Finale Fix

BONUS PROMPT: Surprise (Buffy)

CHAPTER EIGHT

Uneven Keel

PROMPT: Weight of the World (Buffy)

She hadn't been by the hospital.

Well, that wasn't totally true. She'd been by, she'd just kept her visiting hours to those times when he was asleep. Emily had her reasons, not the least of which was her own perceived emotional instability. Hotch's shooting had opened doors Emily had previously and consciously as well as subconsciously avoided like the plague. No, it was easy for her to admit she'd been feeling something deeper, something potentially volatile and dangers. The last thing she wanted was to dump all of this emotion on him right as he was recovering from being shot.

She'd been keeping up to date on his condition through doctors and a sympathetic Dave, determined to keep her distance despite Dave telling her that Hotch asked about her every time he woke. She'd made Dave swear not to speak a word to Hotch that she'd been visiting. Now, she and Cami were cooking in the kitchen. Matthew was coming for dinner, Cami having made all the arrangements.

"I don't get it, that's all," Cami said, stirring the pasta. "I don't understand how on earth you can be here at home when Agent Hotchner was just released and is probably at home by himself."

Dave had told Emily that morning that Hotch was being released and was set to do the rest of his recovery at home. She'd been able to tell by the tone of Dave's voice that she was almost expected to offer her help, but she'd refrained from doing so.

"Its not for you to understand, Cami," Emily replied quietly.

"This is your perfect chance," Cami shot back. "And you're being a damned coward."

"That's the line, Camille," Emily warned sternly. "Not only is this my decision to make, but it's out of your realm of understanding. It's already an extremely complicated situation and I'm not going to complicate it further by being there and dumping extra emotion on his head."

Not to mention they still hadn't caught Foyet.

Cami pouted for a moment before opening her mouth to speak. The sound of a key scratching in the lock had her narrowing her eyes as she swiftly changed her mind, wiping her hands on the nearby towel. "I still think you're being a coward."

She was off before Emily could reply and the older Prentiss heard her daughter squeal, "Daddy!"

Matthew's deep voice answered, "How's my Gracie?"

Emily couldn't help her smile, nor the tears that sprang to her eyes. Matthew brought with him a comfort Emily had been missing, a comfort built on surviving hardships and a life time of friendship. She found herself blearily turning down the stove and hurriedly wiping her hands. She heard his footfalls and turned, just as he was rounding the corner. She wasn't sure who approached who or any of the little details like that and really, they didn't matter. What did was the fact that his arms were wrapped tightly around her and her head was buried in his neck, absorbing the pure Matthew-ness that she knew and loved. It was the same wash of comfort she'd felt the first time she'd been so terrified as she held her newborn baby daughter.

Emily hadn't even realized she was crying until she heard Matthew making quiet shushing noises into her hair. He picked her up the same way he'd lifted Cami as a little girl, carrying her to the couch. Eventually, she calmed. Matthew's hands came up, brushing the tears off of her cheeks.

"What happened?" he asked quietly, his fingers as soft as his words, worry in his eyes.

Emily sniffled slightly. "Hotch got shot."

Matthew was well aware of who Hotch was. "Is he okay? Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

"He's at home. He was just released," Emily answered.

"I'll drive you there," Matthew offered immediately.

"No," Emily stopped him. "It's fine."

"Obviously it's not, Em."

"It's just… a lot," she allowed quietly.

Matthew had long ago started hearing about Hotch and had long ago recognized the shift in Emily towards her superior. Emily had always possessed endless well-springs of compassion and sympathy so the fact that thing started to change right around the time the man was going through a bitter divorce was really no surprise to the man that had known Emily since she was a teenager. It was the depth of the emotion that was a little surprising.

He's okay then?" Matthew asked quietly.

"Doctors say he'll make a full recover," Emily allowed.

Matthew rubbed her back. "So everything is going to be okay then."

Emily heaved out a breath. "Eventually. There's still a lot of recovery left to do."

Matthew nodded slowly. "Okay then. Go splash some cold water on your face. Cami and I can finish dinner."

She put up a token protest, but Matthew simply ushered her up the stairs. Eventually, Emily sighed and climbed the stairs, only slightly better. There was still so much she couldn't comprehend and part of her really didn't want to try. It was dangerous territory, her emotions were, and, as she'd learned as a young child, were much safer wrapped up in boxes in her brain.

Much, much safer.

Hotch had never been more thankful for an elevator in all his life. He'd made it to Emily's condo, but most of him was very much stiff and sore. Still, the fact that he hadn't seen Emily bothered him much more than he'd bargained for. Not to mention there were a number of conversations he wanted to have with her.

Like who the hell was Cami?

The second time he'd woken, JJ had been the one sitting by his bedside and she'd managed to skilfully evade every question he'd asked about 'Cami'. Morgan too had been reluctant to talk about his blood donor and even pretty much blowing upon Dave hadn't gotten him the answers he was looking for.

"It's Emily's story to tell," he'd said sagely, seriously and every time he'd asked about the illusive woman.

Which worried him. He and Emily had gotten past the stage of hiding things from each other, hadn't they? He'd thought they were the type of friends that trusted each other with everything, so why was Dave so insistent that Emily had a different story to tell about Cami that he'd never heard before. Whatever it was, it had to be serious to inspire such deep loyalty from the team. It was these questions, this 'Cami', that had driven him from his apartment, doped up on pain killers.

But above Cami, he had a more pressing question. Why hadn't she come to see him in the hospital? He ran his good hand through his hair as he leaned on the wall outside of her condo. He'd been dreaming about her, not that he'd mentioned that to any one else. He'd been dreaming about her tears, about her words, about her being the one lying in the hospital bed and not him and it had torn at his heart. The only person he could even think of talking to about it was the same person that was haunting his every thought, plaguing his every moment.

He knocked on the door.

And almost stumbled back at the person who answered.

"Oh. Hi."

There was awareness in her voice. "Hello." She looked like Emily. Almost her identical twin. Could have been sisters. But he knew Emily didn't have a sister.

"Um… Okay. So, hold on a sec… You're… Hotch, right?"

And she knew him? Still, he nodded.

"Right. Okay. Um… God, this is awkward and complicated…" She chewed her lip in a way he completely recognized as Emily's. "Okay. Mom's upstairs. Did you want to come in?"

Mom? This woman was calling Emily Mom? He blinked.

"Gracie? Who's at the door?"

That was a man's voice, and Hotch found himself trying to stand up straighter.

"Hotch, I mean, Agent Hotchner… I mean…."

The man came around the corner, settling a hand on this young woman's shoulder. "Okay, sweetheart. Why don't you go get your mom, okay?"

The woman nodded, and the man pulled the door open further before holding out a hand. "Matthew."

Benton. Emily had mentioned him, mentioned how involved in her past he was. He was her closest friend besides him. He could deal with Matthew Benton.

"Aaron," he replied, grimacing slightly.

"Come on in, sit down. I'm sure the doctors told you that you shouldn't be up and moving yet."

Hotch had to give Matthew that one. The doctors had indeed told him to take it easy and thought it wasn't like he'd walked to Emily's apartment, he was still tired and still healing.

"Can I get you something? Water?"

He was in such a bizarre situation that he almost requested something alcoholic before remembering it wouldn't go with his pills. Damn. "Water's fine."

Feet came down the stairs and he turned slowly, trying to aggravate his injury. Emily stood there, looking torn between shock, fear and something he most definitely couldn't identify. Then The Mask washed over her face as she cleared her throat.

"Hotch."

Okay, I think the next chapters are going to be long drawn out conversations, but I haven't decided yet. We'll talk about Cami, obviously, but I haven't decided if hiding Cami is going to be enough to justify what I'm going to have Hotch do afterwards or if I'm going to have to throw in the depths of Emily's feelings with it. This one may actually be over shorter than I'd originally anticipated, which is kind of nice, kind of not.

Reviews are candy and Grandma's Jam!