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Lacy here kids. Got the next Officer Down for ya. Omnivore, ugh. I hate this episode. Really, the twisted mind that came up with Foyet needs to, well go far far away. Okay, since, after this, we've got seven, well eight episodes left until the end to the season, we're only gonna have one in between story until then. There may even be points where I won't do one at all. Depends on what my brain comes up with. Have fun. Wow, that so does not work for this.
Disclaimer: Nothing's mine.
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Hotch got back from taking Jack back to Haley's place and found possibly the funniest sight he'd ever seen when he walked by the nursery. Emily was sitting in the middle of the room with paint chips in front of her and the cutest pout Hotch had ever seen on her face.
"Em, sweetheart," Hotch said, leaning against the door frame. "what are you doing?"
Emily turned to Hotch, the pout still on her face. "We need to paint the baby's room but I can't pick a color."
Hotch moved into the room and sat beside Emily. Around the room was the baby furniture. They'd already taken care of that, shortly after finding out they were having a girl. However, aside from putting everything together, they hadn't done much else with the nursery.
"Well, what colors have you narrowed it down to?" Hotch asked.
Emily pointed to the three colors she had in front of her. A pale, daisy yellow, a soft carnation pink and a pale, Easter purple.
Hotch picked up the purple. "Well I like this one."
Emily nodded, resting her head on Hotch's shoulder. "Yeah, I was leaning towards that myself."
Hotch slid his arm around Emily's waist, his hand coming to rest on the side of her stomach.
"Then I guess we have the nursery color." he said.
Emily looked at Hotch. "How is it I was staring at those chips for half an hour and couldn't pick but you could in five seconds."
Hotch smiled. "Because I know, if our baby girl wasn't playing with her mommy's hormones, you would have picked the purple just as easily as I did."
"So you're blaming Mattie?" Emily said with a smile.
Hotch tipped his head to the side. "Not blaming, just hoping she gets the hint to play nice with Mommy."
Emily felt the baby kick Hotch's hand and laughed. "I think that's Mattie's way of saying she'll do what she wants Daddy."
"Oh great," Hotch laughed. "she's already disobeying me."
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Emily walked out of the kitchen to find Hotch staring at his phone with a frown.
"What's wrong Aaron?" Emily asked, moving to sit beside him.
Hotch looked at her. "Uh, I just got a call. I have to go to Boston."
Emily mirrored Hotch's frown. "Why?"
"A detective I worked with once about ten years ago, Tom Shaunessy." Hotch said. "He's dying and asked to see me."
"But if you only worked together once," Emily said. "why does he want to see you?"
Hotch shrugged. "I don't know. But I'll find out."
"We'll find out." Emily said. "I'm coming with you."
"You sure?" Hotch asked.
Emily nodded. "Like I'm letting you travel to Boston alone."
Hotch smiled and they stood. "Alright, let's go."
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Emily sat back on the couch in Hotch's office and looked at the man in shock.
"The Reaper?" she repeated. "The Boston Reaper?"
Hotch nodded. Emily had stayed outside with the nurse while Hotch talked with Shaunessy so she didn't know what any of this was about until they got back to the office. Hotch had been quiet on the ride back and aside from holding his hand, Emily let him stay in his thoughts.
"It was my first case as lead agent." Hotch said.
Emily exhaled. "I'm with Garcia. I didn't think we had a profile for him in our system." she saw Hotch's expression change. "Aaron, what do you know?"
Hotch sighed. "We were sent away before we could do anything but over the years, I've come back to this case and I started building a profile."
Emily nodded, understanding. "So with Shaunessy dead, you think the Reaper will start killing again."
"It' possible." Hotch said. "The only thing stopping him the last ten years was their deal and with that, he got to watch Shaunessy slowly die. Now nothing's holding him back."
"So Shaunessy made the deal to save lives," Emily said. "but now more lives may be lost anyway."
Hotch nodded. "And it's up to us to make sure as few as possible are lost."
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Emily was at a loss. She could see Hotch was getting more and more agitated as the case went on. With another couple killed and having a talk with George Foyet, Emily could see Hotch was getting more personally involved with the case and there wasn't a damn thing she could think to do that would help pull him back.
Like right now, they were in their hotel room, having finally called it a night but instead of relaxing and talking to the baby like he'd made a habit of doing during cases, he was sitting at the desk in the room with the case files open on the surface, still working.
"I can hear you thinking Emily." Hotch said without turning around.
Emily smiled but it didn't last long. "I'm trying to figure out how to make sure we don't lose you."
Hotch turned to face Emily. "What are you talking about?"
Emily sat up against the head of the bed. "You're slipping Aaron. This case, the Reaper, is pulling you in and I don't know how to pull you back."
Hotch stared at Emily for a minute before closing all his files. He stood up, toed his shoes off then climbed onto the bed next to her. Wrapping his arms around Emily, he settled one hand on her hip and the other on their daughter.
"By just being here, both of you," Hotch said softly. "that's keeping me from going too far."
Emily snuggled as close as she could, one of her hands joining Hotch's on her stomach.
"Are you sure?" she asked.
Hotch nodded, kissing Emily's hair. "I'm sure."
Before either could relax completely, the room phone rang and Hotch moved to answer it.
"Hotchner."
Emily frowned as Hotch asked who it was.
"Did you actually think I would take that?" Hotch said. "I thought you were smarter then this."
Emily's heart jumped into her throat as she realized Hotch was talking to Foyet.
"That's what you all think."
Emily held Hotch's free hand tightly, giving him silent back up.
"I don't make deals." Hotch said. "I'm the guy who hunts guys like you."
Hotch squeezed Emily's hand. "I'll see you soon." he set down the phone, hard and exhaled slowly. "I think I just messed up."
Emily shook her head. "No, no you didn't. He was trying to do to you what he did to Shaunessy but you didn't let him. We will catch him, Aaron. We will."
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Well Emily was right, they did catch the Reaper, who turned out to be George Foyet, the supposed ninth victim. Sadly, not long after they got back to Quantico, they received word that Foyet had escaped. Garcia asked if they were going to find them. Emily knew the answer before Hotch said it. They wouldn't find Foyet until he wanted to be found. No one stayed much longer at the office, feeling defeated. Hotch and Emily were the last to leave. As they stood in the elevator, Hotch held Emily close, letting her and their daughter comfort him some. Mattie kicked against her mother's stomach, which Hotch felt against his side. Both smiled.
"I think Mattie's telling us it'll be okay." Emily said softly.
Hotch sighed. "I hope she's right."
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Well, that didn't come out at all how I wanted but it worked. Let me know what you think, flame policy stands and thanks for reading.
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