Hotchniss - Bonds, Deals and Running

Chapter 27

Chapter 27
The longest chapter yet ;)

As Emily settled into her new role at the BAU, the days flew by in a blur of cases and laughter, moreover her relationship with Aaron was growing deeper and more intimate. The team felt like family once again, and for the first time in a long while, she felt completely at home.

Many months had passed but one day, a nagging nausea began to disrupt her daily routine.
Emily sat in her office, feeling a familiar churn in her stomach that she had tried to ignore for weeks.

At first, she had dismissed it as stress, an old companion she knew too well, it was understandable in her demanding new role as Unit Chief. But this time, the nausea clung to her relentlessly, morning after morning, leaving her drained and uneasy.

By midday, it hit her again, sharp and insistent. She excused herself from the bullpen, moving quickly to the bathroom. JJ, who had been watching Emily carefully, noticed her hurried departure and decided to follow her. Concern across her face, JJ waited outside the restroom, her arms crossed as she tried to make sense of her friend's behavior.

When Emily emerged, pale and visibly unsettled, JJ stepped closer. "Emily, are you okay? You've been heading to the bathroom a lot lately." Her voice was gentle but firm, the tone of someone who had been through her fair share of moments like this.

Emily shook her head, brushing her hair out of her face. "It's nothing. Just stress. It happens sometimes."

JJ tilted her head, skeptical. "Stress? Emily, this doesn't look like just stress. You're nauseous all the time, and I know that look." She paused, a knowing smile creeping onto her lips. "Are you sure you're not pregnant?"

The words hit Emily like a freight train. Pregnant? The idea had never even crossed her mind.

She blinked at JJ, her expression wavering between disbelief and a kind of stunned silence.
"No way," she said finally, shaking her head with a nervous laugh. "I mean, no. That's... That's not possible. It's just not possible. No. That ship has sailed a long time ago. I'm sure it's just stress. It's not like it hasn't happened before."

But JJ wasn't so easily swayed. "Emily, I've been there. Trust me, I know the signs. Maybe you should take a test, just to rule it out."

Emily's stomach twisted, but this time it wasn't from the nausea. She'd always wanted to be a mother but the only feelings she knew, from her own experience, related to pregnancy were fear and anxiety.

The suggestion lodged itself in her mind, unwelcome and impossible to ignore. "Fine," she muttered, her voice betraying her unease. "I'll take one. Just to prove you wrong."

She waited until later that afternoon, after most of the team had cleared out of the office, to buy a test. Privacy was crucial, this wasn't something she could face in the comfort of her own home, nor could she imagine doing it at JJ's house. She needed to be alone. The office bathroom, ironically, felt like the safest option.

Emily locked herself in a stall, her heart hammering as she stared at the small stick in her hand. The seconds stretched into eternity as she waited for the result, her breath coming shallow and fast. And then, there it was: two faint lines, clear as day.

Pregnant.

She took another test out of their bag... She had bought four of them, just to be sure. And then another, and another...  And the last one... They all showed the same thing— two parallel lines.

"Oh my God," she whispered, her hands trembling. The reality settled in: she was pregnant with Hotch's child. "Fuck"

Her legs felt weak beneath her as she sat down on a closed toilet behind her, her mind spinning with a hundred thoughts at once. The feeling wasn't like anything she had prepared for. But despite the fear bubbling inside her, there was something else, too, a flicker of warmth, of wonder. She was going to be a mother.