Episode: Demonology

Hotch needed time to clear his head. They had gone on a few different cases since she had kissed him and only about four since they had talked about relationships on the plane.

In this profession, you'd be lucky to get 5 minutes to clear your head.

So when she walked into his office, sopping wet, her hair curling from the rain (Hotch couldn't help but notice how good she looked with her hair curled), there was only one thing he could do. Suddenly forgetting the task at hand, and almost dropping the legal pad he held, Hotch almost rushed over to Emily but held back, instead asking,

"What's wrong?"

"Um, I just found out that an old friend of mine died." He held steady, trying to hold down the rush of sadness that poured through him.

"I'm sorry. Do you need to take some time?"

"Um, there's a chance that he could have been... murdered and there might be a second case."

"What do you need?" There were no second thoughts, no questions. Anything she needed he would do for her.

"Just some leeway to check it out."

"Of course, anything."

"Thank you."

"Emily, if you want to take a few days and let us look into it..." Hotch trailed off, realising he had called her Emily and not Prentiss. It was relieving in a way. He was glad that his Boss instincts weren't heartless enough to call Emily by her last name at such a dark time.

"Matthew was incredibly messed up and I hadn't seen him in a long time. But he was important to me." The pain in her voice strangled him, urging Hotch to repeat his offer.

"At least let us help."

"Thank you."

He watched her walk away, tears mixing with rainwater on her face. He had never seen her so defenceless, so sad and injured. Hotch promised himself in that moment that he'd do anything he could to help her.

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"You didn't have to come in, Emily."

"I needed some information on how Matthew... died," Emily willed herself to stay strong as she bit her lip, watching Hotch frown.

"Alright, well, it's early and I called the team in. Morgan should be here soon and you can go with him to see Matthew, alright?" He grabbed the case file, handing it to Emily, who shuddered slightly as she took it without looking at the contents.

"Hotch, you don't have to do this," She whispered, practically pleading.

"Emily, what kind of a person would I be if I just made you deal with this on your own?" He was almost horrified that she thought he'd do that.

"A boss who's thinking about his other subordinates and the stack of more important case files in JJ's office?" She retorted, bitterly.

"Emily. I don't even want to hear a debriefing on a single one of those files until we know the truth about Matthew and the second victim. You are a priority right now."

Emily smiled wearily, dipping her head. "Have I said thank you already?"

"Once or twice," Hotch replied with a small smile.

"Thought so. I can grab some coffee, you want some?"

"I'll get it, you can sit on the couch and look over the file. Be back in a few minutes." Emily inclined her head sitting down on the couch with a sigh so drawn out that all Hotch wanted to do was go over and pull her into his arms. But instead, he left her there, going to make her a coffee.

When Hotch returned she was curled up on the couch, sleeping. He didn't know that she hadn't even glanced at the file. He didn't know that she hadn't slept in the last day and a half. He didn't know that it had been the relaxing scent of his office that had lulled her to sleep, guarding her from the dangers that had taken Matthew.

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"My office." Emily stormed ahead of Hotch, giving the priest a lethal glare as she passed by him, swiftly entering the office and turning around to face her boss.

"Are you actually accusing the Italian government of authorising this man's assassination list?" Hotch demanded, exasperated.

"He admits he was present at every death!" Emily yelled, anger etched across her face.

"The case is over."

"You said you'd give me leeway!" Her voice had risen to panicky, fear surging in.

"And I did. I understand your frustration; there are some things we cannot control. Take some time off." He tried to be calm, but he could feel the lines blurring in his mind. Hotch knew that if they were to work this case, he wouldn't be able to do this with Emily there, in this state.

"What?"

"I don't want to see you in the office for the next few days." That was a lie. Of course he wanted her there. Hotch wanted her there more than anything, but as she gaped at him, turning and fleeing his office, only to be chased after by Rossi, he knew that he couldn't keep her here. It wouldn't be fair.

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"This comes down on all of us."

"I'm fine with that, you?" Rossi's eyebrow tipped up and Hotch stared at him, trying to search for words. How could he express how he felt? The woman he loved had gone against his orders to stay home and recuperate, while one of his best friends was asking him how he felt about that. Not to mention the fact that he could lose his job because an entire government was mad at him.

"Yeah, I am."

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Hotch sent the priest to ride in the car with Derek and Rossi. When the older man had asked why the sudden change, he had only one answer.

"I think I'll go for a walk."

Rossi paused a moment, realisation sinking in. He nodded his head slowly, choosing his words carefully.

"I hope you find what you're looking for."

"I hope I do too."

Hotch walked for a long time, following the tracks in the snow, which were shaky a times. He followed them step by step, placing his feet where hers had walked, no more than ten minutes ahead of him. Hotch glanced up every once and a while, eventually realising where her feet had taken him.

Emily sat on the front step of the church, rubbing at her nose as she stared down at an old, bent photograph. She could feel him drawing near, smell the faint traces that she could only describe as Hotch.

"Come back to take me up on my offer of gun and badge?" She asked softly as she listened to him sit beside her, his shape filling her peripheral vision.

"I'm here to apologize."

"For what? I know you were just doing your job. Hell, you risked your job for me. I know you didn't reprimand me until you absolutely had to and even then you called up the Vatican for me. Don't apologize, Hotch, it's less than unnecessary."

He smiled slightly at her, reaching over and covering her bare hand with his gloved one. "I guess I did call up the Vatican for you, didn't I?"

She smiled, her eyes still fixed on the photo. Hotch paused a moment, then reached over,, running his hand under her nose and wiping away the blood. Emily closed her eyes, leaning over onto his shoulder as snowflakes fell, landing in her hair and on the tips of her eyelashes.

"You know, you don't have to stay here with me."

"What kind of person would I be if I didn't?"

"Someone who needed to make sure the UNSUB was taken care of and someone who has lots of smoothing over to do with lots of people."

"No, Emily, I'd have to be heartless to ignore the fact that you need someone right now."

"You aren't heartless, Hotch," Emily whispered, her voice soft, a small puff of air dissipating before Hotch's eyes as she spoke. He watched the snowflakes fall around them, covering his head and shoulders, blanketing her body in white.

"Only because you opened my eyes."

Song: Rivers and Roads – The Head and the Heart