CHAPTER 2

Emily woke up the next morning curled up against her new husband. As she turned further into him, her head started to throb. Groaning, she buried her head under the pillow.

Alarmed, Aaron wrapped his arm around her before asking. "Em, what's wrong?"

Emily turned her head towards him before whispering, "headache." She readjusted her head on top of the pillow and turned to look at him before she continued, "I probably shouldn't have drank all that champagne after the wine with dinner."

"You needed some water before bed." Hotch responded as he reached over and smoothed her hair as he looked at her concerned.

Emily sighed and nodded before she replied with a small smirk, "I know and I generally do. But there was a handsome man in my bed and I got distracted." She edged closer to him and rested her head on his chest while he wrapped his arm around her.

After a couple of minutes Hotch said, "let me get you some ibuprofen."

As he started to sit up the pain in her head increased. With her eyes closed, she moved her hand up and patted his stomach as she said, "not yet."

Hotch nodded and settled back down on the bed. Pulling her closer to him, he started to rub small circles on her back as he said, "Ok. I'm not going to argue with you about cuddling for a few more minutes."

They laid like that for several minutes in which Hotch began to wonder if she had fallen back to sleep when he heard her say, "Aaron?"

"Hmm?" he quietly responded.

Emily looked over at him as she asked, "earlier, why did you look so worried when you asked what was wrong?"

Hotch sighed before he replied, "when you woke up and the first thing you did was to groan before burying your head under a pillow, well I thought maybe you were regretting last night."

"It's not the first time we've woken up in bed together, Aaron," Emily said distractedly.

Hotch shook his head before softly saying, "not that part."

Emily looked at him confused as she was finding it difficult to understand what he was referring to until her hungover thoughts unscrambled. When she realized what he meant, she suddenly sat up straight and looked at him.

However, before she could say anything, her stomach began to roil. Jumping quickly out of the bed, she raced into the bathroom, just making it before she vomited. Unsure if she was done, Emily sat back on the floor, resting her head against the wall.

As soon as Emily had leaped out of the bed, Hotch was certain what was wrong. His assumption was confirmed a few seconds later when he heard retching coming from the bathroom.

Getting out of bed, he realized he had a bit of a headache too. After finding them on the floor in front of him, Hotch picked up and put on his boxers and undershirt from the previous day. Walking over to the closet, he pulled out the bathrobe that was hanging on the rod.

As he stepped into the bathroom, he saw his wife of less than nine hours shivering as she sat on the floor with her head resting against the wall. He walked over to the sink and wet a washcloth. After mostly wringing it out, he walked over and sat down next to her. Pushing her hair away from her face, he said gently, "hey sweetheart. How's the stomach?" as he placed the washcloth on the back of her neck after he wrapped the robe around her.

Emily groaned before replying, "still hates me but maybe a little less now." as she turns to rest her head on his shoulder.

After sitting there quietly for a few minutes, Hotch asked, "are you ready to get up?"

Emily shook her head before saying, "not yet. I'm not sure if I'm done yet."

"OK. Can I get you anything?" Hotch asked.

Emily didn't say anything for a couple of minutes before nodding as she said, "there should still be a can of Sprite in fridge. I think I'll be OK if I sip on that for a few minutes."

"OK, sweetheart. I'll go grab that for you." Hotch said before standing up and walking out of the bathroom.

####

Twenty minutes later, Emily and Hotch were relaxing on the bed while Emily sipped her drink.

When Hotch came back to the bathroom after checking the fridge for the Sprite, he helped Emily standing up and walk over to the sink. After putting some toothpaste on her toothbrush, he had handed it to her. She gratefully took the toothbrush wanting to get the gross taste out of her mouth.

After she finished, they had walked together back out to the bed where he had the Sprite can set up on her bedside table.

As they sat there, Emily turned towards him and waited for him to look back at her before she said, "Aaron, what I was going to say before all that happened." She placed her hand on top of his and held it before continuing, "I don't have regrets about anything that happened last night. I married you because I wanted to. I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Hotch smiled back at her and nodded as he pulled her closer to him before he said, "I'm glad to hear it. I love you too." He stopped and sighed before he said, "you made me nervous. While I had been planning to propose for a couple of weeks, I did surprise you with the proposal and then the suggestion of marrying right away."

Emily sighed then said, "yes, I was surprised. But it was a good surprise. I would not have accepted your proposal if I didn't want to. And I certainly wouldn't have gone through with marrying you if I had any doubts."

Hotch cocked his head and asked, "we're good then."

"Absolutely." Emily answered

Hotch paused as he was still uneasy because he could tell something was bothering her before he asked, "then what's worrying you?"

Emily shook her head before looking down at the entwined hands and said quietly, "everyone's reaction."

She paused and sighed before saying, "I can see challenges almost every way we turn when we tell people about us. The team. Strauss. The Bureau. My parents. Haley." Tapping his thumb with one of her fingers as she went through the list.

Hotch nodded as she went through each before sadly noting that she had forgotten the other most important person in his life. He tensed and looked straight ahead as he said, "you forgot Jack."

Emily patted his arm and waited for him to look at her before she gave him a small smile and replied, "no I didn't. He is a sweet adorable three year old. I don't see him as a challenge. I think he is going to take the news better than most of the rest of the people we need to tell."

Hotch smiled at her, relieved at her assessment of Jack's reaction before frowning as he asked, "you don't think the team will be happy for us?"

Emily sighed before she said, "it's not that as much as they won't like the change it will make in the team dynamics." She paused before continuing, "Derek may need some time but I think the rest will be happy for us."

Hotch nodded, agreeing that Derek would be the one who would need the most reassurance when they talked to the team. He also knew how much Emily's friendship with Derek meant to her and why the coming disclosure would make her uneasy.

Before he could say anything, there was a knock at the door. Hotch gave her hand one last squeeze before pushing off the bed to answer the door.

Emily watched him get up. He had only taken a couple of steps before she scrambled off the bed and said worriedly, "no let me get it. You aren't supposed to be here." Given both of their states of undress, there was no way they could play it off as he was there for any other reason than that he had spent the night.

Hotch noticed the look in her eyes and nodded as he clarified, "it's breakfast, Emily." As he reached the door, he looked through the peephole to double check as he continued, "I ordered room service earlier when you were in the bathroom. I thought some food would help make you feel better."

Emily smiled and relaxed as he explained. She did find that food after a night of drinking did make her feel better. As he turned around after taking the cart of food from the person who had brought it to the door, she smiled and said, "thank you Aaron."

####

Dave Rossi was on the elevator heading back to his room after having breakfast when he spied on the ticket on the room service cart next to him that had Emily's name and room number. He smirked as he remembered in the early hours of the morning as he was preparing for bed hearing her laugh as she past his room. He had taken a few steps towards the door when he heard a man whispering. When he looked out of peephole, he just saw her door closing.

So now his curiosity was reignited with the presence of the food cart. Typically Emily preferred to go down to the lobby for breakfast at whatever hotel they were staying. He was also interested because the amount of food she had ordered appeared to be for more than one person. While she did routinely eat a full breakfast, it was never this much.

When the elevator stopped at his floor, he held the door for the employee with the cart before slowly and casually walking towards his room. When Emily door opened, he stopped around a corner when he heard a distinctive male voice though he was too far away to hear what was being said.

As he started to walk closer to his room and saw through the crack on the same side of the door as the hinges Emily standing behind the door holding a robe closed with one hand and holding her head with the other. Just before the door closed, he noticed her talking to whoever was in the room was pushing the cart towards her. The door completely shut before he could see who it was.

Dave smirked as he opened his door and walked into his room. As one of the most guarded agents on the team, it was difficult even for him to get a glimpse into Emily's personal life. But this morning he had just gotten one.

But as he picked up his bag, his smirk turned to a frown as he recalled comments the team had made over the last few weeks about her seeming happier and them contemplating the likelihood that she was seeing someone. However they weren't in DC and if she was seeing someone that person wouldn't be here. So had it been something else over the last few weeks? Or was this someone else? Either way he was planning to sit next to her on the jet and see if she would let anything slip. Probably not but it was worth a try.

####

An hour later after they had finished breakfast and a long steamy shower together, Hotch and Emily were almost done getting ready to go meet the team for the return trip to DC.

After listening to Emily curse at the buttons on her purple shirt for the third time, Hotch chuckled and walked up in front of her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he waited until she looked up at him before moving his hands down to the buttons as he asked softly, "need some help?" Not waiting for an answer, he started to fasten the buttons while looking at her.

Emily gave a small laugh before smirking as she answered, "you know it's a lot more fun when you are UN-fastening them?"

Hotch smiled as he continued to work on the buttons before saying, "you don't need to tell me. And as much as I would prefer to be unfastening these right now we have a plane to catch." He stopped and sighed as he finished before embracing her and saying softly next to ear, "we will pick this up tonight when we get home."

As Hotch loosened his arms, she stepped back and looked at him before saying, "which home Aaron?"

Hotch nodded as that was a question that they would need to answer soon. However it was not one that they needed to tackle this morning so he said, "we'll need to discuss it, this weekend if we're in town. We can pick one of the two current ones we are in or choose to look for an entirely new place. Why don't we go to your apartment tonight?"

Emily nodded as she said, "sounds good." Glancing past him, she saw the time and realized it was later than she thought. Look back at him, she asked, "when do we need to meet the team to head for the airstrip?"

Hotch sighed, knowing what he was able to say wasn't going to please her but he thought it was the best way to approach the morning. "I'm going to head out now and meet the rest of you on the plane." He immediately noticed her stiff body language and scowl. Looking away from her, his eyes landed on the breakfast tray and he continued, "you may want to have some more coffee before you head down."

Emily said angrily, "why are you going now? And without me?"

Hotch shook his head as he tried to think about how to explain why he wanted to do things this way. He walked up to her and rubs his hands up and down her arms. As he did, he could feel her relax and look up at him.

He stopped moving his hands and had them rest on her arms as he said, "if we are both down in the lobby, someone will figure out that something is different about us. And you know Dave and Derek."

He looked at her knowingly and waited until she reluctantly nodded before continuing, "they are both like a dog with a bone. They won't give up until they have figured out our news. I still want to wait until we can all be in the same room to tell the team together." He paused again before finishing, "we can decide tonight when and how we want to do that." They had already decided that their announcement would need to be made outside the office.

Emily sadly sighed and nodded. She understood where he was coming from and couldn't form an argument against what he said. It was the downside of travelling with profilers.

But it didn't mean she was happy about this first separation of their marriage. "I guess you're right. But it doesn't mean I have to like it. I suppose this also means no cuddling on the jet?"

Hotch smiled back at the smirk that was now on her face as he said, "you would suppose right. I don't like it either sweetheart. I love you. I'll see you on the jet."

"I love you too." Emily said before he kissed her just before he picked up his bag and walked out of the room.