a second chance - Hotchniss

Better [Emily]

Two months had passed. Probably the hardest of our life, especially for Alaska. But Dr. Adams was positive and said she was getting better and better. I experienced it myself, she was so strong and really gave her best.

After she had finally opened up about her trigger, Alaska had been able to pick up contact to Brooke again and I personally felt like this had given her the last push she had needed to really decide to stand up against her illness. They had been able to catch up and now talked regularly again, which helped her a lot.

That morning, I woke up due to the alarm clock right beside me. I groaned and slapped it shut. It was the first day Aaron and I got both back to work again. The past few weeks, one of us had always stayed with our daughter, but Alaska now was on a five-days-trip with two girls she had met in the hospital. They were also recovering from Anorexia, which made them become friends very quickly. The trip was a cure for them, proposed by Dr. Adams himself. At first, Aaron and I weren't sure about since I thought that three anorexic girls could make each other relapse more than helping each other, but Dr. Adams had assured us that there would always be someone to keep an eye on them and that the three were very unlikely to relapse, especially Alaska after her long fight.

I looked over to my husband, who had totally ignored the sound of the alarm clock and was still sleeping. I moved closer to him, poking him gently. "Get up, sleepyhead", I chuckled, but he just hummed and kept his eyes closed.

"Aaron", I said in a more serious tone and continued to poke him. "We are going to be late for work!"

"Just a couple minutes", he mumbled.

"Yea right", I rolled my eyes and climbed on top of him, laying down and resting my head on his chest. "I don't want to be late on our first day back together!"

"We're not going to be late", he replied.

"Hell, yes we are!", I exclaimed.

As he didn't reply, I started to trail kisses up his neck, which finally caught his attention. I felt him moving and looked up to see him opening his eyes.

"Look who's awake", I grinned before he pulled me into a soft kiss. It soon turned into a way more heated and passionate kiss, but I stopped him as he started to move his hand under the shirt I was wearing.

"If you want more of this, you have to follow me into the shower", I shrugged and jumped off the bed, going to our bathroom.

I smiled as I heard him groan but moving out of bed. Even after all these years, this trick would always work.

-

About an hour later, we both stood in the kitchen, drinking our coffee.

"We're already too late", I sighed and furrowed my eyebrows.

"You really thought that taking me to shower with you would save time, didn't you?", he grinned.

"At least I tried", I hissed.

"Oh, so you didn't like to shower with me?", he chuckled.

"No.", I just stated, which was the biggest lie ever and he knew that.

"Oh, yea, I guess you moaned all the time because of the hot water", he replied and I hit his chest playfully: "Shut up!"

"Make me."

"God, I hate you", I chuckled but immediately pulled him closer and kissed him deeply. He wrapped his hands around my waist while mine got lost in his neck and hair. We only broke apart as we both ran out of air.

"Of course you do", he laughed and took the last sip of his coffee. I emptied my cup as well and grabbed my bag, turning to him: "Ready?"

"Sure", he smiled, grabbed his bag as well and took my free hand, interlacing our fingers as we left our house.

While he drove us to work, I received a text from Alaska, saying she was doing great and really enjoyed the time with her friends. I smiled as I replied and put my phone down. We soon pulled up at Aaron's usual parking spot and walked into the floor of the BAU, hand in hand. I only then realized how much I had missed going to work with him.

"Heeey, look who's here!", JJ greeted us as we walked in. "Oh, I missed seeing you two together around here!"

I hugged her and Aaron gave me a short kiss before leaving to his office.

"How does it feel?", my best friend asked. "Having your old life back?"

"Well, I don't have my old life back yet", I smiled. "I'm not sure if we'll ever get it back. Even if Alaska is going to recover completely, things are going to be different."

"I know, I know", JJ replied. "I was actually talking about coming to work with your husband again."

"Oh", I grinned. "I missed it. Really, I did."

"Good", she grinned as well. "You were really late today, by the way."

"Don't even ask", I said and sat down at my desk and paused. Before I had left two days ago, it had been covered with files I still had to go through. "Where are all the files?", I asked, turning around to JJ.

"Spence and I did them for you", she smiled. "We thought it would be way nicer to come back to an empty desk than to one which is packed with files."

"Thank you", I smiled. "I owe you one, you really didn't have to do this. Where is Reid, by the way?"

"Here!", I heard him, walking out of the conference room. "Please don't tell me that I missed the legendary return of the Hotchners!"

"I'm afraid you did", I chuckled and hugged him.

"Dammit!", he sighed and sat down next to JJ, just as Garcia walked in. "Guys, I would really prefer to celebrate the Hotchner-Reunion, but I really need you all to work through these", she said and lifted a huge pack of files on JJ's desk. "Have fun, my loves!", and with these words she quickly left again before anyone could complain.

"Really?", JJ rolled her eyes and grabbed the first file. I grabbed the next and sat down at my desk, working through it.

After nearly two hours had passed, we were nearly done with all files and I decided to go check up on Aaron since I had been too busy to see him ever since we had gotten to work. I knocked on his door and carefully opened it.

"Hey you", I smiled and closed the door behind me again.

"Hey", he said looking up. "I missed your visits the past few weeks."

"Now you don't have to anymore", I said and pulled him closer as he got up. I wrapped my arms around his neck, softly drawing circles on it. "How are you doing?"

"It's a lot work to catch up, but it's okay", he smiled and placed his hands at my waist. "And I miss Alaska a lot."

"Me too", I sighed. "I just hope she won't-"

"She won't.", he interrupted me. "Believe in her. She is strong."

"I know", I replied. "I'm just worried."

"Me too", he admitted and kissed me softly. "Me too."