home sweet home - a hotchniss story

exposed

word count - 937

Both Aaron and Emily had never felt anything like this before, complete trust in another person was terrifying. This caused some arguments between the pair, they both knew they didn't mean half the things they hissed at each other but the words still hurt - what was worse was when one of these fights happened in the office as they had no excuse, but the more they argued the better they made up, Aaron's office became a place full of laughs and secret meetings between the  couple.

This particular day Emily was wearing her bright red tank top paired with black flared trousers and her signature boots, she only chose this top as it drove Aaron crazy and they were in one of their meaningless arguments, the top also emphasised the gold necklace Aaron gave her for their year's anniversary. JJ questioned her all about it as before she received this present, Emily had never seen the point of necklaces but this was now her prized possession.

The evening before, Emily spent the night at Aaron's house, they were flicking through Netflix while sitting on his bed when they began snapping at each other it was pointless but they had just come back from a case and hadn't slept properly in over a week. They both just turned over and went to sleep but Emily couldn't brush off the fight, she was tossing and turning all night wondering why it didn't upset Aaron too. Much to their disappointment, the tension wasn't cleared by the morning, Emily turned their 5:45am alarm and jumped straight in the shower, the running water hid the sounds of her sobs while Aaron went downstairs and began to make some breakfast, Emily's spitting comments from the night before hurt Aaron, the sound of Emily nervously walking down the steps interrupted his thoughts.

"hey you" Emily said looking up at him putting on a soft smile

"...hi" Aaron replied, pulling her in for a gentle hug, her face buried into his chest, this was her safe space.

"Aaron i'm sorry i just really need to-" they were interrupted by the sound of his phone buzzing.

"Hotchner (...) okay where? (...) thanks Garcia i'll be right in (...)"

They had another case, Emily sighed and looked up at him in sadness, he grabbed her hands and look down, straight into her eyes "babe, i'm sorry, i'll see you at the office in 20?" They still couldn't go in together everyday in fear of suspicions rising, Emily didn't have an issue with their relationship being out in the open but Aaron thought it distract from their work. "okay... i love you" she said as her phone began to ring with the same message as Hotch got minutes before.

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This particular UNSUB met women in a bar and took them back to his house, slept with them and then poisoned them. Unusually, he didn't seem to have a preference, blonde or brunette, they all fulfilled his fantasy. Once the team figured this out it was clear the only way to catch him was to go undercover, the only people eligible for this were Emily and JJ. Aaron hated the idea, he tried to find every excuse under the sun but nothing was changing Emily's mind, Jennifer had told Emily she was pregnant a week ago, she hadn't told anyone else, not yet, she needed to tell Hotch but now wasn't the right moment. Emily protested again Aaron, winning of corse but he was scared for her, he only just got to be with her, he couldn't loose her now.

"Prentiss, can i speak to you before you go" He firmly said

"yes, sir" she replied as she followed him into an empty room

"Emily i really don't like this idea, there has to be a better way"

"You know there isn't, he's already killed 3 women"

he grabbed her hands as she was playing with a bracelet on her wrist "i know it's just-"

"hey" as she noticed his eyes welling up

"listen to me, i promise, nothing bad will happen to me. Aaron, look at me-"

she was interrupted by the feeling of his lips pressing against hers, it took her off guard, she loved the feeling of them connecting, it was as though all the noise around them stopped and silence encompassed them stopping time, they were in their own little world

After a while they both became very aware of the fact they felt as though they were being watched, they opened their eyes and guiltily turned to realise they had forgotten they weren't in Aaron's office in Quantico, the blinds were wide open and the entire team had seen their kiss.

She turned back to look at her boyfriend, a shocked smile formed on her lips. He tried to hide his grin but it didn't work, they started laughing. They intertwined their fingers, Aaron led her out of the room and in front of their team.

A wave of chatter could be heard from the team

"i told you guys!" Dave kept repeating

"go Hotch!" Derek laughed, with the biggest smile on his face

"wait, guys! what's going on?" Spencer whined

Aaron looked at the group sternly, the chatter dyed down, he squeezed Emily's hand for moral support. She looked up, worried "Aaron?"

"Yes okay, this is my beautiful girlfriend, Emily Prentiss, i love her and this is non of your business but she's the most amazing woman i have ever met"

She went up onto her tiptoes, grabbed his head and kissed him so hard they almost tripped over "i love you Aaron"