This Life
Disclaimer: CBS is the sole proprietor of everything connected to Criminal Minds. Yep, that's right.
Summary: Emily's life changes after a near death experience...
A/N: This was a little something that popped into my head, I hope you all enjoy it.
Thanks for reading, don't forget that reviews are loved too.
Oscar Wilde said, "Society only exists as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals."
Emily ignored the ringing cell phone as she drove out of the parking garage of the county lock up that she had just given a witness statement for. She didn't need to look at it to know who it was.
Hotch, of course. The man had been more clingy to her ever since they started dating and that didn't sit well with the brunette agent.
She knew that, that was just his protective nature, and that the Alpha male in him would want to protect what was his. But it made her feel inferior and second guess herself.
Emily looked over at the ringing device and hit ignore. She knew she should talk to him, but right now she couldn't. Her mind was still very jumbled from her witness interview.
And the idea of being locked in a room with a brother of their possible unsub made her skin crawl.
Hotch was supposed to be on this interview with her. But luckily for her, he got called in at the last minute, and she took off for the interview before he could assign Morgan or Dave to join her.
And that was what she regretted, not having someone to share the horrors of interviewing a sexual sadist who eyed her like a prime steak.
Starting the engine, she felt a nagging notion that she forgot something important about this case, and since she was without her regular case file she'd just have to wait until she got back to the BAU.
Once again her cell phone rang, and she hit ignore on the latest Hotchner call.
"Sorry Aaron" she murmured to herself, "But I think this might be the end."
She loved Hotch, but she was tired of being smothered by his incessant hovering and it was something she definitely could live without.
Emily turned the signal left on the blinker waiting for the light to turn red, when she saw in the rear view mirror a black van behind her flash their high beams.
Groaning she shut her eyes, and turned her gaze back to the road.
"Do not engage them, Prentiss" she chastised herself, shaking her head noticing that the light had changed to green.
As she turned left in her SUV, she noticed that the van behind her was moving at a slow pace following right behind her.
"Move around, douche bag" Emily muttered, groaning when the headlights beamed against her rear view mirror, "Again? God, what a dick."
As she flicked the tail light to turn onto the bridge she felt the van bump the back of her SUV, making the brunette look back in annoyance and fear.
"So that's how it's going to be?" she muttered, hitting the accelerator to go a bit faster and was once again rammed from behind causing her to slide the SUV as she went up the hill on the bridge.
As she maneuvered the car back into position, quickly looked in the rear view mirror again she grinned when the truck slowed while she floored her foot on the gas pedal but ended up colliding with garbage truck which shoved the smaller SUV into the guard rails falling off the bridge.
The last thought before the SUV hit the water was, how ironic that she got hit by a garbage truck.
"Are you sure you're alright, Emily?" Morgan asked, watching the brunette place an ice pack on her head, "Maybe you should go to the hospital to have that bumped checked out."
"I'm fine, Morgan I swear" Emily said, lifting the pack from her head, "I'm more pissed off that the van got away."
"You didn't catch that license plate did you?" he asked, looking over to see the arrival of Hotch and a worried Dave.
"Not all of it" Emily said, "It was a black van, probably about ten years old, and the license number was 2ZPD, that's all I got."
"That's more than enough," Morgan told her dropping a protective kiss on her forehead, "Keep icing that lump ok?"
"Sure thing, Dr. Morgan," she teased.
As Morgan moved over to Dave, Hotch came over to her. It was obvious that the man was beyond pissed but she never thought that the anger would be directed at her. At least not for getting into an accident.
"Hey," she said, looking up at him, "I'm fine."
"Good," he said, before taking a seat next to her on the bumper of the ambulance, "We need to talk."
"Ok," she said, turning to face him, "What's up?"
"Not now" Hotch told her, "Tonight after work."
"Oh, ok" she told him, "Thank God, I left my go bag at work."
Hotch gave her a look before nodding and standing up, "I'll see you back later."
Emily frowned at his behavior, she mentally cataloged what could be wrong, and couldn't come up with a single reason. Well other than her car going over the bridge with her inside.
"Hotch?" Emily asked, "Are you all right?"
Giving her a dismissive look, "I'm fine, Prentiss."
That plunged a knife straight to her heart, hearing him speak to her in that clipped tone. It felt almost as though they had started all over again with her on the outside of the team.
"Come on, Princess" Morgan said wandering over, "I'll give you a ride to back to the BAU to pick up your car."
"Can you just drive me home?" she asked her friend, "I can take a cab into work on Monday."
"Sure thing, Em" Morgan said, extending a hand to the brunette and helping her down from the ambulance over to the Bureau issued SUV.
Walking into her apartment, she dropped the go bag by the door, and vowed to herself to pick up coffee for Morgan on Monday as payment for running in and grabbing it from the locker room.
As she toed off the now wet boots she slowly trudged upstairs to her bedroom.
She could already feel the pain from the crash hit her body, and for a moment she paused staring at her empty and cold room.
It all felt different, like something was off but she couldn't for the life of her place it as she tossed her soaked and dirty clothes into the laundry basket, she wondered what was different.
As she zipped up her hoodie jacket, she could hear her doorbell ring downstairs and quickly looked over at her clock.
Eleven at night. It had to be him, she thought with a smile as she slowly made her way down the stairs towards the front door and opening it.
"Aaron" Emily greeted with a smile, "Hey, there."
"May I come in?" Hotch asked in a stand-offish tone, making the brunette frown but nod, as she moved to let him in.
"Are you all right?" Emily asked, "You've been kind of off for a few hours now."
Hotch turned staring at her as he stood in the middle of the living room, "No, no I'm not all right."
Emily backed up, "What is it? What's wrong?"
Hotch shoved his hands into his pockets, while he lightly shook his head, "This, this thing between us. It's not working out."
Emily felt like the wind got knocked out of her hearing that, "What? Why?"
Hotch looked up at her, "As much as I love you and care about you, you take too many risks Emily. You never think about the consequences to those risks."
"Aaron, if this is about the car crash" Emily started licking her lips, "Then you don't have to worry, two crashes in one lifetime is enough for me."
Shooting her a look that read he wasn't amused with her sarcasm, she sighed, "You're really breaking up with me aren't you?"
He gave a sharp nod, then removed his hands from his pockets and rubbed his hands together. That to her was his only indication he was nervous.
"It's not that I don't love you" he reminded her, "I just cant trust you to keep yourself safe, and in a relationship, trust is everything."
"I know that" she said, trying to control her breaking heart, "This is more than just my car crash right?"
"Yes" Hotch said, taking a deep breath, "I wanted to go with you to the interview at the prison, but since I couldn't go I wanted you to go with Morgan or Dave."
"I'm sorry, Aaron" she whispered, sitting down on her couch not looking at his face, "I thought I could handle it myself."
Hotch turned fully to face her, "I'm not just talking as your boyfriend, I'm talking as your boss. You nearly got killed again, Prentiss. You ignored my calls and look what happened. If that pedestrian didn't call for help? You would've drowned."
"You think I don't know that?" she told him, "You want to know why I ignored your calls? Because you were smothering me, and I usually don't mind it when it's during our off hours but on the job? It makes me feel like you don't trust my judgement. Like you regret bringing me back on to the team."
"I never regretted your return to the BAU" Hotch told her, "You're an excellent agent and a value to the team."
Emily covered her mouth with her hands groaning in frustration, "Do you even hear yourself? You sound like you're scripted, Hotch. Just be real with me. Do you want to break up with me?"
"Yes" Hotch said, honestly, "Trust is a two-way street, you expect us to trust you and have your back? Then you need to trust me to keep you safe and that includes going off by yourself when you know that I always want two agents on prison interviews."
Emily licked her lower lip, resisting the urge to play with her fingernail, "I understand. If that's the choice you want, I can't convince you otherwise."
Hotch took a deep breath, "I'll always care about you, Emily, never forget that."
"Me too" she said, feeling him drop a kiss to her forehead.
"Good night" he told her.
"Night" she mumbled, hearing the door close and she looked up to her dark and empty apartment.
As the brunette took a deep breath, she felt like she was being smothered, finding it hard to breath and could feel tears falling down her face.
"Emily..." she heard, looking up at the door, wandering over to it, "Emily!"
As she opened the door she could hear loud noises and a bright light and her name.
"Emily, stay with me," she heard and could now identify the noise as a helicopter.
"Come on," she heard, but couldn't make a sound as she felt someone pressing down on her chest.
Suddenly she felt water escape her throat making her cough it up, while a blanket wrap around her and as she was carried on to a gurney.
"Emily," the voice repeated, "Emily open your eyes, it's me."
"Aaron?" she croaked out, opening her eyes to see Hotch leaning down next to her, "What happened?"
"You were hit by a truck and the SUV was thrown into the embankment below," he said, nodding at the small patch of stream below the bridge, "It's a miracle you survived."
She turned her head as the gurney was wheeled into the back of the ambulance and saw Morgan and Dave with relief on their faces, while Hotch climbed into the ambulance beside her.
"Aaron," she whispered, reaching for his warmer hand, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry."
"For what?" Hotch said, kissing her hand and holding it to his cheek, "Sweetie what's wrong?"
As she tried to take a deep, she felt the pain shoot through her and Hotch kissed her forehead then wiped away a loose strand of wet hair.
"I'm sorry that I didn't answer your phone calls" Emily told him, "And I'm really sorry that I went on the witness interview instead of waiting for you, or Morgan and Dave."
He shook his head, giving her a small smile, "It's ok, I trust you."
"We're going to take her to the hospital now" the paramedic said, "So you might want to sit down."
"Ok" Hotch said, taking a seat next to the medic.
"I love you, Aaron" Emily said, clearing her throat while the EMT looked her over.
"I love you too" Hotch said, taking hold of her hand, he planned to never let her go, ever again.
"Sometimes I'm confused by what I think is really obvious. But what I think is obvious obviously isn't obvious." Michael Stipe
THE END
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