Hotchniss One Shots

"Death"

It's been a little over two weeks since Emily has moved in with Aaron. She is now living with Sergio, Aaron, and Jack, and couldn't be happier.

XXX

"That's it. She's gone."

"Em, there's nothing we could have done to save her."

"I could have went back, Hotch!" Emily raised her voice at the man beside her.

They just landed by home in Virginia after a long case in Minneapolis. A little girl was lost inside of a burning building, and died from smoke inhalation within a matter of minutes. Emily was clearly the most shaken up about this, surprisingly.

Throughout the case, the girls' mother stressed how important it was for her to save her child. Emily simply couldn't imagine what she must have been going through. She made a promise to the mother that she would try her best to save her child.

"You would have died, Emily. Don't beat yourself up over this, okay?"

"I," Emily stuttered, stopping just outside of the doors inside, where only her and Aaron stood. "I promised her mother that I would try to save her. No matter what."

"And that's exactly what you did."

Aaron had never been the best at comforting Emily, let alone anyone he had a connection with, and even the people he didn't. This was partly why he made Emily and JJ talk to the families when working cases.

He hated himself for it sometimes, but he wasn't quite sure how to change.

"Emily, look at me," he said, using his fingertips to guide her jaw towards him, so their dark eyes locked. "You did everything you could to save that child. Raymond is being held accountable for his actions, and we were able to save all three other children."

"That doesn't justify this," she mumbled, pulling away from his touch.

XXX

After the team dispersed from the office that night, without Rossi's usual invitation of drinks and games, Aaron went home with Emily.

Since they had moved in together, they usually drove to the BAU together, unless something came up.

The car ride home was quiet. Emily stared mindlessly out of her window most of the drive, until Aaron took an unexpected turn off of their usual drive back to their house.

"Aaron, where are you going?" she asked hesitantly.

"Trust me," he said in a low voice.

It was nearly midnight, and he was driving to some unknown location when all she wanted to do was sleep and forget all about the case.

He drove about twenty miles and pulled over on the side of the secluded road. No buildings seemed to be in sight. Only tall, spread out power lines along the seemingly endless green field beside them.

"Aaron, why are we here?"

He sensed the annoyance in her tone. Normally, when she used this voice with him, he wouldn't dare mess with her unless he was intentionally trying to upset her. However, he had good reasoning for it now.

"Look up," he said simply, closing his car door and walking to her in the front of his car.

She did as he said, craning her neck to see the millions - if not trillions of stars above them. The sky was completely clear, and the cool spring air made the hairs on Emily's neck rise.

She looked back at Aaron, who has now taken off his suit jacket and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows. He was looking up at the sky, mesmerized by the patterns of the night.

Emily, however, remained confused.

"Isn't it beautiful?" he asked in a significantly calmer tone.

"Yeah," she answered. She couldn't disagree with him.

They stood in the silence for a moment, simply absorbing the beauty of the night. Emily had to admit, it calmed her.

"How many stars do you think there are?" Aaron asked quietly after a minute.

"That's a question for Reid, not me," she answered with a small smile. "Trillions?"

"See that one?" he pointed towards the sky.

"You really expect me to recognize the one you're pointing to?" she laughed softly at him.

He dropped his arm back to his side and looked at her. "Stars are kind of like people, wouldn't you say? We're born, we glow and shine brighter and brighter, until one day we fade, only to be forgotten by the rest of the sky."

Emily lowered her eyes to his, trying to piece together what he meant.

"But the truth is, when we fade, all of the other stars will continue to burn bright, and move on."

Emily was silent. She stared at him, her arms crossed and his hands stuffed into his pockets. In the darkness of the night, only the light provided by the moon could light up his face for her to see.

"What if it takes a while for them to move on?" she asked quietly.

"That's okay," he responded in a low voice. "As long as they don't let it affect them forever."

She fell silent again.

"Emily," Aaron stepped towards her on the road so he could see her eyes clearly. They glistened in the soft light of the moon. "Alana's death was a tragedy, it really was, but you have to understand that it wasn't your fault."

"Do you believe in fate?"

"What?"

"Fate. Everything happens for a reason. . . You know."

"Uh," he furrowed his eyebrows slightly. "I'm not sure."

"I do."

A/N: idrk who what when where why honestly I'm just exhausted so yeah ik this one probably should be "stargazing" but it's not so. . Have a great day/night lol