Lieutenant and SSA (Emily Prentiss x Reader)

014. Home in my arms

A/n did you know that it's a lot harder to write while being sick and in the ER almost every day? Well now I know. Imma try and catch up

Emily pov - March 13th, 2001

My heart is beating like a drum, and the feeling throughout my body is almost worth the pain of having her away. Almost. If she's gone more than six months at a time I will go crazy. No matter how selfish it is of me.

I've basically been on autopilot these past few months, because I've never realised how much she's affected my life and routine. Just... no, I don't want to imagine a longer deployment right now. Not when she's coming home.

The sound of the car engine fills the air strip, and I'm not the only one who raises from their places on the ground. And I see her the minute she comes out and into my view. For a few seconds when she's walking towards where we're standing, I can only look at her. Her in that uniform of hers, that bag thrown over her shoulder.

And I'm reminded that this isn't only the first time I'm waiting for someone to come home from deployment. But also the first time for Y/n to come home to someone waiting specifically for her. On the air strip.

Then I no longer care that I'm in high heels, I just start to walk, almost run, towards her. I can break my feet for all I care. She would catch me. As soon as she meets my gaze, her face turns into pure happiness.

I jump into her arms, her bag dropping to the ground, before she wraps her own strong arms. I feel her whole body wince as if in pain as she raises me into the air. I hate it but I love it. I try to step down but she fights through whatever it is as she keeps me in her arms.

I release a relived sob and she nuzzles her head into the crook of my neck. Just breathing me in in long breaths. A whistle is heard from Natalie as she stands in the arms of her own husband. But she doesn't let me go, even as she puts me down to stand on my own two feet. As if she's afraid to let go.

After standing there in her arms for, I don't know how long. I pull away just far enough to place my hands on her cheeks, just to look at her to see that she's okay.

"Are you okay?" I ask as I look into her enchanting eyes.

"Now that I'm home, I am more than fine." She says before she kisses me, earning more than a whistle from her teammates. But the way her nails dig into my back, my own fingers cradling her neck. Gods I wish I could run them through her hair, but it's going to need a good five washes to make it it's natural form.

***

The only time I had let go of her hand on our way home was in and out of the car. And as we come back into our apartment, I step out of the way to let her see the apartment.

"Wow, I didn't think you capable." Y/n says with a smile as she looks at the decorations I've put up, and the cake in the kitchen.

"What?"

"Clean the apartment, I'm surprised there aren't..." I give her a playful slap on her shoulder that makes her smile even more. Her arms snake around my waist to pull me in again. "Thank you honey."

"What wouldn't I do for my fiancé." I smile so brightly that my cheeks start to hurt. "You're welcome my love." I close those few inches between our lips again. Just feeling the need to have her touch as confirmation that she's here, that she's okay, that she's home.

Then we go into the kitchen, where my terribly made cake stands. I'm great at helping someone bake in the kitchen, but I'm terrible at baking myself. It's not as easy as they make it look. It's not jut reading a recipe.

"You baked a cake?" Surprise coats her words as she stays in my arms.

"There were cookies, but I accidentally ate them all." Stressing about the apartment and just everything that could ever exist. Let's just say that it wasn't a pretty sight.

"I love it, thank you." She kisses me again, but just a short peck on my lips. "I'm really tired, could we just go to bed. We could eat the cake for breakfast."

"Sure," never have I heart her not want care, or wanting to eat it in the morning. She can't even eat that much sugar in the morning, it makes her feel sick. For some reason that is yet to have been discovered.

She goes into our bedroom before me, and I hear the thud of her bag being thrown on the floor. Before I decide to follow her, seeing her almost struggle to remove her shirt. And that's when I see it, the dark bruise that covers half her abdomen.

"Y/n." I breath out, and she turns around to cover herself with her shirt. But she doesn't stop me as I step closer, taking the shirt away from her and throwing it on the bed. "What happened?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Just got a little rough in the ring." Training, that's her excuse. Gods how I love protocol, I thought sarcastically. But the way she winces away from my fingers that barely graze the skin makes me think... no, know that there is another reason. Something that protocols and secrecy doesn't allow her to speak of. She takes my hand in hers instead, "Please, I promise you that it's nothing. Just a bruised rip, I'll be as good as new in a few weeks."

That's why she had winced when I hugged her, but she had still lifted me up into the air. "You lifted me." And it both hurt her and I hate it. "Y/n, if you..."

"Emily, don't. I'm fine." She places my hand above her heart, letting me feel it's pulse. Her pulse. "And I'm home."

"You could have told me, I don't... if you had gotten more seriously hurt... I couldn't..." tears had begun to stream down my face. But her catches them with her warm hands. "Tell me, okay. Tell me the next time you get hurt. You don't have to tell me how or why, just... let me know about every bruise, every cut, every broken bone. Just tell me... tell me..."

"I will, I promise, I will." She promises her she pulls me in closer, kissing away my every tear before meeting my gaze.

"You are not allowed to die." The fear I've had inside me, the one I've thought was an overreaction or something. How easily I could lose her when she's not at home. How easy it could be for the both of us when we aren't at home.

"You, my princess, are all i need not to." She smiles that lovesick smile I can never grow tired of. "And now that I'm back. I am marrying you, remember. You'll never get rid of me."

I laugh as I pull her in again, pressing my lips hard against hers. And whatever line she had, breaks as she seems to toss away every thought of her bruise. And even as I try to pull away, she holds me close. And I let her. And the words she whispers onto my skin makes me find pleasure faster than ever before. 'I'm home' , 'I'm okay' , 'i'll can't wait to marry you.' And all words are true.