Two alarm clocks scream simultaneously. Aaron jumps up, asleep one second and wide awake and sitting up the next with his hand on his forehead. Meanwhile, Emily announces loudly, "Ugh!" She pulls a pillow over her face, screaming into it dryly.
Aaron's laughter fills the air as he reaches over where Emily lays to turn off both of their alarms. "I'm going to shower. I'll come back to make sure that you're awake when I'm out. Then, I'll make breakfast," he tells her simply as he stands from the bed.
"I've gotten up on my own for many early mornings, Aaron. I'll be up," she says confidently, but her words are muffled through the pillow that she still presses to her face.
"Sure. And I'll come back when I'm out of the shower," he says as he walks out of her bedroom and to his where he continues to use the bathroom though he hasn't slept there since Emily arrived. Emily peeks out from behind the pillow to see the smirk on his face as he leaves her room, and she sighs heavily as she climbs out of bed. If he was trying to provoke her to get out and get ready, he succeeded, and the thought both irritates her and makes her laugh.
Aaron showers quickly, gentle with the scars that stretch over his back but otherwise rushing to get ready. There are plenty of things to do today, and that is a feeling that he appreciates though it does make him nervous. So many things could go wrong today. Nothing drastic or dangerous, but still they have to do everything well today, starting with getting Jack off to school happily.
When he gets out of the shower, he dresses in a white dress shirt with a white t-shirt beneath it, black dress pants, and black dress shoes. He leaves the suit jacket and tie laying out on the bed because he doesn't intend to wear either to drop off Jack. He fixes his hair and sighs, moving back to Emily's room and knocking on the door.
"Come in!" she calls out, and he opens the door just to see her pulling a blue blouse on so her back and her bra are visible for a moment.
"Oh, I'm sorry," he says, looking away.
Emily rolls her eyes as she turns back to him. "Nothing to apologize for. After all, you are my husband. It's nothing a husband wouldn't see," she says, and he just stares at her without any response to provide. "Sorry for shocking you speechless, I guess," she says before posing and continuing, "But look, I'm dressed. Just have to blowdry my hair and do my makeup. I'll be done soon."
"I'm glad," he says, suppressing a smile as he walks away. She fixes her brown hair and bangs. Each day that passes she loves this hair more. It's so different that she almost feels like a different person. Less like a loner federal agent with secrets, at least. More like a wife and a mother. She clears her throat, leaving that thought alone as she easily covers the few bruises that remain present on her face. She smiles at herself in the mirror to check that her teeth and makeup are good, but she finds that it isn't a difficult smile to hold. She is happy. She can't express how amazed she is that this happiness has come after so much pain or that it has come at all.
She walks out into the kitchen after sliding into her new blue heels. She finds Aaron cooking pancakes, bacon, eggs, and French toast. "Ah, your skill is surely growing," she says as she grabs a piece of French toast.
"Thank you, Em," he says before looking up at her, speechless again as he looks at her.
"Aaron?"
He clear his throat saying, "You look nice."
"Just nice?" she asks as a smirk forms on her lips.
"Better than…" he says as he distributes the cooked food between the three plates.
A blush rises up her neck at his comment, but she tries to ignore it as she says, "Thanks for the flattery, Hotch." Aaron sets down the three plates in front of the chairs that have been previously claimed by each of them. "Guess it's time we wake Jack. I hope he'll be excited." She begins walking towards his room when he nods and hurries to walk alongside her.
Aaron stops in front of the door to Jack's room, grasping onto Emily's arm loosely. She stops and meets his eyes. "Emily… I just wanted to tell you that I mean it. You look beautiful."
The blush returns, spreading from her chest to her neck and cheeks. Aaron stares into her eyes and she stares back silently until she finally manages to say slowly and in a whisper, "Thank you. You look better than nice too." He smiles but turns away from her so that she won't see the lightest blushes on his cheeks as well.
Emily's focus is on the way he had been staring at her even as they wake up Jack. He is immediately whiny upon waking up, but when Aaron reminds him that he starts at his new school today, he jumps up to run to the bathroom and brush his teeth. Aaron runs to stop him, picking him up and carrying the laughing boy as if he were flying to the breakfast table, and Emily follows after them happily after making sure that all of the things that he will need for school is set out and ready.
This breakfast is different from any other they have had before, and it isn't just the French toast. There is a feeling of anxiety that nearly overwhelms the air that surrounds them, but Jack's unbothered excitement drowns some of it. And then there is the shared looks. Emily catches Aaron watching her over Jack's head and looks away as the smile spreads across her face. When she looks at him to find he isn't staring, she can't help but take the opportunity to watch him intently. The air is different. Perhaps, it is how it should be.
Dropping Jack off at school isn't very different from how they had back in DC. The biggest, most meaningful difference is that when they are meeting his teacher, Aaron introduces them both as his parents. Those words, the idea of being Jack's parent is so wonderful. It makes Emily smile too much when she is introducing herself, under that false name, to the teacher.
When Jack and the teacher disappear into the class, Aaron and Emily stand watching through the window in the door similar to how they had on his first day of school all that time ago. Except now this isn't just about not wanting him to grow up but about his safety. Aaron and Jack haven't been apart since the explosion, and it's terrifying to have to leave him behind. Alone. Out from under their protection.
Emily slides her hand into Aaron's, interlocking their fingers. She stands up on her toes to whisper in his ear, "Aaron…" He meets her eyes, and nothing else must be said. He simply nods before looking at his son again and then turning away to leave. Their hands never leaving each other.
As Aaron drives them back to their apartment quietly, his focus is fully on the road as he drives with one hand. The other sits on the center console which Emily quickly takes in her own, and Aaron seems to release a little tension with an exhaled breath when she does. They reach the apartment again in silence, riding up the elevator close enough that their arms press against each other. "I'm gonna finish getting dressed," Aaron says, leaving her standing alone in the living room. She retreats out onto the balcony, watching the city as she waits.
She hasn't spent any time out here since she got that wedding band, and they professed false wedding vows. Her thoughts return to that moment, looking up at Aaron as their fake names committed to one another. It was equal parts nice and sad. Sadder as she thought of it now because it wasn't as real as she wants it to be.
"Emily?" Aaron asks quietly, and her head snaps back towards him where he stands in the doorway.
He walks up to her, leaning against the balcony so they are shoulder to shoulder. Emily stares down at the ring again and whispers, "I was just thinking."
"About what?" he asks. Her eyes look up to him suddenly, lingering on his lips as his eyes stare at hers until they meet each other in a deep stare. A beautiful view stretches out in front of them, but they might as well be in an empty room because all they see is each other. "Em…" he says, pushing her just enough to get her to speak honestly.
"I have had two fake rings. An engagement ring from the man that forced us to endure so much pain and to be here now and this wedding band," she says, looking up at him while twisting the ring around her finger. She sighs as she stares at him, speaking the next words slowly because the energy it takes to form each on her lips is tiring. "I just wonder if I'll ever have a real one. Not under a false name, not with a manufactured story."
"Do you want to get married?" Aaron asks, and as he speaks the words, he hears how it sounds and adds, "Ever?"
She looks down to her ring and the city out below and around them, speaking into the air if not to Aaron directly. "I do."
She shakes her head abruptly, looking back to Aaron who stares intently at her. "Do you ever want to get married again?"
He leans forward more onto the railing, mimicking Emily's posture. They stand closely together with the sides of their bodies touching, staring at their hands and fiddling with the rings that they had presented to each other here. "I do…" He looks over at her then as her eyes are still turned away. The wind blows strands of her hair around her face. She breathes through purse lips. The bruising is almost gone completely. The clothes she wears now are similar to what she had worn at work aside from the heels. Her face is tight with concern. She is scared and tired. Damaged. Aaron can see that now clearly. He could she glimpses of that over the years they worked together before. Like now, he has always seen her beauty beyond all of that. With the understanding he has of her story now, he finds her even more beautiful. Exceptional. Extraordinary. Not in spite of what she has experienced and not because of it. She is amazing because of who she is. Whether she goes by Amelia Harrison or Lauren Reynolds, she is still outstanding. She is Emily Prentiss, and he is falling in love with her. "I do want to get married again...to the right woman," he says as he watches her take in a deep breath through pursed lips, her chest expanding as she does.
She still doesn't look at him. Emily can't see his face now. She isn't sure what she would see there, but she isn't ready. All she feels is fear and guilt. She isn't ready to be easily forgiven and fearlessly accepted. She isn't ready to see the feeling in him fully exposed that has been becoming slowly more and more visible with the glisten of his eyes and the sparkle of his smile. She isn't ready.
She puts her hand with the ring over his hands that are clasped together over the railing, squeezing them. "We should get going. Our interviews will be soon. Well, Amelia's and Andy's interviews."
She stands ups, taking several steps towards the door when Aaron says, "Em." She stops and turns meeting his eyes finally. A battle of emotion plays in his dark eyes. He walks towards her until they stand close—too close. Aaron forces his eyes to stay on hers. Emily does not. She watching his lips as he tells her, "Everything will be alright."
"Yeah," she says, looking down as she turns to head inside the apartment.
Aaron grasps her hand quickly, and the warmth of his hand as he squeezes hers tightly causes her to look from their hands to his eyes. "It will be," he says in a voice of quiet confidence.
She stares up at him for a moment. He is sure, that is clear to her. She doesn't have to believe it because he does. Something in her has always screamed to trust him as Hotch—her boss, her friend, and as Aaron—her roommate, her…whatever they are now. That little voice that always screamed to run away from complication and difficulty and Ian has also always screamed for her to trust this man standing before her. He is open and honest, and he means what he says. So when she speaks, she means it too.
She interlocks the fingers of the hand that he holds, and she lifts her other hand to cup his cheek. "You're right. Everything will be alright," she whispers. She stands on her toes enough to kiss his other cheek softly.
She pulls back smiling, removing her hand from her cheek as she lifts the hand that had been intertwined with his to her stomach, to her scar tissue absentmindedly. She is walking inside before Aaron can even think to say something. She smirks at his silence. If a kiss to the cheek will make him speechless, what would a kiss to his soft lips do?
"Time to go, Andy," she says with the smirk still plastered on her face.
He clears his throat. "Yes, ma'am."
He follows her inside and out to the elevator. Standing next to him, Emily taps over where her pink lipstick is smudged on his face. "You should wipe that lipstick off your face," she says.
He begins wipe at it with his thumb as he says, "And you should wipe that smirk from your face."
She laughs brightly as she watches him struggle to get rid of the lipstick. "Never, Aaron. Never," she says as she licks her thumb and wipes the lipstick from his cheek for him. His eyes stare into hers and the intensity there forces Emily to be still.
Aaron leans forward and kisses Emily's cheek lightly, winking at her as he pulls away. The smirk disappears from her and Emily cannot form a single word to say for the rest of the elevator ride, and Aaron smirks happily instead.