Chapter 6 - First date

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Emily and the girls had gone shopping the next day to find a perfect dress for Emily. It took a while but they finally found one: it was a sparkly LBD.

'Hey, are we still on for tonight?x'

Emily was still asleep from a late night chatting session with the girls and when she woke up, the banging in her head reminded her of how much she drank.

A smile met Emily's lips when she read the message from Hotch. 'Hey, yeah definitely x.'

It was their first date as a couple and Emily suddenly felt the nerves kick in. She knew she was going to start overthinking it but it meant so much to her and she didn't want to mess it up.

'Emergency, how fast can you get here?' Emily sent JJ a text later that afternoon. She was starting to feel sick with nerves.

'What's going on? Is everything okay Em?'

'I can't go on our date tonight, I can't do it, I'll fuck it up. I can't risk it,' Emily replied to JJ's message quickly.

'I'll be round in a bit, you'll be fine, he loves you and you won't mess it up,' Emily read JJ's reply before getting in the shower.

After getting into some comfy clothes, she had a cup of coffee and a headache pill as she tried to distract herself from thoughts of her date with Hotch tonight.

When she heard a knock, she got up and answered the door to see JJ on the other side giving her a sympathetic smile. 'Hey, how are you feeling?'

'Still nervous. So nervous I feel sick. I'm sorry for dragging you out but thank you for coming over. I really appreciate it.'

'Any time. You have nothing to worry about, like I said earlier, he loves you and you can't mess it up,' JJ reassured her.

'Oh I could, but I'll take your word for it, do you want a coffee or anything?' Emily laughed.

'Yeah sure, that would be great. Are you ready for tonight? What time are you going?' JJ followed her into the kitchen.

'I feel like I'm ready for tonight, I'm just nervous, I'll get ready in a bit, you've got to tell me if I look okay though.'

'Of course I'll tell you, just take it easy and don't worry.'

'Would you mind texting Hotch and warning him in advance that I'm sorry if I say anything stupid or mess it up,' Emily wasn't giving her an option.

JJ gave her a look but knew she couldn't get herself out of this one. 'Okay.'

A few minutes later Hotch replied to JJ's message. 'You can tell her she won't mess it up and that if it makes her feel better I'm nervous about tonight as well.'

'Okay, so Hotch replied and said he's nervous about tonight as well, so you really have nothing to worry about,' JJ reassured her. 'Didn't you two have an unofficial date the other night anyway?'

Emily bit her lip. 'Yeah, I suppose so and it was great but this feels different.'

'Because it's official?' Emily nodded. 'Well you didn't fuck it up when it was your unofficial date with him, so you won't mess it up this time.'

A few hours later

Emily talked herself down when she froze, as she got up to Hotch's floor and the nerves got to her once again. "You can do it, you won't mess it up. He loves you,' Emily repeated to herself before getting to his front door.

Hotch was in front of the mirror trying to sort out his tie one more time, as he debated whether or not to have the tie on in the first place, before he heard a knock on the door. He took off his tie and put it on the side before taking a deep breath. He kept the button undone on his black shirt before looking in the mirror once more as he went to open the door.

When he saw Emily on the other side, his heart skipped a couple of beats. 'Wow.' He didn't think she'd ever looked more beautiful and sexy than she did now and when she gave him a smile, he thought he had been sent to heaven.

He couldn't believe he was this lucky.

That he was on a date with her.

That she could even love him.

When he finally found his voice, he told her to come in. 'You look beautiful. I'm so lucky.'

'Thank you, you look great to. I'd say I'm the lucky one,' Emily smiled.

'Are you still nervous?' Hotch asked as he passed her a glass of wine, hoping to make her feel better.

Emily bit her lip. 'Extremely.'

'You have no reason to be but don't worry, I'm nervous as well. This is too important to me, to mess up.'

That made Emily feel better. 'Me to,' she said in a short breath.

After a moment of comfortable silence and taking a seat on the couch, Hotch spoke up. 'The food is nearly ready by the way, it was supposed to be done by the time you'd gotten here but there was a delay with the sauce.'

Emily smiled. 'It's okay, what happened to the sauce?'

Hotch made a face. 'I burnt it.'

Emily let out a small but surprised laugh before biting her lip. 'How did you manage that?'

'I was trying to decide which shirt to wear and then I remembered that I put the sauce on but it was too late,' Hotch explained and he didn't feel as bad about burning the sauce as he did before when Emily's smile grew.

Emily felt the laughter bubble up inside of her until she couldn't hold it in any longer. 'Aww well I happen to love the black shirt.'

'Well thank you, I happen to really love your dress,' Hotch leaned in to give her a soft kiss, which she returned quickly.

'Thank you, it took me a long time to find and I wasn't sure about it at first but I'm glad I wore it. The food smells amazing, what are you cooking?' Emily started tracing careful patterns on his hand.

'I'm glad you wore the dress as well.' Hotch smiled. 'It's pork fillet with roasted potatoes and a creamy pepper sauce.'

'Oh my god that sounds amazing.'