Back to you - Hotchniss

get away with it

Emily opened the bathroom door almost reluctantly, not very fond of returning to her bedroom. She was afraid of the conversation that was awaiting her; though she knew that it had to be done.

Aaron had already put his clothes back on and was just buttoning up his shirt as he recognized that she was standing in the door frame, wearing her underwear and a bathrobe. She watched silently as the last parts of his chest got covered up again, until his hand movements stopped.

"Some buttons flew away because you ripped it open", he said, knowing that she had watched him.

"Too bad", she grinned. If it had been up to her, all buttons should have flown away, so he wouldn't be able to close the shirt, but she kept that thought to herself.

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head slightly as she tried to read his facial expression. It was obvious that he was thinking, too.

"So", Hotch then spoke up. "There are a few things we probably should talk -"

He was interrupted by the ringing of his cellphone. Letting out an annoyed sigh, he walked over to his jacket and quickly picked it up.

"Hotchner? (...) Okay. (...) Yes, call the others.", after he had hung up again, he turned to Emily. "We have to go, there's a new case."

Internally, Emily felt like a waterfall of relief washed through her body, since that would mean that they'd have to postpone the awful talk, once again.

"Okay", she replied and made her way over to her wardrobe, pulling out fresh clothes.

"I better get going, Garcia is probably going to call you any second", Hotch sighed and put his jacket on.

"Yea, sure", she smiled, and the honesty in her smile surprised him.

"But we'll definitely talk later", he then said, watching her as she put on her trousers and a red tank top.

"Sure", she repeated.

He stood still in his tracks, thinking about whether he should kiss her once more or whether he should just leave. They had absolutely no idea what was going on between them from the last two days on, and he wondered if kissing her would cross a line.

"Do you need anything else?", Emily then asked as she brushed her hair.

Quickly, he cleared his throat: "No, sorry. I'll get going - see you in a bit!"

"Yea, see you", she nodded and watched him walking out of the door. As soon as he was gone, she let out an annoyed groan and internally face palmed herself. Why was she like this? She shouldn't be happy about the fact that the case had gotten between their talk - but she was.

It wasn't like her to be scared of something - but things had always been different when it had come to her love for Aaron Hotchner.

The way they were doing it was just fine for the moment - just sex, without any hard feelings, without anyone leaving the other. She had no idea whether he wanted it to stay like that or whether he would actually give her a second chance - or whether he didn't want any of that at all.

It didn't matter to her; as long as he was happy and she was able to spend time with him, she would take whatever idea he had about them. Still, she was scared of being rejected or getting into the same painful situation they had been in two years ago.

"You're being ridiculous", Emily whispered to herself and walked into her kitchen, pouring a glass of water as her phone suddenly rang.

It was Garcia, telling her about the new case. "I'm on my way", the brunette said and hung up, quickly grabbing her bag before heading to her car.

"Hey, JJ, come here", Garcia whispered as the blonde passed her.

"What's up?", JJ asked and closed the file she had been reading on her way to the conference room.

"Is everybody here yet?

"Only Reid, Hotch and me, why?"

"Well, I was surprised that Hotch arrived so quickly, so I just had to check", Garcia whispered, knowing that JJ didn't approve her digging through their privacies.

"Pen, you know that you shouldn't -"

"He came from Emily's place", Garcia interrupted her. As she had expected, JJ's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?!"

"Yes, he drove there after y'all came back from Montana and stayed there until I called in for the new case", the technical analyst squealed.

"This doesn't have to mean anything, though", JJ then said. "You know that they've been on pretty friendly basis in the last few weeks."

"Don't ruin my fantasy", Garcia rolled her eyes.

"Which fantasy?", both of them jumped as Emily suddenly appeared behind them.

"A - um - about a new software", Garcia just stuttered, and JJ knew that Emily wouldn't buy that in a million years.

"Yea, definitely", the brunette just scoffed sarcastically. "Tell me about it after the briefing." And with these words, she passed them and joined the briefing room at the same time as Morgan did.

"Great, now we have to come up with something that she'll believe", JJ sighed.

"I'll trust you with that", Garcia replied nervously. "But we should probably start briefing before we have another victim."

As the two blondes walked into the room, Emily furrowed her eyebrows slightly, trying to figure out what they had been talking about. It was an easy game to see through Garcia lies, as she wasn't very good at lying to her friends, and it would be even easier for Emily to get the truth out of her, if only JJ wasn't involved. This woman knew how to hide her secrets just as well as Emily.

Hotch had recognized the look on her face the minute she had walked in, wondering if it had something to do with him. He didn't like how the situation had ended that morning, but there had obviously been no other options.

It was almost funny how bad the two - both belonging to the finest and most skilled profilers - failed to read the other. However, both their minds were drawn to the new case as soon as Garcia started to present it, granting them a short period of freedom.

Nevertheless, their much needed conversation was still waiting for them - and it would either safe or ruin everything.