A Delicate Light

Part 10

4x21 - "A Shade of Gray"
April 22, 2009
He should be sleeping. The minute they got back from Texas, he had agreed to take a couple of days off to spend with Jack which was amazing, but exhausting. His son was excited to spend every waking minute with his father that sleep came at a minimum to both of them. He also didn't get to see Emily much during that time since she still had to go in to file reports and complete paperwork. She came over for dinner with them a few times and slept over one night, but that was pretty much it.
It's not because she wanted to avoid Jack, it was just the sheer exhaustion still weighing on them from the last month and a half basically between Matthew's murder, the Reaper arising and escaping, and then their regular caseload. It's been an emotional rollercoaster for them. He was even surprised when he got a text from her last night asking him to come over. They didn't do much but ravish each other after almost a full week of nothing except light kisses exchanged during dinner with Jack and a brief make out session the night she stayed over.
They'd collapsed last night, breathless and sated, in each others arms. He only slept for three hours he realized when he woke up at 4:30 in the morning, but he wasn't tired. Even if he was, he wouldn't trade this sight for the world: her sleeping. He didn't get to see it a lot since they were both usually woken up by a phone call from JJ about a case or from the lack of sleep they'd get when they were on the road. When they were home though, he's learned that Emily Prentiss sleeps like a rock.
Not too deep to where she wouldn't answer her phone, but not too light that him getting up or moving around would wake her. That's where he finds himself right now. Her back is pressed to his front, her arm resting under her head while her other is tangled in his and rests across her bare hip. Her lips are parted just a centimeter, allowing air to flow in and out creating a soft whistle in her sleep. Her hair coils in their natural curls after drying from their shared shower a few hours ago. She looks peaceful.
His eyes rake past her bangs to her eyelids that are hiding probably his favorite physical feature on her. There was something about her dark chocolate pools that have drawn him in from the very beginning. He always found her eyes telling — if she was sad, angry, cocky, happy, irritated — her eyes would be the first to tell you. He then goes to the slope of her nose, the feature he knows she hates, but he wouldn't change for the world. He loves how it scrunches when he kisses it and the light freckles that are painted across the bridge.
Next are her lips, pouty and plump and when she's in a good mood they create the most gorgeous smile. He presses a kiss to the back of her neck before looking at the ink between her shoulder blades: a minimalist dove tattoo. One of the two she has. The other one is across her hip: the Arabic symbols that form the word "strength". She'd told him the stories behind each — she'd gotten the dove first, as soon as she turned 18. It was to symbolize something she'd been searching for her whole life. The Arabic scribbled onto her hip was added when she got accepted into the academy, something her mother disapproved of.
He loved them both, small extensions of her self-representation. He presses a kiss to the dove in between her shoulder blades and lowers his hand to her hip to brush his thumb over the symbols. He then wraps his arm back around her, "Case?" She hums the question with her eyes still closed. He shakes his head, "No, go back to sleep, beautiful." He whispers and presses a kiss to her cheek. She nods before turning in his arms and cuddling into his chest. He smiles and kisses the top of her head.
"Why're you awake?" She asks as her eyes drift open. He sighs, hating himself a little for waking her. "I guess my eyes missed looking at you." He smiles. She chuckles and shakes her head, "You're soft, Agent Hotchner." She tells him, "Only with you." He admits before leaning down and pressing his lips to her neck, "You better be up for finishing this." She whispers in his ear before nipping at the lobe. When she feels how ready he is pressed against her thigh she kissing his cheek, "Looks like you are."
They'd just fallen back asleep after another round of lovemaking when his phone rings. He looks at the time to see it nearing 7:00 and she groans, "That better not be a case." She mumbles. He sighs when he sees it's JJ calling, "Sorry, sweetheart." She whines before pulling the covers back and grabbing his shirt to slip on, "I'll go start the coffee." Hotch smiles as he watches her leave the room before he answers the phone, "Hotchner." "Hey, Hotch, we've got a call from Cherry Hill, New Jersey. A seven year old boy has just been abducted following two boys who were abducted and murdered." "Call the team. We'll meet on the jet in an hour." He says, "I'm assuming you'll tell Emily?" He can hear the teasing in her voice, "I've got it, JJ." He says with a hint of amusement in his tone.