Hey guys! Sorry that I've been posting so late these past few days; there's stuff coming up all over the place and I'm stressing out big time. Thank you for all the support, PM's and reviews you've given me throughout this so far. All of your feedback really is what keeps a writer writing.
-A xx
Prentiss
"Do you remember when I was posted on temporary duty in Pakistan?"
My eyes widened slightly, "No…" I breathed quietly.
He looked down, "I have to go."
I stared at him in silence for a few seconds before he moved and lifted his bag.
"Are you going back to Pakistan?"
He shook his head, "Iraq."
"But everything is so intense there at the moment."
"I know," He nodded, "But I'll be fine, honey."
Tears were in my eyes, "For how long?"
"I don't know yet," He shook his head, "And I might be unreachable every so often. I'm sorry, Emily, but you know I don't have a choice."
I nodded and looked down, "Please be careful."
He motioned for me to follow him and I walked beside him as he spoke to me, "I should get a rough idea of the timeframe that I'll be there once I get to Iraq. I'll call you when I can and I'll give you the number of someone you can reach if you can't reach me and they can take a message and give it to me when possible. Depending on the time I'm gone, Dave might have to hire a temporary to fill the extra agent position."
We reached the glass doors and I stopped when he did, "And one more thing. I love you."
I smiled and blinked my tears back, "I love you too."
He looked through the glass doors and around that area, then he looked around the bullpen. The only people watching us were the other five members of our team. He placed a long kiss on my lips. When he pulled away, he looked into my eyes in a few seconds of silence.
"What's Jack doing while you're gone?" I asked quietly.
"I was going to ask Jessica, but…"
I looked down briefly. Would he hate the idea of me taking Jack while he was gone? Jessica wasn't always available, and she had to make herself available when we were on cases. He couldn't ask her to have him all day every day until he got back. "He could stay with me…if you wanted."
"School starts at 9 so he needs to be there at 8:30. It finishes at 3 so I'm supposed to be there at 2:50. Are you sure you want to do that?"
I rolled my eyes, "I am capable of a little responsibility, Aaron."
He smiled and nodded, "Okay, thank you. I'll text you Jessica's number; you can call her any time if you need her to take Jack or if you have a case."
I nodded, "Stay safe." He kissed me again before walking out the glass doors and towards the elevators.
"So he's going on temporary duty in Iraq and doesn't know when he'll be back?" Morgan asked. I nodded in confirmation. We were sitting around the conference table.
"Well what are we supposed to do while he's gone?" Reid asked quietly.
"The same thing we did last time," Rossi said, "We work how we usually do, and we try to do it without him. We can call him if we urgently need his input, but I'm sure we can work efficiently."
"But he makes the decisions that we can't." JJ said quietly.
"No, we'll solve what we need to just fine." I looked at her.
"Well what about you? How'll you work once you start missing him?"
"…He's not dead."
"But you might not see him for a long time." Garcia said.
"I'll survive." I was offended that they didn't think I'd be capable of working competently at some point.
"Okay, sorry…" Garcia said quietly, looking at me with shocked eyes after hearing my tone of voice.
"Sorry; that wasn't supposed to sound so aggressive," I cleared my throat quietly and looked around at the five sets of eyes on me, "Do we have a case?"
Garcia stood up, "Yeah. Sacramento, California. Three women dead, another reported missing as of last night. Each shot execution style." She explained the case to us and we discussed it as a team as we always did. It did seem a little unusual to not hear Hotch's voice and thoughts.
We all looked at Rossi after we talked about what we could. He looked around at us, "What?"
"You're normally the second in command. Hotch isn't here, so now you're the first…" JJ said.
"Uh…we'll leave in thirty."
"That's not how you're supposed to say it," Morgan smirked, "Let us hear the words we do every other time."
He sighed, "Wheels up in thirty."
"Thanks man." Morgan laughed.
We all stood up and took our own copies of the file. I got my phone out and looked at the text Hotch had sent me only minutes after he left the precinct. I saved the number in my contacts under "Jessica" and then rang her.
"Hello?" She answered.
"Hey Jessica, it's Emily Prentiss. I don't know if you remember me, I work with Aaron."
"Oh, I definitely remember you," I could hear the smirk in her voice, "He said that you're taking care of Jack while he's gone. Thanks for that; I definitely could not do it all the time."
I bit my lip, "Uh…"
"You have a case. It's okay, he told me that you'd still need me to take him on cases. Where are you going?"
"California. We leave in about a half hour so I won't even be able to drop him off after school."
"That's okay; Aaron doesn't normally have the time either. Just call me when you get back to Virginia and let me know when you want him dropped off. Thanks for taking him when you're here, though. It's really helpful."
I smiled to myself, "I'd do it anytime. I can pick him up after the case; you don't have to drop him anywhere."
"Alright, well good luck on your case."
"Thanks." I hung up and put my phone onto the table. I hadn't moved from the round table room during the call and when I looked up, no one from the team had left either. They were all looking at me. "What?"
"Jessica? Like Jack's aunt, Jessica?" JJ asked.
I nodded, "Yeah…"
"You're taking care of Jack while he's away? That's so cute." Garcia smiled. I rolled my eyes and held my middle finger up to her. They all laughed at me and followed me out of the conference room.
The case was harder than we thought it would be without Hotch, but we got through it eventually. The four and half hour flight home felt long too. Morgan, Reid and JJ all slept, Rossi read and I sat in silence when I would normally talk to Hotch.
When we got back to Virginia, it was around 8:30. I didn't know how late was too late to contact Jessica or pick up Jack. I texted Hotch instead in the hopes that he wouldn't be too busy yet and would receive it. I asked him what time was too late.
My phone rang about five minutes after I sent the text and I smiled to myself as I answered it. I was still with the team when I held it to my ear, "Hey."
"I'd say 9:30 is the cut off time."
"You know that you could have just texted that."
"But I wanted to call you."
"And why might that be?" My smile grew.
"So I could hear your voice."
I stopped walking and bit my lip. A small laugh escaped me and I couldn't stop smiling, "You're sweet."
"So…we're moving from base next week and I'll be unreachable for a while."
"Already? You've only been there a few days."
"These guys have been here for years."
My smile finally fell, "Well make sure you call Jack as much as you can before you can't anymore? He misses you already; I talked to him last night."
"Thanks again for looking after him while I'm here."
"Anytime, Aaron. You know that. So do you know when you might be back?"
"Months at the least. I'm sorry, Em."
I sighed, "It's okay. You didn't have a choice, right?"
"Right. I've got to go; someone's calling me. I love you."
"I love you too. Be safe." I hung up and looked around the team who had been standing around me.
"I don't think I've ever heard you tell him that you love him." JJ smiled.
I smiled and nodded, "Well he thinks that he'll be there for months at the least. He's still not sure."
"You miss him already." Rossi said.
"No." I denied, shaking my head and raising my eyebrows.
"Liar." The four of them said in unison.
"You guys suck." I walked past them and called Jessica.
I drove to Jessica's house and she invited me inside. I talked to her for a while until Jack had his things and double checked that he had all his schoolbooks. I thanked Jessica and we walked to my car. Hotch had told me that he didn't mind whether Jack came to my apartment or I stayed at his house. He said that if I did choose his house, I could take Sergio with me. I asked Jack where he preferred and he said his own house, so I swung by my apartment quickly, packed some clothes into a bag, repacked my go bag and took Sergio, his food and food dish and his litter box.
When we got to Hotch's house, Jack went up to his room. He had already eaten so I didn't need to make him anything and I wasn't hungry myself. I let Sergio out of the pet carrier and I carried him to the laundry in the back of the house. I put the litter box down and filled it with the litter he liked. I put him down in it so he'd know where it was and then I walked out. I took his food dish out and put his food into a cupboard. I filled his water dish and put it beside the food one. Then I went upstairs and stopped in the hall. Which room did I stay in?
I walked into the spare room where I had stayed before I was actually dating Hotch. I looked around for a few seconds but then I walked back out and closed the door again. I walked into the room that I had more recently been in. I decided that I'd stay in his room. His bed, at least, would give me the small comfort of his scent, because Rossi was right, I did miss him already and it had only been a week.
I put my bag on the bed and walked back out and down the hall to Jack's room. He sat at the desk in his room with three workbooks open in front of him, "It's 9:30, Jack."
"But I have so much work to do. I've been doing it at Aunt Jessica's all afternoon and I still have heaps. Dad always says that they always give out too much."
I nodded, "They do give out too much. Come on, get ready for bed. If your teacher gets mad with you then they can call me."
He smiled, "Okay." He stood up and walked to the dresser to get his pyjamas out. I walked back out and closed the door behind me. I took a few files from my bag in Hotch's room and walked downstairs. There was a lamp on the desk in the corner of the dining room and I turned it on. I put water on to boil and went back upstairs to get my glasses. I checked on Jack again and he was just getting under his blankets when I opened the door. I said good night to him and went back downstairs, made myself a coffee and sat at the desk. I read through files and completed some paperwork.
Eventually, after two coffee's, I decided that I should probably get some sleep. I went upstairs and lay down in Hotch's bed. It did smell like him and I was happy with the decision I made. I lay on the pillows on which I normally did when I stayed over and the one that Hotch normally slept on, I held to me. I felt Sergio lying near my feet and I listened to his quiet constant purr until I finally fell asleep.
