A/N: Oh my god, it's ending... I can't believe it's ending... it's so sad :(

Guys, I'm sorry for taking so long. I was really bad and I couldn't focus to write. I spent the whole weekend in bed, just watching Dharma and Greg and reading fics. :) It was an awesome medicine and now I'm almost all good. Thank you all for the reviews and the PM's wishing me to get better soon. You guys are the best.

Here is the last chapter of We Had It All. Again, it's huge, because there's too much things to be tied up and I don't want to let anything unresolved. We still have the Epilogue and I'll post it tomorrow.

This is unbeta'd and I didn't reviewed so I'm sorry for any errors. I hope you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I don't own CM.

Chapter 24

The last couple of minutes had passed through him without him even noticing. One minute he was joking with Kate about who should do the laundry when they got home and the next one everything was falling apart in front of his eyes and he could only hear an annoying ring on her ear, totally disoriented and confused about his surrounds.

He saw the papers flying and the SUV in flames in front of him. There was blood in his hands and his whole body ached. It took him exactly fifteen seconds to remember that he wasn't alone there.

Kate.

Kate was with him and she had been thrown away with the force of the bomb just like him. He quickly scanned the street, looking for her and thankfully he spotted her laying on the ground, curled on a fetal position. He ran like crazy towards her, praying to God that she was okay, that his goddaughter was okay. As he knelt in front of her he barely registered the voice of the kid asking him if she was okay.

Jim, Tom, Sam, what was his name again? He couldn't remember. He just asked him to call for help and focused on the blonde girl in front of him. She had a nasty cut on her forehead and her arms were covered with scratches and bruises. He carefully turned her on her back and raised his sweater to look at her baby bump. He touched it and called for his ladybug, asking, begging her to give him just a little kick so he could know that she was okay.

When he felt the littlest flutter under his hand he almost broke into tears. There was still life inside there. There was still hope. He asked for the kid to call again for the damn ambulance as he looked at the floor and saw the amount of blood under his sister's pants. She was still unconscious and he kept asking her to wake up and look at him, that he needed her to be okay, that she had to fight and be okay otherwise he would kill her.

"Hotch!"

He heard a voice calling him but he was too busy trying to awake Kate to even bother looking up.

"Hotch!" The voice was closer and now he recognized it as Morgan's. "Hotch, man! Are you okay?" He was now right there by his side and he just nodded sharply.

"She needs an ambulance, Morgan. The baby is still kicking but there's so much blood and…" There was a sound coming from his lips that he couldn't identify. Maybe it was something like a sob or a sharp breath or even a plea. "She needs a medic!" He said more forcefully, looking at the dark man in front of him.

"They won't send anyone here until everything's cleared, Hotch…" He told him and now he was sure that it was a sob coming from his lips.

"She needs it, Morgan… she won't make it… the baby… she needs… I need…" He stammered all the while touching her belly, relishing the fluttering of his goddaughter's movements.

There was a ring and he could hear Morgan speaking with someone through the phone but the words weren't making any sense to him. He kept whispering assurances to Kate and the baby, begging her to wake up just for a minute and talk to him. "Hotch!" He looked up to Morgan again and there was incredulity there. "The kid! He's the unsub!" He told him and Hotch merely murmured a 'go' to him before turning back his attention to Kate.

Finally. Finally there was a siren and then lights and then the ambulance was coming in his direction. "It's coming… do you hear me? The help is here and you'll be okay… you'll be fine, sweetheart…" He whispered to her and smiled at the kick on his hand.

The paramedic put her into the stretcher and then she was being loaded into the ambulance. He had to drive it because there was just one paramedic and soon enough they were parking into the ER entry. After another argument to let them get into the hospital, something about being closed and he didn't give a shit about it, she was being rushed into the halls of the ER.

"What do we have?" The doctor asked.

"There was an explosion. She's nineteen weeks and the baby is still kicking but she's unconscious ever since. She has a problem with her BP and had an incident a couple of months ago…" Hotch explained quickly.

"And you are? Were you in the explosion?" He asked looking at him.

"Yes… I'm her brother. Please, save them…" He pleaded.

"Sarah, take a look at him…" He said rushing towards the surgery room. Hotch was leaded to another side of the room, rather reluctantly.

"Sir, we need to look at you injures. Your sister is in the best hands. There's nothing you can do right now other than pray and take care of yourself so you can look after her when she wakes up…" The old nurse told him calmly and he let her do what she needed, even though his head was still with the blonde on the other room.

\*\*\*\

"Hotch's in the ER and Kate was rushed into surgery. Morgan said that the baby was still kicking but things weren't looking good…" JJ said to the other agents as they were on the conference room.

"How is he? Is he okay?" Emily asked with a pained voice, the despair for not having heard from him yet evident.

"He's worried about Kate…" JJ explained and she nodded, knowing how much panicking he probably was.

"They're saying that this was a terrorist attack that went wrong…" Reid told them.

"Well, they're wrong…" Dave said. They started to argue with the local officers about the reasons behind the explosion but Emily couldn't register any of the words.

He could've had died. He should be dead now and there was nothing she could have done. He would be gone for good and she would never see him again. He would die without knowing that she still loved him more than anything in this world. He would die without knowing that she still dreamed about him almost every night. He would be dead before she had the chance to hold him again, to kiss him again, to feel him again.

He would be gone forever and she would be alone again, just like she told him she wanted to be.

But it wasn't true. She didn't want him to go. She didn't want him to leave and she surely didn't want him to die. She wanted him near. She was just too damn scared to admit it. She was too scared of being hurt again.

She remembered JJ's words on the plane earlier. It was really worth to be alone for the rest of her life because of her fear?

The moment she heard about the explosion she knew that if she lost Aaron for good it would be worse than death for her.

She was still feeling an ache in her chest and she had to keep blinking her tears away because she needed to see him. She needed to see for herself that he was alive and that she hadn't lost him. She needed to see him.

She needed him.

"Emily!" She startled with Dave's voice and looked up to see him looking worriedly at her. "Are you okay? I was calling your name and you weren't listening…"

She felt her eyes burning again and shook her head negatively quickly. "I need to see him, Dave…" She whispered painfully and he nodded understandably.

"Hotch wants us at the hospital." JJ said with her phone in her hand and Emily sighed relieved.

"Let's go see him…" Dave said patting her back and they were all out to the hospital in a rush.

\*\*\*\

"Rossi!" They heard Morgan's voice and quickly walked towards the dark profiler.

"Where is him?" Emily asked quickly.

"He's changing." He explained. "Sam is dead and there's no new lead about his plan. This can end like this… it just doesn't make any sense…" He said.

"The profile is wrong…" Came the deep voice of their former Unit Chief and Emily breathed at the sight of him covered in bruises and cuts.

"Oh my god…" She whispered with a sob and launched herself into his arms, carefully aware of his injures but needing to feel him alive and safe. "You're okay…" She whispered, muffed by his shirt and he tightened his grip on her.

"I'm okay… I'm okay, Em…" He assured her, caressing her back and hair. He felt her hot tears on his shirt and neck and shivered when he felt her elaborated breathing against him.

"The press is saying that it was a terrorist attack that went wrong…" JJ told him, bringing his head back on the case.

Emily pulled back but didn't disentangle herself from his arms, keeping him close to her. "It wasn't. Everything was planned to happen just the way it did we just don't know why yet…" Hotch said, still running his hands on Emily's back, needing something good in the middle of that mess. "Did you find Sam's phone?" He suddenly asked Morgan and he nodded. "Did he call 911?"

"No… he just called one number and it was a disposable phone that went off just after Sam's death…" Morgan explained and Hotch closed his eyes in resignation.

"There's just one reason for him to stick around…" He said and Dave quickly caught his thought.

"Making sure that the ambulance would come to you…" The eldest profiler said.

"This hospital was closed by the Secret Service. This was the target. And I brought the bomb here…" He said and the others gasped. Before they could move the doctor came from the surgery room.

"Agent Hotchner…"

Hotch looked at Morgan, who nodded quickly. "Emily, stay with him. Rossi, Reid, JJ, come with me…" He directed them, knowing very well that Emily wouldn't do any good on the field while worried about Hotch. He caught her thankful eyes before leaving with the rest of the team.

"How is she? And the baby?" Hotch asked quickly and Emily grasped his hand in support, while the other rested on his back.

"Agent Joyner suffered a trauma on her head due to the impact on the ground. It wasn't anything serious but that explains her unconsciousness. Her body is protecting herself in the form of a natural coma, to help her heal from her injures with the less amount of pain…" He started explaining. "The way she fell, curling her body in a fetal position, thankfully spared the baby from any major traumas but even so, the stress her body suffered induced a premature labor. We managed to stabilize her and stop the labor. The baby is fine now, a little agitated yet but everything should be okay…" The doctor explained and Hotch let out a relieved breath and Emily squeezed his hand.

"What about Kate?"

"She's being transported to a recovery room… she's still unconscious and a little weak. We did several blood transfusions and she should be fine and completely stabilized in a couple of days. We don't know when she will wake up, though. We'll be monitoring her and she'll probably wake up tomorrow but we don't know for sure. Right now we can only wait…" He explained and Hotch nodded. "I understand that you're the one taking care of her during the pregnancy…" He asked and Hotch nodded again. "Well, after she leaves the hospital I recommend absolute rest for her. Of course she has to go see her own doctor but in my opinion she should be in bed rest for the rest of the pregnancy. We almost lost her and the baby and she can live any kind of stress anymore…"

Hotch nodded shakily at him. "When can I see her?"

"I'll send a nurse to direct you to her bedroom when everything's ready…" The doctor answered and he nodded, thanking him.

Emily squeezed his hand again and caressed his back. "She's okay…" She whispered at him and he nodded numbly at her. "She'll be fine, Aaron… the baby too…" She said again and he hugged her once more, burying his face on her neck. She shushed him and caressed his scalp, whispering comfort words to him. "God, Aaron, I was so scared…" She whispered at him after a few minutes. "I thought you were gone… I thought it was over…" She cried into his arms and held him tightly. "Don't ever do that to me again… ever…" She pulled apart and cupped his cheeks with her trembling hands, the two pairs of tearful eyes looking at each other. "Aaron, I…"

"Don't…" He whispered placing a finger on her lips.

"Aaron…" She tried to speak against his lips but he shook his head and there was such despair in his eyes that she found herself shutting up.

"There's too much left unsaid between us, Emily. There's too much regret and too much sorrow. You and I need to sit down, forget about everything else in the world and talk. We need to talk about us, about our past, about what I did and about everything that happened after that… without that we'll never be able to leave the past in the past and move on…" He explained to her. "I don't want to hear those words from you until you're sure that you'll be able to forgive me... that you'll be able to be with me, whole and completely again. Because if you say this to me now and then later you change your mind and I have to walk away from you again… it'd kill me, Emily…" He said painfully.

"Okay…" She nodded at him. "We'll talk…"

"Okay…" He nodded back and held her again, relishing the feeling of her after so much time and the promise of more. He hoped to God that things would get better now.

\*\*\*\

"Garcia, can you cut the signal for how long?" Morgan asked as he frantically drove the ambulance through the streets of Manhattan.

"Not long, Derek, you need to get out of this thing!" She cried while she worked on her task.

"Not yet, sweetheart. I'm almost there…"

"Why is always you? Derek, get out of there!" She pleaded him.

"He has thirty seconds…" The other tech told her and she gasped.

"Derek, jump off of this damn ambulance, you have thirty seconds!" She shouted at him through the phone.

"Almost there, baby… almost there…" He said as he could see the park closer. He looked at the clock and the distance he still had, knowing it was too much. "Penelope…" He needed to tell her. He needed to tell her the truth. "Penelope, I need to tell you something…" He had lost so much time… all because of his cowardice, because of his fears. And now here he was, almost being blown up and he couldn't go without saying how he really felt. He couldn't hide this anymore.

"Get out of this ambulance and you can tell what the hell you want, Derek!" He heard her pleading.

"You know what you are to me?" He asked between breaths. He was almost there. Just a few more and it was over. "Do you know what you mean to me?"

"Derek, please! Fifteen seconds!"

"You are my everything, Penelope…" He told her just as he entered the park. "You are the reason I wake up every morning and go to sleep every night… you are my God-given solace… you are…" His voice was cut by the sound of the explosion.

"Derek!" Garcia cried as she heard the boom from the bomb echoing in her piece. "Derek… Derek… please, Derek, please…" She whispered painfully as the tears found their way down her cheeks.

"You are the love of my life, Penelope Garcia…" His voice came through the phone and she released her breath.

"Oh my god…"

"I love you more than life itself, baby, but I was too much a coward to do something about it. I was too scared of you not loving me back… and with Lynch… I couldn't watch you with him, kissing him, touching him, being with him because you should be with me… you should be with me every single day for the rest of our lives… please, tell me you feel something too… please…" He pleaded her and she sobbed quietly at his speech.

"I… I can't talk to you right now… I'm too angry…" She told him.

"It's okay… I'll wait. I'll wait my whole life for you…" He vowed and she hung up.

He had said it. He had finally said it and it was as if a weight had been just lifted from his shoulders. He didn't know what she would do. He wasn't expecting her to run to his arms. He honestly wasn't expecting anything good. But at least she knew. At least he could say he had tried. At least, if something ever happened, he could say he wasn't a coward. He told her. Now she just needed to figure what she wanted to do about it.

\*\*\*\

"Hey…" Emily knocked on Kate's room early that morning. Hotch had spent the night with Kate after the nurse directed him to her room and had sent Emily back to the hotel to get some rest.

She had barely slept and as soon and the sun was out she was up and ready to go. She had stopped to get some food and coffee and now was back to the hospital to see how he was.

"Hi… you're here early…" He said quietly getting up from the chair he was sitting beside Kate's bed.

"Couldn't sleep much… I brought food and coffee…" She said handing him the bag and a cup. "Any changes?" She asked.

"No… she slept the whole night. The baby is kicking stronger and I'm almost sure that she squeezed my hand earlier while I was talking to her…" He said quietly smiling sadly at his blonde friend.

"You really love her, don't you?" Emily said taking his hand and squeezing it.

"I do… she's like the sister I never had… she annoys the hell out of me and I have this need to protect her from everything… she doesn't have anyone else… Richard doesn't even know what's going on…" He told her taking a sip of his coffee.

"Can't you contact him?" She asked circling his waist with her arm.

"I want to wait until she wakes up. If there was something wrong I'd call him but the doctors said she's going to wake soon so…" He answered her.

They stayed in silence for a few minutes, eating and looking at Kate sleeping, all the time touching each other. "I think Morgan wants to go home this evening…" She said quietly and he tightened his grip on her waist.

"I can't leave her, Emily…" He told her quietly and she sighed.

"I know, Aaron… I would never ask you to leave her…" She told him. "I think I'm going to ask Morgan to stay for a few days… I have some off days available…" She explained and he held her tightly, kissing her hair.

"Thank you so much…" He whispered at her and she nodded. They talked a little about the events of the day before but mostly just spent the day enjoying each other's company, waiting for Kate to wake up.

Emily called Morgan by noon and asked for the off time which he granted promptly. Around four the team stopped by the hospital to say goodbye to them. "Thank you for coming so quickly…"Hotch told Morgan and he just nodded.

"Of course, man… you're family…" He assured him. "And she'll be okay soon, you hear?"

Hotch nodded at him and gave him a hug and a pat on his back. Before anyone could say anything Emily spoke urgently. "Aaron…" When he looked at her he saw her looking at Kate. "I think she's waking up…" He was quickly by her side and took her hands with his, whispering assurances to her.

"That's it, sweetheart. Open your eyes for me, please…" He pleaded her and she squeezed his hand. "Someone call a doctor…" He asked and Morgan went quickly. "Open your eyes, Kitty. I need you to open your eyes for me…" There was nothing for a few seconds until they saw her eyes fluttering slowly. Hotch encouraged her and squeezed her hand until she opened them properly and focused on him.

"A-Aaron?" She cracked; her throat sore.

"Oh God…" Hotch gasped, dropping his head on her shoulder and gripping her hand tightly. He looked up to her and caressed her hair. "If you ever do this to me again I will kill you myself, Katherine Marie…" He said tightly.

"Don't call me Katherine Marie…" She answered with a glare and he chuckled, kissing her forehead. "My baby…" She whispered.

"She's fine… strong and kicking like crazy…" He told her and she let out a breath along with a few tears that he wiped.

"Are you okay?" She whispered looking at the cuts on his face.

"I am now… I am now…" He nodded at her and then the doctor came in to exam her, asking for them to leave the room. They went outside and Hotch hugged Emily, finally breathing again.

"We need to get going, man…" Morgan announced and he nodded, saying goodbye to his team and thanking them again.

"If you need anything, just call…" Dave told him before leaving.

"It was good to see you, Hotch…" JJ told him and Garcia and Reid nodded.

"You too, JJ… take care of yourself, okay?" He asked and she nodded. He then hugged both Reid and Garcia. As he held his favorite tech he whispered in her ear. "Don't lose the chance of being happy for fear… you know you love him too, Penelope…" He winked at her as they pulled back and she nodded, blinking back a few tears. She had avoided Morgan like a plague after the explosion and she knew the others had noticed too.

After they left, Emily and Hotch stood side by side looking at the blinds of Kate's room holding each other by their waists, her head resting on his shoulder. "Told you she'd be fine…" She whispered at him and he smiled.

"If they release her today, do you want to come over? She'll probably sleep most of the time but I don't want to leave her alone… and we still need to talk…" He suggested and she nodded. He hugged her tightly against his body and kissed her forehead. "Thank you for staying…" He whispered.

"Thank you for letting me stay…"

\*\*\*\

It was almost ten when Morgan heard his doorbell ringing that night. The team had arrived by three and he had told them to go home and don't return until Monday. He came home and changed clothes before going for a run. He ran for almost an hour and then went back home, took a shower and made a quick lunch, sinking on his couch and watching old films.

He had turned off his phone and told JJ that if she needed him she could call him at home. He didn't want to talk to anyone. After the explosion and his confession to Penelope she had completely ignored him and treated him with coldness and indifference. He knew it was her right to not return his feelings but it didn't hurt any less.

He had hoped, deep on his chest, that she would feel something for him too. Sometimes it seemed to him that his feelings were reciprocated but in the end, the sad truth was that it wasn't. She didn't care for him like that and he just needed to suck it up and learn to let it go.

What hurt the most was that he was feeling that he had lost her for good. As his friend and baby girl too. The cold stares she gave him made it quite clear that he was a persona non grata and it stung. And to make it worse he had heard when she told JJ she needed to go because she needed to see Kevin.

He got up from his couch and went to the door, looking through the peephole to see who it was his unexpected visitor. He gasped at the sight of her, dressed on his favorite blue dress covered with white little hearts. Her hair was curled and framing her beautiful face, as always, and her lips were covered with a pink lipstick, so kissable.

He opened the door and looked at her with confused eyes.

"Hi". She whispered quietly at him.

"Hey…" He greeted her.

"Can I come in?"

He just nodded and opened the door wider for her to get in. "I thought you were with Kevin tonight…" He couldn't help but state.

"I was…" She confirmed. "I needed to see him before coming here…" At his confused face she approached him and looked into his eyes. "Did you mean it? Do you really love me?" She asked.

"More than my own life…" He answered without any hesitation. And just like that she was in his arms, cupping his face and capturing his lips in a needy kiss. He was startled at first but quickly recovered and kissed her back, just as hungrily, possessing her mouth and holding her tightly against his hard chest. When they pulled apart breathlessly he was confused and happy at the same time. "Kevin?" He questioned panting.

"It's over…" She told him and he let out a breath. "I needed to see him and end things before coming here… I couldn't do this to him…" She explained.

"Then… you're here…" He said unsure.

"I'm here… I'm here and I love you too…" She confessed and he kissed her again. "I've always loved you, Derek… I just never thought you would possibly want someone like me…" She said when they pulled apart.

"Someone like you?" He frowned. "Penelope, you are perfection to me… you are everything I need and want in a woman… you are all that I need in my life… I love you, so much…" He told her firmly and passionately before kissing her again.

"This is for real?" She asked panting when he pulled apart and started to kiss her jaw and neck.

"This is for real, sweetheart. The most real thing in my life…" He told her. "And it's for good… it's forever, Penelope…"

She nodded quickly at him. "Forever… I like that very much…" She said smiling and kissing him again. "I like it very much…"

\*\*\*\

Kate wasn't released until the other morning and Hotch stayed in the hospital with her the whole time despite her pleads for him to go home and get some rest. She was released right after nine and Hotch took her home, with Emily's help. He immediately took her to bed and told her she shouldn't get up for anything without him, at least for the first few days. He arranged the living room's TV on her room and he and Emily made lunch for them.

After lunch Kate slept and Hotch and Emily finally had a time alone to start their talk. Hotch leaded them to the couch and they sat side by side, looking at each other.

"So…" Emily started awkwardly.

Hotch smiled at her and took her hand with his, squeezing it. "So…" He took a deep breath before speaking. "Emily… I already told you how I feel… I love you, even more than I loved you all these years ago when I first saw you… I love you in a way that I can't even explain… but yet, I was capable of hurting you so bad and that's something I was never able to forgive myself…" He said looking down. "Everything I did, Emily, all the pain and the hurt, everything I did with us both it's too much… it's too big to forget easily… I guess what I'm trying to ask is, are you completely sure that you're willing to let all of that in the past and start writing a new future with me? Are you willing to leave everything behind us? Can you actually look at me without feeling pain and resentment? You said yourself a few months ago how much it hurt you to look at me every day, how it made you feel bad…"

"I know what I said, Aaron, I know, but believe me I regretted it the moment those words fell from my lips… I hated myself for feeling good about the pain I saw in your eyes when I said that… I guess I just wanted to hurt you, affect you like that…" She explained and he nodded at her.

"I understand that, Emily… I do… but that's part of the thing… do you think we together without you wanting to throw in my face everything I did anything things get rough? Because it won't be a walk in the park, Em… relationships are never like that and you know it. We'll fight and argue and sometimes you may want to kill me… it's how it works, it's normal to fight sometimes… but I'm afraid that with all our past these fights become something bigger, with more power of destruction, you know…" He explained and she nodded.

"I know… if you ask me right now if I trust you completely I will say no. It doesn't work like that. I can't just erase everything I went through and give myself to you that easily. It'll take time for me to trust in you again… it won't be easy but I'm willing to try…" She told him, looking into his eyes.

"Can you see yourself trusting in me again, completely?"

She stayed quiet for a few moments before nodding slowly. "I do… I do because I can see my Aaron in the man in front of me… actually I can see him ever since I saw you on my first day in the office… I guess I can see now that you're still the man I fell for. You made a mistake, yes… a huge mistake, but… you're human…" She shrugged. "You're only human and you'll make mistakes now and then… but you're still the man I met almost eighteen years ago. You stayed with the same woman for fifteen years, faithful. You're an excellent father and you're one of the best agents the Bureau ever had. You're still my Aaron… I guess now I can see that… at the time the pain was too much… the humiliation, the hurt… but now…" She sighed. "I dated a lot of guys during these years and I never found someone like you… someone who would treat me so right… someone who would make me feel so good… so loved…" She said quietly and he caressed her cheek.

"I am so sorry for not loving you the way you deserved it…" He whispered at her and kissed her forehead. "I am so sorry for making us waste all this time… I am so sorry for hurting you and making you so sad… I am so sorry for our baby…" He whispered against her hair and heard her sob at the last part. She buried her head on his shoulder and they cried for their lost, for the first time together. He whispered that he was sorry over and over and she cried, remembering all the time she spent alone, mourning for their baby.

"I'm sorry for saying that you killed our baby…" She whispered back to him. "You didn't… I swear, Aaron, I never hated you because of it… I hated myself for being weak, for not noticing the signs and taking those pills… but I never blamed you, I swear…" She told him softly but firmly and held him as he cried for their child.

"I'm so sorry for leaving you alone…" He whispered at her and they continued to cry together for a few minutes. When they pulled apart she sniffed and he wiped her tears lovingly. "I'm sorry…"

"I'm sorry too… I'm sorry too…" She whispered at him. "Aaron, I can't promise you I won't get mad at you. I can't promise I won't throw things on your face sometimes. I can't promise that I'll trust you always or that I won't fight with you because of our past but… I lived a life without you, Aaron… and it was hell". She told him brokenly. "I'm tired of living without you…"

With those words he kissed her.

After more than fifteen their lips found each other again and he moaned throatily at the taste of her. His hands were buried on her hair and he moved his lips against hers carefully, relishing the feel of her, the taste of her, the smell of her. He traced the tip of his tongue on her lips and she whimpered before opening it for him, shivering when he stroked her tongue with his.

She held his shoulders tightly and devoured his mouth with so much passion that her vision started to blurry with the amount of pleasure she was feeling. They kissed each other hungrily, needy and passionately for several minutes, until bright spots invaded their vision because of the lack of oxygen.

They pulled apart breathlessly, panting and gasping for breath, holding each other tightly, their foreheads connected and their eyes closed. She opened her eyes first and saw the smile on his face, the way his brow was relaxed and the wrinkles on his face were eased and couldn't help but smile. "I love you…" She whispered and grinned at the tear that fell from his eyes. "I love you…" She said again and kissed the tear away, making her way to his mouth again, capturing his lips in another kiss.

After they pulled apart they were already laying on the couch, she on top of him, and his hand caressing her back underneath her shirt. "I love you, too…" He whispered on her ear. "I love you, too, Emily…"

She noticed the lack of the endearments and remembered another thing she had said to him. She cupped his face and looked into his eyes. "You can call me sweetheart… it brings some bad memories but it also brings so many good ones… and I want to build new memories…" She told him and relished the smile on his face.

"Thank you so much… sweetheart… my sweetheart…" He whispered to her and kissed her again, because he could and because he wanted and because he needed to know that it was real, that she was here and that she was his again. "I don't think I've ever been so happy…" He whispered pulling back.

She just smiled at him and kissed him again, and again and again and again. They stayed in their embrace until he heard Kate starting to stir and went to see if she was okay. They cooked dinner together and then cuddled on the couch after Kate slept again, talking about their plans, about their past, about things that happened. She had told him still had a room at the hotel but when bedtime came she just didn't want to go.

They went to his bedroom and he gave her a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt and they just lay together on his bed, enjoying the feeling of the other, happy for being together again for the first time after so many years. They both knew that things wouldn't be so easy for them but they were together and they would fight for their love against anything, especially themselves.

When she was almost sleeping she heard him murmuring. "Thank you so much for wanting me back…"

She smiled and snuggled into his chest and kissed his jaw. "Thank you for taking me back…"

A/N: I tried to make it the most believeble. I couldn't just make it about the explosion because it would seem fake just to have anything resolved like that. They needed to talk. They still do and they will in the Epilogue.

Please, let me know what you think about... Reviews are awesome and I love them.