Early October 2008
I'm throwing Jack a party at 11 next Saturday at the park. DON'T MISS IT.- Haley
The moment Hotch received the text from his ex-wife, he carefully jotted the important event in his personal diary and circled around it twice with a red pen. He'd already missed out on so many of Jack's milestones because of work, and Aaron refused to let a series of murders take away the rare opportunity to celebrate his little boy.
Leaning back in the chair, his eyes fell on the small picture frame sitting at the corner of his desk. Haley had taken the photo on Jack's first day of preschool- another milestone Hotch unintentionally couldn't get to. His son's golden hair happened to be neatly combed out of his face, and his backpack was almost bigger than his entire body.
As Aaron grabbed the picture and traced his fingers along Jack's dimpled smile, he found it difficult to comprehend that almost three years had passed since the best moment of his life.
Hotch never realised until having kids how much light and awe they brought to the world. Although Jack's upbringing had taken an off-road course, he was still the happiest and most caring child Aaron could have ever asked for… He gave such loving and tender hugs at every opportunity, had this innate curiosity to learn, and his laugh… The deep and contagious belly laugh of a toddler was something special to behold and never failed to have Aaron chuckling along too.
September had been relatively quiet in terms of travel, and it had meant Aaron could be at home spending quality time with his son. Jack was incredibly boisterous, constantly needing a new change of scenery to entertain him. While it was exhausting as a single parent trying to find ways of keeping a child happy, Hotch treasured every moment, even the occasional rough nights where he didn't get any sleep.
There was still so much he had a lot to learn as a parent. Jack was getting to an age where he was starting to ask questions about the world and his unique situation, and Aaron had no idea how to answer them in an age-appropriate way. So, when minor disagreements flared up every now and then with Haley concerning custody, the one thing they did agree on was to not argue in front of Jack. Aaron knew from experience the trauma of watching your parents argue, and he just didn't want his son to be more confused than he already was.
But whatever had their knickers in a twist didn't matter at the end of the day because their best interests were in that little boy.
Focusing on what was best for Jack had been the key to significantly improving the communication with Haley. And once they had figured that part out, the anger from those strained days vanished into thin air. It was easier to co-parent because his ex-wife was so much happier. There were no signs of stress in her expression, and she looked like she'd actually been getting decent amounts of sleep. The woman had even changed her appearance slightly, cutting her hair, getting lighter highlights of blonde… It pleased Aaron to see the woman looking so healthy.
But every time the door opened to the home they used to share, it was like Aaron was nothing more to Haley than just Jack's dad. She would smile, invite him into the foyer where Jack would come running into his arms and smother him with a big kiss on the lips. While Jack grabbed his backpack, Haley and himself would talk about custody arrangements; when Hotch would drop him off, any significant events he needed to be taken to. Then, when the little guy returned with his gear, he'd give his mother a goodbye kiss and walk happily with Aaron to the car as Haley watched from the doorstep.
Part of Hotch wished the connection with Haley was deeper. In high school, they used to talk about everything from the types of shoes Paris had to offer to possible names they would name their future children. Now though, their conversations hardly ever lingered past the topic of Jack, and when they did, things became awkward and were a catalyst for an argument.
After they had divorced, Hotch had accidentally shared a joke about chasing down a suspect. Obviously, it had hit a nerve, and Haley's posture had immediately stiffened as if someone had poured ice down her back. In retrospect, Aaron didn't know why he'd mentioned it in the first place. Maybe he was searching for that connection with her that had been so severely strained.
But from then on, Aaron never dared ask her personal questions about her dating life, and he kept quiet about everything outside the topic of their son.
He had his suspicions that Haley was seeing somebody. And although he felt a twinge of protectiveness and jealously with the thought of another man near his son taking over his role as a father, all Aaron could do was trust that Haley knew what she was doing. Knowing her, she wouldn't let anybody near Jack without a high level of faith anyway.
It burdened Aaron to know that Haley had moved on from their relationship so quickly. How she could just look at him simply as a distant friend and come to peace with everything they'd gone through as a couple… It pained him. Why was it so difficult for him to move forward? Why did he have to hold onto every little thing and continue living in a past that would never be the same?
He often reflected on their lost marriage, about what it could have been if he'd respected her wishes and changed for the better. He wondered if something else would have broken their relationship had things been different. Or whether being together would have prevented the intense feelings he felt for his colleague…
With each scenario he thought about, Aaron always came to the same conclusion.
Haley and himself just weren't meant to be together anymore.
As painful a pill it was to swallow, Hotch would always hold a place for Haley in his heart. She'd always be his first true love and the woman who brought him the most precious gift a person could ever ask for… A child.
That was the reason he was determined to be at Jack's birthday party on Saturday. Not for Haley, and not for himself, but for the one person who deserved to have his entire family there to celebrate.
And, of course, a case had to pop up in Northern California a few days before the party.
Knowing the disappointment Aaron would feel if he missed the momentous occasion, he made sure the team worked at their highest standards to get home as soon as possible.
This particular unsub, as they had figured out, had been jumping trains between different towns in the Sacramento Valley only to break into couple's homes, murder them and spend the rest of the night living in their quarters. It was a complex case because the crime scenes were spread out far and wide, so the team had to split up and delegate to the respective locations.
Besides that, profiling the man came like second nature to them all, and it didn't take long to realise that 'Goldilocks' as Prentiss had nicknamed him, was actually a migrant worker that had gotten kicked out of some camps. Once Garcia had worked her magic and narrowed down where the unsub most likely was, it didn't take long to meet his brother and hear the sad story of what had driven this unsub to kill.
As with every investigation, when it came time to arrest the suspect, sometimes you didn't have a choice in shooting them to death if it meant the safety of everyone else around. And unfortunately, Hotch had been put in that situation as Morgan dangled off the moving train by a thread.
By the time the crime scene had been processed, it was far too late to get a night flight back to Quantico. So, the team flew back early on Saturday morning, where Hotch had time to run to his apartment to change into some casual clothes and buy his son a couple presents from the store.
Haley's expression held a mixture of surprise and happiness when Aaron made it to the park right at 11 on the dot. As he passed her the presents he had carefully wrapped for their son, Hotch whispered, "thank you for inviting me." And he genuinely meant that.
"He'll be so happy you came," Haley replied before she called for Jack, busy playing on the playground with his cousins and friends he'd met at preschool.
Hotch felt the emotion tugging at his heart as his little guy slid down the slide and raced over to him with the biggest grin. He felt so whole having the boy crash into his arms. As he buried his nose into the smooth locks of his golden hair, the corners of Aaron's eyes crinkled while he listened to Jack talk in excitement about his friends.
"They came for my burthday, daddy!"
"That's so cool, buddy… How old are you today?"
Jack counted three fingers on his hand before holding them up, "I'm threeeee!"
"Really?" Hotch asked, acting dramatic, "that's not true!"
"Ya, it is! I eat cake."
Smiling at his son's enthusiasm, Hotch placed a long kiss on his forehead before pulling him in for another long cuddle. Soon enough, Aaron felt him squirming in his arms, wanting to get back to playing.
Hotch focused all his attention on his son as he and the other kids played multiple games of tag and ran around like maniacs. Haley kept herself busy chatting with some of the other parents there, and every now and then, his ex-wife's father sent a dirty look in Hotch's direction. Aaron just ignored him and tried being the bigger person; they were here to celebrate Jack, not to start hurling punches.
When it came midday, the kids were starving, and Aaron helped Haley and her sister Jessica carry out the food from her car- along with the cake. His mouth started watering at the chocolate muffins with blue and red icing on top, presumably because Jack was into Spiderman. There were also Cheeto puffs, candy, and of course, healthy watermelon and strawberries to balance it all out.
All the kids dug into the cupcakes like they hadn't eaten for weeks, and Aaron couldn't help but chuckle as the birthday boy smeared blue icing all around his nose and mouth. Haley took out her camera and captured the memory before taking a tissue from her pocket and wiping up the mess.
"Daddy?" Jack asked moments later, tugging at his hand, "You push me, pease?" Aaron assumed he was asking about the swing set.
"Of course, I can buddy. Good job using your manners."
Jack wanted to have a competition of who could swing higher with one of his friends. So not only was Hotch pushing Jack, but he was also pushing a little blonde girl by the name of Bella, who couldn't have been much older than his son. Both kids laughed and screeched in happiness as Hotch played tricks on them, changing his expression from happy to silly to mad as they descended on the swing. Practically anything you did had the ability to amuse a pre-schooler.
When they got bored, Jack practically dragged Hotch onto the slide with him. Luckily the way it was designed made it easy for him to slide with Jack sitting between his legs.
He didn't know where the time had gone when Haley called them all over so Jack could open presents.
Hotch hadn't gone into overdrive when deciding what presents to give Jack. The kid already had plenty of toys that he never played with at home, so Aaron had tried to look for books instead as Jack was an avid reader. His son had beamed in delight as he ripped open the wrapping paper and been given all these incredible gifts ranging from toys to books to blankets.
While Jack wanted to play with his new presents, some of the parents noticed their kids getting cranky and ready for their afternoon nap. So, Haley quickly motioned for Jack to come and sit at the table and blow out the candles on his cake.
Jack's eyes couldn't have gotten any wider as he stared in disbelief at the Spiderman themed cake Haley had procured. It indeed looked scrumptious, with dark spider webs radiating outwards from those large white oval eyes. As Hotch was about to place the candles into the cake, Jack decided to stick them in. It amused both parents to see him scatter the candles in random places; one candle in the left eye, another one right on the edge and the final one half-submerged into the right eye.
As they sang happy birthday, Jack couldn't have had a more enormous grin on his face, and Hotch felt like the luckiest father in the world seeing his little guy in his element. Both Aaron and Haley encouraged Jack to make a wish in his head before blowing out the candles with exasperated breath, causing all the adults to laugh.
Not long after finishing the cake, everybody started to head home, leaving just himself, Haley, and Jack. While the little boy sat happily on the ground, playing with his new toys, Aaron helped Haley clean up the leftovers. "Do you want to take him tonight?" She asked, taking Aaron slightly by surprise.
"Are you sure?"
Haley smiled sweetly in his direction, "yes, of course, I'm sure. Jack and I cuddled this morning in bed, and we made pancakes. I just thought you might like to spend some one on one time with him tonight."
"I'd love that. What about his night bag?"
"I packed one just in case. It's in the car," she replied, chucking the rubbish into the trash can.
Hotch couldn't keep the grin off his face as he looked down at Jack, "Hey buddy, want to come hang out with dad tonight?"
He nodded his head so vigorously in response that it made Aaron's head hurt just looking at him. "We can go now?" Jack asked, standing up and tugging at Hotch's jeans.
"Yup."
"Dadda, I bring my peasants?"
"Yes, you can bring your presents, Jack."
Haley smiled as Aaron picked up their son and listened to him babble away in semi-comprehensible speech. He'd have fun dealing with a pre-schooler on a sugar high.
One week Later…
Emily thanked whatever God was out there that it was finally the end of the week.
They'd left on Monday morning for Milwaukee to investigate the deaths of four middle-aged males. However, with the bodies dumped sporadically over the city and no apparent connections between the victims, the team had been stuck at square one. In Emily's opinion, sitting around with no leads to follow was more exhausting than actively searching for an unsub.
After trudging into dead ends and rereading the same information over and over again, Morgan had made the faintest connection and figured out the victims had visited the same person in their final days. Things moved quickly after that, and on Thursday evening, police used their profile to track down the unsub responsible, meaning the team could leave later that night.
The investigation had absolutely drained Emily's energy, and she had gone straight home only to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She'd spent most of Friday at her desk drinking at least three cups of coffee and listening to Spencer and Morgan debate theories about the concept of time. Morgan had just about lost his sanity when Reid mentioned that time apparently passes faster for your feet than it does for your face.
"That can't possibly be a thing, Reid."
"IT IS A THING!" Spencer passionately defended, "Look it up. It's all to do with Einstein's theory of relativity. The closer you are to the centre of the earth, the slower time gets. It's been measured."
"And how the hell can you measure time?"
"Do you really want to ask that?" Emily muttered as she slipped her grey blazer on. Sure enough, Reid started explaining the history of how the 'second' was conceived. She zoned out the moment she heard 'atomic' while Morgan just leant back in his chair, blocking out Reid's voice with his hands.
"Hey, where are you off to?" Derek asked as the brunette gathered up her belongings.
"Home," Emily replied with no enthusiasm. She'd completed all the necessary paperwork, so there was no reason why she couldn't leave and just blob out.
"Home? Prentiss, it's like not even 3 o'clock yet… Everything okay?"
"Is anybody even listening to me anymore?" Spencer asked casually.
"Yeah, everything is fine," Emily reassured him, completely ignoring Reid. "I'll see you on Mon-"
Before Emily finished her sentence, she heard Hotch call her surname from the doorway of his office.
The brunette swore this always happened. Whenever she wanted to be somewhere, the universe conspired against her and could detain her at work in a finger click.
Knowing Hotch, he was probably going to grill her for one of her field reports.
"Can we talk for a minute?"
Emily felt like slapping away the cheeky grin Morgan wasn't even bothering to hide. Before he made some snarky remark, Emily dumped everything back on her desk and wandered up to her boss's office, where he motioned for her to take a seat on the couch. "Am I in trouble?"
Pulling a single chair over, Hotch shook his head, "not at all. Well, there's a minor mistake in your report, but that's not what I want to discuss."
Emily bit her bottom lip, trying to hold back the sarcastic response looming in her throat. She had literally handed that in not even a couple of hours ago. "Of course there is."
"How's your Arabic?"
The question took her by surprise, "uh… Bit rusty, why?"
She watched him swiftly stroll to his desk and promptly grab a few files before returning back to the chair. In that time, Emily couldn't help but notice how the knot in his red and white tie bundled neatly in the cavern of his lower neck.
"Fenderson state prison has an inmate by the name of Razan Guler. Throughout his stay in Lower district Pittsburgh in 2001, he murdered fifteen women within a year."
Taking one of the files, Emily briefly skimmed over the information on this guy, "I vaguely remember hearing about these murders when I worked as an intern for the UN. He was the guy that removed their fingers, right?"
"Not just fingers. Toes as well," Hotch added to which Emily grimaced, "we would have had this guy sooner had it not been for 9/11. It wasn't until early January of 2002 that police tracked him down."
Having seen enough of the injuries those poor women endured, the brunette snapped the file shut. "This case was like six years ago. Why are we looking at it?"
"I received word yesterday from the prison that he's due to be executed on Monday morning… He wants to share his story."
"And you're… Gonna talk to him?" She asked with a quirked eyebrow.
"Police never got a full confession from him at the time of his trial. It's the perfect opportunity to tie up loose ends and bring justice to the remaining missing women that have never been found."
"Wait, wait, wait." Emily interrupted, "you're saying that he murdered MORE women?"
"There's evidence to suggest that, yes."
"How so?"
Taking the shut file from Emily, Hotch reopened it to the last page containing forensic reports and passed it back to the brunette. She felt his eyes burn her as she read the statement, "the DNA on some of the toes didn't match that of the bodies… Is this guy for real?"
"I want a full extensive analysis of his behaviour from the moment we arrive, which is why your assets in Arabic will be beneficial…" He paused momentarily, "you up for it?"
Even though the trip would be purely professional, the thought of spending the weekend in Hotch's company had an excited warmth fuzzing in her stomach. Just being near him and inhaling his intoxicating cologne already had her smiling.
She glanced up to meet his golden-brown orbs, "when would you want to leave?"
"If we get going now, we'll make it there by nightfall. Get a good night's sleep and start interviewing him by 7am. We can discuss strategies in the car."
"Let's do it."
When the opportunity had arisen to interview the infamous serial killer Razan Guler, Aaron instantly knew that he wanted Emily to join him on the trip. Usually, he would have tagged along with Rossi or Reid for an interview like this, but since Prentiss had a high proficiency in the Arabic language, having her there would be a tremendous help in picking up words and phrases Hotch would never have thought to chase.
Not only that, but Aaron just wanted to be around her. There was something about Emily's presence that relaxed him, and after her nearly dying in Colorado a few months earlier, he found it difficult to let her out of his sight. The rational side of Hotch knew that his protectiveness over her could be considered overkill. He always made sure to triple check potential risks going into cases, and whenever he could, Aaron tasked the brunette to work from the field office while he, Rossi and Morgan actively pursued the more dangerous aspects of the job.
He just couldn't risk endangering her again.
But at the same time, it was selfish of him to kick Emily to the side-lines. She absolutely loved being out in the field, and Hotch saw it in her body language every time they kicked down doors or chased down an unsub. He always caught the glint of excitement in her eye as she tied back her hair… How she'd read cues off him like he was an open book… The way she passionately knocked fully grown men to the floor without hesitation.
With the impending departure of JJ and Agent Jordan Todd temporarily replacing her position, Hotch had to trust Emily now more than ever. Things would be rusty and a bit odd with a new team dynamic, and Hotch knew his attention would be focused on helping Agent Todd settle in. It eased his anxiety though that Emily was a strong and competent female agent. His protectiveness over her would never go away, but at the back of his mind, Aaron knew she'd be fine.
The drive up to Pennsylvania so far had been peaceful. They'd been in their own little worlds; Hotch thinking about the day ahead and Emily reading through a romance novel. About an hour in, they were feeling peckish, so he'd pulled into a service station because they needed gas anyway. While Aaron fuelled up the car, Emily ran inside and grabbed coffee, doughnuts, and some cheeky bars of Hershey's chocolate she miserably failed to hide.
Aaron had shot her a smirk to which Emily simply replied, "listen, chocolate is a precious commodity, and it's the only thing that keeps me sane while Morgan and Reid bicker endlessly. Don't judge me."
"When did I say I was judging you?"
"I saw it in the twitch of your mouth."
Showing off his dimples, Hotch dubiously eyed the two chocolate frosted doughnuts in the box before carefully selecting the one which looked to have slightly more icing.
Emily couldn't help but roll her eyes at his pickiness. "Look who's judging now," he retorted back with a mouthful of doughnut. "They didn't have your favourite?"
"Obviously not." Emily's preferred option would have been a doughnut stuffed with gooey caramel cream in the centre, but chocolate frosted came second best. And she wasn't one to complain about the amount of icing it had- unlike Hotch.
As they hit the road again and finished off their doughnuts, Emily took a chance to read over the files on Razan Guler. "Grew up an only child in Iraq. Multiple sexual allegations against him. Moved to the states in early 2000, where he worked at multiple retail stores in Southern Pittsburgh. That would have allowed him to interact with women daily."
"What's interesting is that he was patient. He'd pick one woman for a month, torture her, sexually assault her, before dumping the body and moving onto his next target," Aaron added.
"So, a highly organised individual who knew to be cautious when choosing his victims. The length between abductions was the key to him staying under the radar."
"And not to mention that the change in jobs made it harder for investigators to make connections with where he was meeting the women."
Prentiss turned over a page, "no sign of misconduct at work. Colleagues described him as a quiet but conscientious guy who just got on with his job. He's smart. That would have made it ten times easier for him to transfer to another job."
"And nobody would have questioned it."
Taking out the photographs of the missing victims, Emily studied their appearances carefully. "It must have been something in their personality that triggered him to abduct. We've got blondes… Brunettes… Redheads. Were there any significant connections between these women that you knew of?"
Furrowing his brow, Aaron threw himself back 7 years earlier. "Only that they had no criminal convictions and were women that did no significant harm to society."
"Hmmm…"
"What are you thinking?" Aaron asked as she clicked her tongue.
"We've got no leverage on him going in there, I mean… We don't even know why he chose these women. Did he have a past relationship?"
"If he did, it didn't last long. When police finally caught him, there was evidence of scratch marks in the basement of his home. He wouldn't have risked bringing a girlfriend to his house while he had women downstairs. Besides, the victims would all look similar if a particular woman ended it with him."
"So, it's something they do that attracts his attention," Emily considered, "a conversation with another person nearby, a habit he's punishing them for. The possibilities are endless…"
"Remember, having you in the room will throw him off his game. We may not know why a particular woman attracts him, but we know that women are his weakness. He'll be much more open to telling his story to you than me," Aaron stated. "And don't hesitate to use his native language to gain rapport with him. Every bit of information we get is valuable."
Nodding, Emily put the files away and admired the sunset over the horizon as she sipped on her coffee. "You think we'll be able to find out what happened to those other women?"
Their eyes met briefly in the fading sunset, "he's withheld that information for seven years, and my guess is he'll take it to the grave if he has to… It will take some digging."
The rest of the drive to the hotel was spent in a comfortable silence. Occasionally, they'd make light conversation about Jack. Aaron explained to Emily how he got to attend his son's birthday party the weekend prior, and she smiled in joy as he told stories of Jack smearing icing all over his face and blowing out candles that were half-submerged in his cake.
Hotch really was a lot happier when he saw Jack more often, Emily had concluded. It saddened her to have to watch him suffer in times where work was overwhelming. So, in the moments when she saw those contagious dimples emerge, Emily never hesitated in asking about his son. She absolutely loved hearing the amusing stories of what they got up to outside of work, and it only accentuated how amazing Hotch was as a dad.
As soon as they arrived at their destination, Hotch ordered Chinese take-out from a local restaurant and had it delivered to the hotel. While eating the scrumptiously fried rice along with sweet and sour pork, Emily and Hotch wasted no time in thoroughly looking into the lives of the victims Razan abducted back in 2001. The more information they gathered from the documents, the easier it would be to ask the right questions during the interview.
For some reason, the hotel room was hot, and both agents were nearly sweating like pigs. After opening some windows, Hotch had finally loosened his white and red tie and shrugged off his blazer as they studied, while Emily had kicked her shoes under the table.
They spent ages throwing potential strategies at each other and discussing the possible ways in how the women were abducted. Somewhere amongst it all, they moved onto the random topic of their childhoods.
"God… How scared they must have been… Even if those women had survived these horrific attacks, they'd never want to step foot outside ever again. I certainly wouldn't... No wonder people are so afraid these days." It was a sad reality to think about.
Tapping his finger on the edge of the table, Aaron replied, "I remember as a kid, my brother and I would ride in wheelbarrows across the neighbourhood. We'd be gone for hours, playing in the forest, wrestling each other to death… My mother wouldn't bat an eyelid if she hadn't seen us for at least two hours. Now, I can't imagine letting Jack out of my sight even for a minute."
Emily nodded, flashing back to her own childhood. "It's crazy to think that used to be our reality. I remember men old enough to be my father used to stalk me at the ripe age of 8. And I used to talk to them… Ugh," She muttered while shaking her head. "When I lived in Italy, there was a girl in my grade that was kidnapped for a whole week. Thankfully police found her when they did, but from then on, that was a turning point in how I viewed the world."
"That the reason you became a profiler?" Aaron asked out of curiosity.
Emily hesitantly shrugged. "To some degree… For the longest time, I didn't know what I wanted to do. My mother told me that if I kept rebelling and giving everybody attitude, I'd get thrown in prison. So, one day I stopped partying out on the streets and read a book on psychological behaviour. And here I am now."
Aaron couldn't help but smirk, imagining the brunette as a feisty teenager, "you rebelled?"
"You didn't?" She retorted back, "let me guess, you were probably the teacher's pet that always completed their homework on time and was always the first to class." Emily just couldn't imagine the guy deliberately being a pain in the ass to his parents.
Hotch simply scoffed, and Emily knew she was right.
"Come on. You seriously never smoked or snuck out of the house to graffiti a wall?"
"Oh, I snuck out of the house," Aaron clarified, "but it wasn't to vandalise the town. It was to see Haley. I don't define that as rebelling; that's just being a good boyfriend."
Emily squinted her eyes as her lips pursed together. She kept forgetting Haley and he went all the way back to high school. "Righhhht… Because you of all people wouldn't want to ruin your streak as a perfect goody two shoes by admitting you rebelled."
"Compared to some of the horror stories I've heard about your experiences, I'm glad I did things the way I did," Aaron retorted back.
The brunette failed to hide back a grin, "oh, you've definitely done more than just sneak out of the house." With the way he avoided eye contact and flushing slightly at the cheeks, Emily was suddenly curious to pry further. "Care to share?"
"No," Hotch said with hardly any hesitation.
"Okay." He watched as she pulled out one of the chocolate bars she bought earlier and unwrapped it.
That was mean.
Aaron knew that their attention had to refocus on the research, but the way Emily was digging into her treat had his mouth watering. Suddenly, he wished he'd bought something for himself at the shop too. "You're not going to offer me a piece?"
"You didn't tell me the worst thing you did as a teen, so no, you don't get anything."
It amused Emily to see the frustration twitching at his lips as he eyed her chocolate bar, and she couldn't help but wonder why he was so embarrassed to share his story. It couldn't have been worse than her smoking weed.
"I got an ear-piercing," Aaron finally admitted, "and it was the worst decision I've ever made. No follow up questions."
For ages, Emily stared at him in disbelief, trying to imagine her superior with an angelic little stud in his earlobe, but she couldn't. She started to chuckle, nearly choking on her food in the process while Hotch sat there in shame. "I'll admit… Wasn't expecting that."
"I think I rightfully deserve a piece of that Hershey's chocolate," he reminded her. Emily broke off a piece and passed it over, "if I hear Garcia or anyone else mentioning anything about my ears… You have some explaining to do."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Much to their surprise, Razan Guler had a lot to say about the murders he committed back in 2001. They started off by asking him about his childhood and the relationship he had with his parents. His father was completely out of the picture, and it was apparent he had issues with his mother. Then they moved on to the murders, asking him why he would think to torture somebody the way he did.
About half-way through the afternoon, Aaron left Emily to her own devices as she communicated with Razan in his mother tongue. Not understanding what they were talking about, all Hotch could do was watch from the window, admiring how easily the foreign language trickled off her lips. It pleased him to see the prisoner opening up to the brunette, and after an extensive interview, Emily had finally managed to pry out the information they were looking for.
He'd admitted the missing bodies were buried in a forest not far from where his original home was in southern Pittsburgh. After providing local cold case detectives with directions as to where they were located, the interview was officially over. Emily walked out of that interrogation room looking wasted, and Hotch felt much the same. They'd basically been up since 5am that morning, finalising plans and paperwork.
"You were going to mention to me that it's your birthday tomorrow, weren't you?" Aaron asked her as they walked back to the car. When it came to knowing birthdays, Hotch had the worst memory, and it wasn't until Spencer had called to ask for an update while Emily was in the room that he mentioned Prentiss' birthday.
Aaron was honestly surprised she hadn't mentioned it.
"ugh, don't remind me," Emily muttered back.
"We should celebrate," he suggested, to which Emily scoffed.
"I'm turning 37… That's hardly a number even worth acknowledging."
"Prentiss, every number should be acknowledged… Can I at least buy you a drink?"
She took a moment to think about it before giving into Hotch's request. After the long day they'd had, a few cocktails didn't sound so bad.
After arriving back at the hotel to change into some more casual clothes, they were back out on the streets searching for a nice bar. Emily hadn't changed much about her appearance; she'd kept her long-sleeved navy shirt on but swapped out her black trousers for some comfy jeggings. Hotch, on the other hand, had stayed in the car while he waited for Prentiss. He noticed straight away her delicate perfume's top-up as she jumped back in the passenger seat with a smile.
As night fell quickly, they found a popular bar on the outskirts of Pittsburgh.
Taking a seat in the back corner of the place, away from most of the crowd, Emily fell into a trance, watching Hotch carry their drinks to the table. The way he carefully strolled over in that suit with his solid and veiny hands gripping the glasses had her breath hitching. Everything about the man hypnotised her, but his hands and long lashes were what had Emily hot at her core.
"Care to have a game of pool?" Emily asked as she stood up and grabbed her cocktail from him, "I spotted a table over in the corner."
"I'm up for the challenge," Aaron replied as he sipped his beer. It had been a while since his last game of pool. Back in the good old days, he used to be up against Rossi. The Italian liked to think he was the better player out of the two of them, but Hotch easily smashed him every time. Prentiss, Hotch didn't know that much about when it came to pool. Knowing her though, she'd have a few tricks up her sleeve.
The brunette passed him a cue before carefully arranging the balls in the triangle. As she bent over to see under the table, Aaron caught a glimpse of her back as her shirt rode up slightly. It sent a hot flush down the back of his neck just thinking about her with hardly any clothing on. "Stripes or solid?"
"You're the birthday girl, you pick."
Ultimately deciding that stripes always gave her awful luck, Emily chose to play solid. Removing the triangle holding the pool balls in place, the brunette carefully lined up her cue against the white and aggressively shattered the shape.
"Let's make a deal. Whoever loses has to buy the other person coffee for a whole week," Emily stated as one of her solid balls completely missed the hole.
Aaron laughed at the irony, "if the game's going to go like that, I won't say no."
"Oh, just be quiet and get on with it."
Emily stood back, taking a sip of her cocktail, while Hotch removed his blazer and draped it over the back of a chair. She watched as he bent over the table, keeping his eye delicately trained on the ball he wanted to sink. It plummeted into the middle hole as if a magnet sucked it in. He took his time choosing his next target by sizing up how much force he needed using the cue. When it sank like a stick drowning in quicksand, Emily tried to remain stern.
"Feeling the pressure yet, Prentiss?" He asked, not bothering to look up from the table.
"Don't worry bout me, Hotch. Everything is perfectly under control." But the frustration was slowly gnawing at Emily as he managed to sink his third ball. Pursing her lips together, she just rolled her eyes. Whose idea was this again? Thankfully, his streak ended abruptly as one of the balls rebounded off the table edge like a boomerang. "Well… That has to suck." Emily mocked.
Taking a giant swig of beer, Hotch chose not to react to the comment and watched the brunette's expression harden as she kept readjusting her stance every few seconds. "So, how long has it been?" Aaron asked as Emily sank her first ball for the night.
She briefly glanced up at him, noting the relaxed gentleness in his eyes, "since I played pool?"
"Since you won."
"Ha. Very funny. That's valuable information I am not obliged to reveal."
"Why? Because you're a sore loser?"
Emily was on the brink of taking another shot but instead slowly tilted her head towards him with a surprised smirk. Coming from somebody that hardly said boo, Emily didn't quite know what to say. It was like he became a completely different person outside of work, and a beer had definitely loosened him up.
He stood with that cheeky grin lingering as he twirled the cue in his hands.
"That's a bold assumption to make; I'd watch my tongue if I were you." Managing to down another three solid balls, Emily was finally getting her groove back. She would have sunk another one had she been a little more aggressive with the cue. "Looks like you're up."
The game intensified with every second. They each took turns slotting their respective balls into the pockets until it was just the cue ball and the 8-ball left.
Hotch felt his heart thumping as the number eight stared straight into his soul. He absolutely had to win this if he wanted to make his point to Prentiss. Unfortunately, the white cue ball followed the black into the hole. Aaron bowed his head in shame while Emily silently chuckled to herself.
"Oh, yeah… I'm totally a sore loser. Might I mention that over my nearly twenty years experience of playing pool, I have won over a hundred games." She sucked in air through her smile, "looks like you're buying my coffee for all of next week."
Aaron was genuinely frustrated in himself for going a little haywire with the cue, but even more so for bragging to Prentiss so early on. He blamed it all on the beer.
After ordering another drink, Aaron and Emily found themselves relaxing back in the booth, just enjoying the erratic atmosphere. People were dancing, the disco lights were shining, glasses were clinking. "You got any plans for tomorrow?"
"Blob out in my spa. Drink wine. Ignore my mother's phone calls. It'll be paradise. You?"
"I'm gonna try and spend some time with Jack. Take him out to see a movie or something."
Smiling tiredly, Emily felt her eyes getting heavy, "I'm glad. You guys will have a great time. Speaking of time, what even is- "
"Nearly 10." Aaron quickly answered.
"Oh God, I'm old," Emily said with a long yawn, "I might fall asleep in this booth."
"Prentiss, before you fall asleep…"
"Yeah?"
"Happy Birthday."
A/N: Sorry this chapter is a little late, guys. Life just gets in the way sometimes. Please leave a review and let me know what you thought. I appreciate you guys taking the time to read.