FIGHT FOR ME, CHAPTER 2
The following weeks where very rough for the ex-best-friends. Emily could not forgive Hotch for the way he had talked to her the morning after their night of passion. When she returned to work the Monday after that, she chose to ignore Hotch; actually, Emily chose to pretend he did not even exist. She remained strictly professional and when she did address him it was as "Sir". She never looked him in the eye anymore, and she would avoid being around him at all cost.
Hotch was hurting deep inside, he had lost his best friend, and he couldn't bear the pain when Emily started calling him "Sir" again. She had stopped talking to him about personal matters completely and only talked to him about work. He had also noticed Emily had changed her personal cell phone number. He had tried to call her a few times but the number he had was now disconnected; he had also tried calling her on her work cellphone, but she never answered when he called, she only answered when JJ called because she was usually the one calling her when there was a case or for work things.
He hated what he had to do, but there was no other choice. He could still taste her on his lips, he could still smell her scent when he closed his eyes and thought about that night of passion they shared. He had not forgotten how her skin felt beneath his, how her lips tasted, how her sex tasted. He couldn't stop thinking about her, he simply couldn't. On several occasions, he had woken up in the middle of the night dreaming about her, only to find himself alone in his bed with a growing erection. He knew he had to do something to get her out of his mind completely because anything between them could never be possible.
The team was having dinner at a restaurant; they hardly ever spent time together but since it was Garcia's birthday they decided to have dinner together at an Italian restaurant. Everyone was there expect for Hotch, who had agreed to go pick up Jack and then meet the team at the restaurant. Emily was, of course, relieved that he was not there. She had spent the last couple of weeks avoiding being around him at all.
The team was gathering at a table together, drinking wine and laughing at the jokes Morgan was making. It was so good for Emily to finally laugh and enjoy herself since all she had done for the last couple of weeks was cry. She was having an amazing time, at least, that was until Hotch arrived at the restaurant with Jack and none other than Beth Clemons holding his hand.
They walked in together, with Hotch holding Beth's hand, and that made Emily's heart shatter into tiny pieces again. She knew that Hotch had met Beth when he was practicing for the FBI marathon; apparently Beth was very interested in Hotch. But at the time, Hotch wasn't interested in Beth, or at least that's what he had told Emily back when they were friends. Hotch wasn't interested in Beth at all, in fact ,the only woman that was on his heart was his brunette subordinate, someone he could never have. He thought if he would start dating Beth, he could get Emily out of his head once and for all.
Jack ran toward Emily as soon as he saw her, as he had not seen her for a few weeks now. Jack adored Emily and he had asked his father continuously about her for the last two weeks. So when he saw the brunette, he couldn't help but run toward her.
"Emilyyyyyyyyy", he said, jumping into Emily's arms and hugging her around her neck.
"Hey there, buddy", she said kissing the little boy and trying to get the image she had just witnessed out of her head.
"Why haven't you come see me? I miss you", the little boy said with puppy dog eyes.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I've been really busy lately, I'll come and see you soon, ok?", she said, still not looking in Hotch's direction.
Hotch and Beth arrived to the table and the team stood up to meet the brunette that was holding Hotch's hand. Emily, however, remained seated with the little boy in her lap.
"Hey guys, sorry about the delay", Hotch said, smiling to the rest of the team.
"Guys, I want you to meet Beth, my girlfriend", he said, introducing the woman to the team.
Emily felt like a bucket of cold water was dumped on her head. She felt her eyes water, but she willed the tears to stay at bay. She remained where she was entertaining herself by playing with Jack and avoiding the scene in front of her. How could Hotch do this, how could he treat her like that...use her like a cheap whore and now parade his "girlfriend" in front of her like she didn't matter at all.
Everyone sat down at the table, and the conversation quickly started again. That was when Hotch called Jack who was still in Emily's lap to come over.
"Jack, please come and sit here by us, buddy", he asked, a little touched by how his son had remained on Emily's lap since they arrived.
"No, I want to sit here with Emmy, please daddy", he said, making his grip tighter on the brunette. Hotch just looked at him with a serious face, he didn't want to make a scene, and he knew Jack wasn't going to move from Emily's side. His son adored Emily; he knew that Jack was overjoyed when she was around. As much as he hated to shut Emily out of his life, he couldn't do the same to the little boy, so his attention went back to Beth.
The rest of the night went by with Emily still holding Jack on her lap and talking to JJ and Garcia. She had not said a word to Hotch or his female companion, or even looked in their direction, something Rossi quickly was aware off. In fact, he had been very aware of the cold front that was between two of his best friends. He knew something was wrong but he didn't want to interfere, but now watching Emily's behavior and watching Hotch continually looking in her direction, to see if she was looking at him, he knew something bad had happened between them.
Hotch kept looking into Emily's direction because he couldn't help himself, but not only had the brunette ignored him and his girlfriend the whole time they had been there, but also his son wouldn't move from her lap, he just watched her feeding her son patiently. He watched how Jack was so well behaved around Emily and how her company made the little boy mesmerized. Emily was so tender and kind with him, she always had been, and she was more tender and sweet than perhaps his own mother was. Then, for a moment, he pictured Emily holding their children and as his wife. Emily would not only be the perfect mother, she would be the perfect women and wife.
Beth was well aware of her boyfriend's eyes on the brunette, so she quickly got his attention back by running her hand through his hair and bringing his face to look at her, then she started kissing him. Hotch turned his attention back on Beth deciding to get Emily out of his head and move on.
"Mmm, you are such a great kisser Aaron", she said, looking at Emily who seem to be entertained with Jack, avoiding them completely. Hotch just laughed and keep kissing Beth and laughing with her. But he did it just to get the woman in front of him away from his head. In reality, all he could think of when he was with Beth was Emily and their night together.
I can also mention some other things you are great at", Beth added, empathizing the words and looking again in Emily's direction.
Emily never liked Beth. When Hotch talked about her, something always seemed cheesy about her, something Emily did not trust. Beth was not who Hotch thought she was, she obviously was hiding something. Emily knew it, she just knew it. But she didn't care anymore, Hotch wasn't her friend any longer so she didn't care. Emily couldn't bear the situation anymore and she excused herself to go to the bathroom, placing Jack gently on JJ's lap. She walked in to the restroom and fought to keep the tears at bay. She wasn't going let them get to her, no way!
She returned to the table telling the team an unexpected emergency had just come up and she had to leave. Rossi, however, knew exactly the reason why she was leaving. Hotch just looked at her with sad eyes. He knew he was hurting her so much, and he knew he should never have brought Beth to the dinner. He knew that Emily was going to hate him for the rest of his life. He knew he couldn't do anything about it now, it was just too late. Emily grabbed her purse and coat, and said goodbye to everyone except Hotch and his girlfriend. But Jack, however, didn't like the idea of his Emily leaving and ran to her crying and clung to her.
"Emmy, I don't want you to go, please ….don't leave…", the little boy said, crying and holding her close. Emily felt horrible; she couldn't stand Jack crying like that. She knelt down in front of Jack.
"Sweetheart, you know I love you with all my heart, and I hate leaving you, but I have a problem and I have to go", she said, holding him to her and pleading with Jack.
"Can I come with you then, please Emmy please I want to be with you please….", he said, tears still rolling down his eyes.
"No Jack, I would love to take you with me but I can't, but I promise you that you and I will spent time together soon, ok", Jack, just shook his head "no", and crying some more.
"Please, sweetie, I need you to be good and understand this. Can you be a good boy for me, Jack….?" – Jack finally nodded, still crying. Hotch came around and grabbed Jack's hand, making eye contact with Emily for the first time in weeks. The look in Emily's eyes was pure hatred. Hotch felt his heart break into a million pieces. Emily stood up and just glared at him, then she kissed Jack on the forehead and turned around.
Rossi stood up as well and walked toward Emily.
"Em, let me walk you to your car please", She nodded and turned around before Rossi could see the tears forming in her eyes.
Hotch brought Jack to sit between him and Beth. She smiled at the boy and tried to grab him and place him on her lap to comfort him.
"You can sit with me, Jack, come here..", She said in a friendly tone.
"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME... I ONLY LIKE TO SIT WITH EMMY…"- he said, pushing Beth away from him.
"JACK! DO NOT BE RUDE TO BETH", Hotch said, reprimanding the little boy.
"I want Emmy….."- Jack said, starting to cry again and moving away from Hotch and Beth. Everyone just watched astonished at what had just happen.
Garcia came over and lifted Jack to take him with her, obviously knowing that he didn't want to be around his father's new girlfriend. Hotch just watched Jack curling into Garcia's lap, crying for Emily. His son was also hurting because of what was going on between him and Emily and that hurt him even more. It was definitely going to be super hard to get Emily away from Jack's life.
Outside on the parking lot, Rossi walked Emily to his car; the brunette turned around once they were next to her car.
"Thank you Dave, you didn't had to walk me out here…", her eyes were evidently watery.
"You aren't the only one that doesn't like her Em, trust me…", he said, touching her arm softly. Emily, however, pretended she had no idea what Rossi was talking about.
"What happen between you and him Em?", he asked, concern across his face. Emily knew she couldn't lie to David.
"It doesn't matter Dave", she said, looking away, a single tear rolling from her eyes.
"What did he do to you Em, I swear to God I will beat the hell out of him"- Dave spat angrily.
"Thank you for everything Dave, but I don't want to talk about this, let's just say he is just not who I thought he was", she said, in a quiet voice.
"If you need anything or anyone I'm here, you know that Em, you are like a daughter to me..", He said holding her hands.
"I know Dave, thank you so much. I will be ok". She hugged David and kissed him on the cheek then got in her car and drove off.
She felt the tears run freely from her eyes, and she swore to herself that she would never fall in love again. She swore she would never let anyone close enough to her to let that happen. She let her guard down, and now she had her heart broken because once again she had fallen in love with the wrong guy. Although this time she wasn't sure she would recover, she had never loved someone so intensely as Hotch