Secrets of the Past and the Future

One

The woman had been on the team for no longer than a month. She liked it but the awkwardness was eating at her. That first day in Agent Hotchner's office really set the tone for what the future was going to be like... hostile. It was more than a man getting used to his new colleague, it was two ex-lovers meeting again for the first time in ten years .
    When Chief Strauss brought a new agent in that day, Emily Prentiss was the last person that the man expected to see, the same went for Emily, she had no idea what she was walking into.
"Agent Hotchner, this is Agent Emily Prentiss." The two locked eyes, unsure if the situation before them was reality or a nightmare.
"Um-Nice to see you again, Sir."
"You too, agent," He hesitated.
"You two know each other?" Strauss asked, visibly confused, it seemed that her plan might now play out in her favor.
"Yes, we do-"
"I worked a security detail for Ambassador Prentiss about ten years ago." Agent Hotchner explained.
"My Mother."
"Oh, well then I'll let you two get reacquainted." Strauss left with a nod as the two unfamiliar people stood in silence.
    Facing the man that she once thought she would spend the rest of her life with was hard for Emily, but joining the team was even harder. Hotchner didn't like how she came onto the team or her assumed intentions, so he said 'no' but the woman had other plans, she was persistent, not for her own agenda, but what the team did and what they stood for. Once the man realized that he finally accepted her as a partial presence but again she was met with nothing but hostility.
    The woman had finally grown annoyed with her boss's attitude, she had done nothing for him to treat her that way and she wasn't about to put up with it any longer, a month was enough. So after a long case she took it upon herself to march up to Hotchner's office and confront him.
"May I come in, sir?" The man replied with a simple nod before the woman entered and shut the door behind her, an action that didn't go unnoticed.
"What can I do for you?"
"I was- I was wondering if my performance on this team thus far was unsatisfying?"
"What do you mean? You've been doing fine." He stated, his words were basically stripped bare of emotion. They were cold.
"Well ever since I have arrived here you have been nothing short of hostile towards me and I was simply wondering if I had done anything to provoke that." This situation was completely awkward for both of them, as neither of the two knew how to navigate a professional relationship after their time together all those years ago. This gave some explanation for the man's actions and behavior, as he never wanted to let go of Emily in the first place.
"Prentiss, I don't have anything against your work, now it's been quite a long day I suggest you head home." For the first time Hotchner glanced up from his files, catching Emily's eye, for a second the interaction felt so normal, yet it wasn't supposed to be, so he pulled his gaze away and back to the work in front of him.
"Yeah, okay." Emily scoffed, she was annoyed and she had every right to be, but she compressed it and headed to the door.
"Have I done something to offend you?"
"No sir, nothing at all, I just didn't realize that you have become a liar."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't believe that I have done nothing and you just treat me this way for fun." Emily crossed her arms, her right eyebrow slightly arched higher than the other. 'She hasn't changed' The man thought, for a second he saw the same eighteen year old from nearly ten years ago standing in front of him. The same one that he fought with, laughed with, protected and loved. But alas, he was married now to a woman he loved with a child he loved. Yet, nothing could ever compare to the ways Aaron had loved Emily, their love was fiery and true, it was the realest thing that either one had ever known, but here they were, ten years later, angry and distant, totally and completely unfamiliar with the person before them.
"Emily-" It was the first time that he had used her first name in a month. He stood with his words, staring at the woman several feet ahead of him.
"Hmm?"
"I-I realize that I have been somewhat distant towards you, an-and I apologize, but I am unsure of how to act when you are around." He finally admitted.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ten years ago-"
"Ten years ago? This is about what happened ten years ago?" The woman was even further annoyed.
"Emily, I fell in love with you and after we broke up, I never thought I would see you again, so when you just showed up here one day it's easy to say that I was thrown."
"Hotch, I- You broke up with me?"
"I-I, I know that I did, but that doesn't mean that I stopped loving you, for ten years I pushed those feelings away, and made myself believe that what happened between us wasn't as real as I thought it was. You and I both know that's a lie, loving you was the realest thing I have ever known, and when you showed up here, I knew that I couldn't show how I felt so instead I acted cold-"
"Wait, y-you still love me?" Emily was now the one who was thrown, what the man was telling her was confusing her tremendously.
"After I stopped working for your mother, I worked in London for a few years before coming back here, that's when I bumped into Haley. We hadn't talked since freshman year of college but we got back together and were married a year or two later. And now we have a son, Jack."
"Aaron-"
"Emily, it isn't right to feel one way for my wife and feel another way for a woman at work."
"I underst-"
"But you aren't just a woman at work Emily, you are much more than that and I really don't know how to-"
"Aaron, I understand," Emily lied, she didn't understand any of what was unfolding in front of her.
"Tell me how you understand, because I don't, I don't understand how one day I can be in this happy family with my wife and son, and then the next day you show up and my whole world is flipped, god Emily, I don't understand. I thought I loved Haley, I- I do love Haley but I never really stopped loving you." The man felt defeated as he spoke, he knew he shouldn't have said anything to begin with, none of this was right, none of it was fair. Listening to what he was saying gave Emily a migraine, their break up was one of the hardest things that she ever had to endure and now here Aaron was, standing in front of her, confessing that he still loved her and there was nothing to be done about it. The woman had to admit, she didn't know how she felt for him anymore, they were similar in the fact that they had been avoiding their feelings for each other for ten years and had no idea how to go about an unromantic relationship with each other. But as of now, Emily didn't want anything from the man except for kinder words, she would never be the wedge that came between two people if she could help it, she'd rather suppress her feelings for the rest of her life than be the reason two people split up.
"Aaron, I uh- I hope you know, I didn't come here to rekindle our relationship, I came here to do a job, I didn't even know that you worked here. The last I heard before coming to the BAU was that you were a prosecutor." Every word was the truth and that hurt Aaron even more.
"Where do we go from here?"
"Well, I would say that we try to build a friendship, or at the very least you could start being nicer to me." The woman smirked.
"That sounds relatively doable."
"Alright then." Emily reached for the door handle once again.
"Emily."
"Mhmm?"
"Thank you." And that was the final time he would see the woman that night.