CHAPTER 5

Emily woke up with a start before taking in the familiar surroundings. The sun shone in through the window creating a rainbow on the wall across from the bed while also illuminating her bedroom.

Not quite ready to get up, Emily cuddled up against her husband. Oh, how she loved how that sounded. For so long she had believed that no one would ever have that place in her life. But now the wonderful man lying beneath her who she had grown to love over the last few months had that place in her life.

As she tucked her head under his chin, she could feel his arm reflectively tighten around her waist. After their last round of lovemaking in the early morning hours, Aaron had flipped them not breaking their connection so she was lying directly on top of him. Relaxing into him, Emily could feel him still semi erect inside of her.

Five minutes later, Emily realized that she was not going to be able to go back to sleep. Letting her mind wander, she contemplated what the next step for them was going to be.

Their plan of telling the team when they got back to DC had been thwarted by Reid, Morgan and Rossi stay in Vegas to investigate the cold murder case that had Reid all worked up.

Before the three of them arrived back, JJ had gone into labor and given birth to her precious baby boy. The two occasions at the hospital after Henry was born when the whole team was in the same room, Hotch and Emily didn't have the heart to take any attention away from Will and JJ by announcing their news. The timing had just felt wrong. They could wait a bit longer.

So now that the weekend had come around, Emily was hoping that work would not interrupt them so her and Hotch could spend time discussing how they planned to move forward.

Hotch had requested and it was granted that the team be taken off rotation for the next few days. The whole team needed a break after the Rothchild case with it having been the second case in a row where kidnapped children were involved. Even with being off rotation they all knew there was a possibility of being called in if an urgent or time sensitive case came up.

The first item on their weekend decision agenda was where they were going to call home. With the suddenness of their marriage, they both still had their own apartments. They needed to make a decision about which one they would keep.

To Emily, it made the most sense for her to give up her apartment. It was further from work than Hotch's place. While hers was larger, it was divided between 2 floors. This unfortunate reality had vexed her on more than once when she had returned home from a case injured or just completely exhausted only to find a long staircase between her and her bed. On more than one occasion, she had decided to sleep on the couch downstairs instead. That was somewhat acceptable while living by herself but hardly conducive to a successful marriage.

Then there was work…

Before she could delve too far into her thoughts on that topic, she heard from beneath her in a sleepy voice, "Em, you are thinking way too hard for this early on a Saturday morning. What is going on in that beautiful head of yours?"

Turning her head so she could see his face, she replied, "how long have you been awake?"

Hotch opened his eyes and briefly glanced at her before closing them as he continued to move his hand up and down her back. Opening his eyes again he answered as he looked at her, "since you shuddered when you woke up since you are lying on top of me."

Emily's eyes widened at his answer before smirking when she responded, "that long hmm? What have you been thinking about?"

Hotch sighed as he noticed that she had turned his question back onto him. He would need to push the subject but not now. For now he would follow her lead.

Reaching over he kissed her forehead before answering, "how nice it is to wake up with my wife in my arms. How I hope that we don't get a call from work. If I can convince you for another round."

"Another round you say." Emily says as she contracts the muscles around him and felt him grow and harden inside her. She chuckled as Aaron groaned under her.

"Yes, you little minx. What do you say?" Hotch said as he flipped them so she was once again underneath him.

"What are you waiting for?" Emily answered before her lips found his.

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A couple of hours and rounds later including a long shower together, Aaron and Emily sat in the kitchen of her apartment eating a late breakfast.

Hotch looked over at his wife and decided to circle back to the question he had posed earlier as he said, "so Em, you never answered my question earlier. What were you thinking about so hard that early in the morning?"

Emily sighed and shook her head before looking at him before responding, "mostly logistics. Where we would call home. Hoping work doesn't interrupt our weekend. Work in general."

Hotch raised his eyebrow as he observed her since these were the topics that they had agreed need to be discussed this weekend. When she didn't continued, he asked, "any conclusions?"

Emily looked back at him and nodded before looking around her apartment as she said, "well, as much as I love this place, I think I should give up this apartment.

Realistically, it makes the most sense. It further than your place from the office. My lease is up in six weeks so it won't cost anything. I will just give notice that I'm not going to renew. You're only six months into yours so I'm sure there is an early cancellation clause that will cost money or we need to find someone to sublet it."

Hotch's eyes widened as he expected where they lived to be more of a sticking point. He agreed with all of the points she just made however he also knew she loved this apartment. Looking over at her, he asked, "are you sure? You have lived here for 2 years now."

Emily nodded as she answered, "I know. There are definitely a lot of things that I love about this place. Most of all the view. But there are also a few reasons I wouldn't mind moving on."

"What are those reasons?" Hotch asked as he hadn't heard her ever mention anything she didn't like about the apartment before.

Emily chuckled when she looked over at him as she answered, "the commute sucks. The stairs to the bedrooms are a challenge when I'm exhausted and/or injured. Also the stairs would worry me when Jack is here. Besides he has a great room we set up for him at your apartment."

Hotch nodded at each of her points and smiled at her consideration about what would be best for his son. He too had worried about the stairs with his active three year old.

With only having so much visitation he hadn't been looking forward to uprooting from the apartment and room Jack had come to know. He answered, "if you are sure, we will plan on that. Thanks Em. Now we need to make time to pack and move."

Emily sighed as she looked around the apartment wondering what she had just added to her already full plate. However if there was something she learned well from her childhood, it was packing and moving.

She looked at him before answering, "I'll have six weeks but we should plan on doing the actual move before that because between work and the holidays, time will go a lot quicker than expected.

I also want us to inventory what we each have so we only move from here what we need or I want to keep. Then we can pack donations up from both places before we do the big move. It will just be less stuff to manage at your apartment."

Hotch held onto her as he said, "Ok, we have that decided. And it will be our apartment." He paused before pulling back to look at her before he continued, "what about work?"

He watched as she stepped back with a grimace on her face before plopping down on one end of the couch. She looked up at him as she said dejectedly, "we are surrounded by minefields there."

Hotch walked over and sat on the other end of the couch looking at her before explaining, "I know it's not going to be easy. Dave may be able to help smooth the process when we tell the Bureau in a few months."

Emily sighed and nodded before agreeing, "true. But we need to tell the team first. I stand by our decision to not say anything to take attention away from JJ and Will but it's hard. I want to tell them."

"So do I. Why don't we invite everyone over in two or three weeks and we can tell them then? JJ will probably feel up to an outing by then." Hotch answered as what they thought had been a good plan in Las Vegas had fallen apart just hours later when Morgan and Rossi stayed in Vegas with Reid.

"Sounds good. I just don't want to keep us a secret from them, they are our friends." Emily answered though Hotch noticed that the worry did not completely leave her face.