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Lacy here. So the end of this episode screamed at me for a Hotch and Emily moment. Thank the gods for my series right? Hehe, have fun.
Disclaimer: You know it's not coming.
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"I really shouldn't be flying." Hotch explained after removing his bag from the truck.
Emily nodded and went to walk away but stopped.
"Want some company for the drive?" she asked.
Dave barely stamped down the urge to laugh as Hotch smiled at Emily and agreed to her company. He mentioned to Hotch that there was some nice scenery they would drive through and that he might stretch the drive out for a day or two. Hotch nodded and said they might just do that. Dave stepped aside as Emily also grabbed her bag and handed the plate Hotch had given her to Reid. The two stood back as Dave got in the truck.
"Have fun you two." he said before the truck pulled away, a smirk across his face.
Emily looked at Hotch. "What did he mean by that?"
Hotch shook his head. "It's Dave, I don't think we want to know." he looked at Emily. "Sure you want to be stuck with me for over seven hours?"
Emily smiled. "A bit late to change my mind don't you think?"
Hotch smiled as well. "You have a point there." he looked at his watch. "It's getting late, we may have to stretch this drive out over a couple of days."
Emily led the way to the other truck. "You say that like it's a bad thing."
Hotch followed her. "It's not. According to Dave we'll be driving through some nice scenery so stretching it out might be a good idea."
Emily tossed her bag in back and waited for Hotch to do the same.
"He's playing match maker again." Emily said. She held up the keys. "You driving or am I?"
Hotch waved Emily to the driver's side. "You drive and of course he is. He's been doing it for months now."
Both climbed into the truck and Emily started it up.
"And why haven't we stopped him?" Emily asked.
Hotch put his seat belt on. "We can't take away the man's one source of fun."
Emily put her own belt on. "You may not be able to but I can."
Hotch looked at Emily. "And just how would you do that?"
Emily smirked as she pulled out onto the road. "Wouldn't you like to know."
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JJ looked at Dave as Reid drove.
"You're playing match maker again with Emily and Hotch." JJ said.
Dave carefully contained his smirk. "Don't know what you're talking about JJ."
Morgan snorted from the front passenger's seat. "Right Rossi. You've been trying to set Emily and Hotch up for months now. Just admit it."
"Even I can see it Rossi." Reid chimed in. "You know I never pick on these things."
"Not to mention you've got Garcia helping you." Morgan said. "That girl can't keep anything from me even when she tries."
Dave let his smirk show. "Fine I'll admit I'm trying to set them up. But can you blame me? We can all see Emily loves Aaron just like he loves her. She's been there for him since Haley left. Sure she was there as a friend at first but,"
JJ smiled. "But friendship is the best foundation for a relationship that will last. We know Dave, you don't have to defend yourself, we just wanted you to admit it."
Dave smiled at his friends. "Remind me never to try and hide things from you guys."
"Or at least don't tell Garcia." Reid said.
The four started laughing.
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Emily looked at Hotch as they sat in a road side diner eating dinner.
"So why'd you fly at the beginning of the case if you weren't cleared?" she asked.
Hotch sat back. "Honestly?"
Emily smirked. "That'd be good."
Hotch chuckled. "I was going crazy at home and I wanted to come back. I needed to come back. It didn't feel right not seeing you guys every day."
"Hotch you SAW Dave and I every day and I know Morgan dragged Reid over more then once." Emily said. "JJ and Garcia too."
Hotch out right laughed remembering the visits from Morgan and Reid. Reid couldn't have looked more uncomfortable if he tried. The poor kid really wasn't good in social situations.
"It just wasn't the same." Hotch said. "Not spending hours on end with everyone, listening to Morgan tease Reid, Dave and JJ flirt." he met Emily's gaze. "Just talking with you."
Emily's smirk melted into a genuine smile. He was right. She missed talking to him on cases. It kept them both from focusing too much on the horror they saw.
"We missed you too." Emily said, hoping Hotch saw between the lines of what she was saying.
As usual he did. Hotch returned Emily's smile and the two continued talking as they finished off their dinners. Occasionally, Emily would reach over and steal one of Hotch's fries.
"Would you stop that." Hotch said gently slapping Emily's reaching hand. "You had your own."
Emily pouted. "Yes but they're all gone."
Hotch couldn't believe the woman across from him was actually pouting. "And how does that give you rights to mine?"
Emily shrugged. "It doesn't but you don't mind sharing right?"
Hotch shook his head with a smile and waved his hand at his fries, letting Emily know she could have at them. Emily dropped the pout and gladly continued to eat Hotch's fries.
"So are we going to try driving any more tonight?" Emily asked after Hotch insisted he pay the bill.
Hotch tucked his wallet back in his pocket. "I asked the waiter if there were any motels near by. He said another half hour down the road we were on and we'll find a few places to stay."
Emily tossed the keys to Hotch. "Your turn."
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An hour later the two were situated in a motel room with two double beds for the night. They had debated on the drive there whether or not to get one room or two. Finally they decided not only would it be cheaper to get one but it would also make leaving in the morning go faster. Hotch was currently in the shower and Emily was laying on her bed, already showered and in a tank and lounge pants staring at the ceiling. She was thinking about what she and Hotch had said when they had started their drive.
*tiny flashback*
"He's playing match maker again." Emily said. She held up the keys. "You driving or am I?"
Hotch waved Emily to the driver's side. "You drive and of course he is. He's been doing it for months now."
Both climbed into the truck and Emily started it up.
"And why haven't we stopped him?" Emily asked.
Hotch put his seat belt on. "We can't take away the man's one source of fun."
Emily put her own belt on. "You may not be able to but I can."
Hotch looked at Emily. "And just how would you do that?"
Emily smirked as she pulled out onto the road. "Wouldn't you like to know."
*end tiny flashback*
She knew there was pretty much only one way to stop Dave's matchmaking. Well two but Emily didn't like the first. Either she and Hotch start seeing other people, and even then Dave probably wouldn't stop or they starting seeing each other. That one would definitely stop Dave. Though the smug smile he'd be wearing once he found out would be annoying, Emily saw it as worth it if she and Hotch were happy together. And judging by the way they were just spending time together, she knew they'd be very happy.
"Some deep thoughts you're having."
Emily pushed herself up on her elbows and saw Hotch standing in the bathroom doorway dressed in sweats.
"How could you tell?" Emily asked.
"You don't normally focus so focus the ceiling." Hotch said moving to sit on his own bed. "What's on your mind?"
Emily sat up and crossed her legs. "Not much, just our little matchmaker and how to stop him."
Hotch smirked. "Not sure how Dave would take being called a little matchmaker but I'll bite, what have you come up with to stop him?"
Emily grabbed a pillow and pulled it into her lap, giving her hands something to play with, though she knew it was a dead give away as a nervous gesture.
"The way I see it, there are only two ways to stop him." Emily said. "And really only one is guaranteed to stop him."
Hotch nodded. "Ok so what are these two ways?"
"Well the first is, and I'm not sure this would really stop Dave." Emily said. "But if the two of us started seeing other people."
Hotch was shaking his head before Emily even finished her sentence.
"Nope not an option." he said. "Next."
Emily found herself smiling. That was definitely a good sign. Still she was nervous.
"The other option would be us giving in to Dave pushing us towards each other." she said.
Looking down at the pillow in her lap, Emily waited for Hotch's response.
"You're right." Hotch finally said. "That does seem to be the only good option."
Emily looked up. "Really?"
"You were expecting a different reaction?" Hotch asked, curious.
Emily shrugged. "I wasn't really sure what to expect to be honest."
Hotch stood and moved to sit beside Emily. He took the pillow out of her lap and pulled one of her hands into his own.
"Emily, you know there was one other option you didn't think of for stopping Dave." Hotch said.
Emily frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I mean either of us could have told Dave to stop by just simply telling him we didn't want to end up here, deciding whether or not to be together." Hotch explained.
Emily's smile started to reappear. "But neither of us did so clearly we both wanted to end up here."
"Exactly." Hotch said. "And now that we are here,"
"We have a long talk ahead of us." Emily finished. She met Hotch's gaze. "I don't want to sound insecure but this isn't a-well I don't want to say rebound but I can't think of another word."
Hotch turned himself and Emily so they were facing each other. "You are not a rebound Emily. I would never do that to you. I would never do that to us. Why would you think that?"
Emily shook her head. "It's stupid."
Hotch squeezed Emily's hand. "Honest remember, what made you think that?"
Emily sighed. "Haley might have said something the last time she dropped Jack at work."
Hotch echoed Emily's sigh. "Ok Emily I want you to listen, I don't know why Haley said what she did but I want you to promise me not to listen to her. Not unless you know what she's saying is true."
Emily nodded. "I promise. I'm sorry I let what she said get to me."
Hotch shook his head. "Don't apologize. I imagine if roles were reversed I'd be bothered by it too."
"What about work?" Emily asked.
"The only one we'd have to worry about is Strauss and as long as we don't change how we act in the office, she'll have no reason to think anything is going on." Hotch said.
Emily smiled. "So Mr. Never Breaks the Rules is ok with dating his subordinate?"
Hotch returned the smile. "If it's you then yeah."
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Both Emily and Hotch stood at Emily's apartment door three days later. They had finally made it back, taking Dave's 'advice' and stretching out the trip. Not only was it a nice drive but it gave them time to explore what they started without anyone else around. Not that exploring had gotten much further then holding hands or sleeping in the same bed. Both couldn't quite cross the line yet.
"So what do we tell the team?" Emily asked.
"Why do we have to tell them?" Hotch countered.
Emily smiled. "Because Aaron we work with profilers. Careful at work or not they'll see changes."
"Well then I say we tell Dave and you know he'll let the others in on it." Hotch said. "He won't even have to out right say it."
Emily nodded. "Sounds good to me."
Hotch nodded as well and was about to walk away when he finally shoved the professional part of himself completely away and kissed Emily. Stunned, it took Emily a moment to respond. Wrapping her arms around Hotch's neck, Emily could feel they were both smiling. They might just have to thank Dave for all the pushing he did after all.
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It's done. I've been writing it forever now. Well since about the third or fourth story in for the series. This episode really did just scream for a Hotch and Emily moment and now I have given it along with finally getting the two together. I gotta tell ya, I'm not really great at writing boy/girl friendship but I think I did good before now. I hope you guys do to. Let me know what you think, flame policy really isn't going anywhere unless I misplace it again and thanks for reading.
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Sarah here! *whispers to random bystander* she misplaces things a lot. Kisses!~Sarah
Oh shush Sarah.
