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Chapter 3

Emily and Hotch were lying together in the hospital bed talking, when Hotch asked, 'regarding our date, would you like to go out for dinner or would you like me to cook?'

Looking up at him with a bright smile, 'can you actually cook?'

'Hey,' Hotch smirked and she laughed. 'I'll have you know I'm absolutely fine at cooking.'

'I'm joking,' Emily kissed his cheek softly. 'I honestly don't mind doing whatever, as long as I'm having dinner with you.'

Hotch felt his cheeks hurt when he smiled too hard. 'You're cute.'

'Aww thanks sugar so are you,' Emily flirted in a teasing tone.

Hotch laughed. 'Is 7 okay for you?'

'7 is a good time,' Emily confirmed.

'Do you fancy anything in particular?' Hotch asked.

Emily looked up at him with a smile before shaking her head. 'I don't mind. Surprise me.'

'Okay,' he nodded before giving her a kiss.

There was silence again and Emily was getting more and more tired, she was trying to keep her eyes open but lying down didn't help her.

After a few more minutes of silence, Hotch noticed Emily's breathing change slightly, and he knew she was asleep. He smiled before kissing her head softly, debating whether he should wake her up to go home or let her sleep for a bit, before making the second choice and carried on holding her until he fell asleep as well.

It was 3 in the morning when Emily jolted awake in the hospital bed, from a terrifying nightmare.

'Hey, are you okay?' Hotch woke up with her and put his hand on her back as he tried to sit up.

Emily looked back at him with a shocked and confused look before everything from the night before came back to her. 'Oh yeah I'm fine,' she tried to give him a reassuring smile. 'I didn't mean to fall asleep, you should've woken me up.'

'No, you were asleep Emily and you haven't slept in days, I wasn't going to wake you up, you needed sleep,' Hotch argued softly. 'Do you want to talk about it?'

Emily shook her head. 'Maybe tomorrow?' She suggested instead, she wasn't ready yet. 'Are you in pain? Do you need anything?'

'No I don't need anything, I'm fine,' Hotch stroked the hair out of her face. 'Are you okay?'

She decided to lie back down, resting her head on his shoulder again. 'Yeah I'm okay now, thank you. I might go home and get some more sleep, but I'll come back in the morning, I don't think they'll be happy with me sleeping in the bed.'

He smiled and kissed her head lightly. 'Yeah that's fine, go home and get some proper rest in a proper bed. You have to look after yourself as well,' he stroked her back lightly.

Emily thought he was right and she couldn't be bothered to argue with him. 'Okay,' she nodded before leaning down to give him a kiss. 'I'll see you soon. Plus you can't be that comfortable with me lying in the bed as well.' She kissed him goodbye again.

'Let me know as soon as you get back.'

'I promise.'

Emily came back at 10 that morning and went to see Hotch. 'Hey how are you feeling? Did you sleep fine after I left?'

'Yeah I slept fine and I feel okay, how are you? Did you sleep when you got back?'

'Yes I did,' Emily replied with a smile. 'Did the doctor say anything about when you can come out?'

'Should be by the end of the day I'm hoping.'

'That's good, the team said that they'd be coming in, they should be here in half an hour or something like that,' Emily told him as she sat on the chair and he took her hand.

'Okay,' Hotch squeezed her hand and beckoned her closer so he could give her a kiss.

Emily gave him a smile before talking again. 'I'm sorry for waking you up like that in the middle of the night.'

Hotch looked at Emily as if she was crazy, 'I don't care that you woke me up, I was more worried about you, so are you sure you're okay?'

Emily smiled. 'Yeah I'm fine, the nightmare wasn't that bad.'

'Do you want to talk about it?'

'It was just a previous case, it's fine, I'm okay I promise,' Emily gave him a kiss and he nodded.

'Oh and by the way, I was very comfortable with you in the bed last night,' Hotch laughed when she blushed.

An hour later when the team arrived, Emily met JJ for coffee. 'So any update with the Hotch situation?'

Emily managed to keep a straight face whilst responding, she didn't want to give anything away just yet. 'Yes there is.'

JJ waited for a few seconds in silence before asking. 'Well what happened, don't keep me in suspense.'

Emily cleared her throat before nodding. 'I told him that I love him.'

'Oh my God and what did he say? Has he said anything yet?' JJ was so excited already but at Emily's silence and the look she had on her face, she stopped smiling. 'Should I not be excited, should I be angry at Hotch?'

'No, he was really sweet about it,' Emily smiled. 'He even best me to it and told me he loved me first.'

JJ squealed in excitement. 'Oh my God Emily,' JJ started getting tears in her eyes and gave her best friend a tight hug. 'I'm so happy for you both, this is the greatest news we've had in a long time.'

'Thank you JJ, I'm happy. I kissed him and it was amazing,' Emily had a dreamy look on her face. 'And he asked if I wanted to have dinner with him. I said yes.'

JJ squealed again. 'I can't wait to help you dress up on your date, you're going to look so beautiful, I mean you always do but Hotch will go crazy for you. Even more than he already is.'

'Thank you. I actually went home this morning and fell asleep properly.'

'Oh that's so good Em. What time did you get home?'

Emily cleared her throat. 'I left at like nearly half 3 in the morning.'

'Why so late? Were you up talking?' JJ asked.

Emily smiled. 'No we were lying in the bed just talking and we both fell asleep, I woke up from a nightmare and we decided that I should go home and sleep. So I did.'

'Oh that's so cute but I'm sorry that you had a nightmare,' JJ gave her friend another hug.

'It's fine. About the date I thought we could go on a girls shopping trip, because I really need a new dress.'

'Oh I would love nothing more,' JJ smiled.

'But about this Hotch situation, we haven't discussed telling anyone yet and I think we'll do that soon at some point when he gets out of hospital, but if you could just not say anything to the team for now.'

'Of course not. My lips are sealed,' JJ promised. 'I'm just so happy for you two. Derek and I won the bet on you and Hotch getting together.'

'There's been bets?'

'Oh loads, but we've had to keep updating it because you took so long,' JJ laughed.