So, there it is: The follow-up story to "Disgust"
Enjoy! (and review!)
When Aaron Hotchner entered his office, he wasn`t surprised to find the small lamp on the answering machine of his work phone blinking. After what had happened to Emily this weekend, he had been pretty sure she would take a few days off to sort things out. Hotch sighed.
He had walked her to the door of her apartment because he had wanted to make sure she got home safely and - to be honest - because he had hoped she`d invite him in. However, Emily had just quickly sneeked inside, murmurring what he interpreted as "thank you". Hotch had been standing in front of her apartment for quite some time, trying to decide whether he should ring the doorbell or call her and - well, just be there for her. After a while, his phone had buzzed, indicating he had received a text message. It read: "Please leave, Aaron. I'm fine"
He'd called her immediately after receiving her text, knowing she was not fine at all. To his surprise, she had actually accepted his call, but just to whisper two words before she ended the call again: "I`m sorry..." Her voice was so shaky he knew - just knew - she was crying. He'd called her back a few times, trying to find out what she was apologizing for, but his calls had gotten straight to voice mail. He`d never left a message, not knowing what to say. He wanted her to know that he was there for her, that she didn`t have to go through this all by herself. He had wanted her to know that what had happened was not her fault, that there was no reason to blame, to hate herself. But instead of calling her again and again, Hotch had decided to give her some time. So after a while, he had actually left, not wanting to pressure her, figuring - hoping!- that she'd contact him if she needed him.
As far as he could tell, Emily would take a few days, maybe even a week off before even considering returning to work, facing everybody - especially him. They were profilers - she knew they would notice even the slightest changes in her behavior and draw their own conclusions, so she would want to make sure it wasn`t completely obvious that she had spent the past nights crying herself to sleep. Of course they were also her friends, but she was still Emily Prentiss - and Emily Prentiss was too proud to have anyone doubt that she was not invincible after all...
Hotch sighed again and pressed the voicemail button on the phone on his desk. "You have - one - new message. Message one: today, 3:46 am". Beep. "Hotch?" He was surprised to hear JJ`s voice instead of Emily`s. "It`s JJ, as you can probably still hear. I can`t come to work tomorrow - well, today. Whatever. Henry has been sick all weekend, and now Will and I are, too. I`m pretty sure you don`t want to hear the details... I`m sorry - I`ll be back as soon as I can!" The familiar beep resonated though the office, indicating the end of the voicemail. The shrill, automated voice announced: "You have - zero - new messages".
That was when Hotch started being seriously worried about Emily - because apart from being proud, she was also reliable: No matter what - if Emily was not going to show up for work (which had only happened once or twice in the past years), she`d give him a call. Unless...