A/N All right chapter 11 is up. For those of you who were confused about the last chapter. I'm sorry, that chapter was set during "In Heat", so it was a flashback, I forgot to mention that in my notes. This is chapter is set furing "Lo-Fi." And now on with the show.
Touch is a human connection to the outside world. One that can't be ignored. He needs it right now. He needs it so bad it hurts. His skin is on fire, a fire only her touch can quench.
Intellectually he knows she's alive. He knows she's all right. But he needs to see that with his own eyes. He needs to touch her to know for sure that it's real. That's it not a dream. That the nightmare he had the second he heard, "Officer down" is only a figment of his imagination.
He's not driving, Kate's driving. He's glad of that; he's lost control and would be dangerous behind the wheel. He sees her for a brief moment at the scene, but he can't rush over and pull her into his arms. It would be bad for both of them. So he goes over to talk to Dave. Another piece of the puzzle falls into place for the profile. Terrorists.
There back at the precinct, he still hasn't gotten a chance to be alone with her. To connect. He folds his arms across his chest in part to prevent them from attempting to touch her, and so that they touch something.
The briefing is over and she shoots him a momentary look. It says, "I'm here. I'm fine. We'll meet up later. We have to talk."
How did it come to this?
/
Three days earlier
He's heading home, it's been a long day. He wants to see Emily but it's late and she's at her home. He contemplates calling her.
The phone rings, and he hopes it's her calling to ask where he is, and what is he wearing.
It's not her.
The call is from an old "friend". She needs his help. She wants him to come to New York.
He hangs up the phone, tosses it aside, and sits back in his chair. What am I going to do now? … I have to talk to her. I have to tell her.
He picks up the phone and dials a familiar number.
She answers, "Why, Agent Hotchner, whatever could you be calling me about so late at night?"
Her tone is playful and seductive. He wishes he could play along. But he knows he can't. "Can I come over? There's something I need to tell you."
She's caught off guard, "Uh … Of cou-course. Come on over."
/
He hesitates a moment before knocking on the door. He's scared, he doesn't know how this is going to go.
She opens the door, and he enters. He walks over to where she keeps a bottle of scotch. He pours himself three fingers worth, and drinks about half in one swallow.
His actions scare her. He doesn't kiss her, he doesn't even really acknowledge her. He walks over and pours himself a scotch and then takes a long drink. "Aaron, what's going on? What do we need to talk about?" She can't keep the fear out of her voice.
"I got a call from someone … Someone who meant a lot to me once upon a time. … Her name is Kate Joyner. She runs the New York field office. She's got a case for us, we fly out tomorrow."
"What do you mean she meant a lot to you? I thought you've been with Haley since high school."
"I have. But we've had problems for years. Jack was part of an effort to recommit to each other. Before that I spent several months in England liaising with Scotland Yard. I worked closely with Kate while I was there. … We didn't do anything. But I … wanted to. One night we almost did, but Haley and I decided to work things out. So I came back to America."
"Why are you telling me this? Do you want to go down a road not taken or something?"
"No! No. I just wanted to give you a heads-up."
"OK. Are you staying tonight?"
"We've got to get up early. My go-bag is at my place."
"That's why God invented alarm clocks."
"Are you going to be a good girl and keep your hands to yourself so we aren't tired tomorrow?"
"I can keep my hands to myself."
They turned the lights off and settled into bed.
A few moments later Hotch felt something. "I thought you said you can keep you hands to yourself."
"That's not my hand."
"Really?"
You want to see what else I can do?"
/
Emily was feeling good as she walked into the New York field office. She had a wonderful boyfriend. She had had great sex last night. And she was back in New York City, the greatest city in the world.
That wonderful feeling went away the second she saw Kate Joyner. Holy shit, she looks exactly like Haley. She heard JJ make the same comment to Garcia. Fuck! This is not going to be as easy as I thought.
She watched him separate himself from the group and stand really close to her. He never does that. He always stays with us, why is he getting so close to her?
All she could give her was a perfunctory nod when introduced. She had to keep her cool. Throwing down with an old flame of Aaron's in the middle of the field office was not the way to announce that she and Aaron were sleeping together.
She watched her boyfriend walk away for a "private" meeting and had to say something to somebody. Even if it was a snarky comment to JJ. Something she knew wasn't true. Something against her boyfriend.
But now it was time to work. Time to put Aaron and Kate Joyner into the little boxes in her mind, and let Agent Prentiss get to work.
/
Riding in the elevator with Reid and Aaron after finding out about JJ's big news, she could tell that something was off about Aaron. A small touch let him know to hang back when they got to their floor.
After Reid exited the elevator and walked to his room, she said, "What's going on?"
"She should've told me. I shouldn't have found out like this. She should've told me. If for no other reason than I'm her boss, and I need to know. ... Does she not trust me?"
"Aaron, it's nothing like that. You know JJ, she's a private person. Even after a year of dating Will, she still tried to hide it."
"Yeah. ... I'm going to go to bed. Seven a.m. comes around quick."
/
Emily and Morgan gave the briefing the next morning. A cup of coffee helped both of them wake up this early in the morning. She knew Aaron was right. As tired as she was, she would be exhausted if she had stayed with Aaron last night. Plus that would have broken their rule about not staying in each other's rooms.
Still, Aaron had looked so hurt last night. He wasn't close to all of the team. But JJ and he had been close for a while, and then with her not telling him about Will, and more importantly her pregnancy... Aaron's trust issues weren't as pronounced as Morgan's, but they were just as real.
But she didn't have time to think about that now, now she had a profile to give.
/
What is Aaron doing? First he backs this Kate woman's play over Morgan's, and now he's holding a late night meeting with her.
He's been acting weird all case, he's always with her. He defers to whatever she wants.
I believe him when he said she was the past, but maybe he is having second thoughts. He hasn't talked to me since we got here. He's spent all of his time with HER. Even though we don't stay in each others rooms on cases we always find time to be Aaron and Emily. This is our second day here, and he has only left her side to get sleep.
What is going on?
She waited up for him. He got back really late. She met him in the hallway. "You're getting back late."
"We were going over a plan for tomorrow."
"Really? And that took all night?"
"It's late and we got a big day ahead of us. You should get some sleep." He opened the door and entered the room.
/
Sleep didn't come easily that night for her.
He wouldn't talk to me. He just shut me out.
What is going on?
Images of Aaron and Kate together plagued her mind and kept sleep at bay.
Finally exhaustion overtook her and she settled into a nightmare-filled slumber.
Kate and Aaron were together in her dreams as well.
/
She felt lousy the next day, but getting to profile the detective was fun. It put a smile on her face, even if it was only for a brief moment.
She walked out of the subway station and started scanning the streets looking for a possible shooter.
That sounded like a gunshot.
"Garcia."
"I'm on it. I'm on it. Uh- 16th and Broadway. He's running east on 16th."
"He's headed our way."
They started down the street, turned the corner, and spotted a young man wearing a hoodie. The kid ran, letting them know he was their suspect.
Cooper took the lead, yelling at the people in their way to move and get out of the way. He turned a corner and she heard a gunshot.
Cooper was down. Shit. She turned the corner and fired. Just like she was taught, double-tap to the chest. He went down. She advanced quickly, Cooper was hurt. But she had to make sure the suspect was not a threat before she could check on Cooper.
The suspect was dead. Two holes in his chest attested to that. She picked up the gun that was lying on the ground, and walked backwards towards Cooper.
She put the suspect's gun in her jacket, put her own gun behind her back, and turned around calling out, "Cooper."
She got to him and yelled into the microphone, "Garcia we've got an officer down."
/
After the briefing Hotch and Kate exited the building and walked towards their SUV. Sometimes being the boss has privileges, like making sure your vehicle can be started with a remote.
Hotch pushed the button and the world turned orange and got very hot.
/
She heard the explosion. And some how she knew it was bad. She knew she was not going to like what happened. But she was helpless until she got some information.
So now she was heading to one of the command posts. Hopefully he was there. Hopefully he was OK.
Garcia's call did nothing to placate her jangled nerves. She hoped JJ was OK. But Aaron was also in a SUV.
Please be OK. Please be OK.
A/N So this isn't really a cliffhanger, since if you've seen the show you know what happens next, but it felt like a good spot to stop. Let me know what you think. Hit that button.