Hello guys. I'm sorry it took me a lifetime to update this but I just don't feel like writing at all. Some things happened to one of my best friends and greatest supporters so my mind is super off. Anyway, I tried my best and I hope you enjoy it! Please, check out the final notes because there's a small challenge in this one! Also, thanks for the reviews and faves and follows, y'all are just great.
This is for Franjp, love you sis.
Behind her woodened desk, the brunette chief struggled to keep her eyes open as she glanced at her wristwatch and realized it was too late. She had been almost living at the office, but since her – their - daughter's arrival just two weeks ago Emily decided to head home in time to read her some bedtime stories. It was the least she could do in order to make her father's and brother's absences don't hit her too hard.
Filling her suitcase with files about Peter Lewis, among some other new cases they had been through, the mother of one took a minute to stare at her plate. Garcia had changed it without her consent, all in a surge of surprise and excitement. At first, she considered this gesture an overreaction to her discovery.
Two days later, though, when a FBI cadet walked in to deliver papers strictly to her, she couldn't help a tiny smile lingering as her ears captured her usual addressing.
"Mrs. Hotchner", the young man spoke after perusing the black and white metal "The files you asked for"
Ever since, something changed within her. Maybe it was a feeling that she, indeed, belonged there somehow. Maybe it was a desperate hope that - after she had been open with those she considered to be part of her family - they could finally work together and bring him back. Because they could understand her, care for the matter in much deeper consideration, after all, it wasn't just Hotch and Jack, it was Emily, Rosie… their family.
And the team, mainly those who have been there from the beginning, knew their ex-leader, along with their new chief, had so much tragedy throughout the years. If they had a chance to restart, to fall in love and build a family – put aside that they did it together – there was no way in hell they would allow another unsub to take this away from them.
Still, there was Spencer Reid who had said no words out of the profiles or tactical guides in field. They had been friends from her first days with the BAU and right when she most needed him, he detached. Yes, the raven-haired woman was aware of her guilt in this process, she shouldn't have hidden her whole life from him. Not from him, at least.
It was hurting her deeply to watch him running away from her, leaving the room whenever they were supposed to be alone or even avoiding eye contact. She tried to talk to him, once, twice… countless times before JJ told her to let him think, let the anger and that lump in his throat to dissipate.
"How long?", her voice trembled in worry, sight partially focused on the images pinned "I can't handle this for much longer"
The blonde shrugged, folding her arms across her chest, "Weeks, maybe a month or two" a defeated sigh left Emily's lungs and made the younger profiler almost murmur her following words "Em, I barely can imagine what you're feeling but you must understand him, you know, whichever yours and Hotch's reasons were, you both shouldn't have kept this from us."
Somehow, Jayje was gone too from that moment forward. Most of all for Emily discovered what her true motivations were. Rosie and Jack. Anything she did was going to be about their children, about saving a family, about protecting two innocent creatures from the inferno their parents trapped them into.
For the first time in three years, the agent hated herself for diving in that abyss of motherhood, for bringing a little girl to this ruthless world. On her way home – she moved to his place a couple of days after the announcement – Emily tried to maintain her grip with all the fiber she had. It wasn't easy at all. It was just excruciating to face this whole situation by herself, without him to ground her and her to hold him.
Once, before they ever dreamed about marriage or having kids, they planned a way to tell the team about their relationship. It was half year through it and he had just lost Strauss to the Replicator.
"No" he brushed his lips to her temple, tasting salty droplets of perspiration "I swear, I won't spend the rest of my days wondering what we could have been"
"I'm right here and I don't plan going anywhere", she nuzzled his bare chest whilst they snuggled closer, legs tangled as they lay naked in the post-coital haze. "Besides, I can't even imagine saying this to them"
"Uh" his fingertips ghosted her spine, drawing patterns on her porcelain skin "I can't either"
She propped on her elbow therefore their faces were levelled, dark eyes met hazel eyes and the Interpol chief found herself connecting their mouths again. He plundered her tongue, strokes turning into a feral grip to her hipbones while her right leg slowly forced the brunette to straddle her partner.
"We should be clear, you tell the girls, I tell the guys, and then we get everyone together for dinner at Rossi's" a friction between their nether regions elicited her to hiss at the intimate contact "Or maybe I could just kiss you in front of everyone and pronounce my undying love for you"
A perfect eyebrow raised towards his statement, warmness occupying her chest as she canted her hips to intensify their growing connection. Her folds were still wet from their first round, his shaft hardened amid them with every movement.
"This is the third time" her lips pronounced against the nook of his neck, nibbling his jaw and pulse point right after.
Although the dark-haired man forced his best to preserve his steady tone, his lover could hear a slightly restricted hint, "What?"
"You're trying to say that you love me using other words", she sucked his collarbone afore her hands fisted the sheets on the sides of his head and supported her torso until they could see each other's bare form surrounded by night-like dimness.
"Well…" his rough palm cupped her flushed cheek, conveying her to lean into his gentle touch "Perhaps it's because I do love you"
A lonely tear seared her worn out expression while the mother opened the door and attempted to dry it with the back of her hand. She wouldn't let their daughter suffer or even be affected by their jobs, not if she could prevent it.
Leaving her suitcase upon the table, Emily took a minute to take off her suit jacket and hang it on the back of the chair therefore she could set the alarm. However, before she could type the password, something got her attention. Two unclad feet were lying on the other side of their dining table.
Her instincts plunged an adrenaline rush to flow wildly in her veins, her senses magnified insanely with fear that something might have happened to her daughter. Fingers reached her holster hooked on her leather belt as she positioned her body to the combat. Crossing a divider between the rooms, the ambassador's daughter scanned every wall with her Glock loaded to a blitz.
Carefully – very much so – she rounded the table's edge until she could take in a full picture. Her heart thumped against her ribcage, making the brunette mother lose trace of any breath or words or thoughts. She stuck there, froze agape at a lifeless young figure with pain still written all over her face.
Albeit her digits tapped her cold pulse, she couldn't feel any signs of vitality coursing within her. And so she sprang into action, ran down the hall to violently burst into Rosie's bedroom.
It was empty.
"Rosie! Rosie, sweetheart! Mom is home!" she screamed, lost in despair with her mind spiraling and her legs limping throughout the place.
Empty. There was no one there. Nor a single living soul to give her some clue. Some hope.
Reaching for her phone almost automatically, Emily typed a phone number, the first one that popped into her mind as she kneeled beside Cate's pale form. She couldn't take her pained eyes. It was all her fault. All her fault. Her fault…
"Kiddo, hello", she could almost see his smile on the other end of the line
"I need you here, bring the team, bring a CSU" hooding the woman's fogged orbs, she murmured to her silent goateed friend. "Bring… bring everyone"
They found her sitting with her thighs pressed against her chest, arms enveloping long legs while one hand held Cate's heavy palm. Drops were falling from her lids unconsciously and JJ was pretty sure she wasn't even feeling.
All the requested units worked around her, and she didn't leave until they said it was absolutely necessary. From various spots, she could vaguely hear their voices. JJ was on her phone with Garcia, whispering some details that she probably wanted the tech analyst to research. Tara stood by the blonde agent's side, eventually speaking something in order to help. Dave and Luke tossed some theories along their observations of the place.
Spencer, oh well, he halted with every step he took towards her place near the couch – they had moved her there and the boy genius wondered if she even understood what was happening. He bended forward to give her a glass of water, but the brunette didn't take it. It was almost like she wasn't even there, like she was lost at some other place. And her vacant stare just confirmed this.
"Emily" Reid shook her gently "Your phone, it's buzzing"
Her head briefly tilted to see a screen shining atop of her agenda. She wanted to move, she wanted to answer. Yet, all she could do was to watch the doctor fish the object and hand it to her. The mother of one couldn't quite tell whether she recognized the number or not. Nevertheless, she picked up the call.
It was a shot in the dark, a voice calmly talking, unsettling her every last self-control and, in the meanwhile, chanting to her ears, "Emily… Emily… I have her"
*mischievous grin* here's the challenge: leave a review telling me who do you think is on the other end of the line and if you guess it right, I'll pm you and I'll write whichever prompt you send me! The publishing schedule will follow the order of best theories (I wanna hear them!) and I really hope to hear from you! Elaborate my wise sweethearts! ;)