CHAPTER 14

Emily looked around their bedroom, taking in her work from the last couple of hours. Accepting that everything was in the place she wanted, she walked out of the room towards the kitchen to check her preparations there.

It had been five months since Emily and Aaron married in Vegas. Emily had been planning for several days how she wanted them to spend the evening if the team was home. And by some miracle, no cases had come up that they needed to travel as they had been on this day in the previous months since they got married.

Aaron had mentioned the previous evening that he had a late afternoon meeting with Strauss. At first, she had been disappointed because part of what she had been planning was for them to go out to dinner. With that seemingly off the table knowing how long these types of meetings tended to go, Emily decided to order take out and they'd have an evening at home to unwind and celebrate.

She had left the office as soon as she was done the day's paperwork. In addition to stopping to pick up dinner from their favorite restaurant, she had brought a bottle of champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for them.

When she arrived home, she quickly placed the champagne and strawberries in the refrigerator as well as putting their dinner in the oven on warm.

Going into their bathroom, she stripped away the attire of Agent Prentiss before taking a quick shower. After her shower, she lathered her body with the lotion that she knew was Aaron's favorite scent.

Walking over and sitting at the vanity, Emily carefully placed several curls throughout her hair, styling it down. With her hair done, she worked on reapplying her makeup slightly heavier than what she wore to work.

Feeling ready except to slip on her new red negligee, Emily went to work setting up the candles she had brought over from her apartment months earlier in the bathroom and bedroom. When she was done, Emily went over to the linen closet and pulled out the set of rarely used silk sheets that had been a gift from a friend years ago. She had found them in with the linens at her apartment when she had been inventorying for the move. Deciding that they would be a nice addition for a night like what she had planned for tonight, she had hid them so it would be a surprise.

Having finished remaking the bed and placing the other sheets in the laundry, Emily went to the kitchen to fill the ice bucket before taking the bottle of champagne out of the refrigerator. Placing the bottle in the ice bucket, she took it and the stand into the bedroom and set it up next to the bed. Returning to the kitchen, she took champagne flutes out of the cabinet and carried them into the bedroom and placed them on the dresser near where the champagne was.

Once that was done, she looked around the room assuring herself that everything was in place. Sighing as she nodded that everything was done. Now she just needed to wait for Aaron to get home.

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Hotch sighed as he walked into the apartment carrying a bouquet of roses. He had sent Emily a text message as he was leaving the BAU. It was the fifth month in a row that something had come up on the month anniversary of their wedding. He had made plans to take Emily out to dinner to celebrate before Strauss summoned him for this last minute meeting.

Now that he was home, he noticed that the lights were low in the living room and off in the kitchen. He took a couple of steps forward wondering where Emily was. She had left the office while he was in an earlier meeting.

All of the sudden he heard movement coming from their bedroom. Turning, he was greeted with the sight of his wife leaning against the door jam looking significantly different than the last time he saw her. She now had her hair down and curled. And he hadn't seen what she was wearing before tonight - a sheer red piece of lingerie that left nothing to the imagination. He would have remembered if she had worn it before.

Smiling, he walked over to her and stopped just in front of her before saying, "this is a surprise."

Emily smiled before she answered, "well we are home and not on a case. I thought we could make the most of it."

"That sounds good."

"So do you want to start with food, a bath or…" she paused as she looked down at herself before looking back at him and continuing, "... or me."

"Hmm, that's a difficult choice. Very difficult. What did you say was for dinner?" Hotch teased.

Emily huffed before answering, "I didn't say but …" but she was interrupted when Hotch leaned in kissing her passionately.

As they kissed he moved them into the bedroom making sure she knew in no uncertain terms what his preference was even if it took all night.