A/N: So, about a month ago, the dear emilyhotchnerforever asked me to write more Hotch/Emily fic, and I told her that if she wanted it, she would have to prompt me. She took me up on my offer, and gave me this: Hotch/Emily; Romance; Rain, shooting star, and a picture; Hotch realizes that he loves Emily.

It sort of ate my brain. It started out as a cute little oneshot. But then it decided that it wanted more screen-time. Then, in conjunction with my rewatch of Criminal Minds (I am collecting Penelope quotes), the fluff bunnies began to descend, and this has become a universe all its own.

I'd like to thank my sister, LinkLuver3, for her rapid-fire beta of this, for her squeeing over the cute, and for the fic she is writing me. Love you, Neenie!

Without further ado, I present you with chapter one, story one, in a small side-universe that will be devouring me whole over the summer.

Disclaimer: Not mine, worse luck.

The moment he saw her stumble away from the burning building, he wanted to take her in his arms and never let her go. He told himself that it was just because she was a member of his team, of his family, but a very small part of him was beginning to simply reject that particular sentiment.

Throughout the whole ordeal, he had been so much more worried about Emily than he had been about Reid, and he had had to work hard to seem equally concerned for them. Listening to Cyrus beat her up had been particularly hellish, but at least it had given him an excuse to be more concerned for Emily; Reid was still free, and he could take care of himself.

Now, though, as she stood outside the compound, shouting for Morgan and Reid, she sounded so broken and lost that it was all he could do to stand stoically and keep his distance. When she put her arms around Reid, he felt his heart clench, but he stayed where he was for as long as possible.

When he could no longer stand it, he approached the group and softly said her name. She came to him immediately and did not object when he placed his hand in the small of her back to guide her to the ambulance. He sat by her in silence as an EMT carefully checked her over and, when she was given a clean bill of health—relatively speaking—he guided her in equal silence to one of the SUVs.

"Are you okay?" He hadn't meant to ask it; he didn't like forcing confidences, and he knew that Emily liked to talk about her emotions about as much as he did, but he couldn't stomach the dazed, distant look still on her face.

"I—yeah," Emily replied after a moment. "I'm just…I'm tired, Hotch."

Again, she sounded so broken, so lost, and he just wanted to pull her to him, hold her close, keep her safe, and let her rest. He had no idea if he would have done, because Rossi slid into the back seat at that moment, informing him that Morgan, JJ, and Reid would be following in the other SUV, and that Morgan had called Garcia to let her know that they were all okay.

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He couldn't keep his eyes off her during the flight home. He watched as she sat down just inside his peripheral vision to talk to Reid, as she reassured the younger profiler. He felt tension coil in his stomach as she covered Reid's hand with her own, only for it to release almost immediately as she let go and moved to the couch. She lay down, careful to keep the bruised side of her face up, and in moments she was limp as one could only be in sleep. Her hair had fallen across her features and hidden the discoloration from sight.

His fingertips itched to sweep the hair away from her skin, to soothe, to comfort, to heal the greenish-yellow tinge back to its regular alabaster shade. He clenched the file in his hands a little bit tighter, and tried to apply himself to his paperwork. He could not, however, keep his eyes off of her entirely, and so spent the rest of the trip home stealing glances at the sleeping agent and wondering why he felt so concerned. He barely heard when the pilot informed them that a storm was brewing over Quantico.

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By the time they landed, rain was pouring hard and fast, and the wind had just begun to pick up. Two Bureau SUVs pulled up to the bottom of the staircase; Rossi had thought to call ahead for them so no one would get soaked running for shelter.

They split the same way they had done before; JJ, Reid, and Morgan in the first car, Rossi, Prentiss, and himself in the second. Their driver was much more cautious than the others', so it followed that Reid, Morgan, and JJ were leaving the parking lot in their respective vehicles by the time the second SUV pulled in. Rossi vanished the moment he got out of the car, and the driver was gone just as fast when the other two had exited.

He glanced at Prentiss's face, seeing her eye the storm in apprehension. "Are you going to be up to driving in that?" he asked.

Prentiss bit her lip. "I don't know."

"Let me drive you," he offered immediately, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I can come back and get you tomorrow so you can pick up your car."

"You don't have to do that," she said tentatively, almost shyly.

"It's fine," he replied. "Come on."

He guided her to his car, but she didn't seem any calmer than before as she climbed into the passenger seat. The storm was worse when they exited the parking garage than it had been when they entered it, and it kept getting worse as they drove.

He noticed tension building in Prentiss's body the longer they were out. "Don't like storms?" he asked.

"Not driving in them, no," she replied, "and especially not at night."

He made what he hoped was a sympathetic noise, and the drive continued in silence.

When he finally pulled up in front of her home, she looked out the window and shook her head. "Hotch, you can't drive home in this," she said, worry coloring her tone.

"I'll be fine," he replied, trying to reassure her, simultaneously wanting nothing more than to be alone and safe and away from her so he could find his sanity and to take her up on the implied offer and spend the night surrounded by her existence.

"You can barely see five feet in front of the car, and we're stationary!" she exclaimed. She turned to look in his eyes. "Please, Hotch. I don't want anything to happen to you."

He could hardly bring himself to look away. Her eyes were pleading and full of worry—worry for him, when he was so worried for her—and he couldn't say no to them.

Swallowing hard, he nodded. "Okay."

A/N2: I would like to inform you that you will not (repeat: will NOT) be getting chapter two until, at the earliest, Thursday. I have three eleven-hour work days ahead of me, and I'm going to be too tired to be posting witty comments in the Author's Notes. However, if it doesn't seem like many people are interested, I may just wait a full week to post the next chapter. In other words, write a review! Tell me that you like it and want more! Who knows? Maybe lots of reviews will give me the energy I need to post sooner!