Episode: Roadkill
"Uh, I'll catch up with you."
"Ok," Hotch looked up to see JJ walk away. He frowned, going back to shuffling papers.
"What the hell happened back there?" Emily stormed into the room, her eyes wide as she stared at Hotch.
"What?"
"You told us to stay on the line and then you go off and try to kill yourself?"
"Emily, I was stopping our UNSUB. Or, at least, trying to." Hotch bit his lip, touching the small cut on his forehead gently.
"I was on the line. The whole time, Hotch! I thought you had died!"
"Emily, this is the job. I'm ok and there's no lasting damage."
"Yeah but..." She paused a moment, dropping the case file on a nearby table and stepping towards Hotch.
"But what?" He murmured, as JJ left the office, the man in tow looking considerably more pleased than when he'd entered.
"But nothing, its fine," Emily turned away, staring out the window. "We're down a car, right?"
"Yeah, we need two to stay back for about half an hour longer while we drive back and forth. We can get another car back at Quantico," Hotch sat down in the nearest chair, leaning back and analyzing Emily. "You gonna tell me what this is really about?"
"Want some coffee? I'm dead tired."
"Emily..."
"Coffee?" Hotch's eyes were trained on Emily as she stood, turning towards the coffee maker, ignoring his soft plea.
"Yeah, sure."
Hotch sighed, turning away from Emily and biting his lip as he glanced down at the now closed case file. Was she really so scared that he had been in danger of dying? Hotch closed his eyes, wondering what to say. How could they keep going on like this? Fearing for the other's life in every dangerous situation and still attempting to remain professional.
The guise was fracturing, breaking up into hundreds of tiny pieces. And Hotch didn't know what would fix it.
OoOoOoOoOoO
"So, care to share what's going on with you?" Hotch turned away from the window he'd been staring out of, looking at Rossi as he sat down across from him.
"What do you mean? Everything's mostly the same with me," Hotch frowned at Rossi, who smirked at him.
"Right. And there's absolutely nothing going on with a certain brunette member of our team."
Hotch let out a sigh, turning now towards the agent in question, who was curled up in the small one-seater across the way from where he and Rossi sat.
"I don't know. I honestly don't know."
"You know, she has feelings for you, Aaron," Hotch ran his hands through his hair quickly, then turned back to face Rossi.
"Really? You think so?"
Rossi grinned at Hotch, wondering just how long it had been since he himself had felt this way for someone.
"Yeah, I'm sure of it. Are you going to act on it?"
"I don't know," He replied, defeated. "She wants to give me time, but it's more than just her and I. It's the fact that I don't know how either of us would do knowing that there's always the chance the other might die on the job. Not to mention fraternization rules."
"You're rambling."
"Am I? I just don't know how to deal with it. Right now at least. Soon, I think."
"You're sure about all this? Do you think you and her are ready?"
Hotch looked back over at the woman of his affections, his words soft and tender as he responded.
"Yeah, I'm sure."
Little did he know that something was going to come along and change all of that. Something that had been hidden at the back of every member of the BAU's minds for a while now.
Something that would haunt him to his dying day.
I'M SO SORRY FOR LEAVING IT THERE. But on that note, yay newest episode done. Next up: FOYET –dundun dunnnnnnnnnnnnn- Uh, leave a review I guess.
Song: Rusted Heart – Mike Edel and The Fugitives
