"Little do you know" - Hotchniss

overthinking

Emily was waiting at their house for about one hour already. Hotch had to stay at the office a bit longer since he still had a lot of paper work to do and she had not been feeling well, so he had told her to go home already and that he would be there as soon as possible.

Jack was already asleep and Kaia was as well, so the house was filled with silence. She was sitting on the couch in the living room, staring at the phone in front of her. She was waiting for a call, a text, something which could explain why he wasn't home yet. But there was nothing.

Letting out a small sigh, she got up and walked to the fridge, taking out several kinds of food and eating every single piece of it in a short period of time. Another look on the clock at the wall told her that she was already waiting for more than two hours. Should she call him? Text him?

She pulled out her mobile phone and typed 'Where are you? Is everything okay? xEm'. It didn't take him long to see the text; and soon she received an answer 'Sorry, totally forgot about time. I'll be there in 10.'

He actually came home ten minutes after sending the text, but by then she had already fallen asleep on the couch.

Great silence greeted him as he unlocked the door, but he immediately recognized the light in the kitchen and the living room. His eyes searched for his girlfriend and found her on the couch. He dropped his jacket on the kitchen island and walked over to her. She was already sleeping deeply, so he just lifted her up, carefully so she wouldn't wake up and carried her to their bedroom. She didn't wake as he carefully laid her down and covered her with the blanket, before sitting down on the edge of the bed.

He hated coming home that late. It was a rare occasion, usually they would come home together, but once or twice a month, he always had to stay in longer. He knew that she hated these days as well, but she would never blame him because she understood. And it made him feel bad and question himself. Emily deserved someone who was there for her all the time, not someone as occupied by his work as he himself.

"Stop overthinking", she whispered and he only then realized that she had opened her eyes. Her voice was sleepy, but even half asleep she knew what was on his mind.

"I'm sorry", he whispered. "For being so late."

"You had your reasons", she sighed slightly and sat up behind him, so she could rest her chin on his right shoulder and rub the left gently with her hand.

"Work shouldn't keep me away from my family", he mumbled and looked down. "And I know that you hate nights like these, and you have every right to."

"I don't like waiting for you, that's true. But I know how much our work means to both of us and especially you as Unit Chief have the duty to work as hard as possible. I understand. Don't worry", she whispered and pressed a soft kiss on his shoulder.

"It won't happen again, I promise", he sighed and closed his eyes for a brief second.

"Don't give me a promise you cannot keep", she said softly. "You don't have to promise me anything, really."

He didn't reply and placed his hand on her hand, which was resting on his shoulder. There was a short period of silence, until he said: "I really don't deserve you."

She immediately hit his shoulder playfully: "Don't you dare to say that again."

"Em, I already ruined a relationship because of my work.", he whispered.

They had had this conversation quite often. She knew that he had problems to convince himself that he was a good partner or father, but she was always there to make him change his mind and calm down. She didn't mind, she just hated to see him like this. Moments like this were just so pure and honest, that every time they occurred, she once more knew that he was the one for her. Other couples would probably break in those situations, but they were different. They got stronger.

"Aaron", she whispered. "Haley fell in love with you in high school. She loved a young man who auditioned at a theatre play to impress her. I fell in love with my best friend and Unit Chief, and I am probably the person who understands him and his work the best. Stop doubting yourself, Babe. Nobody else does." She squeezed his shoulder softly and smiled as he turned his head to kiss her.

"I love you", he muttered against her lips.

"I love you too", she smiled as she kissed him back.

When they broke apart, both of them were breathless, as always.

"Let's go brush our teeth and go to bed, okay?", she whispered and got up as he nodded.

She eventually didn't tell him about her pregnancy that night. It just didn't feel like the right time to her.

When they laid in their bed some minutes later, he had his arms wrapped around her tightly while she had her head resting on his chest. It was a usual thing to do for them, she could only truly relax when she was as close to him as possible.

"I know you're thinking too much again", she sighed silently and looked up to him. Even though it was dark in their room, she knew that his eyes were open and staring in the dark.

"I can't help it", he whispered.

"I know", she replied. She worked her way up to him and kissed his cheek. "Get your sleep, Aaron. You deserve and need it." When he remained silent, she added: "Otherwise I will have to give you a huge hickey on your throat so you have to worry about covering it up instead of thinking about what anyone of us deserves or not."

Hotch let out a small chuckle leaned down to kiss her. "Who knew that you would become this creative?"

"Oh, with you, I totally have no choice", she grinned before her lips met his.

And eventually, she had to give him that hickey shortly afterwards. But it wasn't the hickey he was worrying about the next morning.