CHAPTER 25

JJ was driving Hotch back to Dave's after picking him up after his follow up visit with the surgeon and having all of his sutures removed. The visit had gone as expected. He was cleared for most light activities however he was cautioned to take it slow as his abdominal muscles were still healing. He could return to work in two more weeks however Hotch still wasn't sure when he was going to take that step as Emily follow up appointment with her surgeon was for another couple of days.

As he looked out the window, he thought about the changes that had happened over the last couple of weeks. How central work had been to his life for so long. But since they started staying with Dave, he hadn't thought too much about work. He had been recovering from his own injuries as well as helping Emily navigate life with only being able to use one arm. It had been rocky at the beginning but somewhere along the line, they had gotten into a routine. And the routine had helped ease Emily's anxiety.

He was pulled out of his thoughts as JJ parked in Dave's driveway. When they both reached the front door, they entered the quiet house. They found Emily and Spencer in the sunroom playing chess.

At least one person from the team came over each day to visit. Dave had requested soon after Emily was released from the hospital to his house that not everyone came over everyday. That request was made after he and Hotch discussed what upset her the day she came to the house. Her discharge instructions were to rest and relax as much as possible. They knew she wouldn't be able to do that if there was a houseful of visitors everyday.

The team understood and made up a visit schedule. They each found something that they could do with Emily where she would only need one hand. With Reid, it had consistently been chess while with Garcia it was Go. After finding something to hold the cards, Emily and JJ had taken to playing poker while when Derek was there they liked to watch the adventures of the Amazing Race. Hotch would sometimes stay and visit as well though most days he would wait until Emily was napping to visit with their friends.

Additionally Dave was planning to have everyone over for dinner so they could all catch up and visit together.

Today Spencer had come over to keep her company while Hotch was at his appointment. When they entered the room, Emily looked up and asked, "did everything go OK?"

Hotch nodded, "all the suture are out. I need to slowly increase activity while the muscles completely heal. But otherwise everything looks good."

Emily nodded but attention was interrupted when JJ asked, "Em are you almost ready to go?" They needed to leave in about 15 minutes to go to Emily's hair appointment. She was certain that her best friend would not have asked Spencer for help getting ready.

Emily nodded and then answered, "yes, Aaron helped me earlier. I can be ready when you are."

The group talked for a few minutes before Emily left with JJ. A short time later they arrived at the salon for Emily's appointment.

It was the third time that they had come here. It all started a couple of days after Emily was released from the hospital. Her hair had been a mess. Between being in a hospital bed and then resting at the house, it had become a tangled mess that neither Hotch nor Dave had any idea how to help with. When Dave had looked at the collection of hair care products that JJ had packed, he didn't know where to start.

At that point it had been over a week since she had been able to wash it and her scalp was becoming itchy. Complicating things was that Emily couldn't get in the shower or tub as she couldn't get the immobilizer wet. Trying to lean forward or backwards to wash her hair proved painful for her healing clavicle. Dave had almost been at the point of asking Derek to lie her on the kitchen counter so they could wash her hair in the sink.

That is when Garcia suggested going to the salon where they had done their last girls' day out months earlier. She recalled that they had a special shampoo station for people with neck issues that reclined to almost horizontal over a shampoo sink. After making a quick phone call and explaining the situation, Emily had an appointment later that afternoon.

Garcia and Hotch had gone to the appointment with her and stayed. When it was her turn, Hotch sat next to her and held her right hand while Garcia was on her left side ready to support her shoulder if needed. As the stylist slowly reclined the chair, the setup worked as expected in not stressing her shoulder. The stylist then washed her hair while carefully avoiding the healing cut on her forehead. Since Emily was comfortable, she then went on to do a scalp massage before finishing.

With that done, the stylist took her to a semi private pod that had more space so Garcia and Hotch could stay with her. After discussing the situation, Emily agreed with the suggestion to have her hair placed into two French braids. The stylist had first twirled small areas of hair and then used these sections to form the braids. The explanation being that it would hold better in her current situation without needing to make the braids tight and potentially uncomfortable to lie on.

While Garcia stayed with Emily while the braids were being put in, another stylist had taken Hotch to shampoo his hair as he was finding it difficult to lift his arms up to his head with his injury.

When he came back, he found Emily in the midst of receiving a lower leg and right arm massage that was followed by a mani/pedi. By the time they had returned to Dave's house, she was extremely tired but also much more relaxed.

It had taken all of them a couple of days to get used to seeing Emily in braids as it was not a hairstyle that she had ever worn since joining the BAU. However as promised the braids had lasted several days and were keeping her hair from becoming tangled again which was a relief to everyone. The plan was for her to go back every few days to have her hair washed and then rebraided for the foreseeable future.

When Emily and JJ returned to Dave's house with clean hair and new braids, she went into the kitchen and worked on setting the table for dinner. Dave placed all the plates and utensils on the table and she would arrange them around the table based on how many people were staying. It had been part of her routine for about a week after expressing that she wanted to do something around the house.

When that was done, she took the snack plate Dave had set up for her and went back to the sunroom where she spent most of her day. The recliner that Dave and Morgan had moved into the room had been just what she needed. It had a control panel in the right arm rest that worked the recliner so she could make all adjustments herself. After finding a comfortable position she pulled out the e-reader that Garcia had lent her.

Like Reid, she was a traditionalist with books, preferring print books; however, she had grown increasingly upset at not being able to keep them open and continually losing her place. When she had given it to Emily, Garcia had already uploaded the book she had been trying to read and Emily accepted it as a temporary measure.

The next thing Emily noticed was Hotch carefully waking her up, saying it was dinner time. After moving the chair up, she slowly stood out of habit as she hadn't felt dizzy in a few days. When they reached the kitchen, she found Dave already had dinner on the table.

As they sat down, it warmed her heart as she again noticed the care Dave was putting into her meals. He had embraced the food lists that they were given at the hospital while also keeping in mind her food preferences. He made sure she always had snacks and a drink available. And as grateful as she was about that, that paled in comparison to his efforts to serve her food in such a way that she could manage to eat without help.

It had taken her a few days to realize what he had been doing. She hadn't been sure until he mentioned for dinner one night that he was making a dish that was traditionally served with fettuccine. However when she noticed that when dinner was served, he had made it with penne. Not just for her but also for all of them so that she could manage it on her own but also so she wouldn't feel singled out.

After dinner, Emily headed back to the sunroom with Mudgie walking a few steps behind. While the chocolate lab had been somewhat cautious of them the first couple of days, he had quickly warmed up to them, particularly Emily.

He had taken to following her around and lying next to the recliner when she was sitting there. It was quickly noticed that if they saw Mudgie, Emily wasn't that far away.

At first, Emily wasn't sure what she thought of this development having never had a dog. That was until a day she was upset and the dog sat up next to her and rested his head on her lap. She hadn't wanted to talk yet but she started to feel better as she looked down at the worried puppy eyes looking back at her. He didn't want her to talk. Mudgie had only wanted a head scratch and to have her feel better.

With this development, Dave had started taking Mudgie out for exercise each day when whoever from the team came to visit since Mudgie did not want to leave Emily alone and Emily wasn't ready for the type of walk Mudgie needed.

However as the days went on, Emily slowly added short walks to her day. For those walks she and Hotch took Mudgie as well. In agreeing to that Dave made her promise to drop the leash if the dog tried to chase anything.

However Mudgie was on his best behavior whenever he was out with Emily, even the day when a rabbit darted out in front of them. Dave was shocked but pleased at that development having not had the same result the last time that happened. As she got settled back into the recliner, Mudgie settled on his dog bed that Dave had moved to that spot a few days earlier.

It didn't long for Hotch finished helping Dave clean up. He then came in to sit in the chair next to her recliner that had been his for the last couple of weeks.

A little while later, Dave walked to the door of the room. He had decided when Emily was still in the hospital to set up her place to relax in his sunroom. It was centrally located in his house so they would be able to hear her if she needed anything but had a door if she wanted time to herself. It was also bright with a good view of his garden.

Before they noticed him he just stood in the doorway and watched them together. He was still getting used to seeing them as a couple. Since he had come back to the team almost two years earlier, he knew them both in their roles as FBI agents. He had known Aaron for years and had come to know Emily well in the time since returning to the team.

After learning of their marriage he went back in his mind and considered if there were any indications that he had overlooked as that revelation had even caught him by surprise. As he did, there had been certain interactions where he had attributed one of their reactions to another factor when in reality it was most likely the result of them being a couple.

With them living at his house, he probably had the best opportunity to observe their interactions now. What he had determined even that horrible night when they were injured was how much they were in love with each other. Since then there had been countless times when they had been supportive of each other. Even with her limitations, Emily had been doing her best to support Hotch.

Though he would not say it to their faces, he found them very cute together in a way he had never experienced with either of them separately. While they had only been married for a relatively short time, they had in that time formed a strong bond. A bond they were now relying on as they were navigating their recoveries and upcoming parenthood. As each day passed Dave's conviction was stronger that he would do whatever he could to support them.