"Little do you know" - Hotchniss

night out

Emily hadn't planned to end the night like this. She had only agreed to go in a club with JJ because Hotch had gone on a date. She hated the fact that he had met someone, and she felt the need to show that she was able to go out as well.

This morning, Emily opened her eyes to find herself in a bed she did not know and a guy she did not know neither.
"God", she whispered and rubbed her eyes. She had a terrible headache. Her partner of the previous night was still asleep, so she silently climbed out of the bed and looked for her clothes. Some minutes later, she left the apartment, glad that he hadn't woken up.

She checked on her phone, discovering that she had 26 missed calls from Hotch. Dialing his number, she pressed the phone to her ear.

"Are you out of your mind?", were the first words that left his mouth.

"Hello to you, too", she yawned.

"Where have you been?!", he asked, totally worried. He hated it when she went out and didn't text him. It made him go crazy.

"Out with JJ", she said flatly as she walked down the stairs.

"Until now?!"

"Nope. Lost her around midnight."

"Oh", was all he could say, since he only then realized what that meant. Emily had spent the night with someone else.

"Yup", she said as she left the building. "How was your date with - what was her name again?"

"Beth."

"Beth.", she repeated dryly. Emily hated her already without even meeting her.

"It was nice", he explained, but then figured that he should sound a bit more convincing since he wanted her to see that he had had a great night as well. "She's really nice and a good listener. Plus, I guess Jack would like her as well."

"You have only met her once, calm down", she sighed, finding herself on a street she had never seen in her life before.

"I know he would", he replied.

"Ah", was all he received as an answer, so he decided to change the topic.
"Where are you now?"

"I wish I knew", she sighed, looking around. "I cannot even remember how I got here."

"Send me your position, I'm gonna pick you up", he immediately said. Even though he was still hurt by the fact that she had slept with someone, he cared about her. A lot more than he wanted. But she probably didn't even know how he felt, he was only her best friend. And best friends were not supposed to feel this way.

-

"You're the best", she smiled as she climbed into his car about 20 minutes later.

"Anything for you", he said, handing her a coffee-to-go and one of his Sweaters. "Geez, yoz look like crap!"
He didn't mean it, of course. Her make-up was a mess, still she looked good. He even had to bite his lip to stop himself from swallowing thickly as he saw her in that dress.

"I feel like crap, too", she sighed as she pulled the sweater over head, directly feeling comfier and better.

"So", Hotch asked. "What's his name?"

"I have no idea", she replied, closing her eyes. "Can we please not talk about it? I don't even remember how I met him or how everything happened."

He grinned a bit about how hung over she was, and he was sure that she would have killed him if she saw, but she was too weak to keep her eyes open.

"Wanna grab breakfast somewhere?", he asked.

"Yea", she mumbled. "But let's sit close to the toilets in case I have to throw up, please."

His grin grew even wider.

"Stop grinning", she hissed, her eyes still closed.

"I'm not grinning", he tried to defend himself.

"I know you are", she mumbled and embraced her head in her right hand. 

Hotch stopped at a diner where breakfast was still served, even though it was already around 12 am. They eventually chose a table close to the toilets, like she wished to. He sat in front of her, smiling at her. Nobody knew her like he did, probably none of their colleagues would expect Emily Prentiss to pull off a one-night-stand just like this and going to a diner in a small, black dress, wearing a sweater which was way too big for her over it to have breakfast, totally hung-over and with her make-up ruined. 

"I'm gonna go to the toilet", she mumbled and slowly walked to the toilets. Hotch let out a small chuckle and ordered two coffees and a huge plate of pancakes for them. He knew that pancakes were her weakness. 

She came back a while later. The make-up had disappeared from her face, she had probably washed it off, and she had also tried to do her hair a bit but he knew that it hadn't worked out that well since she didn't have a brush with her. 

"How do I look?", she yawned.

"Way better", he replied as the coffee was served. She drank her coffee really quick and it made him kinda worry that it was too fast and that she would throw up sooner or later. But surprisingly, she didn't.

Her eyes widened as the pancakes were put on the table. "Why do you know me so well?", she smiled tiredly. 

"Because you are my best friend", he smiled.

Neither of them knew how much the other suffered, neither of them knew about the others' feelings. The fear of ruining their friendship was too big. Emily was sure that he was interested in Beth, and Hotch on the opposite was convinced that if she had feelings for him, she would not have slept with someone else. They kept eating silently, both lost in their thoughts. 

"Thank you", she then whispered. 

"For what?"

"For everything."

-

It was about three weeks later when Hotch was getting ready for another date with Beth. They had been on a few dates now and Hotch liked her company, yet he couldn't help to sometimes comparing her to Emily. And nobody could compete with Emily Prentiss. Still, he had decided to give Beth a chance.

Suddenly, his phone rang and he smiled as he read Emily on the screen.

"Hey you", he said as he picked up. "I'm just getting ready."

"Aaron", she sobbed at the other end of the line.

"Em?", immediately, he panicked. She only cried in the worst cases, as well as she used his first name only when it was really, really bad. "What happened?"

"I need your help", she sobbed again, and he directly grabbed his keys.

"I'll be there in 2 minutes, don't do anything, I'll be right there!", he said in a serious tone and left his house, running over to his car, canceling the date with Beth on his way.