Hello my wonderful readers! I was going to do it all in one chapter, but it was getting longer than I felt like writing, so there will be one more chapter after this before I mark it as complete. (And then of course there will be the M-rated one-shot single that I post separately. I'll let you guys know next chapter what the title will be so you can be on the lookout for it if you want to read it.) Now on with the show…er, story…
On the word 'Go', the team moved into the old, abandoned house, searching for a sign that this was where the unsub had taken the women. Reid and Morgan were following behind her, guns drawn as they slid into the kitchen to the left. Hotch was several steps in front of her and slipped into a bedroom ahead to the right to clear the room. A gunshot pierced the stale air from the room that he'd just entered and Emily felt her throat close at the sound, as her heart began to beat rapidly. She hurried into the room, gun drawn, and found Aaron alone, on the floor, blood pouring out from his chest. "Aaron?" She yelled at the sight, rushing to his side. "Oh god, Aaron!" She ripped off her jacket, bunching it up and pressing it firmly over the wound to try and hinder the flow of blood. But it wasn't helping. She pulled her eyes away from his chest to look in his eyes, seeing the shock and the pain clearly displayed there. He was losing blood fast, and losing consciousness faster. "Aaron! Aaron, stay with me. You're going to be okay…you have to be okay…don't leave me, Aaron!" She went from reassuring to pleading in a matter of seconds as she watched the light leaving his eyes. As the tears started pouring down her face, she barely registered Morgan entering the room behind her and cussing loudly before calling for an ambulance. "Aaron, don't leave me. I haven't told you I love you yet. We're supposed to be together. You can't leave me!" But it was too late, he was already gone. She looked down to see her hands covered in his blood, still pressing her jacket into his wound, refusing to let go.
Emily bolted up in bed, sweat dripping off of her as she struggled to catch her breath. She glanced around the familiar bedroom bathed in moonlight, reminding herself that she was not in an abandoned house, but at home in her apartment, and Aaron was perfectly safe. She wanted to call him – reassure herself that that was true – but her eyes alit on her alarm clock and she realized that it was nearly 3 a.m. If she called him now, she'd just alarm him. She reached up, brushing the moisture off her cheeks as she realized she must have been crying in her sleep. When her breathing was under control again, she switched on the lamp on the nightstand and pushed the covers off, climbing out of bed. There was no way she was going right back to sleep after that kind of nightmare. She could still feel the abject terror of seeing him die on the floor like that, covered in blood. It all felt so real; she could hardly disassociate it from reality.
She made her way to the bathroom, switching on the light, and turning on the faucet to splash her face. Switching the faucet off after several minutes of drenching her face in the cold water, she dried off and glanced in the mirror to find a rather pale version of herself staring back at her.
She headed back into her bedroom, and found Sergio still lying in her bed, looking at her as she reentered the room with accusing eyes, obviously unhappy that she'd waken him up. Switching off the lights, as she climbed back in bed, she pulled the kitten close to her, finding reassurance in having a warm, living thing next to her. But try as she might, there was no way she was getting back to sleep.
It was just a nightmare. You've had plenty of nightmares before, Emily. She lectured herself sternly, feeling like she was just being ridiculous. And besides you'll be seeing him in 5 hours and you can check for sure that he's fine then.
It was Monday – Mandy's first day of school – and she and Aaron had agreed to meet up in front of the school before taking the kids to their respective classes and then heading in to work.
But no matter what she told herself, nothing helped. She tossed and turned for an hour and eventually gave in and got out of bed to start her day. Without any paper work to do since she'd been on medical leave for the past few days, she ended up cleaning her entire apartment for something to occupy her mind so she wouldn't think about the nightmare that was still pressing at the edges of her mind.
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Amanda was so excited about her first day of school that when her aunt went in to wake her up at 7:15, she was already wide awake, sitting on her bed, and had changed into her school uniform as well. Emily couldn't really say she was surprised – for the last 4 days Amanda had talked of almost nothing else except starting the first grade. She was nervous and excited and eager and worried, all at the same time – and secretly Emily felt the same way. She really wanted Amanda to do well at her new school and make some new friends, but she was just worried that there had been too much change in the girl's life recently and she was worried about her niece having a difficult time adjusting. Hopefully, though, school would end up offering some stability and routine, instead of adding on more stress for Amanda.
"Morning, sweetie! How about some waffles for breakfast?"
"With strawberries?" She asked eagerly, hopping off her bed.
"No strawberries, but we do have some blueberries." Emily offered, and headed downstairs to make them when Mandy agreed.
After waffles, Emily made a lunch for Amanda, packing it in her new Dora the Explorer lunch box, before they left the apartment.
"Do you think Jack will still wanna be my friend?" Mandy asked on the way to the school.
The question caught Emily off-guard since the kids had been getting along so well. "Why wouldn't Jack wanna be your friend, sweetie?"
"'Cause now we'll be in different classes and we won't see each other all day and he'll make new friends. I don't want a new best friend; I want Jack to be my best friend. But what if he doesn't want to be my best friend anymore?"
"Well, you'll still see each other outside of school and at recess. Just because you're not in the same class doesn't mean you can't be friends."
"But what if he makes new friends with boys and he doesn't want to be friends with a girl anymore?"
Emily contemplated the idea – it wasn't totally implausible. At that age boys were prone to suddenly believing that girls had cooties and vice versa – especially if they got the idea from other classmates. "Well, Jack will probably make some new friends in his class, and so will you. But you and Jack get along great and he's been really nice about sharing his toys with you, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Well, then, there's no reason to expect that he won't want to still be friends with you if he makes some new friends, right?"
"I guess. Can me and Jack go to the park after school?"
"We'll have to ask Aaron and Jack if they have any plans for after school, okay?"
"Okay."
When they arrived, Aaron and Jack were already there, waiting at the front of the school entrance for them, and Emily had to admit that a small part of her that was still stuck on her nightmare felt relieved. Amanda ran up to Aaron as soon as she spotted him, jumping into his arms. "Hi Aaron!" She practically yelled in his face. Smiling at her enthusiasm, picked her up and gave her a hug before turning to greet Emily with a quick kiss on the cheek. She gave him a smile before crouching down to hug Jack hello.
"Hey Jackster! Ready for your first day of school?"
"Guess so." He mumbled back. Much in contrast to Amanda's rambunctiousness and excitement for the first day of school, Jack seemed a bit withdrawn and wary about the start of this new experience. Emily glanced up at Aaron, noticing his brow wrinkled in worry as he watched his son interact with Emily.
He set Amanda down and she immediately butted in between Jack and Emily and hugged Jack hello as well. "Hi Jack. Wanna play together at recess? I'm gonna see if I can make it the whole way across the monkey bars without falling. Then I'm gonna go on the teeter totter. Wanna go on the teeter totter with me?"
Amanda's excitement couldn't be contained, and Emily was glad to see it rubbing off on Jack as he smiled, nodded his head, and agreed to go on the teeter totter with her. Emily stood back up and, feeling Aaron's arm go around her waist, she immediately relaxed into his side. She watched as Amanda started telling Jack about all the classes she was sure he was going to love, explaining all the wonders of art class and music class and gym class and recess.
"They're really good together." Emily observed quietly to Aaron.
He nodded in agreement. "Jack's been really nervous for his first day of kindergarten. I think it'll be good for him to see her at some point in the day – it'll make it easier."
Thinking back to her conversation with Amanda in the car, she couldn't help smiling a little at his statement. "You know, on the way over here, Amanda was worried that Jack wouldn't want to be her friend anymore after they've started school."
He chuckled a little at that. "Not a chance. All he talks about non-stop all day long is when Emily and Amanda are coming over again. I think he's quite enamored with the both of you." He pulled his eyes away from the kids to look at her. "He's not the only one, either," he told her meaningfully.
That brought a full-blown smile to Emily's face. "Good. The feeling's mutual – on both mine and Amanda's part."
He leaned in and kissed her on the lips until a chorus of "Ew!" and "Gross!" from the kids broke them apart with laughter.
Amanda tugged on Emily's shirt sleeve, before whispering loudly to her, "What about the park?"
Emily grinned and turned to Aaron. "Mandy was wondering if we could all go to the park after school. I told her we had to see if you guys have any plans first."
Aaron shook his head. "Nope, no plans. Unless the team gets called out. In which case, you'll still be here since you're out of the field for six weeks, if you want to take them. If not, I don't think Jessica would mind."
Emily nodded, but didn't reply as the first bell rang, signaling to them that they needed to head into their classes. Jack's classroom was just down the hall from Amanda's so they walked together until they reached Amanda's room first.
As excited as she had been to start the first grade, Amanda suddenly seemed hesitant about going in. She waved goodbye to Jack and Aaron before timidly following Emily into the classroom. The first grade teacher, an elderly Mrs. Wilson, greeted them at the door and then pointed out a seat for Amanda to take once she'd said her goodbyes to Emily.
Crouching down on one knee, Emily pulled Amanda into a hug. "I'll be back at 2:30 to pick you up. Have a good day, alright?" Amanda nodded her head, but refused to relinquish her hold, her arms clinging around Emily's neck ferociously. Emily fought back the tears that had suddenly sprung to her eyes at the thought of leaving Amanda alone all day with a room full of strangers. "Just be yourself and I'm sure you'll make some new friends, okay? And if you have any problems, you can always talk to Mrs. Wilson." Amanda still wasn't surrendering her grasp on Emily, so she gently pried the girl's arms from her neck and kissed her on the forehead before standing up, sniffling to hold back the tears that were threatening. "Why don't you go take your seat over there, okay? I'll be back later and you can tell me how everything went then, alright?" Reluctantly, Amanda nodded and made her way over to her seat. As much as she wanted to stay and watch, she figured it would only make it harder for the girl, so Emily slipped out of the door and found Aaron waiting for her in the hall.
"How'd it go?" He asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders and rapidly blinked back the tears that were still threatening. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and grinned at her. "Welcome to parenthood. Heartbreaking and wonderful all at the same time."
She chuckled at his very apt description, before asking "So what about Jack? How'd he take it?"
"Pretty well, actually. As luck would have it, there's a boy in his class that he went to preschool with, so I think that helped a lot."
Emily nodded and let him lead her down the hall and out of the building.