what lovers do - Hotchniss

in sickness [and in health]

"Fuck's sake", Emily sighed as she once again tried to cover up a cough, not very succesfully though. It were only ten days to the wedding, the last thing she now needed was to get sick. Her body seemed to have a different opinion on that, however.

"That does not sound good at all", JJ said after she had turned around in her chair and saw her best friend coughing once again. It hadn't been too hard to identify her as the coughing person, given the fact that it was only the two women left in the bullpen, apart from Hotch being in his office.

"It's nothing", Emily tried to wave her off.

"You've been coughing non-stop since we came back", the blonde pointed out. "Maybe you should head home and get some rest before it gets worse, Emily."

"I'm fine, JJ", Emily sighed. "I don't really have time for a cold now."

At that, JJ furrowed her eyebrows. "Who even has time for a cold?"

Emily rolled her eyes and glared at her friend. "Not the point."

"Seriously, go home, Emily", JJ tried again. "It's only paper work left. Either I'll do it or you can do it tomorrow, after you have recovered a bit. Don't make me get Hotch, so that he can send you home."

The last thing Emily wanted was Hotch to know that she was getting sick, especially with the wedding coming up. It had been two days since she had picked Jack up from school since Hotch had been in Washington. Jessica had picked Jack up that night, once again thanking Emily for being there. "He's lucky to have you", she had said, and Emily tried not to think too much about these words. The lines between real and fake had become very blurry, and with every thought Emily spent on whatever feelings she was undoubtely developing for her friend and boss, the lines seemed to get even blurrier.

Emily knew that she had to get it together, that this was only an act that would come to an end as soon as the whole wedding situation was over. But no matter how hard she tried to not think about it, she did not want it to end. If it was up to her, the wedding would only be in a few months, or even later, so that she would have some more time to live a life that was absolutely not hers, but gave her the feeling of being normal for once.

"Fine", the brunette grumbled and turned off her computer. "You win."

"You'll thank me for that", JJ smiled. "Have a good night, and get well soon, will ya?"

"I will", Emily smiled and gathered her bag and jacket. "See you tomorrow, JJ."

Emily soon learned that it had been the right decision to head home. As soon as she entered her apartment, exhaustion hit her and she felt like she had just run a marathon. She quickly took a shower in order to fight the sudden heatwave that hit her body, but it did not help a lot.

When she lounged through her kitchen a while later, looking for something to eat, she suddenly felt how her stomach turned, and in the matter of a few seconds, she was hunching over the toilet in her bathroom, throwing up whatever she had had for lunch.

"Fuck", Emily cursed again as she flushed the toilet and rinsed her mouth with fresh water from the sink.

After she had made her way back to the living room and flopped down on the couch, the heat she had felt just a few minutes ago was replaced by coldness, and soon enough, cold sweat broke out on her forehead.

"I'm alright, buddy", she whispered to Sergio, who had joined her and curled up to her feet as Emily did the same beneath the blanket she always kept draped over the back of her couch. She managed to drift off into some light sleep, however, the growing pounding in her head combined with the cold sweat covering her body made it almost impossible for her to fall asleep completely.

When asked, Emily probably could not have told whether it had been seconds or hours since she had flopped down on the couch and tried to sleep, but a sudden knock on the door to her apartment had her perching up.

"Absolutely not", she thought to herself and closed her eyes again, trying to ignore whoever was standing in front of her door. That person seemed to have different plans though, because soon, aonther knock was to be heard, followed by another.

Emily groaned as she pushed herself off the couch, a bit shaky on her feet, and made her way over to the door.

"Hotch?", she croaked after she had opened the door and discovered none other than the man she was stressing out about most of the time standing in front of her.

"Hey", he said, his eyebrows furrowed as he took in the image in front of him. Emily's hair was a bit wet and greasy from sweat and the exhaustion written on her face was underlined by the stain on her shirt, of what he could only identify as something she had probably thrown up.

Emily followed his eyes and only then recognized the stain, too. Embarrassed, she quickly crossed her hands in front of her body, hiding it.

"What are you doing here?", she then asked, followed by yet another cough.

"JJ said you left because you were not feeling well", Hotch replied. "I came to check in on you."

If Emily had not been embarrassed to her bones, she'd have recognized the way her heart was pounding in her chest at his words.

"Oh, she was being dramatic", she quickly tried to shake it off. "I'm alright."

"You don't look alright", he replied sternly. "No offense."

"None taken", Emily sighed and rolled her eyes. "I will be alright, then. Thank you for checking in, though."

"I brought soup", Hotch then said and lifted his right hand, holding a plastic bag. Emily only then realised that he was not planning to leave, and eventually, she recognized her heart pounding in her chest by then.

"I threw up", she blurted out, interally face-palming herself for saying that. Maybe it would scare him off. The last thing she wanted was him to see her like this.

"I can tell", Hotch pointed out.

"Right", Emily sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was so embarrassing.

"You know that I have a son, right?", Hotch asked with a hint of amusement in his voice. "I can handle people throwing up."

"You seriously won't leave me alone, huh?", Emily smiled weakly.

"Definitely not", Hotch shrugged. "I would be a bad fake-boyfriend if I did."

At that, a small laugh escaped Emily's lips, despite the word "fake-boyfriend" hitting her in the chest like a truck.

"Don't get mad at me if you get sick, too", the brunette warned as she stepped aside to let Hotch in.

"I won't", he smiled and walked past her.

Emily watched in disbelief as he set the plastic bag down on the kitchen counter, before taking his jacket off and walking over to the couch in order to greet and pet Sergio. "Holy shit", she thought to herself. "This is really happening."

And where the lines had been blurry before, they might as well have disappered completely by then.