Summary – Sequel to Ultimatum. Hotch made his choice, but regrets it. Will Emily believe he's changed?

Warning – mild language and adult situations.

Six months. It had been six months since Emily had walked away from the BAU for good. She had decided that she wouldn't, couldn't stay with Hotch after he chose his job over her. She'd up and left, just like she said she would, only a week after giving him the ultimatum. She'd briefly talked to Jack before she packed all her items from Hotch's apartment, telling him she had to go away for a long time, and he would never know how deeply she loved him. Jack had cried and thrown his arms around her. Hotch had to look away. His heart was screaming at him to grab her, to scoop her up into his arms and never let her go, but he just stood there, watching the exchange.

He'd let tears fall unashamedly down his face as Jack pounded on the door when Emily left, screaming at her to come back. Hotch had nearly gone after her again, but he stayed rooted to the floor, too many thoughts racing through his head to act on any one of them.

"It's all your fault, Daddy!" Jack had yelled at him before stomping to his room and slamming the door.

On a normal day, Hotch would have stormed after his son and reprimanded him, but that wasn't a normal day. Nor were the ones that followed. And so it was six months later that Hotch found himself standing in front of Emily's apartment door, hoping with everything in him that she was home. Her car had been outside, but he knew she loved to walk down to the little market area a few blocks over. Taking a deep breath, he rapped his knuckles against the plain black door, his heart beginning to race. He brushed at his light blue button up for what felt like the hundredth time, shifting nervously from foot to foot.

"Coming!" a voice shouted, one that Hotch instantly realized was not Emily. Not even the same gender as Emily.

For the first time in a long time, Hotch was utterly speechless as a man roughly the same height, but at least five years younger than he was, answered the door. The other man was wearing a pair of shorts and nothing else, showing off every hardened muscle that screamed body builder. His hair was a light brown and cropped short, his eyes an electric blue. The man smiled kindly, showing a row of bright, straight teeth set behind his plump lips.

"Aaron Hotchner," Hotch said, his hand rising out of habit.

"Mark Sanford." Mark took Hotch's hand and shook it briefly, easily able to see the surprise on Hotch's face at seeing him in Emily's apartment. "Looking for Em?"

Hotch wanted to punch him. "Yes," he said, his tone unintentionally clipped.

"Hang on a minute; I'll grab her for you."

Before Hotch could say anything else, Mark disappeared into the apartment, shutting the door behind him. Rage swept through Hotch's body, his hands clenching into fists and breathing was suddenly hard to come by. He wanted nothing more than to stomp into Emily's apartment and beat the living shit out of her new boyfriend. To make matters worse, he heard her musical laughter ring out through the apartment as she got closer to the door. He heard muffled talking, a few strange noises he wasn't quite sure what it could be, and then there she was.

She was more beautiful than Hotch remembered. Only a few inches shorter than him but she still had to look up at him through her long, dark lashes, something he'd always loved. She looked like she'd kept herself in shape, the plain white shirt and dark denim jeans showing off her attributes well. Her hair was down and straight, her bangs long gone, just like he liked it. He wanted to reach out and touch her, to grab her and hug her, to run his fingers through her soft hair. But the second she shut the door, her arms crossed across her full-busted chest and she pursed her lips.

"What?" she asked.

"Who was that?" Hotch asked tightly.

"That's none of your business anymore," she said coolly, even though her heart was pounding in her ears.

"Are we in high school?" he asked, but instantly regretted it as anger flashed across Emily's face. "Listen, I just want to talk."

"Hotch," she sighed, "I have nothing to say to you. Nor is there anything to talk about it. We've been over for six months and I don't see the point in this. You chose your job over our relationship, end of story."

His surname, as well as the emotionless tone she used, hurt him almost as much as her words did. "So that's it?" he questioned, feeling his shoulders slump. "I can't even have a conversation with you anymore?"

She gave him an incredulous look. "Are you kidding? You haven't called, you haven't stopped by, you haven't even sent an email. But now, all of a sudden, you show up, six months later, wanting to talk? What is it, Hotch? Was there a bad case and you had a moment of normal, human emotions and decided to come make sure I was still alive?"

Emily felt horrible as a look of sheer horror washed over his face. Her words were brutal, but he had broken her heart. He had torn every idea of a future with him to shreds the day he had let her walk out of his life. She knew that she was responsible for starting the whole 'your job or me' bit, but the fact that he chose his job over her was not something she could forgive.

"Emily," he started, but she cut him off.

"Listen, I'm not sorry for asking you to make the choice because it just proved to me that we wouldn't have worked." She knew she was kicking a man while he was obviously down, but the pent-up anger she'd had towards him came rushing to the surface, not letting her think before she spoke. "You letting me walk away was too much for me to handle and at the end of the day, that tells me that you didn't love me like I loved you, like how someone one day will love me. Now, if you'll excuse me, Mark is waiting for me."

Hotch watched as Emily turned away from him, and flashbacks of her leaving his apartment six months ago danced before him. He snapped, grabbing her arm a little roughly and spinning her back around. He didn't give her the option to protest.

"That man in there will never love you the way I love you, Emily Prentiss," he growled. "He will never feel so horrible, so low, so heartbroken as I have over you."

"Hotch," Emily started, but he just kept going.

"Even if you marry him, have children with him, he will never be able to see you the way I see you," he continued, releasing her arm and balling his hands into fists. "He won't ever be able to see how your face lights up when you get excited like I do, or how your hair splays across the pillow just so. He'll never appreciate how your eyes change to this sparkling opal color when you're turned on like me. I hate myself. I hate what I did, what I didn't do."

"Aaron!" she shouted, just to get him to stop, but he had come too far to not say what was on his mind.

"No, listen to me," he begged, but didn't give her even a second to reply. "I was so stupid. I… I have never been stupider in my life. I have no idea why I just let you walk away, but I regret it so badly. I look at myself everyday and feel like the worst person on the planet, and there is nothing in this world that I want more than to feel normal again. You make me normal, Emily. He won't ever love you so much it hurts to the point where I quit my fucking job, no matter what you decide now. I can't stand being there without you. I can't stand being anywhere without you."

Emily's mouth dropped open. "You quit?" she whispered.

"Yes!" he shouted, running his hands through his hair, looking as close to deranged as she'd ever seen him. "I've been a complete mess! Dave told me if I didn't leave he'd have to shoot me. Maybe it was that, or the fact that Jack won't stop asking for you in the middle of the night, I don't know. But I just snapped. I knew I was stupid for letting you walk away, but something clicked a few days ago and I filled out the paperwork, not feeling even a little remorse. I know that it doesn't fix everything, and that I still fucked up, and you probably don't want to try this again, I just –"

His words were cut off by Emily throwing her arms around his neck and crushing her lips to his. Hotch stumbled backwards but wrapped his arms around her waist and held her as if his life depended on it. He kissed her back like a starved man feasting on the most succulent steak, his lips devouring hers in an instant. He demanded entrance into her hot mouth, his tongue not waiting for her approval before it slid between her teeth in search of hers. Emily reciprocated his franticness, pressing harder against him and sinking her teeth into his tongue, sucking it deep into her mouth, just the way she knew he liked it. He broke away after a minute, needing to breathe.

Hotch let out a deep breath. "Holy shit," he sighed. "I missed that."

"I missed you," she replied tenderly, resting her forehead on his and stroking the hair on the back of his head.

"That's quite a change in demeanor," he said with a soft chuckle.

"Well, what you said kind of changes a lot," she pointed out. "But even before you said all that, I missed you."

"I missed you so much," he whispered, rubbing his hands up and down her back.

Emily tilted her face up, pressing her lips against his in a gentle kiss and closing her eyes. Hotch held her tightly to him, turning his head slightly and pressing back against her plush lips.

"Want to take this inside?" she asked, refusing to break the kiss.

He smiled against her lips. "Of course." Then he remembered that there was another man in her apartment. He pulled away from her to look into her smiling brown eyes. "What about your boyfriend?"

Emily giggled, causing a bemused expression to arise on Hotch's face. "He's my cousin, babe," she laughed.

"You didn't even correct me earlier!" he said incredulously.

She chewed her bottom lip, distracting him momentarily. "I'm not really that sorry," she said honestly. "It was kind of hot to watch you get all jealous and possessive."

"You are getting punished," he informed her in a low tone, leaving her with no doubt on how he was going to do that. "Go back to my place?"

She shook her head. "He was getting dressed to leave when you answered. I told him to wait until I came back in to leave. I didn't want him to get punched."

"You're such a little minx," he growled, playfully leaning in and nipping her bottom lip. "And you're right, if I had to see him again without knowing he was your cousin, I probably would have slugged him."

"Come on," she said, reluctantly pulling away from him, "let's go in."

***Five Years Later***

"So, was it worth it?"

Hotch looked up, smiling as he saw Dave Rossi walking up to his desk. "Was what worth it?" he asked.

Dave took a seat before sipping his coffee. "Leaving the BAU."

Hotch reached across his desk and turned around a picture frame. "See those four?" he asked, waiting for Dave to look at the picture of Emily, Jack, and their two-year-old twin daughters. "Being the Section Chief isn't easy, by any means, but every time I look at this picture, I know that it was more than worth it. Emily's happy staying home with the kids, I'm happy that I get home by five, the kids are happy with both of us around. Life is good, Dave. Life is really, really good."

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