Hotch was sitting at his desk doing the perfect impression of someone hard at work. Work was the last thing on his mind that day; it was Emily's last day in the BAU, in his team, well last day was now the last hour. He couldn't believe that she was actually leaving, it wasn't real. He knew full well that she had her reasons, and he understood them; she had never recovered from the Doyle incident and the job wasn't exactly helping, he also suspected that with a less stressful and time consuming job she would begin to file for an adoption as she had hinted at it a couple of times in the past month. He got stuck onto the thought of Emily as a mom, in a house chasing after and laughing with a little dark haired girl who called her Mommy, the image caused a dreamy smile to cross his face, he really did want to see her happy.

"Hey. Hello. Hotch. Hotch?" When he finally pulled himself back into the present he found one Emily Prentiss standing in front of him calling his name, with a rather worried look on her face.

"Sorry, I must have drifted off for a minute"

"Well, wherever it was it looked like a nice place" that made Hotch cough awkwardly, "anyway, I have my finished paperwork for my resignation, it's official that I am no longer a BAU employee" Emily squeezed her lips together to try to stop herself from crying at that. It was her choice to leave but that didn't make it any easier, it was killing her, simple as that. "I've never hated paperwork this much before".

"I can always save you by shredding it" he half-joking offered. 'Please change your mind' he pleaded with her in his head. Her response was to shake her head sadly and look down at her shoes. They both knew that her decision was final, it was just hard admitting it.

"I am going to miss you...it...everything here so much" she was literally begging herself not to let the tears fall. This was the hardest goodbye to say out of all of them. Aaron Hotchner was the man who had known her years ago as she disobeyed her mother while packing for college, the man who had let her onto this team and into their family, he had given her a chance. It was with him that she had found someone just like her, someone who preferred to keep things to themselves instead of bothering others, over the years they had perfected a non-verbal means of communication which was the envy of the rest of the team. They always knew what the other was thinking, always knew the right thing to say to help; it was never spoken about but they knew that their pairing was without a doubt one of a kind. How was she supposed to tell him this? Words really were not a strong point for her today, the first goodbye she had tried to have with Dave had been completely pointless as they both ended up in tears just holding each other, although he had tried to sneak in a rather generous financial bribe to stay.

"We'll miss you too Emily" her inner teenager loved the way that he said her name.

"I really mean it, I can't even comprehend living without you, even when I was in Paris I had you and JJ. There are a million things I wanted to say to you" she began to pick at her nails, wanting to say the right thing but worrying that it would come out wrong.

"I can probably guess them" he said with a wry smile, the unshakable Aaron Hotchner was getting a tightening feeling in his chest, saying goodbye to Emily wasn't something he had ever planned or wanted to do, and it turns out that it's even harder than he imagined it would be.

"Probably, you always could, I hate that" they both chuckled lightly. "I have to tell you something, and please don't interrupt me, I really want you to know this" she waited for him to nod his assent before continuing. "In my mind, I owe you so much. By letting me onto your team five years ago you made me a part of this family and I am so grateful for that, the years I have spent here and the people I have come to love have become my family and my home. The last thing I want to do is leave this all behind, but it's for the best. The BAU, this family will always be in my heart and a piece of me will always be here. The agent you hire to replace me, just a piece of advice, don't compare her to me and give her a chance to prove herself." On finishing her speech, she took a couple of deep breaths in order to maintain composure.

"No one can replace you Em. I hope you know that we all feel the same, you are family. You don't owe me anything though, you worked hard to get your place on this team, you were so determined to be here and how was I supposed to say no to that?" Hotch smiled, reminiscing about that day all those years ago when she had turned up and stubbornly refused to leave. He was an idiot for letting her leave now but he had no choice, her leaving would make his days a little less bright and the team a little emptier. Hotch leaned forward and patted her gently on the hand, he wasn't good with words but she knew that about him. A comfortable silence followed which was heavy with sadness, both thinking about the loss in their lives that was about to happen, and wanting to say so badly how much they meant to each other, hoping that the other knew.

"And I just wanted to say thank you for saving me" Emily told him firmly, wanting at least to tell him that clearly.

"You saved me first" He replied with a sad smile, referring to the Foyet era of terror, she was always there for him. "You know, just because you are walking out of this job doesn't mean you're walking out on us again, the team I mean."He said pointedly.

"I couldn't do that again if I tried, I think Pen tricked me into swallowing a tracking device with my food earlier" she said frowning, the bagel she had been given earlier was now a suspect.

"That sounds about right. I am serious though"

"You're always serious" He smiled at that.

"You will always have us, any time and any place. You will always have me" Hotch said sincerely, the admission of his loyalty to her brought tears to her eyes. They had always had this certain bond, Pen would have called it destiny or soul mates or something else hopelessly romantic, and she knew that it was he that she would miss most of all from the BAU. She looked him straight in the eyes and feeling that this was her last chance, and she had the real possibility of avoiding him forever if he took it badly, she stepped closer towards him until she could smell his aftershave. Without breaking eye contact, Emily took a breath, and then leant up to kiss him. It was a gentle, sweet kiss, which once he realised what was actually happening, he kissed her back and gently wrapped his arms around her waist. It only lasted a moment before she stepped back and his arms fell back down to his sides.

"Always?" Emily asked hesitantly, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Always have, always will" he replied with a rare smile of pure happiness.

"See you later Aaron" with those words Emily gave him one last smile, turned her back and left his office. Hotch watched her leave, sadness taking hold of him at the thought of her no longer being there, and also the strongest determination to indeed, see her later.

After all, the fraternization rule was no longer applicable.