Author's Note: Here it is: the long awaited third - and last - chapter, where all the conflicts between our two favorite agents are resolved, and everything is explained. Thank you, once again, for reading, and I sincerely hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer in Chapter One!

"Why didn't you stop her?"

Hotch turned to see Jack watching him from the top of the stairs. "She needed some space," he murmured, still reeling.

"Because of you." Jack sighed, coming down to join his father. "I don't know what's going on, but even I can tell that you're different, Dad. You need to explain everything to Mom, or…" he cleared his throat to disguise a voice crack, "or she might not come back."

"Don't say that," he immediately cried. "She'll come back." She has to.

"Are you so sure about that?"

Hotch's eyes flashed toward those of the teenager. "Why aren't you?"

Jack shuffled awkwardly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Since our computer's not working, I borrowed her laptop to type my report. By chance, her browser history popped up. She…she was looking at divorce lawyers, Dad. Don't let this happen again. I'm old enough, but Avery…" his voice trailed away.

Hotch froze. Divorce lawyers?

What the hell had he done?

His self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted as he heard quiet footsteps coming down the stairs.

It was Avery. "Daddy?" She looked around curiously, in search for something…someone. "Where's Mommy?"

"She's…" he coughed, "running errands, Ave."

"Oh." Avery glanced toward her brother, then to the floor. "When is she coming back?"

Hotch felt his heart wrench painfully. "I don't know, baby. I don't know."

~.~.~

Her mind running circles, Emily pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and absentmindedly dialed a familiar number.

The person on the other line picked up on the second ring. "Hello?"

"JJ?"

"Emily!" In a split second, the blonde woman sensed that something was wrong. "Are you okay?"

"I…" Emily shook her head, despite the fact that she was alone in the car. "I don't really know. Aaron and I…we…we had a fight. Yes, we've had fights before but this was different. I think he…" She fought for composure as she pulled up to the red light. "I think he's seeing someone."

"Oh, Emily…I'm so sorry."

At that, she let the tears fall. "I don't know what to do, Jayje. So I left. And now I feel so awful about it; what are Avery and Jack going to think?" My sweet baby girl… "I can't put them through something like this." A beat of silence passed. "I should go back, shouldn't I? I should go back and get them. Or…or…"

JJ winced as she heard the sound of her friend's body-wracking sobs. Tears of her own sprang to her eyes. "I don't know," she whispered. "I just don't know. Is…is there anything Will and I can do to help?"

Emily wiped her eyes. "Do you think…I could stay over at your place for the night?"

"Of course," JJ immediately said. There was a pause, and then, she added, "Will said that you're welcome to stay for as long as you want."

The green light became a blur as Emily felt more tears on the way. "Thank you so much," she said breathlessly. "I'm just a couple blocks away. JJ, I don't know how I can possibly repay -"

But the rest of her grateful statement was drowned out by the prolonged sound of a car horn, a shocked scream, and a deafening crash.

~.~.~

Miles away in the safety of her home, JJ's eyes went wide. "Emily! Are you okay?" No response. "Emily?" Still nothing. "Emily! Emily!"

"What happened?" Will asked, visibly concerned as he rushed into the room.

"I…I…I think she was in an accident." Her shoulders began to shake uncontrollably. "Will, what if she…she…"

"Shhh," he comforted. "You call Aaron while I call an ambulance, okay?"

All JJ could do was nod.

With shaking fingers, she dialed her boss's number.

Much to her surprise, he picked up halfway through the first ring. "Hotchner residence."

"Hotch, it's JJ."

"JJ." In one brief moment, he analyzed the tone of her voice.

It was shaky.

"What's wrong?" he asked apprehensively.

"It's Emily."

His blood ran cold as he froze for the second time that day. "What…" He cleared his voice throat as his voice failed him. "What happened?"

"She…Hotch, she was in a car accident."

He felt his heart stop. "Is…is she…"

"I don't know." JJ willed herself not to cry. This can't be happening. "She was a few minutes away from our house and then…then I heard…" she released a trembling sigh, then started over. "Will is calling paramedics right now." JJ shocked herself by keeping her voice steady, ironically something she had learned from Aaron Hotchner, himself, all those years ago.

It wasn't working for him, however.

He took in a shuddering breath. "This is all my fault," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. "If I hadn't been such a…such a bastard, she wouldn't have left. None of this would have happened."

Still stunned, JJ didn't know what else to say, so she settled with, "Will said that they're taking her to Arlington Memorial Hospital."

"Did they say her condition?"

"They didn't want to discuss it over the phone."

Hotch felt himself approaching the verge of a nervous breakdown. "I…I'll see you at the hospital, then."

"Okay." She furiously swiped at the moisture trailing down one cheek. "And Hotch?"

"Yes?" he answered weakly.

"Try not to worry," she said quietly.

"That's so much easier said than done." Ending the call, he ran upstairs to Jack's room. "Jack, Avery, hurry up and get dressed."

"Where are we going?" the pair asked in unison.

"The hospital."

Jack met his father's intense gaze. "Is it…"

He gave the boy a curt nod. "Your mom was in an accident," he choked out, forcing back the tears and trying his hardest not to break as he heard a shocked whimper slip past Avery's lips. "We need to go. I…I have to see her."

~.~.~

"Mr. Hotchner?"

Hotch took his head out of his hands and ended his prayer as he observed, with red-rimmed eyes, the doctor standing beside him. "Yes?" he answered feebly. Emily. Emily, I'm so sorry.

"Your wife is stable."

He let out a sigh of relief, more tears coming to his eyes. "Oh, thank God."

"She was in a very critical condition when we received her," the doctor informed. "Large shards of glass were imbedded in her left arm from the broken windshield, but we were able to remove them all and stitch her up. Hopefully, with some more out-patient attention, we'll be able to prevent major permanent scarring. Also, the impact of the crash and the force of the air bag broke two of her ribs, one of which punctured her lung and made our surgery incredibly risky. But we were able to reset them, as well as the bones in her right leg that were broken." The doctor gave him a long, contemplative look. "She's a fighter. She slipped into a brief coma while she was on the table, and…well, Mr. Hotchner…she flatlined twice." Hotch took in a sharp breath, but the doctor continued. ""However, she is stable, like I said earlier. She'll be slightly concussed and bruised for a while, but right now, she's asleep and probably will be for a while, due to the amount of morphine and other medications she's on." He attempted a smile. "So, go on. She's allowed a couple of visitors. I just recommend letting her rest for a while longer before you wake her. She needs it."

Hotch stood on wobbly legs and shook the younger man's hand. "Thank you," he said sincerely, his voice raw. "Thank you for saving her."

The other man smiled again, this time more genuinely. "It's what I do," he answered softly.

And just like that, he made his departure, leaving Hotch outside of Emily's room.

~.~.~

Seated by her bed, he took her limp hand in his and brought it to his lips, feeling her faint pulse against his skin. He shut his eyes as he reflected on what he had done.

How had he been able to yell at her? He had been so irrational that it hurt him to think about it. He had raised his hand to her. He had made her cry. And why?

Because he was a coward. Because he was too scared to tell the truth.

But he had to now.

"Emily, sweetheart, I…I know you're asleep and can't hear me, and I will say this again once you wake, but I have to get this off of my chest; I have to tell you now." He stopped, wracking his brain for a way to begin. "Nikki LeFevre was the sister of Brian and Michael Collins. The drug dealers who have been all over national news lately for their penchant of random killing sprees," he clarified. "Rumor has it that she murdered her husband for his money and then took up business with her brothers. I…I was picked by one of Strauss's higher-ups to go undercover as, well…as a man she met on an online dating service." A love interest. He fought the urge to gag at the thoughts.

"My job was to find the whereabouts of her brothers through her," he continued. "And everything, case-wise, was going fine. But, what I didn't know was that she would try to pull me into bed each time we crossed paths. I kept resisting, but then she began getting wary. My bosses became angry. So, one day…it…" he swallowed to get rid of the sour taste rising from the back of his throat, "…it just happened. I felt so dirty, Emily. And…well, that was the first day I snapped at you. You didn't deserve to take the fall-out of my stress. And God, I'm so sorry, baby. I didn't mean a word I said, I swear on my life. I didn't mean to yell at you, to hurt you. I…I love you so much…" He shook his head, trying in vain to steady himself. "I found their address eventually. But Nikki, she…she caught me. The next thing I knew, she was pointing a gun at me, demanding me to tell her who I really was. And I told her everything. I told her about Jack, I told her about Avery…and I told her about you. She asked me whether you knew about her. I told her no, and she…she laughed. She laughed at the fact that this mission was tearing up our marriage. Then she cocked her gun, and I had no choice but to shoot her. Right before she died, she beckoned me over and said, 'How do you think your wife will react when she finds out that you killed an innocent woman in cold blood? You're no better a man than those you put in jail.' And that's when it hit me. While I searched for Brian and Michael, that idea kept manifesting in my mind. No, Nikki was certainly not the innocent woman she claimed to be; she was the exact opposite. But the notion was just too much to handle. I wasn't sure if you would understand me, and…somehow, I thought you would hate me if you found out the truth."

He cleared his throat. "I arrested the Collins brothers yesterday. I thought that the stress, the idea…everything would go away. But it got worse. I still wasn't allowed to talk about it; the chief and some others on his panel had previously told me I would be able to, but they conveniently changed their mind. Whether it had anything to do with the way things ended, I don't know." Hotch swallowed thickly. "And then came the ultimatum: my job or my family." He gazed longingly at the woman lying before him. "I couldn't lose my job, Emily. Without that job, I have no source of income to support our family. Telling you about the entire ordeal was just…not an option. I stupidly convinced myself of that. Then, this morning, I…I…something in me broke loose. I couldn't take it anymore. After that fight, things went by so quickly. You left, and…I honestly couldn't blame you. I was such a fool to think that you wouldn't understand. And I do trust you, Emily. I really do. I trust you with my life." His voice became husky with tears as he said, "And then JJ called and told me you had been in an accident…" Rear-ended by an eighteen wheeler. Oh God. "I just about went crazy. Emily…I…I can't possibly live without you. I want - no, I need - you to know that." He affectionately brushed hair out of her face. "I love you and the kids more than anything in the world."

"I love you, too." Her eyes slowly fluttered open, seeking his.

"Oh, God." Hotch couldn't stop himself from leaning forward and capturing her lips in an impassioned, desperate kiss. He never wanted to let go. "Emily…sweetheart, I'm so sorry," he sobbed. "I'm so sorry…"

She felt his warm tears fall against her cheeks and brought a hand to cup his cheek tenderly. "It's okay." Conflicted feelings ran through her at her simple response. Would things really be okay between them further down the line? She hoped so...she really hoped so. "I heard everything. I…I wasn't really asleep," she admitted sheepishly. "You were right. I didn't have a clue as to what you were going through. And yes, I did make a huge deal out of nothing…" her voice trailed away. "But Aaron, you should have told me. I would have understood. I could have helped you through the entire ordeal. I know how demanding and stressful undercover operations can be; trust me, I know."

He nodded. "I know. Please...please forgive me, Emily," he entreated, voice thick with unadulterated emotion. "For everything. I beg you."

She looked at him for a long minute. This was the man she had completely given herself to, for nearly ten years. Yes, everyone had their faults, some more than others. The only question was whether or not she could accept those faults and move on.

A quiet sigh passed her lips. "I forgive you. It's...it's going to take a long time for everything to sink in," she warned. "I'm still reeling from the accident, and...well, everything preceding it. But...I'm sorry, too," she muttered.

"For what? Emily, you did nothing wrong."

"For accusing you of things I know you'd never do. I do love you, you know," she said with an almost shy smile.

Ever thankful that he had such an amazing woman in his life, he laid beside her on the hospital bed and gently pulled her into his arms. "Does it hurt?" he asked quietly, carefully fingering the fresh sutures lining her arm.

She bit back a hiss as sharp pain rocketed through her arm, despite the morphine. "A…a bit," she answered with a nod.

He kissed her jaw. "Well, I have a present for you that I know will make you feel better."

"Aaron, you know how I feel about presents," she murmured.

"I know, I know, but I didn't get you a present…I got you two." And, as if on cue, both Jack and Avery entered the room.

Emily's face lit up as Avery ran over and wrapped her arms around her neck. "Careful, sweetheart," Hotch said cautiously. "Mommy's arm is hurting."

"It's okay," Emily responded, once again on the verge of tears.

Jack approached her and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"Better, now that you all are here," she said with a watery smile.

"I told you," Hotch whispered against her hair, causing her lips to lift at the corners even more.

Jack glanced over at his father. "Did you tell her?" he mouthed. The boy couldn't help but grin as Hotch nodded.

This was good. Looking around his family, he was happy to see that everything was almost back to normal. Yes, he knew it would take a while before normalcy really returned...but he also knew that certain things only get better with time. And he had the feeling that this was one of those things.

Because love has that effect on people.

THE END.

Author's Note: I guess my idea with this chapter (and this entire story, for that matter) was to play off of the whole Emily/Lauren/Doyle operation and show that she isn't the only agent who has ever had that experience; putting Hotch in a similar situation was both interesting and enlightening to write. And hopefully, you felt the same way while reading! But that being said, if you loved it, or even if you hated it, please leave me some feedback; I always want to improve, and your reviews make me do just that! Thank you. :)

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