Emily groaned as she woke, "Oh, your awake." Ian said, peering down at her.
Emily sighed, "What do you want?" She said bluntly. "What do you think I want! To hurt you, like you hurt me" he said, slapping her around the face.
"Where's my ring?" He added, placing a hand on her neck. She swallowed, "I flushed it.." she admitted.
He chuckled before turning serious, "I spent 7 years in hell because of that ring..so now I'm going to give you another gift. One you won't be able to let go of so easily." He said, undoing her shirt. Emily breathed heavily, not knowing what to say but looked around to see what he was doing. "A four leaf clover will be a nice addition to your tattoos." He said, as he brought over a table. She looked at the table, "You still have two, right?" She nodded, "Yep. And that's enough, ink. Thanks" she said, turning her head forward away from the table.
Doyle chuckled, "Ink?" He raised a brow, "No, Koreans can't afford it. They brand themselves" he said bluntly. As he switched on a machine, moving a pen towards her chest. Emily tried to steer away, groaning in pain as he put the hot pen to her chest.

The team had been interviewing one of Emily's old Interpol friends for hours, Clyde. Aaron had just about had enough by now, enough of not knowing where she is or if she was still alive. "If you corporate with us and we save Agent Prentiss, then maybe we can't talk about a deal. But if anything happens to her, I will destroy you. You can count on that." He said bluntly. "You..care for her don't you?" Clyde said, raising a brow.
"We all care for her." He added.
"No, you care for her most. Your in love with her."
Aaron moved to walk away, "I've had enough of this. Your not helping me and we don't have the time for this." He said, walking out and slamming the door. He was fully aware his full team had heard everything that was just said, but at this moment in time it was the last thing on his mind.

They had located Emily and were on their way to rescue her. Aaron was searching the front section, shooting down the crew in the way. He heard Derek call for a medic,and his stomach dropped, running to where Derek had said he was.
"Let me go.." Emily said to Derek, gasping for breath as she fought for her eyes to stay open. Aaron ran towards her, seeing her lying on the floor, weak and bloody. "Emily.." he gasped, clutching her hand. "Aaron-" she choked out, a tear escaping her. "Your not going anywhere, do you hear me?" He said, his voice was thick with emotion and tears threatened to fall but he had to keep it together for her. "I-" before she could speak, her eyes forced shut and she lost consciousness. "Emily!" Aaron shouted, hitting the floor.
"Hotch! The medics are here..shes going to be okay." Derek said, grabbing his arm.

—-
Aaron was watching from the window as she was taken to surgery. She had flattened twice so far, each time had made Hotch's heart stop. But she had just about made it through the surgery. Aaron was in Emily's room, the rest of the team were oblivious to anything and thought she was still in surgery. Emily's eyes fluttered open, as she peered around the room she felt a hand squeezing hers. "Aaron.." she whispered weakly. "Your okay." He said, kissing her hand. "I thought I'd lost you." He admitted, squeezing her hand. "I'm sorry...for everything." She said tearing up, "I never wanted to hide anything from you...but- I couldn't risk it." He shook his head, "You have nothing to be sorry for, I'm not mad at you. I just wish you told me..I would of protected you." "I couldn't risk him hurting you or Jack..I'd never forgive myself. And I'd never put you in danger."

JJ walked in, and closed the door, "Emily, Hotch...there's things we need to discuss" she said, sitting down.
Aaron couldn't believe it, he had just got her back and now he was loosing her all over again. He knew they had to do this, to protect Emily and the team. Once JJ had told the team, and they had all emotionally left, he had waited behind to go to her.

At Emily's funeral, Aaron's emotions were not fake, he was angry and sad. He knew she was alive, but he was still loosing her. "I'm sorry, Aaron." Rossi said, coming over to him. "I know how much she meant to you." He nodded a little, "Yeah.." he said, as he stared at her grave.
He felt guilty keeping this from his team, but it was what they had to do until Doyle was gone for good.

Once Emily had recovered in a hospital far from D.C, she was leaving to Paris with a new name and new life for the time being. Aaron had insisted to fly with her there, and they were on the plane. "I don't know when we can next see each other.." Emily said, with a sigh. "I know, all I know..is I'm going to miss you." He said as he put a hand on her cheek. She leaned in and kissed him softly, "I feel terrible..for doing this to the team. For leaving." "It's what you have to, you could get hurt again if Doyle knew you was still alive."
She nodded, "I know, I just wish it was different."

When they arrived in Paris, Aaron knew they had to part now and he had to fly back home. Emily wrapped her arms tightly around him, not letting go. "I wish our goodbyes weren't always to leave each other for so long." Emily said, her voice breaking.
He pulled away, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "Me too. But I swear to you, I'm going to find Doyle. I'm going to bring you home and we can be a family. And then nothing ever again will keep us apart." Emily nodded, pulling him in for a long, emotional kiss. "I'm going to miss you so much" "Im going to miss you more than anything." He sighed, looking deep into her eyes. "I love you, Emily Prentiss" he admitted.
She nodded, "I love you too, Aaron Hotchner." She started walking away, tears falling as she looked back, blowing a kiss before walking back off. She knew she couldn't look back, it was too painful to leave. She knew she had too.

Aaron ran back up to her, grabbing her wrist, "Emily." He said, pulling her to face him. "What?" She asked softly, "We have to go-" "I know, I know. But...when we find Doyle, and you come back. Marry me." "What?" She said, widening her eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't have a ring or this isn't some big fancy proposal..but we've waited too long to be together and we should've been married a long time ago. When you get back to the states, will you marry me?" He said, a smile growing on his face. She nodded, wrapping her arms around him, "Yes, I'll marry you." She said, kissing him passionately.
"Until then." He smiled, kissing her head. "I look forward to it." She said, smiling up at him.

Although neither of them knew how long that would be, it could be weeks,months, years even. They both couldn't wait for that day and wanted nothing more than to be married to one another.