Chapter 39
Everyone was tired from work that day and headed back to the hotel at night.
Emily rode back with JJ and Hotch rode back alone. He met her at her room once he was changed into his regular clothes.
She opened the door and let him in.
"Hey.", Emily smiled, bringing him in for a kiss.
"Hi.", he smiled back. "You're still in your work clothes. Are you going to change?", he asked.
"Yeah, I just laid down for a minute but I'm getting changed right now. Thinking maybe I should keep this turtleneck on?", she laughed.
"I think you should wear whatever you want, whether it's that turtleneck or a scarf or something that doesn't cover your neck. Although, it is supposed to be a bit chilly which is kind of rare here so...", he trailed off.
"I'll choose a different shirt but wear a thin, simple scarf.", she said, pulling her shirt off.
"Sounds good.", he said, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her from behind, feeling her bare stomach and sides. Feeling her soft skin, sending chills throughout her body.
"You know, we'll never get out of here if you don't stop.", she told him.
"Maybe we should leave a little later than originally planned.", he said, kissing her shoulder.
She looked up at the ceiling and laughed. "Yeah, I think we can make that work.", she said, turning around and pushing him on the bed.
"Finally. I've been waiting all day for you.", he said, pulling her down with him.
"Then this shouldn't take too long.", she smirked, falling on top of him, crashing her lips onto his.
He immediately went for her pants, eager to shed the rest of their clothes off to finish what they had started earlier that morning before they were interrupted.
Twenty minutes later, after they'd finished and were completely satisfied, they got dressed again.
"Shit, where's my bra?", she asked, searching all around for it.
He'd pulled on his pants and before he zipped them up, he picked up her bra from the ground off the side of the bed.
"Right here.", he chuckled, holding it up. "You should be more careful with that.", he joked.
"I'm not the one who threw it over there, now am I?", she pointed out.
"Fair enough.", he laughed, walking over to her, handing it back to her.
"Thank you.", she smiled, giving him a kiss once she put it back on.
They finished getting dressed and she put on a sweatshirt and thin scarf, not wrapped around her neck but hanging off. She figured it was stylish enough to just wear but easy enough to cover up her neck if she needed to.
"Alright, let's go.", she said as they walked out the door and headed to the stairs.
It was an older hotel in the French Quarter they were all staying at and didn't have elevators which was kind of nice. It gave it a more fun vibe to the whole experience.
"You know, although it sucks that we have to sneak around all the time and can't tell anyone about our relationship... I love how we get to have dates in so many different places. We literally get to travel all over and have a date in a different city all the time.", he said.
"I guess you're right. Although... the sneaking around is kind of hot.", she giggled, wrapping her arm around him and pulling herself into him closer.
"Well, looks like it's going to stay that way for a long time then.", he chuckled.
"A long time, huh? Have you... thought about us... you know... our relationship and where it's going? Like advancing or in the future?", she asked, hesitant.
"A little bit, I guess. I don't know, I mean... we haven't been in an official relationship for long but... we've been involved for a while and I've loved you a lot longer than we've been together officially. I don't know. Have you thought about it at all?", he asked, as they stepped out onto the street, suddenly surrounded by live jazz music and crowds of people all around them.
"I've thought about how I feel about you. I mean, like I told you this morning, I've never felt this way before about anyone. I've never loved anyone as much as I love you. I know it's still early on and I know everything with Haley is obviously still fresh. That's why I haven't really pushed anything and I'm still not, I was just curious, I guess.", she said lowering her head.
He stopped her along the side of the street next to a man playing the saxophone. He pulled her in close, facing him and put his hand on her face and his other on her side above her waist.
"Em, it's okay. Communication is important, I want you to feel like you can talk to me about this stuff. I don't want to hold anything back. We should be open about the things we can, especially when it comes to us and what we are. Don't feel bad about it at all.", he told her, giving her a kiss.
She grabbed his jacket and held onto it. "I know. I just don't want to seem like I'm trying to jump ahead too much because I'm not.", she said.
"I don't think that at all. And even if you did, I still want to hear and know what you're feeling and thinking about it. Okay?", he said.
"Alright.", she nodded, reaching up for another kiss.
"Good, now let's go get some food and keep walking around. I've actually never been here but I've always loved this type of atmosphere. You can't find it anywhere else. Have you ever been here?", he asked her, pulling out a couple dollars and dropping it for the man playing the saxophone.
They kept walking and she reached for his hand, fingers intertwining. "Actually, yeah. I was here for a little bit when on an assignment at Interpol actually. It was one of my favorite places that I went.", she said.
He looked over at her shocked. "You realize that's probably the first thing you've told me about your work at Interpol, right?", he said.
"Yeah, I guess it is.", she said. "You know, a lot of it I can't talk about but yeah, I've been here for an assignment.", she said, nervous.
He squeezed her hand and looked straight ahead. "Maybe you should be the one taking me out tonight. Since you know the place better and all.", he chuckled.
"Maybe.", she smiled. "I do remember this one place. Best Cajun food I've ever had. The gumbo... so good. If it's still here, it should be right around the corner.", she said.
"Let's do it.", he said.
They walked around the corner and to her surprise, the restaurant was still there. They sat on the patio and watched the busy street, filled with music and laughter and reminders of happy lives. Something they weren't always so used to with everything they see all day with their job.
He reached over the table and took her hand, making her look up from the menu.
"I'm really glad we could do this tonight. I love being out with you. And thank you for showing me around here. I did last time, I guess it was your turn anyways.", he chuckled.
She smiled and stroked his hand. "Any chance I get to spend with you is good enough for me. I'm just glad we could do something fun.", she said.
He brought his hand back to the menu and the server came around to take their order. Shortly after, before him and Emily got too deep into conversation, he stopped and his eyebrows furrowed. She knew that look.
"Aaron, what is it?", she asked quietly.
"Emily, did you bring your gun?", he whispered, letting her know to keep her voice at the same level.
"Yeah, why?", she asked, suddenly worried.
"Our unsub. 15 yards behind me.", he said through his teeth, darting his eyes and motioning his head slightly behind him. "I think. Does he have the tattoo? Can you see it?", he asked.
She looked over at the man in the crowd with a knife at a woman's back. No one else noticed, he hid it pretty well and the woman was silent. Emily and Hotch both stayed calm and continued on as if nothing was wrong.
"Yeah. Yeah, it's there. How did you know?", she whispered, still eyeing the man who stayed in place, blending in with everyone else. She slowly reached for her gun in the back of her pants.
"I could hear them talking.", he said, also slowly reaching for his gun from the holster around his ankle under his jeans.
Once they had them out, they kept them down and slowly walked over, closer to him until they had a safe distance and enough people had moved out of their way.
The unsub had started walking with the victim towards an alley, most likely a shortcut to his car, they figured.
They followed him, again, at a safe distance with their weapons by their side. Once the unsub was halfway down the dark alley, he turned into a doorway, making them lose sight of him.
They stopped against the wall and waited a moment, when all of a sudden, they saw the victim fall down from the doorway, onto the ground. She was bleeding from her stomach and they heard a door slam close. The unsub was going out from the other end of the building, all the way down the alley, running around the corner. They both spotted the gun in his hand while he ran.
"Help her, I got him.", Hotch said as he started running down the alley and shouted, "FBI!"
Emily ran over to the victim while pulling out her phone and calling the authorities. She took her scarf and held it on the few stab wounds on the victim. "It's gonna be alright. Just hang on.", she told her. "This is Agent Prentiss with the FBI. We need a medic and squad cars down here to the French Quarter now.", she said.
She gave them the address and heard a gunshot. Her heart stopped for a moment, hoping it wasn't Hotch that was hit. "Make that two medics. Multiple stab wounds on the victim and one shot fired. Unclear who was hit.", she said.
Emily's heart was beating out of her chest, thinking of Hotch possibly bleeding out on the ground, alone almost like last time. Except this time, she wouldn't be able to be there with him and he wasn't wearing a vest.
The medics finally came and helped the victim into the ambulance on a gurney. Once they took her away, Emily heard the other medic having gone in the other direction and she raced down towards it. She got around the corner and stopped once she got to Hotch.
The medics helped up the unsub in the ambulance on a gurney as well. Hotch turned around to see Emily walking up to him, breathing heavy.
He grabbed her and held her tight. "Oh my god. You're okay.", she sighed. "I was so worried. You didn't have your vest and I couldn't see you and I just heard the gunshot and couldn't run to you.", she went on.
"Shhhh... Em, it's okay. I'm okay.", he whispered in her ear, rubbing her back up and down.
"I was so scared, Aaron.", she said into his chest.
"I know, hun. But I'm fine. We're both fine.", he said, pulling her back and tucking her hair behind her ear. "How's the victim?", he asked.
"She's gonna be okay.", Emily swallowed.
"Good.", he sighed, bringing her back in for a hug.
They heard JJ's voice down the alley and they immediately broke apart and waited for her to walk down to them with the rest of the team.
"Well, nice work... I can't believe you happened to be out here at the right time. What were you guys doing out here?", JJ asked Emily and Hotch, skeptical.
They looked all around and the rest of the team was too distracted to notice her question. They were all talking with the rest of the authorities and the press that had finally showed up even though it was JJ's job to do that.
"I wanted to go get some gumbo and Hotch wouldn't let me go alone with a killer on the loose.", she said.
JJ looked at him weird, almost questioning his reasoning.
"Good thing I did. What would you have done if I didn't?", he asked in a professional tone, looking over at Emily. "Besides, gumbo sounded really good too but I guess we didn't get any.", he said.
JJ eyed the both of them and they became nervous when they had a feeling she was suspicious but she seemed to pass it off and believe it.
"Well, it's good you guys were out. I guess we can head home in the morning. Um, I'm gonna go let the press know and we'll head back to the hotel after we get some reports written up.", JJ said.
"Sounds good. Thank you. Also, let everyone else know that they can just go back to the hotel and get some rest. It was just Emily and I who were involved in the arrest and shooting. They don't need to lose any sleep because of it.", he said.
JJ was surprised by his kind gesture and smiled. It wasn't like him to do anything like that. "Thank you... I'll let them know.", she said. She walked off and started talking to the press.
Emily looked over at him and smiled, turning away from everyone else while he kept a straight face.
"What?", he asked.
"What was that?", she asked.
"Was that not a good excuse? Did I not play it off well enough for you?", he asked.
She laughed quietly. "No. Not that. I mean, you just excused everyone from working tonight and told them to go get some rest. Why do you think JJ was so shocked? That's not like you. Maybe my kindness is rubbing off on you.", she smiled.
"No comment.", he said, trying not to let a smile pass.
"Admit it. I'm a good influence.", she said, crossing her arms.
"Okay, fine... maybe your sweet charm and positive attitude has rubbed off on me... But not too much! I still have to have structure and order put in place, alright? You can't keep spreading it too much.", he said.
"Whatever you say, Agent Hotchner.", she winked.
He rolled his eyes and walked over to the authorities to give his statement with Emily following behind him.
Once they were done, they all headed back to the hotel together and Hotch went to his own room while Emily went to hers.
She took a shower and washed the blood off of her from the victim and got changed into her pajamas after. She laid down in the bed and called Hotch.
"Hey hun. How are you feeling?", he asked.
"Mmmm, sad we didn't get to try that gumbo. I'm still starving.", she pouted.
"You want me to grab you a snack from the vending machine?", he asked.
"Would you?", she asked.
"Of course. I don't know if I should spend the night in there, after what happened earlier, we should be a little careful for a while... But I'll bring you a snack.", he said
"Thank you.", she said, exhausted.
"I'll be there in a minute.", he told her.
They hung up and a couple minutes later he knocked on her door and she got up to open it. She let him in and they walked over to the bed and sat down, eating a couple bags of chips. And of course, her favorite, peanut m&m's.
"It seems like we always get interrupted with everything.", he chuckled.
"Yeah, well, it's part of the job.", she said.
"I know. I mean, even when we get to finish one thing, we never get to finish the rest of the night. Like the art gallery the other night. We got to finish our date but we didn't get to go back to my house and finish the night.", he said.
"Well, what are we going to do about that? There's not much to do.", she said.
He stopped for a moment and looked at her with a smile on his face.
"What? What are you thinking?", she asked.
"I'm thinking that Thanksgiving is coming up. We all get a little time off. Why don't you and I go somewhere together and spend a few days together. No interruptions. Just us. Alone.", he said.
"What about Jack and Haley? Don't you want to spend it with them?", she asked.
"Haley is taking Jack to her family's this year. We're going to celebrate Christmas together though and switch on and off for other holidays eventually. We might do Thanksgiving together at some point but I don't know, I don't have much family to celebrate it with anyways other than them and it'd be strange for me to go to her family's place for it.", he said.
"Well, what about your family? You don't see them? You don't want to celebrate Thanksgiving with them?", she asked.
"You mean with my brother who I barely speak to along with my mother who I barely speak to? Or my abusive father who's dead now anyways.", he said.
She stared at him for a moment, feeling sorry for him and placed her hand on his face. "Aaron, I had no idea...", she said.
"You're not the only one who doesn't open up that much...", he said, quietly.
She pulled him in and brought his head to her chest and stroked his neck. "I'm sorry, honey... do you want to talk about it?", she asked, kissing his head.
"No, it's fine.", he said, pulling his head back up and wrapping his arm around her back. "Not many people really know about all of that. It's not my life anymore. I know you can understand that. It shaped me into who I am. I'm a different person now. It's okay now. I'm okay.", he said to her. He looked deep in her eyes and could practically see the heartbreak she felt for him.
"Okay. Let's go somewhere for Thanksgiving vacation then.", she smiled and gave him a kiss.
"Great. We'll figure all the details out later but I'm glad you want to go.", he said.
"Me too.", she smiled.
"I should probably go back to my room now but I love you. I'm glad we're both okay after tonight.", he said, standing up and walking to the door.
"I know. You keep scaring me like that.", she said, stopping at the door.
"I can't control it. It's-", he started.
"Part of the job... I know. I just hate that I'm always on edge so much because of it now.", she said, wrapping her arms around his torso.
"I know but I get the same way about you too.", he said.
"I don't know if that really makes me feel any better or not.", she laughed.
"I'm not sure what I was trying to accomplish by saying it either but just know it's not just you, okay?", he said.
"Okay.", she smiled, leaning in for another kiss.
"Alright, I love you. I'll see you in the morning.", he said, opening the door.
"I love you too. Sleep well.", she said.
"You too, Em.", he smiled back, walking across the hall to his room.
She walked back to her bed and got under the covers. It took her a while to fall asleep. She kept thinking about what Hotch had just revealed to her about his family. She felt guilty when he said that he knew she would understand, with him being different now and having it shape him into who he was. It was true. She did understand that. But she couldn't tell him how or why and that made her feel horrible. He'd just shared all that and she was still keeping Doyle a secret.
Suddenly she felt another anxiety attack coming, only this time, she didn't have her Xanax with her and she couldn't call Hotch back over to help comfort her. Especially because she didn't want him to think he triggered it. So she let it pass after a while and finally fell asleep after a couple hours, hoping she'd be able to nap on the jet.