"Little do you know" - Hotchniss

a day off

"Get up, sleepyhead!", were the first words that entered Aaron Hotchner's ears that morning. "You promised to go on a run with me!"

He opened his eyes slowly, just to see his best friend running around in his bedroom. Before he could say anything, a pair of jogging pants and a shirt were thrown into his direction.

"Come on!", Emily grinned, standing in front of his bed. She was already wearing the right clothes and her hair was put into a ponytail. Aaron sighed. Sometimes he was regretting that she owned the keys to his place, yet he had to admit that this situation had already happened the other way around many times, since he also owned the keys to her apartment.

Slowly, he got out of bed and headed into the bathroom. He liked to jog with Emily, but this morning, he was just way too tired. The previous case had kept him awake for a long time last night and he was just happy to have this day off. This was quite unusual, since he usually did not like to stay at home.

"I know you hate not going to work", she yelled from the other side of the door. "Especially when Jack's with Haley. But running will give you a clear head, trust me."

Aaron knew that she was right. Emily knew him better than anyone else, probably even better that he knew himself.

As she was waiting for him to return, she sat down on his bed. Smiling to herself about his grumpiness, she took his phone off its charger and looked for his headphones, which she found on his bedside table. Handing it to him as he returned, they walked downstairs to put on their shoes.

"The case kept you awake, didn't it?", she asked while tying her shoes.

He nodded: "I just keep asking myself why we didn't get his profile right from the beginning. It was so obvious, still we misunderstood him. Maybe we could have saved some victims."

"Hey, we saved a lot of people by arresting him, don't forget that", she smiled and tousled his hair before both of them left his house.

-

About an hour later, they returned, both sweaty and tired. Emily had been right, Hotch had managed to clear his mind and was feeling a lot better. She hopped into the shower first, he directly followed as soon as she had left the bathroom in a leggings and a shirt of him. She liked wearing his shirts, they were comfy and made her relax.

Her hair was still wet as she opened the fridge and looked for something to eat, listening to the sound of the pouring water, waiting for him to finish the shower.

A knock on the door made her get up from one of the chairs and head to open it. Her eyes widened in surprise as they met Haley's.

"Oh, hello Emily", the woman greeted her casually.

"Hey", the brunette answered, unsure about what to say.

"Jack forgot his teddybear yesterday, I promised him to get it. I tried to call Aaron, but he wouldn't answer the phone.", Haley explained.

"Oh, sure, come in", Emily smiled politely and let her in. "I'll go get it."

Emily had never been uncomfortable around Haley, but when Aaron and her divorced about a year ago, he was pretty hurt and ever since, it was hard for Emily to find any sympathy for Haley.

She returned with Jack's teddybear, handing it to Haley. Just in that moment, Aaron walked in, only a towel around the lower part of his body. Emily could literally feel how surprised he was as he discovered his ex-wife. Haley's eyes widened, and she gave both of them confused looks.

"Are you two sleeping together?", Haley then asked. She had always asked herself if something was going between them and now the question had just blurted out of her mouth without thinking.

Usually, Emily would have left in that moment, but she just couldn't leave him alone with her now. She had to support him and he knew that she would stand up for him if she had to. Aaron didn't answer, so she said: "No, we're not. We're just friends."

Haley replied with a nod and raised the hand which was holding Jack's teddybear: "Thanks."

As soon as she had left, Emily turned around to Aaron. "Are you okay?"

"Yea", he sighed and looked away.

"No, you're not", she whispered. "You can tell me everything, you know that."

"I'm just gonna put on some clothes, okay?"

Emily nodded and let him go, knowing that he needed some minutes on his own. She sighed and sat down on the couch in the livingroom. This was not the way she had expected this day to start. Aaron returned some minutes later. As he sat down on the couch as well, he lifted her feet up and set them over his legs. This was something he always did, since he knew how much she liked it.

"Rough way to start this day, huh?", she smiled.

"Well", he took a deep breath. "I don't know what's always going on with me when I meet Haley unexpectedly. We are not married anymore, my feelings for her are gone and the only thing that still connects us is Jack, but - I don't know. I just don't know how to behave in front of her."

"You got better", she approached to him. "It had already been worse. She's your ex-wife and she didn't leave you in peace, remember? It's okay to not know how to behave. It's human."

"I don't like to be human", he sighed.

"I know, Mr. Robot", she chuckled. He turned his head to look at her and joined her laughter. She made him feel better in so many ways, he always wondered how she did that.

"You didn't tell me about your date from last night", he changed the topic.

"Oh God", she rolled her eyes.
They always talked about their dates or relationships to others, even though neither of them liked the idea of the other one to date someone else, but they would never admit it.
"Awful. Seriously, why do guys always go for my boobs?"

He knew that he didn't have to answer, so he just chuckled and looked down at her lower legs on his lap.
Even though he would have never told her, he was glad that her date hadn't gone well. He hated that she had been disappointed again, but he also liked that she wasn't seeing someone else. There had been times where she had dated other guys, but mostly, it hadn't last long. He himself had been on a few dates since the divorce, but it was hard for him to open up to woman he did not know. Also, he doubted that he was able to be in a relationship. His job was too important to him.

She knew what he was thinking about. They often had long mid-night conversations, just sitting on a bed with two cups of coffee, talking. She knew how he thought about relationships and his work.
But little did she know how he felt about her.