Lean On Me

Disclaimer: CBS and their affiliates own Criminal Minds...

Summary: What happens when you get a late night call after a bad case?

A/N: Here's the newest chapter, it takes place post episode "A Thin Line", enjoy.

Thanks for reading, don't forget to leave a review.

Fran Lebowitz said, "Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep."

Emily slowly but carefully rolled on to her side, mindful of the injured armed that has yet to heal.

Shaking her head, she got up groaning because of the reason for the unexpected wake up call at three in the morning.

Grumbling as she trudged slowly towards her ringing cell phone, sleep still filled her mind.

She was cursing the unwanted caller in every language known to man and some that she had made up.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," she muttered, nearly tripping over Sergio who lounged on the top stairs, "Watch it, Serge."

As she continued on down the stairs, she winced when her shin collided with the end table, "Goddamn it."

Reaching into her go bag, she pulled out the ringing device, "What?"

"Emily?" Hotch said warily, "Are you ok?"

"It's three in the morning, I nearly broke my neck over my cat getting to this phone and I was having a peaceful sleep, so you tell me?" she barked out, instantly feeling guilty.

"Sorry," Hotch murmured, "I just wanted to check up on you."

"Jeez Hotch, I'm sorry" she apologized, "It's just one of those days."

"I understand, that's why I was calling to check up," he told her, "I'll let you get back to sleep..."

"No, no. It's ok," she assured him, "Are you all right?"

Hotch chuckled at that, "Shouldn't I be asking you that? After all you were the one that got shot."

"Grazed," she corrected, smirking, "Glad to see my getting wounded on the job can make you laugh."

"Emily," he chided.

"I knew it. I knew that you knew how to say my first name," she teased, with a wry laugh, "But in all seriousness, this last case seemed to hit you hard. You know with children."

"You weren't even in the field during the Howard case," Hotch queried, puzzled, "How did you know?"

"Just because I sat at the station doing geographical profiles and fielding calls back and forth with the team and gathered information doesn't mean I'm any less of an excellent profiler," she replied.

"I'm sorry," Hotch sighed, "And I'm sorry for waking you up."

"Don't be, I needed to get up anyways. That pain medication knocked me out for a couple of hours," she told him, "But I'm awake now. Do you want to talk about it?"

She could hear his hesitation but she pressed on, "You know when you told me a few weeks ago to tell you if I'm having a bad day? That can go both ways."

"I don't want to burden you with my problems" Hotch replied, hearing the woman groan in frustration, "I mean I understand that it's hard for you to open up about this stuff..."

"Hotch, we're friends, and this is what friends do," she told him, "Being there for each other."

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"Hotch, would you be this hesitant if it were me calling you up this late because I didn't want to talk about it?" she asked "Look, I'm here and I'm up. I think it would do you some good to talk about it."

"Ok" he started, then paused, "Would you like to come over?"

That threw her, during their other late night calls, they had always taken place over the phone, not in person.

Hearing her pause, he quickly covered, "It was probably a stupid idea..."

"I'll be over," she said, standing up, "Is Jack there?"

"Yeah, but he can sleep through an earthquake, so don't worry about waking him up with the doorbell." Hotch chuckled.

"All be right there," she said, hanging up her cell phone.

She didn't know why, but her heart was pounding, and she scolded herself for her wandering mind when her friend needed her at a time of need.

Carefully putting on her zip up hoodie, she decided against wearing the sling, she didn't want the attention focused on her own pain if Hotch was in need.

Clearing her throat as she stood before his apartment door, she schooled her features remembering how he told her Jack is a heavy sleeper and rang the doorbell.

Hotch opened the door with a smile on his face, "Thanks for coming over."

"No problem" she said, walking in, trying not to show pain as she remove her hooded sweater, and setting it on the sofa, "Are you ready to talk?"

Sitting down, he patted the cushion beside him, "I guess so. Though I'm not very good at opening up about my feelings."

Snorting she shot him a look, "Tell me something I don't know."

Narrowing his eyes, "Do you want to hear about it or not?"

Taking a deep breath, she nodded, "Ok, sorry. Go ahead."

"I know this job isn't exactly easy or fun" Hotch began, then paused, "But there's only two other time that I've been scared..."

"Foyet" Emily said, nodding.

"And Doyle" Hotch said, looking over at the brunette, "Nearly losing you again, and this time to some twenty something serial killer" hitching his breath, "I couldn't breath when I got the call from Morgan that you were shot."

Furrowing her eyebrows, "I thought you couldn't sleep because of the Howard case" Emily said, "About the children?"

Nodding his head, "That's one of the reasons..." sighing, "I was lying in bed, thinking about those children and Howard and my mind thought back to all the horrific monsters out there. Howard, Trevor Mills, Doyle, Foyet..."

Emily took a deep breath, placing her warm hand on his, "They're dead now, Hotch. They can't hurt anyone ever again."

He wrapped his hand around her smaller one, taking note at just how petite his brunette agent was, and how beautiful. Even without make up, she was still beautiful.

"I know" he murmured, "I know."

She noticed that he seemed more at ease and relaxed, though he did look a little runned down, "Come on, Hotch. Lets get you to bed."

His eyebrow quirked at that, making her roll her eyes, "Not like that, you pervert."

A smirk graced his face as he stood up, but then faltered, "Do you think you can stay awhile? I don't think I could sleep unless I know you were safe, here with me."

Emily licked her lip but nodded, "Ok, this couch looks comfy enough for me..."

"No" he said, "I'm not going to let you sleep on the couch, especially not after you've been shot. You take my bed."

She opened her mouth, ready to protest, "Emily, you've got the bad arm."

"And you look like you haven't slept in a month" Emily told him ignoring the scoffed he emitted, "We're friends, so we could be professional and share the same bed without someone deciding grab ass."

Hotch chuckled at that, allowing the brunette to lead him down the hallway.

Jack awoke a few hours later, and looked at the big red digital clock, and frowned.

He didn't know why he was up but all he wanted was his dad.

Walking out of his bedroom and padding down the hall, he opened the bedroom door, pleasantly surprised to see his Emmy asleep next to his dad.

That brought a smile to the little boy's face, he loved Emily and missed her when she went into hiding.

As the small boy made his way over to the foot of the bed, he crawled on the bed between the two adult brunettes and snuggled down next to Emily.

As he was about to fall asleep he looked over at his father and noticed that the man was watching as Emily wrapped her good arm around him, pulling him close to her, and he swear he could see a smile on his face.

But Jack was far too tired to think about it, and fell asleep content between the two adults he loved more than anything else in the world and felt safe right where he was between his two favorite heroes.

"A real friend is someone who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." Walter Winchell

To Be Continued...

I hope you enjoyed this short post episode story, don't forget to leave a review