her mother coming into view, “Oh…Mother,” her eyes flit between Elizabeth and Aaron, and she swallows against the lump in her throat, “what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to speak to you.”
“You said enough last night.” Emily says, crossing her arms over her chest, suddenly very aware of her outfit, a pair of sleep shorts and one of Aaron’s old t-shirts. “What else is there left to say?”
“Emily, please.”
She sighs, looking over to her husband and she sees nothing but acceptance on his face. She knows he’d take her lead on his, throw her mother out if she asked it of him. She places her hand over her stomach, the nausea still rolling around in her belly. She thinks of the tiny baby lying beneath her palm, how small it’s family really was, and she wanted to give them a chance to get to know their grandmother, the only grandparent they’d have.
“Ok.” Emily says, walking over to the living room and taking a seat next to Aaron. The silence becomes awkward and they all just sit there, unsure what to say. Emily lays her hand on Aaron’s knee and squeezes it gently. “Why don’t you go make me a cup of tea, honey?”
He looks at her and frowns, his eyebrows creasing together. “Are you sure?”
Emily smiles at him, his protective nature as endearing as it was frustrating at times. “I’m sure.”
Aaron nods, pressing a kiss to her forehead despite her mother’s presence, and he stands up, he turns to Elizabeth. “Would you like a drink?”
“Coffee would be great.” She replies, smiling tightly at her son-in-law.
“I’ll just be in the next room.” Aaron says, looking at Emily once more before he walks away, leaving mother and daughter alone.
“He’s protective.” Elizabeth says as she looks back at her daughter. “He almost didn’t let me in.”
“Mother,” Emily replies, sinking back further into the couch, missing Aaron’s warmth already, “please just say what you came here to say.”
Elizabeth sighs before nodding. “I wanted to apologise for last night. I didn’t react in the way I should have, or the way I wanted to.” She smiles sadly, maintaining eye contact with Emily. “As soon as you turned down the wine I guessed what was happening, and I thought I’d prepared myself but I hadn’t. I am happy for you, Emily.”
“Then why did you say what you said?” She asks, her voice already thicker than normal, her hormones tearing apart her usual ability to keep her emotions steady.
“Because I’m worried about you,” Elizabeth replies, “but I didn’t say it in the way I should have.”
“Worried?” Emily says, tilting her head slightly, a questioning look on her face.
“You aren’t exactly a young woman anymore, despite what you do for a living-”
“Mother-”
“And with the injuries you sustained at the hands of that terrorist I panicked.”
Emily feels all the anger seep out of her as quickly as it had appeared at the mention of Ian, something her and her mother had rarely spoken about in detail, so much of it left unsaid. She knows she won’t say anymore, that this is the closest they’d come to an honest conversation in years, and Emily blows out a breath.
“We didn’t decide to do this lightly,” she says carefully, wanting to keep her voice as even as possible, “we spoke to doctors, made sure everything would be ok.” She can’t help the wry smile that appears on her face. “If you think Aaron, the man who was going to keep you outside because you upset me last night, would do anything to put me at risk, you don’t know him very well.”
“You’re right.” Elizabeth says, a smile flashing across her face. “So 12 weeks?” She waits for Emily to nod, her smile infectious. “I was still sick as a dog when I was pregnant with you by that point, it didn’t fade until almost my third trimester.”
“Oh god,” Emily groans, her hand resting against her stomach, “don’t tell me that. I keep hoping it will go away. Whoever called it morning sickness was an idiot.”
“Probably a man.” Elizabeth jokes and Emily huffs out a laugh. “Try something minty, I think I went through so many mints when I was having you that your father was considering buying out the company.”
Emily smiles at the advice and she nods. “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“You’re going to be a fantastic mother, Emily.” Elizabeth says after a pause. “Better than I ever was.”
Aaron walks back in with the drinks before anything else can be said, a cup of coffee each for him and Elizabeth and Emily’s tea. He settles back on the couch next to his wife. They have their drinks, conversation about the baby flowing between the three of them, and Elizabeth leaves with her own copy of Emily’s ultrasound, saying she needed something new for her desk in her office.
Once he’s shown her out Aaron rejoins Emily in the living room. She immediately curls into his side, her head on his shoulder.
“Everything ok?” He asks her, and she smiles at him, her hand tangling with his.
I absolutely adore that gif of Aaron stepping in front of Lachlan to protect Robert in the back room of the pub. It does things to me. I’m pretty sure it did things to Robert too, to be fair.
Could Aaron be any more precious. When the police were sniffing around Ross about the Home Farm robbery, Robert had to talk Aaron into leaving the village. Now he could get in trouble for the weed (& the slight connection to what happened to Harriet), he want's to grab his hubby & get out of dodge pronto. That's because 2014 Aaron never really had that much to lose. 2017 Aaron has everything to lose. He's grown up, he's confronted past trauma's, he's no longer got any secrets from his mother & they're closer than ever, he's married to the love of his life, he's part of a family now with his husband & sister.
An officer on a case they’re working on doesn’t seem to be taking no for an answer, and so Emily takes drastic measures to make sure he gets the message. She asks Aaron to kiss her.
Hope it’s okay I sent a request. Have a great day!
This essentially turned into Emily massively simping over Aaron and I'm not even a little bit sorry.
-x-
Subtle
Words: 1.7k
Warnings: Just...so fluffy. Perfect for a Sunday evening.
Read over on AO3 in my collection of mini fics and prompts, or below the cut.
Let me know what you think <3
The case had dragged on for almost a week, the strain visible on all of their faces as they wrapped up, files being packed into boxes as they prepared for another night in their uncomfortable hotel rooms. A storm on the east coast was keeping them in town for another night, all of them wanting nothing more than to crawl home into their own beds.
It’s Aaron’s suggestion that they all go for a drink, let off some steam before they return home where another case was inevitable, their time off always precious. Emily holds back her laughter when the rest of the team look surprised, their boss usually having to be corralled into joining them out for drinks when they are in DC.
Things had shifted between Emily and Aaron since her return from Paris. It started with his request, his demand, that she came to him when she was having a bad day. There were so many of them at first, and Aaron was there for every one of them. Offering her his friendship and steadfast support as she tried to get through them. He made her dinner, inviting her round to spend precious evenings with his son, the Hotchner’s slowly stitching her back together without even realising they were doing it.
Over time she felt better, more like herself, or like a new version of her. The therapy Aaron encouraged her to continue with started to work, the truth becoming easier as time went on as the invisible weight on her chest lessened.
Aaron came to her too. She listened as he told her about his fears for his son’s future, the guilt he felt for the past. She helped have fun again, encouraged him to spend more time with the team, helped him teach Jack how to ride his bike, gently squeezing Aaron’s hand as the boy sped off in front of them, his training wheels a mere memory.
The team had seen the shift between them. Not so gentle hints from both Penelope and JJ that they thought there was something more there, that Aaron clearly had feelings for her that went beyond the friendship they had built. She didn’t want to believe it, and couldn't allow herself to. The vague hope that this went both ways, that he felt even some of what she felt for him, almost too much to bear.
“Agent Prentiss.”
Emily sighs, hearing the voice of the man who had spent all week trying to spend as much time with her as possible. She turns to look at him briefly, a tight smile on her face. She knows it’s not unusual that he is here, the bar clearly popular with local cops, but he’s obviously been watching her all night, his appearance in the hallway leading to the bathrooms at the same time as her was no coincidence.
“Officer Lee. Fancy seeing you here.” She says, taking one step away from him. “I’m just heading to the bathroom.”
Officer Lee had been flirting with her all week. Subtly was something the man clearly didn’t believe in, his attempts so obvious that Aaron had said something to her one evening as the team returned to their hotel. Everyone else gently made fun of her, Derek going as far as saying she should go for it, that he couldn’t remember the last time she dated anyone. But Aaron pulled her to one side as everyone traipsed off to their rooms, his hand barely there at her lower back as he got her attention, asking her if she was ok. If she wanted him to bring up Officer Lee’s behaviour to the precinct’s Captain. It made something unfurl in her belly, warmth spreading through her body at his gentle concern for her as she shook it off, telling him she could handle it.
Now, she wished she’d just let him do it.
“Can I call you Emily?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.” She mutters under her breath, turning to find him standing very close to her, backing her into the wall, his hand above her head. His unwavering attempts to get into her personal space setting her on edge.
She’s so frustrated she doesn’t notice Aaron turning the corner, his frown immediately fixed on them.
“I’m seeing someone.” She says as a last ditch attempt, her previous denials that she wasn’t interested clearly not enough for him.
Office Lee frowns, disappointment clear on his face, but he makes no attempt to move. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” She was going to leave it at that, hoping that the vague lie was enough to stop this guy, for him to get the message that she wasn’t interested.
“Is everything ok, Emily?” Aaron asks, drawing Officer Lee’s attention away from her for long enough for her to move away from him.
She stumbles slightly, Aaron catching her unnecessarily, his hand settling on her arm. She looks over at Officer Lee and sees the assumption he instantly makes, and she decides to lean into it, her hand hooking around onto Aaron’s tricep.
The man walks away, stuttering something under his breath that neither of them catch.
“Are you ok?” Aaron asks, and she turns her head to look at him, suddenly aware of how closely they were standing. She nods, clearing her throat as she lets go of him, taking a step back.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“He’s persistent isn’t he?” He says, his arm still out as if she needs steadying again. A tiny part of her brain, the part she assumes the tequila Derek made her drink has affected, almost wills her to purposely trip over.
“He’s something.” She mumbles, looking down at her shirt and wiping away lint that she knows isn’t there, wanting to distract herself from his intense gaze.
“You’re not interested at all?”
The hesitation in his voice, the edge of what sounds like jealousy has her looking back up at him, their eyes locking.
“No.” She replies quickly and honestly, the truth setting itself free before she has a chance to hold it back.
“He’s not a bad looking guy.” Aaron says, a soft smile on his face as he clearly tries to read her, their agreement to never profile each other as long standing as it was ignored.
“Sounds like you want to date him.” She quips, wanting the conversation to end before she revealed more than she wanted to. The invisible line drawn in the sand between them so close to being crossed. As much as she wanted them, him, she didn’t want to ruin what they had. His friendship the first thing that had anchored her back into her life, helping something new bloom in the ruins of her old one.
She didn’t want to risk that for anything, even if it could be something even more precious.
“Emily.” He says, his tone stern.
“I-” she stops talking, spotting Officer Lee coming back around the corner, and she sees how his eyebrows raise at the distance between them now, the obvious tension in how she stood.
She goes through several scenarios in a second, her eyes flicking back to Aaron’s, and something inside of her snaps. She tells herself it’s the only way to get the officer to leave her alone, that it was nothing, just a friend helping out a friend.
Really, all she wanted to do was kiss him, and in the end that thought, bolstered by tequila and a chaser of hope, finally won out.
“I need you to kiss me.” She says, as if it’s the most normal thing in the world, her voice thick with desperation as she looks at him. Emily is sure his brain short wires, because for a second he can’t say anything, he just stares at her.
“What?” He asks, trying to maintain eye contact with her as she looks past him and curses under her breath, Officer Lee now only a few paces from them. Emily and Aaron’s eyes meet again and she nods, seemingly to herself.
“Ok, this is happening.”
Her hands are on his cheeks before she can think about it anymore, convince herself it isn’t a good idea, and she pulls him into her, pressing her lips against his.
For a second, the longest of her life, she thinks her worst fears have come to fruition. He doesn’t do anything, just standing there with his hands at his side as she holds his face to hers. But then he snaps to life, kissing her back with more intensity than she expected. One of his hands coming up to tangle in her hair, his fingers cupping the back of her head, and the other on her waist.
She’s being pressed against the wall before she can register it, her world narrowing to Aaron and the way he was kissing her. He was focused, intense like he was about everything he did and it made her tighten her grip on him, her hands slipping to cup the back of his neck, never wanting this to end.
He pulls away first, heaving in a breath she would have happily gone forever without, and it takes everything in her to not pull him back in immediately. Aaron looks behind them, Emily’s world widening again to include the hallway of the bar they were standing in, just mere feet away from the bathrooms.
Not exactly the most romantic venue for a first kiss she had to admit.
“That seems to have done the trick.” He says, clearing his throat, the hand he hand wrapped in her hair coming to join his other one at her waist. She tilts her head at him, not sure what he is talking about. “Officer Lee. He’s gone.”
“Oh.” She says, finally looking past him, unhooking her hands from behind his neck, and she sees they are alone. “So he is.”
“We should probably talk about this.” Aaron says, and his hands grip at her slightly before sliding to her hips, not moving away from her even a tiny bit. She nods, her fingers pressed against her lips as if she was a little dazed. She hums and looks back at him.
“Yes, we absolutely should.” She moves her hand from her mouth to cup his face, her thumb skating over his cheek bone, smiling as she listens to the voice in her head screaming for her to kiss him again.
It hadn’t led her wrong so far this evening.
She leans in to press her lips against his, smiling as she pulls back just enough to speak. “Later though.”
He smiles at her, his eyes as bright as she’d ever seen them as he tightens his grip on her.
“Later.” He agrees as he pulls her into him, his lips on hers before anything else can be said, and the rest of the bar fades away again, leaving just them and all the time in the world.
18 months later when they are planning their wedding, he has to stop her from sending Officer Lee an invite.
She was going to make sure he was ok. Then she was going to kill him.
-x-
A birthday fic for the incredible @ssa-sparks. Thank you for being you!! For loving my cat as much as I do, for letting me send you voice notes about my day (aka my rants about work) and random fanfic ideas. You are an amazing, wonderful good person who deserves all the best things in the world! Every day I am grateful for knowing you.
Thank you for being my friend <3 I love you!
-x-
Words: 5.8k
Warnings: some cursing, canon typical threat/violence
Read over on Ao3, or below the cut
Aaron is woken up by his phone ringing, the sharp sound tearing him out of sleep. He groans, his usual ability to snap awake stolen by being a parent of a newborn, the long nights so much rougher on him than he remembers it being when Jack was small.
He blindly reaches out for his phone where it is charging on his nightstand and answers it just before it rings out.
“Hotchner.”
“Sir, I’m sorry to disturb you so early,” Penelope’s voice comes down the line, and his eyes finally focus on the alarm clock, the time, 4.30am, almost mocking him, “I know that delicious little boy of yours is-”
“Garcia.” He interrupts, knowing if she got onto the topic of his six week old son then they’d never get to the reason she called. He clears his throat when he hears how rough his own voice sounds, “What’s going on?”
“Oh, right. Sorry,” she says refocusing on the task at hand, “there is a hostage situation unfolding at George Washington University Hospital. They want us to attend.”
He sits up in bed, registering for the first time that his wife wasn’t next to him, that the bassinet on her side of the bed is empty too.
“A hostage situation in a hospital?” He asks, standing up and heading over to the closet, getting out a suit.
The situation immediately makes him feel tense, and he knows it’s because the hospital in question was where his youngest son was born only six weeks ago. Oscar’s birth had been terrifying and almost a month earlier than anticipated. Aaron could still remember the abject fear he’d felt, and kept hidden from Emily, as he held her hand as she had a c-section.
“Apparently the guy just walked in, shot the security guard and is now holding several members of staff hostage.”
He clenches his teeth as he thinks about it, all the innocent people involved. “Ok, tell the team we’ll meet there. You should be there with us too, in case you can help the security teams.”
“Aye aye captain,” she says, sounding far too awake for the time of day, “see you shortly.”
“Thanks, Garcia.” He says, getting ready to hang up before he hears her say his name. “Yes?”
“Give Emily and my little godson a kiss from me.”
Aaron can’t help the smile that crosses his face at that. “Of course.”
He sighs as he hangs up and he gets ready quickly, wanting to spend a small bit of stolen time with his wife before he leaves for the day, knowing he’d need the comfort she always brought him to get through it.
He checks in on Jack on his way past his room, the young boy fast asleep, his arms curled around an alpaca stuffed animal that Emily had bought him, automatically replacing any favourites he’d had previously. He always insisted he was too grown up for cuddly toys these days, but they would always inevitably find him hugging one in his sleep.
Aaron closes the door to his eldests room and walks down the stairs, knowing where he would find his wife.
Oscar was not a good sleeper, waking every couple of hours at most. Aaron had taken the 2am shift, wanting to give Emily as much sleep as possible. He had brought the baby downstairs like he always did, knowing the infant would cry if he was near Emily but not in her arms, and sat on the couch until he settled, the 24 hour news on quietly in the background.
Aaron smiles when he makes it to the living room, Emily sitting exactly where he knew he would find her. She’s in the armchair by the window, her favourite place to sit with the baby, her head leant back as she nurses, her eyes closed. The only evidence that she was awake was the hand she had under Oscar that was slowly moving back and forth over his sleepsuit covered back.
“You’re staring.” She says without moving, and it makes him jump, unaware that she had even noticed him entering the room. She lifts her head and opens her eyes, her tiredness evident from across the room, she smiles sleepily at him. “You’re up early even for you.”
“Pen called, we’ve got an urgent case.” He crosses the room and sits on the arm of the chair she’s in and kisses the top of her head, smiling as he looks down at their son. “It’s only in DC, so we’re not flying anywhere.”
He sees the relief on her face before she covers it, a flash of something that she felt the need to hide from him. He’d only been on one case out of state since Oscar was born. It had lasted four days, nothing by BAU standards, and it had been hard on both of them. So used to spending all of their time together that the time apart was strange.
“What’s the urgency?” She asks, readjusting Oscar and her shirt as he finishes feeding, resting him against her shoulder as her hand rubs circles on his back.
“Someone is holding up a hospital. Walked in with a gun, shot the one overnight security guard.” He says softly, purposely leaving out some details. “He’s holding the staff hostage.”
She frowns, her nose scrunching as she looks up at him. “Who the hell holds up a hospital?”
“That’s what we’re going to find out.” He says, leaning down to kiss her. Stamping a quick follow up kiss to her lips as they pull away. “I’ll keep you up to date. Jessica will be here to take Jack to school at the usual time.”
“Ok.” She says, smiling at him as he stands, making his way back out of the living room. “Be safe. I love you.”
“Love you too, Em.”
___
Emily settles Oscar into the bouncer chair as soon as Jack leaves for school, smiling as she waves him and Jessica off for the day. She’s intent on getting the kitchen into some kind of order, dishes from breakfast still all over the place, when the baby starts crying, protesting being put down for any length of time.
“Oh I know sweet boy,” Emily says, gently lifting the baby into her arms, smiling when he immediately calms down when he’s against her chest, “Mommy is so mean for putting you down for a whole minute.”
She presses a kiss against the top of his head and smiles, heading down the stairs and towards the couch, gently settling herself down without disturbing Oscar too much. She reaches for the remote and turns the television on, rolling her eyes when she sees the news. She rarely watched it unless she had to, the darkness of her job meaning she tried to avoid it when she wasn’t working. Opting to watch lighter things instead, distracting herself from the horrors of the world that she was all too familiar with. Aaron, on the other hand, watched it whenever he could. She could picture him up with Oscar in the middle of the night, soothing him as he watched the 24 hour news.
She’s about to change the channel when she spots JJ on the tv, standing behind the news anchor, speaking to a uniformed officer and she realises that this must be the case Aaron was called away on not even an hour ago.
Emily can’t help but shake her head as she realises it was the very same hospital she had given birth to Oscar in only 6 weeks before, knowing that Aaron would have very specifically left that detail out when telling her as he was leaving.
“Oh look, it’s the team.” She says out loud, as if Oscar could respond, and she puts the remote back down. “Let’s see if we can spot Daddy.”
She smiles when she sees Aaron, a serious look on his face as he inaudibly leads the scene in the background, frowning as Dave updates him on something. She missed being out there with them, a sense of guilt building in her chest as she realises they are one person down because she wasn’t there, but then Oscar sighs against her, his little fists tangling in the neckline of her shirt, and the feeling dissipates immediately.
Right now, there was nowhere she would rather be.
Emily watches idly as the continuous coverage carries on, JJ updating the press with ease, her skills from her previous role as Media Liaison still ever present. She can’t help but seek out Aaron again, wondering what he was doing, when she spots him.
She freezes, her eyes fixed on the screen as she watches her husband, her stupid, self sacrificing husband, walk past the barricades and directly into the hospital. He disappears from view, his bulletproof vest, the only protection he has, the last thing she sees.
“What the fuck is he doing?” She exclaims, her son protesting slightly as she unintentionally tightens her grip on him. “Sorry, baby.” She says, pressing a kiss to the top of his head as she readjusts her hold on him. She reaches into her pocket and grabs her cellphone, unlocking it and looking for a familiar contact. “Let’s call Uncle Dave, see what's going on.”
She presses his number, eyes fixed on the tv screen, the team all still in full view. She watches as Dave digs his phone out of his pocket. He stares at his phone for a moment before pressing a button, the ringing tone in her ear immediately switching to voicemail.
“He hung up on me.” She says, outraged, any anger she would usually feel blocked out by the panic and dread flooding through her system. For a moment she isn’t sure what to do, having to blow out a breath, shaky as it leaves her lungs, fear filling them immediately, making it hard to breathe. “Ok,” she stutters out, standing up, “we’ll go down there ourselves, huh?” She runs her hand up and down the baby’s back, using his slight weight against her chest as something to keep her grounded. “Go find out why Daddy is being such an idiot.”
She was going to make sure he was ok.
Then she was going to kill him.
___
She ignores the pull in her abdomen as she gets out of the car, the scar low on her belly still sore if she moved too sharply. She opens the back door of the car, grabbing the baby carrier and putting it on securely before putting Oscar in it, picking up the baby bag she’d haphazardly thrown together before they left the house.
Emily does her best to ignore that this was the very same parking lot she’d been in only 6 weeks ago, smiling at Aaron as he checked that the car seat Oscar was sleeping in was secure, again, before he helped her into the back of the car herself. She hadn’t wanted her son to leave her sight for a moment, so she sat next to him, his fist wrapped around her finger as Aaron drove slowly away from the hospital.
She takes in a shaky breath as she walks away from her car and towards the barriers set up blocking off the part of the parking lot taken over by the police. The barricade is lined by press and worried family members, the news coverage making them come down to the hospital, a reaction she can’t blame them for because it had been her own. She makes it to the front, Oscar against her chest successfully parting the crowd, all of them aware of the tiny baby despite their own concern.
She tries to get past the barrier but a uniformed officer spots her before she can and walks over to her quickly.
“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to stay on that side of the barrier.”
“I’m FBI,” she says, her hand automatically coming up to press into Oscar’s back as the man talking to her raises an eyebrow, “my team is here, the Behavioural Analysis Unit.”
“Do you have any ID?” He asks, clearly not believing her.
Emily curses under her breath, realising in that moment that whilst she had ensured to bring diapers and wipes she’d forgotten her badge.
“No, but-” she cuts herself off as she sees Derek nearby, “Derek!” She shouts, and she successfully gains his attention.
He frowns at her, his eyebrows creasing as he all but storms over, his hands on his hips as he comes to a stop on the other side of the barrier.
“Em, what are you doing here?” He asks, his eyes flitting between her face and Oscar.
“I was watching the news,” she says, swallowing against the lump in her throat, “I saw Aaron go in.”
Derek stares at her for a second before he nods, turning to the police office. “She’s with me.”
The officer nods reluctantly but moves the barrier so she can get past, and she gives him a tight smile as a thank you, ignoring the protests of the other family members gathered, complaining that she was allowed through and they weren’t.
“You should have just stayed home.” Derek says as they walk towards the working area that had been set up, tents up over pop up tables, police and FBI agents all over the place.
“How could I after I watched my husband walk into a hostage situation.” She exclaims, putting her hand on Derek’s arm and stopping him from walking. “Why did he go in?”
Derek looks at her, his lips set in a grim line. “The guy said he’d carry on shooting hostages until the person in charge went in to talk to him.” He stops, staring at her as if he is unsure if he should continue, but he takes a deep breath and does it anyway. “And to prove his point he shot a nurse.”
Emily doesn’t react beyond looking down at her son, the baby looking up at her through wide eyes.
“Emily?”
Derek and Emily turn to see Dave and JJ walking towards them, concerned looks on both of their faces.
“What are you doing here?” Dave asks, his hands on his hips, a disapproving look on his face.
“I was watching the news and saw Aaron walk into the hospital.” She glares at Dave. “And someone screened my call, so I decided to come down here.”
Dave grimaces. “You saw that, huh?”
“There’s a tv crew about 15 feet behind us, Dave.” She deadpans.
JJ puts a hand on Emily’s arm, drawing her attention towards her. “Em, should you even be driving yet?”
“It’s fine, they said 6 weeks.” She says, her denial obvious to her own ears, and JJ looks disbelievingly at her. “My follow up appointment is in two days, it’s fine.”
“Em-”
“Can someone please just tell me what’s going on?” She asks, sounding more desperate than she meant to. “I watched my husband walk into a hostage situation and I want to know why.”
She watches as they have a silent discussion, her friends all looking at each other before JJ nods, turning back to look at her.
“Let’s go sit down,” JJ says, carrying on before Emily can interrupt, “we’ll go sit with Pen, and I’ll explain everything.”
Emily sighs and nods, and allows herself to be guided by JJ to the temporary command centre. Penelope, and Spencer who is there reviewing CCTV footage with her, are just as surprised to see Emily. Forcing her to sit down as she once again explained why she was there, forced to relive the moment again.
“Will someone please just tell me what’s going on?” She says, shushing as Oscar fusses, seemingly noticing his mother’s tension.
JJ takes a seat next to her. “The unsub is a man called David Gamble. His wife died here two weeks ago, and based on conversations we have had with his family, and what he has said so far, he holds the staff responsible.”
“So this is revenge?” Emily asks, anxiety flooding her body. “Why has he taken hostages? Why not just kill the doctors involved?”
“He wants someone to admit that they made an error.” Spencer explains. “His end game is likely suicide by cop, but he insisted that Hotch went in unarmed.” He grunts, and Emily spots Penelope hitting him in the arm.
The mention of Aaron makes her take a deep breath. They’d been through this time and time again, watching each other go to the brink and back, never able to shake off the feeling this could be the time their luck ran out. It always made her think of when Foyet had hurt him, how she’d known in her gut something was wrong. A feeling she now knew had been love burning her from the inside out as she stared at the bloodstain on his apartment floor.
She can’t lose him now. Now with their tiny son who would have no memory of him strapped to her chest, Jack at school with no idea that his life could possibly change dramatically once again. She thinks of their home, how Aaron was in every corner of it just like her heart.
Emily can’t help the tears that escape her lash line, her hand firmly against her baby’s back, the infant still grousing against his mothers chest. She huffs out a breath, angrily wiping away her own tears. Her frustration at herself clear.
“I don't know what’s wrong with me.” She says, sniffing in a vain attempt to make her voice sound normal, like she doesn’t feel like she’s fraying at the edges. “It’s not like this is the first time I’ve had to sit back and watch him do something like this. Usually I can hold it together,” she presses a kiss to the top of her son’s head, “but I just feel so helpless. And I hate it.”
“Em this is completely different,” JJ says, taking a seat next to her and putting her hand on her knee, “you’re not here as Agent Prentiss, a member of Hotch’s team. You’re here as Aaron’s wife. And you had a baby 6 weeks ago. ” She squeezes Emily’s knee, trying to comfort her the best she can. “Give yourself a break.”
Emily nods, and opens her mouth to reply, but she’s cut off by the sound of a single gunshot from the hospital entrance.
___
The seconds that pass afterwards feel like a lifetime, her head spinning as she stands, JJ’s hand at her arm keeping her balanced. Her senses dull, her vision blurring and the sound around her briefly fading out as she is aware of Derek running over to them, barking out instructions to Penelope about getting eyes on the inside of the hospital, finding out where the shot came from.
Emily is snapped back into reality when Oscar cries against her, the sound of the shot scaring him, loud against his small ears. She immediately focuses on him, her hand against his back and her lips against the top of his head, shushing him as she whispers softly, her voice often the only thing that could calm him down.
It doesn’t work. If anything his cries somehow get louder, as if her fear was seeping into him.
“JJ.” She gets out, her voice choked as she turns to her friend.
“We’re figuring it out, Em.” JJ says reassuringly, her hand running up and down Emily’s arm.
“He doesn’t have a gun.” Emily replies, finally tearing her eyes off of the entrance to the hospital and looking at her friend. “What if…” She trails off, not able to finish her sentence, holding her son tighter to her chest.
“Princess,” Derek places a hand on her back, firm and comforting, “he’ll be ok. It’s Hotch.”
“We’ve got movement out front.” Someone shouts from behind them, a man she doesn’t recognise wearing a SWAT uniform approaching the team, flanked by his team. They all turn towards the entrance, the team also drawing their guns and Emily takes a step to follow them, only to be stopped by a hand on her arm.
“Emily, no.” Penelope says, her eyes fixed on Oscar, and Emily blows out a shaky breath, nodding as she waits with her friend, linking their hands together so she could draw support from her.
She doesn’t take her eyes off of the doors, relief flooding her system so quickly when she sees Aaron standing there with his hands up, the staff who had clearly been held hostage alongside him on either side. Penelope’s grip on her arm tightens and Emily wonders if it had really been that obvious how close she had been to collapse.
“Stand down,” the SWAT leader shouts and everyone lowers their weapons.
Aaron walks away, making it to Dave’s side, and she watches as the older man says something she cannot hear to her husband. She knows it’s something to do with her when Aaron looks immediately in her direction, confusion spreading across his face. He walks over quickly, and as he gets closer she sees a cut on his head, it looks fresh, his skin torn open above his left eyebrow.
“Emily?” He asks, frowning at her as if he hadn’t just miraculously walked out of a hostage situation, like he didn’t have blood dripping from his forehead, narrowing missing his own eye. He puts a hand on each of her shoulders and looks at her. “What are you doing here?”
“What were you thinking?” She says, wrapping her arms around him, careful of their son in between them. She pulls back and hits his vest with the back of her hand. “You’re so fucking stupid.” She hugs him again, and this time he hugs her back, not paying attention to the team around them, the way they were being watched. “I love you. You fucking idiot.”
“Did someone call you?” He says as he finally looks at the team sternly, as if one look from him alone would break them into admittance.
“I saw it on TV.” She replies, pulling back, the tears in her eyes hurting him more than the injury to his head ever could.“I saw you just…walk in there.”
“So you came down here? With our 6 week old baby?”
“You’d better not be implying I’m the one who has done something stupid today, Aaron. Or I might shoot you myself.” She seethes, glaring at him until her eyes move up to his forehead, the sight of his torn skin making her lungs seize. “What happened?”
“He hit me with his gun before I managed to get it away from him.” He answers, he doesn’t tell her the rest, how it was a near thing. Nothing more than what felt like luck that the bullet had hit the man who entered the hospital with the intent to hurt as many people as possible instead of him.
“We need to get you looked at.” Emily says, stepping back from him completely. Now she knew he was ok, had felt his warmth beneath her hands, the anger was back. Fury that he would needlessly endanger himself like that when they had children at home.
When he had her at home.
“Em.”
“Don’t even think about arguing with me.” She turns to Dave, pointedly ignoring the slightly amused look on his face. “Can we go here, or do we need to go somewhere else because of the lockdown?”
“They are turning patients away,” he replies, smiling wryly, “but I’m sure they’ll make an exception for the hero of the hour.”
“Can it, Dave.” Aaron says, knowing anything his friend said would ultimately just piss off Emily even more.
“Great.” She says, as if her husband hadn’t spoken as she turns back to him. “Come on then.”
“E-”
“Aaron, I swear to God-”
“I’ll go, I promise.” He assures her, wincing internally as she stops him from touching her, taking a small step back from him as she places the hand he was going to grab on Oscar’s back. “I was just going to say we probably need a ride home. My head hurts too much, and you never should have driven here in the first place.”
She looks like she’s going to argue, her eyes still full of fire and anger, but her abdomen hurts, and her back from wearing Oscar in the carrier for so long, so she nods. A short sharp agreement that he is grateful for.
“Come find me when you’re done.” JJ offers, a kind smile on her face. “I’ll drive you home.”
Emily walks towards the barricade in front of the hospital entrance without another word, Aaron follows quickly after, knowing the combination of her fury and the baby still strapped to her chest was going to get her whatever she wanted.
___
Oscar falls asleep in his car seat on the way home, his normal morning nap missed because of everything that had happened.
Emily wordlessly enters the house, walking up the stairs to put their baby to bed and Aaron watches her go, only turning to say goodbye to JJ when his wife is no longer in the room.
“Thanks, JJ.”
“No problem, Hotch.” She flashes a quick smile at him. “Good luck.” She leaves their house, Derek already parked up outside, having followed them there, ready to take her back to the scene to finish everything up.
Aaron waits in silence until he can hear Emily walk back downstairs, still giving him the silent treatment as she joins him in the living room, standing opposite him with her arms crossed. She places the baby monitor down on the table before looking at him, as if she was waiting for him to make the first move. He reaches out for her but she shakes him off, taking a step backwards to put a bit of space between them.
Her arms are tight across her chest, fingers digging into her own triceps as she tries to maintain her cool, blowing out a steady breath as her eyes meet Aaron’s.
“What were you thinking?” She whispers, her words quiet but firm. Her anger coming through in the quiet syllables, more formidable than he had ever seen her.
“I was doing my job.” He replies softly, but it ignites something in her, making her scoff at him as she shakes her head.
“You were being reckless.” She exclaims, keeping her voice as quiet as she could, very aware of the sleeping baby upstairs.
“It was a measured risk.”
“Measured?” She shouts, clearing her throat as she hears her voice shake. “Aaron - you went in there unarmed.”
“I did what I had to do to protect civilians. You used to understand that.” He says, her annoyance at him causing something to burn in his belly, frustration he knew she didn’t deserve that he was trying to keep inside.
“What I understand is that you could have left two little boys without a father today, and one of them wouldn’t have remembered you at all.” She sees the moment her words have registered, the sternness on his face cracking, Aaron peeking out from underneath Hotch, and it makes her stop. He takes a slight step back as if she had physically hurt him, sadness that only she could see or cause spreading throughout his expression. The anger dissipates quicker than it had risen, and she sighs. “I watched you walk in there through your own choice, Aaron.” Tears press at the back of her eyes and she hates it, her lack of control over her own emotions still so frustrating to her. “Did you even think about us?”
“I never think about anything else.” He says, louder than he means to, wincing afterwards as they both pause to see if he has woken up Oscar. After a couple of moments of silence, no cries filtering down the stairs or through the monitor, he sighs. “You’re all I think about.”
“Then why did you do it?” She asks, voice cracking, all anger gone and replaced with devastation instead.
Aaron closes the gap between them and she doesn’t back away this time, leaning into his embrace as he gathers her into his arms instead of shaking him off. She wraps her arms tightly around him, the material of his suit jacket clenched in her fists. He feels her shudder against him and he knows she’s upset about more than she's saying.
They’ve done this countless times before, watched each other come back from the brink, both before they became them and since. She knows he did the right thing, that he ultimately had no choice, and that in the same situation she would have done it too, but it’s different now. And she hates it.
“Em, love.” He tries to pull back but she won’t let him, her forehead against his chest so he can’t make her look up. “Talk to me.”
He feels her sigh against him, her breath warm through his shirt, her hands briefly clenching even tighter on his jacket at his back.
“I can’t do this without you.” She says, her voice quieter than he’d heard it in a long time. She finally looks up at him and the smile she forces wavers, her bottom lip quivering in a way that makes him reach out to sooth it, his thumb against her skin. “But one day I might have to, and today reminded me of that.”
“Em-”
“I know you can’t guarantee anything, Aaron.” She interrupts, her hands moving to grasp at the lapels of his jacket. “I know our jobs are hard, and dangerous. We’ve both got the scars to prove it. I would have done the same thing today if I was the agent in charge.” She swallows against the lump in her throat. “That’s why something needs to change.”
Aaron smiles sadly at her and guides her to sit down on the couch, not letting go of her as they both settle down. He holds her hand tightly, linking their fingers together in a way he knows she loves just as much as he does.
“What are you thinking?” He asks gently, already sure that he knows the answer. The conversation that they had both been putting off since two lines appeared on a pregnancy test one Saturday morning.
“I think I should leave the BAU.” She replies, staring at him as if waiting for a reaction, something beyond the way he just continued to look at her, nothing but encouragement on his face. “I’ll still go back to work, but I’ll transfer.” She smiles wryly at him. “Finally get an actual desk job.”
“Sweetheart, are you sure? You love your job.” He asks as he returns her smile tentatively, already knowing the answer, relief he wasn’t necessarily expecting flooding through him.
“But I love our family more.” She replies, tears shining in her eyes again. “We can’t both put ourselves in danger like that anymore. Jack’s already lost one parent, and Oscar,” the name of her baby lodges in her throat and gets stuck in a sob, “he’s so young, Aaron. We need to do the right thing for them.”
“I could transfer.” He says, maintaining eye contact with her.
Emily rolls her eyes at that, the first bit of lightness in the air appearing for the first time since the early hours of the morning when he’d found her sitting with the baby.
“And what? Leave Dave in command?” She asks, smiling, reaching out and cupping his cheek in her hand. “And let the lunatic be in charge of the asylum?”
Aaron laughs and she leans forward to kiss him. The sound always filled her with happiness, so sharply different to the seriousness he often portrayed. It felt like something just for her, for their family. He pulls away and leans his forehead against hers.
“You are the BAU Aaron, I’ll find something different.” She stamps a kiss against his lips again. “You just promise me you’ll always do your best to come back home to us, ok?”
“I promise.” He replies, pulling her into a hug, his hand rubbing up and down her back.
“Good. Otherwise I’d have to bring you back to life just to kill you myself.”
Crying cuts through the room and Emily huffs out a laugh against him before sitting back, smiling at her husband. She doesn’t miss how he winces at the sound, the white bandage against his head from where he’d been pistol whipped still making her stomach clench with fear.
“I think your son is hungry.” She says, standing up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll go feed him, you rest. I’ll be back in a bit.”
He grabs her hand as she goes to walk away, making her stop and look at him, her eyebrow quirked as Oscar still screams in the background.
“I love you, Em. You and the boys. More than a job or anything else. You know that right?”
“Just how hard did that guy hit you?” She quips, a smirk on her face as she runs a finger over the edge of the bandage on his head.
“Em.”
“Honey,” she leans down and palms his neck, her thumb against his jawline, “I know. I know you do.” She kisses him quickly before trying to pull away, his hand still gently grasping her arm, making her laugh. “I love you too. Now, let me go feed him, and then I’ll bring him down, and he can help me keep you awake to keep an eye on your concussion.”
He lets go of her and watches as she leaves the room. “How exactly is he going to do that?”
“Have you met your son?” She calls back over her shoulder as she walks away, not even looking back at him. “It’s his personal mission to make sure we never sleep again.”
Aaron smiles to himself as he hears her walk up the stairs, faster than he’d like given she’s still only 6 weeks out from major surgery, and he hears the door to their bedroom open.
“Oh sweet boy, you’re ok.”
Her voice comes over the baby monitor still on the table next to him, and he sits and listens to his wife speak to his youngest son, her gentle words washing over him and calming him in a way he knew worked on his children. Her mere presence a balm, soothing his past whilst paving the way for his future, their future together. They were strong apart, what life had thrown at them meant they’d not had a choice, but they were stronger together
“Daddy thinks I don’t know he’s listening,” he hears her say, a teasing tone to her voice, and his smile widens, “so we’ll have to save our gossiping about him for later, ok?”
