Chapter37

"The bond forged between us was not one that could be broken by absence, distance, or time. And no matter how much more special or beautiful or brilliant or perfect than me he might be, he was as irreversibly altered as I was. As I would always belong to him, so would he always be mine."
-Stephenie Meyer

Miraculously, we didn't have a single case that week so I was looking forward to New Orleans on the weekend. Of course fate had a different idea and a call came in Thursday after lunch.
The detective almost cried, 5 bodies in 10 days. Texas was a long flight but we could still make it before the sun set.
"Wheels up in thirty." Hotch said after I briefed the team and like a swarm of bees, everyone left the table to get their stuff.
Fortunately, Will and I never bought the tickets earlier than the minute we got to the airport! It was always the same flight and until now there had always been a free seat left so it wasn't a problem if I stood him up last minute.
Although I knew he would probably come and wait at my place till I came home if I asked him to, I didn't want him to. We'd need at least until Saturday evening and the plane left Sunday after breakfast so it wouldn't really be worth the money or the time he'd be waiting in a city where he didn't know a single soul.
'We have a case, can't make it this weekend. So sorry. Love you.' I quickly texted him before joining the others in the bullpen.
'I don't like the idea of you being out there. Love you more.' He replied.
'Too bad it's not up to you. I'll come over next weekend.'
'You better.'
It was already afternoon, I had been waiting to present the case as long as possible so we wouldn't be on the plane while I was still feeling sick. It was either bulimia, pregnancy or being sent home sick and neither of these excuses appealed to me.

When I sat in my hotel room that evening, I called Will.
"Are you ok?" He asked worried.
"Yes. Why? Can't I call you without a reason?"
"You're right. Let's start over again, shall we?" I heard him turn off the TV. "Hey beautiful."
"Watching Friends again?" I laughed.
"You wish." Something fell to the floor on the other end of the line. "Shoot, the remote." He swore and went silent for a moment. "Ok, sorry about that. What's new?"
"Nothing. This case actually bores me. That guy could really be a little more creative." I got in a comfy position on the bed.
"And still you can't catch him. I don't think I wanna know any details, though."
"Nah, you probably don't. What's new in your life?"
"Nothing. You stood me up once again and I will have to bore myself to death."
"What about the guys at the station?"
"They have better things to do than drink tea instead of coffee and talk about the fabric one should use for baby bedding."
"I'm sorry."
"I'll be fine! But tell Hotch that you want next weekend off, I think I have forgotten what you look like."
I sighed. "I know, I'm sorry I'm so busy."
"Next week." He warned me.

"I can't promise anything." Which was exactly what he'd meant, of course.

"Maybe we should ask the baby what it thinks."
"I did. It thinks the job is wonderful. That's two against one, I win."
"How do you even know the baby's on your side?"
"It's literally on my side. On my side of the country."
"Where are you, exactly?"
"San Antonio, why?"
"Just asking. You're sure you won't be finished until tomorrow?"
"Yep. We just got here and we don't have any leads yet so it's definitely gonna take a while."
"Oh, ok." I could practically hear him making plans but my tired brain couldn't put the -I later had to admit obvious- pieces together.
"Why?" I insisted.
"Just asking."
"Yeah, sure. Spit it out."
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
I rolled my eyes but let it go.
"Are you tired?" He asked.
I suppressed a yawn. "Nope."
"I can hear that you are! Go to sleep, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"I'm wide awake."
"Of course you are. Goodnight, honey."
"Don't hang up." I begged, but he did, leaving me alone in the pitch black darkness of the night...

As I had expected, we had trouble getting a list of suspects, let alone a decent lead. At least nobody noticed me skipping breakfast and not drinking any coffee.
'Still no clues?' Will texted me around lunchtime.
'Nope. Sorry.'
He didn't text back. Which was odd.

It was already dawn outside, when Hotch released us to go back to the hotel it didn't seem of much use to stay there any longer, we were tired after having worked over hours all week, sweaty and not motivated to do anything else but stare at the crime scene photos, trying to think of a motive.
"Goodnight." Emily waved and entered her room which was next to mine.
I pulled the key card out, pushed down the door handle and opened the door. I hiccuped when I saw Will sitting on the edge of my bed, reading the newspaper. How had he gotten there? He got up, smiling widely.
"How on earth did you get in here?" I frowned, catching my breath.
"Well, hello to you, too." He kissed me but I still had to calm my pulse from the shock. "I'm sorry if I scared you."
"You did." I was able to move again and threw my bag under the desk. "Seriously though, how did you get here?"
"I drove. Didn't you notice my car in the parking lot?"
I hadn't. I shook my head. "It takes like 8 hours."
"6 and a half if you don't pay attention to speed limits."
I checked the clock. It was 7pm. "You're nuts. And that still doesn't explain how you got in here."
"Turns out the lady at the reception gives away room keys to detectives without asking for a search warrant or wondering why nobody ever leaves the room again."
"And you just never returned from your lunch break?" I raised my eyebrows.
"A police station on Fridays is like high school. Everyone's dying to get home and nobody asks questions if you say you're sick and need to go home. Unless you have a serial killer running around, of course, which we don't. At the moment anyway." He added.
"And you just decided to scare the hell out of me by showing up here without a warning?"
"Yes. Are you done now?" He asked annoyed.
"Yes."
"Good." He wrapped his arms around me and pulled my face to his.
There were no further questions..