10 things I hate about you - Hotchniss

birthday

"Breathe, Em", Aaron smiled. "Relax?"

"How am I supposed to relax?", she hissed. "If she finds out-"

"She won't."

"How can you be so sure?", Emily sighed. "You are going to lose your job if she does!"

The day had arrived, Elizabeth Prentiss' birthday and also the day of Emily's approval test for the FBI academy. Aaron had put a lot of effort in organizing his girlfriend's absence. Yet, she wasn't sure whether it would work out or not.

"I'm sure because I've organized every inch of this day", he explained, like he had already done a few times before. "You have been 'feeling sick' for a few days already, you even have a doctor's certificate to prove it. Around 1 pm, you are going to feel a lot worse and Miller's going to take you to the doctor again. At least, that's what he is going to tell your mother. Instead of driving to the doctor's office, he'll drive you to the academy."

"How can you be so sure that Miller isn't going to tell her?", she asked.

"He's too scared to do so", Aaron shrugged. "He's scared of me and he actually likes you a bit, so he won't betray us. I'm 100% sure. I would have driven you, but I have to work and she'd notice if I wasn't there..."

"This sounds too easy", Emily mumbled. "A five-years-old could have planned this."

"Any better ideas?"

"No."

"Knew it."

"I'm sorry", she sighed. "I'm just really scared that you'll get in trouble."

Aaron smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek: "Me? Why worry about me, when I have absolutely nothing to do with this, apart from planning it? Seriously, the last thing she is going to do is to realize that I'm connected with this whole thing. It's going to work out."

"I hope so", she sighed once again.

"Come on", he then said. "You have to get out there, to celebrate your mother."

"Oh yay", Emily rolled her eyes as she got up and twirled around. "How do I look?"

"Perfect as always", her boyfriend smiled as her chic, red dress.

"I guess I'll see you later then?", she asked nervously.

"I'll be here", Aaron smiled and got up as well, kissing her softly. "I'll be here when you come back, ready to celebrate that you're finally pursuing what you really want."

"I love you so much, you know that, right?"

"Of course I do, and I love you, too. Good luck, Em, you are going to do great."

_

Aaron had observed how Emily and Miller had managed to leave on time. Elizabeth wasn't pleased at all to let her daughter leave the mansion on her birthday, but in front of all the guests, she had no choice but agree to Miller's proposal to drive Emily to the doctor's office again.

This had been about two hours ago. Gladly, all the presents, speeches and guests kept the ambassadress too busy to realize how long Emily and Miller had actually already been gone.

Internally, Aaron just begged that it would stay like this and that Emily would pass the test. He was sure that she would, this girl could achieve anything she wanted, no matter how big it was.

He worked like it was just a regular day, well, expect from the fact that it was Elizabeth Prentiss' birthday. If his girlfriend would make it back in time, nobody would notice anything.

Two more hours passed, until he finally received a call from Miller.

"What took you so long?", Aaron immediately whispered, after he had picked up.

"They were so many applicants, it took forever", the other agent sighed. "She's still in there, getting her results. I just wanted to let you know that we'll be there in approx. one hour."

"You have to drive faster, you idiot", Hotch exclaimed. "How are you going to explain that visiting the doctor's office took five hours?!"

"The waiting room was full?"

"The ambassadress' daughter doesn't even have to wait", he snapped. God, did this guy ever think of anything?

"We'll figure something out on our way back, I'm sure - oh, here she comes!", Miller finally said.

"Thank god!", Hotch sighed, even though he was really nervous about her results.

"Yes, I -", but the agent was interrupted by Emily, who took over his phone. "Aaron?", she asked excitedly.

"How did it go?", he immediately asked.

"I'm in! I passed the test! Can you believe that?", she cheered, totally overjoyed. She couldn't believe that it had actually worked out.

"I knew it! I knew you would pass it without any troubles", he smiled, so, so proud of his girlfriend. As he looked around the corner, he discovered Elizabeth Prentiss approaching to him.

"Your mother's coming, I gotta go", he whispered. "See you later, future-agent."

A smile formed on Emily's lips: "See you later!"

Aaron had just ended the call and put the phone in the pocket of his suit, as the ambassadress stood in front of him.

"Mr. Hotchner", she greeted him.

"Ma'am", he nodded.

"How about taking a walk in the garden before dinner?", she asked. "There are some things concerning your work here that I'd like to talk about."

The agent furrowed his eyebrows. Talking about work? Today, on her birthday?

"Sure", he nodded and silently walked next to her as they headed to the huge garden.

"What a beautiful day", the ambassadress sighed as the fresh air filled their lungs.

"Indeed", Aaron nodded.

"You're a really good agent, Mr. Hotchner", she began as they continued to walk. "Your work here was always outstanding, so far. I'm really sad that you'll only work here for a provisory time."

"Well, my future is at the BAU", he replied politely. "Working here is a really good experience, but my asset is profiling."

"I see...", the older woman nodded.

"So, what were the things concerning my work you wanted to talk about, Ma'am?", he asked. He really wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible, since Elizabeth Prentiss still scared him a lot and he really felt below par.

"Oh, yes", she replied and stopped, before turning around. Aaron felt like her cold eyes were about to shoot two icicles through his chest. "But before I do that, how about you tell me about your relationship to my daughter?"