TIME TOGETHER

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Lazy Saturday mornings didn't happen often in the Hotchner home. It was a rare day when Emily and Aaron could wake up and just have some time to themselves, but with AJ on a road trip with Gabi for two weeks, Kate at an overnight vocal camp and Seth spending a week with his grandparents, much to both Emily and Aaron's surprise, Aaron woke slowly on Saturday morning, blinking bleary eyes open. From the looks of things, Emily had been awake longer than he had, sitting cross-legged beside him. An experimental shift told him she was using his back as a table for whatever had her complete focus. His slight shift had her glancing up at him.

"'Morning," she murmured, eyes going back to whatever she was doing.

Another experimental shift told him it was the newspaper. "Internal alarm still working?"

"Like a charm," she said with a wry smile, her eyes darkening as they always did at his husky morning voice. "I did manage to coax myself back to sleep for a couple of hours."

Their alarm clock said it was just after nine-thirty. Since their usual wake-up time was somewhere between six and seven, Aaron believed her. He folded his arms under the pillow his head rested on. "Anything interesting?"

"Mmhmm. The FBI caught a serial killer in Missouri." Her lips twisted in amusement.

"Oh?" he asked drowsily, his eyes floating closed again.

"Derek's quoted. You can tell which lines are JJ's."

"She's still the best," Aaron agreed. He heard the paper crumple as she folded it and flopped onto her stomach beside him.

"She has a notebook of press lines."

He cracked an eye open to look at her. "Really?"

Emily hummed her agreement. "I've seen it."

"I'm not sure if I'm impressed or if that just goes to prove she's worked in the BAU for too long," he said, his eyes closing again. Then they flew open. "Wait a minute..."

She was already grinning. "It's almost ten and we haven't heard from any children?"

His smile was slow and lazy as he regarded her. "A quiet house..."

"For another eight days," she said. "What on earth are we going to do with all of our spare time?"

"We should play hookie, honey," he replied, tugging on her arm as he twisted to his back.

She knew what that meant and shifted so her upper body rested on his. "It's Saturday."

"All week. Let's go away."

She shifted again, moving to straddle him, sitting back on his thighs. "We can't go to the summer house," she pointed out. "My parents have Seth there."

He hummed his agreement. "Virginia Beach."

She laughed slightly. "That's become our vacation spot," Emily pointed out. "Every vacation we take we go there."

"You like the boardwalk and we have that restaurant we love," he listed. "Are you trying to tell me we're stuck in a rut?"

"Of course not," she replied with a chuckle. "I do like the boardwalk. And the beach."

"And I like you in a bathing suit," he said, grinning lasciviously.

She smiled. "How do you do that so easily?" she asked quietly.

"Do what?"

"Make me feel like the prettiest girl in the room," she replied, leaning down to kiss him sweetly.

"It's easy when you are the prettiest girl in the room. The most beautiful woman too."

She was grinning wide, the smile that still managed to melt his heart without really trying. "You're too kind."

"Emily, have I ever lied to you?"

"No," she replied. "Not that I know of."

"And I wouldn't start now. You're always the prettiest girl in the room."

She kissed him slowly, enjoying the ability to do so without worrying about interruptions from their children. Sometimes she missed the time before AJ had graced them with her presence. She loved her children and always would, but there was something to be said for time alone with her husband. "Cook me breakfast?" she asked, pulling away breathlessly.

"I can do that," he agreed easily, stroking her hair back from her face.

When she came downstairs from her shower, she smelled like vanilla and he took a deep breath as her arms wrapped around his waist and pressed her lips to the soft skin behind his ear. After squeezing his stomach slightly, she moved to hoist herself up on the counter. He looked over at her and then looked again at the small cotton shorts and cotton tank. Summer made their house warm.

He found himself flipping off the stove where he was cooking to step in front of her. Her knees parted as his hands rested on the outside of her thighs. "I have a proposal for you, Mrs. Hotchner."

"Oh?" Emily answered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"We take full advantage of our childless home."

The slow kiss on the side of her neck left her with absolutely no way to miss his intent. Her leg came up around his hip to pull her tighter to him. "To do what, Mister Hotchner?"

His hands slid under her tank top. "If I have to tell you, I'm losing my touch."

"You're not," she assured him as her breath hitched.

"Good."