7 months had passed into her pregnancy, and even though she rarely admitted it, it was taking its toll on Emily. She was exhausted all the time, and she had developed back pains that wouldn't go away. Between work and restless nights, she was tired all the time which certainly didn't help her hormones. Aaron knew how much the pregnancy was now affecting her without her even having to tell him, and every time she snapped at him he brushed it off lightly as he knew it wasn't her fault.
The pair had just come home from a case and they were both exhausted, the case was a tough one. Emily sighed, putting down her bags, and going into the kitchen. He followed her into the kitchen, "You okay?" He asked. She nodded slowly, "Yeah..it's just my back again. It's fine." She said, putting a hand on her back with a small wince. "I have something that may make you feel better." He smiled softly. She looked up at him, raising a brow, "What is it?" She asked.
He took a small envelope out his back pocket, and handed it to her. "It's your ticket to that spa day you three girls were talking about. Garcia and JJ are going to go with you..tomorrow. They bought their tickets but I wanted it to be a surprise for you." He said moving closer to her.
A smile grew on her face, "Aaron..this is so nice of you. Just when I think you couldn't get any more amazing." She said leaning up to kiss him, "Thank you." She added.
She was more than excited for the spa day, she needed a relaxing day and she never got to spend time as just the three girls. However, little did she know it was all part of Aaron's plan to get her out the house.
That day, Emily headed off to the spa with the girls, whilst Emily was in for a day of relaxing his day was going to be different. He had called round Rossi, Reid and Morgan for help as the reason he had bought her the ticket for the spa was to get her out the house so he could decorate the baby's room. They had already picked out wallpaper they wanted to use, and there was boxes of toys and a crib they had bought scattered around in the baby's room they had just never had the time to sort it. Aaron wanted to get it all done to surprise her, he knew how hard it was getting for her.
"Statistically only 30% of males can successfully put up a crib correctly the first time." Reid said as he looked at the pieces to the crib all spread out.
Morgan chuckled and rolled his eyes, "Why do you think he invited you? I'm sure you could get it done in less than ten minutes"
Hotch looked at the clock, "Okay. We have till 5 until their back, let's get going." He said, with his serious tone.
Meanwhile, the three girls were lounging next to the pool, waiting for their massage. JJ and Garcia were sipping a cocktail whilst Emily sipped on a mock tail. "So, Emily..how are you and Hotch?" Garcia asked, sipping her cocktail. Emily smiled a little as she heard his name, "We're good...in fact, we're great. He's amazing to me...even when the pregnancy hormones kick in." She chuckled, "I couldn't ask for anyone better..in fact, it still seems surreal that we're together." She added.
JJ smiled at her, "How about your wedding? Have you had any ideas yet?" She asked.
She shook her head, "No,I know we're going to wait a few months before starting to plan it...I want to loose all my baby weight before we even think of getting married. " she chuckled, "I already feel huge and the baby still has 2 months yet." Garcia shook her head, "Your glowing, pregnancy looks good on you" she said as she downed her drink.
"I miss alcohol." Emily groaned, as she watching Garcia down her drink.
JJ nodded, "I know how you feel..when I was pregnant, I missed alcohol so badly."
5PM flew by and Aaron was stressed he wasn't going to finish it on time. They were on their way back. The wallpaper had finished, and the crib was up, they'd put up some pink cupboards to put the toys in, the three men had left when everything was done even though Aaron still felt like something was missing.
He heard the door close and he quickly moved out the room, closing her door. "Aaron? You home?" Emily called out, taking her coat off. He walked down the stairs, leaning down to kiss her. "Did you have a nice time?" He asked.
She nodded, "The best, I feel so much better now" she said. "How was your day?" She asked. "How about I show you?" He smiled, taking her hand.
"Aaron?" She asked confusing, following him up the stairs. "Close your eyes." He said, going behind her and putting his hands over her eyes. She closed her eyes, "I'm scared..what is this?" She chuckled, as he walked into the room directing her in. "Open your eyes." He said, taking his hands away from her eyes. She opened her eyes and gasped, looking around. "Aaron-" she said, as a smile grew on her face. "This is..beautiful." She said, looking at the wallpaper. His eyes lit up as he saw how happy she looked, "Do you like it? I just thought..you've been really tired and busy, and I thought this would cheer you up. Although...I got help from Reid, Morgan and Rossi." He chuckled.
She laughed softly, moving closer over to him, "Thank you for this, this is..room for our baby is beautiful and you really are the best." She said, kissing him softly.
He smiled kissing her back, "I'm glad you like it." He said, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. "You know since my day was so relaxing..you must have had a busy day. How about I make dinner?" She said. He raised a brow, "You make dinner?" He raised a brow.
She smirked, "I've been practising..just wait and see." She said, as she walked downstairs into the kitchen. Aaron followed her down but went into the living room, so he could be surprised by what she had made.
About 20 minutes later, Emily walked into the living room, "Dinners ready" she said. He stood up from the sofa, "Hmm, it smells nice." He said as he walked in, "And edible." He added on jokingly. Emily playfully hurt him, "Hey! It's going to be better than 'edible'" she said. "You made steak? It looks nice." He said as she sat the table. "I hope it is...it took me a while to master something" she laughed lightly. Aaron took a bite, his eyes widening, "This is really good,Em. The sauce is amazing." Emily sipped her drink before taking a bite, "Thank you" she smiled, as he ate some herself.
A month had passed and Emily was a month till her due date, she had started her maternity leave and was already bored. She had been able to spend more time individually just her and Jack, as she looked after him when Hotch went on cases. The team had gone on a case and had been gone 4 days which was a lot longer than he had before, she was starting to miss Aaron terribly. Although they talked when he could, it wasn't the same and wished she was there with them. She wouldn't have missed him as much as she did if she wasn't pregnant, but her hormones where through the roof now her due date was getting closer.
It was around 8PM, Emily had put Jack to bed and was watching something on tv when she heard the door open. She gasped, and shot up from the sofa, running into the hallway. When she saw Aaron standing there taking his blazer off, she ran into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I missed you so much" she said pulling away and kissing him passionately. He chuckled, kissing her back, "I missed you too" he said, tucking her hair back. "It was just..the first time you've ever been away for so long and these hormones..did not help" she said, pulling him back around her.
Once Aaron was settled back in, he decided to take a shower in which Emily offered to join and it led to a complete different thing. After they'd finished, Emily was sat on the bed in some satin pyjamas, "Do you remember what tomorrow is?" She said, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I do unfortunately." He said, "Your mother's charity gala." "I don't want to attend but...she specifically but it in DC so I had to come." "It's okay, we can go..show our faces, and then leave after an hour or so and blame it on you being tired."
She nodded in agreement, "Please, don't take any criticism my mom says seriously. She just doesn't think it's a good idea I should be marrying my boss and her former employee." She said with a sigh. "And her opinion doesn't matter to me" "Of course I'm not going too..I know your mother" he said with a small chuckle. "Now..how about we make up for lost time these past few days?" She smirked, pulling him closer.
"You sure..I mean, is it safe so far along?" He asked. "Yeah, it's safe." She nodded, "And you don't want to deprive your pregnant fiancée would you?" She said, making puppy eyes at him. He smirked, kissing her softly, "Of course not." He said, gently pushing her down.
—
The following night, Emily and Aaron were getting ready for Elizabeth's gala, Jack had gone to stay the night at his friends. "You almost ready?" He asked her, as he put his blazer on. "Almost." She said as she slipped into a long green dress, it was sparkly and short sleeved. Although she wouldn't of worn anything like this if she wasn't pregnant, she had to admit she liked the long dresses. She applied some lipstick, and walked out to Aaron, holding her bag. Aaron looked at her as a smile grew onto his face, "You look gorgeous." He said kissing her cheek. "Thank you." She smiled, "I wish I felt it looking this big." She said rolling her eyes. "You know I think your beautiful either way" he said, taking her hand as they walked downstairs.
When they arrived at the gala, they walked to the bar, "If we try to avoid my mom for as long as possible...that'd be great" Emily said before ordering a fresh orange. As Aaron was about to reply, the familiar voice of Elizabeth Prentiss arose, "If it isn't my favourite daughter." Elizabeth said loudly, pulling her in for a hug. "I'm your only daughter,mother." She said, hugging her back reluctantly. "Your huge now!" Elizabeth widened her eyes. Emily scoffed, "Yeah. Being 8 months pregnant can do that to you." Elizabeth moved her eyes over to look at Aaron, "Agent Hotchner, hello." She said impolitely. Aaron ignored her rudeness, "Mrs Prentiss." He nodded, "It's nice to see you."
Emily rolled her eyes, "Mother..it's Aaron. Not agent, he's not just going to be an agent to you soon. He'll be your son in law, and the father of your grandchild."
Elizabeth swallowed, nodding, "Yes. As I'm very aware, not that I can I'm pleased with-" Emily scoffed interrupting Elizabeth, "Say what you want, I am in love with Aaron and that isn't going to change. He is everything I've ever wanted and I'm happy, so I'm sorry if my happiness doesn't have your approval. Your not in charge of my life anymore..so you can accept that, or ignore it." She said, taking Aaron's hand. "Now If you'd excuse me, I want to have a dance with my fiancé" she said walking away.
Elizabeth stood there, speechless, she was used to her daughter fighting back to her but she'd never snapped like that before.
Aaron smiled, putting his hands on her waist, "You just stood up to your mother..I'm impressed." He said, looking into her eyes.
Emily exhaled, looking up at him, "I'm fed up of her thinking she still knows what's best for me. Your what's best for me, and if she can't see that then..that's her problem." She shrugged.
"Have I ever told you your amazing?" He smirked. "I could hear it again." She laughed softly, moving up to kiss him softly. "There's only one month until there's a little baby here with us..I can't believe how fast this has come." Emily added. "I know..we're going to have our work cut out for us for months." He chuckled. "And we'll hardly have any time to ourselves.." she said, raising a brow, "But we have a child free house right now...how about we cut this night short and enjoy our alone time...we're not going to have a lot of that soon." "I think that sounds like a brilliant idea..we should stay another hour to keep appearances up..and then sneak out" he smirked. "I look forward to it" she said, before he spun her around. She let out a gasp, "Aaron!" She chuckled before he did it again.
An hour later, they had left the gala and decided to spend the rest of the night enjoying the time alone they had with no worry about making noise or waking Jack up.