(Hii just wanted to thank you for the support, it means a lot and I'm glad your enjoying the story, I just wanted to add that this story isn't going to all the happiest. As there will be bad days and good days, as there would be for anyone with a TBI, so I'm trying to make it as real as possible as recovery from a TBI is hard. So I'm trying to focus on how it would affect him physically and mentally, and also how it's hard on Emily.

Aaron awoke that next morning, looking around as he woke , he let out a yawn and saw Talia enter. He sighed to himself, he was hoping Emily would of been back, it was a long stretch as knew himself the cases weren't always so quick to solve. He wouldn't of ever been bothered of leaving Emily for a few days, but since his accident he was a lot more emotional, which was nothing like he ever used to be. The accident had changed him, not just psychically. Sometimes he thought the worse thing about the whole accident was how his emotions had changed, not his physical injuries. Sure, his physical injuries had left him dependant on others but he was getting better everyday physically, but his emotional pain never went away. He hated being out of control with how he felt, he used to be so good at concealing his feelings, now it was like he was open book much to his own discomfort.

"Good morning, Aaron." Talia said, sitting down on the bed, her tone was almost patronising and he was getting sick of it. Sick of being treated different, more delicately and like he would break. He wasn't fragile.

"Morning." He said, as he slowly sat up, groaning as all of his weight pulled down on his arms. A wave of nausea hit him, and then he remembered last night. He didn't feel like he was going to throw up just yet, but he knew he wasn't feeling 100%.

She placed a hand behind his back and helped him sit up, in which he glared at her, he could do it. She could see he could do it. He just needed time. He was slow but not incapable.

"How are you feeling this morning? After last night?" She asked.

He shrugged, "Nauseous." He said, closing his eyes.

She nodded, "Maybe getting breakfast and your meds will help." She said, before taking out some clothes, "Let's get you dressed."

Once she had helped him dress, much to his dislike as she hadn't given him chance to try do it himself, she took him downstairs. She handed him his meds, and left the plastic cup on the table as she went off to make breakfast. Aaron popped the meds into his mouth, and shakily took the cup, he wasn't sure he could hold it for long. He took the cup to his lips, shakily sipping it, missing his lips a couple times which led him to frustration. As he took the cup away from his lips, he felt his hand slipping off the cup as he shakily held it. Don't drop it, please, he pleaded to himself.

However, his hands gave way, and he spilt the cup onto his lap. He groaned with frustration, he felt himself getting hot with anger. He knew he shouldn't of tried, it was his own fault, or was it, after all Talia should of helped him.

"Aaron." She sighed, bringing over a cloth to dry his pants. "I'm going to have to change you after." She added. He sighed, not saying much, he didn't know what to say. He couldn't help it, he had tried, he really had. He thought maybe he was strong enough to hold the cup, but it was too wide and it had been in his hands too long. He was angry at himself, plus it didn't help Talia wasn't pleased. He hadn't even tried to stick up for himself, he didn't have the energy and it would just make him more angry.

Talia brought him him some cereal, which he ate slowly. He could feel her watching him, he didn't like being watched, he knew he could do this. There was no need for prying eyes, he wasn't a child.

"Has Emily rang?" He asked, after he had managed half his cereal, he felt too nauseous for the rest.

She shook her head, "She did last night, but you were asleep."

He sighed, brilliant, the only time he could of spoke to her and of course he was asleep. "Did she give any indication to when she'd be back?" He asked, it was a long shot.

Talia shook her head again, "No, sorry." She said, taking the bowl away.

He sighed, he didn't like this one bit, the thing that made this whole situation worse was this was only the first case. He knew they'd be more. He wished he could get back into work, even if it was desk jobs. But until he improved his linguistic skills, there was no chance of that. He was getting better, Reid had been around a few times since he had offered, which he had to admit helped him a lot. The kid was a genius. His writing had improved, at the start of his recovery, he couldn't even write his own name. Now he was writing sentences, but slowly and not enough for him to be even considered to be able to work.

—-

After breakfast, Talia decided to run him a bath, he didn't feel the most comfortable with this situation but he knew he had to wash at some point.

As Talia undressed him, he felt self conscious all of a sudden and embarrassed, he'd never been fully naked in front of her. Or anyone since his accident except Emily. He had started overthinking in his head again, this was a frequent occurrence. He felt exposed, almost violated being this open in front of someone who he barely would class as an acquaintance. As he got into the bath, he put his knees to his chest, so he wasn't as open.

Usually, Emily would leave and let him relax, but it didn't look like that was happening as he watched Talia sit on the toilet seat.

"You..can go, you know?" Aaron said, bluntly.

Talia shook her head, "I don't want to risk it.."

"I'm not a child." He said bitterly, "Get out."

Talia swallowed, "Okay, sorry." She said, standing up and leaving.

As she left, he stretched his legs back up, sitting back. He sighed, looking up at the roof, closing his eyes. He may as well try to have a nap.

He started remembering his first bath at the rehab place, he hadn't been comfortable with it at all. He was a man who valued independence, and being sponge bathed was demeaning. He had remembered Emily being there, he had only allowed them to let him be bathed unless Emily was there. She was there as he was getting emotional about it, in tears for not wanting to go in. But as usual, she managed to calm him and helped, in a way that wasn't patronising. She was so calm about it, she understood his struggle and didn't get annoyed once, despite how hard he had made it. She truly was amazing, he'd known that before but now she wasn't here he had started to realise how much she had done, he started to appreciate it more. He knew he wasn't the easiest, but she'd never gave him on him. He wanted her to come back, so he could tell her how much he loved her and appreciated it all.

Soon after, Talia came in and helped him out, dressing him once again but changing the pants as they were still a little damp.

The rest of the day went slowly, the highlight of his day being his speech and linguistic therapist coming.

Then his phone rang, it was Emily, he didn't really go on his phone often but he picked it up faster than he'd ever done before.

"Aaron?" She said softly. It was good to hear her voice, finally someone familiar.

"Hey, Em" he replied, a sigh of relief escaping.

"You okay?" She asked, she noticed he sounded a little off, even through the phone she could tell how he was, what kind of mood he seemed to be in.

"Yeah, I'm just- tired, and..I miss you" he admitted.

"I miss you too, it shouldn't be long..we delivered the profile already, it's just a case of catching the guy now."

"Good, thank god" he said.

Emily smiled a little, she knew the first case was going to be the hardest for him, they hadn't been apart since the accident. "How are you doing?" She asked.

"I just told you.." he said, raising a brow.

"No, you told me how you felt now. How have you been doing in general?"

He sighed, he felt his face redden and felt himself getting hotter, "I just..not great" he admitted, there was no hiding anything from Emily, he should of known better than that.

She sighed, "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "No- don't apologise, I know that it's not your fault..I just wish I had- I had more control of how I'm feeling."

"Well, just remember..I love you"

"I love you too." He said, he felt a pit in his stomach.

"I have to go..but, I'll call again when I can, okay?"

"Yeah, goodbye." He said, before they ended it, it was good hearing her voice. But it made him miss her more, tears glistened in his eyes as a few fell.

Damn, emotions.

He brushed them away, as he heard Talia coming in. "It's almost dinner." She said.

He nodded, throughout the day, his nausea had disappeared which was good. He didn't want to get sick in front of her, or in general really.

—-

After they had dinner, there was a silence as he sat at the table, not knowing what to talk about or wanting too. He was exhausted. Suddenly, he heard the door bell ring, and he was confused as to who it could be. It wouldn't be Emily, even if the case had finished she still had to get home and it wasn't long enough. It couldn't be Jack, he'd remembered when he had Jack, surely he hadn't forgot.

Talia was just as confused as him, "I didn't realise we had guests" she said, getting up.

He shrugged, "We don't." He said as he watched her leave the room to answer the door.

He hadn't been able to hear who it was, but he heard the door shut and two pairs of footsteps coming. He heard a familiar clink of heels, surely not, he thought. As he looked up, he saw Garcia standing at the door.

She smiled widely, "Evening sir." She said

Hotch raised a brow, "Good evening, Garcia" he said, he was confused as to why she was here, not that he didn't like a familiar face.

"Right, your wondering why I'm here...well, I brought donuts" she said, showing her box of her donuts, "and I was sat in my office..bored and alone, because well, they don't need me at the moment. So I thought, I'd come and visit you..if that's okay, I mean.. I thought it would be nice" she rambled, which made Aaron chuckle. Her ability to talk at 100 miles per hour always baffled him.

"No, that's..nice of you, Garcia." He said with a smile, he was genuinely happy she was here. It saved him being around Talia and he was warmed that she'd thought of him.

Garcia smiled wide, coming to sit next to him, "Would you like a donut, sir?" She asked.

He nodded, "How can I say no?" He chuckled as she handed him the box, he took one and slowly ate it.

To his surprise, Garcia was fun to spend time with, sure she rambled on half the time but she had started playing one of her favourite movies and it shocked him that he enjoyed it.

During Garcia's time there, she had helped them find the unsub and he was happy to find out that they were on their way back. Garcia had offered to stay with Aaron till Emily came back, as it was just a few hours and Talia had gone home. Aaron wasn't complaining, he felt a lot more comfortable around Penelope and he didn't like Talia at all.

—-

Aaron had dozed off through the second movie Garcia had put on, and was sound asleep by the time the team had landed. Garcia found it a little strange, watching her boss asleep next too her, but it made her happy that he had let her come in. She remembered how he was at the start of his accident, he was cold and shut the team out, this certainly was an improvement. Maybe he'd finely realised after all that the team were his family too, and cared for him.

Emily walked through the door, and crept to the living room, she wasn't sure if either of them would be awake. She chuckled, as she walked in, seeing Garcia also asleep on the sofa. Aaron had heard noise as the door shut and opened his eyes to see what was going, as he saw Emily standing in the living room a smile grew on his face. "Hey, sweetheart" he whispered, not wanting to wake Garcia up.

She smiled, coming over to him and kissing him gently but longingly, "I've missed you so much" she said.

He nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, "I've missed you too"

They both looked at Garcia and chuckled, "Shall we leave here there, it's late and I'd feel mean sending her home so late" Emily said.

Aaron nodded, "Yeah, it was nice to see someone I actually liked though."

"You don't like Talia?" She asked, as she played with his hair.

He shook his head, "We'll discuss it tomorrow, I bet your tired."

She nodded with a small yawn, "A bed and a cuddle from my husband sounds perfect right about now"

He chuckled, kissing her cheek, as they went to the bedroom.

They had both got into bed, it had been a long day for them both, and they were just happy to be back with each other. Emily rested her head on Aaron's chest, "Goodnight" she said softly.

"Goodnight, sweetheart" he said, stroking her head as he drifted off to sleep.