Author's Note: Okay, I have no idea whether or not you guys are into this one, but I'm like officially OBSESSED with this story! Seriously, I haven't been this wrapped up in one particular world since I started The Hours, which was like one year ago next week. I cranked out another six thousand words for this chapter and I'm already fully immersed in the third one and my brain's just twisting and turning with plot points! I still haven't cleaned up anything else yet. I had planned to take a little break, do some minor read through early this morning on the other stuff. Didn't happen. My brain is totally enamored with this version of them right now.
Maybe because it's just the right tone for me to be working in at the moment. A bit of melancholy with a touch of sweetness. The next Girl is dark and heavy, the next Wrinkle is light and fluffy, this is like my Mama Bear story, it's just right :)
Strawberry Fields Forever
After they pulled off the rural access route and turned into the unpaved dusty lot, Aaron picked a parking spot down at the end of the row. It guaranteed that they had a bit of space between them and the other cars.
Though this was probably the safest, i.e. least populated, location they'd been to since he and Emily had met, Aaron still wanted to maintain some physical distance from the other people and their vehicles. He didn't like "crowding" of any kind.
It wasn't safe.
After he took the keys from the ignition, he slipped off his sunglasses and turned around to look at Emily.
"We can't stay too long, okay? It's at least another two hours to the farm, and in case we get turned around getting out of here, I want to make sure that we have a good buffer before it gets dark."
That was the other thing that wasn't safe . . . darkness.
Pretty much his worst nightmare on this assignment would be to be out with her at midnight in the middle of downtown Washington and they got caught in a blackout.
Of course . . . he flashed on the image of the slash marks ripping up her pretty face . . . he had other nightmares too.
Emily gave him a little smile, "I understand. And thanks again for stopping. I really do appreciate it."
His expression softened as he nodded, "no problem. And," he glanced over to the few cars in the lot, "I suppose I can give you a little space here," he looked back at her, "just stay where I can see you, all right?"
"Okay," she responded while reaching for her door handle. But he quickly shook his head.
"No," he went to open his own door," wait for me."
Even though he was lengthening her leash, Emily still knew better than to protest his assistance. So she just nodded and reached down to pick up her bag off the floor as he jumped out of the black sedan and hurried around to her side of the car.
A second later he was opening the door and extending his hand to help her out. Even though she was more than capable of getting out on her own, Emily still let him take her hand.
That wasn't necessarily an agent thing . . . that was a Southern thing. The agent thing meant that he was looking everywhere at once as she swung her feet out. That's what kept her safe.
But she liked the Southern thing more.
When they were reviewing her courses, she'd learned that he went to Harvard. And it was clear that his northern education had pretty much removed any trace of the Virginia from his cadence. But her minor at Georgetown was linguistics, so she could still pick up a faint trace of his roots.
It wasn't just his voice though. He had a bit of old fashioned gentility that bled through his interactions with her even when he was clearly trying to maintain a professional distance.
She thought it was sweet.
As Emily rose up next to him, Aaron inhaled the scent of her perfume . . . roses.
She'd been wearing it the other day too. When he came back from the range she was in the living room watching the news. And when she'd stood up to say goodbye to Agent Garrison, she'd passed right in front of him. His olfactory senses were filled with the same floral aroma.
It was nice.
He blinked once to refocus as his eyes dropped down to hers.
"Don't forget, stay where I can see you. And if you have to go to the bathroom wave me over."
Though they'd been out in public before, this was the first time outside the city. And those previous excursions had all been quick.
To the video store, to the 7/11, to her apartment. All in and out stuff where he'd been attached to her like glue.
But there was no danger here, certainly not from any fanatical religious group, so he wanted to give her a little room to breathe. He wasn't stupid though, just because it looked safe didn't mean he was going to let her go anywhere out his visual range without him checking the place out first.
Most of the nut jobs in the world were not part of an organized group.
Emily nodded perfunctorily.
"Got it."
That one was expected. She'd had men standing outside the door while she went to the bathroom for as long as she could remember. It was actually such a routine activity for her now, that she didn't even find it abnormal or embarrassing.
Which in and of itself showed how strange her life had been.
Aaron's hand glided over Emily's back as they crossed the parking lot.
He knew they made an unusual couple. Even though he'd taken off his jacket in the car, he was still wearing his dress shirt and tie along with his black suit pants. Whereas Emily had on a pink tank top and white shorts and sneakers.
They couldn't have looked more conspicuous together if one of them was wearing a bozo wig.
As they approached the front of the market area . . . it was wide open space with about a dozen vendors under one large awning . . . Aaron patted her back once. Then he slipped past her to head over to the picnic area set up on the other side of the market.
He'd already taken note of the stats while they walked over. Five other cars in the lot, nine people browsing the aisles of fruits and vegetables . . . five Caucasians, four African Americans and three couples amongst the group. There was also one mixed race family sitting at a picnic table eating their lunch.
Not one person in the crowd raised a red flag so he felt comfortable enough to walk away.
Just as Aaron was about to sit down at one of the tables to wait, he saw a payphone a little further down the wooden boardwalk. He looked back at Emily, then down at his watch, and then back to the phone again.
He really should call Haley.
To say that she'd been pissed about his month long assignment would be an understatement. She just couldn't understand how he could be in the same city and couldn't see her. Though he obviously didn't tell her WHO he was guarding, he had told her that it was a 24/7 duty shift and it just wasn't possible to get away.
But that was . . . well, that was a lie.
He'd actually gotten the last two Wednesdays off. A female agent had come over and relieved him from seven to seven each week. He'd gone and visited his mother in the morning, and then the rest of the day he'd spent at the range before he returned to Woodley Park and had dinner with Emily.
There was a reason he'd been given the assignment, he really didn't have much of a life.
When he was told that he'd been picked for this assignment he'd only been pissed about his training being delayed, he honestly hadn't thought once about Haley until AFTER he'd already met Emily and she'd shown him where he could drop his duffel bag.
He'd known for awhile that he and Haley needed to have a conversation, but he wasn't quite sure what to say . . . so he'd been avoiding it.
Really though, how do you tell someone after SIX years that you just don't love them anymore?
It had been gradual, but slowly they'd grown apart. And he'd come to see . . . after the fourth wedding she'd dragged him to this year . . . that if he had ever really seen a future with her, then he would have put a ring on her finger years ago.
And though he knew it was wrong to mislead her about his availability . . . that he didn't have ANY . . . he had decided to make the best of this unusual assignment and conduct an experiment.
He wanted to see if he'd miss his girlfriend.
And he was embarrassed to admit, he hadn't. It had been almost three weeks since the last time they'd been together, and he hadn't missed her at all.
Which had honestly surprised even him, and he'd felt badly once he realized just how bad things were. Haley was a nice girl and she deserved to be with someone who really loved her, and wasn't just going through the motions because it was easier to stay together than make that move to break apart.
But his experiment had finally given him that final push he needed to man up. He'd gotten a definitive answer on whether or not he should even try to work on his relationship with her.
There was no point.
Part of him thought that maybe it would be kinder to call and give her that news now so she could move on with her life. But he was sensitive enough to know that you couldn't break up over the phone with a girl you'd been dating exclusively for six years.
That was just . . . skuzzy.
Still though, this definitely couldn't wait until the assignment ended. So his plan was to call and tell her that he'd gotten some time off this week . . . in actuality the regularly scheduled day off . . . and that he needed to talk to her about something.
So Wednesday was designated Breakup Day in his mind.
Aaron glanced back at Emily one more time before he started over to the payphone . . . he'd meant to call Haley before they left the city but he'd completely forgotten. And he really wasn't sure if they'd have a phone at the country house so he figured he should reach out now.
As he approached the booth, he started digging in his pockets for change. A second later he pulled out three quarters and two dimes, which he slipped into the little slot.
Hopefully that would be enough money because he didn't have much more in his pocket besides lint. And after all this time Haley's phone number was ingrained in his head, so he quickly punched in the digits and then turned back around to keep an eye on Emily.
She was still there, clear as day, now five feet over from where he'd left her a moment before. Now she was admiring the array of carrots. The phone began to trill in his ear as he watched Emily pick up a small wire basket. She slipped a bundle of baby carrots into it.
"Huh, I wonder if that's what we're having for . . . "
"Hello?"
Aaron's musings about dinner were interrupted by Haley answering the phone.
"Hey, it's me," he jumped right into it, "uh, I can't talk, but I just wanted to let you know that I got a little time off next week and I was wondering if you were free to get together. Maybe Wednesday?"
To his own mind his words sounded slightly stiff. But given that he'd been rehearsing said words in his head for the past forty eight hours, that was perhaps to be expected.
What he hadn't expected was the lengthy pause that would follow. And the longer it went on, the worse the churning in his stomach got.
And then finally Haley spoke again.
And as he'd expected she might be . . . she was pissed.
"You don't call me for TWO WEEKS and that's all you have to say to me!? That you have time off Wednesday and want to get together. No, 'how are you Haley?' 'how have you been Haley? 'I'm sorry I haven't called, HALEY,' no, just that that YOU want to get together. For what Aaron, to have sex? Is that what you were thinking? That you'd disappear completely, without so much as a PHONE call, even though I'm pretty sure they probably have phones where you are, and then you could just pop up, have a quick FUCK and go back to your job again?"
Aaron flinched at the profanity . . . it was a vulgar image, and not like her at all.
Wow! He'd really made a hell of a mess of things. Not that he'd been attempting to salvage the relationship, but he was still fond of her and had hoped to part amicably.
He was starting to see now that wasn't going to happen.
And as she continued to rip into him, he began to realize that he should have let Haley in on the whole 'experiment thing.' Because she did have some valid points there, he should have at least called to tell her he WOULDN'T be calling. And though he really wasn't calling to get together for sex, he could also see . . . given the brusque phrasing of his statement . . . that perhaps that was how she would have interpreted it.
And that admittedly would have been QUITE tacky.
When she suddenly paused to take a breath, Aaron quickly cut in and got out as much as he could before he lost the window.
"I'm sorry, you're absolutely right, I should have called before. But I did have my reasons, though I can see now that what I did was rude and I apologize for that. And I assure you I was NOT calling today to arrange to have sex. I was calling because I think we need to talk and it's not a conversation that we can have on the phone."
There was another pause. And as he listened to Haley breathe in one ear . . . Aaron stared at Emily a few yards away.
While Haley had been screaming at him, and he had been regretting his actions the past few days, he'd also been watching Emily carefully filling her basket.
They were having salad for dinner. And she'd picked out some granny smith apples so he was pretty sure she was making a pie too. As she began to squeeze the peaches, he made a mental note to get some strawberries before they left.
He liked strawberries.
It was then that he realized that Haley had started talking again and he wasn't even listening. He was just staring at Emily thinking about what they were having for dinner.
And then he heard Haley start to cry and he winced and closed his eyes for a moment.
God he was an asshole. He's breaking up with his girlfriend of six years and he can't even give her the courtesy of thirty seconds of attention.
As she continued to cry and ask him what it was that he needed to say that he couldn't on the phone, his eyes started to burn. He might not have loved her anymore, but he still cared about her, and he hated putting her through this much pain.
Jesus Christ . . . he rubbed hand across his mouth . . . he'd really fucked this up.
He'd thought that calling to ask her to meet was the right thing to do. After all, it had been two weeks since they'd spoken, but he should have just waited until he got home. He stupidly hadn't anticipated her reading between the lines. And he could infer from the tears that she had accurately deduced the topic of this conversation they couldn't have on the phone.
After all, if he was calling to propose then he would have just blurted it out by now so she'd stop crying. But as it was he couldn't think of one comforting thing to say . . . so like a coward . . . he continued to say nothing.
Emily looked up from her vegetable perusing to see where Agent Hotchner had set up camp. She spun around and saw him about twenty or so feet away on the payphone.
But when their eyes caught she got a funny feeling in her stomach.
He looked . . . upset.
So she took a few steps closer to him and mouthed, 'are you okay?'
And to her surprise . . . he looked away.
She bit her lip before she turned to the women selling the tomatoes, "excuse me, could I leave my basket with you for one second?"
"'Course, sugah," she put her hand out, "hand her over."
Emily gave her a polite smile, "thank you," and then turned to hurry down the boardwalk.
Aaron saw Emily approaching and he fluttered his lashes to get the tears out of his eyes. As she walked up, he put his hand over the mouth of the phone and whispered, "is everything okay?"
Her eyes widened in surprise.
"I came over to ask you that question," she whispered back, "are you all right?"
He nodded as he said quietly, "yeah, I just . . . yeah."
For a moment . . . even though it was completely unprofessional . . . he really wanted to ask her what the hell to do about the girl crying on the other end of the line. But he couldn't ask his charge if it was okay to break up with his girlfriend on the phone.
That was just . . . no.
Even though Emily could tell Agent Hotchner wasn't at all okay . . . she'd never seen his professional demeanor so rattled . . . she didn't really think it would be right to pry about the topic of his phone conversation.
If he didn't want to tell her what was wrong, that was his prerogative. So she just patted his arm and backed away.
"I'll be done in a couple minutes." She said softly.
He swallowed as he heard another sob come through the line, and then he whispered back, "me too."
There was no doubt . . . he had to do this now. It wasn't right to leave Haley hanging for the next six days.
So once Emily was out of earshot, he cleared his throat and just did it fast like he was ripping off a band aid.
"I'm sorry Haley," hearing her then choke back another sob, his eyes started to water again as he continued in a whisper, "I didn't mean to do this on the phone. I just . . . well, I fucked up," he paused, "and you deserved better than that. But I don't . . . well, I don't see a future for us, and I think you should find somebody who can really appreciate you," his voice caught, "you're really a great girl, I just . . . I'm not the guy to make you happy."
She immediately came back, "but you do make me happy! Aaron, we can talk about this. We just need . . ."
And he gently cut her off.
"No Haley. I'm sorry but there's really nothing to talk about."
She began to cry again and as he took a breath, he ran his thumb and index finger along the smooth silver telephone cord.
God this sucked.
He slowly exhaled while watching Emily retrieve her basket from the woman behind the counter. And then he spoke again, "if there's anything of yours at my apartment I'll be home on Wednesday. Just let me . . ."
His voice trailed off as he saw a large man approaching Emily from her blindside. Aaron was too far away to hear what he said to her, but she jumped slightly so Aaron could see that his voice had startled her. But then she gave the man a tight smile and a head shake before she started to step around him . . . but he moved back into her path.
And that was enough for Aaron.
"I'm sorry Haley, I have to go," he sputtered as he slammed down the phone. Then he sprinted across the boardwalk.
Before Emily had a chance to react to the man blocking her way, she felt Agent Hotchner's hand on her back.
"Is everything okay here?"
His words were directed to her, but when she glanced over she could see him staring down the blonde giant in front of them.
Feeling a little of her anxiety lessen, she nodded while taking a step closer to her handler.
"I think so. This gentleman had just asked me if I was free for dinner, and I said no."
And then the douchebag blocked my path, was the unverbalized part of the story. But she deduced that Agent Hotchner had already figured out that part for himself or he wouldn't have just swung in like Spiderman.
After pushing Emily slightly behind him, Aaron put his hand on his holster as he stared up coldly at the six, six monstrosity in front of him.
"The lady said no. And the lady's with me," he flashed his badge, "so now it would be best if you went on your way sir."
Though obviously Paul Bunyan wasn't the sender of the letter, Aaron was tasked to protect Emily from all threats.
And gigantic jackasses who can't take no for an answer also made that list.
But from the look in this guy's eyes, Aaron was seriously worried that he might actually be mentally unbalanced. He didn't seem to be processing the first no, the second no, or the very pissed off federal agent standing in front of him with his hand on his weapon.
He shoved his badge back into his pocket and pushed Emily a little further back so she'd be clear in case there was a scuffle. And by "scuffle he meant that if this meathead dropped all three hundred pounds of his thick headed self on top of him and, Aaron had to shoot him just to roll his body free.
Emily looked worriedly back and forth between her agent and the Hulk's stand in.
Though she'd bet money that Agent Hotchner could take this guy out even without his gun . . . he'd been working the dangerous sexy thing since she'd met him . . . she was VERY concerned that his pretty face might get seriously broken in the process.
If one of those meat hooks connected with his nose, he was going to be breathing out of a straw for a month.
But just as Emily was about to put her hand on Agent Hotchner's back to see if he'd just leave with her, the other man finally seemed to take note of the badge and gun on her nanny. There was a disgusted huff, a muttering of "fucking feebs," and then he turned and lumbered back the way he'd come.
After he climbed into a red pickup . . . which sagged slightly to the left from his weight . . . he gunned the engine, turned, and peeled out of the lot.
Aaron made sure he was well on his way before he turned around to face Emily. His brow inched up.
"Are you okay?" he asked as he stepped closer and put his hand on her shoulder.
Hearing the worry in his tone, she gave him a soft smile.
"Yeah," she nodded, "he never laid a hand on me. I was actually more worried about him messing up your face."
Aaron's mouth quivered for a second.
"Thank you for your concern, but I think I would have been okay."
Though she was right, his face getting messed up was a distinct possibility. He looked at her for a moment longer, feeling her warm skin under his fingertips.
And then suddenly he remembered that he'd just slammed down the phone on Haley.
OH JESUS!
Seeing the look of horror that passed over Agent Hotchner's face, Emily's own face twisted in concern as she spontaneously reached over to grab his hand, "what's wrong?!"
His mouth opened and closed as he stammered, "I . . . I . . ." then he suddenly remembered that he was trying to maintain distance here, and sharing his personal problems with Emily Prentiss really wasn't going to do much for keeping separation.
So he yanked his hand off her shoulder . . . he should have done that about ten seconds earlier anyway . . . and slipped his professional mask back into place before he snapped, "I don't think it's appropriate for us to discuss my personal life."
Embarrassed . . . and hurt . . . Emily pulled her hand back and looked away as she said softly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry."
Well, so much for making a friend.
Seeing the look of pain that flashed on Emily's face as she pulled her hand back, Aaron winced for the third time in the past ten minutes.
Asshole! Jesus Aaron, could you not be a complete dick to EVERY woman that you talk to today?!
So he tried to fix it as he added in a softer tone, "but thank you for your concern though."
He'd hoped that would smooth things over, but it obviously didn't. She was still very subdued as she stared at the ground and nodded slowly, "sure," then she cleared her throat to remove the lump, "um, I just need to pay for these things and we can go."
It was stupid, but she felt like she wanted to cry. It's not like they'd become best buddies or anything, but she'd kind of thought that today he was warming up to her, that there was a possibility that at least maybe they could be friends when this was over.
And now he'd just firmly slammed the door shut on any kind of personal relationship with her.
Realizing that he'd really hurt her feelings, Aaron stood there feeling like at a complete schmuck. It was pretty much a déjà vu of his phone conversation from a few minutes before.
Except this woman was actually standing in front of him, so there was no detachment from the moment.
And then he remembered that they were going to be together for two more weeks. He didn't want to cause a strain for their remaining time together.
Especially when . . . for the most part . . . it was really JUST the two of them. It would be horribly awkward if he left things the way they were now. And if he didn't fix this right away, he knew that it would just fester and get worse.
So even though it went against all of their training, he knew that he was going to have to let her in.
His defenses lowered as he leaned down to catch her eyes. She wasn't crying, but they were watery. And seeing her so upset, and knowing it was his fault, he felt even worse than he had a moment before.
"I'm sorry Emily," he said quietly, "I didn't mean to snap. I know you were just being nice and I was very rude to you," as her eyes slowly lifted to his, he sighed, "I just broke up with my girlfriend. And then I," he rolled his eyes, "well, slammed down the phone before we were done talking. So I'm kind of feeling like a real jackass at the moment. But again," he patted her arm, "it was wrong to snap at you."
There, now he'd completely violated all of his personal and professional rules about keeping her at arm's length. Hopefully it hadn't been for nothing.
Because if that didn't wipe that sad look off her face, he was pretty much at a loss as to what to do next.
Emily stared at him for a moment, for the first time since they'd met, she felt like she was talking to the real him.
And then two things that he said jumped out at her.
He'd called her Emily. But that thought immediately slipped away as the other one slammed into the forefront of her brain.
"You broke up with your girlfriend on a PAYPHONE?" she asked in astonishment.
Wow! That was . . . really, really jerky. She bit her lip . . . maybe those cheekbones were attached to somebody she'd be better off without.
His head dropped to his chest . . . shit. It was too much to hope that she wouldn't pick up on that.
"It was an accident," he mumbled, "I called to see if she was free to meet Wednesday to talk and she guessed the topic of the conversation," he blew out a disgusted huff, "it sort of all went downhill from there."
He really wasn't good with women. Perhaps that was because next to Haley, he'd only ever had one semi-serious girlfriend. But that was back in high school. And after they left for college they just didn't see each other anymore. This was the first time he'd ever had to break up with a woman.
Obviously . . . he rubbed his hand across his mouth . . . he really could have used some pointers before he had attempted it for real.
Suddenly remembering the distress on his face when she looked across the boardwalk, Emily felt a pang of sympathy for him that overrode the wariness that was starting to make an unwelcome appearance.
Even though she hadn't understood at the time, it was obvious that he was really upset about what was happening on the phone.
Okay . . . she breathed a sigh of relief . . . good. That meant that he wasn't the callous jerk that she'd started to think maybe was lurking under that polite facade she'd been seeing these past couple weeks.
He'd just made a mistake.
And . . . she bit her lip in sympathy . . . it was obvious that he was beating himself up over it.
She tentatively reached over and lifted his chin. Once he was looking at her again she pulled her hand back and said softly, "well, maybe you could call her back and apologize."
Feeling a little tingle where Emily's fingers had been a moment before, Aaron slowly shook his head, "no, I think I've done enough damage for one day. I shouldn't have had that conversation with her on the payphone," he huffed humorlessly, "if she wants to scream and call me a bastard then I should probably let her do that in person. I'll just deal with it when I get home."
Maybe. It kind of depended on whether Haley wanted to talk to him again. He figured at some point she would because he knew that there were probably a few of her things at his place that she'd want back.
On the contrary, there was nothing of his at her place that he couldn't live without.
Emily could easily read the guilt on his face. This was the longest stretch of time that he'd let his professional mask fall away. And as badly as she felt for him, she also felt a little spark of hope in her heart.
This was the first time she'd felt connected to another person in forever. It was a tenuous strand, but . . . she reached down to squeeze his fingers . . . it was something.
And she kind of wanted to give him a hug, but she knew that would be majorly overstepping. So instead she just gave him a little smile, "perhaps it would be best to let her yell at you in person."
His eyes crinkled slightly at her words of support. Then he sighed and looked back down to the basket in her hand, "so are you done shopping?"
Enough of his personal crap, they needed to get on the road again.
Her eyes dropped down to what she'd placed in the little wire basket, "uh, yeah, I think so. I got salad stuff, some potatoes, fresh veggies and stuff to make a pie," she looked back up to him with a curious smile, "do you like apple pie?"
It seemed like a basic so she thought it was a safe bet.
His lip quirked up, "I do," then he jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "but I wanted to get some strawberries too."
As he turned, Emily fell into step beside him as she asked with interest, "is that your favorite fruit?"
It was a silly thing to be so curious about, but he'd shared more with her in the last five minutes than he had over the last two weeks.
She didn't want to lose the moment.
He nodded as they stepped up to the crate full of loose red berries, "yeah," he grabbed a small cardboard container and began filling it up, "yeah they are."
Emily watched him for a second before she turned away, her eyes scanning over the tables that she'd perused a few minutes before. And then she spotted what she was looking for and hurried over to grab a small bundle. When she came back he was just slipping the cover onto his container of fruit.
To Aaron's surprise, Emily handed him the basket and then started filling her own box of strawberries. Though he wasn't feeling particularly cheerful, his lips twitched slightly as he watched her, "you know I would have shared. You don't have to buy your own."
She flashed him a soft smile before she turned back to pick a few more choice berries from the box, "I thought I'd make you a pie," she tipped her head down to the basket in his hands, "I got some rhubarb too. My Gramma leaves all of her recipe books at the country house and I know she has a good recipe for strawberry rhubarb," she popped the lid onto her box of fruit before she looked up at him with a sympathetic smile, "I thought it might make you feel better."
He stared at her for a moment and then he swallowed, "thanks."
God she was sweet.
As she started to reach for the basket again he shook his head, "I got it," he slipped the strawberries out of her hand and placed them with her other purchases. They started to walk over to the main register and she began fumbling in her purse for her wallet but he shook his head as he placed the basket on the counter and pulled out his own wallet, "I've got it."
"But Agent Hotchner," Emily tried to protest, "I bought a lot of food."
That was nice of him but it really wasn't necessary. Her grandparents had a trust set up for her that kicked in when she was eighteen. As trust funds went, there wasn't an enormous amount of money in it . . . her parents had insisted that she not be spoiled . . . but she did okay.
As long as she was in school she got $1500 a month. That covered her rent on her little studio, plus her utilities. The rest of her expenses were taken care of by some part time shift work she did at the coffee shop around the corner. And if she needed some extra money, she picked up a little tutoring on the side. Once she graduated and had a regular paycheck, the trust would only dispense a thousand dollars.
Just enough of a supplement that she wouldn't have to struggle to make ends meet.
Rather than being resentful that her parents had kept those purse strings snipped so short, she'd actually been grateful. She'd grown up around rich kids and she couldn't understand their sense of over inflated self worth. They felt like the world owed them, yet contributed nothing back to it.
But she liked working. Most of the people were nice to her and she got out of the house.
And though she knew that she'd have to work much harder if she didn't have her family money, she felt some sense of pride that she was kind of making her own way.
Which meant that he didn't have to pay for her now.
Aaron slid a twenty over to the cashier as he shook his head, "no, you're cooking, the least I can do is pay for dinner." As he accepted his change he looked down at her with a little smile, "and you don't have to call me Agent Hotchner. It's Aaron, okay?"
He'd already violated all of his other rules. And he'd just totally unprofessionally spilled his guts about completely fucking up his breakup with his girlfriend.
If that didn't put them on a first name basis he didn't know what would.
"Okay," she flashed him a brilliant smile, "Aaron it is."
That's when she remembered that he'd called her Emily a few minutes before. He was going to call her Emily and she could call him Aaron.
Finally . . . she felt a little burst of happiness in her heart . . . pay dirt!
And for that reason, Emily had to restrain herself from putting a little skip in her step as they turned and started back towards the car.
All it had taken to knock down that wall between them was one messy breakup with his girlfriend.
Though . . . she snuck a little glance in his direction . . . she did still feel really badly for him, and that definitely dampened her happiness. Not that he seemed heartbroken actually, just guilty and kind of . . . sad.
Again she felt the urge to touch him, to give him a hug and pat his back. She missed having somebody to hug. Especially when she was sad.
But she kept her hands to herself.
Just because the man had assented to move them to a first name basis didn't mean he was looking to get mauled in the parking lot.
Her arm brushed against his as they walked along.
But maybe later tonight she could get him to talk about what happened a little bit. She bit her lip . . . that and some pie might make him feel better.
Aaron felt a little of the ache in his heart fade as he felt Emily's arm brush against him. The summer sun had been beating down on her bare skin, and he could feel the warmth of her body through his dress shirt.
It was nice.
He shuffled the paper bag to his other hand as he began to dig out his keys. After they arrived at the car, Emily took the bag from him and he unlocked the back door for her.
After her slender legs disappeared inside the cavernous space, he stared down at the spot where they they'd been a moment before.
Then he shook his head, slammed the door shut, and hurried around to the driver's side door.
He was starting to see that he might be in a little bit of trouble.
A/N 2: Again, I'm totally wrapped up in this version of them right now and I don't know why. But I hope you're enjoying it because I think you'll be getting a lot of them this week.
Yeah, Aaron really messed up here with the breakup. But keep in mind they're much younger and there's no behavioral training, or just years on the planet to call upon to get things right. He's just a young guy who handled something really badly. And yes, he was a bit oblivious that the reason he'd finally manned up and realized it was time to break things off with Haley was because he was beginning to have feelings for Emily. That helped along his "experiment."
The scene where he's on the phone and Haley's sobbing but he's just staring at Emily calmly filling her basket, I was thinking of this movie when I wrote that. The Sweet Hereafter. It's a phenomenally good film (good book too) but it's also, warning if you haven't seen it, devastatingly tragic. But there's a scene in it with Ian Holm talking to his drug addict daughter on the phone and you can hear her saying these terrible things, but the flashes on the screen are his memories of her as a baby. And that's where my brain was when I wrote that segment. He was just escaping from the ugliness of the moment by allowing his brain to focus on what was actually making him happy.
Again, I have the next bit partly done here so it might be up tomorrow night. BUt please let me know if you're enjoying it so far. Either way though, I'm warning you, if you have me on alert, your inbox is going to be LOUSY with chapters on this over the next week :)
