A/N: I just want to thank those who have reviewed/PM'ed me so far. It's honestly the best thing to read other people's reactions/opinions about my writing. This is just a fun outlet for me and I really appreciate the reviews. I can't believe this is up to chapter 51 already and it's because you guys wanted more. So thanks. And kudos to all of you for reading.
This chapter picks up a couple of days after the team leave for Seattle. As far as I know that's all you need to know. Please read and review.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds.
Hotch sighed as he walked down the hall to Garcia's bunker. She'd called to say that she needed his approval on a case, but wouldn't go into more detail. He knocked on her door and heard her shuffle to the door. Hotch couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped his lips when it opened. Even after seven years of working with the woman, she still surprised him every time. Today, she was dressed in a bright red knee-length dress, lipstick and pumps to match. Her red hair was pulled into a top-knot and held together with chop-sticks, the ends of which had small tassels. What she was doing working for the FBI, Hotch still had no idea.
"Come in come in!" Garcia cried out, dragging Hotch by the arm. He followed her into the room, and was brought to an abrupt stop in front of the large display of screens. She started talking to him while she tapped away at her keyboard. "Now I know that while Emily was on leave, you did go away so you're not all that maladjusted to being without her. But I also know that this is the first time she's left you behind," Garcia said, "To that end, I've rigged something up that you can use every now and then." With the end of her sentence, she hit one more button and turned to watch Hotch's reaction.
"Hotch!" Emily called out when his face popped up on the laptop. Hotch immediately smiled and looked at Garcia, before turning back to look at Emily. "Hey Em. How's it going?" he asked. Emily rolled her eyes and started to brief him about the case. The third young woman had been abducted from outside her workplace. The third in a week. The investigators were getting desperate.
Garcia stood and tapped Hotch's shoulder while getting into the shot of the web-cam. "You guys probably can't talk for long so I'll give you a minute alone," she said. Hotch nodded and Emily thanked her friend.
Hotch turned back to the screen when the door had closed. "Ok, having now experienced what you did a few weeks ago, oh my god I miss you," he said. He shook his head. "I don't know how you did it." Emily smiled. Hotch never was one for showing his emotions, but every now and then he'd let the mask slip and she'd see (and hear) how he truly felt. And he missed her. Of course, she already knew that, but hearing the words come from his mouth meant so much more.
"I miss you too honey. How are the kids?" she asked. Hotch nodded and began telling her about the couple of days they'd had since she'd left for Seattle. "And Jack keeps asking if you're coming back. I swear he thinks you ran away," Hotch explained. Emily felt the tears start to form and she reached up to wipe them away. "I'm sorry sweetheart. I didn't mean to upset you," Hotch said, his heart breaking when he saw her upset, knowing he couldn't touch her. Emily smiled sadly and shook her head. "I'm fine. It's just… this is the first case. It's gonna take some getting used to," she replied. God knew with his steadily growing workload, the last thing Hotch needed was for something else to worry about.
They stayed on the line for about ten minutes before Emily said she needed to go. "We're gonna have an early morning tomorrow so I need to go and shower and get some sleep," she explained. Hotch nodded and felt his heart twinge. "I'll call you tomorrow," he said. Emily smiled and blew him a kiss. "I love you honey. Give the kids kisses for me," she said. "I love you too Em," Hotch replied, before they said goodbye.
Emily closed the laptop and all Hotch could see was snow. He wiped the few tears from his eyes and breathed out. He stood up just as Garcia poked her head back in the door. "Everyone alright sir?" she asked. Hotch nodded and smiled, placing a grateful hand on her shoulder. "Everyone's fine Penelope. And… thank you," he said quietly. Garcia nodded and smiled. "Gotta take care of my family sir," she replied. Hotch smiled and nodded, before he made his way out of her bunker and down the hall to his office. He just wanted to go home and hold his kids. That would hopefully make him feel like at least a piece of Emily was there with him.
Emily was relieved to see Michael's caught. She didn't want to spend another day in Seattle. Just driving past the hospital where she'd spent almost a week gave her the heebie jeebies. And this time she didn't have Hotch to tell her everything would be alright.
When Morgan suggested they fly back immediately, in spite of the late hour, everyone was more than keen. They grabbed their belongings from the hotel and met at the airport just before 4pm, DC time. Provided the sky was clear and they didn't have any delays, they should get back to Quantico before 10pm.
Emily sat down at the four-seater in the middle of the cabin. JJ sat next to her, the two women seeking solace in each other after the vicious attacks they'd witnessed. Rob sat down on the long couch, and Morgan sat down across from JJ and Emily.
They were about an hour into their flight. Reid was sleeping in one corner of the jet, Rossi reading in the other. Morgan looked up from his book and smiled. He just thought of a way to pass the time. He pulled off his headphones and leant forward.
"So Rob. Tell us what Emily was like in college," he asked, mischief in his eyes. Emily looked at Rob, her mouth open. Rob just chuckled. "Uh, I don't really remember much," he said, clearly lying. "All the partying huh?" Morgan asked, smiling. Rob glanced at Emily then looked at Morgan with a smile, "Something like that." JJ smiled and shook her head. "No way. I'm not even a profiler and I can tell you're lying," she said, poking her finger at Rob. Emily sighed and waved her hand in the air, "Fine. Tell them a story," she said. Rob chuckled and nodded.
"Uh… let me think. Well there was the time we were staying at her grandparent's house in Maine. Was it…" his voice trailed off as he tried to remember. "Uh, Dad and Nat's wedding," Emily added. Rob nodded and smiled. "We were staying there for… a week?" he checked with Emily. When she nodded, he continued. "They'd gotten married on the Saturday and this was the Tuesday after. We'd had a pretty full-on family day. My whole family had come up to visit so everyone had needed an early night."
"We weren't tired and decided to go for a walk down by the lake. We thought we'd go for a midnight swim… but we didn't have our swimsuits," he started. Emily blushed and dropped her head to her chest. JJ's jaw dropped and Morgan burst out laughing. "YOU went skinny-dipping?" Morgan asked. Emily looked up and bit her lip, nodding slightly.
"That's not even the worst of it," Rob said. The others nodded for him to continue. "We'd been swimming for about a half hour, when we decided to go back to the house. It was a spur of the moment thing so we hadn't brought any towels, and we couldn't really get dressed again cause we were soaking wet. So we decided to just pick up our things and run to the house," he continued.
Emily rolled her eyes and buried her head in JJ's shoulder thinking this was a bad idea to give him free reign of a story. Somehow she knew he'd pick this one. "So we're running across the back lawn when we hear the back screen door open. And outta nowhere, Em's dad and his new wife Nat, come racing down. Turns out they'd had the same idea, except for the nude part… thank God," he said, trying to hold back the laughter. By this point, the others were almost wetting themselves laughing. Emily's face was beet-red.
"When they saw us and we saw them, we all stopped in the middle of the lawn. I can still remember Simon's face when he saw us. It was halfway between incensed and truly embarrassed," he explained. Emily shook her head. "Worst part was, the next day, Nat sat next to me on the porch and winked, complimenting my "male friend's" package." With that, Rob blushed and the others laughed even more.
When everyone settled down, Emily coughed. "It was a good week," she said under her breath. Rob nodded. "It was," he agreed. Emily smiled and went back to her book.
Emily dropped her purse on the counter and made her way through the house. She placed her ready bag on the floor near the laundry, opting to wash her clothes the next morning. As she made her way upstairs, she saw the one light on in their bedroom. She walked up to the door and peeked in.
Hotch looked up when he heard her sigh. He smiled and waved. She smiled and slowly made her way into the room and grinned when she saw the twins lying on the bed. "Hey honey," Hotch whispered, rubbing his hand over Matty's chest. Emily kicked off her shoes and climbed onto the bed, leaning over the sleeping babies to give Hotch a kiss. When she pulled back, she leant down to kiss her small children. "I hadn't seen them all day so I thought I'd bring them in here while I read," he explained. Emily nodded and smiled as she ran her fingers through Lexi's hair.
"I thought you'd be coming back tomorrow morning," he asked. Emily shook her head. "Morgan said we could come back tonight. We were all keen. Reid has a class to teach on Monday morning and needs to get all of his lecture notes ready. Rossi has a meeting with his publisher tomorrow. JJ's got Henry. And Rob's got a date tomorrow night," she explained. Hotch smiled at the run-down. "And what about you?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows.
Emily huffed and ran her fingers through his hair. "Well," she said, leaning over the twins to kiss him again, "I thought we could have a family day tomorrow. You know… park, pool, a DVD. And then tomorrow night," she kissed him again, "Maybe we could get a sitter." Hotch smiled as he pulled back and nodded. "Sounds good," he replied. Emily smiled and leant back to look at her babies. She lay on her side and ran her hand over Lexi's belly. "Oh I missed this," she sighed. Hotch smiled and reached over the kids to place a hand on Emily's hip. "We missed you too sweetheart," he replied.
A/N: Just a little awkwardness and heart-tugging. And I had to add a story about Emily and Rob in there. Don't worry about me breaking Emily and Hotch up and getting her together with Rob. That's not where I'm going. Mind you, I'll say it again, I do like to write the jealous Hotch. You'll see.
In any case, since we've not heard much about Emily's youth except for her abortion and the fact she moved around a lot, I figured I'd throw an old boyfriend in and see what happened.
Please read and review.
