"Don't leave me to breathe, don't leave me to bleed."
On their third date, after dinner and a few drinks, Aaron Hotchner and Emily Prentiss danced their first dance. They swayed to the music, laughing and kissing each other's foreheads. The song is now one of their favorites: My Heart is Buried in Venice. They listen to it on long car rides between crime scenes and in the shower on early mornings and late nights. It is their song.
*
It wasn't supposed to happen like this. He wasn't supposed to go in there, and she wasn't supposed to be left behind. We do everything together, Aaron told her once. Now she is left screaming, shouting at him not to go, to stay, while Derek is holding her back. She elbows him, pushes him away, but nothing will phase Derek Morgan, and he holds on tight to her.
"Aaron stop!" She shouts at the top of her lungs, cries echoing into the silence. "Derek let go of me!"
Emily freezes as Aaron stops before he enters the building. He looks back and meets her eyes, and she hopes he can see the hurt in hers. "I'm sorry," he mouths, and Emily can feel the anger and the sadness building up inside of her, she can feel the pain of knowing what was going to happen. The unsub wasn't stable, and Aaron was walking willingly to his death.
"Aaron, please!" She shouts again, but when he looks away, she knows it's done. His hand reaches for the door handle, pulls it down, and he is inside within seconds. Derek doesn't let go of her, and she turns into his chest and sobs.
"Princess, it's okay. He'll be okay," Derek says, trying to comfort her. He knows that he is openly lying to her.
"He- he left." Emily whispers through her cries. Derek strokes her back, trying to soothe the sobbing agent, but nothing consoles her.
When Emily finally calms down, they sit outside of the abandoned warehouse and wait. Time goes by slowly, and every minute that passes with Aaron inside makes it harder for Emily to breathe.
Fifteen minutes pass, and a gunshot rings through the air. Emily is on her feet in an instant, and yells "Aaron!" She sprints towards the door, leaving Derek in the dust.
"Emily, don't go in there!" Derek shouts. She is too quick, and is through the door before he can stop her.
*
Aaron remembers a few months ago when he had finally proposed to Emily. She beamed at him as he slipped the ring on, the one he had found on their vacation. It was perfect, just like her.
The next few weeks had been pure bliss. He went to sleep beside her and woke up beside her. In the field, she wore the ring on a string around her next, a string from the first bouquet of flowers he had given her. They were pink roses, her favorite.
They had started planning the wedding, and Aaron gave her complete freedom on everything except their first dance: that was to be My Heart is Buried in Venice. Emily happily agreed, because that song meant something to her. To them.
*
They were supposed to be married next month. The 24th of November, because she wanted a fall wedding. Aaron couldn't disagree.
Emily ran towards her fiancé, lying on the floor of a dirty old warehouse, bleeding out. Covered in red. The unsub sat across from Aaron, smiling at his work. Emily didn't even think as she shot him, a clean bullet through the leg.
"Aaron," she whispered. "Aaron talk- talk to me."
Derek ran in behind her, gun drawn for any enemies he would come across. "Prentiss, where's the unsub?"
