CHAPTER 8
Hotch walk into his apartment after work to hear banging in the bedroom. After putting down his briefcase and keys on the table, he walked towards the source of the noise to hear his wife mumbling to herself. As he walked down the hall he heard another bang followed by cursing.
As he reached the room, he could see Emily leaning over a box wearing a tank top and athletic shorts. He wondered what had upset her in the couple of hours since he had last seen her at the BAU.
In the last week since the team had returned from Phoenix everyone working through their feelings about the case. They like all law enforcement took UNSUBs that targeted first responders personally.
Morgan had stayed a couple of extra days to attend the funeral of one of the police officers only arriving back at the BAU a couple days earlier. In the office, Garcia, Reid and Rossi had all been processing the case in their own ways even after they completed their reports. He wasn't sure how Jordan was handling it as she had mostly been working in JJ's office since they returned.
And then there was Emily. As with the rest of them, she had been invested in finding the UNSUB who was ambushing police officers while they were performing their duty. As his final push to redirect the UNSUB, Hotch had stated in a press conference that he was taking over the case.
Agent Prentiss had understood the rationale and planned with the rest of the team how to catch the UNSUB as well as was one of the four who surrounded the UNSUB when he did try to approach Hotch.
However his wife Emily had been forced to hide how terrified she was from that press conference until they had the UNSUB in custody. They were both still working to navigate the fallout from the experience.
"What did that box do to you Em?" Hotch said as he walked into the room with several boxes littering the floor looking at her concerned.
Emily brushed her hair out of her face as she stood up surprised at his presence before saying, "Aaron, you're home. There is dinner plate for you in the oven." She paused before shaking her head before mumbling, "it's not the box." as she turned to another box and started to go through the contents.
Hotch shook his head as he walked over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder. The action caused her to stop what she was doing to turn and look back at him. When she did, he stated, "I'll eat in a few minutes. What's wrong? What has you so upset? Did something happen at your apartment?"
Emily shook her head and sat on the end of the bed as she explained, "no, I have almost everything packed there. We should be able to move everything else that is coming here this weekend after Jack goes back to Haley's. There is a separate pile of boxes to donate that will be picked up on Monday. The company who I rented the furniture from will come to pick it up on Tuesday. The maid service will do a deep cleaning on Thursday. I should be able to hand the keys in next Friday if everything goes as planned."
To Hotch it sounded like everything was ahead of schedule so he was confused about why she was so perturbed. Kneeling down in front of her he placed his hands on top of hers before carefully asking, "so then what is wrong?"
Emily sighed and Hotch observed her eyes become glassy before she quietly answered, "Jordan." before she squeezed his hand back.
Standing up and starting to pace in the room as she started venting, "I don't know what her problem is or what I did to her. She made snide comments a couple of times again today. It's just getting to me. It just seems some days that she is waiting for me to do or say something that she can criticize. Every time it happens, I just start to feel insecure again. Then that pisses me off more because I'm an FBI agent and not in high school anymore."
Hotch nodded as she spoke having heard overheard some of the comments as well as having Reid and Garcia both mention to him about them.
He stood and walked over to her, stopping her pacing. When he lifted her chin with his finger, he could see the insecurity in her eyes. Over her time with the team he had seen it less and less. It was frustrating that today it was caused by a colleague though thankfully a temporary one.
Given the circumstances each time a comment was made there was little he could officially do about it. Given the continuing issues since Jordan had started if he could think of a way for the team to work without her, he would have done it.
But now that they were home, he was going to do his best to reassure his wife, "and a damn good FBI agent. I'm sorry Em. What did she say today that was different and got you so upset?" as he pulled her into a hug.
As she rested her head on his chest, she quietly answered, "it's not so much what she said. It just hit me after the last time how much I miss JJ. I know she is where she should be and Henry needs her right now. I just miss her."
As he held her close to him and smoothed her hair Hotch replied, "why don't you call JJ and see if she is up for a visit next week? We are almost done moving. Take their Christmas gifts and dinner over."
Emily stepped back to look at him with a smile now on her face as she answered, "yeah, that sounds good." before the smile disappeared and she sat back down on the bed.
Not knowing what just happened, Hotch sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as he asked, "what else is bothering you?"
Emily sighed and leaned into him, resting her head on his chest as she replied softly, "we can't tell the team. About us. At least not until Jordan is gone."
It was a realization she had had in the car on the way back to their apartment with the boxes. And that conclusion had upset her more than Jordan's comments. It meant not telling their friends for another couple of months. After the case in Phoenix, she so much wanted the others to know so they understood why what happened there had her so on edge and well as how she was needing to process it since their return.
As much as he didn't want to, Hotch had to agree. After kissing her forehead, he rested his head on top of hers as he said, "I agree. We have to wait until her rotation is done. I don't trust her."
"Yeah, even with none of them saying anything, she would know something is up. That would just put more scrutiny on the team. It would come out at that point." Emily answered,
They stayed, relaxing into each other for several minutes until Hotch stated, "then we'll wait. But talk to JJ and see if she is up for a visit. It will be good for both of you. Speaking of good for you, why don't you leave the boxes for now and take a bath."
Emily groaned as she sat up and looked at him before looking over at all of the boxes that were littering their bedroom, "I just want to get this stuff unpacked Aaron. I hate having boxes everywhere." before standing up and taking a couple of steps towards the box she was working on when he first walked into the room.
Before she could go any further, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back so her back was flushed against his front before he said, "Em, just leave it for now. Go take a few minutes for yourself. I'll go eat and change. Then I'll help you with these boxes. Once we get these three over here unpacked and the items put away, we're going to have an early night."
She sighed before nodding as she answered, "you make it sound so easy. An early night sounds wonderful right now. I am really tired. And cranky."
Hotch chuckled as she turned around before saying, "you look tired. I won't comment on the cranky part. It will be easier with both of us unpacking. Even with it being your things, it's not fair that you do all the work. I should be helping you with all of this." before he walked into the bathroom to start the water in the tub as Emily pulled out pajamas.
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Early one morning the next week, Derek Morgan was walking through the parking garage towards the BAU. Before he reached the stairs, he saw movement off to his left side along with a familiar laugh. He stopped and looked over in the direction of where he heard the laugh.
Prentiss.
He knew it. He'd recognize her laugh anywhere.
As he looked closer, Morgan noticed that she was talking to a guy in a suit. He was facing the other way so his face wasn't visible from where Derek was standing. Curious, he started to walk toward them.
After he had walked a couple of car lengths, the man turned and Derek immediately saw that it was Hotch. 'I should have known' Derek mumbled to himself.
It wasn't a secret among the team that Hotch and Emily had slowly formed a friendship over the last year. She had been able to reach him after his separation from Haley in a way that none of the rest of them had been able to, including Dave. In the field, they frequently partnered up together and worked extremely well together when they did.
As he slowly walked up close to them, he quipped, "is this where we are doing case review today?"
Hotch looked up at him surprised having not heard him approach before nodding as he said, "Morgan."
When she heard his voice, Emily had turned away from what she was saying to Hotch and greeted him excitedly with a smile, "morning Derek. We were just moving some things to my car before heading inside. I'm going to visit JJ tomorrow. I'm taking a few things to her."
Derek smiled at her ramblings knowing that Emily had been missing their blonde colleague. As he thought about what she said, he asked, "could you take my gifts for them too?"
Emily nodded and answered, "of course. Just bring them in tomorrow. I'm going to make an announcement when we gathered for case review this morning." before walking to the side of her car and taking her bags and purse out before walking back over to Hotch and Morgan.
Derek smiled and nodded as he answered, "great thanks. I want to see the little guy again but I'm not sure I'll make it over there before Christmas. Maybe after I come back from Chicago. How is she doing?"
Emily smiled as she remembered the phone conversation she had with JJ a few days earlier, "tired but happy. She said the BAU was great preparation for life with a newborn. He's not on a schedule yet so she is just as likely to be awake at 3AM as 3PM..." she paused as they all heard someone in heels walk up behind them.
They all turned to find Jordan Todd standing there carrying her bags. She stopped at looked at the three profilers before saying, "good morning everyone. Is this a private meeting?" as she carefully assessed the group.
The levity in the group was already gone when Hotch responded, "Agent Todd. Not at all."
Emily nodded and said, "good morning, Jordan."
Morgan cleared his throat before answering, "Jordan. Nope. We just met up as we arrived. If you give us a minute, we can walk in together."
With that they all picked up their bags as Emily locked up her car before they all walked together towards the building.