For me to continue with this story the way that I would like to, I am going to need to take a few liberties with the canon. There is no way that there would be interdepartmental relationships, especially not between a team leader and his subordinate. But, even if it was allowed, there is no way that Hotch would put himself in that position. So, I decided that I am just going to ignore those facts and continue with this Hotchniss story.

Emily zipped up her black oriental dress. She walked up to Hotch asking him to fasten the buttons on her shoulder.

"You look beautiful."

"Thank you. This was the only kind of dress I could find to cover up the cigarette burns." She smirked.

"Well, let's not think about that. The point of tonight is to move on. I want you to try to have fun."

"As long as there is alcohol, I am sure that I will be able to enjoy myself." She joked.

"This is Rossi we're talking about, you know there will be enough to go around." Hotch snickered.

Emily poured herself a cup of coffee. "Did you want some?"

Hotch shook his head. "No, I had enough for today."

"I just need a little pick-me-up. I hate not being able to sleep."

He put his hands on her shoulders. "You just went through a traumatic experience, and a painful one. It's understandable for you to have nightmares and to be anxious. It will pass in time."

"I know." She took a drink of her coffee and walked towards the bathroom. "I just need to finish my hair and then we can go."

The team gathered at Rossi's for an intimate dinner celebrating Hotch and Emily's rescue. He cooked his mother's tomato sauce all day with homemade meatballs and fresh garlic bread. The wine was flowing as Hotch and Emily walked through the front doors.

"I am pleased to announce that our very own secret agents have arrived." Rossi declared.

The group gathered around Hotch and Emily, sharing hugs and smiles.

"I am so happy you are both home." Garcia started. "You have no idea how much I was worried for you both."

"Okay, come on, we don't want to overwhelm them. Why don't we all sit down so we can eat?" Rossi suggested.

Everyone took their seats as Rossi started to serve the pasta. "Garcia, could you please make sure that everyone's glass is full?"

"You got it." Garcia got up and grabbed the wine bottle and toped everyone's glasses off. "I still can't believe all the things you had to suffer through. Especially while you were just on a trip to Austria. Talk about the worst honeymoon ever." She stopped pouring as soon as she heard the words coming out of her mouth. "Ut… oh."

"Wait, what?" Morgan remarked

"Did you two?" JJ started.

"Okay, okay." Hotch put his hand up stopping all the questions. "I am going to dispense with all the questions and assumptions. While we were working that case in Las Vegas, Emily and I got married."

The smiles, remarks and questions started again. "But, we got an annulment."

"Oh, no." Garcia whined. "Does this mean that you two aren't… you two?"

Hotch looked to Emily. "We are still trying to figure out what this is. So we have decided to take it one day at a time. Hopefully avoiding Russian mobsters in the meantime." Emily smirked.

Rossi stood up. "Well, I would like for us to raise our glasses to Aaron and Emily! For finally admitting what we all knew was there!"

"Here, here." The group exclaimed and drank.

Two weeks had passed since Hotch and Emily returned to work. They were both given time to recover from their injuries. However, with Emily's physical injuries scarred over, her emotional ones were far from gone.

Emily closed up the casefile on her desk and grabbed her stuff. She headed to Hotch's office. "You ready?"

"Just about." He loaded files into his briefcase. "How do you feel about pizza tonight?"

"That sounds great. I can always go for a slice."

Hotch's office phone rang. "Hotchner." He listed. "Okay, I will be right there." He hung up. "Sorry, looks like I will have to postpone. The director needs to see me." He pulled out his cell phone. "I should call Jessica and see if she can pick up Jack for me."

"I'll do it."

He hung up the phone. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. I can get Jack, we can then pick up some pizza and we will wait for you at your place."

Hotch seemed pleased with her volunteering. "Well, only if you are sure."

"Yes, give Jessica a break."

"Okay. I will see you when I get home." He closed his briefcase and gave her a kiss on the cheek then headed out.

Emily opened up the door to Hotch's apartment and Jack ran in and threw his backpack on the ground. She followed and put the pizza down on the table.

"Can I have some now?" Jack asked.

"I think you should wait until your dad can join us, don't you think?"

Jack shrugged knowing she was right.

"Why don't you get started on your homework first, and then you won't have to worry about it afterwards."

He pulled out some loose papers from his bag and sat at the table. He started to play with his pencil.

"Is something wrong? Do you need some help?" Emily asked.

"Are you dating my dad?"

Emily sat in the chair next to him. "Yes, I guess I am." She looked at his face to see that he was thinking about what to say next. "Is that okay with you?" She asked sincerely.

He nodded. "Yes, you make Dad happy and you're pretty cool."

She smiled. "Well, that's good to know."

At that moment Hotch walked through the door. "Hey, guys." He smiled, putting down his briefcase.

"Dad! Emily picked up pizza for us."

"I can see that."

"We waited until you got home to eat it." He smiled at Emily.

"That's great. I appreciate it."

"Is Emily going to sleep over tonight?"

Hotch looked to Emily and they both blushed. "I don't know, Buddy. Why?"

"Because she said that she makes really good pancakes and so I thought that if she spent the night that we could have some in the morning." Jack was excited.

Emily smiled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, I am okay with it if she is."

"Looks like we are having pancakes in the morning." She announced

Jack started to eat his pizza.

Hotch took a seat next to Emily. "I wanted to talk to you about something while you were here."

"What's that?" Emily was curious.

"On my way home I got a call from Sean."

"Your brother, Sean?"

"Yeah, he said that he is going to come for a visit next week."

"I can't wait to meet him."