Chapter Thirty
Running kept him busy. When he was running, he wasn't thinking about anything. Not about work, not about responsibilities, not even about Jack. And especially not about her. He ran almost every morning now, sometimes twice a day, if Jessica had Jack. The triathlon was getting closer and he had to be ready, if only because Morgan and Dave would never let him live it down if he wasn't. So, come rain or shine, he ran. Occasionally he used the gym at Quantico, but Hotch much preferred to run outside. The park right by his apartment was pretty small, but that meant he could do laps, and he felt better about counting laps than he did running for a set number of minutes. He aimed for twenty rounds of the park, sometimes added a couple more if he got a second wind. Whenever they were away on cases, he felt the lack of exercise when he came back and started up again. It was really a staggered experience, a lot of stop-starting, and Hotch was well aware that he ought probably to have started training much earlier. But now the team knew about it, and there was no backing out.
It was on one of his runs that he had met Beth. She had barrelled into his life in a way no woman ever had, and,he thought, that was part of his attraction to her. Beth was completely different to Haley. And completely different to Emily, who he was desperately trying to get off of his mind. After four months of non-stop thinking about her, of getting angry over why she hadn't text him back, he really needed to get the brunette profiler out of his head. Hotch had never lingered so much over one topic in his life, and now, it seemed, his every waking moment, and even his dreams, revolved around her, or, the lack of her. It had to stop.
So when Beth approached him, and Rossi seemed all for it, Hotch had figured; why not?
It had been decades since Hotch had been on a date. Or, at least, a first date. Nothing seemed to go right for him. Jessica got tonsillitis, so he had to call around and find somebody to have Jack. JJ came to his rescue, and, earlier that day, he had taken a very excited Jack over to the Jareau's for a sleepover with Henry.
"Thanks for this, JJ," Hotch said, gratefully. The blonde, arms folded across her chest, turned to him in the doorway from where she had been telling the boys to be careful on the new carpet.
"Yeah, of course. Henry loves it when Jack comes over; they keep each other occupied, so they're no bother." She smiled at him, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. Hotch nodded, putting his hands in his pockets and turning to leave. He paused on the top step, turned and caught JJ about to close her front door.
"Have you heard from her?" He didn't have to specify which her he was talking about. He held himself back in the office, didn't mention Emily unless someone else brought her up, and even then, rarely engaged in the conversation. And what little he caught was often not very concise. JJ glanced into the living room, where Will had gotten out the Lego and was beginning to build some sort of battleship with the boys. Stepping onto the patio, she pulled the door to behind her.
"Yeah," She nodded, "All the time. She's doing well."
Hotch nodded. He wanted to know more, he wanted to ask more, but he daren't. If Emily wanted him to know, she would text him. And he wasn't going to infringe on her privacy like that. Instead, he asked about the other members of their team. "And Morgan and Garcia? Do you know what time their flight leaves?"
"Uh," JJ checked her watch, working out the time differences quickly in her head. "Yeah, about now, actually. 8:15. They land in the UK at around 6. They were both really excited."
He smiled. "I'll bet." And turned to leave again.
"I can let her know," JJ called from the porch, and Hotch turned back to her. "That you were asking after her, I mean. If you want."
He considered it a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't mind, either way." And he really wanted to mean it.
The day was finally here. Emily leapt from the car at the arrivals gate, with Isla calling to her that she would go park the car and then come to join them. Emily barely heard her, waving a grateful hand behind her as her girlfriend drove away. After their flights being repeatedly postponed because of cases, they were finally here. They had boarded their flight nine hours ago and Emily had been actively staring at her phone screen, watching their plane make its way across the Atlantic ocean eagerly and anxiously.
Standing at arrivals, twisting her hands and craning her neck over the crowd, trying to spot them as they came out of baggage control. She spotted Morgan first, and knew Penelope must be close by him. And, sure enough, the blonde buns that bobbed along beside him in the crowd had to belong to her PG. She waved to them, and caught the smile that lit up Morgan's face as his eyes found her. The crowd thinned, slowly, but then she had them in her arms. Wrapping an arm around each of them and pulling them to her so tightly, she was sure she almost hurt them, Emily closed her eyes. She wasn't expecting the tears, but they came anyway. Morgan hugged her tightly, strong arms encasing her, making her feel safe, and the babble of Penelope's voice in her ear was something Emily didn't realise she had missed so much until she had it back.
"Oh, you're here!" She said, stepping back and looking at them both, eyes shining with happy tears, before she pulled Penelope into a tight hug. They swayed on the spot for a moment, Emily trying to compose herself, her head buried in the blonde hair that still smelled like strawberries, before she stepped back and looked at Derek. He had removed his sunglasses, and he was looking at her in a way that made her heart clench. When she hugged him, it felt like home. "You're here." She repeated, quietly, and he held her a little tighter.
"Em?" The voice registered behind her and, for a moment, panic flared in her stomach. She squeezed Derek, closing her eyes. "Don't be weird about this, okay?" She muttered, desperately, into his ear. Stepping back from him, Emily stood to the side. Derek's arm was still around her waist. "Hey," She greeted Isla with a smile, "All parked up?"
"Yeah," The blonde nodded, hands thrust into her pockets, "Yeah, I parked in the short stays car park. Figured you guys would want to drop your stuff back at the flat sooner rather than later, right?"
Derek and Penelope were agreeing, but they when they glanced at Emily, the confusion that was hidden behind their politeness was obvious, at least to the former profiler. Isla didn't seem to notice anything a miss.
"Morgan, Penelope, this is Isla." She stepped out of the safety of Derek's arm, instead wrapping her own arm around Isla's waist, as Isla's came up to rest on her shoulder. She saw both of their eyes flit down, take that in, and come back up to meet hers. "My girlfriend."
A beat. Just a beat, of silence, as they processed. And, then-
"Hi!" Penelope smiled, brilliantly, and threw her arms wide to embrace Isla. Emily had warned her girlfriend about this, but she hadn't needed to. If anything, Isla was more of a hugger than Penelope was. The hug gave Emily the chance to cast a questioning glance in Morgan's direction, but whatever she expected to see there, there was, instead, pride.
"Well, well done, Princess," He grinned, as Penelope stepped back and he accepted Isla's hug. "Britain's being good to you, baby, huh?"
"Ah, the famous flirting," Isla joked as she hugged him like they'd been friends for years and Morgan laughed at her comment.
"Oh, you've been warned, have you?" He looked between the blonde and Emily, who smirked.
"Of course she has, I wasn't going to let you pounce without giving her a fair warning."
Relief flooded through Emily. It felt as though she had been holding her breath. What she had been fearful of, she didn't know. She had expected surprise, and surprise was valid, given the circumstances. But she should have know they would take it in their stride without missing a step. She loved them all the more for it. Isla laughed at Morgan's joke, and then Penelope was whisking her away, just as Emily had predicted she would, with an arm threaded through Isla's. Emily heard Penelope mutter something about Buckingham Palace, and merely grinned at Isla when she cast a glance over her shoulder.
Morgan's arm found her waist again, and she felt the soft kiss he pressed to her hair.
"So, Princes digs chicks now, huh?" He asked, as she linked his arm and they followed after Penelope and Isla. She nodded, curling her lips in and raising her eyebrows.
"Believe me, it shocked me, too." She laughed, "But she's great. I think you'll really like her. I really like her."
"Whatever makes you happy." She knew by the warmth in his voice that he meant it, and leaned her head on his shoulder.
"I've missed you."
The restaurant was quiet, soft jazz playing in the background. That didn't help; Emily loved jazz.
Stop it.
Hotch saw Beth walk through the front door, and was on his feet by the time she caught sight of him. She beamed at him, and he waited for the jolt in his chest that he knew wasn't going to happen. It wasn't that she didn't look beautiful; she did. It wasn't that he didn't find her attractive; she was, objectively, an attractive woman. The twist that did happen in his chest had absolutely nothing to do with her, and had everything to do with her black dress and her dark hair. Before Beth reached the table, Hotch had admonished himself several times, and resigned to keep the dark-eyed Interpol agent out of his mind for the remainder of the evening.
"Hi," Beth reached him, a smile on her face, and he returned it. When she leaned in to kiss his cheek, it felt awkward and unnatural, but Hotch went through the motions, stepping around the table to pull her seat out for her. "Thank you."
"So," Hotch asked, gesturing to the waiter as he took up his seat, "How have you been? Training going well?"
"Can I get a white wine, please?" Beth smiled up at the waiter.
White wine, huh? Stop it.
"Training is good," She turned back to him, once the waiter had departed, "It's a killer, but it's good."
Her choice of words made Hotch smirk, and she smiled back at him. There was a moment of silence, and then the waiter returned with her wine, setting it down in front of her. "Are you ready to order?" He asked, and Hotch shook his head.
"We haven't had a chance to look at the menu yet." He said, handing one across the table to Beth, who took it gratefully. Hotch had glanced over it before she arrived, and was probably going to go for the steak, but Beth pondered a while.
"I'm torn between the spinach and feta torte and the tomato orzo."
"You're a vegetarian?" Hotch asked, rethinking his steak. Beth nodded.
"For about eleven years now." She seemed to read his mind because she gave a little laugh and shook her head. "But don't worry, I'm not one of those girls who's going to be offended if you eat meat. Each to their own, right? I just never really liked it as a kid and then one day just stopped eating it."
Relieved by her apparent liberal attitude towards omnivores such as himself, Hotch voiced his gratitude. "Thanks, because I was considering the steak. One of my co-workers is actually a vegetarian. She recommended this restaurant to me."
"Oh?" Beth's interest was peaked. "Did she have any recommendations?"
"Actually," Hotch smiled, remembering his earlier conversation with the blonde from several days before, "I believe her exact words were, 'The butternut squash curry with spinach is to die for.'"
"Well then," Beth said, closing her menu. The waiter, seeing this, began to make his way over. "Choice made."
Breakfast took place at one of Emily's new favourite places, Browns. It was more like brunch, but neither Morgan, nor Penelope were complaining.
"Can I get you any drinks?" The waitress asked, smiling at them and holding her little notepad.
"Yes, cherub, I will take a mimosa, please." Garcia grinned back at her, and both Morgan and Emily looked at her, incredulously.
"It's 8am, baby girl," Morgan reminded her and Garcia shrugged her shoulder, exclaiming that she was on holiday and would drink whatever she liked.
"As a matter of fact, make that a round of mimosa's for everybody, since you complained!" She demanded, and the waitress smiled as she made a note of it. Emily glanced at Isla, who was shaking her head.
"Actually," The blonde spoke up, softly, "I'm sorry, Penelope, but I'm heading into work at about 12, so no alcohol for me, I'm afraid. That, and I'm driving. But I'm so down for drinks back at the apartment, later."
"Oh, sweetness, do you have to go to work? We are so loving getting to know you." She meant it sincerely, as well, and said it without so much as a glance in Emily's direction. At that moment, Emily's love for PG swelled in her chest and, encouraged by it, she took hold of Isla's hand on top of the tablecloth.
"Yeah, she's gotta get back to saving lives." Emily announced, proudly. Isla's eyes rolled back in her head and a blush crept up her cheeks at the compliment. Morgan raised his eyebrows.
"What is it that you do, Isla?" He asked, interested. He wondered what could make Emily, whose job it was to literally save lives, the world over, say something like that.
"Oh, I'm just a doctor at the hospital-"
"An Emergency surgeon at the Royal Hospital." Emily corrected, and Isla shot her a glance. "That's actually where we met, thanks to my mother. Which is something I never thought I'd say."
"It's really not as grand as it sounds," Isla tried to talk it down, but Emily was grinning, amused by her sudden show of humility, "I literally sewed up a scratch on your mums hand. It wasn't heart surgery. It's nothing compared to what you guys do."
"Hey, you would not believe how many doctors have saved our lives in the past, right Princess?" Morgan said, as their drinks arrived at the table. "So, as far as I'm concerned, it's pretty amazing."
"Here, here," Penelope agreed, holding up her glass for a cheers. Isla's cheeks were still pink, but the smile on her face told Emily that she liked Morgan and Penelope as much as they seemed to like her and, once again, the ball of stress that had settled itself into Emily's stomach eased a little more.
Several mimosa's later and the stress was all but gone. Isla checked her watch and grimaced.
"It's about that time, babe," She said, wiping her hands on her napkin, the remnants of her eggs Benedict still evident on her plate. "It's been so good meeting you guys, and I'll catch up with you all after my shift, yeah?"
"Oh, here," Emily offered, following her, "I'll walk you out. I'll be right back, you guys."
Derek watched as Isla caught Emily's hand in her own and they strode towards the door. Emily's free hand came up to wrap itself around Isla's arm and he couldn't help but watch through the window as they said goodbye, chatting for a moment before Emily caught Isla's lips with her own. The kiss was brief, chaste, but comfortable and natural.
"She looks happy, doesn't she?" Beside him, Penelope was watching too, swilling the last of her drink around the bottom of her glass. "Really happy." She did, that much was definitely true, and, truthfully, Morgan really did like Isla. But something was bugging him in the back of his mind.
"So, what do you guys wanna do now?" Emily asked them, as she settled back into her seat across from Penelope. "We can go see the Thames, we could go to the British museum, see the palace?"
"Pussycat that all sounds glorious," Penelope's statement was punctuated by a wide yawn, and Emily glanced, amused, at Morgan, who caught her eyes with a smirk. "But I think the jet lag is hitting me. And I know they say to power through it, but you know how cranky I get when I'm tired. Can I nap for a little while, and then we'll do fun stuff in a couple of hours?"
Emily agreed wholeheartedly and they split the bill before leaving. Penelope was charmed by the black cab Emily called to take them back to her apartment and, regardless of the yawns that kept interrupting her speech, she babbled the whole way back about things they passed, and when they drove beside the Thames, she started spouting facts about how it used to freeze over, hundreds of years ago, and people would actually hold winter markets on the frozen water.
"Aw, Reid, I've missed you!" Emily teased. "What about you, Morgan, you going to try and get some sleep, too?"
"Not me, I'm gonna power on through. She'll only be tired again tomorrow. Wanna hit the gym with me?"
Penelope didn't protest and Emily left her to her own devices in the apartment, unpacking a suitcase in one of the spare rooms like she would be moving in for the foreseeable future, and not just for the week. Morgan left his bag at the foot of the bed in the other spare room, changing into gym gear while Emily did the same. The gym was only downstairs, Emily told Penelope, so if she needed them for anything, she just needed to text.
"I won't be needing you for anything for a few hours, gumdrop," Penelope said, from where she had already nestled beneath the crisp pink bed sheets Emily had bought specifically with her in mind. They matched the bouquet of flowers Isla had bought her a few days ago, and the roses stood proudly in the sun that streamed through the large window, casting a sun spot right across the bed where Penelope lay. Emily smiled as she pulled the door to and headed out to the kitchen where Morgan was waiting. On their way down to the gym, they spoke about nothing and everything, but mostly about the team. Morgan told her about Rossi and how he was back in touch with an ex-wife of his.
"Crystall, something," Morgan shrugged. "But, you know Rossi, it won't last."
He told her about how Will had brought up the topic of another kid a couple of times, and each time JJ had freaked because, "She says one is enough with our hectic schedule." Emily had to admit, she didn't think JJ was wrong. She, too, had been a recipient of JJ's panic on the topic of having another child, and it sounded like Morgan had given much the same advice as she had. "I told her to chill, that if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. Henry wasn't planned, and look how that turned out."
Emily was smiling as she pushed open the door to the gym, unsurprised to find it deserted in the middle of the day. "So, what do you wanna do? Bit of cardio to warm up?"
"Sure," Morgan said, following her to the treadmill. It was easy to fall back into their old routines, which meant that as soon as they were both warmed up, they were in an unspoken competition. Who could go the fastest, for the longest? Morgan might always have been the faster of the two, but he lacked the same stamina as Emily had, so his treadmill was slowing down before hers. Panting hard, he walked to the water fountain and took a long drink while Emily gradually slowed down her machine.
"Some things never change," She teased him, drinking from the water bottle she had brought down from the apartment. Morgan shook his head with a smirk.
"No they do not," He wandered over to the mats, gesturing for her to follow. "And then some things change a lot, huh, Princess?"
She followed him to the mat and watched as Morgan donned boxing gloves from the rack nearby, throwing her a pair. "What's that supposed to mean?" She knew exactly what he was referencing, but if Morgan wanted to bring it up, she wasn't going to do it for him. She had expected questions, and she had expected them from him. Penelope could take anything in her stride; more often than not, Morgan needed a little nudge when confronted with something new. It was an intricate part of him that was easy enough to profile. His life had changed so suddenly when he was younger, with the death of his father, that change made him uncomfortable, uneasy. Morgan needed security, perhaps more than any of the others. Perhaps even more so than Reid. She fell easily into a defensive stance as she waited for Morgan to finish adjusting his gloves.
He shrugged. "Nothing, much. I just, uh," Searching for the words in his brain, Morgan seemed to give up and, once the gloves were on comfortably, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Isla?"
"Isla." Emily repeated, still unwilling to start this conversation. Morgan smiled, shook his head and held up his fists.
"We gonna do this, or what?" Emily let him drop it for the time being and they fell into step. When you've known someone for as long as Emily had known Derek, and as well as she knew him, you learn to see their moves coming. They were, as they always had been, pretty well matched. Each getting in a couple of good blows towards the beginning, having been apart for some time, by the end they were meeting each other blow for blow and Emily called a time out.
"So, you ready to ask me, or what?" She said as Morgan sat down on the mat, lying down on it to catch his breath. Shifting her weight to one side, Emily raised her eyebrows at him. Morgan looked at her, from the awkward angle of where he lay, before sighing and shoving himself up into a seated position.
"Listen. You know that blonde girl upstairs is my baby girl, always and forever. But you're my Princess. The only thing I care about is your happiness, right?" Emily sat down on the mat, but said nothing as she listened to him. "In all the time I've known you, I've never seen you go with a chick. And, believe me, I think it's great. I think Isla's great. Hell, she's the hottest thing I've seen since we landed. Beside you, of course," He grinned when she looked momentarily offended, and the smile that settled on Emily's lips was a familiar one. "I guess I'm just concerned. You up and move cities, move jobs, move your whole life. It's a lot to change in a short amount of time."
The concern on his face made it impossible for Emily to be mad. In part, she understood where he was coming from. It was a big thing to change and, since College, she hadn't been involved with women. Back then, it had been experimental. Everybody went through those phases, right? Isla, though, she told herself, Isla was different.
"I'm not fooling around with her, Morgan. I like her a lot-"
"Yeah, I can see that in the way you look at her, Emily. I just..." He paused, testing the words in his head, worried about saying the wrong thing and upsetting her. "Just make sure you've said goodbye to the past before you welcome the future in."
Narrowing her eyes at him, Emily tilted her head to one side. "What are you talking about? What past?"
"Hotch has been moping around for months, Emily." Morgan sighed, heavily, "I'm not an idiot. Whatever happened between you before you left has him thrown for a loop, and if it's done the same to you, it's not fair to pull Isla into that."
Emily felt her cheeks grow hot with a barrage of emotions. Anger, embarrassment, indignation. She stared at Morgan, mouth gaping, as she tried to form words. How dare he-she didn't know who she was more angry with, Morgan for bringing it up, or Hotch, for somehow getting involved with her relationship, even from half a world away.
"Hotch? What are you-moping around? Let me tell you, Morgan, Hotch has no right to mope around, okay? He didn't even reply to the text he asked me to send him, letting him know I arrived safely. I haven't heard from him in six months. The last time I saw him he was leaving my apartment, mad that I hadn't suddenly changed my mind about...leaving..." She trailed off, too late. The words had already left her mouth and she stared at the wall behind Morgan's head, the words lingering between them, just as angry with herself as she was with him, now. Her lower lip trembled, as a thousand thoughts went racing through her head. She had said too much, but when she refocused her eyes on Morgan's face, he didn't look surprised. "Isla is not a rebound." She said, levelly. "She's just not."
"Okay." Morgan didn't say another word, and Emily appreciated it, although she didn't know who she was trying to convince with her words.