a second chance - Hotchniss

Future [Emily]

I sat in my bed, waiting for Aaron to return. The painkillers made even more tired than I had already been, but I wasn't able to sleep, especially not when Aaron wasn't around.

"Don't you ever do this to me again, ever!" I smiled a bit as I repeated his words in my head. I had said the exact same sentence to him many, many years ago. We had just been in a relationship for about three months and nobody apart from JJ had known about it. It had been our little secret.

-

"Hotch!"

The next thing I could hear was a gun being fired and Aaron falling backwards. I didn't even look at the Unsub anymore, that was now taken down by Morgan and JJ. I just ran over to my boyfriend, who was laying on his back, not moving at all. Dropping on my knees, I let my gun fall next to me and checked his vest.

"Emily, is he alright?", JJ shouted.

"The vest caught the bullet", I yelled back, yet I was still worried about him.

"Aaron", I whispered. "Aaron!" He still didn't open his eyes and I started to panic. "Aaron!", I said louder, which made the other's turning their head in our direction. Carefully, I pulled his head and shoulders on my lap, so he wouldn't lie on the cold ground. "Dammit Aaron, wake up!", I yelled, tears forming in my eyes.

He was breathing, he wasn't hit by the bullet, but I still couldn't calm down. What if something was wrong anyways?

"You cannot do this to me", I whispered. "Not now. Not ever. Understood? Now wake up!" I shook his shoulders, until he suddenly coughed and slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh God", I sighed, wrapping my arms around his neck. "You idiot!"

"Em-", he croaked, but I stopped him.

"Shh, it's okay", I whispered, pulling him closer. "Just promise me something. Don't you ever do this to me again, ever! Okay?"

He just nodded and let out a sigh. As I let go of him, he tried to get up. "Don't", I said. "An ambulance is on its way."

"I don't need an ambulance", he mumbled.

"Aaron, you were shot some minutes ago. You have to be checked, no matter that the vest caught the bullet!", I said in a serious tone, that made him lean back again.

"Emily", he whispered. "I guess the other's are watching us."

I looked around, just to see that all eyes were on us. Reid looked like he wasn't sure of what he had just seen, JJ just smiled, Morgan raised his eyebrows and Rossi tried to hide a grin. Turning back to Aaron, I said: "I don't care. My boyfriend just scared the hell out of by catching a bullet. I'm not going anywhere."

-

"Hey!", I looked up as JJ and Aaron entered my room.

"God, what's going on here at the moment?", my best friend sighed as she hugged me carefully.

"I wish I knew", I answered and looked at Aaron after JJ had sat down on one of the chairs, putting my bag on the table. He gave me small smile and sat down at the right side of my bed, taking my hand and drawing circles with his thumb on its back. It was insane how such a little gesture could calm me down so quickly.

"How are you feeling?", he asked softly.

"Better, I guess", I yawned. "The pain is gone. And I haven't thrown up for a while. Have you already been at Alaska's room?"

"No, he sighed. "Dr. Adams directly sent me out again. They are very strict considering the visitor times. Oh, and Jonas is here as well."

"Jonas?! Shouldn't he be sleeping? He has school tomorrow!", I looked at Aaron and JJ in confusion.

"He told me that he wasn't able to sleep. He's too worried.", JJ said.

"Same here", I mumbled and looked up, as Dr. Adams entered the room.

"I should go now", JJ sighed and stood up. "Someone of us has to go to work tomorrow. You have get better soon, all of you! Text me if anything happens, okay?"

Aaron and I both nodded and waved her goodbye, before turning our attention back to Dr. Adams.

"I hope you're already feeling better, Mrs. Hotchner", he said. "I actually came here because of Alaska. We just received the results from the tests we did yesterday and I thought now that both of you are already here, I could directly tell you." He looked at us like he was waiting for our agreement, so Aaron said: "Yes, of course!"

"Okay, so in general the results are showing that her body is recovering again. It's a very slow process, but at least there is a process. I expect her to wake up in some days, but that's not a fixed date, it could be that she wakes up earlier or maybe even later.", he explained.

Aaron looked down to me and squeezed my hand softly, giving me a small smile.

"That's good, isn't it?", I whispered, still unsure since Dr. Adams looked like something was still bothering him.

"Actually it is. But there is something else", he sighed. "We discovered a periostitis in her lower leg. That's an inflammation of her bone. A periostitis is caused by surcharge, I guess in Alaska's case it was the sport she did in order to lose weight. Usually such an inflammation heals on its own if one takes a break from sport, but it seems like your daughter ignored the pain and continued to do her 'work-out's' or whatever. Additionally, her body is in such a bad condition, so it wouldn't able to heal on its own, even if she had stopped doing sports. It could be that she will have remaining damage on her leg in the future. We are already trying everything we can do help, but I cannot guarantee a complete healing."

Tears formed in my eyes again. Ana had not only destroyed her body, her immune system and her psyche, no. It had also destroyed her future if her leg wouldn't be able to heal. Even though the news that she would probably wake up soon made me happier than anything, I knew that the worst part was yet to come: to get rid of that demon in her head. If we didn't get it out of her head, nothing would get better. And there was nothing more difficult than making a young girl admit that she had a disorder.

"Never let your fear decide your future." - Unknown