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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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When Jack has a rough day at school and the only thing he wants is to go see his mom, Emily is there to support him and she maybe even finds a way to help.

Read over on AO3 or under the cut! x

Sorry, baby, cell was on silent so only just seen this. You okay? – A.

Yeah, I’m good. Just wanted to give you a heads up that we might not be home when you get back. Jack had a bad day at school, so he wanted to come to the cemetery for a bit so he could talk to his mom about it. – E.

Did he say what happened? – A.

The class made cards for their moms. For some reason, the idiot of a substitute didn’t think. – E.

Great. Sure you’re okay being there with him? Almost done here, I could come take over if you want. – A.

No need. I took him to the store to get some flowers before we came. He chose those pink roses. – E.

Her favourite. Can’t believe he actually remembers that. Thanks for doing this, honey, appreciate it. – A.

No worries. Text me when you set off home, yeah?

Yeah, will do. Love you. – A.

Love you too. – E.

Once she turned her cell phone to sleep mode, Emily pushed it back into the pocket of her pants while leaning against the trunk of a tree a short distance away from the bench Jack was sitting on. He was still holding onto the roses as he sat there in front of his mom’s grave and she could just about hear him talking quietly, telling her all about the rough day he had. He looked so small, sitting there all on his own, and part of her wanted to go over there and put her arms around him, but he wanted to do it by himself and she would respect that.

He loved her to pieces, she knew he did, he was forever reminding her of that when they spent time together, but his mom and what happened to her was still a bit of a touchy subject for him and not only where she was concerned. He tried to avoid talking about it to her or Aaron, choosing instead to keep his feelings to himself until one of them brought him to the cemetery at his request so he could talk to Haley about it, knowing that what he said would remain between them. His reluctance to let them in worried them, of course, but it seemed as though this was his method of coping with his grief and who were they to tell him that it was a wrong one?

He needed to be free to deal with it in his own way, they got that and they respected it just as much.

When he hopped down from the bench after a couple minutes and laid the roses down carefully on the grave, tears blurred her vision and she blinked them away in a hurry when he turned around and started making his way back to her. She got down to his level when he was a couple steps away from her and opened her arms to him, letting him walk into them and sighing when he cuddled up to her. He buried his face in the side of her neck while wrapping his arms tight around her, small hands playing with her hair, and she could feel the tears on his cheeks as she pulled him closer. “I am so proud of you, baby,” She whispered. “Mommy would be too.”

“Emmy, can I ask something?” He mumbled.

“Sure, go ahead.” She nodded, a hand running up and down his back through his coat.

“Is…is it okay that I still miss mommy?” He asked.

Frowning at his question, she took him by the arms and carefully moved him away from her so she could look him in the eye. “Are you asking me that because daddy and I have become a little more than friends recently?”

He looked down at his feet for a second. “I don’t want to make you sad. I love you, but I miss her too.”

“Honey, come here,” She sat down properly on the ground and brought him to sit in her lap, her arms circling him again when he leaned his head against her shoulder and looked up at her. “I promise, there is nothing in this world you could do that could make me sad. You are the sweetest, kindest, most generous little boy I have ever met and I love you so much. It is more than okay for you to still miss your mommy, sweetheart, and you never have to say sorry to me or to anyone for feeling the way you’re feeling right now. I know how it feels to lose someone that you love. I lost my grandpa suddenly when I was about your age and I was so heartbroken.”

“Did you cry like I do?”

“Yeah, I cried. I cried a lot. He was my best friend and I still cry sometimes when I think about him.”

“But…but he died a long time ago, right?” He raised an eyebrow at her, slightly confused.

“He did, but time doesn’t matter when it comes to this kind of thing. You can still miss somebody and feel sad about losing them even though it happened a long time ago,” She explained. “In time though, all the memories that make you cry – the sad ones you have – start to be replaced by the good ones. You remember what they were like when they were alive, all the silly things they did and the way they made you laugh, and you smile. I remember my grandpa making me pancakes every Saturday morning and he would make funny faces on them out of whipped cream. It was my favourite thing he did and that’s something I’ll always remember about him.”

Jack chuckled at that and it made her smile. “Mommy was like that too, she drew me silly pictures a lot.”

“I bet she did,” She laughed. “Maybe you should think about that when you start feeling sad. It might help.”

“I can try,” He replied. “I love you, Emmy, you always make me feel better.”

“Oh, that makes me so glad. I love you too, honey, and I am always gonna be here to do that,” She promised him, leaning in to give him a kiss on the side of the head while winding her arms tight around him. “Always.”

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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A rare relaxed night-in with Emily gives Aaron the opportunity to think about things.

Read on AO3 or under the cut! x

It was quite late when Aaron finally made his way to bed, work done and a load of washing shoved in the machine, and when he entered the bedroom he smiled at seeing Emily curled up in bed. She was wearing one of his t-shirts, the same one she always slept in when she stayed round, her hair up in a messy bun atop her head as she sipped at a cup of chamomile tea and continued watching her sitcom. When he shut the door, she gave him a quick glance and returned his smile before snuggling a little further down beneath the covers and turning back to the TV. He loved how at home she felt at his place. It was as though it was a home from home for her and that pleased him.

It took him little time to change out of his clothes and once he’d thrown them in the laundry basked he approached the bed, climbing in next to his girlfriend and putting an arm around her on instinct with a kiss to her cheek. When she set her cup of tea down on the nightstand so she could cuddle up to him, throwing an arm across his stomach and resting her head on his chest, he buried his nose in her hair before placing a kiss on her crown while running a hand up and down her back. Nights like this were his favourite. Most of the time, on the days they never got a case, they would have a date night and they were always incredible, but he had to say he loved nights like this a lot more.

When the two of them got in from work, he would make a start on dinner while Emily sat at the table with Jack and helped him with some homework - usually Spanish. He did wonder if it could be seen as cheating since it seemed like she was fluent in every language one could think of, but they only would have ganged up on him if he brought it up and so he didn’t.

Once the three of them had eaten, they would build a fort together out of blankets and pillows – Jack's favourite thing to do – and then they would decide to watch a movie before he went to bed. It came as no surprise to either of them when he chose to watch Spiderman since it was his favourite move in the whole world. Well, they would lie down and watch it together in their little fort and when the credits rolled Jack would be adamant that Emily put him to bed so she could read him a bedtime story. Of course, Emily being Emily, she was always up for that and so she simply let him drag her in the direction of his room.

He would tidy the place up a bit while waiting for her to come back and the sound of their laughter would make him smile.

There were many things he loved about Em, but it was the way she had bonded with his son that he loved the most.

He always knew she would accept him, he never had to worry and he never had a doubt about that, but at the same time she would have been well within her rights not to have done. She could have turned him down when he asked her to be his girlfriend, not wanting or not feeling ready enough to take on Jack at the same time – especially since he was still dealing with the death of his mom and having the occasional nightmare – but it was like the thought of doing that never entered her mind. He barely managed to get the words out before she said yes, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing him tenderly, and to say it came as a relief would have been a serious understatement.

Not only did she accept him and all he brought with him, but Jack too.

He would never forget the first time she stayed over.

Jack hadn’t had a nightmare in quite a while at the time, so he was under the impression they had stopped at long last and he let his guard down a little which was probably the worst thing he could have done. He and Em had only been in bed for about an hour when they heard him screaming down the hall. Before he even had chance to tell her he had to go to him, she told him to go calm him down and then bring him to sleep with them. She told him that it would probably help him, knowing he was safe and they were close by if he needed them for something, and it was then that he fell totally in love with her. It was then that it dawned on him there was actually no going back for him.

He was meant to be with her.

He did as she said, he went to his son and succeeded in calming him down to a degree, and when he brought him back to bed with him he laid him down between him and Emily. He fully expected him to roll to him, to snuggle so close to him he was sure he was trying to disappear, but he did neither of those things. Instead, before he even had chance to get comfortable, he went straight to Emily and she wrapped her arms around him the moment he tucked his head beneath her chin. He settled then. His whole body relaxed as she ran her nails through his hair and before long he fell back to sleep, the knowledge she was right there next to him clearly all the reassurance that he needed.

She held him all night long, her arms were still around him when he woke up beside them the next morning, and he realized then that they were going to be all right. She was all they needed to endure all that life threw at them both.

“Hey, you okay? You’re quiet tonight.”

Her voice was what broke him out of his reverie and when he turned to see her looking up at him, slight concern in her eyes, he ran the back of his free hand down her cheek. It caused her to close her eyes and she yawned, the long day she’d had starting to creep up on her, and when she opened her eyes again he gave her a kiss on the forehead. “I’m okay,” He told her when he pulled back, his voice not much higher than a whisper. “Just thinking about things.”

“What things?” She grabbed the remote and paused the sitcom before snuggling further into him.

“You. Us. Life,” He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know really, things are just going pretty great right now.”

“Yeah?” She smiled, stretching up to brush her lips against his.

“Yeah.” He laid his hand on the side of her neck when she began to pull away, bringing her back to him so he could kiss her again and revelling in the quiet sound he heard come from the back of her throat. He adored her, seriously.

When they pulled apart again, he watched her reach for the remote again so she could continue watching her show and he failed to keep from nuzzling a tender kiss into her neck as he brought her to lie down a little more with him.

Yeah, everything in his life seemed to be pretty perfect right now.

More perfect than they had ever been.

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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#emily prentiss #cm caps #criminal minds #hotchniss #agent prentiss

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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Summary: Emily and Jack enjoy a chilled night in while his dad finishes work and, when he returns, Aaron has an exciting proposal for her.

Read on AO3 or under the cut! x

“Jack! Popcorn! You might wanna get down here before I eat it all!”

Falling back onto the couch in front of the TV, remote and bowl of popcorn in hand, the sound of thundering feet made Emily chuckle as she got comfortable and stuck a piece in her mouth and she smiled as she watched Jack come running downstairs. Since she and his dad had started properly dating about six months ago, sick of sneaking around all the time, she had been getting him from school and bringing him back to her place on the days Aaron had to work late to write up a report. It was always the same, he would crush her at video games and then they would order pizza before spending the rest of the night sat in front of the TV with some snacks.

It was the way they liked it though and that was all that mattered.

Once he was downstairs, he raced over to the couch and dived onto it and she somehow managed to keep him from knocking the bowl out of her hand. She sat there for a minute while he got comfortable and grabbed the cushion to the side of him, but when he cuddled up to her she put an arm around him and gave him a kiss on the temple. “So, do you think we’re actually gonna get to the end of the movie before your dad gets here?” She asked him as they settled down, smiling when he looked at her while reaching into the bowl for some popcorn.

“Not sure,” He mumbled as he put the whole handful in his mouth. “But he can wait if he gets here early.”

“Yeah, I mean, what has it been? Like 3 weeks?”

“More like 4.”

Chuckling with a shake of her head, she held him a little tighter and picked up the remote again so she could put on Iron Man. It was unlikely they were going to get to the end credits before Aaron came to pick him up, what with them barely getting halfway through it last time, but the coroner’s supplemental for a victim in their last case came through later than expected today which meant it would be a while before he could get away. It bothered her sometimes. Him working himself so hard. He was great at his job and she loved his dedication to it, but she also wished he would start looking after his own needs as much as he did the needs of other people.

Jack nestling deeper into her embrace pulled her from her thoughts a short while later and she looked at him, her love for him deepening as she brought a hand to his hair and started running her nails tenderly through it. It amazed her still, the love she had for this sweet boy. He had been through such a lot in his short life, more than any kid his age should ever have to, and she knew it took him some time to get his head around the idea of her and his dad being more than just friends, but he got there eventually and their bond meant more to her than he could ever imagine. She could never replace Haley, she was fully aware of that, and she didn’t want to.

It was important to her that he felt he could talk to her about his mom when he wanted to.

It was important that he felt he could vent to her about his feelings and she would never judge him for it.

Even if he didn’t want her to be sometimes, she was always there to support him.

“Emmy? Are you gonna come and live with us one day?”

Admittedly, his question surprised her and all she did was blink at him for a minute before pausing the movie and turning his way again. “Maybe one day, honey, but all of that depends on your dad and if he wants me to come live with you then I’m sure he’ll bring it up when he feels ready. I don’t wanna rush him into anything,” Was what she told him as she rubbed his arm, letting him reach into the bowl for another handful of popcorn. “He and I have only really been dating six months too, so we still have plenty of time to talk about that stuff.”

“I think you coming to live with us would be awesome. We can watch Marvel movies all the time.” He said.

“Ah, so that’s the only reason you want me there,” She teased, tickling his ribs and smiling at his little squeals as he writhed and fought to push her hand away. “It would be awesome to come live with you both someday.”

“I think daddy would like it too. He loves you a lot.” He told her, settling in her arms again.

Her heart swelled. “He does?”

“Yeah. He doesn’t smile very much now, not since mommy died, but he always smiles when he talks about you.”

“Well, that’s good to know. I love him too. I love both of you so, so much.”

“Don’t worry, Emmy, we know,” He promised her, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “We know you do.”

----------

It was far later than she expected it to be, nearly 10:00, when there was a knock on the door to her apartment.

Pausing the talk show she was in the middle of watching, she set her wine down on the arm of the couch and somehow managed to move Jack away from her and get to her feet without waking him. He fell asleep a while ago, just as they were getting to the end of the movie, and even though she knew he would be gutted about it she just left him to get some rest. He was barely sleeping at the moment, that was what Aaron told her when he got to the BAU that morning, so there was no doubt in her mind that he really needed that little bit of rest.

Heading across the room, she ran a hand through her hair before opening the door and smiling at seeing her boyfriend standing out in the hall with the most apologetic look on his face. He was so adorable, it was insane.

“I am so, so, so, so sorry,” He said. “It took way longer than expected and then my car wouldn’t start.”

“You don’t need to be sorry,” She shook her head. “I had a feeling it would take you longer than normal since that stupid supplemental didn’t come through until late, so you’re good. I mean, you will be once I get a kiss.”

He rolled his eyes at her in a light-hearted manner before taking a step closer to her, grabbing her waist in his hands and pulling her close to him. She let her hands run along his arms through his jacket as they looked at each other for a second before his lips descended on hers, the gentle sound she made in the back of her throat at the contact making him smile. For a good few seconds, they stood there like that, not caring in the slightest who saw them, but she was eventually the one to pull away and she let him lean his forehead against her own.

“Hi.” He smiled.

“Hi,” She echoed, still catching her breath. “Oh, he fell asleep in there a while back, so you’d better come in.”

Letting him go so she could head back inside the apartment, she turned to him again when he closed the door behind them and watched the smile creep across his lips when he looked over at the couch at his son. He was so relieved, she could tell. He spent so much time worrying about him, worrying he needed something that he was unable to give him or that he was hurting in silence, and it was clear that seeing him so at peace for once really helped. “Yeah,” She said. “Crushing me at Mario Kart for the thousandth time really took it out of him.”

Aaron chuckled at that and walked towards her, taking her hand. “You are incredible, you know that?”

“I don’t know about that, I didn’t really do anything.” She shook her head.

“You do more than you think you do,” He argued. “You getting him from school and bringing him here for a couple hours might not seem like much to you, but it means so much to me. I don’t worry about him when I know you have him. Well, not as much as I do the rest of the time. You get him. You get both of us in a way that no one else does or ever could, Em, and that’s another one of the reasons we love you as much as we do.”

Squeezing his hand, she went onto her tiptoes and gave him a kiss. “You heading home or having a drink?”

“I’ll have a drink,” He told her before she dropped his hand to head into the kitchen. “So, you pair had fun then?”

“Yeah, we did,” She opened the refrigerator and got them both a can of beer, opening them as she went to sit with him at the kitchen island. Handing his to him, she climbed up onto the stool and sipped at her own. “We came home, I made him a snack, we played video games for about an hour and then I ordered us both a pizza. Pen called me at one point, though I can’t remember what it was about for the life of me, so he went upstairs to keep playing his game until I made some popcorn and then we decided to keep watching Iron Man.”

He smirked. “You actually get to the end this time?”

“Next joke,” She scoffed. “Honestly, I don’t think we’re destined to. He fell asleep ten minutes from the end.”

“I guess the only solution is you move in with us,” He joked. “You can watch it whenever then.”

All she did was blink at him for a minute before she said, “You know, uh…Jack said the same thing earlier.”

“Hmm? Jack said what?”

“He asked me about moving in with you. He wanted to know if it was going to happen.”

“Oh,” He set his beer down. “And what did you say?”

“I reminded him it’s not really been that long since you and I started dating and we still have plenty of time to think about things like that,” She explained. “I mean, moving in is a huge step in a relationship and I told him you have to be the one to mention it when you feel as though you’re ready for something like that to happen.”

He nodded. “And…and what would your response be were I to say that I am ready for that to happen?”

“I…” She paused. “Well, I would wanna know if you were just saying that for me or if you meant it, I guess.”

“If I told you I do mean it? That I’ve been thinking about it for weeks? Then what would you say?”

“I would say yeah. I wanna move in with you.”

“So, will you? Move in with us?” He laid a hand on her knee through her sweats.

She tried, she really did, but she couldn’t keep herself from beaming. “Yeah, of course. I would love that.”

“Wow, that was easier than I thought it was going to be.” He chuckled, breathing a sigh of relief.

“You’re sure this is what you want?” She covered his hand on her knee with his and gave it a squeeze.

“Em, you are what I want,” He told her straight out. “I want you with me all the time, no matter what.”

Her vision became blurred with tears as she looked at him. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Then you got me.”

“I do?”

“You do,” She leaned in and brushed three soft kisses against his lips. “No matter what.”

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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I can’t 😂😂😂

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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Come What May

Following the closure of a case that has hit her a little too hard, Emily is struggling. Luckily, Aaron, as usual, is on hand to help.

Side note: Part of this one shot was inspired by the events of 01x14 (Riding the Lightning) where Gideon goes to see the son of Sarah Jean at his cello performance. It was such a touching moment, so I sorta like to imagine Emily might do the same sort of thing for a kid she helps out.

Word count: 1,978

Keep reading

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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This was so incredibly gorgeous 💕 The talent!

To End Up With You

Emily has a job interview and is nervous. Aaron helps her through it.

-x-

For @ssamorganhotchner, who deserves all the good things because she is so incredibly lovely. Here's some very caring Hotch for you <3

I hope you like this bestie!

p.s. Lina said this doesn't count as a fluff apology for yesterday, because it's "Morgan's fluff" so...apparently I still owe the rest of you ;)

-x-

Warnings: None

Words: 2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

“You’re stressed.”

She sighs, coming to a stop in front of him. Sometimes, it really sucked that he was once a profiler too.

Emily turns sharply to look at her husband, her eyebrows drawing together as she frowns at him. “Of course I’m stressed, Aaron,” she continues her pacing in front of the couch where he was sitting, twirling her wedding rings around her finger in a futile attempt to stop herself from tearing her cuticles to shreds. “It’s a job interview.”

Section Chief. She was finally going for Section Chief after years in the field, the change of pace more desirable than it had ever been. The BAU was her family, the first place she had truly been able to call home before she found one here, with Aaron, but it was time to move on, to take a step away and let someone else step up to the plate. To find the end in this beginning, the path she had started walking so long ago.

When Aaron first called her when he returned to DC, she was furious. Anger that she hadn’t expected flooded her veins as she demanded to know why he had left it until now to call, why he had been away for so long. She’d missed him far more than she thought she would, more than she would allow herself to show anyone. Their friendship had always been between the two of them, a secret that could have developed into more. They had missed each other so many times, moments that they should have taken, that she had spent so long worried they’d never get to where they are now.

Somehow, with no small amount of work from the two of them, they made it. They were married. Lived in a home they had chosen together, a room for Jack that he visited when he was back from college.

It was the life she’d always dreamed of, but never allowed herself to believe could be real.

“It won’t be as bad as you’re thinking it will be,” he assures her, and she scoffs slightly, picking at her thumb.

“How do you know that, Aaron? They could ask me anything.”

“You’re acting like you’ve never had a job interview.” He says, and he reacts, momentarily, just a flash of something across her face, through her body, but it’s enough for him to notice. “Wait, you have had a job interview before, right sweetheart?”

She closes her eyes and sighs, shaking her head at him to confirm his suspicion.

“How?” He asks, and when she opens her eyes to look at him his eyes are full of confusion, and she groans, rolling her eyes at him.

“It’s not like Interpol sits you in front of a panel and asks you about where you see yourself in five years. And the BAU kind of just…happened the first time around,” she flashes a tight smile at him, the memory of their very rocky start a fond one, the years that had passed allowing her to look back on it with rose-tinted glasses, “Then Clyde asked me to go back to Interpol, and I came back here because you asked me to when you and Jack had to go into hiding.”

“Did I ever thank you for that by the way?” He asks, and the smile on his face lets her know it’s his attempt to calm her down, to stop the spiral he had accidentally started her on. She smiles at him despite herself, her eyebrow raised.

“You have,” she teases, “You could always thank me again though.”

“Later,” he promises, a tone to his voice that never failed to make her stomach flip, before he becomes curious again, “what about your first ever job?”

“I was a waitress, and the owner of the place was a perv, all I had to do was walk in with a low-cut shirt on and the job was mine.”

“Weren’t you 16 when you had that job?”

“Aaron,” she says, her tone firm, “focus,” she finally sits next to him on the couch, barely any space between them as he reaches out for her hand and links their fingers together, “We don’t have time to fix the patriarchy today.”

“Sorry, Em,” he says, lifting her hand to kiss her knuckles, “can I help?”

She groans, pressing her temple against his shoulder as she continues to stare ahead, aware only of the way he was tracing his thumb over her knuckles. Always lingering at her rings for a second longer than anywhere else, as if he also still couldn’t believe this is where they had ended up after all this time.

“You could go for me?” She offers weakly, and it makes him laugh before he drops a kiss on the top of her head.

“I know Dave always says we’re turning into each other,” he replies, kissing her head again, “but I think that would be a stretch.”

“Spoilsport,” she mumbles, smiling as he pulls her closer, putting his arm around her so he could run his hand up and down her arm.

“You’ll be great, sweetheart,” he assures her, sounding far more confident in her abilities than she did, “they’d be fools not to give you that job.”

She looks up at him, “You have to say that, you’re my husband.”

He tucks some of her hair behind her ear, grey now that she had let it grow out completely. She’d been worried at first, a small part of her wondering what he would make of it, but Aaron loved it just as much as she loved the salt and pepper flecks throughout his hair.

“I also used to be your boss, I know exactly what you’re capable of,” he says, reaching for her hand and stopping her from picking at her thumb again, soothing the sore skin with his own.

“I should get going,” she says, smiling tightly at him as she leans forward to stamp a kiss against his lips, “I don’t want to be late.”

“You’ll be great,” He says again, squeezing her hand as she stands, wiping non-existent lint from her slacks as she does.

“Just think,” she says, an attempt at lightness that the fierce beating of her heart in her chest battles with, “if I get the job, I’ll officially outrank where you got to before you retired.”

“Yeah, I love you too, sweetheart,” he deadpans, making her laugh as she gathers her things, leaving the house with plenty of time to spare.

___

The last bit of tension leaves her body, her shoulders relaxing, as she walks through the front door. The scent of home, of him washing over her, a familiar wave of comfort she’d happily drown in.

She’s just getting her second boot off, leaning on the wall with one hand to keep her balance, when she sees him come into view, a large glass of red wine in hand.

“Hi sweetheart,” he says, kissing her cheek, and then on the lips once she straightens up, “how did it go?”

She blows out a breath as she takes the glass of wine from him, “Ok, I think?” She grimaces slightly and turns her nose up. “Honestly, I have no idea. It’s so hard to hell.”

“I’m sure you did great,” he replies, kissing her again, smiling at her as he pulls back, “Dinner will be about 30 minutes, and I’ve run you a bath,” he stamps a kiss against her lips, “it should be hot enough still to take off a layer of skin, just like you like it.”

She beams at him, “You really are the best.”

“Go have your bath, I’ll be down here when you’re done.”

She does as she’s told, shedding her clothes the second she’s in their bedroom, leaving them strewn across the floor she’s sure he will comment on later. As she opens the adjoining bathroom door she’s hit with steam and the smell of lavender and chamomile. The last of her earlier stress melts away as she sinks into the hot water, hissing slightly at the pleasant burn on her skin.

She sighs as she relaxes in the water, sipping her wine in silence as she soaks in the comfort Aaron had created for her. It was one of the many ways he would show his love, through action. Whether it was something like this, or something much simpler like her favourite coffee pressed into her hand as she left for work in the morning. He always woke up before her, even though he was retired.

Her allotted time goes by quickly, Aaron letting her know dinner was almost ready by yelling up the stairs. She climbs out of the bath and dries off, pulling on an old shirt of his and some sleep shorts before she heads downstairs.

“I needed that,” she says when she sees him, wrapping her arms around his waist as he places the final dish on the dining table, “thank you.”

He wraps his arm around her, “You don’t have to thank me,” he kisses the side of her head, “I made your favourite.”

She moans as she breathes in the scent of the food, “You’re really doing your best to get lucky tonight.”

“I’m always lucky when I’m with you.”

Emily laughs, the sound catching in her nose almost like a snort as she looks up at him, rolling her eyes as she steps away to sit down at the table.

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Yet you love me anyway,” he says, taking the seat next to her, wrapping his hand around hers as they settle down to eat.

“I really do.”

___

After they have eaten they curl up together on the couch, under the blanket they keep thrown over the back of it specifically for moments like this. Neither of them is watching the movie they’ve put on, something they have both seen countless times purely being used for background noise. She has his left hand in between both of hers, mindlessly measuring its size, fingers idly playing with his wedding ring, twisting it on his finger.

“Do you know why I was so nervous earlier?” She asks, not realising she was going to say it until she was speaking, shifting just enough to look at him. “Why I want the job so much?” He shakes his head, despite the fact she’s sure he has some idea. They’d always been so in tune with each other. “I want the progression, to have a new challenge. But it’s also because of you.”

His eyebrows crease and he begins to protest immediately, “Em-”

“Not because I think you want me to,” she assures him, disentangling her hand from his to cup his cheek, her thumb scratching at the stubble he let grow occasionally, knowing she enjoyed it, “But because it feels right,” she smiles at him, “I want more time with you, for us. We’ve both wasted so much time already.”

Aaron looks at her adoringly, “You know I’ll always make time for you, sweetheart, no matter what.”

“I know,” she replies, kissing the slope of his jaw, “and it’s about time I did the same for you.”

He simply smiles at her, knowing there is nothing else that can be said, that, just like since they met, they didn’t necessarily need words to know what the other was thinking.

“So,” he asks, encouraging her to rest against him again, “who are you going to suggest for your replacement? JJ?”

She groans at him, “Don’t jink it.”

“You don’t believe in jinxes,” he says simply, an edge of amusement in his voice, “you just don’t want to choose between them.”

She grumbles as she turns her face into his chest.

“Fucking profilers.”

___

When she finds out she gets the job, he’s the first person she calls, just like he was whenever she had news - good or bad.

He tells her he’s proud of her, and she’s almost just as proud of herself for not crying in her office when he says it.

When she gets home that night, he’s bought champagne, and she’s never felt luckier.

-x-

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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Come What May

Following the closure of a case that has hit her a little too hard, Emily is struggling. Luckily, Aaron, as usual, is on hand to help.

Word count: 1,978

Climbing into bed at the hotel, bathed and changed into some comfortable pajamas at long last, Emily leaned against the headboard and sighed while raking a hand through her hair. It would have been an understatement for her to say she was exhausted after the weekend she and the rest of the team had just had, both in a mental and physical sense, and though she was pleased with how they tackled the case and the overall outcome it was tainted with pain. Sure, justice had been served, but there was still a fourteen year old girl left with no parents.

In her time at Quantico, she had worked on many cases that included children to some degree – so many she had lost count – but she was failing to remember the last time one had succeeded in affecting her to this level.

Before they even left the round table room after Penelope briefed them on the case and what they were dealing with, before any of them set foot on the jet, something inside her told her that she was going to connect with Aspen Mills in a way she hadn’t with the children she’d had dealings with in the past. On the jet, once he had given the team their orders for when they touched down in Montana, before getting some more sleep she said the same thing to her boyfriend and explained she had no idea where the feeling came from but it was intense.

Aaron was pleased by that and told her it was a good thing since it was probably just what the girl needed.

Of course, he was right as usual.

When they made it to the precinct where Aspen was waiting for them, she was warned that she’d been silent – no surprise there, given she was in complete shock – since they brought her in and the chances of her getting her to talk were slim. Of course, she took that on board when she went in and prepared to have the girl refuse to acknowledge her or tell her to get lost, but neither of those things happened. In fact, the second she stepped into the room she quit biting her nails and gave her direct eye contact which was an incredibly promising sign.

It was a while before she started talking to her about the matter at hand.

When she sat down, all she said was that she noticed she had been biting her nails when she came in and told her it was something she also tended to do when she was nervous about something. It was important to her to let her know she was human, not just someone set entirely on getting her to relive her trauma, and the hint of a smile she saw on her face and the way her body language changed slightly just proved that she was doing so. She told her it was okay to be nervous and that she understood completely, but was sure to stress that she and the team were only there to support her, to help her get justice for her parents and put their killer behind bars.

Only when she was ready did Aspen start telling her in detail about what happened, picking away at her black nail polish, and it was harder for her to sit and listen to her tell it than it was for her to hear it from Penelope.

Her school was putting on a production, Moulin Rouge, and she was set to play Satine, the role she had tried out for. It was only a couple days until opening night, so all the students were made to stay late so they could squeeze in an extra rehearsal. It was about 6pm when she got to leave, she said, and she called her dad to pick her up like they agreed but it went right to voicemail. It was odd, but she thought little of it and decided to try her mom instead but the same thing happened again. It was then that she started getting a bit of a bad feeling.

Her dad sometimes got called out unexpectedly for night shifts, so him not answering could be explained.

Her mom stayed home though, she didn’t work, and she never let her phone go to voicemail when she called.

All the other kids had gone by the time she put her phone down, so she had no choice but to walk home and so she took the shortcut which would get her there in 20 minutes rather than 40. Her bad feeling worsened as she walked and when she was about 10 minutes away from her house an ambulance raced past, sirens blaring. From where she was standing on the sidewalk, she could see the road that turned onto her street and the only thing she could remember doing was silently pleading with it to continue going straight and not to slow down.

Of course, it did slow down and she said that when it turned right onto her street she started running.

By that point, she was sobbing as she sat across the table from her and she remembered taking her hand in her own and telling her she could take a moment if she needed to. Aspen only shook her head, no, and continued.

All she said she could see when she made it to her street were cop cars, cops, ambulances and people gathered on her front lawn. Her house was surrounded by crime scene tape, preventing people from getting near, and it was as though she lost control of her body as she walked towards the house. She said it felt as though she was watching herself walk than actually doing it. It felt as though she wouldn’t have been able to stay back even if she wanted to. Her feet were moving on their own and a guy literally had to grab her to stop her going inside.

She told her that it was then that she snapped out of the sort of trance she was in and started to scream, doing all she could to get him to let her go, but he luckily managed to hold onto her and it was moments later when two gurneys with body bags on them were rolled outside. Her whole body went numb and she just stood there and watched until she was approached by a cop she knew and assured that she would be taken someplace safe.

It was how she ended up at the station, waiting for her and the rest of the team to come help out.

It broke her to listen to her tell her account, but she made sure to tell her how brave and strong she was.

It was something, she had no doubt, she needed to hear.

Pulled from her thoughts when the quilt moved and the mattress dipped under her, she watched her boyfriend climb into bed next to her and sighed when he put an arm around her once he had gotten comfortable. “You still thinking about Aspen Mills?” He mumbled into her hair when she laid her head on his chest, kissing her there while she cuddled up to him and he drew the quilt a little more up over them both to keep out the chill.

“Yeah.” She nodded.

“You having a bad day?” He ran a hand along her arm.

Moving in his arms, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Yeah.”

“Em, you were incredible with her this weekend,” He soothed once he had given her a kiss on the temple, his hand rubbing little circles into her back as he pulled her closer to him. “Nobody but you could have done that. Nobody but you could have gotten her to open up the way she did. I was watching her every time she was around and she was constantly keeping her eye on you. I don’t think she even left your side when you were there, she trusted you that much. You made her feel safe, honey, the whole time we were working that case. Something she’s probably not felt since all this even happened.”

“She is such a love,” Her voice trembled. “I can’t imagine going through what she has. Heading to school one morning as normal and then coming home to both your parents having been murdered in cold blood. She told me she couldn’t wait to get home and show her mom all the photos of her in her costumes because she’d been desperate to see her wearing them all for months. Her mom was her best friend, they did everything together.”

Aaron let out a deep sigh, burying his nose in her hair.

“When she told me she was planning to quit the show, to let another girl take her spot even though that talent scout was going to be there, I felt I had to do something about it,” She went on. “Her dream is to perform on a Broadway stage one day and her mom and dad supported her with that in every way they could. They never let her miss a rehearsal for a show even if that meant they had to reschedule something. I…I think part of me just knew they wouldn’t want her to give up on such an opportunity, not even at a time like this, and a talent scout seeing what she can do and taking a shine to her could be such a big step in the right direction for her.”

He smiled against her forehead. “I love how she said she would only do it with you there on the front row.”

“I mean, Moulin Rouge has been my favourite movie for as long as I can remember, so it wasn’t that hard for me to agree,” She chuckled, throwing an arm over his stomach and getting comfy beneath the covers. “I think knowing that scumbag is behind bars really helped me relax. It would have cast a huge shadow over the whole thing if he was still out there somewhere, on the loose and able to do what he did to her parents to another’s.”

“I know,” He hummed. “But he’s not and getting to see her on that stage tonight was so great.”

“Yeah, it made the past couple of days so worth it,” She agreed. “I think all the kids were good, but she really went for it and I think part of that was because she wanted to make her mom and dad proud. I saw the talent scout too, he was a couple seats away from us, and she was really the only one he looked at through the whole thing. I know things could change for her eventually, but I hope she makes it to where she wants to be. If any kid is worthy of that, she’s that kid and I told her that when I went down to talk to her after the curtain call.”

“You amaze me every day.” His lips grazed her temple while he spoke.

“I only did what I was trained to do.”

“No, you did way more than your duty, Em, you always do. You go above and beyond when it comes to kids.”

“I do?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Yeah,” He told her. “You have such a way with every kid you deal with and I love that about you.”

Reaching up to rest a hand on his cheek, she swept her thumb across his skin before guiding him into a warm and soft kiss and sighing into his mouth when he brought a hand to the back of her neck. He was just perfect.

“You mean everything to me, you know that?” She breathed when they parted, foreheads touching. “I love you. No matter what happens.”

“Me too,” He told her gently. “Come what may.”

#emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss and aaron hotchner #hotchniss #aaron hotchner and emily prentiss #agent prentiss and agent hotchner #emily and aaron #emily prentiss x aaron hotchner #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #hotchniss fic #hotchniss fanfic #hotchniss fanfiction #criminal minds au #criminal minds fic #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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Series 6 is just pain

6x14 “Sense Memory”

#look at my baby #protect emily prentiss at all costs #SHE DESERVED BETTER

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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Prompts of Hotchniss - Chapter 16

Prompt: Person A and Person B finally get married.

My beautiful bride.

Running her thumb over the writing on the front of the envelope she was holding while sat on the edge of the bed in her hotel room, Emily worried her bottom lip with her teeth in an attempt to keep herself from crying and ruining her mascara. She had already cried four times that morning, leaving Pen to have to clean her up and apply another coat every time, and the technical analyst told her that she would kill her if she had to do it again.

She tried to blame her emotions solely on her raging hormones, but she hadn’t been fooling anyone and she knew it. She was an emotional wreck because after four years, four incredible years with him, she was marrying her soulmate.

In just under three hours, Emily Prentiss would no longer exist and she would be known henceforth as Emily Hotchner.

Just the thought of that was enough to give her butterflies.

She was reminded of the envelope in her hand when one of the boys kicked and pulled her from her thoughts, a sigh leaving her as she rubbed her bump through her dress to calm him. Her mom, Pen and JJ had taken Soph to the park across the street so she could have some time to herself and read Aaron’s letter without any distractions. It was a cute little thing they decided to do weeks ago since the two of them were sticking to tradition and keeping from seeing one another until Dave walked her down the aisle.

She wrote the soppiest stuff in hers, but she knew he did the exact same thing.

Deciding she should probably start reading before the girls got back, she took a breath and opened the envelope before unfolding the letter and grinning like an idiot as she began to read.

I knew this was going to happen.

This is literally my third time trying to write this stupid letter and I know what I want to say, but no idea how to write it down and so I think I’m just going to wing it like I did the proposal because that went well enough. I mean, I wouldn’t be writing this right now if it hadn’t gone to plan.

All right, here goes.

You have no idea how obsessed with you I am. How much I love you.

You can stop shaking your head at a piece of paper, Em, because I know I’m right.

Yeah, I tell you I love you all the time and I buy you stuff to remind you of that on occasion, but I’ve never actually told you just how much I love you because there isn’t a word suitable enough to describe it. Like you, the love I have for you is so unique and just impossible to define. I’ve loved before, you know that and I won’t pretend I haven’t, but the love I have for you is entirely different to that.

I remember waking up with you after our first night together and not believing it because I thought I dreamt the whole thing. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed lying there with you in my arms while you slept, but I honestly believed it was a feeling that would pass the more you stayed at my place. Well - and you are so gonna love me for admitting this, I know you are - I was totally wrong. It’s been four years and you being there is still the first thing that makes me smile every day.

Not only do I love lying there with you and watching you sleep because you do that adorable little nose scrunch thing (I can call you adorable because you can’t punch me, but you’ll probably get around to it later anyway) but also because I get to feel the boys move since both of them are early risers like me. Em, I mean it, I have no idea how you sleep through all that kicking. I thought Soph was a kicker when you were pregnant with her, but she was nothing compared to them.

Speaking of our kids, the four of them are just another reason why I can’t wait to marry you. I want to prove to them that I’m serious about you and I don’t want anyone but you. When we first got together, Jack worried we would get bored in time and break up and he would have to get used to having somebody else in his life. It hurt me to hear him say it, but it made me see he needed me to prove to him I was crazy about you and you wouldn’t be going anywhere. Us having Soph was the first step, but I think it took us getting engaged for him to be sure.

I know Soph won’t remember anything about today, but it’s still important to me that she’s there to hear us say our vows. I promise I’m not going to just say mine and forget about them in a couple days. I’m going to remind you of them all the time and I’m going to make sure I take every opportunity to kiss and hold you, no matter if the kids are there or not, because you really need to know how I feel.

I love you, honey.

Not just today. Always.

This letter is getting stupidly long, so I think I’m gonna leave it here because the longer it takes you to read it the longer it’ll take for you to walk down the aisle and I’m enough of a nervous wreck as it is. I don’t need your tardiness making it any worse.

I’m so excited to see you walk down the aisle. You’re going to look so gorgeous.

I’ll see you later, Mrs Hotchner-to-be.

Aaron.

Folding the letter back up with trembling hands and pushing it back inside the envelope, she put it down on the bed and stared at the ceiling in an attempt to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. Up until now, she thought she couldn’t love that man more than she already did. She thought it was impossible, but he’d just gone and proved her wrong. That letter of his was the most beautiful, heartfelt thing she had ever read and she was in no doubt of his love for her.

He was always complaining to her and others that he didn’t have much of a way with words, but he was wrong and she would kill him if he dared say that again.

She was just starting to pull herself together when she heard a gentle knock on the door. Expecting it to be the girls back from the park, she got up from the bed and walked across the room before opening it to see Dave standing there. “Oh, wow...” She breathed as she looked him up and down, admiring the suit he had on before looking him in the eye and noticing he was blinking back tears. “No! No, you can’t cry. If you cry then I’ll cry and then my mascara will go everywhere and Pen will kill me. I’ve been a mess all morning, so please keep it together.”

Taking her face in his hands beneath her veil, he stepped closer to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead before drawing back again and brushing his thumbs against her cheeks. “You have never looked more beautiful.” He told her quietly.

“Not helping, Dave...” She teased. “You coming in? The girls took Soph out.”

“Sure,” He nodded before letting his hands fall from her face so he could follow her into the suite. “How are you feeling?”

“Nervous,” She admitted. “I could do with some Dutch courage, to be honest.”

He smirked. “And how are my beautiful little nipotis doing?”

“I was a bit worried because they hadn’t been moving around as much as usual, so Aaron called my OB and she managed to squeeze me in,” She said. “She told me everything is fine with both of them, they just haven’t got that much space in there now and so their movements are limited. It also doesn’t help that Rowan is such a chunk and Ryder is so tiny because Rowan’s taking up the room there is and Ryder is a little squashed. Not much longer though, thankfully. Two months.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa...” He held a hand up while she sat. “Rowan and Ryder?”

She laughed at that. “Aaron and I were flipping through a book of baby names to get a little inspiration the other night and Jack found us. When we told him what we were doing, he asked if he and Soph could pick the names and we thought it was a good idea. We sat them down and even though it was a risk, we promised we would go with the names they picked out. Because he’s older, we let Jack go first and he chose Ryder because it means ‘mountain warrior’ and he thought it sounded super cool. Aaron and I love it too because he’s so small but so strong. It was just luck that Sophia picked out the name Rowan really.”

“You excited? It must feel more real now.” He sat down in the chair opposite her.

“The two of them are all I can think about at the minute,” She told him, running a hand across her bump, her gaze falling to the proof of her babies for a second before she looked at him again. “My OB says Ryder has put on weight since the 4D scan and she’s pleased with his progress, so it’s seeming much less likely they’ll have to be delivered early and spend some time in the NICU. He’ll still be smaller than Rowan at birth, but it shouldn’t take him too long to catch up with him. Knowing all that has changed a lot, so Aaron and I did some shopping and we found Moses baskets for them. They’re already up in the bedroom.”

He chuckled. “He’s not stopped going on about the three of you all morning.”

“Is he doing okay?”

“Yeah, he is. Nervous, obviously, but I have never seen him so happy before.”

“That’s a relief. Not changed his mind yet then.” She joked.

“That man wouldn’t change his mind if you beat him with a brick.” He scoffed.

“Don’t give me ideas, Dave,” She smirked at him. “That might end up being my go-to if he winds me up while we’re away.”

He snorted with laughter at that, but her phone beeped before he had chance to say anything else and she got up from the bed to walk over to the dressing table. “Mom says the cars are outside. Soph’s legs are hurting, so they’re gonna head to the house because they don’t want to drag her up here just to take her back down again. I’m glad of that though, she’ll get to spend some time with the boys before the ceremony and that should keep her quiet,” She glanced at him before responding to her mother, turning her phone off and putting it in her clutch bag. “I guess we should take that as our cue to get going too.”

“Let’s wait ten minutes,” He told her. “Be fashionably late. Make the man sweat.”

“That’s so cruel,” She feigned shock. “I like it.”

“So, ten minutes?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

“Ten minutes,” She nodded. “Ten minutes...”

----------

She barely had time to drink her water and put the glass on the side before the music she and Aaron picked for her to walk down the aisle to - the instrumental version of Songbird by Fleetwood Mac - started playing, her heart racing as she walked over to Dave before taking his arm with a trembling breath. “You good? You can take a minute if you like, he knows you’re here so no need to worry.” She heard him whisper while he brought his free hand up to give hers a stroke.

“I’m okay,” She assured him. “Well, I will be once I’m down there with him.”

“In other words, you want me to just shut up and start walking.” He translated.

“Yeah, pretty much,” She beamed. “Thank you for filling in for my dad. You don’t know how much I love you for it.”

“And I love you,” He kissed her on the cheek. “Now, let’s get you down there before Hotch sweats through his shirt.”

The two of them shared a smile before she tightened her hold of his arm, her other hand tightening its hold of her bouquet of flowers as she allowed him to lead her through the French doors that opened out into the back garden. Before she had even made it off the patio, the guests had risen from their seats and turned to watch her walk down the aisle. She was grateful to them all for coming, of course, and she managed to give the odd person a smile when she caught their eye, but her main focus was on the handsome man waiting for her under the wedding arch. He had told everyone that he wasn’t going to cry at the wedding, but she could definitely see tears rolling down his cheeks.

She would tease him about it when they were on their honeymoon, but for the time being she would simply enjoy it.

It took less time than she had thought it would to make it down the aisle and join Aaron beneath the arch, and once she had dropped Rossi’s arm and handed her bouquet of flowers to Garcia she turned to face him with a soft smile. “Is it too early to kiss the bride?” He teased, moving her veil out of her face with his fingers. “You look so beautiful.”

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” She reached up to brush the tears from his cheeks. “You ready for this?”

“Definitely,” He nodded. “You?”

“More than ready…” She assured him, taking his hands in her own. “Let’s get married.”

The two of them turned to Richard, the officiant, then and the smile he gave them told them he was ready to begin. “Dear friends and family,” He addressed the guests. “We are gathered here today to witness and celebrate the union of Aaron and Emily. In the years that they have been together, the love they have for each other has grown, turning them into the couple standing before you. Now, they are ready to spend the rest of their lives as husband and wife. A true marriage starts well before the wedding day, and the efforts of marriage continue long after the ceremony. A brief moment in time and the stroke of a pen are all that is needed to create the legal bond of marriage, but it takes an entire lifetime of three things – love, commitment and compromise – to make marriage durable and everlasting.”

He cleared his throat before continuing. “Emily and Aaron are here today to marry each other. No one else’s will can create such a union. It is their words, their intentions, their vision, that must define and shape their marriage. So, I call upon them both now to state their promise before this group: the pledges that will bind them together.” He fell silent once he’d said his piece and handed the microphone to Emily, clasping his hands as he stepped back slightly.

“Here you are.” Garcia whispered as she handed a folded-up piece of paper to her.

“Thanks,” Emily smiled before dropping Aaron’s hand in order to unfold it, the look on his face causing her heart to race when she took his hand again and squeezed it before looking at the words she’d written. “Aaron, I’m so proud that today I become your wife. I love you. I love the way you act like an idiot to make me laugh whenever I’m having a bad day. I love how you have to push my hair back when it’s in my face and I love how you take the opportunity to kiss me whenever we’re at a stoplight on our way into work,” She couldn’t help but laugh when he chuckled quietly.

“Today, I want to make promises to you that I promise I’ll always keep. I promise to never stop holding your hand, I promise to give you the same love and support that I give to our children, I promise to stand by your side when you face the world and listen when you have something to say and I promise to grow alongside you but never grow up. More than any of that though, I promise to love, respect, protect and trust you, and give you the best of myself, for I know that together we’ll build a life far better than either of us could imagine building alone,” She paused for just a second as tears blurred her vision. “Today seems like it’s the start of a new journey for the both of us, but I already belong to you. Falling for you wasn’t falling at all, it was just walking into your life and knowing I was home.”

Looking him in the eye again once she had finished reading her vows to him, she took a step closer to him and ran her thumb across his knuckles as she watched a tear roll down his cheek. The two of them looked at one another in complete silence for a time, nothing else mattering but them, before he reached for the microphone and cleared his throat. “There’s no way I’m going to top that, but let’s see how this goes,” He chuckled, making her and the guests laugh. “Em, I love you without knowing how, or when or from where. I love you straightforwardly, without any pride or complexities. Loving what I know of you and trusting what I don’t yet. Home, in my opinion at least, is wherever you and our kids are. I love you not for what you are, but what you are when I’m with you and that’ll never change.”

Even though there was a lump in her throat and she was fighting back tears, she still managed a quiet: “I love you.”

“And I love you,” He ran the back of his hand down her cheek, brushing his thumb against her hair. “So much.”

When Richard moved closer to the two of them once again, Aaron handed him back the microphone before slipping both hands into his bride’s again and smoothing his thumbs across the back of her palms as they both took a deep breath. “I think the fact that I can’t see a single dry eye says more than I ever could about those vows,” Richard said as he looked out at the wave of guests for a second. “Now, it’s time to move on to the declaration of intent. Do you, Aaron, take Emily to be your lawfully wedded wife, to share your life openly, standing beside her in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in hardship and in ease, to cherish and love forever more?” He inquired, looking at him.

“I do.” Aaron replied without hesitation, nothing but love for the beautiful woman standing before him in his eyes.

“And do you, Emily, take Aaron to be your lawfully wedded husband, to share your life openly, standing beside him in sickness and in health, in joy and in sorrow, in hardship and in ease, to cherish and love forever more?” He asked.

“I do, I definitely do.” Emily nodded, not caring in the slightest that her impatience was showing through.

“That’s excellent,” He smiled. “Now the rings, please.”

Aaron and Emily both turned their heads in order to watch Jack walk towards them with their rings on a pillow, their pride in him evident on their faces when he came to stand beside them and held the pillow up a little. “Now, Aaron,” Richard continued. “Please take the ring you have selected for Emily. As you place it on her finger, repeat after me” He watched silently as he took the diamond ring from the pillow and eased it onto her finger. “Emily, I give you this ring as proof of my love. I ask you to wear it as a sign to the world that you are my wife. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Once Aaron had repeated what he had said and settled the ring neatly at the base of her finger, he turned to Emily. “And Emily, please take the ring you have selected for Aaron. As you place it on his finger, repeat after me,” He told her before watching her take the other ring from the pillow and gently place it on Aaron’s finger. “Aaron, I give you this ring as a symbol of my love. I ask you to wear it as a sign that you are my husband. With this ring, I thee wed.”

Emily repeated his words perfectly as she slid the ring down his finger, and Richard smiled as he watched them take each other’s hands again. “In so much as the two of you have consented together in matrimony, and have witnessed the same before this company, by authority vested in me by the State of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Aaron, you may kiss your bride!” He announced, stepping back when Aaron pulled Emily into a soft, deep kiss.

Wrapping her arms tight around his waist as the guests clapped and cheered, Emily couldn’t help but smile against her husband’s lips as she felt him pull her closer to him with the hand pressed into the small of her back. “Well, Mr. Hotchner,” She murmured between kisses, grasping the back of his shirt in both hands. “You’re stuck with me now.”

“Am I? Good,” He smirked. “Because that’s all I’ve ever wanted…”

----------

From where he was standing in the corner of the garden with a can of beer in hand, Aaron smiled as he watched his girls pose together for a picture. All the pictures that the two of them had been serious about having taken with the kids, the wedding and the maternity ones, had been taken hours ago and so they were only messing around, but he knew that that was one picture he was going to keep so that he could have it on his desk at work. Emily and Sophia were standing together in the shade of the huge oak tree, his wife with one hand on her back and the other running down their little girl’s cheek as her lips were pressed to her bump and her tiny hands were cradling it at either side.

It was such a natural and beautiful picture of the two of them, one he knew would always make him smile no matter the day he was having at work, and he couldn’t wait for it to be developed. Once the picture had been taken, Sophia took a step back from her mother and giggled before Emily cupped her cheek in her hand and she nuzzled instantly into her palm, the love he had for the two of them deepening as he watched the little scene unfold. His wife was the most natural mother he had ever seen, she truly was. Her mother had barely been around when she had been little, meaning that she’d had no example to follow when Sophia had arrived, but she needn’t have been worried about it.

Like he had known she would, she had found her own way and she had astounded him with the little things she had done when they had brought their daughter home for the first time. She had been a multitasker, able to hold her in one arm while doing laundry or pouring Jack a bowl of cereal at the same time, she had known exactly how to settle her whenever she had cried, she had known which lullabies had comforted her the most and he had been so proud. Things were going to be a little different this time around though, he knew that. Unlike their sister, the boys would be delivered via C-section and he knew that it would be weeks if not months before Emily would be back to normal.

He was going to have to pull his weight big time, getting up with the boys in the night along with making sure Jack got to school in time in the mornings and Sophia was kept entertained throughout the day. It wasn’t going to be an easy task and he was going to be permanently exhausted, but the thought of such things didn’t bother him all that much. For the past seven months, his wife had been eating for three and sharing her body with two crazy little boys who kicked her all night and played with her bladder all day. She hadn’t had a moment’s peace since she had found out she was expecting them, so he was looking forward to taking them off her hands for a while so she could sleep.

Besides, how much trouble could two newborns actually be?

Jack and Sophia had both been a breeze.

“Dada!” His sweet little girl’s voice pulled him from his thoughts and he set down his beer the second he caught her toddling towards him, warmth pooling in his chest as he got down to her level and opened his arms to her. She ran the last couple of steps, eager to get to him, and buried her face in his chest when he caught her in one of his bear hugs, her peals of laughter only making him love her more as he tickled her sides while getting back to his feet. He perched her on his hip once he was upright again and kissed her chubby cheek, lingering for a moment longer than necessary to breathe in her scent before pulling back to watch his wife walk towards them as she rubbed her bump.

“You might have to be the one to take her to the park for the foreseeable,” She puffed. “I can’t keep up with her.”

He chuckled, wrapping an arm around her waist once she had reached him and drawing her close with a kiss to her temple. “Does this mean that my days are going to be spent fetching you chips and soda while you sit on the couch watching Doctor Phil? Don’t get me wrong, I loved doing that when you were pregnant with this little one, but if you could just let me know what I’m in for then I’d appreciate it.” He teased, amusement in his eyes as he looked at her.

“Mmm…that sounds nice,” She smirked. “My ankles are a bit swollen as well, so you could massage my feet for me.”

“Who do you think you are? FLOTUS?” He asked.

“Please…?” She pouted, cuddling closer to him.

He feigned a sigh of exasperation. “Fine. I guess I am partly responsible for your swollen ankles and mad cravings.”

“I am so in love with you,” She laughed, nudging her nose against his. “You mean absolutely everything to me.”

“And you mean just as much to me.” He smiled.

He leaned in to steal a kiss from her, but a soccer ball hitting him in the leg prompted him to pull away from her at the last moment and he turned with a frown before sighing as he watched Jack approach them with a sheepish look on his face. “You and I have been over this, buddy. You shouldn’t be kicking your ball around Emmy or your sister.”

“Sorry, daddy, I was supposed to kick it to Henry but it went the wrong way.” Jack explained, playing with his hands.

“Sounds like you need a little more practice,” Aaron told him, hoping the smile on his face would tell him he was no longer upset. “How about a little one-on-one when Emmy and I get back from our trip? I’ll give you some pointers.”

Jack’s eyes lit up. “You mean it? Really?”

“Really,” Aaron nodded. “Why don’t you leave the ball for the time being though and take Sophia to get some cake?”

“Cake! Cake!” Sophia squealed, clapping her hands together with glee before her father set her down on the grass.

“Emmy, I’m sorry about the ball. Can I have some cake as well? Please?” Jack asked with hope in his eyes.

Emily sighed. “Sweetheart, it was an accident. You were only playing. Of course, you’re allowed to have some cake.”

“Thank you! You’re the best mom ever!” He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a hug before taking Sophia’s hand in his and hurrying to the desserts table with her, Emily watching them go with tears of happiness in her eyes.

“Did you, um…” She stumbled over her words as she glanced up at her husband. “Did you hear what he just said?”

“I did.” He brushed a dark curl back behind her ear.

“He probably doesn’t even realise he said it,” She shrugged. “I shouldn’t get too excited.”

“Don’t think of it like that. Think of it as a step forward,” He shook his head. “It proves he sees you as a mom, Em.”

She smiled to herself. “He’s not mine, I know, but I love him just as much as I love Soph and the boys.”

“I know you do,” He rested his chin on her head, casting his gaze over at their beautiful children. “I know you do…”

----------

Running the back of his hand down the side of her face as he held her in his arms that night, Aaron felt nothing but relief when he felt Emily settle against him and heard the slightest change in her breathing. She was actually asleep. It had taken hours to get to this point and he had to admit that, for the first time in quite a while, he was genuinely annoyed with her. All afternoon, she had been dancing and chatting away to everyone as though she had been fine, but the fact of the matter was that she had been far from it. Her back had been in two and her feet had been killing her, but he hadn’t known a thing about it until she had burst into tears once the final few guests had headed home.

When he had been holding her on the couch and massaging her back in an attempt to help ease the pain a little, he had asked her why she hadn’t told him sooner and all she’d said was that she didn’t know. He adored her. He loved her more than she would ever know, but there was one thing he couldn’t stand about her and it was how she would keep him in the dark about things if she thought there was the slightest chance of it hurting him. He needed her to start opening up to him about things, but he also understood why that was such a challenge for her. She had never had someone to talk to about her issues before. No one had cared. No one had listened and she’d grown used to it.

She was the bravest woman he knew, but her past had damaged her severely and it would take time for her to heal.

When he had helped her upstairs after she had sat with a hot-water bottle pressed to her back for a good half hour, their wedding night had been the furthest thing from his mind and he’d been relieved that it been the furthest from hers as well. It would have killed him to push her away if she had made advances, but he would have forced himself to do it because it wouldn’t have been right. To do that to her in the state she had been in would have been selfish. He would have seen it as taking advantage of her and that was one thing he never wanted to do. He cared about her far too much. “You are an absolute idiot sometimes, Emily Hotchner,” He sighed into her fringe. “But I still love you.”

Despite his frustration, he smiled when she stirred in her sleep a couple of minutes later and murmured something incoherent before brushing her hair out of her face and settling down again once she’d cuddled up to him. She was something else, his wife. She was so unique, so different to any woman he had ever met, and there was no one way to define her which was one of the things he loved her most for. When he had been saying his vows earlier on, he’d told her that he loved everything he already knew about her and that he trusted everything that he had yet to learn and he’d meant it. There were so many layers to her, it would take forever to peel them all back, but he would do it.

He would eventually learn everything there was to know about her.

And he would surely love her all the more because of it.

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

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Life is a Song - 1

I am so sorry for being away from here for as long as I have but I have been so busy over the past couple of months and things just got in the way. I thought that I would start a new collection of one-shots to mark my return, so I hope you like these!

Summary: A collection of Hotchniss one-shots centred around a song-lyric quote!

Warnings: None.

----

‘For a heart beats the best

In a bed beside the one that it loves.’

Crane Your Neck - Lady Lamb.

----

Rain pattered gently against the windowpane as he laid in bed beside her, a hand running along her spine and the sheets pooled somewhere around their hips, and his lips curled into a smile against her temple when she snuggled closer to him in her sleep. He was still unsure as to how this happened. When she brought Jack home from his playdate with Henry, he asked her to come in for a drink with him. One glass, that was all he meant for it to be since neither of them knew if they would have to go in, but one turned into another and they got talking and midnight had come around before they knew it.

He could remember her getting up from the couch at one point, telling him she should be getting home and grabbing her jacket from the table, but what happened to make them go from that to him kissing her against the wall was lost on him. His hands had been buried in her hair, her own running along his back beneath his sweater, and despite being well aware that such conduct was frowned upon in their line of work neither of them had cared. At one point, they must have made the choice to move things to the bedroom but they couldn’t have taken things too far considering they were still dressed.

He brought a hand up to her face to brush her hair behind her ear, his other hand slipping underneath her sweatshirt and finding the warm skin of her back before he drew her closer to him with a smile. She began to stir at having been moved, groaning under her breath as her lashes fluttered against her cheeks, and then she opened her eyes and it was clear that she was momentarily confused as to where she was. It took no time for memories of last night to come flooding back to her though and he didn’t even try to keep from stroking her cheek when she blinked up at him. “Hey, you.” He whispered.

“Hey,” She murmured, her hold of him tightening as she cuddled closer to him before settling in his arms again. “So, um…”

“Last night was…unexpected…to say the least.” He chuckled while tucking an arm beneath his head.

“Yeah, you can say that again,” She nodded, smiling shyly at him. “Do you mean that in a good way though or…?”

Looking at her in silence for a second, he decided actions would speak louder than words and brought his arm out from beneath his head so he could rest his hand on the side of her neck. He ran his thumb along her jaw, watching her eyes fall closed at his touch, and smiled when she opened them again before capturing her lips with his in a kiss that was soft and tender. He felt more than heard the hum that came from the back of her throat as he kissed her, his hand moving up into her curls as he held her in place against him with the one pressed into her back, and he let himself get lost in the moment.

It was a while later when they came up for air and he touched his forehead to hers, their breathing fast and erratic, and it made him sigh when she laid a hand on his cheek. “Does that answer your question?” He breathed. “Em, I am crazy about you. I love how amazing you are with Jack. I love how dedicated you are to our job. I love the way you frown when we’re working a case somewhere and you’re close to figuring something out. You are such an incredible woman. You’re tough, funny, intelligent, strong and insanely gorgeous. I have wanted this – us – for so long, but I wasn’t sure if you felt the same.”

“Seriously? You mean, JJ and Garcia torturing me about liking you all that time went right over your head?” She asked.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You know, you’re lucky you’re hot.”

She pulled him into another kiss then, this one shorter than the last, and when they broke apart again he reached for the sheet and covered them both with it, making sure she had more before gathering her in his arms and letting her rest her head on his chest. They laid together in comfortable silence for quite a while as he raked his fingers through her hair and stared at the ceiling, but she tilted her head back on his chest again before too long and looked at him with a sigh. “I think I should probably go. Jack is going to be up soon, no doubt, and he may not take it so well if he comes in here to find me in your bed. I don’t want to confuse him, so I think we need to be sure about where this is headed and then speak with him.”

“I’ll go with whatever you want,” He assured her. “If you think we need some time to think about this then we’ll do that.”

“Thanks. You gonna come see me out?”

“Sure, come on.”

They pushed back the sheets and got out of bed before she padded across the room to the door and he followed her, the two of them sharing a smile as they crept out into the main room. Neither of them said a word as she grabbed her jacket and pushed a hand through her tousled hair, not wanting to wake Jack, and he opened the door to the apartment quietly once her shoes were on so she could step out into the hall. “So, uh, how do you feel about going for coffee in the week as long as a new case doesn’t come in? I just think it would be better for us to talk about this someplace other than the BAU.”

“I agree. I would put money on Garcia having bugged my office, so better to be safe than sorry.” He rolled his eyes.

She couldn’t help but laugh at that, taking a small step closer to him and allowing her arms to slip slowly around his waist. “I’ll call you a little later, yeah?” Her voice was quieter now as she looked at him, his hands running up and down her spine.

“Yeah,” He nodded. “Text me when you get in so I know you got home safe.”

“I will.” She assured him before rising onto her tiptoes to brush her lips against his own.

She took her arms from around him then and turned on her heel, making her way down to the elevator at the end of the hall, and he waited until the doors closed on her before heading back inside the apartment and closing the door behind him. Standing there for a moment, he thought about all that had happened in the space of a couple of hours and shook his head in slight disbelief. There was a lot that still had to be settled between them, he knew, but things were already beginning to change.

There was no going back now.

Things would never go back to the way they were before between them, but he was okay with that.

He was ready for the future.

#emily prentiss #ssa prentiss #agent prentiss #aaron hotchner #ssa hotchner #agent hotchner #emily prentiss x aaron hotchner #aaron x emily #aaron hotchner fanfiction #emily prentiss fanfiction #hotchniss fanfiction #hotchniss #criminal minds #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #domestic fluff #fluff #one shot #one shot prompts

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preciousprentiss · 2 years

Text

And now I’m crying 😩 Domestic Hotchniss is officially my FAVOURITE thing in the world. This was so cute.

Assurance

Just some pointless fluff, because I'm hungover and frankly we all deserve the happiness.

Words: 2.5k

Warnings: none

Read over on Ao3 in my collection of mini fics, or below the cut

Let me know what you think <3

Emily was tired, the exhaustion seeping into her bones in a way she had never experienced. She thought she knew how it felt before. She’d never had a 9-5 job, didn’t have a solid routine that ever allowed for a normal sleeping pattern. She slept more in Paris than she thought she would, her physical recovery from what Ian had done to her long and stretched out, and the loneliness not letting her do anything else. She still remembers feeling tired though, as if she could sleep forever and it would still never be enough.

None of that had prepared her for how it felt to have a baby that didn’t seem to like sleep.

Mia Rose Hotchner was 8 weeks old and a mini Emily through and through. Aaron often joked that he wondered if she had somehow cloned herself, claiming that their little girl had none of his features.

Emily can’t help but suppress a yawn as she paces the living room in the early afternoon, Mia curled up against her chest, the infant only ever really calm if she was close to her mother. Aaron was away on a case, his first one since he returned to work after his paternity leave. The first 6 weeks of Mia’s life were spent at home, just the three of them and Jack adjusting to being a new family together.

She missed him, even though he’d only been gone four days.

Emily yawns again and sits down on the couch, leaning her head back as she holds Mia against her, little fists tangled in her hair. She leans down and kisses the top of the baby’s head, deeply breathing in the scent she’s not sure how she ever lived without.

She’s half asleep, her eyes drifting shut despite her best efforts to keep them open, when her phone rings. It shocks her back to being awake, the movement making the baby curled up on her chest whine slightly.

“You’re ok, Mia.” Emily soothes, her lips pressed to the top of her daughter's head, her hand rubbing circles on her back. The baby fusses some more before settling back down on Emily’s chest, her favourite place to be. “You’re ok.”

Emily reaches for her phone on the side table and smiles when she sees her husband's name on the screen. His contact picture is one of him and Mia the day she was born, impossibly tiny in her father’s arms.

“Hey.” She rasps out as she answers the phone.

“Hi sweetheart.” Aaron replies. He sounds ragged, sad in a way he’d only let her hear, and she can picture him taking a moment away from the team to call her, just to hear her voice. “You sound tired.”

Emily laughs. “That’s because your daughter seems to have made it an aim of hers to never let me sleep again.”

“I’m sorry, Em.” He says, his sympathy like a balm down the phone, soothing her in a way she hadn’t realised she needed. “I’ll be home tonight, try and give you a night off.”

“You caught him?” She asks, joy spreading through her chest at the thought of seeing him.

“Yes.” He says, something close to defeat in his voice that stops the joy immediately, concern for her husband replacing it. “We caught him.”

They lapse into silence and she can sense his tension over the phone. In the four days he’d been away he’d called her every day, taking five minutes wherever he could to have a taste of home. To close his eyes and picture his wife and children. A small reprieve from a horrible case that she knows he hasn’t told her the worst of.

“Are you ok, honey?” She asks, already knowing the answer he’d give her over the phone wouldn’t be the truth.

“Yeah, I’m ok.” He clears his throat and she hears Dave in the background, catching Aaron’s attention for a moment. “Sorry sweetheart, I’ve got to go. I’ll be back tonight, we’re leaving soon but have to head to the office first.”

“Ok.” She says, knowing she’d have to wait to get him to admit how he was. Wait until he was home with her, safe in the house they had bought together. Their safe space. “Text when you’re on the way.”

“Will do.” He replies. “Love you.”

“Love you too.”

Emily sighs as she hangs up, her phone placed back on the table. She looks down at Mia, wide dark eyes looking up at her, somehow still awake. She strokes the baby’s cheek, love spreading through her entire body when she smiles up at her. She’d only started doing it a few days ago, managing to smile at Aaron before he left for work, something Emily was grateful that he hadn’t missed.

An idea forms in her head and she smiles back.

“What do you think, sweet girl?” Emily says, reaching for her phone to call Penelope. “Shall we go cheer up Daddy?”

Mia squeals in response, loud and happy, and Emily takes that as an answer.

______

She is barely out of the elevator, Mia’s car seat in hand, when Penelope appears, her excitement rolling off of her.

“There she is.” Penelope exclaims, entirely bypassing Emily and leaning down to greet Mia. “Hi princess, you just keep getting cuter.”

“Nice to see you too, Pen.” Emily says sardonically, her eyebrow raised in jest when her friend looks at her, straightening back up.

“Sorry, Em. She’s just so cute I can’t resist.” Penelope replies, pulling Emily into a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Good to see you too.” She laughs as they pull apart, readjusting her hold on Mia’s car seat. “Are they on their way?”

“They should be landing as we speak.” Penelope says, linking her arm through Emily’s spare one and leading her towards the bullpen. “They’ll be glad to see you.”

“Are they ok?” She asks delicately, not wanting to give away how wretched Aaron had sounded on the phone, knowing that was a part of himself that he kept just for her. “From the bits and pieces Aaron told me it sounds like a rough one.

Penelope opens the door to the conference room and lets Emily walk through first. “Cases with children are always tougher,” she says almost absentmindedly, “and poor Hotch found the last victim.”

Emily falters slightly as she lifts a now slightly fussy Mia into her arms, holding the baby before she could start to cry.

“He did what?” She asks, her eyebrows creased in concern. It’s Penelope’s turn to falter, staring at Emily as she tries to figure out what to say next.

“He didn’t tell you?”

“No.” Emily confirms, shaking her head slightly at the thought of her loving, stupid, husband trying to protect her from this. “Tell me everything.”

_____

She hears him before she sees him. His voice carries throughout the office as Penelope leads the team to the conference room, his irritation obvious. She wonders what he thinks is happening, if he’s worried that they’ve somehow picked up another case already.

“Garcia, can’t this wait. I...”

He trails off when he sees her, the look of relief on his face clear as he takes in the sight of them, Emily sitting on the edge of the table, Mia in her arms.

“Hi.” She says, standing up and walking over towards him.

“Hi,” he replies, “what are you doing here?”

“We thought we’d come see you.” She says, smiling as she transfers Mia into his arms. “She was insistent she didn’t want to wait until tonight.”

He kisses the side of Mia’s head, holding her securely to him. “Oh she was, was she?” He asks, smiling at his wife.

“She demanded it.”

The rest of the team are in the room before they can say anything else, or greet each other properly. Emily smiles and laughs as they all greet her, pulling her into hugs and asking her how she is, telling her they miss her like they weren’t at the house as often as they could be. Eventually Penelope manages to wrangle Mia out of Aaron’s arms, claiming that he’d get more time with her at home, and they all gather around, talking in high pitched voices they’d all deny as they looked at the youngest member of their unusual family.

She smiles as she watches the team argue about who gets to hold Mia. Derek finally manages to get the baby out of Penelope’s arms, smiling as he looks down at the little girl.

Emily feels arms wrap around her waist and she places her hand over Aaron’s as it settles on her stomach. She leans back into him, sighing contentedly as she breathed him in, glad to have him back after only a few days apart.

“I missed you.” He says, his lips against her temple. The public display of his affection for her was unusual, especially when they were in the office, but he clearly needs this. Needs her.

Emily turns her head enough that she’s looking up at him and she smiles, leaning up to kiss him, her hand coming up to cup his cheek.

“I missed you too.” She says as she pulls away, looking back over to the team all fawning over her daughter. She wasn’t able to have Mia out of her sight yet for too long, fear clutching at her throat if she didn’t know where the little girl was, even here. Surrounded by people she knew would put their lives on the line for them. “So did she.”

“She looks different.”

Emily chuckles and squeezes his hand. “It’s been 4 days, love.”

“She’s bigger.”

“Because she never stops eating.” Emily replies, her words punctuated by a yawn. He squeezes her a little tighter.

“You’re tired.” He says, smiling as he lets her lean further back into him. “Straight to bed when we get home.”

“Agent Hotchner,” she says, faking scandal as she turns to look at him again, “what’s got into you? Propositioning me like that in front of everyone.”

Aaron frowns at her like he always did when she teases him, but any response is cut off by Derek.

“Come on, Em. There are children in the room.” Derek says, indicating the baby in his arms and nodding towards Spencer.

“Hey.” Spencer says looking up from where he’d been talking to Mia, regaling her with how well she was doing for an 8 week old, keeping up with all of the milestones that she should be.

“Derek, it can’t surprise you we have sex.” Emily says, a smirk on her face. “You’re holding the evidence.”

She can’t help but laugh at the look on his face, Aaron’s soft admonishment in her ear as Derek quickly hands Mia back.

_____

Emily waits until they are in bed. Jack settled in his room after he regaled them with his stories from school and the fun he had with Jess before she dropped him home, Mia gently settled into her bassinet. Freshly fed and sleeping for once, allowing her some time alone with her husband, something that felt rare these days, somehow even more precious than she’d found it before.

He settles in next to her and she curls into him, her head on his chest as his hand trails under her pyjama shirt. His palm warm against her spine.

She considers waiting him out. Letting him tell her what she already knew, the details Penelope had given her earlier were still floating around her head.

But she knows him. Better than she’s ever known anyone, and he won’t do it. Won’t do what he still sees as burdening her, despite all that they share.

“Pen told me.” She says, her words muffled by his t-shirt.

“She told you what, sweetheart?” He asks, his voice quiet, aware that the baby would wake at anything.

“That you found the last victim.” She says softly, feeling her heart clench when his hand stills on her back. “That they all looked like Jack.”

“Em, I’m fine. I promise.”

She pulls back from him, her hand against his chest as she props herself up.

“You aren’t.” She replies, smiling softly at him. “And you don’t have to pretend you are.” She moves her hand to cup his cheek, her thumb gentle against his skin as she rubs soft circles. “I wouldn’t be.”

He stares at her for a moment before he sighs, his hand coming up to cup the back of her head, his fingers trailing through her hair. He nods, relenting, and she feels relief spread through her.

“We got there only slightly too late to save the last boy.” He says, shaking his head at himself. “His name was Andrew. His mother…” he drifts off for a second, gathering himself before he continues, his eyes meeting hers again, “she said it was my fault. That I could have saved him.”

“Baby,” she says, moving so she could press her forehead against his, “you know that’s not true. And so does she.” She pulls back to palm his cheek and presses a kiss against his lips. “People say all sorts of things they don’t mean when they are grieving.”

He nods at her, a sad smile on his face. “It just seems unfair that I get to come home to you, to our family, and her life won’t ever be the same.”

“Yes.” she says softly, a wry smile on her face as she scrapes his hair off of his forehead, slightly longer than usual. The business of parenting a newborn meaning he’d had no time to go and get it done. “Because our lives have been a walk in the park up until this point.” It makes him smile, a real smile that she knows belongs to her, and she can’t help but return it before she becomes serious again. “Because of you, of the team, that woman will have justice for her son. It’s important. Even if she doesn’t know that yet.”

“You’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

He shakes his head at her before kissing her, his thanks whispered against her lips, and she settles back down against him.

She sighs as his hand starts up and down her back again, lulling her to sleep, her exhaustion almost overwhelming.

“Em?” He says quietly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head when she hums in response. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she replies, pressing her face into his chest, “but please shut up. I’m trying to sleep and the baby will be awake again soon,” her hand comes up to his face, blindly patting his face, “and sadly you lack the equipment to feed her.”

“Ok, sweetheart.”

He lays there, sleep not finding him as his wife drifts off pressed up against him, her soft snores filling the room.

She’s woken up just less than an hour later by Mia’s cries, and as he watches them together he knows he’s the luckiest man alive.

#hotchniss #hotchniss fanficiton #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss fanfiction #aaron hotchner fanfiction #agent prentiss #agent hotchner #aaron x emily #fluff

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