Chapter Six

Every Emotion In Between

Tiny Author's Note: This is the chapter that will earn its M rating. I would class it as soft M, nothing you wouldn't find in a drug store romance novel but if you want to skip it, it starts about half way through this chapter and it's obvious when it does. I managed to work it so you can stop there, without missing anything that would be important to the story. Enjoy.

Hotch stood in his office taking one last look around and packed up the rest of the files that he would need to see to on the weekend, if necessary, but he sincerely hoped that he wouldn't have to. Dave had taken one look at him, and the empty desk that Emily normally sat at, and knew that finally someone had gotten though to her.

Speaking from the doorway, Dave's voice was almost circumspect, odd thing that, coming from Dave. "How is she?"

Hotch sighed and thought for a moment before responding. "She's coping, she's strong, and ultimately in the end she'll be okay."

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" Dave moved into the room and watched as Hotch packed up his desk.

The taciturn man would pack a couple of things in, take one out, before adding it and several other things back in again. It spoke to Hotch's level of distress over the last month that he was still having issues focusing. It had started after their conversation in Tulsa and seemed to only be getting worse. Dave knew that Emily's issues were affecting Hotch in a way that he suspected that the other man hadn't predicted, his own resulting, lingering, issues coming to the surface.

Aaron looked up at Dave before returning to what he was doing. He hesitantly shook his head, keeping his face turned to the files. He knew more than he did, but still not everything and if he had any hopes of getting more information he couldn't say anything either. He was beginning to understand the pressures Emily was facing that were coming from just having to keep the secret alone.

"Are you staying with her today?"

Hotch nodded his head slowly, thinking things over. "She needs the rest; we'll be in tomorrow though."

Dave raised his brows at that. He would have expected the two them to take more time, granted he didn't really know what was going on but he could see the how effected Emily was. "Take your time; we can hold things down here."

"We can't. If both of us are missing from the office for too long someone is going to question why." Hotch leaned both hands on the desk and dropped his head forward, contemplating. "We can't have them finding out about this. It would damage her career. Regardless of what HR or Strauss may say, it would end up in her file. Why do you think that I worked so hard at keeping my issues away from work? Why she has worked so hard up till now?"

"Aaron, we protect our own." Dave frowned at the reminder of how they had let the man down after Foyet, their own inability to see how troubled he was. "Take the time that you need, let me worry about the dragon lady." Rossi reached out and squeezed Hotch's arm before turning and leaving the office.

Hotch smirked at that. Only Dave would have the balls to call Strauss that, well, at least out loud anyway. He supposed that there had to be some advantages to coming out of the academy with the woman. He took a last look around the office for anything he missed and shoved the last file into his brief case.

Closing down his laptop, Hotch packed up the file notes that Dave had left for him on the Washington case. Just as he was closing his briefcase his hands stilled at the sound of a soft voice, clearing its throat from the door.

Hotch turned his head and his eyes widened at the sight of the man standing in the doorway to his office, badge indicating that he was a visitor but he had apparently been uncontested in his trip to the Unit Chief's office. His eyes lingered on his credentials hanging from his belt and figured that that explained it. Interpol… and a couple more of the pieces fell into place.

Sean McAllister actually felt uncomfortable, not something he was accustomed to, as he stepped forward without prompting and closed the door behind him. Standing in the stern man's office, he actually felt like he was at a disadvantage, regardless of the fact that the file he carried was something that Aaron Hotchner wanted, very badly. From the tense set to the man's shoulders he would be surprised if he didn't skin him alive once he read the file and knew of how complicit Sean was in Emily's initial trauma.

Sean tapped the file against his leg and Hotch's eyes focused on it, unable to look away, knowing that it contained the secrets to what was hurting Emily so much, why after all these years and the distance from the events she was still so effected.

Sean moved forward till he was standing at the opposite side of the desk and handed the file to Hotch. "She asked that I give this to you."

Aaron had known that Emily was going to call her friend when he left for Quantico but he never expected this. "That was fast."

"I had it ready before she called." He shrugged negligently, "I was fairly sure that you would be the one that would get her to open up. She's so guarded most of the time, but she seemed to relax around you in a way that she never did with anyone else."

Sean pointed to the file but his eyes flitted away from it almost immediately and it was a reaction that Hotch filled away to think about at a later time. "I requested to give it to you after meeting you at her apartment. I told my supervisors that she called and asked for your security clearance. Contrary to what she thought, for a man in your position of authority it was simple to get you the clearance you needed. If it had been anyone else it would have been much harder, if at all possible."

Sean let out a relieved breath, "It actually gave me a legitimate reason for being in Washington, which I was grateful for, I've been on shaky ground this last month."

Aaron nodded his head in understanding and then frowned in irritation; so much trouble could have been prevented. "Wait, if you had this why didn't you give it to me then?"

Sean sighed and looked away, trying to formulate a way to explain his reasoning. "Emily is intensely private and if I had given this to you then, it would have been one more thing that was out of her control. She couldn't control anything that was happening back then and it's one of the things that caused her such a problem. Giving her control now, even over something so small will help her in the end, so she had to ask, she had to choose to let you in."

Hotch nodded his head in understanding, it was the same reason he wouldn't enter her apartment first the night before. He was trying to help her find some kind of control when things felt completely out of control. The man in front of him was doing what he could, within the parameters of his job, to help her.

"Sean McAllister, Scottish Police Services Authority, Adjunct to Scotland Yard, current assignment, Interpol." Sean held out his hand and Aaron grasped it in a firm grip, knowing that this man would help him to protect Emily in any way that he could.

"Aaron Hotchner..." he looked around his office, before quirking his lips, "Obvious."

Sean gave him a bright smile, understanding that this was not a man that would make jokes often and somehow he had passed a test in the taciturn man's eyes.

He turned back to the reason for his visit and felt the temporary warmth in the room fade away, "You do understand that you are the only one that can see this file. In fact, after you have looked at it, I would ask that you destroy it."

Hotch grasped the folder tightly, understanding the unspoken statement, that by opening the file he was making a choice too. "I understand."

Sean turned and headed for the door, just as he was about to open it, he looked back over his shoulder and Hotch almost gasped at the pain that was in his eyes.

"I knew she wasn't ready, that she wasn't capable and believe me, if I could go back, push her away before it all started, whether or not we got Doyle in the end, please know, I would have, to have protected her from this."

Hotch nodded his head and the other man hurried from his office. He looked down at the file in his hand and debated for several moments before shoving it into his briefcase and snapping it closed. He wouldn't do this here; he needed a place with a little more privacy before opening up what he was sure was to be terror.

About half way between Quantico and Washington there was an isolated roadside turn out that was just about perfect for what Aaron needed; pulling the car into a parking space he pulled out the file. Turning it over in his hands he contemplated the inch thick folder before opening it and starting to read.

Even with as fast as Aaron Hotchner could breakdown and consume documented information it still took him the better part of an hour to get through all of the relevant facts, having to go back and verify things repeatedly. Once he was finished he put the file back into his case and gently closed the lid with trembling fingers.

Unable to stand the closed off atmosphere of the car, he got out and leaned against the trunk. He pressed a fist to his stomach, he felt sick. Not so much from the information, he had seen equal amounts of blood and death in his years with the BAU, but for Emily.

Jesus, she was only 24 and expected to stay in a house with a man like that for another five months, after realizing that monsters did exist and one was sleeping down the hall. It was no small wonder that she came out sane on the other side.

He took several deep breaths in through his nose to quell the nausea that was rising up in him at the things she would have been privy to in those months, for someone so young to have lived like that... He understood now how it was that she looked at what they did now and could compartmentalize it. She had lived through her greatest fears already.

And now more than ever, he was thankful to Sean McAllister, the man had been there with her every step of the way and then some. And regardless of the man's obvious remorse for not having protected her in the beginning Sean was tied into the whole thing just as tightly as Emily was. In hindsight, Aaron could see that there was nothing that the other man could have done that he didn't try, no way to have slowed the events that were unfolding around the young girl. He did what he could and Hotch could see that.

He had also included with the file some information about Emily that had puzzled Hotch, like how she ended up in Chicago after Ian Doyle was arrested. In her FBI file it looked like a demotion but there was no note of censure, no request for the post. She was just dumped there for the next couple of years seemingly without reason or explanation.

Sean had brought her back to the States, suffering from severe PTSD and Hotch understood now, that what he was seeing now was not a new trauma but a reemergence of the first and that in itself actually made more sense. Emily Prentiss was one of the strongest and most capable women he knew but the resulting issue had always been there, just below the surface and this just seemed to push it back to the top.

From his own experiences and the time he spent working with Marcus, he knew that you never really got over PTSD and the more severe the case the harder it came back to bite you when it finally did and it had a hold of Emily.

Hotch realized at that point that even if he loved her and would have given anything to help her, protect her, this wasn't something he could do on his own. She was going to need help that he couldn't provide and while he could support and understand her, it was too complex a problem for him to be of any use to her, in the end. And if that wasn't the hardest thing he ever had to admit.

After they arrived back in the states, Sean had Interpol contact a doctor with a high enough level of security for her to see, who happened to be located in Chicago.

Sean had taken a leave of absense from Interpol and for the next year he had stayed with her and helped her to get well, shielding her treatment from everyone to ensure that it wouldn't affect her career with the FBI, at the end she 'officially' resigned her post with Interpol and integrated back into the mainstream FBI choosing to remain at the Chicago field office after Sean returned to Scotland Yard. She bounced around from post to post in the mid-west but remained primarily a desk agent till she moved to the BAU.

He looked back at his briefcase and decided that if she had come back without problems he would have considered adding her to a list of potential un-subs. She was so damn young and up to that point, relatively innocent of the things that go on in the world.

It was one of the things that Hotch remembered about his one and only meeting with her while working with her mother's staff. There was a childlike innocence and enthusiasm to her that surprised him given that she was almost 18 at the time. And it was what he remembered about her all those years later when she walked into his office at Quantico, it was the reason he remembered her at all.

He sat down on the bench not far from the car and scrubbed his hand across his mouth. He tried his best to compartmentalize what he was feeling but found that he couldn't. His own coping mechanisms were stretched and with accepting his feelings for Emily, he couldn't find the control that he always relied on.

Suggesting she see her own Doctor was out of the question, having passed away several years ago. Perhaps he should broach the idea of her talking with Marcus, being the Unit Cheif for Counter-terrorism, his clearance would be even easier to achieve than his own. She might be willing to talk with him if she knew that this was someone that had helped him. Marcus had experience in 'phone treatment' for lack of a better phrase and in remembering the man's quiet manner at the end of their last conversation; he knew that his old friend would protect Emily's privacy just as fiercely as he had Hotch's. Aaron also knew he should be thinking about talking with the man again for his own problems that were starting to creep back up.

Sitting there, he felt uncontrollable anger building inside of him. She had no business being in undercover work but there was such a drive to catch Doyle that they didn't care about the damage they were going to inflict on her. He had seen it happen so many times in his career with the FBI and at Justice before that. But this time it was personal, it was Emily that was suffering for the mistakes of others.

The psychological profile conducted by the doctor in Chicago even went so far as to say the opposite. She didn't have the right psychological profile for undercover work to begin with; in fact she showed several markers that the FBI would have flagged to keep her out of that line of work entirely. Over the years the BAU had set up a profile test for the screening of undercover agents that was used across the country.

Deep cover agents, like her assignment, were rigorously tested before being put in that position and Emily Prentiss would have failed miserably. Remarkably it was something that she had in common with none other than David Rossi, he helped to write the test just before he retired and they had all laughed, Dave included, when he failed it dismally, scoring on the lowest end of the scale. In fact out of all the members of the BAU, Derek Morgan was the only one qualified for deep cover. It was also the reason he specialized in obsessional crimes. Derek could focus entirely on the end result and ignore everything else around him, giving him a unique understanding into the mind set. The rest of the members of the unit scored on the low end of the scale, himself included, and would never have been selected for the type of assignment that Emily found herself thrust into.

She wasn't able to shut off her moral compass long enough to do the job for the length of time necessary for deep cover work. It wasn't a failing in her but just the way that she was and it was something about her that the team had always relied on. He could remember more than once, her questioning the ethics of the things they were doing or questioning why people ended up the way that they did. McHale in L.A. was a perfect example. It made her an excellent profiler but crap for undercover work. She couldn't accept what she was seeing and move on, focusing only on the end result, she needed to understand and that was her downfall in the end.

Hotch leaned forward and put his head between his knees, breathing deeply through his nose and trying to calm his breathing, trying to get his anger back under control. This was not what she would need from him now. His own rage and impulsiveness would only be a detriment to her and in the end to himself. He leaned back and walked through one of the centering exercises that Marcus had taught him, feeling the cold biting into his skin till he was sure he was back in control of himself again.

Opening his eyes a picture of young Emily flashed through his mind and he stood with a determination he hadn't felt since opening that file. Hotch got back into Emily's car and sped out of the parking lot, spraying gravel in his wake. He needed to get back to her and see what he could do to help her find some of that innocence, that youthful enjoyment again. But if nothing else, he was going to make sure that she knew, without a doubt, that she didn't have to do this alone anymore.

Emily looked over at the clock for the tenth time in ten minutes before glancing back at her Glock sitting on the table in front of her. He should have been back by now. Granted that was only if she believed that nothing had gone wrong before he left the office. None of them ever got out of there when they were intending to, but he would have called her, wouldn't he?

She had been doing okay for most of the afternoon. Emily managed to only check the deadbolt and alarm three times, which she considered a breakthrough of sorts. The hardest part for her was the bi-polar behavior of her emotions. She would go from being terrified that Doyle was coming, to being excited as a girl on her first date when she thought about Hotch, to feeling panicky that something had happened to him.

Those feelings had abated some since talking to Sean earlier. Interpol had managed to track Doyle to a small Middle Eastern country, unfortunately for all of them, it was a country that was decidedly anti-Interpol. He seemed to be hunkering down for a time and until he started to move again they were hamstrung and unable to do anything. But at least Emily was able to breathe a sigh of relief because as long as he was there, no one else would be hurt.

It was a small consolation since what she really wanted was to see him as dead as he wanted her to be but she understood the problems that Interpol was facing. So much of what they did, relied on the cooperation of its member countries, they couldn't afford to take the law into their own hands in a country that wasn't a member, especially since the political environment in the area was so shaky. It could set back the progress they had made in the area by decades if it was discovered.

So for now, she was back to waiting. But this time, Doyle wasn't hiding, knew that no one could touch him, and they could keep tabs on him. She could breathe until he started to move again.

She heard the key scrape in the lock and had to prevent herself from racing to the door, her emotions jack-knifing in another direction, yet again. It was completely illogical and she knew that, but a part of her that still lived in her fears, was afraid that he wouldn't come back. The other part of her rushing to the door was the woman who had found someone that she desire and cared about, finding and enjoying the first blush of what could easily turn into love.

For the first time in over a month giving no thought as to who might be on the other side she reached for the door handle. Emily pulled it open just as Hotch was coming in the other side. The words of greeting died on her lips from the look on his face.

His eyes were dark and intense, causing her to back up from him, not in fear but in trepidation. Something had changed with him since he left that afternoon. He looked intent on something. When the door first opened he looked determined but after a few seconds the look changed into something else, something she didn't recognize but sent shivers down her spine.

Hotch reached out and touched the skin of her face so gently that she barely felt the ghosting of his fingers, before turning and heading for the living room. She closed the door and locks before following him into the living room where he set his briefcase down on the table. He snapped it open and pulled out a thick file, tossing it on the low table in front of him. He turned to her and her eyes widened as she realized what it was.

She looked from the file to his eyes and now understood what had kept him so long. He now knew all of her secrets, her weakness, and her failings. She felt shame fill her face and looked down at the floor. This had happened much faster than she expected, she had thought she would have more time with him before he found out how incapable she had been, how ineffective.

"Emily… Look at me." His voice was so soft, emotional, that her head snapped up at the sound and she was shocked by the anger she saw there. It was in such contrast to the gentle sound of his voice.

"None of this is your fault. You never, ever, should have been put in that position to begin with."

"I couldn't handle it Hotch." She blinked back the moisture in her eyes. She didn't want his pity. She had worked so hard to make him proud over the years, had tried so hard to be the perfect agent so he would let her stay. Stay with her family. All of the insecurities she had in the beginning of her time with the BAU were working their way back to the surface and she couldn't stop it. Just the sight of that file was enough to send her tumbling backwards through all of the progress she had made.

Aaron let out a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. He understood logically how she was feeling but to see her like this, so tentative and so afraid of his judgment of her, that it was slowly eating away at his soul. Long ago she had been assured of her place with the team, her place with him. It seemed like once her troubles started to surface, the flood gate opened on all of them.

"They put you in an untenable situation and you came through the other side in one piece and since then have become one of the strongest, most capable people I know. You can't be faulted for this. They made a choice to send someone into a long term undercover assignment, knowing that you didn't fit the psychological profile for that type of work. The fault is theirs. Not yours."

"How can you say…?"

"No. Listen to me because I'm only going to say this once." She opened her mouth to say something and Hotch cut her off before she had a chance. "You, Emily Prentiss are an exceptional agent and one of the most skilled profilers I have ever had the honor to work with. But the same things that give you those skills; makes you that good, are the very things that make you so unsuited for undercover work. You can't be both sweetheart and no one expects you to be."

"They expected it."

"No. They just didn't care. They knew better and they made the choice anyway."

"Hotch, in the end it doesn't matter who made what choice or whose fault it was. I accepted the assignment, I could have said no. And because of that he's going to come for me sooner or later."

"Emily there has been no indication he's coming here. You can't know that for certain and in either case he's not here now."

"But he will be one day. They couldn't have gotten him without the things that I found. He's not going to brush it off and let me go. He's has to have realized by now who I was and that I gave them the information they needed to put him away. He is coming."

"Emily, he's in Qatar, Sean included what information he could about how they are tracking him. We'll know the minute he's on the move."

"I know that but…"

"Emily, you can't live the rest of your life waiting, living in fear of what might happen. You can't keep pushing people away out of fear; YOU were the one that showed me that. You have to keep living; we all do, regardless of what he has planned. We'll deal with him when the time comes."

She met his eyes for a moment before looking away and he could see it happening. She was pulling away again. He wasn't going to let that happen. She couldn't keep going on like this. He couldn't keep going on like this. And with that thought Aaron Hotchner did something that he never did, he threw logic completely out the window and followed his instincts for once in his life.

The look of fear of hopelessness in her eyes raised every primal instinct he had. Every emotion that he had been trying to repress came to the surface, including the newest one, his very real fear for her, that someone would take her from him before they even had a chance. Regardless of what he said to her, he knew she was right.

He turned away from her and put his hands on his hips trying to control the possessive anger that was coursing through his blood and then decided to hell with it. Aaron spun around and stalked over to her, scooping her up into his arms. Lifting her clear off the ground, he slammed his lips into hers.

She gasped in surprised shock and he took the opportunity to drive his tongue into her mouth, show her what he was feeling, keeping her still, possessing her. He wanted to taste, explore, examine and savor every bit of her. Seize and keep her with him always, safe. Ever since he opened that file he had been experiencing a totally visceral reaction to her and every impulse he had been attempting to control came to the forefront. Need, desire, desperate longing, possessiveness, love and he decided he was not going to not over think something, for once in his life, and do what his emotions were demanding.

He felt it, the moment that she surrendered, returning his kiss, and he moaned low in his throat. Emily's slender arms snaked around his neck, her fingers lacing through his short hair, holding him to her. Aaron smiled against her lips, allowing her body to slide down the full length of his own. A feeling of primitive pride filled him when he heard the soft, breathy moan at the sensation.

He pulled back from her just enough to reach up to gently cup her face. "He won't touch you. I won't let him have you." There was such intensity in his face and voice that she gasped a little for breath.

"Hotch…" Emily was at a loss as to how to deal with this new side to a man that she thought she knew.

Aaron Hotchner was always in control but right now, at this moment, control was nowhere in sight. Emily could feel herself grow wet at the dark passion in his eyes. He was so focused at that moment and to have that focus on her pushed all other thoughts out of her mind and sent tremors of a new kind racing through her body.

"No. You're mine Emily. He won't have you." His words where harsh and possessive but the underlying tenderness in his eyes softened any resistance she might have had.

And then he was kissing her again, he nibbled softly on her lower lip, begging for admittance. Once granted he slipped his tongue inside and traced the line of her teeth before finally tangling with her own. Gently he pulled her back into his arms, one sliding around her waist and the other cupping the back of her head, firmly holding her to him, allowing her no room to move or pull away. Aaron gently suckled on her tongue and was gratified by accelerated sound of her breathing as her excitement grew.

He knew this was too soon, he had decided that they were nowhere near ready for this step but he couldn't seem to stop. He should back off but he needed to reaffirm the reality of her in the most basic way he knew how.

It was powerful, primitive and driving through his blood so hard that it caused him to shiver with uncontrollable longing. He released her lips and slid his face to the side, rubbing his cheek against hers, worshiping her skin in every way that he could find. His hands roamed over her form restlessly, mapping the shape of her body with his hands alone.

"I need you," his voice was harsh and filled with hunger, "I know we aren't ready for this but…" He didn't know how to articulate to her what it was he need or why, he just hoped that she was as in tune with him as normal and would understand without the words his almost desperate longing.

Emily pulled back from him, just far enough that she could see him clearly. With shaking fingers she reached up and traced the lines of his face, watching as he closed his eyes and leaned into her gentle caress.

"Make love to me, Hotch… Please." Her voice was soft but clear.

And she understood.

He let out a loud groan and captured her lips again. His hands slid down her back and cupped her ass, lifting her off the ground. She followed his lead, wrapping her legs around his waist while simultaneously attempting to push his jacket off his shoulders. There was a frantic desperation in her movements that had him concerned for a moment.

He pulled his lips away from her delectable mouth to look into her eyes. What he saw there put his mind at ease. They gaze was focused and clear, she knew exactly what she was doing and unlike her movements there was no anxiety. He shook his jacket off, one arm at a time, keeping her tight to him as he headed for the stairs.

Emily bit down on his lower lip and Aaron stumbled sideways into the wall, her nails scrapped along his scalp making his toes curl. Her delicate hands reached between them and started to slip the ends of his tie apart but without enough room she had to relinquish his lips. Pulling back, her head slammed into the wall as his lips attacked the line of her neck sucking and nibbling on the pale skin.

Emily closed her eyes and reveled in the feeling of his hot, moist breath trailing across her fevered skin. She gave up all pretense of getting his tie off and allowed her fingers to travel back into his hair, clutching him tightly to the V-neck of her shirt. She let out a series of panted breaths caused by the fire that was raging through her veins.

Frustrated with her inability to feel his skin, she pulled his head back by the grip she had on his hair and resumed her attack on his tie, finally pulling it loose she dropped it to the floor behind him as his lips once again found hers.

Aaron, keeping her pinned between his body and the wall, allowed her to slide down till her feet touched the floor. He reached down and grasped the edges of her shirt as she quickly made work of the buttons on the front of his. He tugged on her shirt until she finally had to stop what she was doing so that he could remove it. Emily lifted her arms and allowed him to pull the garment the rest of the way off, watching as he carelessly allowed it to drop to the floor.

His fingers came forward and with just the tips softly caressed the skin where it met the lace of her bra, his gaze seeming to be enraptured with what he was seeing. Eyes transfixed on the pale gray material cupping her even paler skin. Emily reached a hand up behind her and unhooked the closure, twisting her shoulders, she allowed it to slip down and pool at their feet. She leaned back against the wall, willing her nerves to still and allowed him to look his fill of her body that was on display for him.

Hotch, filled with the view of all of her naked skin, leaned forward to place a soft open mouthed kiss to her collar bone and once he had a taste of her skin, found that he couldn't stop. His lips moved from her shoulders, up her neck, any skin that he could reach. His hands trailed along her side, gently caressing her skin and tracing her form, trying his best to commit her to his memory.

Aaron knelt down in front of her, pressing a soft lingering kiss to the crest of one breast on his way past before continuing his worship of her skin while relieving her of her pants. Her stomach, hipbones, there was not an inch of skin that he didn't touch, lick, suck or kiss. He gently dragged his hands down the back of her thighs, trailing along her calves down to her feet before gently lifting each to pull her pant legs off before pushing her pants to the side. His warm, strong hands made the same return path, causing goose bumps to break out on her skin.

By the time he finally looked back up at her she was trembling. There had never been, even once in her life, a man that had spent as much time just touching her. He had seemed in no hurry to move forward, content to use his tactile senses to get to know her.

His hands cupped her hips, thumbs tracing the line of her hip bones as he spoke in a tone that she had never hear from him before, "You are so very beautiful Emily."

There was such a look of naked longing in his face it brought tears to her eyes. She would give him anything just to keep that look of passion and need in his eyes. It seemed to chase all of the darkness away from him.

He was the one that was beautiful and Emily gasped at the picture he made. Kneeling at her feet, with his shirt still tucked in but undone, slipping slowly down his arms; his hair wonderfully disheveled by her own fingers. There was a desire in his eyes that she had never seen directed at her before, by any man. She reached down and cupped his strong jaw in her palms, pulling his lips back to her own, whimpering softly as he began backing her up the stairs to her bedroom.

As they crossed the threshold, he finally released her lips long enough to shed his shirt, dropping it to the floor. Emily felt tears filling her vision as she reached out a tentative hand and traced one of the more vibrant and shocking scars on his abdomen.

He caught her hand in his own, trying to stop her gentle touch but she shook off his light hold on her. "Emily…" There was sadness in his voice that she hadn't expected.

She moved a step forward, flattening her palm on his scar and willing him to see what she felt in her eyes. "How you are feeling right now, about me?" Her voice was soft and intimate and spoke of knowledge that he wished she didn't have, "I understand with perfect clarity."

He gaped in understanding of her statement, realizing for the first time how long this had been building between them. She understood his desperation, he need for her to be his alone, to know she was safe and protected, here with him. He had always suspected that the feeling was something that he alone had felt. He felt a rush of warmth at her admission before being touched by sadness, they could have had this so much sooner, if only he had realized.

Her gaze softened in understanding, "I tried to tell you, you were never alone. You only ever had to reach out."

And he did.

Aaron reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms securely around her and dropping his head to her neck, breathing in her scent smiling softly as she tugged at his belt. He traced the shell of her ear with his tongue before gently nipping on the lobe. Her hands stilled all movement and she let out a desperate sigh. Pulling back he cupped her face and carefully, softly, dragged his open lips across her eyelids, cheekbones, the arch of her nose, along the delicate line of her jaw, before finally claiming her lips again.

Emily tried her best to still her thoughts and enjoy each press of his lips, each slide of his thumbs against her skin. She knew he needed this, she had felt the same impulses for weeks after Foyet's attack, the same burning need, to simply reaffirm his presence. But the desire flowing through her body was making it next to impossible. She wanted to see everything, touch him everywhere.

Toeing off his shoes he allowed his pants to slide down his legs before pushing his boxers down with them. He carefully stepped out of the pile of clothes before pulling Emily into his arms again. He stood still and allowed her to make the same journey of his skin that he had done to her.

Emily pressed soft kisses to his chest as her hands traced the sharp lines of his back, allowing her fingers to catalogue each nob of his spine. She flicked out her tongue to tease his skin before gently biting down on one male nipple and grinned at the guttural moan that escaped his throat at the feeling. One hand reached up, tangling in her hair, holding her to him so she repeated the movement before tracing her way across his chest to the other side, only to repeat the action again.

Hotch couldn't stand the gentle torture any longer and started to move them back towards the wide bed against the wall. He pushed her back onto the bed, following her down, his hand holding the back of her head, keeping her lips close to his own, breathing in every breath she released, his eyes intent, and staring deeply into her own.

Emily laid back and felt the cool sheets under her back in direct contrast to the heat of the man above her. She could feel the change between them, regardless of how this started it was changing into something else entirely and it scared her slightly. Every movement felt more controlled, more intimate. He was trying to tell her something with his touch but she couldn't figure out what. He rolled them till he was laying on his side next to her leaning up on one elbow and looking down at her.

Hotch trailed the tips of his fingers along the skin of her arm, before gripping her hand and leading it to his chest, willing her to touch him, as he was touching her. Praying she was feeling what he was feeling, in that moment. Her eyes lifted to his own and he could see it, love, shining in their depths, before she returned to the previous task of mapping his skin with her fingertips.

"I was right before." Emily only half heard him speak. She was distracted by the feel of his skin under her hand. She traced the lines of his shoulders, down his chest, mesmerized. With each new patch of skin that she touched she felt an answering heat that was pushing out the cold that had enveloped her like a cloak, these long weeks.

"You were right about what?" She whispered against his skin as her lips traced his sternum.

Aaron's breathe hitched as he spoke, causing her to look up into his heated gaze. "You are so remarkably beautiful."

She blushed slightly at the compliment and tried to look down; Aaron placed a finger under her chin and brought her lips back up to his own.

His hand trailed down her back till it caught on the edge of her panties, pushing them gently off her hips, she assisted him by twisting her legs and kicking them off the side of the bed. Aaron rolled her onto her back and settled between her legs, keeping his fingers tangled in her hair and his lips affixed to her own.

He pulled back from her lips and the heat in his look caused her to gasp in a sudden breath, pushing her breasts up into his chest. With a mischievous smirk he slipped further down her body and began to trail kisses along the crest of her breast, smiling against her skin at her shuttered breaths.

Aaron dipped his head lower and encased a hardened nipple in his mouth, flicking the tip gently with his tongue. When she seemed to relax into the sensation he grinned before sucking hard, causing her back to arch and a sharp cry of pleasure to leave her lips. His hands slid up her back and cupped her shoulders, helping her to stay in position as he alternated his attention from one peak to the other, gratified by her senseless babbling.

Emily was losing her mind.

Nope, it was completely gone.

She fisted one hand in the pillow case next to her head, the other dropping to the back of his, holding him to her. She restlessly slid her feet alone the sides of his legs in an unconscious expression of need. When she finally couldn't take it anymore, she cupped the back of his neck and coaxed him back up to her lips.

As Aaron settle more comfortably between her splayed thighs, he reached down and pulled one slender leg up over his hip, rocking gently against her, allowing his length to slip along her wet folds, gently caressing her to a fevered pitch.

Emily pulled back from his seductive mouth and gasped for breath. "Hotch… Please…"

He tipped his head forward and breathed into her ear, "Aaron."

"What?"

He pulled back enough to clearly see her face. "Aaron. Here, like this. I'm Aaron."

She reached up and traced the normally sever lines of his face. "Aaron."

His eyes flickered closed at the sound his name leaving her lips. It brought a pleasure to him that he hadn't expected and increased the level of intimacy between them passed where it already was.

Aaron reached between their bodies and slid his fingers along her lips, dipping inside to find her clit; he caressed it gently, causing her to gasp out his name again. She was so warm, so very wet. And so unbelievably responsive, he could have spent hours watching the multitude of expressions that crossed her face in her pleasure, but the need inside of him was growing too strong, he had to have her now, unable to wait any longer.

He took himself in hand and lined himself up with her, slipping just the tip inside of her before stilling, refusing to move until her eyes connected with his own again. Emily looked back at Aaron's eyes and in that moment a thousand thoughts and feelings were communicated between them.

Emily's eyes flittered closed and felt his puffed breath on her face as he spoke. "No Emily. Keep looking at me." Using sheer force of will she opened her eyes, locking gazes with his own as she felt him slid inside of her, stretching her, completing her.

She threw back her head and released a moan from deep in her chest, lifting her other leg to wrap around his waist allowing him to slide the rest of the way inside of her. She couldn't remember a feeling so perfect. She felt his fingers slide into her hair, cupping her head and she looked up into his intense face, watching the emotions flitting through his eyes as he finally began to move.

They rocked gently together, refusing to speed up, refusing to lose eye contact, attempting to tell each other everything that they were expressing with their bodies and eyes alone. This was more than sex, more than an affirmation of life, it was the beginning and it was for keeps.

Hands slid along skin, tracing the movements of muscle and sinew. Aaron's head dropped forward to rest on her shoulder as he began to move faster. Emily stroked the line of his spine feeling the sweat pool on his skin and glorying in the feel of him, over her, surrounding her, loving her.

His hand glided down her side to clutch the back the back of her thigh and pulled her leg up higher around his waist. She followed its path with her own, lacing her fingers through his. Her arm came back up and wrapped around his neck as her back arched off the bed when he stroked that spot inside her that made her see white, gasping his name repeatedly on a chanted breath.

Aaron knew he wasn't going to last much longer, she felt too good and it had been too long. Her breathy sounds were causing his desire to reach a fevered pitch. He let go of her leg and slipped his hand back between their bodies, finding her clit and rubbing it firmly, hoping and praying to help her find the edge before he couldn't hold on any longer and finally lost control completely.

He moved his hips frantically against hers, causing their bodies to slide up the bed. Aaron braced his weight on one forearm so that he could look down at Emily and read on her expressive face what he was doing to her.

Emily's neck arched hard and she clutched reflexively at his back, crying out his name as she fell over the edge, every muscle in her body vibrating with the release of pleasure.

Panting harshly she sucked in deep breaths trying to find enough air. Coming back to herself she felt Aaron moving desperately against her but still holding himself back.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her lips, whispering in his ear. "Please Aaron, need you. Need this, cum inside of me. Please…."

Hotch's back bowed hard as he cried out softly in her ear, driving deeply into her one final time before giving into his release. After several long seconds the tension left his limbs and he collapsed on her, allowing his weight to rest on her softer form.

Emily held him tight to her as his breathing calmed, running a hand soothingly down his back, allowing him to get control over his ragged breathing.

Hotch rolled them to the side so they lay facing each other with one of her legs draped over his hip.

He traced his fingers down the side of her face and his voice was husky when he finally spoke, "You're extraordinary."

She smiled softly at the glazed look in his eyes. "I think we're extraordinary, together."

He tugged her closer till there was almost no space between the two of them. "We'll just stay here like this, the three of us. You, me and Jack. Safe and tucked away in your apartment together."

"That's a fanciful idea, coming from you." She laughed softly at the uncharacteristic comment coming from a man she had once seen as coolly controlled.

"I know." He pressed his lips to hers before resting his forehead against her own and looking deep into her eyes. "No matter what happens, I'll be here. You don't have to be alone anymore."

Emily smiled softly and for the first time she felt like perhaps, just perhaps she would make it out of the other side of this in one piece. He was remarkable; she could trust him to let her be strong and take care of herself and would offer his arm as a crutch when she needed it.

But she knew it was going to get worse before it got better, because Ian Doyle was still coming for her.

She lay on her side and gazed at the serious face that was mere inches from her own and thought back over what he had said. What it would be like to stay here, cloistered inside of these walls, safe, loved.

She looked deep into his eyes and saw the same desire mirrored in his own. "We can't stay here forever, but maybe, just maybe we can stay, for a little while at least."

Author's Note: Qatar is a member of Interpol although in this story I have them as not being a member country. It was necessary for the storyline but after quite a bit of looking I couldn't find a non-member country that was located where there was serious political upheaval, so creative license was used for this part. The only countries not members are small islands around Austrailia. For anyone curious, Interpol lists its member countries on its website and they total 188.

TBC in Chapter Seven - First Day In A New World