Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. All rights to the writers and the show itself.

Sickness: the feeling of nausea, coughing, a runny nose, and – the worst of all – the actual throwing up part. Emily hated it. She literally felt like she was dying. She had been up all night, throwing up, coughing, and blowing her nose, etcetera. She hadn't gotten any sleep that night, but she was thankful it was Saturday. That meant there was; no case, no work, no worries. She could just lie on the couch, watch Friends, and curl up with a lot of tea. It was basically her dream weekend.

She was just about to put in the first season of Friends, until she heard her phone ringing.

"I swear to fucking God, if there's a God damn case…" she swore to herself.

Caller ID: Aaron Hotchner

She cursed mentally and answered the call. "What do you need, Hotch?" she asked him rather harshly. There was a slight pause before he replied.

"Are you okay, Prentiss?" he asked her, concern flooding through his voice.

Emily sighed heavily, her voice scratchy from all the phlegm build-up in her throat. She coughed, failing miserably at trying to clear her voice. "I'm not feeling all that well, but if we have a case, I can come in." she lied to him. Since it was Hotch, of course the lie did not by pass him.

"Prentiss, I've known you for a long time now, and you must understand that no one can get a lie past me." he told her, and she could hear the teasing in his voice. She tried to supress a laugh, but it just caused her to cough hysterically. "I was just calling you to see if you could come in for a couple hours and get a few files done, but don't worry about it. I'll just bring them over when I come to look after you." He told her seriously.

Emily laughed at him, but coughed yet again. "Hotch, you don't have to, I was just planning on watching some TV and drinking some tea to sooth my throat. Plus, you're supposed to be spending time with Jack this weekend!" she yelled at him through the speaker. Hotch said, "Jack is at his grandparents this weekend, so I'm free. I'm coming over."

Emily sighed, "No, Hotch, you're not. I don't need any help, I'm-"

Emily coughed yet again, her voice cracking.

"I'll be there in a few minutes." He told her, hanging up before she could get in another word.

Emily groaned loudly and walked into the kitchen. She grabbed out a piece of white blank paper and wrote on it: The door is open, come in when you're here, Emily. She taped it on the door. She slugged back to the cough and rapper herself back into her warm blanket. Her fever was as high as Mount Everest, but she was freezing. She pressed play on the first episode and watched the show.

It was about fifteen minutes into the show when she heard the door open. She twisted her head around to make sure it was Hotch, not some stranger who decided to invite himself in just because there was a note saying 'the door is open'.

"Hi." She managed to say. Hotch smiled at her, something she rarely saw. She slowly got to her feet, making sure not to make herself dizzy. She caught Hotch starring at her image. Emily was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants with a navy blue pull-over hoodie. Her hair was up in a bun and she had a white headband one, keeping her bangs out of her eyes. Her nose was red from blowing it and sneezing. Her skin was much paler than normal and she had started to pick off her red nail polish, obviously due to boredom. "What? Do I really look that bad?" she asked him. Immediately feeling self-conscious about her appearance, she wrapped her arms around herself.

Hotch shook his head and gave her a sad smile. "No, of course not. You look beau-" he caught himself before continuing the sentence. "You look fine." He told her, his smile fading. He had wanted to tell her that she looked beautiful, but it just would have made everything awkward for the rest of the day. Emily smiled at him and started to walk back towards the couch.

Hotch had picked up a couple of things for her before he got there. "Uh, I picked up a couple things for the drug store, I wasn't sure if you needed anything, so I just got you some things to keep you entertained. Uh, I got you a couple of magazines, some cough drops, some more tea, Advil if you get any headaches and some nausea pills. I hope you don't mind." He told her, plopping himself down on the other end of the couch.

Emily looked at him and smiled widely. "Hotch; you didn't have to do that. You didn't even have to come here and look after me. All I'm going to be doing today is watching Phoebe try to play the guitar and Chandler and Monica confess their love for each other and everyone on the show either get in a relationship or get married and all I'm going to do is sob about how I'm forty-five years old with not boyfriend." She told him, tears welling up in her eyes. Hotch looked shocked that she was crying over a TV show, but he comforted her anyways.

"Emily…hey, don't cry…don't cry. It's okay. There's no need to cry because I know that someone will come around for you and they'll love you just like Ross loves Rachel. It's okay. You're a beautiful woman and if you don't find someone, I'll always be here for you, Emily. You know that." He told her whole-heartedly. Emily smiled up at him and blushed, leaning into his shoulder and hugging him tightly. She leaned up and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, feeling his stubble on his face graze against her lips. His face started to warm up, but he managed to keep the blush down.

"I'm sorry for crying, it's just that…uh…I'm kind of, you know…" she told him, motioning with her hands, trying to explain without saying the actual word. Hotch was confused for a few seconds, but made an 'O' shape with his lips and nodding, tossing her a gentle smile.

"Anyways, shall we start episode two? I've seen episode one so many times." He told her sweetly. Emily beamed at him and clicked play on the next episode. The sat there together, Emily was curled up next to him and his arm was around her, keeping her warm. They laughed at the same parts and they got through one full season in a couple hours. They were both enjoying each other's company; it was almost noon when Hotch looked at the clock. He looked down to see Emily passed out on his shoulder. He smiled softly at her and laid her down, wrapping the blanket around her. He gently kissed her forehead and went to sit on the other couch, bringing out his book and began reading.

He couldn't stop himself from smiling.

Emily woke up with a nauseous feeling in her stomach. She sat up quickly and ran to the bathroom. She leaned over the toilet and threw up. She grabbed a handful of her hair, trying to keep it out of her hair. She suddenly felt a hand rest on her back, rubbing small, gently circles. Hotch grabbed her hair out of her hand so she could focus on letting it all out. He held it up out of her face, still soothing her with his hand.

"I hate this, Aaron…" she growled into the toilet bowl.

"I know, but you're going to be fine, Em." He told her softly. Once she finished, she sat up and whipped her mouth with a face cloth that she had in her bathroom. She let out a sigh and evened her breathing. She slowly turned around to face Hotch. Her eyes were formed with tears from throwing up, but she wrapped her arms around him, searching for comfort. He held her tightly, feeling her bury her face into his neck. She sniffled and coughed a bit, but it didn't bother him. He just buried his face into her hair and breathed in her scent.

She pulled back a little and looked into his eyes. They were filled with happiness and she could tell that he cared for her. She smiled at him and chuckled.

"What?" he asked her, chuckling.

Emily just shook her head and scooted closer to him. She brought her hands up and held his face in her palms. She brushed the two pieces of hair that always hung down and placed them back where they were supposed to be. She brought her face closer to his and bushed her lips against his, closing her eyes and kissing him softly. Hotch was surprised at first, but slowly shut his eyes, leaning into the kiss. She quickly came to her senses and pulled back, fear burning through her eyes. She looked at him and sniffled, clearing her nose before speaking.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that. It was just…uh, the spur of the moment, I guess. I'm sorry, Aaron." She told him, trying to keep her voice steady, but failing miserably. Aaron just sat there, his gaze following her as she stood up and walked out of the bathroom. Aaron didn't move, or even flinch when she walked out. He couldn't. It was a kiss that he had wanted to have with her for a while now. And now she said it was the spur of the moment.

How could he tell her that he felt differently?

Emily walked into her bedroom and leaned her frame against the door. She slowly let her body fall to the ground and let herself cry quietly.

Why did I do that? Do I have feelings for him? I mean, he's a catch; he's tall, handsome, dark haired, he's serious but caring and lovable. He's funny and romantic, but he's not clingy. He's just so perfect. She told herself. She didn't know what was happening to her.

She heard a knock on the door. "Em, are you in there?"

She didn't answer.

"Emily, I know you're in there. I've looked around the whole apartment and this is the only room I didn't check. Please open up, Em." He begged her. She sighed heavily and made herself stand up. She slowly opened the door, not bothering to wipe the tears from her face.

"What," she snapped at him. Hotch was taken back at sudden change in attitude.

"Woah, calm down, I wasn't the one who made the first move, here Prentiss." He told her, but then suddenly felt guilty for saying it.

Emily looked at him, her eyes wide with surprise. "Oh, so now I'm Prentiss to you? I don't think you realized that you kissed me back, so I wasn't the only one enjoying it obviously. You have some nerve saying that to my face, Hotch." She spat at him. Hotch looked at her with sad eyes, guilt flooding over him.

"I'm sorry Emily, I shouldn't have said that. I just want to help you feel better and you seemed lonely." He told her truthfully.

Emily laughed at him. "That's a laugh! If you got the vibe that I was lonely, you thought wrong. I am perfectly fine living on my own. Sorry Hotch, but I don't want someone who is just going to try and make me feel better by kissing me back. You could have just pushed me away."

"Emily, don't start. Why don't we just say we both regretted it and move on like it never even happened, okay? I don't see the problem with that." He told her. Emily felt like she was about to punch him.

"If you regretted it, why did you kiss me back?"

"Emily…"

Emily let out a breath of air she had been holding in. "Just tell my why, please." She whispered to him.

"…Because I can't stand the fact of me hurting you."

Emily looked at him and felt tears forming in her eyes. She tried to rush past him, but he grabbed her and held her to his chest.

"No, leave me alone." She told him, but she didn't have enough strength to fight back at him. She gave in and sobbed into his chest, but she didn't bother wrapping her arms around him. They stood like that for a good five minutes until she broke the silence.

"I can't…" Emily whispered softly.

"You can't what Emily?" he asked her quietly.

"I can't help myself from…falling in love with you, Aaron."

Hotch tensed up and his arms tightened around her, bringing her impossibly closer.

"I lied earlier, when I said I regretted it." He told her seriously. Emily backed up and looked up at him, her framed tensing. "What do you mean?" she asked him.

"I didn't regret. I loved it."

Emily smiled and flung her arms around his neck. He smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Do you want to know why I loved it?"

Emily smiled into his shoulder. "Tell me."

Hotch chuckled. "I loved it because I have been in love with you for a long time now. I just never had to courage to tell you, until now."

Emily gasped quietly, but then burst into the biggest smiled she could possibly make. She pressed her lips to his softly and pulled back, gazing into his eyes.

"I love you too."

They both stood there, in each other's arms.

"Can we go watch Friends now?"

I got this idea from watching an episode of Dharma and Greg, but I just switched it around. Instead of Aaron being sick, Emily is sick, giving Aaron the privilege of looking after poor Em. I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. I had to put it up before I totally forgot the idea.

Let me know what you think! And while you're at it, give my other story a read! It's called Hurt So Good.

Leave a review, my lovely's