Just as a reminder, Reid and Rossi are not with the other guys at the lake.

And I also think its safe to say that nobody had guessed this plot twist;)

Someone to Watch Over Me

Chapter 9

Emily swam under the water, loving the feeling of almost weightlessness. She had always loved swimming at the various beaches they'd stayed near as they moved around when she grew up. When she tried to swim back up to get some air she was forced to stop unexpectedly when something tugged at her ankle. When she looked down through the crystal-clear water Emily saw a piece of seaweed wrapped around her lower leg. Trying to keep calm she tried to swim back up to the surface, but the plant held tight. Beginning to panic, she tried to pry it off from her leg, but her fingers kept fumbling in the water. As a last resort she grabbed the seaweed with both hands, tugging as hard as she could, but it held fast.

Morgan looked up from sunbathing on the shore with Garcia.

"Where's Em?" He asked, wondering where she had gone. Aaron looked up quickly, scanning the area, knowing she had been in the lake moments ago. His eyes widened in alarm when he saw a flash of something in the lake ahead of him.

"Jack, go back to the shore." He commanded his son. Everyone looked up to see an unusually flustered Aaron Hotchner dive down into the water.

Emily had just about given up when she saw Aaron swimming towards her. He immediately went down to try and rip the seaweed from her leg as soon as he saw what was preventing her from swimming back to the surface. Emily grabbed for his arm and tried to tell him that she didn't have any air left. Her lungs were burning and she had no idea how much longer she could last. Aaron froze for a second, but scolded himself that this wasn't the time to panic, then grabbed her head in both of his hands, and blew all of the air from his lungs into her mouth, giving her precious time.

When he swam back up to the surface to take another lungful of air he shouted a quick message to the group who looked on in horror. When Aaron swam back down he knew that he had to be fast, but not panic should he fumble. He tried unwrapping as much of the seaweed from her ankle as possible; then stuck his fingers into the loop around her leg, trying to make it just big enough to slip her foot through. Aaron grabbed her foot and forced it through the opening he'd made. She was free. Just as black spots were invading her vision Emily felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and pulled her upwards. Emily's body had weakened significantly due to the lack of oxygen, so Aaron hooked his hand around her waist, and they broke the surface of the water together with a splash.

Morgan had swam forwards and helped pull Emily to the shore where she collapsed on the ground coughing for all it was worth.

"Oh my God, are you alright?!" JJ spoke first. Aaron had lain down on the floor beside her and they both panted, while Emily focused on taking deep, albeit shaky, breaths instead of hacking up her lungs. She finally sat up when she felt she could breathe almost normally again, her eyes watering from the exertion her body had just been through.

Aaron and Emily looked at each other for a moment, shock evident in both of their eyes.

"Em'ly!" She heard Jack yell, and he barreled into her side.

"I'm alright, Jack." She reassured him, but her wavering voice showed the profilers otherwise and she pulled him as close to her body as possible. She looked up when she felt Aaron's arms wrap around her.

"Thank you." She whispered, and he leaned in, kissing her firmly on the lips. He needed to know that she as safe in front of him. Alive and breathing. It was only when he felt Emily's body tremble against his when he pulled away.

"Emily, you're shivering!" Garcia exclaimed and quickly grabbed the towel from the rock and wrapped it around her friend's shaking form.

"It's probably from the shock." Morgan responded to Garcia's statement as Aaron and he helped Emily from the floor from either side.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Aaron asked, cupping her cheeks with his hands. Emily nodded, not able to speak as tears that she refused to let fall burned her eyes, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing tightly like she would never let go. Aaron reciprocated just as passionately.

"I love you." Aaron whispered in her ear.

"I love you too Aaron." She replied, her voice wavering. He was forced to pull away when he felt another shiver wrack her form.

"Come on sweetheart, let's get you warmed up." He kept one arm around her and guided her towards the trees.

Rossi and Reid looked on in confusion when the group hustled Emily over to sit by the fire. Morgan immediately opened the first aid kit and found a heat blanket and wrapped it around the brunette after taking the sodden towels off of her.

Emily sat and let the team fuss over her, since she was happy just sitting in Aaron's arms.

"Don't scare me like that." Aaron whispered in her ear, and pressed a kiss to her temple.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled into his chest.

"Shh." He hushed her, "This isn't your fault, and the most important thing is that you're alright."

"What happened?" Rossi asked JJ quietly, who was hurrying herself in making a cup of hot tea.

"She almost drowned. Hotch saved her. There was a piece of seaweed wrapped around her leg." Rossi didn't reply, but guessed that their relationship was now in the open. JJ sat on the other side of Emily and pressed the mug into her hands, glad to see that there was less of a tremor running through her form.

"Drink this, it'll warm you up." Emily complied, taking a sip and making a face.

"How much sugar is in this?" Aaron couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sugar will help with the shock, honey." He answered for JJ, and Emily took another sip.

"Oh, okay," She suddenly looked around and noticed the lack of people, "Where's Jack and Henry?" JJ rubbed her hand up and down Emily's back to try and warm her up a little faster.

"Pen and Will took them to change into some dry clothes. I think everyone's had enough of the swimming for one day." Emily snorted.

"More like for the rest of the century."

HOTCHNISSHOTCHNISSHOTCHNISS

"So… When did this happen?" Morgan asked as the group was sat around the fire, with a smirk on his face. Emily was now dressed in dry clothes, but was still huddled in next to Aaron and had Jack cuddled into her lap. Emily rolled her eyes at the question, and was about to answer but was interrupted.

"You guys didn't know?" Reid suddenly asked incredulously.

"You knew?! How long?" Garcia asked, not believing that the usually oblivious younger man knew before the rest of them.

"You know that case a couple of weeks ago in Louisiana?" Reid asked the group and they all nodded, "About six months before then." He replied with a smirk on his face, "You guys are really slow." JJ rolled her eyes good-naturedly.

"So, when did it happen?" Aaron saw the color rise to Emily's cheeks from being in the spotlight, and pulled her closer into his side.

"When we went to that team building course." The group was quiet in silent acknowledgement.

"Hey, hold on," Emily's and Aaron's gazes immediately flicker to Garcia, "Who's Natalie?" The couple burst into laughter, soon followed by Jack and Rossi.

"I can't believe you guys fell for that!" Emily managed to force out mid-laugh, "Jack you're the best." Aaron snickered at the gobsmacked faces surrounding them.

"Oh, he's good." Garcia mock frowned at the boy, causing him to burst into another fit of giggles in Emily's lap.

A bit of drama never hurt anybody, right? Well you know, apart from almost drowning Emily, but she was happy to take one for the team;)

I go back to school tomorrow and am going away for the weekend to a place where I will have no computer so updates might skip a couple of days.

I am SERIOUSLY lacking in the ideas department for what things they can do while camping. I would really appreciate any ideas thrown my way, or updates will slow quite a bit until I get another burst of inspiration.

PLEASE let me know what you thought!