Author's Note: As was stated by Emily earlier in the story, she and Hotch are "best friends" in this world. Clearly all of you can visualize such a relationship in principle, but if you're familiar with the Girl'verse, you can picture their physical interactions over the summer months as being the same depth of attachment and affection here, minus the romantic undertones of course.

This one picks up immediately from the last. And again, due credit to the prompt helping to set the tone here. Kavi and I are planning a One Tree Hill bonus sometime soon simply because they do have great titles.

Bonus Challenge #20 - Questions

Show: One Tree Hill

Title Challenge: You Know I Love You, Don't You?

Emily heard the lock turn and then Hotch's face appeared. She could tell from the look of annoyance that he was ready to give her an earful for leaving him alone at the table with JJ.

But then she saw his expression morph to one of surprise and concern as he reached out to touch her cheek.

"What happened?" Hotch asked worriedly as he gently cupped Emily's jaw. "Are you okay?"

Her lip was split and swollen and it was clear that she'd been crying.

"Um," Emily's eyes began to water again as they fell away from his and down to the floor, "no, not really. That's why I'm here. May I come in please?"

"Of course," he shook his head as his hand fell from her cheek and he took her fingers, "I'm sorry," he tugged her into the apartment, "come tell me what happened."

After he did a quick check of the hall, Hotch quietly closed the door and set the deadbolt again. When he turned back to Emily she was still staring down at the floor, and that's when he started to get a cold flutter in his stomach. Terrified that perhaps she'd been attacked.

Though he didn't yet know what had happened, Hotch felt a bout of protectiveness come over him. So he let go of Emily's fingers and moved his arm up and around her shoulders instead. Then he pulled her against his side and kissed her temple.

"Come on," he murmured softly as he started walking her to the couch, "let's go sit down."

For the past forty-five minutes he'd been cursing Emily's name, her and her little attempts to play matchmaker with him and JJ. After she'd PROMISED him that if he went out tonight she'd act as buffer, twenty minutes after they got there she gave Rick a look and then the two of them had scurried across the bar leaving him alone with JJ.

Hotch had wanted to kill her.

As though him sitting and talking to the woman he loved . . . with her fiancé FOUR inches away(!) . . . was somehow going to cause her to have this huge lightning bolt revelation that she should drop her whole life and run away with him.

Metaphorically speaking of course.

And as expected, as soon as Emily was gone, the easy light hearted conversation had gone as well. It had immediately become so painful talking to JJ, having her sitting right there with him as she smiled and laughed, yet he'd been unable to touch her or tell her how he felt . . . he'd just had to leave.

But his irritation at Emily immediately vanished when he saw that she was hurt. Though their relationship was not romantic in nature, he loved her like family and for all intents she was technically . . . for the foreseeable future . . . the only woman in his life. And seeing her hurt was physically upsetting to him.

Hotch's jaw twitched as they sat down . . . so whoever had done this to her was going to pay for it.

As they sat down on the couch Emily's eyes started to well with fresh tears . . . he was being so nice. But she knew him as well as she knew herself. And she knew that as soon as she told him what she had done, he was going to pull away from her. He would stop being sweet and taking care of her and he'd start yelling. Or worse . . .

Not yelling.

When Hotch was deadly quiet that's when he was the most upset . . . the most angry.

God please . . . Emily begged as she pulled her leg up under her . . . please let him yell.

"Okay," she took a breath as she turned to face him, her voice hoarse and watery, "I need to tell you something and I need you to listen to me okay, please try to listen to the whole story before you do anything, all right?"

Hotch's eyes were wide with worry and tension as he squeezed her hand.

"Okay."

Emily took another deep breath, but still her voice caught on the first words.

"I fucked up, I fucked up really badly and you're going to be so angry with me, but please Hotch," she reached out and touched his cheek, "you know how important you are to me," her voice cracked as the first tear slid down her face, "you're my best friend and you know that I would NEVER purposely do anything to hurt you."

Christ . . . she slowly inhaled . . . this was turning out to be so much more painful than she'd thought it was going to be. And she hadn't even gotten to his reaction yet!

"Emily," Hotch took a shallow breath as he squeezed her hand, "you're scaring the shit out of me. Now please," he pleaded, "please just tell me what happened. What did you do? And who hit you?"

Oh Christ . . . a terrible thought came to him . . . he hoped she didn't kill somebody. That was a major fuckup and something he'd be pretty "upset" about. Actually her killing someone was about the only plausible reason he could come up with that would match her appearance and her words. Beyond that he couldn't imagine her doing anything so awful that she'd be this terrified of his reaction.

Realizing that she'd prepared him as much as she could, Emily's hand fell away from Hotch's cheek as the tears started spilling over.

"After you left," she started slowly, hoping that she could find just the right tone to keep his temper in check long enough to get everything out, "JJ came over and pulled me into the bathroom. She was furious, screaming at me, calling me these terrible names," she shook her head, "and saying these awful, awful things."

Seeing Hotch's look of confusion Emily realized that she needed to explain better.

"You see," she swallowed, "she was upset because she thought that you had left because of me. That you and I were involved somehow and that I was playing with your feelings and hurting you with Rick."

Watching him huff slightly at the idea of such a thing, Emily nodded, "I know, it seems silly to us, but," her voice caught, "at first I didn't understand what she was talking about. That she meant you. She just kept saying 'him' and then I figured out that she meant you. And, I um," she sniffled, "I tried to explain that she was totally off base, that you and I weren't involved like that. And I just, I barely got the words out and then she just hauled off and punched me in the face."

Hotch blinked, "what? JJ hit you?"

What the fuck?

Seeing Hotch's look of shock, Emily nodded, "yeah," her voice faded, "JJ hit me." Her gaze shifted over his shoulder as she continued softly, "and her ring cut my lip and it was bleeding . . . and then I got so mad and I did something I shouldn't have done."

That God damn diamond. Of course she'd been furious at simply being struck, but Emily was positive that the blood was what put her over the edge.

The blood was the reason her entire relationship with Hotch was in jeopardy.

And then, before she could finish the rest of the story, Emily felt his fingertips ghost over the corner of her mouth. She froze for a moment before she heard him say softly.

"Emily, if you've been so worried because you think I'm going to be angry because you hit JJ back, it's okay." She brought her eyes back to his, and he tipped his head, "I mean it's not okay," he shook his head, "none of this okay, but," he gave her a sad smile, "I'm certainly not upset with you. I understand losing your temper in a moment like that. It was a mistake." He rolled his eyes, "if Rossi hit me I'm sure I'd hit him back too," his fingers glided over her jaw again.

"And we really need to put some ice on this or there's no way you'll be able to cover it up tomorrow."

Well, that explained why she was so worried about her reaction. Yes, ordinarily he would be pretty upset with Emily if she'd hauled off and attacked JJ for no reason. But if they gave each other matching bruises over some ridiculous misunderstanding then he wasn't going to pick a side. Honestly, he hoped he never would be put into a situation where he'd have to pick a side.

How do you choose between two women that you love?

And Emily knew then that he thought that was the story. That she and JJ had a huge misunderstanding and then a big fight and that she had come to see him to tell him what had happened.

Her heart ached . . . if only that was the story.

If only she had just hauled off and given JJ a black eye and stormed out of the bathroom. Then she could let Hotch get the ice pack and she could sit on the couch with him and cry on his shoulder about her fight with JJ and he would kiss her forehead and tell her that it would be okay. That they would apologize to each other tomorrow and it would be over.

But none of those things were going to happen.

Because there was more.

Emily bit back the sob that started to bubble up, and then a second later she felt Hotch's hand fall away as he started to stand up.

"Wait," she grabbed his fingers, "that's not what happened . . . that's not why I'm here." His brow immediately wrinkled in confusion as he looked down at her, "what do you mean?"

And she plunged into the rest of it.

"After she hit me, I didn't hit her back. I," she swallowed, "I looked down and saw the blood on my hand and I was just . . ." she sucked in a breath, "filled with rage," her eyes slid away from his again, "the things she'd said to me were so vicious and I was so humiliated because all these people were around, and then there was this blood, on me," her eyes snapped back up to his, "and I just wanted to hurt her too. To make her realize how rotten and unfair she'd been to me, so I told her that I wasn't the reason that you left. That you weren't in love with me," her voice faded to a whisper, "that you were in love with her."

There, it was out . . . she bit the inside of her cheek . . . and now for the fallout.

Hotch froze for a second as her words began to sink in, and then he felt his stomach drop and blood turn to ice.

"You did what?" He whispered back in disbelief.

She couldn't have. She wouldn't do that to him. She wouldn't betray his confidence like that.

She couldn't.

"I told JJ that you're in love with her," Emily moaned.

Or maybe she could.

And then he saw the tears streaming down her face as she began to sob, "I'm so sorry Aaron! I didn't mean to do it, it just came out and I couldn't take it back!"

Though he understood the words coming out of her mouth . . . that she was trying to apologize . . . at that moment it meant nothing to him. Her words, her apologies, their relationship, it was all nothing. All he could think was that she had betrayed him. That she had humiliated him.

And he was filled with rage.

"What the FUCK Emily!" He hissed as he yanked his hand away from hers, "how could you DO that to me? I trusted you!"

Unable to stand being that close to her, he stood up and began pacing in front of the couch. His fists were clenched to white knuckles and he was flooded with a swirl of bitter ugly feelings that he'd never felt towards Emily before. And when his eyes snapped back down to hers . . . for just a moment . . . he hated her.

It was for just a second, but apparently Emily saw it too, because her face contorted in grief right before she brought her hands to her mouth and began to sob uncontrollably.

And through her muffled cries he could only make out two words.

"Aaron, please!"

A stab of pain pierced his anger . . . and then he remembered her words to him when she first walked in the door.

That she'd never deliberately hurt him.

Still though . . . he crossed the room and went out into the hall . . . even seeing how upset she was, he couldn't deny that he was still royally pissed off at her. And he was going to stay royally pissed for at least a few minutes longer. So he tried to ignore her heartbroken sobs from the other room as he leaned his head against the wall, closed his eyes and began to count down from one hundred.

And after he did that he could feel his anger slowly getting under control. And then he made himself remember all of the reasons that he loved Emily. All of the reasons that they'd become friends. All of the times that she'd cheered him up when he was down, all of the times she'd made him laugh on days when nothing was funny. And when that bitterness and rage started to be replaced by other things, he remembered her baring her soul to him, crying on his shoulder after a fight with her mother, or a boyfriend, or just a terrible case.

She'd entrusted him with so many of her secrets, and she trusted him to keep her confidences. That trust had always gone both ways and he knew that she wouldn't betray him deliberately.

The last of his anger melted away . . . it was an accident. She'd lost her temper and said something in the heat of a charged moment that she would never say otherwise.

Once both his head and his heart had accepted the truth of that, Hotch opened his eyes and slowly exhaled.

Then he checked his watch.

He'd been gone from the living room for almost five minutes. That's when he noticed the silence in the apartment.

No more sobbing.

He turned around and stepped back inside, his eyes widening in alarm when he saw that Emily was gone.

Shit.

The last emotion she'd seen from him had been pure hatred . . . and then he'd left.

SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!

Over and over he cursed in his head as he ran towards the door, yanking it open and racing down the hall.

Through the glass of the front alcove, he saw her outside, still sobbing as she tried to dig her keys out of her bag.

Seeing her that way . . . looking so lost and alone dissolved any lingering irritation he might have otherwise felt towards her. After all, just because you accept that something was an accident, didn't mean that you couldn't still be upset.

But even that was gone now as he stood in the open doorway and called her name softly.

"Emily."

Slowly she lifted her head and as she looked at him Hotch's own eyes began to sting as he saw her standing under the streetlight. Her eyes were completely swollen from crying, and the only makeup left on her face was the smear of mascara running this way and that.

She looked like somebody had broken her heart.

And then he realized that he was the somebody that had done that. Feeling a stab in his own heart, he hurried down the path, and ran up to her on the street.

As Hotch stopped in front of her, Emily froze, feeling the warring emotions of fear and hope filling her heart. Though his tone had been soft when he called her name, part of her was terrified that he was there to tell her off completely, that he couldn't forgive her and their friendship was over.

But then he reached out and touched her cheek again. And as her breath caught, he whispered. "We still need to put ice on your lip."

Then their eyes were locked for a moment before he stepped forward.

"Come here," he said softly as he pulled her to his chest. And feeling the tears begin soaking into his shirt, Hotch closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head.

"Don't cry Em," he murmured, "it's all right," he kissed the top of her head as he rubbed his hand down her back, "I know you didn't do it on purpose."

"I didn't," she sobbed in relief as her arms wrapped around his chest, "you know I didn't! I would never . . . I was just so angry and I wanted to hurt her for hurting me and then I went too far, and I couldn't take it back." she tipped her head back to look at him, "you forgive me?"

"Yeah," he gave her a sad smile as he brushed the hair back that was sticking to her wet cheek, "I forgive you." His gaze shifted up and over her head, taking in the desolate street around them. Then he looked back down at her.

"Is Rick expecting you?"

"No," she sniffled as she wiped her across her face for the thousandth time, "no, I told him that I needed to see you and that I'd talk to him tomorrow."

"Okay then," he slipped his arm around her shoulder, pulled her against his side as he started walking back to the door, "let's go fix your face, and then," he sighed.

"We'll talk."

A/N 2: Given the betrayal is the more complicated emotional drama here I was relieved that was an H/P situation because that's a relationship I'm comfortable writing. I'm already out of my comfort zone with a romance with JJ/Hotch so it was definitely easier writing this scene for a "couple" I know better.

Again, another two or three chapters, next one in in perhaps a week or so. Hope you're still enjoying.