Chapter 3 - Keep Me Safe
"I really could do with Prentiss' back up on this." Morgan tried to convince Hotch for the millionth time in a minute.
"No, Morgan. She is doing some stuff at the station." Hotch's glare told Morgan to stop persisting and just leave it alone. Guns and torches out, all four men entered the dark building, no one sure who would return.
"Hey, Em." Emily's head rested heavily against her own hand, as she lay fast asleep. Her other hand, unseen, under the table, was holding onto her stomach. The pregnancy was taking a lot out of her, and Emily was getting more and more exhausted by the day. Hotch could clearly see that. To keep her out of danger, he kept her at the station, not wanting her to go into any danger at the minute. "Emily." JJ smirked slightly at her sleeping friend, and shook her shoulder which had now healed. Emily woke up with a start, her heart racing in her chest, as she quickly grabbed for her gun. "Emily, calm down, it's me, JJ." She watched as Emily's hands moved away from her gun and her hand released from her stomach. "You okay?" JJ asked, a look of concern on her face.
"Yeah, sorry, just tired." She looked down and looked back up once she felt a little more alive. "What did you want?" She gave JJ her best smile which only made her more concerned.
"Nothing. I was just going to tell you the boys caught him, and we have to get our go-bags." Emily nodded.
"Just give me a sec to pack all this up and I'll meet you out at the SUV." As Emily gathered all of the files on the table in front of her, she felt her body weaken. God, she was exhausted. At least she could sleep on the short, hour flight home. And tonight, she would have her own bed back and she could finally get comfortable. But for now, it was just a nap in the car.
The black car seemed to be warm, boiling in fact. JJ had the heating blasting on hot as Emily sat in the passenger seat. She was oblivious to anything the blonde was doing as she slept against her arm on the window. It was not a long sleep before she felt someone shake her awake again. The cool air was in no comparison to the heat in the car. She shivered as the air filled her lungs and hit her body. As she breathed out, it was so cold that her breath was visible. The plane was reasonably cold, although not as cold as outside and Emily felt herself slip into the nearest available seat and she sunk into a deep sleep without a single word.
"Is she okay?" JJ asked, after spending the whole afternoon with her she realised that Emily was not her usual self.
"Yeah, she's fine." Hotch replied.
"Really, Hotch, 'cause it's barely one in the afternoon and she is fast asleep." Morgan added.
"She's been doing a lot this case, she barely slept." Hotch answered back, feeling as though he was getting a grilling.
"Really, Hotch, 'cause I haven't saw her lift a finger!" Morgan raised his voice but was shot down by JJ.
"She has been working a lot. She's had a ton of things she has been doing." She informed him.
"Yeah, but we could have done with her on the field today!" Morgan said even louder, so loud they were all surprised that Emily did not wake up.
"Look at her, she is exhausted, that could have lead to a major mistake!" Rossi now added, and everyone fell silent, all knowing it was true.
The hour passed as quick as the argument, and before they knew it they had landed. Last on the plane was Morgan, Hotch and the still sleeping Emily.
"I'm sorry, Hotch." Morgan apologised.
"It's okay, we've all been stressed on this case." He explained and Morgan agreed. Knowing that it was Morgan and Emily he was sharing an SUV with, Hotch gently woke Prentiss up and all left for the car.
At the BAU, everyone was busily getting on with paperwork when JJ swiftly left her office going into Hotch's. They all knew what this meant.
"Uh-oh, I guess we have a case." Reid commented.
"Tough luck, Princess, no bed for a while." Morgan gave a little laugh in amusement at Emily's glare. Hotch's office door opened and he and JJ walked out with speed. JJ went into the conference room and Hotch stood up on the balcony. He called over to the team:
"Conference room in 2." Within a second of saying the words, he leaves and re-enters his office. The team knew that despite being closest to the conference room, he would be the one there last.
They were, of course, right, as only a couple of minutes after they arrived, Hotch walked in with a ton of files and he handed them out. The brief was, as usual, descriptive and disgusting, mutilated bodies everywhere. However, no matter how disgusting the place was, Emily still felt herself falling slowly asleep, her eyes struggling to stay open.
"Wheels up in…" Hotch began to say, but a look at Emily's face filled him with sympathy and he surrendered. "Who am I kidding? We'll take off seven tomorrow?" He asked, and everyone agreed.
It took a while for the room to clear out, but when it did it was just him and Emily again. Emily, who was already asleep against her hand softly, emitted a soft snore making Hotch look at her with a small smile on his face; she was so beautiful when she slept. He wished to watch her sleeping forever, but that was not possible, not with the relationship they had. He was her boss, nothing more on a normal day. Luckily, today was hardly a normal day, it had not been normal for some time, especially since he was the only one who knew about the baby. He now found himself checking on her on a daily basis at the office, making sure she had eaten the right food, or any food at all, and he also found himself going to crime scenes with her more often, just to get her away from the rest of the gang's prying eyes. Hotch, as much as he hated and loved it, had to admit, he had been spending a lot of time with Prentiss, far more than he had spent with his son over the past few weeks, but he also was growing to know that Jack, too, was beginning to love Emily. Shaking her shoulder carefully; scared if it was still sore from the last incident, he tried to wake her gently up, not wanting her to head butt him again.
"Prentiss…" He quietly said, hating the fact that he still had to use her last name, but it was at work, professional was his middle name and he was not giving that up, so instead, he was willing to use that name. "Prentiss…" He repeated with a harder shake of the shoulder. Instead of startling the raven-haired woman awake, her eyes just fluttered open to meet his.
"I fell asleep again, didn't I?" She asked, drowsily with a sleepy smirk.
"Yes, you did." Hotch could not help but smirk back and laugh through his nose. "C'mon, let's drive you home." He helped her up.
"God, Hotch, if you carry on driving me home, I might forget how to drive." She teased and Hotch saw her wobble in her sleepy state and his arm instantly went around her waist to hold her up.
"How long have you been awake for?" He asked her and looked into Emily's watery eyes; she had just yawned.
"I don't know." Was the only response she gave him along with a second yawn.
"Prentiss, you were meant to sleep. I kept you at the station so you could go to the hotel and sleep!" His tone raised and Emily was glad they were still in the conference room where no one could hear them.
"Look, Hotch, you keep me at the station, making me feel worthless anyway, so I try to do some more work, but putting all the hours in makes me feel like I am doing something to help!" She matched his volume.
"Emily," he now used her real name, to show her his concern. "The case doesn't need you as much as that baby does, and for as long as you are still working on cases, I need you to put that baby first, because sometimes I may not be there to tell you to get to bed." After an exhausted nod from Emily, he surrendered. "C'mon now, home to bed." A sleepy smile filled her face.
The car journey went silently, but Emily remained awake. Even though her exhaustion was over the limit, she was starving. And every so often her stomach would rumble. This last time, however, Hotch spoke up.
"When was the last time you ate?" He asked, and Emily gave an un-audio able answer. "What, Prentiss?" He asked again.
"I'll eat something when I get in." She informed him, changing her previous answer.
"Like what?" He asked, his speed changing as he almost neared her turning.
"Just some leftovers from the fridge or something fast." And that was all he needed, as he drove past the turning.
"Hotch, where the hell are you going?" She glared at him, now fully awake.
"Back to mine. You can sleep until dinner's done and then you can have some proper food." He told her, and carried on driving.
"I don't need you to look after me, Hotch!" She shouted.
"Well someone needs to!" He carried on driving and the car fell silent again.
Prentiss' hand stayed on her stomach, a saddened look on her face. Had she really been that bad? Not even looking after her own baby. Lost in her thoughts, her eyes began to fall and she fell into a deep sleep once again.
Hotch pulled into his driveway and saw the lights on, he smile slightly and felt relieved that Jack was still awake, and he would be able to tuck him into bed. He also knew, that an argument should not happen, not now, they were all to drained for arguments. Deciding that it was better not to bring Emily into it, he left his car, leaving the heating on and entered the house. The door opened and he felt Jack's eyes on him.
"Daddy!" The little boy shouted and ran from his place at the dinner table into his dad's arms.
"Hey, I came home to tuck you in!" He gave him a small kiss on the cheek, "Go on back to dinner." He said as he felt Jessica near him.
"You're late." Was the first thing she said.
"What are you, my parole officer?" He joked, and Jessica scoffed at him. "Thanks for giving him dinner." He tried to make the conversation slightly more nice.
"Yeah, whatever, it's not my job." She started to say.
"Not your job, Jessica, you're his Aunt, looking after him is your job!" He shouted back, but regretted it soon after. "Look, thanks for feeding him." He opened the door and watched her leave before saying. "We have a case tomorrow morning, so Jack will need picking up from school." He told her, the scold she gave him was un-missable, and even Jack was startled by it.
"D'you want some chicken dinosaur, Daddy?" Jack asked sweetly, with a kind smile.
"No thank you, mister. I'm going to have dinner with a friend today." He saw Jack's eyes light up at the thought of company.
"Who?" He was now teetering at the edge of his seat.
"Well, she's nice… and tall…" Jack's eyes lit up more and more and his smile grew wider.
"Em'ly?" Hotch nodded. "Where is she?" He asked, looking as if he needed to go to the toilet he was bouncing around on his seat that much.
"She's out in the car, but she's asleep because she's very sleepy, so you need to be quiet while I bring her in, alright?" He asked, and Jack nodded. Another kiss to his forehead and Hotch left the house.
Opening the car door was proving to be difficult as Emily had leaned herself against it heavily in her sleep and once he finally managed to pry it open, he had to shift her weight into his arms so her head was on his shoulder. But after that was alright, his hand hooked under her legs and he carefully carried her into the house, locking the car with further difficulty along the way. Jack's face was even brighter as he saw his father carrying Emily into the house and as Hotch carried her upstairs he followed hot on his heels. Carefully, he placed her in the bed and slipped her shoes off with ease, placing her underneath the blanket, he adjusted the pillows slightly. The most adorable moment came when Jack brought his favourite teddy bear in and placed it on the bed next to her. Hotch passed him a confused look.
"Why have you given her your teddy?" He asked, taking off his tie.
"Because I can't sleep without him, I think he should look after Emily tonight." The smile beamed on his son's face, and Hotch's face mirrored his, seeing how sweet he was being.
"Alright then, go downstairs and finish your dinner."
A kiss was placed on his Jack's head as Hotch tucked him in. Frantically, the young boy looked around for his bear, but remembered where it was.
"Do you want me to get him back from my room for you?" Hotch asked, knowing how reliant he was on this bear. Much to his surprise, Jack shook his head.
"Night Daddy. Love you." He smiled. As he saw a shadow in the doorway, his smile got even bigger. "Em'ly!"
"Hey, little man." She entered the room, giving Hotch a sleepy smile. "I felt like someone needed to come home for the night, I think he missed you." She passed the bear back to Jack.
"He did?" Jack asked as he took the bear into his arms and Emily nodded.
"C'mon now, sleep." Hotch said as he switched the main light off. Emily gave Jack a kiss, then the bear before whispering her good nights and leaving before Hotch.
Walking down the stairs she smelled the wonderful dinner, which only made her stomach rumble more. She felt a hand on her back which sent her mind tingling. A smile grew wider on her face as Hotch escorted her to her chair and helped her to sit. He brought over a glass of cold water and then set up her dinner plate with pasta. Before sitting down himself with his dinner. He had to laugh slightly as Emily practically devoured her food with her eyes alone, and within seconds she was eating it all down.
"I'm guessing Baby is very hungry." He commented and smiled at her, and Emily smiled back.
"Sorry. It's a great dinner. Delicious." She commented. Hotch laughed slightly and went back to eating some of his dinner.
"God, I need the bathroom." She looked into his eyes and excused herself to go to the small downstairs toilet. As she stood up, she tugged on part of the table cloth, pulling, and spilling, all of the drinks on the table. Hotch, who stupidly had picked grape juice, cursed. "Sorry, Hotch!" She apologised and handed him a towel. He took it and began dabbing himself dry.
"It's alright, Em. Go to the toilet, I'm just going upstairs to get changed into something else." Nodding, Emily felt herself blush a bright pink shade and to cover it up she just walked into the toilet.
She heard the shower begin to run as she left the bathroom, and found the table still in the same mess as before. Watching for any spilled bits, she walked around the table and began clearing away and fixing the mess she had made. Taking each cup and plate away to the sink and then using a cloth to take the initial dampness away from the table cloth, she then picked that off and threw it into the laundry basket before going over to the sink and washing the dishes. She sat at the table for a while longer, but her eyes began shutting again and she knew she should not sleep there so instead, she lay herself on the couch, and tried to fill her mind with other thoughts to stop herself from sleeping. The first one, of course, was about how long Hotch actually took in the shower. He could shower for the whole of America in that time! But again, she felt her eyes drop and she slowly fell into a light sleep. That's when she heard it, a creak on one of the stairs. But the shower was still running, and Hotch would still be in it. Her hand reached to her side to find her gun, and she held onto it tightly as she peeled open her eyes. Immediately, she relaxed as she saw the littlest Hotchner on the bottom step. Her smile became comforting.
"Hey, little man, what are you doing up?" She asked, quietly and opened her arms to invite him over to the couch with her. "What are you doing up?" She asked, cradling him in her arms as he sat on her.
"I had a nightmare." He told her and Emily could not help but smile.
"Awh, it's okay, do you want to talk about it?" She asked, pulling him in closer.
"The bad guy got daddy, just like he got mommy." Tears welled up in his eyes. Emily gave him a kiss on the cheek and smiled slightly.
"You know the bad guy will never get daddy. Not while I'm here, and not while you're here. I promise." Jack gave a small nod and nestled further into Emily's body. "Do you want me to take you back to bed?" She asked him, but the young boy protested, with a quick head shake. "Alright, just stay here with me then. Daddy's in the shower." She smiled, "Shall we get a DVD or something." She asked and Jack looked into her eyes.
"Monsters Inc. is in the player already!" He said excited and looking at her as if she was silly.
"Alright then." Emily reached over to the table and grabbed the remote before moving to make herself and Jack comfortable, she turned the TV on and then pressed play.
Hotch finally left the shower and walked into his bedroom, he hoped to see that Emily had fallen back asleep on his bed, but, much to his dismay, she was not there. Hotch knew he would not be amused if he found her asleep on the uncomfortable couch. An even quieter noise warmed him into the room and he saw the TV playing Monsters Inc. He knew the film must have only been ten minutes in. Smiling, he walked around the couch and saw Prentiss and Jack cuddled up on the couch. Emily's arms wrapped around Jack in a way to form a blanket of warmth around him. The smile grew wider as he attempted to detach his son from Emily, when he finally managed to, he carried him upstairs and settled him back down in the bed. Coming back down the stairs, he sighed; there was no way he could leave Emily sleeping there, but she also looked so peaceful. Gently, he shook her shoulder with one hand and turned the TV off with the other.
"Em." He crouched down to her level and shook her shoulder again, he watched as her eyes fluttered open and she searched around for Jack in a flurry. "Sshh, he's in bed, I took him back to bed." Emily nodded.
"Alright, I'm gonna go call a taxi to take me home." She began to stand up but Hotch stopped her.
"No, do not be stupid, Emily. Go up to my bed, sleep there." He instructed, not really giving her an option.
"But I have no clothes or anything." She looked at him.
"I am certain your go bag will have some." He said and fetched his keys from the kitchen to go and open the car.
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" She smiled and watched from the doorway as he brought her go bag in. The cold night air had surely woken her up, but probably only for a moment. Taking the bag and looking through it on the couch. Finding a set of plain blue bottoms and a white top, she decided that that would be fine, it would be the first time she had ever wore them anyway as they never really slept while on an away case… Hotch was soon about to change that too. "These are fine." She smiled slightly.
"There you go then. Goodnight Agent Prentiss." As she walked up the stairs, the pyjamas in her hand, she glared at him.
"None of that, Sir." He glared back at her, and laughed slightly. Both of them had kicked their habit of calling each other Agent Prentiss and Sir. Originally, Hotch had to kick the habit of calling her Prentiss, but that was taking a little longer, so she was happy with this for now.
Hotch found himself, at three in the morning, checking on his son. He never normally did this, probably because he was fast asleep, but tonight, he felt the need to check on his son… and if he happened to check on Emily while he was there, then that was just meant to be. And, of course, he managed to peel open his bedroom door, little enough to not let in too much light and disturb Prentiss, but enough for him to see she was fine. One hand rested against her stomach, the other on top of the blanket. Her brow was creased in frustration, and she made a move in her bed that looked like she was in distress, Hotch knew in that moment, that Emily had been plagued by the same thing his son had been; nightmares. Hotch learned that after last time, waking a sleeping Emily was never a good idea, let alone one thrashing around from nightmares, but he fought against what his head was telling him and walked further into the bedroom, closing the door so that they did not disturb Jack. He switched the bed side lamp on so that he could see what Emily was doing before, forcefully, waking her up, knowing fully well that gently was just not going to work tonight.
"Emily, wake the hell up." He found himself meeting her shakes and forcefully making them ten times harder and soon after, he saw her eyes shoot open, and she clung to his hand in fear. Hotch could feel her hand trembling underneath his. "It's okay, calm down." His other hand smoothed down her hair comfortingly.
"Hotch?" She asked wearily.
"Sshh, it's okay." He sat down on the opposite side of the bed, as he did he felt Emily move closer to him in fear, her body still shaking from fear. Hotch looked down to see her eyes staring into the black corner of the room as if something was about to walk out of it. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, knowing it was a stupid question that Emily was never going to answer to. True to his thoughts, she shook her head, but, what shocked him the most was what she did next.
"Just stay here, please." To Hotch that was a cry for help in it's own way; he knew Emily would never admit to fear or weakness and this was a drastic thing if she was terrified by it. Doing the unprofessional thing, he wrapped his arms tighter around her and tucked the blanket over them.
"I'm not going anywhere." He told her.