Author's Note: Though I didn't give you everything I promised, hopefully you'll still be satisfied with the course of events here :)
Diving in Head First
Emily watched nervously as Aaron began setting up a makeshift target for them in the backyard.
After breakfast . . . a delicious breakfast that had made her feel guilty for doubting him . . . she'd done the dishes while he showered, and then he put everything away while she showered.
Then she'd taken him to the shed out back for him to see what they had to choose from for target building supplies.
He'd been pleased.
So now he was propping up the bulls eye he'd made from the leftover paint and wood scraps he'd found in the small shack.
Her anxiety was momentarily lessened as she saw him bend over to prop some rocks up behind his wooden target. A faint smile touched her lips.
This was the first time she'd seen him in jeans and he had a really cute butt.
Of course . . . he looked up and she put her hand up in a little wave . . . he had a really cute everything else too so that was probably to be expected.
Aaron smiled as he saw Emily watching him intently from a few yards away. The summer sun was glinting off of her hair giving it little specks of red and gold.
She looked beautiful. And to his amazement she was his now.
Ridiculous.
With a huff, he brushed off his hands and then stopped to scan the woods around them.
It was quiet except for the sounds of the birds and the insects, so he started walking back towards her, pulling his revolver out as he went.
As he walked up he could see her looking nervously at the weapon in his hand. His expression softened as he moved the gun behind his back.
"Emily," he said gently, "we don't have to do this today if you don't want to. We can wait until we get home," he squeezed her shoulder, "maybe it would be better if we started with some book research first."
The point of this exercise was to get her more comfortable around guns, not send her into a blind panic. And given the look on her face right now he was afraid that they were heading towards the latter result.
Emily's jaw twitched as she stared up at him intently. Then her eyes fell down to the handgun she knew was behind his back.
This burst of anxiety she was feeling was very unexpected. It's not like she hadn't regularly seen guns since the shooting. Hell, Aaron had one tucked into the couch cushion three inches from her head last night!
But this was the first time she'd ever contemplated holding a gun. And the prospect was oddly terrifying. You could kill somebody with that little piece of metal.
Kill them.
A person could cease to exist on the planet because your finger moved a fraction of a centimeter.
She began to grind her teeth . . . even though this was her idea, she suddenly wasn't at all sure if she was ready for the responsibility that would come with pulling that trigger.
But she didn't want to be a coward either. How was she going to get past this if she didn't deal with it?
Seeing the rising fear on her face, Aaron's heart clenched as he immediately slipped his gun into his waistband and pulled her into a hug.
"I think maybe it would be better if we did this when we got home," he said gently, "I still have some of my textbooks from the academy. We can go over the ballistic and rifling sections. You can get some intellectual education on the topic before we move to this step."
He really wished he'd thought of that before. Maybe she wouldn't have gotten so spooked if he'd just stopped and thought about her request before he assented to it.
Though he of course wanted to help her, handing her a loaded weapon on day one probably wasn't the best approach.
Feeling like a complete fool, Emily tipped her head back to look at him, "but I wanted to try today," her eyes stung, "I thought I could do it. And it seems stupid that I'm so afraid of a hunk of metal."
His brow darkened as he said soothingly, "hey, it's not stupid at all. You saw a terrible thing. It's completely understandable that guns would now make you uncomfortable," he was quiet for a second as he thought about the problem, and then he rubbed her back, "I think I have a better idea," he shook his head, "you definitely aren't ready yet for shooting. So what I think would be better," he slipped her under his arm and began walking them back to the house, "would be for us to go inside and play Mr. Science."
Her eyebrow quirked slightly as she looked at him.
"Mr. Science?" she asked questioningly.
What was he talking about?
He nodded, "yeah, we'll go in and take the whole thing apart. We'll go back to basics. You can see the components for what they are, just little bits of metal."
They got back to the front door and he slipped his key into the lock, "then we'll go from there."
Without getting her some real therapy . . . and he figured if she was interested in such a thing she would have gotten it by now . . . this was probably the best approach.
Nice and slow.
He'd teach her what the pieces were and what each of them did. And she could handle them individually, get a feel for their weight and their purpose.
Then, once she was comfortable with the pieces, he'd teach her how to put the gun together herself. She'd feel more of a sense of control that way.
And eventually . . . when she was ready . . . he'd put the bullets back into it again.
And THEN, they could go the range . . . off hours so they wouldn't have an audience . . . and she could try shooting again.
Nice and slow.
As he thought about it now . . . his fingers ran along the bare skin of her arm . . . handing her a loaded gun today probably would have been a very bad idea. Considering her reaction to the thunderstorm, if her phobia about loud noises was that bad, he couldn't even imagine what her reaction to an actual gunshot would be.
Controlled environment or not . . . it would probably have been a very poor judgment call on his part.
Emily chewed on her lip as Aaron guided her inside the front door.
'Look at the pieces,' the term rolled around in her head. Hmm . . . maybe he was right.
That would be less . . . she shuddered involuntarily . . . scary.
Feeling her shiver, Aaron kicked himself again as he pulled her to his chest while he simultaneously punched in the security code over her head. Once the lights turned green again he wrapped his other arm around her and whispered against her ear.
"Emily this is supposed to be about making you comfortable. And obviously this is making you very UNcomfortable," he sighed, "I think it would probably be a good idea if we waited until we got home to start working on an approach here."
Christ, the last thing he wanted to do was traumatize her further! But now here she is shaking in his arms!
Good job Aaron . . . he berated himself angrily as he pulled her in closer . . . real good job.
Emily was quiet for a moment before she murmured sadly against his chest, "but I really wanted to do this. I'm just . . ."
'A big baby' is the first thing that came to mind.
But . . . even though she was disappointed in herself . . . she did know that was a little harsh.
You can't control your childhood traumas. If she stepped back and looked at it objectively, she would never think so unkindly about another person who had experienced such a terrible event.
So she shouldn't be so mean to herself either.
And though she hadn't known him that long, Emily also sensed from Aaron's tone that he was somehow blaming himself for her getting herself worked up about this. And that was really sweet, but this wasn't his fault.
It was just her life. And what she was dealing with now was nobody's fault but the man who had sent those bullets flying into a crowded marketplace in South Africa.
And she didn't want Aaron to feel badly about anything that happened to her before.
So she tipped her head back to look up at him as she finished her sentence, "I'm just maybe expecting a little too much from myself right away," then she gave him a little smile, "and I think you're a very smart man. We should wait until we get home," her lip quirked up, "after all, we have two more weeks to kill. Maybe we can get this one knocked out next week and then start working on my unhealthy obsession with Kevin Costner's butt."
As she'd hoped, his lips twitched at her joke. But then he sobered again as he said worriedly, "I just don't want to do anything here that's going to make this worse."
Her hand slid up from his waist to rub his back, "I know. And I really appreciate that. But remember, this was my idea so I don't want you to feel badly that it didn't work out."
That's all she needed, her childhood trauma gives HIM a complex!
Aaron stared at her for a moment before his eyes brightened slightly, "you know what? Maybe we can talk to one of the shrinks at the Academy. They've started pushing psych classes on us, and I figure if anyone would have some specialized training in dealing with trauma it would be an FBI psychiatrist."
They were trying to teach them about behavioral analysis in school now. It was a fairly new field of study for the Academy and the little that he'd learned hadn't really seemed to be something that was all that interesting to him. He was really just aiming to get to HRT.
He wanted a little action.
Her brow wrinkled slightly in concern, "a psychiatrist. Um, I don't really know if I want . . . therapy."
That made it sound like she was seriously messed up or something. It's not like she was paralyzed with fear. She just had a little issue with loud noises.
And . . . her eyes snapped down to the gun she couldn't see . . . handguns.
Neither of those issues were major impediments to her daily life. This was just tying off some loose ends.
He shook his head, "not therapy. Just a little advice," he tipped his head, "off the record advice if you'd prefer. I can talk to him by proxy. Mention the problem generally and see what he suggests for an approach," he tipped his head down to catch her eyes, "how does that sound?"
It was about the only plan that either of them had come up with yet that hadn't raised any red flags in his mind.
She gave him a little smile, "yeah, okay. That sounds good. Maybe a little professional advice would be helpful."
He smiled, "good," he pulled her back to his chest as he sighed, "very good."
Finally . . . he huffed to himself . . . an approach that wasn't going to result in her getting committed to the local psych ward.
Emily smiled against his chest as she took note of how closely Aaron was holding her.
With the exception of the kissing . . . and the down the road sex . . . there wasn't much to indicate that they were still in a holding pattern.
Aaron glanced down to see the little grin on her face, and his eyebrow quirked up, "what?" he asked with an amused curiosity.
It didn't matter what it was, he was really just glad to see the tension was fading from around her eyes.
For a moment Emily stared up at him in a bit of a panic, worrying that if she said something that she'd burst the bubble.
Finally she decided that there was little risk of that. After all, he was the one that had been initiating pretty much everything. He was the one that had asked her out, and he was the one who had been putting his arm around her regularly.
And most importantly he was the one that was holding her very possessively right now.
It was unlikely that he'd suddenly start treating her like she had the plague just because she brought these things to his attention.
So she reached up and cupped his jaw with her palm, "I was just thinking how nice this is," she said softly.
She didn't feel the need to explain what the 'this' was. And though 'this' was still something that she was getting used to, it was something she'd miss terribly if it suddenly stopped.
But to her delight, rather than loosening his hold, Aaron's eyes crinkled slightly as she felt his hands slide around to her back and lock at her waist.
"It is nice," he responded softly.
It wasn't yet kissing and sex but it was really nice.
Though as he looked at her now, he was thinking that two more weeks without kissing was going to be damn near impossible.
Crap.
As Emily saw the little frown appear on his face she looked up worriedly, "what's the matter? Is there a but on there?"
His gaze shifted over her shoulder as he sighed, "I'm wondering if maybe I'll have to ask for a transfer."
Before he could even get another word out Emily had exclaimed in alarm, "what?! Why?"
Why would he transfer when things were going so well!?
His eyes snapped back down as he said soothingly, "I didn't say definitely. I said maybe."
Though they were fast moving towards a 'definitely' but that wasn't the point at the moment. He really just wanted to wipe that worried look off of her face. Either way though he should explain himself because her tension levels had just dropped and now he'd ramped them up again.
He sighed in exasperation, "Emily, I'm just worried that I'm going to lose my objectivity. If that happens, then I'm not going to be of any use to you."
That was his biggest fear in life now . . . failing her. Even as they walked through the backyard talking, his eyes had been everywhere watching the trees.
No matter what, he had to stay vigilant.
Emily's lip came out for a moment before she pulled out of his arms and took a step back.
She wasn't doing it because she was upset with him . . . she just needed a little space to process what he'd said.
But as she saw the look of dismay appear on his face, her expression softened as she reached back to take his hand, "come sit with me."
With a slight tug, Emily led Aaron over to the couch where she gently pushed him down. Then she sat down next to him, pulling her legs up under her so she could sit cross legged and face him.
His fingers were grasped around hers like he was afraid that she was going to float away. And the tension on his face as he turned to her was so apparent that it made her heart ache.
That's when she realized that he was probably thinking that she was going to 'break up' with him before they'd even had a chance to officially go out.
For all of his attempts at stoic detachment these past couple weeks, she was starting to see that was more a defense mechanism than anything else. He obviously had a soft heart under that hard shell. And now that his shields were down with her, it was clear that she had the ability to hurt him.
She brought his hand up and kissed his knuckles . . . and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt him.
As they sat down, Aaron looked over nervously at Emily. A woman pulling herself away from you like that is never a good thing.
He wasn't quite sure what the topic of the couch conversation was going to be. But he didn't think it would be anything good.
But then she kissed his hand and gave him a little smile, and some of the tension went out of the knot in his stomach.
"Aaron," Emily started slowly as she pulled his hand over to rest on her knee, "I want you to think for a second. Do you truly believe that I would be safer with someone else sitting with me right now? Do you think that somebody else would have checked the locks ten times before we went to bed, or got up with me in the middle of the night because I was scared, or," her eyes crinkled slightly, "commandeered the employees' bathroom at the Safeway because you didn't want me using the public one?"
He scowled, "well, the public one was dirty."
She nodded, "exactly, the public one was dirty. But my point is, do you think anyone else would care?" she put her hand on his cheek as she asked softly, "do you think anyone else would care as much as you do that I'm safe and happy?"
With the exception of Agent Rossi, she'd never had any agent take such a personal interest in her well being before. His concerns about objectivity on the job were things he learned in his training.
But they didn't translate to the real world.
His jaw twitched as his eyes fell down to their hands intertwined in her lap. Then he said quietly, "no."
She was right. Nobody else would be as hyper aware of her as he was. Not that another agent wouldn't protect her to the best of his abilities. That he wouldn't die to protect her.
But that person wouldn't have the same emotional investment that he now had.
Not to mention, Aaron knew that he'd be useless on another assignment. He'd be worrying constantly about whether or not she was safe.
If the agent with her had checked the windows to make sure the locks worked, or had cleared all the stalls in the bathroom before she went inside.
His gaze slowly came back up to hers and he gave her a little smile before shaking his head, "no transfer."
She smiled back as she agreed happily, "no transfer. We're stuck together for the next two weeks," she paused for a second before she added softly, "and hopefully for considerably longer than that."
It seemed silly to pretend that the one dinner was just the one dinner. They were holding hands as they sat on the couch . . . clearly they were seeing each other now.
It just wasn't official.
He nodded slowly, "hopefully."
Hopefully they'd be stuck together for a very long time. Because the more time he spent with her, the more attached he became to her. And the more attached he became, the less he could imagine a scenario in which he moved on without her.
They stared at each other for a moment, and then Hotch said screw it and leaned over to kiss her.
It wasn't a kiss filled with all consuming passion, but she did end up half climbing into his lap so he knew that they definitely had done something right.
And when he pulled back almost a minute later, there were butterflies in his stomach. And it had been years since he'd had butterflies when he kissed Haley.
He really just hoped though that he hadn't made a mistake in doing that so soon. But once Emily had pointed out that there was really no way that he was going to be able to transfer out in the next two weeks, he realized that the only thing that was honestly becoming a distraction for him was the desire to kiss her.
So by that logic, he figured that if he got the kiss out of the way, it would stop being a distraction.
And he could tell by the way that her eyes were sparkling as she leaned over him that she was pretty okay with the timing of the kiss.
"Wow," Emily grinned at him, "I most definitely wasn't expecting that today!"
KISSING! YAY! And he was SUCH a good kisser! She did have some kissing experience and that was definitely the best one yet.
One of his dimples popped out as he ran his thumb along her lower lip to fix her gloss. Then he looked back up at her, "well, I figured you were right about not being able to leave, and then I decided that I'd be able to concentrate better if I wasn't constantly thinking about doing that."
He'd never had to think up a logical reason for kissing a pretty girl before. It seemed kind of silly that the reason wasn't apparent on it's face.
"You've been constantly thinking about kissing me?" she asked quietly,
Oh man . . . she bit her lip . . . she was going to cry.
He nodded, "yep, on and off for about seven days now. I was doing pretty good ignoring it but," he winked, "you Miss Emily Victoria are definitely getting under my skin. So basically every time you've walked into the room today I've wanted to do that and I decided that maybe I just should," he raised his eyebrow in amusement, "I hope you don't mind."
If the look on her face was any indication, he was pretty sure that she didn't mind.
She gave him a watery smile, "nope," she shook her head, "didn't mind at all," then she sniffled as she wiped the corner of her eye, "so what does this mean?" she asked hopefully, "timetable moved up?"
It seemed a bit much to hope for that they were out of the holding pattern after only twenty four hours. But again, the whole twenty four hours had been a bit much too hope for.
His brow darkened slightly as he considered her question, "well, I can tell you right now if any of the agents working at the house see me do that then I'll end up getting yanked off your detail whether we like it or not. I might actually get suspended. So," his eyes dropped down to their intertwined fingers, "we'll be discrete until I'm rotated out, and then," he looked back up and shrugged, "it should be okay. There aren't any rules prohibiting personal relationships AFTER an assignment is over."
He really didn't think that being discrete was going to be an issue even after he left her detail. It's not like he was stupid enough to ever be kissing her out in the street.
After seeing that death threat, and still not knowing who sent it, he knew that when they were out in the world, he'd pretty much always be watching to make sure that nobody tried to take a box cutter to her pretty face.
There was no way that his hormones were going to allow him to forget for even an instant the base reason for his existence in her life.
But inside . . . he ran his thumb along the back of her hand . . . inside, when they were alone. That would be different.
That would just be time for them to get to know each other and share their lives.
He'd already wasted so much time this past year in a loveless relationship. Why put off trying to be happy again?
That seemed stupid.
Emily was pretty sure she'd never been so deliriously happy in all her relatively short years on the planet!
And now that he'd decided that kissing was okay when they were alone, she couldn't think of anything else she wanted to do for the rest of the day but make out on the couch.
So she scooted over, pushing herself up on her knees as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Then she looked down at him, "maybe we could stay inside today and . . ." she paused for a second before she gave him a shy smile, "watch television."
His lips twitched as his hands encircled her waist again, "watch television huh? But that's not what you said you wanted to do today," he teased, "you said, you wanted to go to the lake."
Though this was a very welcome move . . . this was also unexpectedly forward of her. But as he thought about it he realized that just because she hadn't had sex didn't mean that she'd been living in a convent for the past twenty-two years.
Then he winced slightly as he imagined her kissing another guy.
Yuck.
Bad road Aaron . . . he chastised himself . . . bad road.
She shifted a little closer and pressed a kiss to his right temple before she whispered, "well, maybe we could watch television this morning and then go to the lake after lunch."
His stomach flipped at the little kisses she was placing along his brow. Then his eyes closed for a second as he got his breathing back under control.
If she already had this much control over him now, he was going to be pretty much screwed down the road.
Once he was sure that he could speak nonchalantly he said, "well, if you insist," he pulled her down to sit on his thigh, "I guess we could 'watch television,' this morning."
He winked at her and she smirked at him. But then he wiped that grin away with another kiss that had a bit more oomph behind it than the first one.
After he pulled away a few minutes later with both of them panting for breath, he began kissing his way along her jaw. When she lifted it slightly to give him better access, he smiled as he moved down to her neck.
Emily moaned as she felt Aaron nibbling his way along. She hadn't had a hickey since she was seventeen and had gotten one from the Greek ambassador's son, Nickolas. They were in the linen closet of the Greek embassy at the time.
And though it was a few years ago, she remembered the sensation and was quite sure she was getting another brand on her neck today.
Nickolas was a decent kisser . . . at least by her minimal experience . . . but he was nowhere near as good as Aaron. Though to be fair to Nickolas, he was just a kid, and Aaron was a grown man with much more experience.
She sighed as he started working his way back up again before he sucked her earlobe into his mouth . . . and apparently practice makes perfect.
///////
Aaron dropped back down on the couch with a huff.
They'd spent so much time 'watching television' that he'd nearly had to take a cold shower when Emily went upstairs to change for the lake. Fortunately as he stood in the kitchen getting a drink of cold water, the reminder to himself that they were once again leaving the locked house to go back out into the world was enough to douse any thoughts about further activities with the lovely Miss Prentiss.
That was definitely a VERY fine idea she'd had though. It had been such a long time since he'd been in a relationship where he was happy and making out on the couch was a genuinely "fun" way to spend the day.
For months now with Haley it had been an activity that . . . to be brutally honest with himself . . . had become a little bit of a chore. But course he was a guy, and therefore not about to turn down an attractive woman who wanted to have sex.
And with Haley, foreplay generally started on the couch.
But . . . as awful as the thought was even in his own head . . . for the past six or seven months . . . perhaps since he'd graduated from the Academy . . . he'd generally let his mind wander during that stage. After that many years together he was completely on autopilot for all physical activities with Haley. He knew what she liked and what she didn't and he kept it to the basics so they could get to the big event.
And that was just not . . . him. He wasn't that guy. Making love was a beautiful thing, but he didn't love her anymore so it was just sex.
It felt good . . . but it didn't mean anything.
For him it was just impossible to emotionally engage in intimate activities when he no longer had any depth of feeling for her. And if anything, THAT should have been the point where he felt most connected with her again.
But he felt nothing.
It was just about attaining physical gratification for both of them. And as he thought about it now, he realized that he hadn't initiated sex with Haley in months. It was always her.
Huh.
Now he was starting to think that the woman would have had to have been rather blind to have not seen that something was wrong. That breakup call couldn't have completely come out of the blue, because in the early years he'd barely been able to keep his hands off of her when they were alone.
His eyes snapped up as he heard a floorboard creak . . . kind of like how he felt now about the girl coming down the stairs. And as that girl suddenly appeared in front of him, he felt a grin spread across his face.
A red string bikini . . . EXCELLENT!
And next to the printing press, it was one of mankind's greatest inventions.
Aaron immediately bounded off the couch to meet her over at the stairs. And at that moment he realized he was definitely falling for her.
He certainly wasn't in love . . . it was too soon for that . . . but he was . . . well, 'in like'. He was in very serious 'like.'
Of course . . . he stepped up and kissed off Emily's freshly applied strawberry gloss from her swollen lips . . . he wouldn't have been cuddling and making out on the couch with her for the past two hours if he didn't have feelings for her.
But there was no longer any question mark . . . however faint . . . on whether he and Emily had a shot at having a real relationship. She leaned back and he smiled as she wiped her thumb along his lip.
They absolutely had a shot.
"Is that what you're wearing?" Emily's eyebrow rose in amusement as she looked over his same jeans and polo shirt, "are you secretly a vampire and unable to expose your flesh to the burning summer sun for fear you'll burst into flames?"
'Though he had spent a goodly amount of time sucking on her neck today so maybe the vampire thing wasn't so farfetched,' she thought with amusement.
His lips twitched as he looked down at his bare arms, and then back up at her, "well unless I'm wearing some sort of asbestos sun block I'd think my blood sucking days would be numbered pretty quickly if I walked around in short sleeves," then he huffed, "and there's nothing wrong with my outfit. Jeans and a polo shirt are perfectly acceptable lake attire."
She stared at him for a moment, trying to think of a way to get him to loosen up a little more. Yes, it was true that there was nothing WRONG with what he was wearing, but the point was to relax. Though she didn't actually expect to get him swimming, she'd hoped that he'd at least get a little sun.
But the way he was dressed now he could have been going to a GOP mixer.
As she stared at him she suddenly noticed how his eyes kept falling down to look at her bikini.
Given what a gentleman he was, that was not typical behavior for him. Not once had she ever had a problem with him talking to her chest rather than her face.
Therefore she deduced that he was quite fond of her new bikini. And that gave her an excellent idea.
She bit her lip to hide the involuntary smile before she jerked her thumb over her shoulder and said casually, "oh, well then I feel a little silly wearing this if you're going to wear that," she started to turn, "I'll just go pull on my jea . . ."
The last word wasn't even out of her mouth before Aaron yelped, "no! No, don't be silly," she turned back around to see him with a slightly panicked look on his face, "don't change, you look . . . nice."
Her eyebrow went up in amusement, "nice?"
Please! He was practically salivating, he could certainly do better than 'nice!'
Catching note of the teenage boy glitch in his voice, Aaron immediately manned up as he stepped forward, his hands falling to encircle her waist, "I meant to say that you look gorgeous," he smiled softly, "if we were going out to a public beach I'd be the envy of any other man on the sand," he tipped his head, "of course if we were going to a public beach I'd probably have to throw a quilt over you."
Emily giggled as she loosely wrapped her arms around his neck, "so I take it you like the bikini?" At his enthusiastic nod she responded with a soft smile, "I'm glad. I bought it last week just for you."
His eyes popped in surprise, "really? But we weren't . . ."
She winked, "not yet. But I was trying to loosen you up a little. I thought this might make a favorable impression."
Actually at the time she picked it up . . . on his day off . . . she'd thought that if this didn't get a reaction out of him nothing would.
His fingertips traced the edge of the little string on her right shoulder as he smiled, "oh this most definitely makes a favorable impression."
And it was bought just for him. That made him ridiculously happy.
Actually the idea that he was the only man that had ever seen her in this outfit was enough to make him wish that they had already fastforwarded down the road a few months to more intimate activities.
But he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth so as quibbles went, that was a very minor one.
His fingers moved down to ghost along the expanse of bare skin below her bikini top . . . he was extremely happy with the gift that he had been given and had absolutely no desire to exchange it for anything else.
Trying to ignore the tingle that Aaron's touch was generating, Emily leaned in to give him a kiss.
It was so nice to do that now.
And as she pulled back slightly, she whispered, "could you please do me a favor and change into a pair of shorts," she pouted sadly, "with you completely covered, it makes me feel a little indecent."
Honestly, if he was going to be out there fully dressed and she was in a string bikini she was going to feel like a serious tease. Yes, she had bought this more for his enjoyment than her own . . . she'd already gotten a sufficient summer tan . . . but she'd hoped that maybe she could get him in swim trunks.
His expression softened, "you look beautiful Emily. There's nothing at all indecent about it," his lip quirked up slightly, "I just get to admire those lovely curves without all those pesky clothes getting in the way."
She gently smacked his chest and he winked at her before he nodded, "but if it would make you feel better, then yes, I think I do have a pair of shorts in my bag," he sighed, "I wasn't being deliberately . . . formal. I just obviously prefer jeans when I'm working," as he saw a flash of guilt on her face he shook his head, "no, though, you're right. It's just the two of us up here. And we're only walking twenty feet down to the water. I can consider this quasi work time."
As long as he had his gun that's all that really mattered.
Her brow wrinkled in concern, "are you sure? Because I wasn't thinking of it like that. You know, that you're working," she rolled her eyes, "I mean of course I know that you're 'working' but I hadn't thought of you being 'on duty.'"
It might have seemed a little silly to most people, but that was kind of a distinction in their world. Even if she wasn't becoming romantically involved with Aaron the principle would be true with any private bodyguard she had.
When you live with somebody twenty four hours a day you attain a certain degree of familiarity and comfort when you're inside the fortress. But then you walk out the door and that same person that you just had a cup of tea with will jump in front of a bullet for you.
On duty and off duty . . . different worlds.
Sometimes . . . like now . . . those lines would blur. And she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable either. If he'd feel better in pants then she'd just go pull on a pair of shorts.
He'd still get the bikini top and she wouldn't feel like some kind of . . . well, something not nice.
Aaron leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on her forehead, "nope, it's okay," he stepped back, "I'll be back in two minutes," he started to jog up the stairs but then he turned back to give her a look, "you stay inside until I get back, okay?"
Though he posed it as a question to be polite, they both knew that there was only one correct response.
So she of course nodded and said, "of course," she tipped her head towards the kitchen, "I'll get a couple sodas for us to take with us and then I'll grab my beach towel from the mudroom."
He shot her a dimple, "sounds good," and then ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Emily sighed as he disappeared off the landing, and then she turned and started towards the kitchen.
'Well, at least today I'm getting to see his legs. Maybe tomorrow I can think of some reason to get his shirt off.'
A/N 2: I wasn't planning on kissing here, not on Saturday anyway, but it is a very short story and for God's sake H/P can't kiss in like ANY world I have going except CB and I didn't have one of those ready to go up today. And the kissing scene cheered me up so I wrote it. I thought it worked though. The kissing was the real distraction for him, he gets it out of the way, no more distraction. And Emily also very kindly pointed out to him that there's just no way he can transfer out for the last two weeks so they might as well just go with it. Smart girl :)
See guys, don't worry about it, Emily's working on getting his shirt off. So Chiroho, hopefully I at least made you happy with Emily's string bikini. And ladies, I would have gotten his shirt off too (if anyone needs some sun it's probably Aaron Hotchner), but Emily decided she wanted to make out on the couch. What would you have preferred doing? Exactly.
In case it's not obvious, given their relationship sort of started in the middle, I've been inserting the el flashbackos into el GRANDE flashbacko. So that it will be clear that Aaron's not just jumping from Haley to Emily like in 24 hrs. The first relationship had died out completely, and that's becoming more and more apparent to him as he compares these 'new car smell' feelings he has for Emily against the prior activities with Haley. Not to mention, he'd been falling for Emily in a thousand different ways over the past couple weeks and just now is he able to actually embrace those feelings that he's been suppressing.
And clearly Aaron/Hotch are characters that feel things deeply. And without all the trauma of "Hotch", I think Aaron, once he lets someone into his world, is very much a 'heart on his sleeve' guy.
If you picked up on his derisive dismissal of profiling, that wasn't just an inside joke. I'm honestly not sure if I'll let this version of him join the BAU. I'm not even sure if I'll let this version of Emily join the FBI. I like them happier and well adjusted. It would seem rather bittersweet if I put them on that path knowing what horrible things they'd see and how messed up that would make them. And I do plan on staying with them long enough to find out where their careers go. I believe 'someone' has set me up with activities for them into like November 1994 ;)
It is funny writing their thoughts here (as opposed to adult versions of them) because you might have picked up that they are sort of more casual in their language (I'm not just being lazy :), and less sure of themselves than when they're older. Like adult Hotch, he would have known immediately that giving Emily a loaded handgun was a bad idea. But youngster Aaron had to stumble a few times before he realized that he wasn't qualified to 'fix her' on his own. And it's funny, it wasn't until I went to put the gun in her hand that I realized how STUPID that would be! The girl's freaking out over a thunderstorm, what the hell's a gunshot going to do to her!? So yeah, they need a little professional advice first before they take the next step there.
Also, here I'm trying to show that Emily is not the same version of herself that she grows into in canon. Like her reaction to failing to overcome her phobia about the guns in one morning. She was much more sanguine and accepting of the situation than I would have written canon Emily. She would have been beating herself up over not just sucking it up and dealing with her issue. But this Emily doesn't have the confidence issues so she's more accepting of her own flaws (not that a handgun phobia after an attempted assassination of your mother is a 'flaw').
I'm starting to get back into the swing of integrating this story into the balance of a few other things. So this will keep rolling along, maybe three or four more chapters, plus Girl (got most of the Em/Morgan day after convo done) and I FINALLY got chapter 2 of A Wrinkle in Time out of the notebook and into the computer. I expect that will get up shortly. And I haven't forgotten about Communication Breakdown. I have most of the rest of that done, it's just the next sequential chapter I'm missing completely so I'll aim to get that banged out over the next week or so.
