As they approached the house, they kept sirens and lights off. Declan didn't need to be scared off. Aaron led the team into the house. He was confident about the fact that Emily was inside.
"Haley, we can't keep doing this. It isn't working. My heart isn't in it." Six months after the capture and death of Foyet, Hotch grows tired of avoiding Emily. He still loves her no matter what he tries to convince himself. He hasn't seen her in over six years. He can't keep pretending he loves Haley. It isn't fair to any of them, including Jack.
"Aaron. What are you talking about? Are you really going to go back to them? Abandon Jack? He's gotten used to having you around. Am I going to have to raise your son alone again? I don't think so Aaron. If we break up, you have to get a 9 to 5. You're not getting to enter and exit Jack's life as you please. You can't hide behind the BAU anymore. It's not happening, Aaron." Haley was outraged, and Aaron felt that she was right. Jack came first.
"Okay. I'll get a job at a law office. But we can't keep going on like this."
Knowing she'd be fighting a losing battle if she tried to argue, Haley sighed. "Okay, Aaron."
All Aaron could think about as they busted down doors and searched the house was finding Emily. The only room left was the basement. As he approached the door, he could hear screams of pain. His heart broke. He opened the door, and that's when he saw the love of his life lying on the floor with a cross between blood and tears streaming down her bruised face. Her shirt was torn to shreds to the point where she might as well have not been wearing a shirt at all. From the moment he saw her, time seemed to move in slow motion. Declan pulled a knife and moved to hurt Emily further just before Aaron pulled the trigger. That's the last thing Hotch remembers until they arrive at the hospital.
Hotch rode on the ambulance with Emily, and he'd been moving as if he were in a trance since he shot Declan. She slipped in and out of consciousness the whole way to the ER, and then she was taken back for emergency surgery. The rest of the team had loose ends to tie up at the crime scene, but they were arriving shortly after Prentiss was taken back to the OR. Lia was the first one inside the waiting room. She saw Hotch pacing back and forth. His vest was still on, and his clothes and hands were covered in her mother's blood. When later questioned about it, he claimed he didn't remember how it got there. When Lia saw the tears pouring down her fathers face, she allowed her own to fall. As she walked up to him, they made eye contact. Without thinking about anything other than the possible outcomes from the surgery, she goes to hug him. No words were spoken. None were necessary. After the initial shock wears off, Hotch moves his arms to return the embrace. All that mattered to them in that moment was that they had each other. They both continued to sob.
As the rest of the team joined them, they paired off into their support groups. Morgan and Garcia were sitting together. Garcia was sobbing almost as hard as Lia while Morgan silently allowed the tears to flow. J.J. and Reid sat together, holding each other as they both were terrified of the outcome of the surgery. Rossi, stoic as ever, stood in the corner watching as his self-proclaimed children fell apart. They all leaned on each other in times of pain like a true family should. The whole team needed a long break after this. As Rossi considered the possible death of Emily, he allowed just a few silent tears to leave his eyes. From what they had heard, things weren't looking too bright for Emily. She had severe internal bleeding and more wounds than they could count at the scene. The EMTs couldn't do much for her in the ambulance because of the severity of her wounds. They tried to stabilize her as quickly as possible, but she was losing too much blood. The team all knew the probabilities, but they wanted to maintain hope. They had been trying to for days, but now, everything was too real.
Emily Prentiss was going through cycles of remembering the past and dreaming of what could have been. She dreamed of what would have happened if Aaron would have come home when they had planned. She wondered what could have happened if he had kept his promises from that night. She couldn't remember what was going on before everything went dark, but the new world she seemed to be living in was nice.
A six year old Lia ran through the house. "Mommy, we're home!"
"Hey, sweet girl! Did you have fun with Daddy and Jack-Jack?" Emily hugged the girl and pulled her into her lap on the couch.
"Yeah! We had a lot of fun, didn't we Lia? We went to the zoo. The animals smelled kind of bad, but Lia seemed to think the gorilla was hilarious." Jack entered the room answering the question for Lia as she ran around pretending to be a monkey. Aaron entered the room carrying three full bags from the zoo gift shop.
"Hey, babe. Lia was great. She got to feed the giraffes, and Jack was a lot of help keeping her nearby. She'd go a bit too far when she got excited, and he'd run up to her and try to get her interested in something closer. It was a good trip. Our bank account may disagree, as I think we bought out half of the gift shop, but at least the kids were happy." Aaron had never smiled as much as he had since he had returned. As he finished putting down the bags and telling Emily about their day, he leaned down for a brief kiss. "I hate that you couldn't go. How're you feeling?"
With a grin, she subconsciously put her hand on her stomach. "Much better. Actually, I have a surprise," With a smirk, Emily ran off to the bathroom to retrieve something. Handing him the small white stick, she sits back on the couch with a large grin on her face.
"Em, what is— Em! Really?" Aaron Hotchner was more thrilled than Emily had ever seen him. Dropping the stick, he picks his fiancee up off the couch to give her a hug and twirl her around. Lia, hearing the loud noises from the next room, runs in to join in on the celebrations.
"Daddy, spin me around next!" The young girl with the darkest hair and the brightest eyes Hotch had ever seen squealed as he lifted her up. All three of them were laughing as Jack entered the room.
"Hey guys, what'd I miss?"
"Mommy and Daddy were really happy so I wanted to be happy too," Lia said with a serious tone.
"Okay kids, guess what? You're going to get a little brother or sister in about seven months!" Emily hadn't been able to wipe the smile off her face since the strip turned pink. It was a large contrast to the time she found out about Lia. The whole family spent the rest of the night playing with the stuffed toys Lia picked out while dreaming of the bright future for their growing family.
Everyone was still waiting on news about Emily. Hotch and Lia had moved to some seats, and they began talking about Lia and her life with Emily. They kept it light-hearted because they knew neither of them could handle more at the moment. They'd save that for another day. With every moment, they grew closer. With every moment, Hotch regretted the years he missed a little more.
"Okay, baby girl, I'll just be gone for a few days. I'll call you every single night. I love you!" With that, Prentiss left the Morgan household and got into the SUV with Derek. "I hate leaving her." Morgan grabs her hand out of support. He knows the whole situation with Lia has been taking a toll on her.
"I know, Princess, but just think. This time, you'll be coming home with her Daddy. That little girl will be more grateful than you ever know." He tries his hardest to keep her spirits lifted until they arrive at the airport. They're headed to Vermont, and they didn't feel like driving. The rest of the team will meet them there. They've talked to the marshall in charge of Hotch, Haley, and Jack, and they agreed that the team could surprise them with the news that they were safe. Emily had shot Foyet twice five months prior to the trip, and everyone was confident that there would be no more fallout.
On the plane, everyone was hearing all the words that the others were too scared to say. They knew what this trip meant for Prentiss. For Lia. For the whole team, really. No one had talked to him in six years. That's a long time to go without seeing a person, especially one you love. Emily was terrified. 'What if he changed his mind? Moved on? Didn't keep his promise to me? What if he doesn't want to be a part of Lia's life?' The others were sharing the same concerns, but they were also worried he wouldn't want to come back to the BAU. They wanted their unit chief back. Emily did a fine job, excellent even, but it was never the same. They all felt it.
As the plane landed, they all loaded into the SUVs. They spent 8 days searching for the correct place because they weren't allowed to be given the exact address. As they began to pull up to the neighborhood Hotch had been hiding in for over five years, Emily began to panic. They pulled up to the house and she could see in the window. They looked like a happy family. When she saw Haley and Aaron kiss as they sat down to dinner, Emily's stomach churned.
"Guys maybe this wasn't such a good idea. It might overwhelm them." She was trying to find a way out, and they all knew it. Everyone saw the same thing she did. She was in the car with J.J. and Penelope, and they decided it would be best to let Rossi, Reid, and Morgan go in. It would result in a straightforward conversation. They called Rossi and updated him. He sighed, but he eventually agreed. Emily and J.J. shared a hotel room with Penelope that night. They mourned the loss of the fantasies they had been holding onto for the past six years. They went to the store and bought ice cream and candy. They rented bad rom-coms, curled up in their pajamas, and had a girls night. They laughed, cried, and sat in a comfortable silence. It was a good remedy to the initial pain Emily felt. This was the only night Emily had ever forgotten to call her daughter before bed.
On her return home, Emily dreaded facing the rest of her life. The life she had planned for her daughter was down the drain. It had suddenly turned into a single family household permanently. She knew what Hotch would've said if she had walked through his door. He would've been uncomfortable and awkward. She would've been humiliated. It would've ended with her blurting out that they had a kid together, and Hotch would've suddenly turned up some time later revealing that he'd had a change of heart. Not for her, but for their daughter. Emily couldn't handle that. So, she asked Jayje to drive away. When she looked into her daughter's hazel eyes when she walked through the door, her eyes filled with fresh tears.
The doctor entered the hospital waiting room to find 7 people waiting for his patient. They all had red, puffy eyes, and they were all close together as if they had to be to survive. He was happy to announce that Emily Prentiss made it through the surgery. Things didn't look great when she came in, but the internal bleeding was all mended. She was going to be perfectly fine.
At hearing this news, the whole team let out a collective breath they'd been holding since they found out she was missing. Lia hugged Hotch, and he'd never seen her so excited. She was practically bouncing around the waiting room. She and J.J. go in the hospital room after Hotch says his goodbyes. "Yeah, it's probably not the best time to make my presence known. But, I'll call you and come visit tomorrow, okay, Lia?"
With what can't be described in any way other than a look of disappointment, Lia hugs him one last time. "Okay, but I just want to say thank you. You're the reason I can go see my mom right now. Thank you so much. I could never have done this without you."
"Thank you for coming to find me. I'm sorry for a lot of things, but that's a conversation we can have another day. Tell your mom that I'm glad she's okay." Hotch leaves the hospital smiling for the first time since before Lia found him.