"Little do you know" - Hotchniss

accept yourself

Time passed way too quickly for Emily and Aaron. Another year had passed, Kaia had turned two some days ago and it amazed everyone how much she had grown. She was now able to walk on her own, which was not always an advantage for the rest of the family since she sometimes managed to get out of everyone's sight and to cause some trouble.

On Kaia's 'birthday party', Josh had seen Emily and Aaron together for the first time. He had known that they were together now, but he had never seen them together before and it was Emily who was fearing an awkward situation. But it had not been awkward at all; Josh had actually been pretty friendly. He wished them good luck and in private moment, he told Emily that he had always known that she belonged to Aaron, which meant a lot to her.

Haley's reaction had been totally different as expected as well. He had told her once when he had picked up Jack from her place. Aaron had expected her to roll her eyes and say something like 'I knew you would sleep with her one day', but she had just given him a soft smile and said: "Don't screw up this time, okay? She loves you and you love her, nobody else will ever understand you and your work as well as she does. Don't hurt her, Aaron. She wouldn't make it without you." And he had promised her to take care of her. Haley had always gotten along quite well with Emily, but since the divorce they had lost touch. Still, she considered her as a good friend.

-

It was around midnight when they arrived home, returning from a case. Jack was with Haley and Kaia was with Josh, which gave them the whole house for their own. This was quite unusual, since they usually picked up the kids right after they returned from a case, but it was too late then and they would pick them up the next day.

"God, I'm exhausted", Emily yawned and dropped her travel bag on the ground in the entrance hallway.

"Me too", her boyfriend sighed and dropped his bag next to hers. They would bring them upstairs later. "Coffee?", he asked and she nodded.

They probably should have gone to bed and get their well-deserved sleep, but if they had the chance - like tonight - they would sometimes go back to their 'best-friend-rituals', like staying awake all night with coffee and a lot of talking. Of course it was unhealthy as hell, but they did not care. Nights like these were the part of their relationship that made it so special.

Aaron handed her a cup of coffee as they sat down at the kitchen island.

"I'm not even used to this silence anymore", he chuckled and took a sip of his coffee.

"Me neither", she smiled. "But I guess the combination of moments like this right now and our loud family life means happiness to me."

He smiled at her words. They had gotten so happy the last year, and sometimes it still took his breath away that he was with his beautiful best friend. Of course their first year in a relationship had not been only filled with happiness and love, no, they also had had some huge arguments, sometimes because of his overprotective side, sometimes because her jealousy, but they always had made their way back to each other. Because in the end, it was always her and him, no matter what.

"What?", she grinned as he didn't reply but kept staring her.

"I just can't stop admiring you", he smiled and looked down to hide his blushing.

Her hand found her cheek and she softly raised his head again. Her smile was wide and warm, and it made his heart flutter drastically. "I love you", she whispered and they both let out a small chuckle and their cheesiness.

"I love you too", he then smiled and kissed her softly. It was a short, soft kiss, but it meant so much to both of them, like every single kiss they shared.

Emily sometimes felt like Hotch told himself that he didn't deserve her, and that he wasn't a good father as well. It became her mission to show him love, to make him accept himself and to realize that he was a good Dad and that Jack loved him more than anything. She still remembered how he had calmed her down and told her that she was going to be the best mother on this planet when she had panicked during her pregnancy. No matter in which situation, they needed each other. They really did.

"Let's move to the couch and look what we're going to watch", she whispered and took his hand lightly as the both walked over to the living room with their cups of coffee.

"As long as it's not 'the Mentalist' again", he chuckled.

"You should be really glad that I love you", she grinned. "Otherwise we would have a serious problem now."

"Well, I guess I should call myself lucky then", he laughed and sat down on the couch. "Bones?"

"I'm okay with that", she smiled and switched on the TV before laying down next to him, cuddling into his side. Their legs soon intervened with each other and she had her head resting on his chest while his hand was resting on her back.

Both of them were tired, but they tried to compensate their tiredness with coffee, which only partly worked. Eventually, they fell asleep on the couch around 3 in the morning. It was Emily who woke up around 5:30 again. All of the sudden, she was not feeling well at all, she sat up, confused about her sudden change of condition.

"Em, are you okay?", she heard Aaron's sleepy voice behind her, but before she could reply, she felt how all contains of her stomach made their way up her throat. It was all too quick, and when she realized what was going to happen, it was already too late and she threw up right in front of her on the living room floor.