AN: To answer a comment- the Doyle storyline doesn't occur in this story. Neither does Emily's background with the CIA, Interpol or JTF-12.

Also in this story Strauss is OOC. She is supportive of the team and fair with them. There will be antagonist that is an Assistant Director who will come up in a couple of chapters. For how I wanted this story to flow, I wanted to have a supportive buffer between the 2.

CHAPTER 8

It was Wednesday and Emily was back at work in her office at the BAU. Being able to slip into the familiar role of Agent Prentiss was reassuring for her after the angst and turmoil in her personal life the previous week.

After a quiet weekend at home with the kids, Hotch and Emily met with the team at Dave's on Sunday afternoon so everyone could update them on what had been done at the BAU in their absence. They had heard very little the entire week they were out of the office. Strauss and Dave had assured that neither of them were bothered by any issues that came up.

Strauss had called the day after the DSS agents visited to offer her condolences. She had told them that they had both been given bereavement leave and if they needed more than those days, she would apply some of their copious amount of personal days. She had also attended the funeral along with the team.

Dave had checked in with Hotch every day. He had refused to tell him anything about work other than the team had things under control and the new agents on Emily's team were being taken care of.

However with them returning the following day, they needed to know what they were walking into. Thankfully it had been a calm week in the office or at least as calm as the BAU could get.

The work the team had done was amazing and it had made walking into each of their respective offices easier the next day.

For Emily, her inbox had mostly been empty except for administrative items that she personally needed to handle. Her email was another story altogether and it taken most of Monday and Tuesday to get through the messages.

After meeting her new agents on Monday, she had sat down with both of them together and individually each day. She had been relieved that JJ had given both of them one of her orientation packs and had started both of them on the skills worksheet and flowsheet Emily had designed when she became in charge of this team.

As grateful as she was to them for what they did the previous week, Emily found she was avoiding Hotch's team. With them, she was closer to being Emily instead of Agent Prentiss. With her current head space, she really needed Agent Prentiss in control at the office.

Emily was processing way too much emotional baggage from the events of the previous couple of weeks. Baggage that did not need to come up in the office. Had no place in the office because it would distract her from doing her job.

And she knew that the team of profilers would be worried about her since they knew something had happened the day of the funeral. They would try to get her to talk about it. And right now, she wasn't talking much about it to anyone.

Unfortunately, until that morning, it had still included Aaron. She had felt herself pulling away from him since the lawyers' office the previous week. And as much as knew she was doing it she couldn't seem to stop herself and she hated it.

To his credit, Aaron had been her rock. He had been there for her without asking for more than she was able to give. However, over the last couple of days, she could feel his frustration building at her inability to talk to him about what they learned that day and how she was feeling.

She knew that she needed to talk to him, wanted to talk to him. But she hadn't know where to start. Talking about her feelings hadn't been encouraged or welcomed when she was growing up. It wasn't until she joined the team that she found that there were people that were truly interested in her feelings. However, so many heavy revelations had been thrown at her in a short period of time that she felt conflicted.

But she had realized that she wasn't going to be able to make sense of it herself. She needed Aaron's help.

In the car on the way into the office, she started to open up to him.

"I'm sorry, Aaron." Emily said quietly as they entered the FBI garage.

Hotch froze for a second at a stop sign before continuing through the garage. He had no idea where her head was after last week.

What was she sorry for? All the sudden he was worried about where this conversation was going. Was it for how things had been between them for the last few days or was she going to say something she knew he wouldn't want to hear?

He didn't want to ask but needed to know. He decided to calmly ask a neutral question, "Sorry for what, sweetheart?"

Emily took a deep breath and while still looking down she said, "For not talking through everything that happened last week with you."

As she said that, he pulled into a parking spot on the lower level. They always parked in this area because it was generally empty at this time of morning. They could always find a spot in the same place which removed the guesswork about where they parked whether it was that evening or several days later. This morning the lack of traffic around them was a godsend. They needed to have this private and overdue conversation without an audience.

Aaron sighed in relief as he put the car in park and turned it off before turning to her. Noticing that she was immensely interested in her grey suit jacket at the moment, Hotch reached over and hooked a finger under her chin before gently easing it up until she was looking at him. When her gaze focused on him, he smiled back at her and said calmly, "You don't need to apologize, Em."

Though inside, he was anything but calm. He was excited and relieved that his wife was opening up to him. The only current downsides were their location and timing.

Emily closed her eyes and shook her head. Opening her eyes and looking at him, she said, "I do. And I know you are upset with me about it." She mumbled out the last part and then looked away from him.

Hotch sighed, suddenly angry with himself. He hadn't meant to pressure Emily to talk to him. However, as the days had gone by, he could feel the anxiety rise. This had been the longest that Emily had been processing something on her own since their relationship had become serious. It had been killing him inside to see her walking around in a fog the last few days and not being able to help her.

Hotch sighed and turned in his seat to face his wife. He reached over and pulled her towards him until her head was resting on his chest. It was a slightly uncomfortable position in the car however, he wanted this closeness. And given how Emily was snuggling up next to him, she was OK with their position for this talk too.

He kissed the top of her head and moved his hand up and down her right arm as he said softly. "I'm not upset with you, per se. I'm frustrated that you are upset and you weren't talking to me. And based on what we heard last week, I'd worry if you weren't upset. I want to help but you've been shutting me out. I've been trying to give you your space and not hover."

"Thank you." Emily said quietly while cuddling closer to her husband. She hadn't realized until this moment how much what they had learned the previous week had affected him. Suddenly she regretted not talking to him sooner. He needed to process what they had been told as well.

"Are you ready to talk?" Hotch asked hesitantly. He didn't want Emily feel pressured however it felt the right time to test the waters.

"Now?" Emily asked confusedly, looking at their surroundings.

Hotch sighed and looked at the time on the car clock. While rubbing his hand up and down her arm, he shook his head and answered, "probably not. We should both go inside. How about tonight? We get the kids to bed and then sit down with a bottle of wine. I want to know how you are feeling." He sat back in his seat to look at her face, his hand now cupping her elbow. He was taking in her facial expressions, carefully watching the range of emotions that were passing through her eyes.

After what seemed like hours however was only a few seconds, Emily looked at him and nodded slowly. "Tonight." Then she looked down and started to fiddle with her fingers anxiously before continuing quietly, " I don't know how I'm feeling. That is most of the reason I wasn't saying anything." She paused and sighed before continuing. "I don't even know where to start. It is all so overwhelming." She stops still looking down, unsure of what else to say.

Hotch looked at her concerned. Right now he wanted nothing more than to drive the car back out of the garage and head home. He hated to see Emily this upset and appearing so… lost. He hadn't wanted to pressure her to talk over the last week however now he was wondering if he should have encouraged her before today to talk to him. Clearly everything that she had been holding inside was eating her up.

"Em, sweetheart." He said and waited for her to make eye contact before he continued, "we don't need to cover everything at once. We probably shouldn't even try. You'll get through this and I'll be there with you every step of the way. Just remember you're not alone."

Before either of them could say anything else, their phones both beeped. They both groaned as they took out their respective phones and looked at the message they both had received about a unfolding prison break in the Midwest. They were both now expected at a briefing in 20 minutes.

Emily turned to look out the windshield and took a few deep breaths. Hotch saw this and sat back and away from her, knowing she was trying to put a lid back on her box of emotions that they had unexpectedly lifted the edge of that morning. As he saw her steady her breathing and lean back in the seat with her eyes closed and then opening, Hotch asked, "you ready?"

They both knew that as soon as the car door opened, they were SSA Hotchner and SSA Prentiss. They had established strict rules for themselves in the separation of their personal and professional roles. The car was their transition space. He needed to make sure she was ready before they went to their respective teams.

Emily glanced over at him and gave a curt nod, "let's do this" as she picked up her purse at her feet. She had been the first one to open the door.

Now it was later in the morning. Sitting at her desk, Emily felt less of a weight on her today after the short conversation she had with Aaron in the garage. She was still nervous about verbalizing the swirl of emotions she was having that evening with him. But she also knew he would listen and support her.

She knew the rest of his team would support her fully as well. She just needed to tell them what had happened and what she had learned. And the more she thought about it, the more she knew that Aaron was right. She wasn't alone. Not like she had been most of her life.

But she needed to talk things through with Aaron first.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next chapter will be posted early next week.