"Wheels up in two hours. Go get your bags and we'll meet at the airport." Hotch announced, reorganizing his stack of files on the conference table. He watched as all his agents, one by one, exited the room, to leave him alone with his thoughts. The briefing had gone well – that is, after Morgan and Reid were finished harassing Emily about her state. He was quite satisfied with himself: he had managed to focus and even remembered enough about the current case to fill the others in, despite his sleepless night. He didn't know why, but JJ was looking at him curiously during the whole briefing.

Hotch always had a go-bag in his office. However he had to get home to prepare Jack's things, as he would spend the next few days at his aunt – once again. As the unit chief got out of his office twenty minutes later, he noticed that only Emily was still at her desk, and over the phone. As he approached, he heard music displaying.

"Prentiss, hang up this phone." He said, looking at the taxi card in her hand. She turned around, sighing, but stayed on the line.

"Why?"

"You won't take a cab home. I'll drive you. It's on my way anyhow."

"Hotch, come on." She said, putting a hand on the speaker so that the person which had just picked up wouldn't hear. "I already asked enough favors of you for the next million years…"

Hotch shook his head and, after a moment of hesitation, put his finger on the receiver to finish the call.

"Hotch! What are you doing?"

He didn't blink away.

"I promise I'll never accept to do you any more favors after that…" He said, repressing a grin. Emily sighed and finally hanged up the phone, stretching her arm to take her bag.

"Fine."

As they walked together through the bullpen, Hotch's eyes travelled several times to his coworker, or more precisely, to her wrist, as she pushed open the door to the elevator area. He frowned as he recognized the shape of fingers, engraved so to speak into her skin.

"How is the head?"

"Fine." She answered so quickly that he immediately knew it was a lie.

"You can sit this one out, you know." Hotch said cautiously as they settled in the elevator. Luckily, there were two other agents, or Emily would probably have bitten his head off, he thought as he avoided her angry gaze.

"I'm just saying…"

"I'm fine, Hotch." She cut him, lowering her voice so that they would not attract the whole attention. Hotch looked at her a little longer than necessary.

"This seems to be your leitmotiv."

Emily cleared her throat and stayed silent for the rest of the ride. It was only when they had flashed their badges at the security guard and entered the parking lot that she opened her mouth again. She probably thought she should break the tension. He didn't deserve this after all he had done for her.

"I couldn't afford the cab anyway, not after hearing what the picking up and repairing of my car will cost me…"

Hotch chuckled. "So the motor was down indeed?"

"Oh, yeah! I didn't miss the tree…"

"Why didn't you tell the team about the accident, by the way?"

Emily had taken place in the passenger seat while Hotch was storing his bag in the trunk. She waited until he was seated next to her to answer.

"It's too much information. It was hard enough already to explain the state of my face…" Her voice trailed away, and Hotch paused to look at her.

"Emily, you don't have to be ashamed of what happened to you…"

"Yes, I have." She cut him again, thinking at the same time that this was becoming a bad habit. He still was a boss. As Hotch stared at her with questioning eyes, she sighed and brushed a hand over her face. "I shouldn't have trusted this guy. I'm a profiler, for God's sake."

Hotch didn't say anything for a minute, but made no move either to turn on his car, which made Emily nervous.

"I'm sorry." She finally said, breaking the silence. "Why does every conversation with you have to take this turn?"

"Because you need to get things out." He simply said, repressing the desire to squeeze her arm to reassure her.

"I need to get past this." Emily said just above a whisper. The tension in her tone told Hotch that there was still a lot she hadn't told him. And suddenly, the knot in his throat became bigger and uncomfortable, as he imagined what she was hiding.

Emily wiped away a tear and suddenly it was gone. This vulnerability, this fragility. She was the strong woman again.

"Uh, Hotch. If we don't get going now, we're going to miss the plane."

Hotch, who was still engrossed in his dark thoughts, nodded absently and turned the key.