Hotch stays in the street, cars passing him by, for a few minutes after Emily ran off before thinking of a plan and running to his car, speeding away. After twenty minutes, he pulls into the parking lot of an old Italian restaurant.
He runs to the door, sighing in relief when he sees they are still open. Once inside, Hotch goes to the front counter. "Welcome to-" The voice cuts off as they recognize him. "Aaron!"
Hotch greets his old college buddy with a 'manly' hug and a pat on the back. "How's business, Luigi?"
"Are you kidding me, buddy? It's wonderful!" Luigi Marso and Hotch met in college and became good friends. Luigi opened this restaurant with his wife and brother as co-owners.
"And how is Lara?"
Luigi grins. "She is great! Hating the bed rest the doctor put her on for the rest of her term, but she can't wait for the baby to be here!"
Hotch grimaces, "yeah, I remember going through that with Haley. Make sure you are stocked up with lots of ice-cream and chocolate and you should be fine. Oh yeah, and definitely, under any circumstances, work late."
"So, what are you doing here, Aaron? I assume it isn't to give me tips about my pregnant wife."
"Luigi, man, can you do me a favor?"
"Anything," Luigi responds instantly, not hesitating for a moment.
"I need a huge thing of lasagna, meaty ravioli, and uh, a thing of spaghetti too," he adds, not knowing what JJ did with all the spaghetti that was cooked but not wanting Emily to eat leftovers tonight, if the spaghetti is even still at her house.
"Alright, Aaron, spill."
Hotch feigns confusion. "What?"
"What girl did you piss off this time, huh?" Luigi raises his eyebrows suggestively. "You know how me and my wife make up after every fight? We-"
"No! No, no, no, it's not like that!" Great, now that is in his head. How the hell is Hotch supposed to focus when thinking about making love to Emily? He quickly shakes those thoughts away and focus on his friend. "I just, somehow made a coworker, ex-coworker, mad and she won't tell me the full story and I know for a fact that the way to her heart is through her love of Italian food."
"Uh huh," Luigi sounds unconvinced but lets it go. "So, you need lasagna, ravioli, and spaghetti?"
"Yep. And can you add some of your world famous breadsticks?"
Luigi grins, "I would have done it without the sucking up, Hotchner. I'm going to get started on your food, you want to come to the kitchen with me?"
Both men go to the kitchen, Hotch even helps Luigi make some of the food before he leaves, his hands full of pasta and breadsticks, quickly driving to Emily's brownstone.
It doesn't take Emily long for her to reach her house, her anger fueling her speed. As soon as she walks into her house, she take off her sweaty shirt and randomly throws it into the living room, glad she wore a sports bra today. Once she gets a glass of water and relaxes her breathing, she uses her cell phone to call JJ.
"Agent Jureau," JJ answers her phone on the first ring, as if expecting this call. Still, she answers professionally.
"I'm going to kill you," Emily responds, not covering up her emotions.
"You do know it's against the law to threaten a Federal Agent, right?"
"I'm serious, JJ."
"So am I. I could report you to Strauss, you know."
"JJ," Emily growls, tired of playing games.
"What happened, Emily?" JJ asks quietly.
"You practically set me up with your boss is what happened!" Emily yells as she walks up the stairs and to her room, changing into a pair of sweatpants and an FBI hoodie.
"Emily-"
"No, don't 'Emily' me! God, JJ, what the hell were you thinking? Why would you do that to me?"
"I'm sorry, Em, it just seemed like a good idea. We were just going to send you to the store with him, hoping something would happen. But then Jocelyn told me Hotch offered you your job back and I knew that you two needed to get together before you start working as his subordinate again, because after that happened, both of you would ignore your obvious feelings, burying them down deep. So, I told the kids they would spend the night at our house tonight, to try and give you and Hotch some time to talk."
Emily lays down on her bed, lightly punching a pillow, the anger suddenly fading out of her. She sighs, "I almost told him how I feel, Jayje."
"REALLY?" The excitement in JJ's voice in undeniable and makes Emily rolls her eyes.
"Don't get excited. I didn't tell him and then I practically blew up on him, running home and leaving him at the store."
"Why didn't you just tell him?"
"I-I tried but then I chickened out. I did tell him that he's always been there for me and I had a crush on him when I first started at the BAU and that I never forgot seeing him working security at my mom's when I was nineteen." Emily groans, "damnit, JJ! Now I probably scared him off and he won't want to be friends and he won't want me back on the team and I'll never be able to talk to him ever again!"
"Sorry to rain on your pity party, Em, but you need to tell Hotch the true extent of your feelings, and soon," JJ, always the wise one, interupts Emily's panicking.
"Why soon?" Emily doesn't even want to think about how she is whining over a guy. A super super amazing guy that she just so happens to be in love with, but a guy nonetheless.
"I hate to break it to you, Emily, but you invited the entire team, Hotch included, to your house tomorrow night."
"Great, something else for me to worry about. My to do list is currently: clean the house; do the dishes and laundry; run a few errands and pay some bils; tell the team I have four kids; tell my former boss that I'm in love with him; and think about quitting my Interpol job, moving across the country, and begin working for the BAU again. Yep, just an ordinary day in the life of Emily Prentiss."
JJ stifles a laugh. "Wow, Em, even when you are being cynical, you have your humor."
"Don't you know me, Jayje? I'm always cynical."
JJ rolls her eyes at Emily's comment. "What have you done with the cheerful and optimistic Emily Prentiss?"
"Replaced her with the grumpy and pessimistic Emily Prentiss," Emily replies dryly.
"Oh, ha ha," JJ replies sarcastically.
"You should get off the phone and play with those six kids now running around your house."
"Are you going to be okay, Emily?"
Emily sighs, "yeah, JJ. I'll be fine. Do me a favor and hug all my kiddos for me, will ya? And tell them I love them and I'll pick them up tomorrow!"
"Will do. Goodbye, Emily. Get some sleep!"
Emily rolls her eyes. JJ, always the mother hen. "Yes, Mom," she replies before hanging up.
She stares at the ceiling on her tiles for what feels like forever, tracing the blanket on her bed's pattern, when her finger doing the tracing touches something. Emily smiles when she sees her camera.
Turning it on and seeing the homescreen come up with a picture of Emily with her four tornadoes of energy makes her smile widen. Even when she is feeling down, just a picture of her kids can improve her mood. Emily begins to go through the pictures, staring with the more recent ones.
A picture of Jack, Henry, Carson, Leo, and Johanna acting like robots.
A picture of JJ tickling Carson and Henry.
Jack, Henry, and Leo doing a superman pose.
Jocelyn, Carson, and Johanna smiling and making peace signs.
Jocelyn and Jack smiling up at the camera.
Jack saggin' his jeans, wearing Leo's favorite hat, doing a 'gangsta' pose.
Will playing duck, duck, goose, touching Leo's head.
Emily and Hotch having eye-sex.
A picture of- Wait, WHAT? Emily quickly scrolls to the previous picture and studies it. Sure enough, her and Hotch are engaged in a staring contest, practically spelling out their feelings for one another. It sure looks like they are having eye-sex, their eyes never leaving each other's.
Emily goes to the next picture still in shock. She doesn't remember that stare-down and, the way it looked in the photographic evidence, she should. But her and Hotch communicate with their eyes all the time, so they are staring at each other a lot. But like that? Where they are practically unloading their feelings onto one another? No, that doesn't happen often... Or at least she doesn't think it does. But the more she thinks about it, the more she realizes that it does happen. Her and Hotch have all kinds of moments that she never really noticed before.
The next picture is a picture is of Emily and Hotch again, this time Emily trying not to laugh at the cowboy hat that Jack put on his dad's head while Hotch is glaring at her, daring her to laugh at him and see what happens.
The next one they are grinning at each other, their eyes practically sparkling with laughter while Jack, Henry, and Leo try to dance for the adults.
After that, Hotch is chasing Emily after she called 'goose' on him, the two of them running all around the house while Emily tries to make it to Hotch's spot before he tags her.
Then there is one of the back of their hands touching on another, both adult's eyes widening at the feel of one another's skin against their own.
A picture of Emily looking at Hotch with admiration while he talks to her six year old, completely oblivious to his admirer. A matching picture shows Hotch staring at Emily with adoration as she has a tickling war with Jack.
Hotch with a mischievous glint in his eyes as he very discreetly picks up a pillow off the couch without Emily seeing while she talks to JJ. The next picture takes place right after Hotch hits her with the pillow. Emily's eyes are wide with shock as she stares her at former boss.
The next one shows Emily narrowing her eyes, plans of payback and thoughts of 'he's so dead' going through her mind as Hotch tries to look innocent, already giving the pillow away to Jack and pointing at his son as if it say, 'he did it!'
It looks like Jocelyn did a play-by-play of Hotch and Emily's interactions that practically scream 'I'm in love with you!', just so she would have evidence to use in case her mom tries to say that Hotch doesn't feel the same way... Smart girl.
But that doesn't mean that Hotch is in love with her. That just means that he might have very minor romantic feelings for his ex-subordinate.
Tears fill her eyes at the thought of that. If that's true, then Hotch won't want to start anything with her. He's not going to risk both of their careers on something that he might not even want. He may just be attracted to her, not interested in her.
The tears stream down her face and before she knows it, Emily is trying to hold in sobs. She can't remember the last time she cried like this, or cried at all, and especially when the last time she cried over a guy. But she's wanted him for so long.
And no matter how much she says that Hotch doesn't have any romantic feelings for her, she's always felt some hope that maybe, just maybe, they could have a chance someday. But she's losing hope and damnit, it hurts.
It hurts to realize your chances of a relationship you have been pining for are vertially nonexsistant.
You didn't even realize you were pining but now that you look back on it, yeah, you were. You didn't want to go out with Mick Rawson not because he was arrogant, oversexed, or egotistical (though he was) but because you were saving yourself for Hotch.
If you admit it to yourself, it is kind of suspicous that you leave around the same time Hotch is beginning to get serious with his first girlfriend after his divorce. Was your subconcious telling you that you didn't belong in the BAU anymore? Or was it telling you that you didn't belong with Hotch and couldn't see him with another woman?
"You are a damn coward, Emily Prentiss. Why did you just leave? Why didn't you stay?" She murmurs outloud, sighing. "Damn it. Why did you have to be so... stupid. Falling in love with your boss..." she continues, her voice watery as more and more tears run down her face. "Your career would be ruined if you ever get into a relationship with... Hotch. You'll forever be the girl who slept with your boss... Oh, who are you kidding? You would sleep with Hotch even if you could never do anything in law enforcement ever again..."
Hi! So, this isn't Hannah, instead it's her best friend! She asked me to upload this for you guys. She said to tell you she will try to upload the next chapter soon, but she isn't sure when it will be. If you are reading her Mentalist story, she's trying to write the lastest chapter, but she's really not in a writing mood. If she gets it written, she'll email it to me and I'll upload it. She's trying to write for all you readers but the writing might sound a little forced since she's not feeling inspired right now.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about what's going on and why she's not uploading this.
Hannah's 15 yr old cousin Abby commited suicide on 10/24/12, the day after Hannah uploaded the last chapter. She's been out of the country and staying with her cousin's family since then. 2 days ago, on 11/01/12, she was about to come back home when her aunt (Abby's mom) went into labor. The baby girl was born a stillborn. So, she just lost two cousins in two weeks.
She'll be staying at her aunt and uncle's house for a few more days to help with the 3 younger kids (Abby was the oldest of 5, including Lizzy, the baby who was just born a stillborn). Her family is friends with our principal, so the school is letting her stay extra time with her family, so she could stay away for another week.
She's had some good things happen lately, including a baby cousin (Hannah has a HUGE family) born 10/19/12, but she's really going through a rough patch right now. She said to tell you that she appreciates your reviews and the feedback she's been getting on this.
Please review and tell Hannah what you think of this chapter, she really needs something to make her smile!
Love,
Anabel