Whoa, this is the last chapter of this fanfic! I can barely believe. An enormous thank you for all the reviews and faves and notifs, really, this was my first multichapter work and I'm really glad y'all enjoyed it! I might as well often write oneshots about this world bc I kinda like it (and there's a lot of past stuff that can be explored). If you have any suggestions of things you wanna see, my pm is always avaliable!
And the oneshots of the challenge will be coming out anytime soon :)
Hope you enjoy it *wink*
"Where's Rosie?! My Rosie… And Jack? Where's him? Stop this, let me go!"
He crossed the curtain without thinking, yanked it open with nothing but her distressed voice etched on his skin. Dave was sure, Hotch couldn't blame himself more for what happened to her.
When he left for that assignment, drove Jack to Jessica even though Emily was on her way to D.C., the father of one never anticipated Scratch would get to her. And JJ's voice echoed within him, that ragged pitch natural from phone calls torturing slowly for he was in the middle of nowhere, powder, sand and dust surrounding him as that tactical war task reminded him about years ago.
If he hadn't been ever so worried about his team – especially Emily, his Emily – the blonde would have noticed that slight fear and waver gracing his usually flat tone. The Unit Chief boarded a plane that same night, excused himself to his superiors not giving a damn about the consequences to his career for what it felt like the first time in forever.
Cruz called him hours later, while his pen was swirling that whole paperwork and he had just finished a quick video call with the team. His whole body exhausted with the weight of guilt falling hard on his shoulders, those dirty clothes making him look more than desperate than usual.
"Agent Hotchner, I just received a call from the local field and it came to my knowledge you deserted the mission", a deep breath followed, Aaron's hand running his short hair in weariness.
He was tired of hiding, tired of everything and of that whole game they sported throughout the years. Whether his Section Chief would approve it or not, it was none of his damn business. There had no better argument, no better explanation to his eagerness on coming back than this.
"With all due respect, Sir, my wife has been kidnapped and I don't intend to sit out of it" his aggressive sentence cut sharp through the phone, ready to attack at any point and partially waiting for a lecture about how politically wrong it was to be fucking in love with his ex-colleague.
It never arrived, though, and Mateo's leeway both surprised and eased him all at once. He needn't more wars to fight, the psychos they hunted every day were enough for him to deal with.
"Hey, hey" the softness in his words would certainly startle everyone in his team, but he couldn't help it when he caught a glimpse of a nurse trying to hold back Emily from jumping out of the hospital bed "Honey, I'm here, it's me Aaron"
The younger woman backed away just as the suited up man stood by the brunette's side, launched his strong arms around her in the most careful of the ways. Hotch's lips brushed her bandaged forehead, his nose tracing down the way to her temple until her tense muscles melted in his familiar embrace.
"Where're Rosie and Jack? Aaron, what did you do to them?" teary eyes reflected her confusion, partially due to the last three weeks, partially due to how bad she was hurt during their small physical episode back at Lewis'.
"They are alright, they are alright" he reassured, one large hand soothing her back as she had surged forward while trying to set herself free minutes ago "Rosie is on her way with Cate and I asked Jessica to bring Jack here"
The mother of one was quiet for a moment, silently debating if she should believe in the man whose warmness she could feel against her torso. Hazel orbs looked down at her, scanned her furrowed eyebrows, quivering parted lips, those dark circles around her eyes so deep with a different emotion.
"What happened?" she almost mouthed, vacant stare focused on somewhere out of that place "Aaron, what happened?"
It was her time to glance up at him, to meet his concerned features carved in those profound lines that time gave to his constantly even face. What she found there – every emotion surfacing without a hint of disguise – pulled some of her strings, caused him to become a bit more reliable and her to relax in such weaker condition.
"Peter Lewis, do you remember him?" she nodded her acknowledgment absentmindedly, silky curtain of dark strands cascading so beautifully that it never failed to amaze him just how lucky he was to have her "Do you remember why you came back here in the first place?"
"You were on this special assignment, the director tapped you for it and you couldn't say no" he was the listener now, combing his gun-callused fingers through her hair "It screwed up our plans for holidays and you seemed worried about something else that you didn't tell me"
"Honey..." he murmured, inhaling the natural scent of hers "This is not a cognitive"
"I need to do this" her reply came seconds later, her palm trailing the forearm around her waist as she bent her head forward "I just need to"
"It's okay" Hotch moved briefly therefore he could pull the visitor chair that remained right behind him and sit down to proceed with it. "I'll be here through it, alright?"
His smooth tone, barely audible for anyone out of that scene, calmed her down, caressed her nerve endings until she was settled to the process. Albeit the Unit Chief tried to be objective, he would never be able to – never - and his palm covered hers, sunk it into the stiff mattress in order to keep her somehow safe.
"Close your eyes and take a deep breath" he commanded after the younger agent had shifted her position to a half sitting one, half laid down one "I want you to think about what happened from the day you arrived in Washington, what it felt like, what it smelt like, everything"
Heavy lids hooded her often doe eyes, chest heaved and she could feel that burning sensation in her lungs. Emily attempted to any possible reminders, the images flashing faster and wickeder than she ever supposed. Her head was spinning inwardly, too many memories mixing until they morphed into that evil grin on Scratch's face, that mocking laughter heard amid the darkness.
"Emily! Em!" she snapped back, trembling nervously and without a single knowledge of whatever she had done to have Hotch holding her firmly against the stretcher while the nurse tried to stabilize her again.
Her heart was thumping hard inside her chest, breathing labored as though she had just ran a marathon, pupils dilated and that cold sweat forming on her alabaster skin. The brunette had not a clue about how long it had been – five minutes, three, had she even said something? – by the instant she found herself staring back at her husband's lost expression.
"I-" she stammered, bit her lower lip with the influx of whatever that woman had added to her already strong medicine "I'll tell you what happened to me"
Cold morning shades colored her frame nearby the window, clever hands running down her red sweater as she peered herself in the wall mirror. Deciding to leave her hair loose, the younger agent arranged her new bangs until the hair was perfectly placed.
"Garcia just called, we got a case in San Francisco" that ever so serious sentence seared the space between them, his hand closed around one side of the doorframe as he came back, probably from Jack's bedroom "We're waiting for you with pancakes"
"Thank you" she spun on her heeled boots, that casual work attire fitting her body so well that it made a rush of adrenaline kick in his veins.
His eyes didn't leave her whilst she walked around their room to grab her suitcase and the files they had gone through the night before. There was something there, he was sure, from the nervousness plastered on her posture to the way she lingered when tucking the manila folder inside its proper confinement.
They stood in front of each other for a while, narrowed eyes questioning whatever was hidden underneath the surface. Emily sucked in a deep breath, expressed just how much she wasn't ready to have that conversation. Although she didn't ask for it – verbally - he gave her time, gave her space because that's what he always did.
And the moment they joined Rosie and Jack with wide smiles, her fingers attempting to arrange the boy's hair even though he complained as much as a teenager would and gentle lips pressing kisses atop their daughter's head, he knew exactly what that was about.
It had been one year since Peter Lewis had messed up with their lives, since he drugged her for those somber three weeks, since they decided it was time to be a family, since she told him she had enough of that running in circles life they were leading.
He wanted to go with her, he offered this back then. But there, deep down, she had never been complete out of that team, out of that family, out of where she could just reach out to squeeze his broad shoulders every time she passed by to take her place around the breakfast table.
Hotch watched her in silence, how she worried about Jack's homework although she knew he had helped him with it the day before, how she cleaned the corner of Rosie's mouth albeit the little peanut continued feeding herself. And that short period he captured that gleam in Emily's eyes, read his last name after her given one on the ID attached to her suit jacket's pocket, he couldn't help but to smile at the sight.
It was family, the definition of it, and Aaron Hotchner wouldn't let this go.
Fin! Drop me a line, please, I'd love to read your thoughts about this chapter or the entire work, whatever swings your mood ;) See y'all next time!