Hotch stands on the tarmac, looking up at the sky with Jack in his arms. They had been watching airplanes all day. He had considered letting him continue to sleep in his arms since he does not know what state Emily will be in, but Jack needs to be here. Needs to see that she is alive. They both do before anyone can move forward.
A small private plane approaches and Aaron clenches his jaw tightly. This has to be her. It needs to be her. He cannot wait any longer. He has had only one communication with any of them in the form of a package two weeks prior. It was full of falsified personal information for all three of them in order to fully establish their lives here. The package also had come with a duffle bag of items for Emily that he never opened and instructions to come to this landing strip, on this date, and at this time (in the middle of the night).
"Is that Emmy, Daddy?" Jack asks hopefully. He is so afraid. Jack has barely slept since they arrived a month and a half ago. Neither has Aaron if he were honest. He has worried day and night for Emily. For the rest of the team too. Everyone must grieve their deaths aside from JJ and Rossi. Everyone must believe them dead until it is safe to return, and there is no way of knowing when that will be.
The plane begins to land, and Aaron simply responds, "I hope so, son. I hope so."
The plane touches down and the door opens and the stairs extend to the ground. Aaron walks hesitantly forward until he sees her illuminated by the planes internal lights. Long black hair, an exhausted face, leaning painfully against the railing. She is here.
Hotch begins walking quickly until he is fully running towards her. "Emmy!" Jack shouts as Hotch reaches the bottom of the stairs.
Emily sees them and hears Jack's sweet voice. Aaron's concerned eyes warm her and tears fill her eyes. She takes one step down and then another. Each step is hurts more than it should, but she tries not to show it. Aaron sees her pain nonetheless and begins to move towards her, but she stops him with a raised hand and a firm glare, almost an imitation of his own. The slightest of grins touches her face as she says, "I must learn to move again, Hotch."
"Not now if you're in pain, Emily," he says with a grimace, hating watching her like this and wanting to help. She ignores him and makes it down the rest of the steps, but exhaustion strikes her as she meets them as bottom and falls forward into Aaron's chest. The warmth of him makes her whimper as a few cries escape her, and Aaron wraps his arm around her, pulling her closer into him. Jack's tiny hands pats Emily's back, "It's okay, Emmy. We'll take care of you. We missed you so much."
"I missed you too, Jack," she says touching his hair softly. She looks up at Aaron then. He is still just her boss. He is still just her employer, but she feels so differently, missed him so much since she was resuscitated. "I have missed you too, Hotch." He grins at her, pushing the strands of hair behind her still bruised face.
"I missed you, Emily. Now, why don't we get you home? You should rest," he says to her as he gently pulls her away from the tarmac and towards the vehicle he has been given.
"Home?" she asks, and he smiles.
"Yes, and I think you will love the view," he tells her.
"I can't wait to see it," she says as she leans her head onto his shoulder and puts more of her weight against him. She hasn't been in this much pain since earlier during her stay at the hospital, but her doctor had warned her that traveling and exhaustion could make her pain flare up. Still, she knows she could do walk for herself now if she really wanted to. She doesn't.
They reach the apartment, and they ride the elevator up while she is leaning onto the Aaron. Jack is asleep, and Emily wishes he wasn't so they could spend time together now, but she is so exhausted. Aaron unlocks the door, and they step inside. Emily immediately gasps. The external wall is glass, not unlike her apartment in D.C., but in this, the view is of the Eiffel Tower and the sights of Paris. On that wall is a glass door that opens onto balcony with a gold-colored railing. It's something out of a dream, and this is where they must call home for now. It is a beautiful home.
"I'm going to put him to bed," Aaron whispers to her as they reach the living room. When he disappears into a room to one side of the open living room and kitchen area, she is left alone in the darkness facing this beautiful view. She hobbles away from it to look in on them just in time to see Aaron placing a kiss to his sleeping son's forehead, and Emily smiles. She's missed this even though she barely ever had it before, and in her mind, it's her fault they lost it, at least in the way it had been originally.
Aaron stands up and sees her watching them and a grin fills his face. He nods his head, suggesting she do the same. She shakes her head no and steps back into the hall. He follows her out and closes the door behind them. "What would you like to do now, Emily?"
She looks up at him, standing a little over a foot from one another, and shrugs. Her eyes turn to the view of Paris before them and tears make an appearance in her vision. She tries to blink them away, but it doesn't work. She wants to stay here, but she needs to hide away. Cry. She doesn't want to do that in front of him. "Sleep, I guess. I think I should sleep," she chokes out.
He nods and says, "Let me show you to your room." To the opposite side of the living room is a hallway that Aaron leads her down, and he stops where there is an entrance to two separate bedrooms opposite one another. Pointing to the one that shares the external wall with the living room, he says, "I thought that you might want this one. It has a better view, but if you want to exchange rooms, that is fine with me too." She shakes her head, and she walks into the bedroom with a grin that doesn't reach her eyes. "Goodnight, Emily," he tells her softly. She grins a little wider, but she can't speak. She provides him no more than a wave before closing the door behind herself.
Left out in the hall, Aaron sighs, wishing he could talk to her, wishing she would talk to him, trust him, share with him. He just wants to help her, but she isn't ready for that, so he returns to his room. He turns the shower water on and pulls his shirt off, turning his head to look at his back in the mirror as he does it. Scars from the fire stretch out across his back. Memories of his destroyed shirt and Jack's scream fill his mind. He turns the water a little hotter before he steps in as an attempt to push out the flashbacks. But like it has ever since it happened, the flashbacks don't leave him alone, and he knows already that sleep will elude him again tonight.
Emily sits down on her bed, so exhausted from removing her clothes that she perishes the thought of taking the bath that she had been imagining after her stay in the hospital. It takes all of what's left of her energy to pull the loose, grandmother-style nightgown over her head. She had found it, along with a few very random other articles of clothing, on her dresser in a duffel bag with a note next to it that told her it had been sent to Hotch because it would be what is immediately suitable for her to wear in her condition.
The lights are off in her bedroom, which gives her great discomfort, but she hardly considers turning them on. She is going to have a hard enough time sleeping as it is. She may be exhausted to the bone and thoroughly emotionally and physically drained, but she can't sleep.
Since she awoke from her unconscious state in the hospital bed all alone, she has barely slept at all. It's been several weeks of healing in that hospital since she has woken from being intubated where she interacted solely with doctors. She would have worked with physical therapists every hour of the day if she could have gotten to them sooner, but she was forced to rest. That rest included mindless TV, failed attempts at reading, way too many flashbacks of Ian, and many wonderful memories of her time with Aaron, Jack, and the team though not nearly as much as she wants.
The only thing that kept her pushing to get better, emotionally and physically, was hope of being with Aaron and Jack again. The day she woke was the one and only time she got a visitor. Emily woke up feeling barely alive, terribly in pain, and doubting even if she wanted to be, and JJ arrived soon after. She told her that once was healthy enough to be released from the hospital, she would be brought to the place that Hotch and Jack already were at. Emily was overjoyed, but she pretended not to be. More concerned for their well-being than her own, but JJ insisted that Hotch would have it no other way. He insisted that when Emily got better, she would come to them. She told her he never seemed to doubt that she would get better. His belief in her and what lay ahead was what kept her going and got her here.
Now, she sits on the edge of her bed staring out the huge windows, and though the night lights of the city block out the darkness and the apartment is relatively warm, she still feels consumed by darkness and cold. She contemplates climbing beneath the blankets and crying, but she knows it won't help the warmth and she is so tired of sobbing for hours each night. Her thoughts begin where they usually do: feelings of guilt. She blames herself for what happened, and she has spent the past several weeks imagining ways to apologize and to make it up to them. Imagining ever since she was told she was going to see them again, Now, she is greeted unhappily by a new guilt of not doing that as soon as she was with them again.
Emily throws herself up from the bed a little too quickly, and nausea almost stops her, but she is tired of only thinking. She wants to do something. She leaves her bedroom with her nightgown reaching down to her knees and her exhaustion barely allowing her feet to lift from the cold hardwood floor.
She stands before his door for several minutes until she gains the courage to knock, quietly at first then loudly later on. When the door opens, Emily releases a sigh as Aaron appears before her, but then she gasps quietly at the sight of him shirtless with a pair of pajama pants on only, running a towel over his hair to hand dry it. "Emily?" he asks, concern filling his voice.
Emily finally looks up to his face and says slowly, "Sorry… I just wanted to talk… Felt bad about not saying much when you picked me up." She looks at him, and suddenly can see the exhaustion on his face. "But it's late. I wasn't thinking," she says, backing out of his doorway.
Aaron shakes his head, a thin and lovely grin on his face. "I wasn't going to get much sleep tonight either way. I'd be happy to talk…about anything really. Missed adult conversation…" She nods, thinking of all the time that her only conversations were with doctor about her trauma. Aaron sees how far off she seems, and he pushes himself to say what he was thinking with a smile on his face, "I missed talking to you, Emily."
Emily's smiles brightly like she only has because of him. "I missed that too… Also, I'm hungry," she says in an attempt to lighten the mood.
"Pancakes and wine?" he asks her with a laugh while still leaning shirtless against his door.
"Perfect," she shares with him. Their stare lingers as it always does, but it is deeper now and more obvious.
Aaron catches Emily lick her lips because he had moved to staring at them uninhibited, and he stops himself by saying, "I'm gonna grab a shirt. I'll be out to make them in a second." Emily nods and begins to turn towards the living room as he moves back into his room. She sees the scars on the back, obviously from the fire. She had suspected he would have scars from that, but knowing that he was hurt so badly makes her feel sick, and she can't hold in her gasp. Aaron hears it but pretends he doesn't, pushing whatever insecurity he may feel far from his mind. Talking to Emily is his only focus.
Emily sits down on a stool at that island in the open kitchen while looking out at the city through those large windows along the living room. Aaron walks into the kitchen now wearing a grey sweatshirt that matches his pants. "So your pajamas actually fit you," Emily says gesturing between him and her own nightgown.
"You look nice, Emily. Overall healthy. And I have had time to go shopping for my own clothes. I would have gotten you stuff, but I didn't know what you would want. We could go shopping tomorrow if you're up for it," he tells her.
She bites down on her lip while watching him maneuver around their new kitchen. "That sounds nice. I really would like to get my hair done, but you guys don't have to come if you don't want." It was another one of those things that she had been thinking about in her time of boredom.
"You actually think Jack will let you out of his sight anytime soon?" Aaron says in a joking manner though it is true. "Plus, neither of us went out and did much until we moved in here yesterday, and Jack is in desperate need for haircut. We had been pretty much hiding out in an hotel until everything was prepared, and so it wouldn't be suspicious if we lived here long term before you arrived."
"Sounds fun! What are our new identities like?" she asks him, having no information on this at all. "JJ spoke to once when I woke up and said that I was coming to you guys, but I don't know anymore than that."
"Yeah, it must have taken them a long time to get everything figured out," he tells her.
"Didn't have Garcia's expertise to speed the process along," she says with a sad smile. She misses them, and she hates that only Rossi and JJ know that they're alive.
"Yeah," Hotch says with the look of sadness reflected on his face as well. He picks an envelope of paper off the coffee table in the living room, and brings it over to her before returning to the pancakes. "Everything is in there. I read it all already," he tells her as she pulls everything out onto the countertop. The first thing to catch her attention is the same thing that had first caught his: a small plastic bag with two silver wedding bands.
Emily slides them from the bag, looking at each one intently. There is nothing personal or special to them, and no memories associated with them. They could belong to anyone, and now they belong to them. A false them. "Married," Emily says in a whisper. Aaron looks back at her, and she quickly clears her throat and continues while looking up at him, "That makes sense. How…do you feel about it?"
"It makes sense," he says simply as he returns his attention to the cooking as she fills through the endless paperwork, looking for the important parts but having difficulty focusing on anything other than the wedding bands.
When the pancakes are done, Aaron sets their plates down before pouring wine for both of them, "Want an overview?"
She takes long sip of the wine, relishing the taste after so long going without, "Please."
"We have been married for five years. Anniversary is the first of May, and we had our son together two years later. We are the Harrison's. I'm Andy. Your name is Amelia, and Jack is now Jay," he says.
"That's close enough to not be too dangerous," she says, thinking about how strange it was to have once had a name so far from her own. She can't imagine what that would have been like to get a totally random name so young.
He nods and continues, "We are teachers that moved to France from New York because you have family that live here. When your father passed, you inherited this apartment and a significant wealth. Because your parents split when you were young, you spent summers here and school years in the US, but you have always wanted to move and we didn't want to miss the opportunity. Oh, and we have job interviews to teach year 11 math for me and English for you on Monday at a school just down the block from here. It's not required that we go through with the interview, but it is strongly suggested," he tells her.
She takes another long drink from her wine glass before saying, "Well, that is thorough."
"It is," he agrees. Several moments of silence passes between them as they eat the pancakes, and Emily knows that she is eating too much too quickly, but she is just grateful to be eating anything other than hospital food.
Emily swallows the lump in her throat hard before asking, "Aaron, how do you feel about me being documented as Jack's mother? I'm so sorry that you're both going through this."
"If anyone needed to be written as his mother other than Haley, I would want it to be you. Besides, it isn't like we will allow him to forget her. I have been explaining what is going on as much as I can to him. Trying to get him to understand the name change and…the rest to make sense to him. He hasn't listened too much. All he has talked about and wanted to listen to is that his Emmy was coming to stay," Aaron tells her.
That sweet boy, even just hearing about him secondhand makes her feel so much love. She knows playing the part of his mother, though it feels wrong, will not be hard. Not hard at all. Tears rise to her eyes as her thoughts naturally turn to how much he has suffered. She tries to eat the last bite of the pancake, but she can't and Aaron notices it immediately. "Emily, this is not your fault. None of this is your fault."
She sighs as she begins to cry, not being able to hold it in any longer. "I just wish I could have stopped him and protected you both. Wish I had never gotten you involved."
Aaron scoffs, and Emily looks up at him shocked by that. "What could you have done? This isn't your fault. You took an important and hard job, and you did it excellently. You put away a very bad guy, and you saved his innocent son. Then, even after all of that hardship, you wanted to continue to save lives, so you came to us. For a job. You had no idea that you would come to care for the team as much as you do. You had no idea you would develop a relationship with my grieving son who is in need of a mother figure. You definitely had no idea that you would be forced out of your apartment, and I would offer for you to live in mine…" Aaron finishes while looking at Emily, who still looks washed in guilt. "You know that I'm right."
"I guess… Yes, you're right. I didn't know," she tells, releasing a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding in.
"Absolve yourself of any guilt, Emily. The only one at fault for this is Ian Doyle. That's it," Aaron says as he takes a sip of his wine.
"I know," she says, but she also knows that the guilt will probably never leave her completely. She finishes her pancake, and she cannot stop the yawn that escapes her.
"You should really get some sleep, Emily. You must have had a long day," he tells her, gently patting her hand on the counter.
"I've had a long few weeks… But I probably won't be able to sleep. I haven't really slept since I woke up," she says, knowing the words are confusing as they leave her lips, but he has no trouble understanding.
Aaron gets up and begins cleaning the dishes, and she stands to join him by drying each off. "I get it, Em. I really do, but you need your rest."
"So do you," she says, not missing the exhaustion that, as she looks closer, appears weeks old.
Aaron shrugs, knowing he was caught being a bit of a hypocrite. The dishes are finished quietly when they are done Emily pushes from where she had been leaning against the countertop, using too much of her injured core muscles, and she releases a short, "Ow!"
Aaron looks at her with all the concern in the world, and he wraps his arm around her waist, leading her silently to her bedroom. He gently sits her on the bed, and she gets beneath the covers. "This is where I say goodnight," he says, and Emily nods, chewing on the inside of her lip while he moves toward the door.
He takes hold of the doorknob to pull it closed behind him until she stops him with, "Aaron!" He turns toward her out of worry to find sitting up and with a concerned expression crossing her face. "I just…well, I can't sleep. I'm, um, it's dumb... I sound like a child."
"What is it, Em?" he asks, saying her name like that once again, and she really does likes the sound of it.
"I haven't been able to sleep. And I feel...lonely. And cold. I was wondering if…you could stay…here with me," she says, finally reaching the end of her statement and relieved that she had.
Aaron grins as he nods while the lights of the city dance in his black eyes. "I would be happy to, Emily," he says before he walks to her bed and climbs into the side she isn't occupying.
A sigh escapes her lips as the warmth of his body surrounds her even though they aren't touching. Aaron lays on his back while staring up at the ceiling. Emily does the same for several minutes but feels awkward and decides she must face that head on. She turns on her side to face Aaron and her injuries ache some as she does. "Hotch—Aaron, thank you."
Aaron turns his head with a smile on his face, and he says, "Emily, you don't have to thank me. I'm happy to do whatever I can to help you. Plus, I positive that the last good sleep I had was on that couch with you."
"Yeah," she says with a smile until her voice turns a little dark, and she continues, "Feels like another life…"
Aaron looks over at her, staring into her eyes. He reaches up to her face, sweeping strands of her hair gently over yellowing bruises and behind her ear. She leans her face into his hand enjoying the warm in the palm of his hand. "You said you felt cold. How about now?" Aaron says in a deep voice.
She hums a little, settling farther beneath the blankets. "Still, a little cold."
Aaron slides slowly closer to her, moving the hand that had been on her face beneath her neck until his arm is behind her and his hand is holding lightly to her arm. She rests her head on his shoulder and his other arm wraps around the front of her, laying over her stomach above the blanket. She lays there, held by him as all of the exhaustion expands over her body in a moment. Emily's eyes immediately close as Aaron asks, "And now?"
"Better," she whispers as she allows her hand to rest on his chest. Aaron hums his agreement as his cheek lays against her forehead, and they fall into the most comfortable silence while enveloped in each other's warmth.
Soon after, they fall asleep easily and happily and so very warm.