The Most Life Changing Thing

Reid and Prentiss

Note- The first part of this chapter shows what Hotch thinks about Reid and Prentiss hooking up.

Chapter Thirteen

December 2010

Even after all he had been through, and all the gruesome things he had seen in his life, Aaron Hotchner was still a naturally optimistic man. He may not show his emotions often but he felt deeply. He believed that good would prevail over evil, that loving people deserved happiness and that life, for most people, would have more happy moments in it than sad ones.

These beliefs were challenged daily in his chosen profession.

He saw people after they had suffered the most brutal deaths and he saw the way witnessing that affected his team. Saw how they tended to be careful about letting people too close to them most times. The job got in the way of their love lives, took away their free time, made it so they couldn't kick back and relax like they would if they had a different job.

Knowing all this made Hotch worry for his team. They were each sacrificing so much to do this job. He only hoped they could find a little peace away from work like he found with his son, Jack, and his memories of Haley.

Hotch worried most about the youngest member of their team, Spencer Reid. Though Reid hated to be fretted over, they all did it anyway- in their own ways. Over the years they had all wondered if Reid would ever find a way to his own bit of happiness and peacefulness in his life. It seemed Reid had been struggling for his whole existence to find that.

There were the rare moments when Reid would light up with joy over something that particularly pleased him (like Halloween, obscure facts, ComicCon, chess and poker) but usually there was a look in his eye as if he didn't quite understand this world's ways and didn't quite know where he fit in.

Except lately. This last month Hotch had never seen Reid look more content. It was blatantly obvious at the office Christmas party that Reid was smitten with Prentiss.

They never came out and spoke about it to Hotch, but everyone on the team noticed their growing attraction to each other- the teasing jokes, small touches, lingering looks, and how Reid slept in Prentiss hotel room now instead of his own.

Standing near the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, a small smile tugged at the corner of Hotch's lips. He said to David Rossi "She makes him happy."

"A good woman can do that for a man. That's even more especially true for a lonely man. Plus there's no denying how special she is. She could make any man happier. He's lucky he's the one she's got eyes for." After a moment Rossi asked "Think they'll last?"

"Who can say?" But Hotch hoped they did. He liked to believe that happiness could be found and

held onto, no matter how often Hotch saw happiness ripped apart right before his eyes.

"Want some eggnog? I heard Garcia spiked it."

"I have paperwork to do later. Better not risk it. I wouldn't want to end up writing to Strauss how I really feel about her in my next report."

Rossi laughed. "That would be some Christmas present to me, if you did that. Just to see the look on her face."

Hotch let out a chuckle. Christmas could be a very hard time of year, especially when grief seemed to be a constant shadow over a person, but this year would be a little easier than the last, and next year a little easier still. He was hopeful, for himself and his team. He had to be. Or else he wouldn't get out of bed in the morning because what would be the point.

Aaron Hotchner, unofficially since his job prohibited him from officially doing so, was rooting for his two team members to keep making each other happy. It was good to see them both with their eyes bright with joy. That look didn't happen often enough for either Reid or Prentiss but now it was there every time they glanced at each other.

And Hotch knew the feeling that caused that look was what life's sweetest moments were inspired by: gentle, forgiving, wondrous, confusing, heartfelt love.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Just tell him you don't want to do this, Emily thought over and over during that month, whenever talk of their trip to Vegas was mentioned. He'll understand.

But she knew he wouldn't. If she didn't go and meet his mother Reid would be hurt. And the very last thing Emily wanted to do was hurt the man who she loved, the man who treated her better than any other man ever had, the man who made her heart race faster and wilder than she'd ever known before. She had been surprised she could feel all that for good friend Reid, when the feelings first started, but now it was just natural.

There may be no explanation why it was Spencer Reid and not Mick Rawson or some other man from her past but it wasn't any of them. It was Reid who took her there, and only Reid who ever could inspire so much emotion in her, of that she was sure.

So she couldn't let her fear and worry keep her home in Virginia, separated from him on Christmas.

That didn't stop her from freaking out at the thought of going, though. It was hard to articulate aloud properly just why she didn't want to make the trip with him. It was just a general bad feeling she had about meeting his mother. Her own mother expected so much from her, and she always felt as if she didn't rise to Elizabeth's expectations. If she couldn't please her own mother, how could she possibly hope to please his?

And how could she tell Mrs. Reid that Emily would take care of Spencer, loving him the way he deserved, when Emily wasn't even sure they had any chance of staying together?

She got pregnant before she ever slept with Reid. Made a decision that would change everything. Her life would be about her baby. Reid never signed up for that kind of life. She couldn't just drag him into all that, could she? Was that fair at all?

A baby was a huge, life changing thing. It wasn't a situation that one person could just thrust and force on another. A person should be able to know the score and make their own decisions. Emily had let herself be convinced Reid wouldn't be ready for a kid in his life and their relationship would end when he learned she was pregnant- not with a fight, but with a conversation that was honest about the fact that they were going in different directions.

Lately she'd been fantasizing he would want to be a part of the baby's life. Fantasies were dangerous things though. She often silently scolded herself for building up her hopes like that. It wasn't very smart. It would just make it all hurt more later if he was scared off by her being pregnant.

If we're not even gonna date for more than another month, she told herself, Why do I have to meet his mother?

Because Reid wanted it. And Emily, whenever she looked in his sweet eyes, just couldn't deny him this one favor he had asked of her.

The weeks leading up to there trip were filled with dates, shopping for presents, weekends spent in bed, cases that horrified them and nights in hotel rooms comforting each other with sex before falling into an exhausted sleep. The effects of the pregnancy were starting to be felt in small ways by her- her breasts getting more tender, some heartburn, having to pee more often than usual. She tried to hide the symptoms as best she could so she could keep her secret a little longer.

That became even harder on the plane ride to Vegas. She spent a good chunk of it in the bathroom throwing up. It wasn't the flying that got to her, but the odd odors on the plane. She gagged on the weird food smells that kept hitting her from people who brought food aboard with them.

Reid grew concerned about her. He sprouted off facts about the unhealthiness of the air on airplanes, which led to germs being transmitted to people.

"Enough, enough," Emily muttered, to try and make him stop, before resting her head against the window of the plane.

He offered her a tums. She gave him a sad smile and took it, chewing it and swallowing. "Don't worry. I just need a nap and I'm sure this will pass."

"A nap is no cure for someone suffering from influenza."

"I don't have the flu...um, I just don't fly commercial well and this has been a bumpy flight."

"Not especially."

She gave him a look as if he was so wrong. "I just need to rest my eyes, okay?"

He nodded. Emily lay back and try to rest, praying that she wouldn't wake till they landed. Suddenly her seat was kicked by a small child who was sitting behind her. She jerked forward and opened her eyes, groaning softly.

She was surprised when Reid asked the parents to please keep their kid from doing that again because "my girlfriend isn't feeling very well and needs her rest."

It was the first time Prentiss heard Reid call her that term. A small smile came to her lips as she snuck a peek at him before closing her eyes again.

Girlfriend. She liked it.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm sorry I have to leave you when you're not feeling well." They were now checked into their hotel room.

"Its fine, Reid, really. I'm just gonna rest some more. All you'd do if you were here is watch me sleep."

"When I was sick as a child I liked my mother to read to me and stroke my hair. It was comforting."

"Aw, that's sweet but I don't need that. Besides, I prefer my memories of us in bed together to be a lot sexier than me feeling like I'm about to hurl." She smiled. "Go ahead and go visit your mother. Tell her I look forward to meeting her."

Reid smirked. "So, in other words, lie?"

"I do look forward to meeting her. I just don't look forward to her meeting me."

"That makes no sense at all."

"Feelings don't have to make sense, they just are."

"Sounds like something you'll use to get out fights in the future."

She laughed and they lay back on the bed. "It's the truth. If that benefits me in a fight, well then, lucky me."

He walked over to the bed and sat down. "Would you like me to bring you back anything?"

"I'll order room service if I get hungry."

"Some medicine?"

"I'll text you if I decide I want any. I'm feeling better already. The fresh air helped and being off that stuffy, loud, smelly plane sure didn't hurt either."

He leaned down and kissed her cheek, before whispering in Russian, "Sleep well, my beautiful heart," which was his pet name for her. She had never been called anything remotely that romantic or unique by any other man and she knew she'd never would find anything man who professed his love in the way Reid did.

They shared a long, tender look before he left the hotel room.

Emily lay there alone and thought about how this was the first Christmas in years when she would spend it being in love with someone. It made every moment that much more special to her. She had found herself staring out the window of the rental car as Reid drove them from the airport to the hotel and taking in every decoration for the holiday as if it was magical and not gaudy.

She never wanted to forget a moment of this holiday: the Christmas she knew she was really loved.