They broke apart, staring into each other's eyes, trying to find a reason for why they had done what they had done. His eyes trailed down to her lips, slightly swollen from the kiss.

"Emily, I... I just..."

"Hotch, I understand. Your life's screwed up right now. It's gonna be hard and you can't do this right now." Emily leaned back slightly, her arms falling from their place around his neck. Hotch opened his mouth to respond, but Emily cut him off.

"I'll wait for you,"

He jerked back for a moment, surprised etched across his face.

"I know it'll be a while and it's crazy, but you need time and I want to give you that." Emily could feel Hotch's own hand slip from her hair, running down the length of her arm until it fell to his side.

"But why? Why would you do that? Wait for me?" His voice was soft, a plea for answers that nobody seemed to be able to give.

"Because," The corners of her mouth tipped up and her head fell to a slight slant. "You're worth waiting for."

He had left after that, with a nod and a soft murmur of a farewell. Both of them wanted him to stay, but it was a bad idea. What would have happened had he stayed? The question would haunt both of them for weeks, months, years. Always there, always questioning.

They kissed once more, at the door when Emily opened it and Hotch stepped out into the harsh hallways lights. It was dark in her apartment, nobody had bothered to turn the lights on.

"I mean it, you know." She had looked up at him as he had turned to leave. He blinked in the doorway, staring into her darkened eyes, unsure of what emotions flickered in their murky depths.

"I know." He had whispered, unable to prevent himself from swooping down once more, lips meeting hers in an act that felt so normal that it hurt to pull away. But then he was gone, striding down the hallway, thumb and forefinger gripping the bridge of his nose as his hunched back disappeared down a turn in the hall.

Emily turned around herself, closing the door behind her and not bothering to flick the lights on. She cast a swift glance at the TV, where Friends had been replaced with a cheerful infomercial displaying a man grinning ear to ear, arm around his equally happy wife. Emily flipped it off quickly, closing her eyes and coming to terms with everything that had happened.

In his car in the lot below, Hotch was doing the same thing.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Episode: Children of the Dark

He had tried not to pair himself with her. Really, he had. And he'd succeeded with the last case, but only because his thoughts had been focused on Gideon and Hayley. Then the family annihilator case had come up and all he'd been able to hear was Derek's voice saying, 'We're doing just fine without Gideon.' Truthfully, Gideon's departure stung. But he was gone, like Elle before him. Hayley had told him she wasn't coming back and she seemed sure, so all that was left for him to contemplate was Emily.

And contemplate he did. He didn't just sit across from her for no reason. He didn't just pair himself with her on a whim. No, Aaron Hotchner thought everything, everything out.

He had done a good job on not staring at her though, choosing instead to cast small glances in her direction whenever she wasn't looking. Case in point, after she had said, 'And then found their true calling.' But she had noticed, so he had hastily paired everyone up, unconsciously leaving her without a partner, therefore pairing her with himself. She had raised her eyebrows about a foot when he had finished awkwardly by adding a hasty,

"... And Prentiss, you'll check out the crime scene with ... me."

But she hadn't disagreed, which he had been pleased about.

Their back and forth at the scene had been easy, but he noticed how she didn't move around the house, following him around. He sat down, glancing up and noting how she didn't move from her spot beside the detective. Noting his height and build, Hotch felt momentarily threatened, jealous of the man who she seemed to feel safe around. The alpha male in him wanted to scare the guy, frighten him off. But the Unit Chief prevailed, turning away from the man and murmuring out a reply to Emily's profile.

He watched her during the giving of the profile, hid his smile as they bounced the profile off one another, interrupted only when JJ came in, alerting them to a second attack.

There was one alive, three dead. He knew it was a bad day when he considered that good.

"Hey, are we going to the crime scene?" Emily stopped him as the team rushed out of the station, off to do their respective jobs.

"No, I'm taking Morgan. I assigned you and JJ to look after Carrie." He looked up, into her eyes, seeing a hurt look flit across her face.

"Mother figure. Right. We'll meet up with you guys after, alright?"

"Of course."

OoOoOoOoOo

The bedroom reminded him of Jack. He had been only seven years old.

They met up after the sweeping of the crime scene, just like he had promised. He felt closer to her, not missing her entering the room and immediately walking to his side. He had felt surprised, but tender when she had winced as he had suggested using Carrie to bait the UNSUB.

"Not comfortable with that?" He was afraid of the lines blurring between work and personal.

"Ok but... I would be more comfortable if we doubled her security."

"Of course," He glanced over at the detective, who immediately dipped his head.

"I'll get my guys on it right away."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Well, then, I guess it's up to her."

"She up for it?"

"I don't know."

Hotch watched Emily as she moved towards the girl, immediately ushering her in, standing at her side as she explained what she had to do and why. He was struck by a sudden realisation of what a great mother she'd be. Caring, nurturing, she'd be there for the child whenever they needed it. As Carrie moved closer to him, he was struck by a sudden vision of Emily dating, marrying, getting pregnant, leaving the BAU to have a family and settle down. Would she? Would she choose a family over her career?

Would she choose someone else over him?

He tried to fight these dark thoughts as they went to the pound, then to the foster parents' house. They saw the signs, the pictures on the mantle of children. Countless children. Not one of them with a real, true smile on their face. The smiles were as fake as the home was. Happy on the outside, living hell on the inside.

They had gotten Irvin and set him up in the Interrogation room when Hotch had pulled Emily to the side.

"Come in with me."

"What? But you can handle this by yourself." She frowned up at him and he glanced through the window at the man.

"Yes, but you may be able to help break him. It's a longshot, but we may be able to use you as a Lucy surrogate."

"So we won't use Carrie?" Emily glanced through the one-sided mirror at their own little angel of mercy.

"Not if we can help it. Come on, he's been in there half an hour already."

They entered the room staggered, Hotch going in first, Emily second. Emily sat down across from Irvin, while Hotch stood to the side, practically breathing down the man's neck.

"Hi, Irvin, I'm Emily," She stressed the last syllable, the one that was similar to Lucy. Irvin didn't look up. "All we want is to know where your brother is. Can you tell us that?"

He continued to look at the floor, away from the two agents. Hotch pressed his lips together, constantly edging slightly closer to the man, intimidating, but not outright terrorizing him.

"Please, Irvin? We need to stop him before he hurts more people. You do this so innocent kids won't have to go through what you did, but they don' have to if you tell us where your brother is."

"Irvin, do it for Lucy. She'd want you to do the right thing." Hotch watched the man's reaction, but all he did was dip his head lower, saying nothing. It was then that Derek walked in, shooing Hotch and Emily out. As soon as they were out and the door was shut, Emily moved over beside Hotch, biting her lip.

"Sorry I didn't help. I don't think I'm the one who can break him."

"It was worth a shot. We'll try and get Morgan to coax him out of his shell, but it probably won't work. I'll get JJ to make sure Carrie's up and ok with doing this."

"Hotch-" Emily opened her mouth to fight back. She didn't want to force Carrie to go through the ordeal of having to face her family's killer. It was then that she realised how she'd grown fond of the girl, felt such a deep pity that it resonated through her. She closed her mouth as the Detective came in and Hotch turned to call JJ.

OoOoOoOoOoO

It wasn't awkward. That was the awkward part.

Emily watched his hands, moving as they shuffled papers and pictures around. That ring flashing under the fluorescent lights. She paused to look him over as she began to talk.

"I could take her."

He glanced up, confused for a moment. He stopped shuffling, the ring stopped flashing. He watched her for a second before he began to continue the shuffling, and Emily was reminded of a dance. A slow dance between them as the clock ticked down on whatever their fates decided was going to happen next.

"Carrie. To DC."

"You mean to live with you?"

"Yeah." She could be a good mother. Emily wanted to prove that she was more than just her job.

"Why would you want to do that?" His voice was soft, questioning.

"I have room, money. And ... you know, she's smart. Two, three years she goes to college!"

"Prentiss." His voice was a plea again, like it had been that night. Emily looked up, always on high alert for that voice. Instead she found his face, hardened and unlike it had been. "This is the job and I need to know you can be objective."

He wasn't just talking about Carrie. They could both feel it, but neither said anything. Instead, Emily held the eye contact, responding in a matching tone,

"And I need to know that I can be human."

"JJ heard from the family and they're on their way from LA."

"Oh."

Her face fell as he tipped his head slightly, eyebrows crinkling in worry for the woman before him. This job was a job for her. This job was a life for him.

"That's ... that's great. "

"Emily..."

"I'm gonna give these files to the detective. See you on the plane, Hotch."

And then she left the room, Hotch turning, his eyes following her, suddenly realising how it felt for her to watch him walk away.

Wow, two thousand words this one. I'm still kind of in awe that I'm doing these so quickly, but I can't just watch an episode anymore, I HAVE TO WRITE ABOUT ALL THE LITTLE GLANCES. I'm kind of sad about the lack of reviews, but it's ok because you'll review lots, right? (hint hint).

Also, I feel kind of stupid doing this because I don't really feel like this story's close to any of the other amazing ones on this site, but it's worth a shot so...

Nominations for the Criminal Minds Profilers Choice Awards is almost over! Ballots are due by October 15thand your favorite stories and authors need 4 nominations to make it to the final voting ballot.

Go here for rules and details (remove spaces): fanfiction topic / 74868 / 69379386 / 1