Emily wakes up to a brightly lit bedroom alone. She sighs, so out of it still from sleeping that she wonders if any of last night really happened. Just as she is closing her eyes to pretend she is still asleep so she doesn't have to think, the sound of his throat clearing alerts her to his presence. "Emily," he says, happy to see her awake.
She sits up quickly in the bed, saying, "Good morning!"
"Good morning, Em," he says while laughing.
"What?" she asks seriously.
"You haven't looked at the clock yet. It's two in the afternoon, but that is perfectly understandable, so ignore me," he says as he sits down on the edge of her bed.
"Oh!" she says, seeing the time in the alarm clock on her nightstand. She rubs her eyes as she asks, "Is Jack awake?"
"He's down for a nap, but he should be up again soon if you're still up for the shopping and haircuts or whatever you would like to do."
"I would love that. I should really take a bath first though," she says. "Wonder if any of the clothes in that bag fit enough to not be embarrassing to wear in public." He grins, standing from the bed. "Hey, Hotch," she says. "Thank you for last night… It was nice."
He smiles at her. "Yes, it was," he says, pulling her bedroom door closed behind him as he leaves.
She slowly gets together the things that she needs, finding travel-sized bottles of all the soap she needs and clothes that while not her style don't look like they will be too big. She goes to the bathroom attached to her bedroom and turns on the hot water. She undresses and stands before the mirror staring at her on reflection so long that steam begins to creep around the mirror. The bruises on her body are slowly disappearing, but that scar is not. That scar on her abdomen is never going away. The stitches came out before she was sent here, but the skin is still delicate and her stomach aches. As she runs her fingertips over the outstretching scar, she isn't sure how much of the pain she feels is current or how much is remembered. Either way, she is sickened by it. Sickened by the memory of how she used to look and by how she knows she will look forever now.
It is only the exhaustion of standing unmovingly for so long that gets her to finally get in the bath. She eases in, and she lets the water overcome her. She sinks fully beneath the surface, closing her eyes and only releases as much breath as she must. She arises again and washes herself solely for the purpose of being ready to do whatever she, Aaron, and Jack were planning on doing today so she can spend time them.
When she steps out of the bath, she doesn't look at the scar. She simply gets dressed, brushes her teeth, and puts on the scarce makeup provided to her. Without a hair dryer, she takes a washrag and a hairbrush with her when she leaves the bathroom, taking one last look in the mirror as she leaves for the living room.
In the hall, she is immediately greeted by bright laughter that makes her smile from her heart. One laugh is the high-pitched tone of a happy child and the other is deep and lovely. She reaches the living room to find Aaron chasing Jack around the couch and the island in the kitchen. She leans against the wall at entryway to the living room, watching them peacefully as she goes unnoticed with the washrag and hairbrush forgotten in her hands. As she watches, it's apparent that Jack got ahold of two spatulas, banging them together like drumsticks.
Aaron finally catches up to him, having happily given him the lead for some time, picking him off of his feet. Aaron spins the boy in circles as Jack cries with laughter.
When Jack notices Emily, he calls out to her, "Emmy!" and Aaron notices her presence, and a wide smile appears on his face. Aaron lets Jack down, and he immediately speeds over to Emily, who kneels down in order to give him a tight hug. "We're going shopping, right, Emmy?"
Emily looks up to Aaron who leaves the choice up to her with a gentle grin. "Yes, are you good with that, kiddo?"
"Yes! I want toys! And candy!" Jack announces.
Aaron chuckles. "We'll see about that. First, eat."
The three of them sit on stools around the island in the kitchen just as Aaron and Emily had done the night before. A plate with pasta sits before her, and Emily tries it and smiles. "Wow! I see you have learned to cook more than pancakes, Hotch."
"This one is from both of us actually. Jack and I have been working on our cooking in preparation for your arrival," he tells her, and Jack looks up at Emily, wanting her approval. Profusely, she compliments both of them, giving Jack a hug as thanks.
When Aaron picks Jack up to take him to get cleaned up and ready to go out, Emily takes opportunity to stand out on the balcony overlooking the city. She is standing there, looking at the street of people below them and feeling nervous about going back into the world when she hears the glass door open and clink shut behind her. She turns to find Aaron standing there with a smile, and she smiles back at him. "He's putting away his toys from this morning. Or at least that's what I told him to do." Emily looks back out at the city, pulling her knitted sweater tighter around her in the chill of the wind in her loose-fitting white dress that lands at her knees and her still wet hair whipping around her face.
Aaron looks at her for a moment. She looks different. This isn't how he has seen her before. She may be more guarded, but her walls aren't up as high as they once were. Or maybe with the bag and gun and status of an FBI agent gone, she has just lost a few too many walls to be the same. He knows the same for him is true. Aaron sighs, knowing it is time to do what he came out to do. He pulls the plastic bag with two wedding bands from his pants pocket. Emily turns to him at the sound of the sigh, so she is looking at him when he says, "We don't have to wear these now, but we will need to start wearing them soon. I was thinking today could be a way to get used to them."
"That's a good idea," she says calmly. He pulls out both bands, holding them in his palm as he put the bag back in his pocket.
Emily purposefully grabs the larger of the two rings. "Em?" he asks curiously.
She shrugs, looking firmly into his eyes. "I thought if were doing this, we should do it right."
She reaches out to slide the ring on his finger, but he pulls his hand away. Emily looks up to him concerned that he can't handle this. After all, he and Haley were divorced before she passed, but he still loved her. Instead, what she finds on his face is a smirk even though she can see an emotion of another kind in his eyes. "If we're doing this, we're going to do it right." She grins, looking into his eyes as he looks at her hand while taking it in his own. "Do you, Amelia, with this ring, take Andy to be your husband?"
Emily stares into his eyes as he looks up into her eyes. "I do." The cold metal of the ring slides onto her finger and she releases a shaky breath. Aaron lets go of her hand, and she stares down at the ring on her slender finger. Seeing it causing emotions that neither can really process.
Aaron clears his throat in order to get the emotion that is welling up in from his throat to disappear, but it gets Emily's attention, and she holds up his ring. Emily takes a deep breath between pursed lips and says in a strong voice, "Do you, Andy, with this ring, take Amelia to be your wife?"
He looks at her face while she stares down at his hands as she slides the ring onto his finger. He is smiling as he looks at her, and with a wink, he says, "I do." With the ring fully on his finger, they stand there looking into each other eyes and holding hands for several moments. The air is tense and neither feels like they are breathing. With the backdrop of Paris and the Eiffel Tower standing before them, they only pay attention to one another.
Only when the glass door opens and Jack says, "I'm ready! Can we go now?" do either of them breath. In fact, in that moment, they drop each other's hands, stepping back, breathing a little too heavily, and looking to Jack all at once. Even with the loss of contact, they feel the remains of the other in the ghost of their touch and the cold of the metal binding them—well, their false identities—together.
"Yes, we can," Aaron tells him.
Following his son inside as Jack runs across the living room and to the front door at full speed, Emily is still frozen on the balcony. "Aaron," she says to get his attention as he stands with the glass door open. He looks back at her with concern highlighting his features. "This is going to be okay, right? We are…"
Aaron smiles at her and says from his chest because even though he can't know, he does, "We are going to be okay, Emily."
"Okay," she says, walking into the apartment as Aaron opens the door for her.
They leave the apartment together, beginning the activities they had planned for the day. After so much time alone, Emily is easily overwhelmed by the masses of people, but when she becomes too uncomfortable, the warmth of Aaron's hand touches her back, leading her, and she knows that she is okay. He makes her feel okay. He makes everything okay.