A few days after the whole nightmare of JJ's abduction, they're standing in the corridor of the BAU - the BAU; he has to keep reminding himself of that. Things seem to be settling down now. He knows JJ is going to be dealing with a lot of PTSD-related reaction but he thinks it's helped that Emily chose to hang around a few more days. He agrees with Garcia: the six hours Emily had originally announced hadn't been long enough. He has a suspicion that Garcia's reaction and JJ's look of vulnerability as she curled herself into Will, had pushed Emily into requesting extra days. He wonders what she said or did to make it happen, and if can she make it happen again. Even the few extra days they've had her haven't been long enough.
"How much longer do we have you?" he asks and hopes his voice sounds stronger than he feels.
"I've got to head out in the next couple of hours. I've already said goodbye to the others."
He doesn't miss the sadness in her voice or her eyes when she replies. His chest tightens. All he can do is nod. But she's looking at him like she wants him to respond, but he doesn't know how. He can't even move. If he moves, he's afraid of what he might do.
She sighs and then she's taking a step towards him, leaning in. Her right hand comes to rest on his chest, above his heart and then she's pressing her lips to the right of his mouth and his breathing stops. Which is just ridiculous because he can smell her hair, he can smell her: Emily.
"Take care of each other Hotch," she says against his skin. Then she's pulling away from him. He lets out a breath and, as she's removing her hand he takes hold of it and just looks at her. He wants to say something, anything. But he thinks if he did and he said what he wanted to say and she rejected him, it would just break him. That scares the hell out of him.
She tilts her head, gives him a small smile. It's completely for his benefit, like this isn't hurting her as much as it is him and the rest of them. She squeezes his hand, turns and starts heading down the corridor.
Then she's gone from view and Rossi has appeared on his left, hands in pockets. From the look on his face, he thinks maybe he has some thing to say.
"You should have told her to stay".
He's right, not that Hotch is ready to admit it aloud. "She knows we want her to stay."
Rossi nods and then looks at him and before he even says it, Hotch knows what's coming.
"But does she know you want her to stay, Aaron?"
Hotch looks to where she had disappeared, then down at the floor before looking at Rossi and heading towards his office. He has work to do.
Rossi fists his hands in his trouser pockets as he watches Hotch walk away. If he didn't, he thinks he'd grab the stubborn SOB and knock some sense into him! Damnit Aaron.
He knows Garcia's at his side before she even says anything, her heels having given her away.
"Did he tell her?" Garcia asks.
Rossi doesn't want to have to tell her, and from the look on Garcia's face as he turns to answer her, he doesn't think he has to. So he just shakes his head and starts back to his office, all the while thinking that Aaron Hotchner was a damn fool.
...
AN: Ok, so, this is my first ever fic. I'm very proud of our baby, by "our" I mean mine and Kavi Leighanna's. I gave birth and Kavi has bin there ever since!. It's taken a while, but she's here. We've finally come to terms with the fact that she has to grow up and meet the world. Please be gentle. Coz seriously, I am not above stabbing people. Hope you enjoyed!? :)