It's been a month since their fight. In some ways, things have changed for the better. Both of them have made a considerable effort to better communicate their fears and needs. Still, Emily can't help but think that something feels different between them. Weird different. As she's sitting on the couch in Aaron's apartment – no, ours, Emily mentally corrects herself – trying to read a book, she realizes it's like they have both been walking on eggshells around the other. Of course, she had said she needed time to fully trust Aaron again, and he had given her just that. But what Emily wants now, is for them to just be them again. Now more than ever in her life, she craves the comfort and light that that she originally felt when they got together. There were many periods in her life where Emily didn't quite feel happy for one reason or the other. But never once had it been as dark as when she was all alone in Paris with nothing to do but think about all the damage she had caused. Coming back hadn't been easy, either. She didn't just think about what she had done, but could see it all over everyone's faces. It slowly got better, but Emily still felt like she was just barely getting along. That changed when her and Aaron started dating. It hadn't fixed everything, of course, but at least Emily finally felt happy and at peace. She wants, needs, to feel that way again.

Lost in thought, Emily doesn't hear Aaron entering the living room. She startles when he crouches next to her, one hand on her belly while he presses a soft kiss to her temple.

"Hi, honey," Emily says, turning to kiss him properly.

"Hi, sweetheart. How are you feeling?"

"Fat and tired, but okay otherwise," Emily replies, before spotting her shoes in Aaron's free hand. "What are you doing with my shoes?"

"First off, you're not fat, Emily. You look beautiful. Second, I want to take you somewhere if you're up for it."

Emily narrows her eyes at him. "I take it you're not going to tell me where we're going, are you?"

"No, I'm not," Aaron replies with a secretive but knowing smile. "You'll just have to trust me."

Emily catches the significance of his words, despite his joking tone. She decides to play along. "Well, okay then, Mr. Mysterious. I guess I'll trust you," she says, plucking the shoes from his hand. Before they head out the door, Hotch insists on her wearing a jacket. It's not that cold for an autumn day, but he refuses to budge on the subject. Emily acquiesces, figuring this is at least a healthy outlet for his protectiveness.

It's only a twenty-minute drive to wherever it is they're going. Emily is mildly surprised to see that their destination is a quiet cul-de-sac, nothing in sight but some houses.

"This is it? Are we visiting someone? Is there anyone we know who lives here?" A realization dawns then. "Oh my God, please do not tell me the ambassador decided to acquire a 'quaint little house in the suburbs'," she continues, mocking her mother's proper tone.

Aaron chuckles. "Are you kidding? No, I value my life too much to spring that on you."

Emily breathes out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. But who does live here then?"

"We could, if you want to."

Emily lets out a surprised laugh as she turns back from watching the admittedly beautiful house to shoot Aaron a disbelieving glance. "Yeah, right. Come on, tell me what we're really doing here."

"I'm serious, Emily."

Emily's disbelief turns to shock. "What? How? I- You're going to have to give me little more to go on here."

Aaron unbuckles, half-turning to be able to look his girlfriend properly in the eye. He waits for her to do the same before speaking. "The realtor is an old friend of mine, Michelle. A few months ago, I put out some feelers with her, let her know that I was looking for a house. This was before… You know. I almost forgot about it, until she called me earlier this week. The house isn't on the market yet, but the owners are looking to sell on short term. They'd prefer if it is to someone Michelle knows and trusts."

"Okay, I understand how you could come to technically buying a house, on the market or not. What I meant was, how did you get here? Why now? And why didn't you ever mention you were looking for a house for us?"

"The secrecy was a necessary evil to surprise you. Well, it was initially, anyway. After our fight I forgot all about it. But ever since then, I have been carrying this guilt around and trying to figure out how to relieve it. What I lost sight of, is that I don't need to come up with anything. I just have to show you the truth. And the truth is, this is what I imagine our future will be. Not necessarily this house, but a home. A future together, with our kids. And this is not some new insight. I've been sure of this for a long time now. I should have told you, showed you, much sooner. I'm sorry I didn't."

Emily bites her lip, trying to prevent her tears from falling. It doesn't work. "Aaron… You don't have to be sorry, not anymore. I know I said I needed time to learn to trust you again. And yeah, you did hurt me. Badly. But you were hurting too. You were reacting from trauma; and one I knew intimately at that, one I witnessed myself. Plus, it's not like I'm a stranger to reacting badly to trauma. With our work, something like this is bound to happen again. If we're really serious about this future together, I don't want us to keep score of who said or did what. What I want for us is to communicate better, to grow from this experience. But more than anything, I want us to be together and in love without tiptoeing around the other, afraid to hurt or get hurt." Emily's tears are still falling as she takes both of Aaron's hands into hers and gives him a hesitant smile. "What do you say?"

Aaron smiles back, tears shining in his eyes as well. He lifts their hands to his lips, pressing a kiss to Emily's knuckles. "I say that sounds great."

They both lean in at the same time, kissing with a passion that has been missing over the last month.

Emily pulls back first, but doesn't move far. She gently bumps her nose against Aaron's. "Just for the record, though, I will kill you if you ever bring Ian Doyle up again like that."

Aaron chuckles, despite the seriousness of the subject. "Understood." He pulls back further, taking one hand to stroke Emily's cheek before tucking some hair behind her ear. "Do you want to go check out the house?"

Emily's eyes light up. "You know I do."

…

If Emily thought the outside of the house looked beautiful, the inside completely blows her mind. With every room she sees, she falls a bit more in love with it. It's a big house, but cozy at the same time. Even without their things in it, the house already feels warmer than any place she has ever lived in. The backyard is the last thing Aaron shows her, and that's what really draws her in. It is big and green, with trees surrounding the perimeter to shield them from the neighbors. It is even complete with a treehouse and a swing set. Emily tears up again, remembering her childhood where each house her family lived in was bigger than the next. They were always sterile though, and with nothing more than tiles and statues in the yard, if they even had one. She always dreamed of a home like this. No, exactly like this. It's like someone looked in her head and built the house she pictured all her life.

Aaron's voice brings Emily back. "So, what do you think of the house?"

"It's… beautiful." She turns to find him looking at her nervously.

"You know, it doesn't have to be this house. We can always keep looking. I just wanted to show you what I intend for our future to be."

Emily shakes her head. "I don't want to keep looking. I'm pretty sure you found our home. I mean, this is quite literally my dream home." At the look on Aaron's face, she narrows her eyes. "Wait, you knew. How? I've always said I wanted to buy a brownstone."

"I know that's what you always say. I also see the way you look at these streets, these houses. And the look on your face when you see kids playing in the yard… I always felt like it wasn't just about the houses for you, but really more about the families living in them. I believe that's what makes something a dream home for you. A family." Aaron pauses, putting his hands on Emily's back to pull her closer to him. "I realize that what I'm about to say next is going to sound like I'm profiling you, and maybe I am. But I mean well."

With only a questioning look but no outright objection from Emily, Aaron continues.

"Whenever someone asks you what your dream house is, I have heard you say it's a brownstone. And you sure know how to convince whoever asks. I think you may have even convinced yourself at some point. But there is always a moment where you hesitate. It's like you're afraid to say that what you dream of is actually a house like this. Because this is a house for families, and for the longest time you didn't think you'd have one, or even deserve one. So you tucked away that dream safely and built a new one. One that fit with the possibility of you remaining alone. It's like you were embarrassed to admit to wanting a home for a family and then would end up not having one. Which makes me hurt for you, because no one should feel embarrassed about wanting a family. But more importantly, it hurts for me to know you ever thought you didn't deserve to have everything you ever wanted. Because you, Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, deserve the world."

For what feels like the millionth time in her pregnancy, Emily feels her eyes start to water again. She clears her throat, determined not to let the tears fall again. Instead, she places her hands on Aaron's forearms, squeezing a little tighter than necessary. She draws strength from this, from him, and lets out a sigh before speaking. "You know, I'm starting to understand why people hate living with a profiler."

Aaron grimaces. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It's not like you're wrong. For the longest time, I didn't think having a family was in the cards for me. But after I returned from Paris, I also started to feel like I didn't even deserve it. I started to doubt whether I deserved to have any of my old life back, to have all of you guys back. I uhm… I even thought about leaving the BAU again. Honestly, it still crosses my mind now and then."

Aaron's grip on Emily tightens. "I'm so sorry Em, I didn't know that."

Emily shakes her head. "No, that's on me. I never told you. I didn't want to. This past year with you and Jack, and now the baby, has made my life so much better. I am so grateful for all of it. I wouldn't want you to think I take any of this for granted."

"Okay, listen to me, Emily. You never have to worry about that. I love you. Unconditionally. I know that I have put a big dent in your trust in me, but you can always talk to me about things like this. It's not going to change the way I feel about you. And it's not going to change how I see our future together. If you need to make a change, I understand and I will support you all the way. Whatever comes next, we will face it together."

Emily lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "Thank you, honey. I think I have been afraid of what you would think about it. Or maybe I was just afraid, period. I'm not even sure what it is that I would want to change exactly. I do know that I'm not going to make a decision either way until our girl gets here."

"I like the sound of that, our girl," Aaron replies, a grin forming on his face.

Emily's face mirrors his. "Yeah, me too. I still can't believe it sometimes. I really started to think that I would never get to have this. And I slowly started to accept that maybe this kind of life wasn't in the cards for me. But in two months, you, me, Jack and our baby girl are going to be a family. If you told me this a year, year and a half ago, I would have called you crazy. I think you're going to have to remind me once in a while that this isn't all a dream."

"I know that pinching someone is the way to do that, but may I suggest kissing as an alternative?"

Emily laughs out loud at that. "You may."

They both lean in at the same time, their lips meeting in a slow, soft kiss. Just as Aaron is about to deepen the kiss, he feels a little foot in his stomach. He pulls back, his hands immediately moving to Emily's stomach. He receives a few more kicks in response.

"Wow, these kicks are getting some power to them. I think she wants to prove she's strong like her mom."

"I don't know about that. Maybe she wants to let us know she wants to play soccer like Jack. Or maybe this is her way of saying she likes the new house."

Aaron's gaze moves up from Emily's stomach to see her biting her lip, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"You want to buy this house?"

"I want us to buy this house, yes. Like I said, it is quite literally my dream home. Add to that the dream family, and I'd be crazy not to want this."

Aaron pulls Emily in for another kiss, firm this time.

"Okay then, let's buy a house," he whispers against her lips. "One more thing, though."

"Oh yeah? What's that?"

"Please don't ever refer to our daughter as 'baby girl' again. I can see Morgan saying that to Garcia with that damn suggestive smile of his, and I do not want that image associated with our daughter."

Emily chuckles before pressing her lips against Aaron's one more time.

"Deal."