CM Characters aren't mine, the rest are.
Another world
Her eyes caught sight of the ring on her finger. She smiled. The car was impacted and she looked up with terror in her eyes, as they started moving towards a different direction.
He saw Emma disappear into one of the rooms, but someone stepped into his way and stopped him with a gentle push against his chest.
"It's not your time yet."
"I need to get to her." He looked at the blonde woman in front of him, recognition washing across his face. "Mom?"
"Everything is going to be okay." Her worried eyes betrayed her.
"I can't lose her."
Haley nodded softly, fighting the urge to pull him into a hug, which she was told not to.
"Go back." Her words didn't leave room for argument and he slowly turned and walked away, not hearing the quiet "I love you." His mother whispered. As his figure disappeared she walked down the hall to Emma's room. She knocked and then stepped inside, taking in the young woman, who seemed to be lost in this new world.
"Emma, it's such a pleasure to meet you." She walked up to her.
"Where am I?"
"That's a good question. It kind of changes." Haley looked around in the room. If she had to guess, she would think it was a dorm room, but she couldn't tell for sure.
"It almost looks like Jacks room in college." Emma looked around finding the little details she remembered, not noticing Haley's smile.
"It's a nice room for college."
"He worked hard to keep it." Emma's wandering eyes stopped at the little bookshelf. On the very top had always been photographs of those he cared about. She got up to get a better look at the one that had caught her eye. She carefully picked the frame up and turned to look at Haley.
"You are his mom."
The older woman nodded softly, as she stepped closer to the shelf, taking a look for herself.
"If you are his mom, and you are dead…" Emma's eyes widened.
"You are not dead," Haley gave her an assuring smile. "…but it's an option."
"Why would I choose to be dead?"
"We will get to that." The blonde wasn't quite ready to face the tough choices the younger woman would have to make. She stretched and picked up a photography that had fallen over. A smiled played on her lips, as she turned to Emma. "He always had a thing for you, did you know that?"
The younger woman smiled as well, as her eyes scanned the picture. It was one of her favorites. Her parents had taken them to an amusement park and with Jack filling up his own car, they had also had several friends with them. Of course Jack and Emma had still shared most of the rides, after all they made a great team. Therefore, the picture showed just them, hugging, smiling.
"We were best friends."
"Henry is also his best friend, I don't see a photo just of him and Henry."
The Morgan girl looked over the pictures again, and had to agree. In fact all of them were some sort of group photos. His high school graduation with his sister and parents, the senior football team, their little gang of friends, mostly consisting of her siblings, him as a little boy with Haley and Aaron, and him with the former BAU team.
"I never saw this picture when we visited."
"He put it away, so nobody would ask questions."
"Sounds like him." Emma laughed and glanced at the picture one last time, before she sat it between all the others.
"That ring looks good on you." There was no way around it, she had to start talking about the hard things. Timing was essential to make all of this work out at the end.
"I'm sure it looked just a good on you." She glanced at the engagement ring, she had just gotten minutes or was it hours or days before. How long had she spend in this small room already?
"I haven't seen him any happier than he has been around you." Haley glanced around the room one more time, before she opened the door. "Walk with me."
Emma followed. The hallway didn't look like the dorms, it was simply a hallway. They walked in a comfortable silence, taking a turn every once in a while.
"You said death is an option?"
"It's completely up to you."
"Then I don't die. I won't leave him."
"It's not that black and white. To every joy there is a pain, to every dark there is a light." Haley smiled at her softly. "I'm sorry, but I have to show you the full picture, before you get to go back."
They had stopped at a door and as Haley opened it, a burst of colors flooded her senses. Toys were scattered everywhere and she could see a group of children play with a young woman, she didn't recognize.
"Grandma." A little girl with big brown eyes and dirty blonde hair ran from the table and through herself in Haleys arms. "You are back."
"Hi sweet girl."
Emma stared at the girl. Her skin was lighter than her own, but would have been considered the perfect tan, and the dirty blonde hair and the curious eyes made a beautiful little girl. But if the girl called Haley grandma, then Jack must have been her father and…
"What's your name?"
"You are silly Mommy." She pushed against her grandma to get down, just to build herself up in front of Emma. "I'm Emmely Elizabeth Hotchner." The young woman stared at her, not able to quite comprehend what was going on.
"And how old are you?" She knelt down to be eye to eye with the girl.
"This many." She held up 4 fingers with one of her hands, but her eyes became worried. "Mommy, did you hit your head?"
"What makes you say that?"
"Daddy asks silly questions like that, when a child comes to see him, because they hit their head."
Emma nodded slowly, thinking of a recent occasion, when Jack had come home rather upset over a little boy, who didn't seem able to grasp unto all his memories, after hitting his head.
"Maybe I did."
"Emmy, we need you for this next game." The girl at the play table waved at them.
Emmely stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her mother's neck.
"I love you mommy."
"I love you too Emmy."
The little girl freed herself from the hug, Emma wasn't quite willing to end yet. The little eyes became serious, as she carefully let her hand caress her mother's cheek, like a mother would usually do it.
"It's okay. I'll stay with grandma and you go back to daddy. He needs you more."
Emma closed her eyes, willing the tears down that threatened to spill. She felt the little hand, leave her cheek and as she opened her eyes, Emmely had run back over to the table. Haley held out a hand to help her up and carefully guided her out of the room.
As the door shut her first sob escaped and tears were running down her face. Haley pulled the younger woman into a hug.
"You didn't know, did you?"
"That I was pregnant? No." Her future mother-in-law guided her towards a bench, where they could sit. "I need to take her back with me."
"I'm afraid that's not possible."
Emma stared at the other woman. Her emotions were a rollercoaster, going from sadness, to anger, to grief, to confusion and starting over. Instead of letting them out, she finally just pushed out a: "But why?"
"There are cases like Emmely and I, where no options are given." Haleys smile grew sad. "There are reasons for that far beyond our understanding, but I wasn't given the option to go back and you lost the Emmi right as the effects of the impact hit."
"The car accident." For the first time, since her arrival she thoughts of the time before arriving in these hallways. Jacks proposal, getting into the car to see their family and friends, the truck, the impact.
"One of your choices is to stay here with Emmy. You get to me her Mommy and raise her." Haley swallowed hard, before she continued. "Or you go back to be with Jack."
Tears were streaming down her face, before she even noticed that she started crying again. How could she possibly choose between the love of her life and their daughter? "I can't. I can't leave one of them."
They sat for a long time. Haley trying to calm her by drawing circles on her back. Emma sobbing into her arms, going back and forth in her decision. The quiet grew longer and longer and finally it was just with a soft voice that Haley began to speak.
"When I realized there was no way out. When I felt the gun, I asked Aaron to do something for me. I asked him to tell Jack our story. To tell him how we met, how he made me laugh, how he was before all those monsters came into his life."
Emma stilled in her arms, an occasional sob disrupting the uneasy peace. "The only thing, I wanted for Jack was to believe in love, because it is the most important thing." One tear after another started trailing down Haley's face, as she relieved those final moments. The brunette sat up, locking eyes with her.
"Seeing you, seeing that ring on your finger, seeing Emmy…" The blonde desperately tried to wipe the tears from her face. "I know now that Aaron kept his promise. If Jack learned nothing else from us, at least he knows how important love is."
"He misses you."
"And I miss him." Haley sniffed, trying to keep the new tears down. "But he has Aaron, Beth, Karly, and of course you. I want to be there, but I know he has all he needs."
"But what about Emmy, doesn't she deserve having one of us?"
"She won't be alone. She knows me already and I know you have some family here as well. I'll make sure she is there for the big things." Haley smiled carefully. "Like to welcome her siblings."
Emma nodded slowly. Her eyes widened in surprise, when a door opened.
"I guess that's your way back." The older woman got up. They made their way to the door. "Tell him…"
"That you love him?" Emma smiled softly. "He loves you too and so does Hotch."
They stared at each other: "Tell Emmy we love her."
"Of course. Every day. A million times."
Emma stepped over the threshold, as another door opened and the little girl came flying out.
"Bye Mommy."
"Bye Emmy."
Thanks for the Favorites and Followers, as well as the reviews. I appreciate it. So far all chapters have been in very different times, but this one is going to have at least 1 tbc and probably a prequel. (Well more than one prequel.)
