A/N: I know it's been forever but I'm back! This chapter shows their return to work and the episode 5x11. We have a bit of angst and some fluffy with our favorite couple. Hope you'll like it.

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 20

"The first case back, we won and you'll be home in time to pick up Jack for the zoo tomorrow, like you promised." Dave said as they were packing up their things at the station. It was the first case after he and Emily were back from their suspension. She was with Morgan dealing with the arrest of the unsub and they were taking care of the paperwork at the Police Station.

"We never figured out why Schrader killed Stacy Ryan. She had no connection with his daughter or his ex-wife". Hotch commented. There were a few holes on this case that kept bugging him.

Suddenly they heard the door opening and JJ barged in with her phone in her hand, her eyes wide and her face pale. "There has been an accident. Emily's at the hospital. Bunting is dead". And just like that the ground disappeared beneath his feet.

He frozen for two seconds until he heard Reid verbalize the question he had in mind. "Is she all right?"

JJ exhaled heavily. "She has a concussion".

"Is Morgan with her?" He managed to choke the words, trying to keep his professional façade. Deep inside, he was panicking. Was she okay? Was she unconscious? How bad it was? Bunting was dead… what the hell had happened?

"Yeah". JJ nodded and he breathed a little bit. Although he wanted nothing more than be with her he couldn't lose his focus right now and he knew she wouldn't want that. He also trusted Morgan to take care of her. He was very aware of the brotherly instinct the dark profiler had towards his girlfriend so he knew he would do anything to protect her.

"Where is Schrader?" He heard Dave asking. Right, Schrader. They still have a case to solution and he had to keep his mind on business.

"Northbound, on a truck". JJ answered.

"Truck?" Dave asked.

"He has a partner!" JJ exclaimed.

"What?" Dave said.

He breathed and assumed his Unit Chief position. "We need road blocks now".

"Do we have a tag?" Dave asked.

"Emily murmured something…" JJ said passing a piece of paper to him.

"Better than nothing". Dave said leaving the room.

"He could be heading to Canada. We need somebody who knows the area". He said to them.

"I'll get an officer". JJ nodded, turning to leave before he stopped her.

"And JJ…"

She turned back again already nodding. "Yeah, you want Schrader's face everywhere".

He turned to Reid. "Schrader was a bank robber. Now he murdered a woman, kidnaped her daughter and killed a cop".

"He's obviously more sophisticated than we originally thought". Reid agreed.

"He got a bigger plan. It's not just about getting his daughter and leaving the country".

"We never profiled he had a partner". He said.

He sighed and looked at the information on the board. "We don't know this guy, at all".

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"So he's not the hard-ass we thought he was". Dave said at the precinct where he, Hotch and Reid were discussing the profile. Hotch was trying very hard to focus on the case and Schrader but the only thing he had in his mind was that he wanted to kill the bastard for hurting his Emily.

"But if Jenny was what he wanted, he had her. He could have left". He said.

"Yeah, but we thought he'd took her to Canada, right?" Reid asked.

"That theory made sense. Why didn't he?" Dave said right the moment JJ entered the room.

"Pictures of the accident." JJ said passing the photographs to Dave and Reid. As much as Hotch wanted to see them he knew that if he looked at them right now he would lose it.

"Any word on Emily?" He asked JJ hoping to not show too much despair, when inside he was struggling. He would give anything to see her or even hear her voice right now.

"Apparently she is arguing with the doctors." JJ said partially amused.

That's my girl, Hotch thought. He fought against the smile that threatening to appear on his lips at the mention of his stubborn girlfriend. "That's good". He said with his normal voice.

Looking from the corner of his eye to Rossi, he saw the older man giving him a slight nod of his head. Being the only one aware of their relationship he must know just how much he was trying to contain himself and not run to the hospital to see her.

After he assigned JJ and Reid to follow a lead about Stacy Ryan, he found himself alone with Dave at the conference room. He buried his head on his hands and sighed. "How are you holding up?" Dave asked.

"I just want to see her. I need to know that she's okay". He said quietly.

"We know that she is okay, you heard JJ. Besides, Morgan is with her. She is not alone". Dave said.

"Morgan isn't her boyfriend. I am. I just need to…" He breathed. "I need her". He confessed quietly. "If something happens to her I don't know… I need her to breathe. Do you understand?" He asked looking up.

Dave could see the tears pricking into his eyes and smiled sadly at him. "You really love her, don't you?"

"More than I ever thought it was possible".

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Schrader's face is all over the news". JJ said to the three men at the room. It was twelve-eight am and Hotch was almost exploding with the need to see Emily.

"He's on the run for almost two hours and we are no closer to catch him". Hotch said in a mix of resigned and pissed.

"We have to find the partner". Reid said. Suddenly his eyes lit up. "Hey".

"Hey, how are you feeling?" JJ asked and he turned quickly to see who was entering the room. The sight in front of him made his heart leap and clench at the same time. Oh sweetheart. Her face was pale and he could see the purple bruises already forming on her cheeks. There was a small cut on her forehead and her left forearm was bandaged up. She was limping and he could tell that she was feeling a lot more pain than she let appear.

"Like I just got hit by a truck". He heard her attempt to joke and never wanted so much to put her in his arms and soothe her. She was talking with Garcia and put it on speaker, not even looking at him, showing that she was all business. He wanted nothing more than hold her and to kiss her but he knew that it would have to wait. He tried to catch her eye to at least feel some comfort but she seemed determined to ignore him.

He sighed sadly. He knew she was trying not to lose it too. They both would have to wait until later to find the so needed comfort on each other's arms.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Schrader was dead, the family was safe and they were finally boarding the jet to go back home.

He was the last one to board and saw the team already settled on their sits. He saw Reid on the couch, probably preparing to sleep later. Morgan, JJ, Rossi and Emily were sitting at the armchairs around the briefing table, the first with his headphones, the two later looking through some papers and the later one staring at the window, with a lost look on her face.

He arched to be with her and was pretty hurt that she had chosen a sit where he couldn't approach her. Didn't she see how much he needed to be with her? Was she mad at him? He noticed that she barely looked the whole case after the accident. He wondered if he had done something wrong. He really thought that she wouldn't appreciate if he had left everything to rush to the hospital with her. But in reality that's what he wanted to do.

He sat at the single chair by the end of the plane and closed his eyes. He just wanted to go home.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Don't worry about the reports. It's Saturday. Everybody go home. See you guys on Monday". He said as soon as they reached the BAU. He saw everyone smile at the news and gather their things to head home.

He went to his office quickly to collect some things and when he was descending the stairs to the bullpen he heard Morgan asking to Emily if she wanted at lift home.

He was shocked when she said yes.

He watched them both going to the elevators and sighed. "What are you waiting to go home?" He heard Dave's voice behind him.

He shrugged. "I don't even know if I'm wanted at home. Or if it's still my home. She just left with Morgan. Maybe his support during this case and my lack of it had been clarifying to her. Maybe she found out that I'm really not worth it. That she could do better. I wasn't even there to take care of her when she needed. All because of a job". He said the words quickly in one breath, part of him resigned and shattered at how things had happened and the other part terrified and panicked about how he was supposed to go on.

Dave smiled inwardly. He knew that his friend's insecurities where going to make him play the worst scenarios on his head about the brunette's behavior. He had said it to her on the plane when Morgan and JJ were sleeping.

"You know that he probable thinks that you're pissed with him right? He's probably already thinking if he will go home to find all his things packet by the door…" He said quietly to her and watched a sad smile appear on her face.

"I know… but I can't talk to him. I can't look at him because I know that if I do it I'll break. I have to wait for us to be secured inside our home and away for any prying eyes". She whispered to him and he nodded.

"I think you should go home". Dave said again. When he saw him make no motion to leave he looked at him pointedly. "Trust me Aaron, go home. She wants you there".

He narrowed his eyes to him. "Do you know something? Did she talk to you?"

Dave couldn't help but smile. "Trust me. Go home".

He nodded and grabbed his go bag and briefcase and went towards the exit. He wanted to hold her so badly. He just hoped she'd let him.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

She paced in the living room waiting for him to arrive. Morgan had dropped her home twenty minutes ago and she had changed into one of his boxers and a loose t-shirt and now was waiting for him. She knew that he was probably confused by her behavior towards him, maybe even thinking that he had done something wrong. She felt bad for making him feel insecure because she knew all the issues he had from his previous relationship, issues about his job and his cold façade. She knew he was probably thinking that he had failed her.

But the truth was that she needed him so damn much that she had to do this. She was so addicted to his voice, to his touch, his smell, that she knew that if she allowed herself to come any closer to him she would break and she would break right into his arms. And she couldn't do that.

She needed to collect herself and continue to act as the FBI agent she was and not like some weak woman who went running to her lover's arms at any problem.

But now, at this moment, she wasn't a FBI agent anymore. She wasn't Agent Prentiss. She was Emily. And she wanted her Aaron here, to hold her and make her feel safe.

She heard the key on the lock and her heart started to beat faster. She saw him enter the apartment and throw the keys on the table, his bag and briefcase on the floor. He looked up and she could she the frightened look on his face. She felt the tears starting to poll on her eyes and she let out a sob before racing towards him, throwing herself on his arms.

She felt him instantly wrap his arms around her frame and bury his face on her hair. "Sweetheart". He breathed against her. She now was sobbing uncontrollably, her face on the crock of his neck breathing his scent. "Oh, babe, I'm so sorry… I'm so sorry, I should've been there with you, I'm so sorry…" He whispered in her ear and she pulled back shaking her head.

"No, no Aaron, I wasn't expecting you to go. You did the right thing, this was our first test to either we are able to deal with our relationship and our work. I'm sorry if I made you think that I was mad at you… I'm sorry…" She said rising on her tiptoes to give him a kiss. He kissed her thoroughly, savoring her taste and reaffirming to himself that she was okay, alive, in his arms.

"I just wanted to hold you, to make sure you were okay… I was so scared… I thought you were severely injured… I don't know what I would do if anything happened to you. I love you so much, I need you…" He whispered while trailing kisses on her eyelids, cheeks, forehead and lips.

"I know, but I couldn't. If I let myself to go for you I would break and I couldn't. We had a job to do". She said looking to him.

He nodded and hugged her tightly on his chest. They stood on the embrace for several minutes before he pulled back. "Let's go to bed. I want to hold you all night and take care of you…"

Later that night they were on their bed, he sitting against the headboard only on his boxers and she lying between his legs, pressed against his naked chest. He was caressing her arms and planting sweet kisses on her hair when he heard her say with a small voice. "I saw him choking Bunting and I couldn't do anything…"

He closed his eyes and tightened his grip on her. "I know sweetheart, and I'm so sorry. But it wasn't your fault".

"But…" She started but he cut her off.

"No Emily, listen to me. You were injured, you weren't thinking straight because of the concussion, you couldn't have done anything babe. Don't do this to yourself… it wasn't your fault. It was Schrader. And he's gone. It's over…" He said firmly.

She stayed in silence for a few minutes before she turned to him and cupped his head with her hands. "I'm so glad I'm back home with you. For a moment I really thought I wouldn't make it".

He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against hers. When he opened his eyes she could see the moisture on his eyes. "You have no idea how glad I am that you're here. I don't know how to live without you anymore… just the prospect of being without you, it hurts so much Emily".

"I love you Aaron". She whispered.

"I love you too, sweetheart. So much".

They lay on the bed and curled around each other, both enjoying the feeling of the other, thankful for the gift of being together one more night.

A/N: Let a lot of reviews and maybe I'll post again very soon :)

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