''Saying goodbye doesn't mean anything. It's the time we spent together that matters, not how we left it.'' Trey Parker

As Aaron looked at himself in the mirror and took of his tie, all he could think about was her: Emily Prentiss. The woman who had been on his mind for the past 5 years, and now she had left.

He didn't know when he was going to see her again, if he was even going to see her again, which he seriously doubted. She was going to go live in London, and he had his life in Virginia. There weren't exactly any reasons to see each other again, aside from the fact that he loved her.

Aside from the fact that he wanted to spend every moment he was awake with her, he already had her in his dreams. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her smiling face in front of him, those sparkling eyes he would never forget...

'Why did you have to leave', he thought to himself as he thought of her. He felt as if his heart was completely broken into little pieces that had been thrown on the floor, stomped on and then set on fire. Why did it have to hurt so badly? The only time he had ever felt this kind of heartbreak was when Hailey had been murdered.

He could see there was something she wasn't telling him. ''Emily?'' He asked with a frown as he stood in front of her, trying to get her attention. ''Yeah,'' she asked, snapping out of her thoughts. ''What's wrong?'' He asked as he put his hand on her arm in a comforting gesture.

''Nothing,'' she said quickly, avoiding eye-contact. He knew she was lying, as a trained profiler it wasn't difficult to know what gave it away. He also knew that if she didn't want to talk about it, it would be best to give her some space until she was ready.

He gave her a slight nod and turned on his heel before he walked to the glass doors.
''Wait!'' He heard her voice behind him.
He turned back to her, ''yes?'' He asked as he took a step towards her.

Emily paused for a moment as she took a step in his direction as well, trying to come up with the best way to break the news to him. She took a deep moment and decided to just go for it, ''I'm moving to London.'' She said.
She saw the expression on his face turn to slight shock, ''what?'' He asked her as he took another few steps towards her until he was just barely a foot in front of her.

''I got offered to run the Interpol's London office, and I said yes,'' she said, slightly smiling. She waited for him to respond, but he didn't say anything. ''Hotch?''

He seemed to snap out of his daze and looked a little confused, ''sorry,'' he said, shaking his head just slightly. ''When are you leaving?'' ''In a few days,'' she answered.

Hotch looked down at the glass in his hand, not sure how to respond to the news. ''You're the first one I'm telling, I wasn't quite sure how to...'' she said before pausing because she didn't know how describe her feelings.

They had dated on and off for about three months a couple of months ago, that didn't mean she didn't still love him. In fact: she wanted to be with him, but she knew she wouldn't be able to make it work. She was too used to being independant, she had taken care of herself too long not to be. And aside from that she was worried about Jack.

She knew it was too confusing for Hotch' young son to find out they had broken up yet again, only to find out a little while later that they were back together again. She had to think about him as well.

''Where does this leave us?'' Hotch asked her. He had to know the answer in order to enable him to move on.
''I don't know. I mean: I love you and I always will but it's obvious we can't make it work. We could try long distance, but...'' she started.

Hotch grinned, ''...that would be a disaster,'' he finished.
''Exactly,'' Emily said, smiling as well.

Hotch looked into the mirror, wondering if she was thinking about him too, ''I still love, that'll never change,'' he said.
''Who're you talking to daddy?'' He heard Jacks voice behind him and he turned around.

''Nobody son,'' he said, taking one last glance at himself before turning back to his son who had sat down on the bed.
''Is it about Aunt Emily?'' Jack asked.

Hotch nodded, ''yes it is,'' he said.
''Are you two back together?'' Jack asked. The happy sound in his voice stung Hotch' heart.
''No,'' he said a little curtly.

''Do you love her?'' Jack asked. ''Very much. I'd do anything for her on any day, but we can't make it work,'' Hotch said, even as he was talking he wasn't sure if he should be telling Jack about this.

They sat in silence for a moment, ''Jack?'' Hotch asked, when his son looked at him he continued: ''Aunt Emily has decided to move to London.''

Emily Prentiss was driving through the rain to the airport, thinking about him again. All the memories flooded back to her. She wanted to move to London, she wanted to work for Interpol, but the thought of leaving Hotch behind was something she couldn't bear thinking about.

She loved him too much... She was sure that was what it was. She had never loved a man that much and being with him scared her. Scared because she knew she could lose him, considering his job. Scared because she could hurt him, scared because of a million reasons. She wasn't one to run away because she was scared, now she just had to convince herself that that wasn't what she was doing.

She stopped at a red light and leaned her hand on the steering wheel for a moment, trying to straighten out her thoughts. She wanted to convince herself that she didn't love him, it would make it so much easier to leave if that had been the case.

She let out a sigh, trying to think back to happier times.

They were lying on his bed. Both had just woken up and were still a little bit sleepy. Emily could feel Aaron softly stroke her hair and she turned her head to look at him.
''Good morning, beautiful,'' he said and smiled at her.

''Good morning to you too handsome,'' she said as she moved a little closer to him. She laid her head on his chest and listened to the rhythmic beating of his heart. It was such a calming sound, letting her know that he was alive and well and that she was save. ''Did you sleep well?'' He asked her as he kissed the top of her head.

She nodded, ''very well. I always sleep well when I'm with you. I dreamt that we were on vacation; we were on the beach... It was very nice,'' she said, smiling at the thought. ''You?''
''Me too, thought I don't remember what I dreamt,'' Aaron replied, biting his lip as he tried to remember what he had dreamt.

She took a deep breath and as she exhaled she looked up at his face. She buried her head a little deeper into his chest, ''I love you,'' she said with a smile, glad she could finally tell him how she felt.
''I love you too,'' he said after a few seconds, glad as well.

Emily threw him a sultry look as she rolled on top of him, ''I love you very, very much,'' she whispered to him as she leaned down to kiss his lips.

Emily shook her head, trying to shake the thought as the light turned green. She let out a sigh thinking about how wonderful that day had been. Jack had been visiting his aunt Jessica and she and Aaron had spent the entire day together. They had gone to the park, gone out for dinner. It had been one of their best days together...

'Why am I leaving?' She asked herself as she kept her focus on the road. 'Why can't I make it work with Hotch?' She rubbed her forehead and waited for the car in front of her to speed up.

Maybe they were just too different... And maybe she just wasn't ready for a relationship...

But somewhere deep inside she had a feeling that they would end up together, as if they were meant for each other and now just wasn't the time yet to be together. But Emily knew that time would come someday and they would be able to make it work then.

''Now I just have to figure out when that is...'' she told herself with a sigh.

''Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?'' Richard Bach

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