A/n: Did you know reviews make my night? I sat and read them all and they literally made me so happy and smiley and yeahhhh. Uhm so I hope you're enjoying. Are you guys looking for more chapters…like a LONG story (20 ish….something like that…which would be like team gatherings and fluffy sort of stuff…and blasts into the future and more flashback things) Or are you looking for this to be only two or three more chapters (just to wrap things up…tie up loose ends, that type of thing?) review and let me know! :) Enjoy!
Chapter 7: Well, uh, Let's Talk
In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins. Not through strength, but through persistence.
-unknown
Quantico, VA Present Day
"I'm here," Hotch said rushing into the BAU. He was later than he had told Emily he would be, because half way here, he wondered if he was doing the right thing. He turned around, but then changed his mind again and went towards the BAU.
"And you had to lie to the wife to get here, didn't you?" Emily said sitting up from the roll-y chair in from of Derek's desk. "Who'd you say it was?" Emily asked, grinning.
"I told her it was an old friend. He actually used to work here. I told her that ex wife number 3 needed some financial paperwork and it was here," He said shrugging.
"Hmm. Ok," Emily said, accepting who her alias was.
"How come you were able to get out?" Emily asked after a moment of quiet. Hotch had taken off his jacket, and he sat down in Reid's roll-y chair.
"We got into a fight," Hotch said with a shrug.
"About…?" Emily asked. Hotch was surprised that she had asked that. Emily, clearly reading his mind, said quickly, "C'mon. We're pretty close, I would say. I think you can tell me," with a grin.
"You," He said reluctantly.
"Yup. Me. You can tell me," Emily teased.
"No…I mean the fight was about you," He said slowly.
"About me? Shit. I'm sorry," Emily said with a half laugh.
"Did you have some secret conversation once that neither of you thought it would be good to share?" Hotch asked, raising an eyebrow.
"God, I hate confrontation," Emily said sighing, with frustration.
"Yet you always go looking for it," Hotch said chuckling.
"I know. And I always say: 'Emily, it'll be good if you talk this out. Confrontation isn't so bad.' And I typically don't even know why I hate confrontation…and then I get into the situation…and I remember why I hate it," Emily explained with a laugh. Hotch laughed, too, because, that's what they did together.
He had more fun with Emily than he had ever had with Haley. Well, that might have been a stretch. Before he knew Emily, he and Haley had some pretty good times, but as they got older, and were together, Haley stopped being fun and gentle and kind, and started being grouchy and jealous. She had become suspicious, she hated Hotch's job, and she sometimes acted as if she even hated Hotch.
Granted, she had good reason to be suspicious, as Emily began to explain to Hotch.
"She knew about us…I don't know how…but she knew something was up," Emily explained. "I called looking for you, gosh, a week or so after you left and she picked up. That had never happened. I figured she would just assume you had forgotten something or that sort of thing, but she didn't. She told you it was a telemarketer on the phone," Emily explained, chuckling to herself. She was bitter.
"Like I told her it was Dave… just now, when it was really you," Hotch said. He too was now bitter.
"I gotta be honest, Hotch. I don't regret what we did. I loved every moment of it. It felt real, it felt right. I just regret the circumstances," She admitted.
"I should have stopped us. I knew it couldn't happen. Haley and I were getting married. It's just…" He stopped talking.
"It's just what…?" Emily asked gently. Now she wasn't prying for answers, just encouraging him to go on.
"I don't do this often Emily," He said quickly. When he saw Emily looking confused, he added, "Open up to people like this. The 'emotional side', so to speak," He said.
"But…." Emily began.
"I trust you. I…what I felt with you was so different than anything I have before. It's true. It did feel right. There was something about you, where the professional wall had to stay up, but I felt like it could…it should come down with you. Honestly, Emily…I don't know if Haley and I are in love anymore, but I do still love her. She's the mother of my son and we're a family….but Emily…it should be you. And I screwed us up so badly. I was selfish. I wanted you so badly and I ended up hurting you, and Haley and I just caused a mess…but I-" He was now rambling, so Emily cut him off. He looked upset.
"Uhm…I think I know where you're going with this…so stop talking," Emily said with a small smile. "Hotch…we can't be together. Because you're right, it's wrong. You have Haley and a son. That's your family. But I don't want to lose you as a friend. You're my best friend. I don't know if I've had a better time with anyone than when I'm with you. When I called you and Haley answered…that was supposed to be the 'let's just be friends' talk…because I wanted you to be my friend. But I guess this is that talk. That talk we should have had fifteen years ago," Emily said. "Seems so long ago…but like…just yesterday," Emily murmured.
"I never stopped thinking about you," He said.
"I didn't either," She said. She stood and hugged him.
"Thank you," He said after a moment, when they pulled apart.
"For what?" Emily asked.
"For coming back into my life…for never stopping looking for me," He said.
"I never could…till I found you," She said with a grin. They stood there for another minute, just smiling.
"Let's get out of here," Emily said.
"Ok. I'll see you tomorrow," Hotch told her.
"Good luck with Haley. I'll see you tomorrow," She said and laughed.
"What?" He asked about her laugh.
"Just like old times…the 'see you tomorrow' routine," She said and then added, "And then you'd go to the back door and kiss me senseless."
Hotch laughed, "I'm surprised your mother didn't figure something was up."
"She's oblivious," Emily shrugged.
Washington 1992 (Before Hotch resigned)
"Thank you, Agent Hotchner. See you tomorrow," Emily's mother said, bidding Hotch goodbye.
"Yes. Good bye, Ambassador Prentiss," Hotch said with a small smile. He walked out and got in his car. He drove only around to the back of the Prentiss' large mansion. He parked by the gardner's shed and quickly got out. He walked to the backdoor, where Emily was waiting.
"Bye," he whispered with a grin.
"Bye," she whispered back. She smirked and then he pulled her in and kissed her. At first it was gentle, but it got deeper and more hungry. She wanted more. She kissed him harder, and suddenly their tongues were at each other, battling for dominance. When the finally broke for lack of oxygen, Emily pulled away.
"What? Not good enough for you?" Hotch teased.
"Ugh, no. So good. We just don't have time for all of 'that' now," Emily said with a grin.
"Since when are you the one to show restraint?" He teased.
"Screw you," She teased back.
"Later," He winked.
"Bye," She said after a moment. She kissed him again, and this time there was no lust, or desire. It was chaste and pure, and loving.
"Bye," He said when he broke away from the kiss. Emily watched Hotch drive away. She couldn't stop smiling. She walked inside with the same stupid love struck grin on her face and into the kitchen.
"Emily?" Her father asked her curiously. She was humming and smiling to herself, pouring herself a glass of juice.
"Hmm?" She asked smiling.
"You alright there, Emmy?" He asked again.
"She's fine. You're fine. You are fine aren't you Emily? Emily are you even listening? Emily are you high?" Her mother rambled off questions and then settling, "Kids these days…" her mother muttered, completely oblivious to her daughter's feelings.
She went on talking, "Yesterday Ambassador Jackson said the darnedest thing!" Her mother exclaimed with laughter and she began to tell a stupid and pointless story. Emily hated these stories, because they were usually useless political humour that only she found funny, and that her father only laughed at to keep her mother happy. Emily shrugged, not annoyed that her mother was telling the joke, because she was still buzzing with joy from Hotch's kiss.