#hotchniss mini fic

[ssaemilyhotchner]

Hey congratulations on the milestone 🥳

Can I request letter A 🫶🏻

hope you enjoy & ty for participating! 🌹

OTHER 1K DRABBLES | Read on AO3 Join the celebration by requesting a letter!

letter: A | prompt: adrenaline | wc: 2.1k | cw: alcohol, mostly just them making out bc Emily doesn't get her way lol | a/n: Post-ep for 7x15, "A Thin Line."

Please do not repost (reblogs welcome) or otherwise claim as your own.

--

“Prentiss.”

Without looking up from her desk, Emily simply made an unintelligible noise in response.

“Come on, Emily.” Hotch’s voice was gentle yet insistent. He’d been watching her stare blankly at her after-action report for nearly an hour, her leg bouncing rapidly all the while. Idly, he wondered if she’d even be able to bear weight on the leg and found himself moving in a little closer in case he needed to steady her. “I’m taking you home.”

Emily finally raised her gaze to meet his. “I don’t want to go home.”

He nodded knowingly. He had expected as much, knew what the weight of silence in an empty apartment felt like, especially after a case like this one. “Then let’s get a drink. You shouldn’t be alone right now.”

Emily studied him for a long while: the strength in the set of his jaw, the sharp angle of his body, his hand heavy on the back of her chair. What she really wanted was to be reckless, anything to stave off the dread that had weaseled its way under her skin. Running herself ragged at the gym, maybe, or getting into a fight, or fucking a stranger.

But, she conceded, in lieu of those, there were worse ways to cap the evening than at O’Keefe’s with Hotch. 

--

From the moment they set foot in the bar, their eyes were everywhere but on each other. Even with the bass of the unrecognizable song pounding through them like a heartbeat, silence pressed pointedly between them as Hotch’s mind raced. As he thought about how everything had narrowed to the sight of her emerging from Hilary Ross’s home, blood snaking bright red down her fingers. As he thought about the way fear had dried his mouth, tasting bitter on his tongue.

She had been quick to reassure everyone that she was okay, of course, a demonstration of overcompensation that had only made him more apprehensive. He knew she could feel his eyes on her during their flight home, especially as Morgan had moved to sit by her, clutching her good hand in apology. He had watched Emily’s lips twist teasingly as she once again assured the other man that San Bernardino was not an echo of that warehouse in Boston just a year before.

He had watched as Morgan rose and returned to his previous seat, and Emily’s careful mask crumpled ever so slightly around the edges.

He had watched as her gaze found his and held it, a challenge.

“I’m okay.”

Hotch blinked in surprise; he hadn’t expected she would be the one to broach the topic. He took a long pull of his beer. “It’s okay if you’re not.”

That earned him a trademark Prentiss glare. His lips twitched at the sight, glad her fight wasn’t gone entirely. “I know,” she replied testily.

“Do you? Because your thumb is bleeding from where you’re picking and I don’t think you’ve noticed.” He watched as she snapped back into her body and reached across their small booth for a napkin to staunch the small crescent of blood. “Your first injury in the field since Doyle, and with Morgan as your partner nonetheless,” he said carefully. “What you’re feeling is understandable, Emily.”

“Hotch,” she warned, before downing the rest of her negroni. “Your projecting isn’t exactly making me feel better.”

He raised his hands slightly. “I’m not projecting. I’m just looking out for a friend.”

She knew he was right, of course; no amount of overcompensating could make her do Morgan’s healing for him, but when she closed her eyes, she could still see the all too familiar look on his face as he registered her injury. She didn’t want to be thinking about any of that right now, though, and she certainly didn’t want the play-by-play of her boss profiling her in real time. 

Emily grumbled something that sounded a lot like who died and made you my therapist then pushed herself up onto her feet. “I need another drink.”

--

“I want to dance,” Emily said, several shots later. “And I want you to come with me.”

Hotch frowned pointedly at her sling. “Emily, you need to go home and rest.”

“You’re so serious,” she whined. “Come on, Hotch. Loosen up for a night,” she said with a devious smile. She traced a slender finger around the rim of his glass of whiskey, toying with the idea of getting him another drink—anything to get the tension out of his body. “Please? For me?”

Hotch eyed her pretty pout warily—he had always been a sucker for her doe eyes, and he was beginning to think she knew—then stood and extended his hand. “One dance.”

“Excellent.”

They both knew it wouldn’t just be one. 

Emily hummed contently as they moved in tandem to the beat of the music. His touch was light and respectful but warm, and she found herself leaning into it more and more. Inhibitions blissfully lowered, she dropped her fingers to the curve of his arm to trace a vein there, causing his hip to stutter accidentally against hers. Her gaze snapped up to his then, and her heart pounded at the look of obvious want in his eyes. Her resulting smile was beatific.

“What’s making you smile like that?” Hotch murmured, the low thrum of his voice only stoking her need.

“Nothing,” she said sweetly, biting her bottom lip and watching as his eyes flicked down to her mouth, then back up.

He chuckled. “You’re not a very good liar when you’re tipsy.”

“But you have to admit, I’m a pretty good dancer for someone who got shot less than 24 hours ago,” she said brightly, before looping her good arm around his neck and closing the space between them—the space he’d been trying diligently, if not half-heartedly, to keep.

“That you are.”

Fuck, she felt good as she moved against him. He vaguely registered the alarm bells sounding at the back of his mind at the heat building between them, but Hotch couldn’t think beyond the fact that this was Emily and she was in his arms, just like he had wanted for years. Every glance through his blinds at her in the bullpen, every cup of coffee delivered to him with a smile, every swish of her ponytail when they were paired together in the field, all of it building and cooling and culminating here.

“You were right, by the way,” he said eventually. She made a curious noise in response, the sound turning into a giggle at the shiver she pulled from him as her thumb traced mindless little patterns at the very top of his spine. “I was projecting. I didn’t want you to be alone this evening…but I didn’t want to be, either. I needed to see that you were okay.”

Emily looked up at him, besotted, then took his hand in hers and placed it over her chest. He clenched his jaw at the action; he could feel her heart, strong and racing at his touch, and was instantly consumed by the need to find every way he could elevate her heartbeat. To feel her heartbeat at every join of her, every join of them.

“Feel that?” she whispered, cutting through his reverie. “I’m okay.”

--

He hadn’t meant to kiss her back. Really, he hadn’t.

One minute, they were dancing, their bodies moving in sync as they toed the line of propriety with stolen touches, a nose against a cheek; the next, she was silencing his laugh by pressing her lips to his, rejoicing at the groan that rattled in the back of his throat as he felt her tongue coaxing his mouth open.

Hotch’s grip on her hips tightened, but the taste of gin and campari in her sweet mouth made him channel all of his restraint and pull away. “Emily—”

She moved her lips to the corner of his mouth. “If you even try to stop this,” she whispered, “I will break your jaw.”

Hotch barked out a surprised laugh. “Sweet talker,” he said dryly. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Emily grinned widely. “I like the sound of that.”

As he piled her into the car, Hotch felt a pang of guilt at the victorious expression that had flickered across Emily’s face. He knew what she was craving; she needed a release, she needed him, but no matter how much he wanted the same, he knew he couldn’t follow through. Not tonight.

Finally reaching Emily’s place after much giggling and wandering fingers at stop lights, Hotch watched amusedly as she threw herself onto her couch. “Can I get you anything?” He eyed the Bialetti on her stovetop before sitting down beside her. “Some espresso to sober you up?”

“I’m not drunk,” she countered unconvincingly.

He snorted. “How about a different method? Dave shared a hangover trick with me when I was still fresh out of the Seattle field office. You’d just need amaro, which feels like something Emily Prentiss would keep around.”

She gave a throaty laugh at that and the sound sent a coil of pleasure through him. “I do have amaro. You are not the only one Dave has ever plied with expensive alcohol and gotten drunk. But,” she said, holding his gaze, “I don’t want to talk about Dave anymore.”

And at that, she straddled him. 

Hotch’s eyes fell shut at the press of Emily’s body against his. There was something about her that triggered the most visceral reactions from him, his throat constricting and chest tightening as her teeth found the shell of his ear, the sensitive spot right below it. Perhaps it was that he had imagined this so many times before: imagined unraveling her carefully constructed exterior and coming undone to her, with her, imagined finding her pulse point with his mouth and sucking hard enough to leave a bruise, only now he was actually doing it and she was whining and it was the most exquisite sound he had ever heard. 

Emboldened by the sear of his mouth on her neck, Emily reached for him with renewed determination and urgency, fisting a hand in his shirt and making to tug it upwards over his head. It was the jolt to the present that Hotch needed, and he forced himself away, panting heavily. He wanted her to keep going, wanted to feel her, wanted to press his mouth to more of her, cut through her anxiety and adrenaline right to the core of her and make her fly apart; but instead he dropped his face in the curve of her collarbone and left a kiss there. “Emily, you have no idea how hard it is for me to stop you right now,” he ground out, “but we shouldn’t do this tonight.”

“I think I have a pretty good idea how hard you are,” she purred, rocking her hips against his and rejoicing in his resulting whispered fuck. “I want you, Hotch.”

“And I want you, too. I have for years.” Hotch smiled a little at the pretty blush that colored her already ruddy cheeks at his words. “But regardless of how eloquently you protest, I’m going to feel like I’m taking advantage of you right now,” he said as she opened her mouth to interject, “and I don’t want this to be something you regret tomorrow morning.”

Ghosting her lips against his in a barely-there kiss, Emily slowly shook her head. “I could never regret this,” she whispered. 

“Please, Emily,” Hotch said a final time, stilling her hand as she tried taking her own shirt off this time. He rose to his feet, Emily still wrapped snugly around him. “Not like this. We need to get you to bed.”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to do this whole time,” she said cheekily; but she followed him obediently, flashing him an inviting smile once she had stretched out across her bed. She watched him hungrily as he raked his gaze over her and swallowed thickly. 

Needing the distraction, Hotch slipped away to find ibuprofen and fill her a glass of water. When he returned, she had dressed down and removed her sling, and was staring at him as if he were stupid, but he just shook his head and sat in bed beside her. “You’ve had a really hard day,” he said gently, running a hand through her silky hair. “When the alcohol and adrenaline wear off tomorrow, I’ll be right here, okay?”

“Sometimes I hate that you’re such a good guy,” she said with a concessional sigh; but when she looked at him, all he saw reflected in her gaze was admiration.

Hotch couldn’t help but crack a smile at that. “I’m sorry.”

Emily laughed then, lolling her head to the side to peer at him with tired eyes. “Thanks, Hotch,” she said softly.

“Of course, Emily.”

She was out in a matter of minutes.

[sequinsmile-x]

Hi I love all your hotchniss parents fics so much they’re such a comfort!! If requests are open, can I ask for a little hurt/comfort where hotchniss’s teenage daughter is sleeping in their bed again at night? For whatever reason you’re comfortable with writing and it reminds them of when she was little and would sleep in their bed🥺 just can’t get the image out of my head and i know you would do it justice if you want to <3

of course bestie <3 I love writing them with teenage/older kids. It has a special place in my heart.

I really hope this was what you were looking for and that you enjoy it <3

-x-

Reminiscence

Emily and Aaron's teenage daughter has her heart broken.

-x-

Warnings: None

Words: 4k (i got a little carried away!)

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

“Here you go, sweetheart.”

Emily smiles as she looks at her husband and takes the glass of wine he holds out for her, “Thanks, honey.”

Aaron carefully observes his wife as she checks her watch, her cheeks puffed out as she blows out a breath. He presses a kiss to her forehead as he sits next to her and wraps his arm around her shoulder. 

“She’s fine, Em.” 

She grunts, irritation that only lasts a second licking at her insides at how well he knows her, “I know that,” she replies, huffing as she rests her head on his shoulder, “It’s just getting close to curfew.” 

Since the moment Hazel was born, everyone had always told Emily how much like her the little girl was. At first, it was the way she looked. How her daughter had her nose, and her dark eyes and her smile. As Hazel’s personality developed the comments became even more common, and Emily couldn’t deny how much of herself she recognised in her little girl, how she had so many of the attributes she’d always been told were bad in her but that seemed beautiful in her stubborn, adventurous, wilful daughter. 

As soon as Hazel became a teenager, however, Emily started to worry. She remembered all too well what she’d been like. All the secrets she’d hidden from her mother, and it made her long for the days when her daughter was a tiny thing that would crawl into her and Aaron’s bed when she’d had a bad dream.

“She’s sensible,” Aaron says, kissing her temple, pressing his smile against the edge of her grey hair, as he takes the glass of wine out of her hand and sets it down. “You know that.” 

She hums as she checks her watch again, “The half of her that is you is.” 

She worried less about Jack and Issac. Not because they were boys, but because they were both mini versions of her husband. Jack was the most sensible college student she’d ever met, and Issac was so serious his teacher had mentioned it at his most recent parent-teacher conference, a wry smile on her face as she told them she’d never met an 11-year-old quite as earnest as him. He was up in his bedroom playing video games and she knew that she wouldn’t have to remind him of his bedtime, that he’d quietly put the game away when he’d been told to.

Issac had Aaron’s stern glare perfected since the day he was born, quiet and furious to be born as he was placed on Emily’s chest for the first time, the complete opposite to Hazel’s loud and dramatic entrance to the world four years previously. 

Aaron laughs and hooks his finger under her chin to make her look at him, “You don’t give yourself enough credit.” 

Warmth spreads through her chest, the familiar love she’d had for him for almost two decades as overwhelming as it always had been as she leans in to kiss him, the taste of the wine they were sharing passing from her lips to his. 

“I love you.”

He smiles as her breath skips across his face as she speaks and he kisses her again before he replies, “I love you too.” 

She smiles as she hooks her hand around the back of his head, her fingers pushing through his hair as she deepens the kiss, taking advantage of the rare opportunity of some alone time with her husband. She starts to lose herself in him and is about to shift closer to him, about to slip into his lap, when she hears thundering footsteps on the porch steps followed by the front door flying open. She slips out of Aaron’s embrace when she hears a gasping sob in the foyer and she walks out into the hallway. She frowns as Hazel comes into view, her face bright red and her eyes swollen as she sobs again, her face crumbling as she steps towards Emily. 

“Hazel?”

“Mommy.” 

The gasp of the name Hazel hadn’t called her in years pushes Emily forward, her arms reaching out as she gathers her daughter against her chest, the fierceness of the 15-year-old girl's hold on her only making her worry more. 

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” She asks, exchanging a look with Aaron as he steps out of the living room too, his worry just as obvious as hers as he steps towards them. She cups the back of Hazel’s head and encourages her to look at her. She checks for any obvious injury, looking her up and down, “Are you hurt? What’s happened?” 

Hazel’s lower lip trembles as she sucks in a breath, “Brock dumped me.” 

She sinks back against Emily, her sob shuddering from her chest into her mother’s. Emily wraps her arms around her and rubs her hand up and down her back, “Oh, baby I’m sorry.”

Aaron is about to step towards them, ready to pull them both into his arms, his wife’s distress at seeing their daughter so upset obvious despite the facade she was trying to hide it behind, but he spots his youngest son standing at the top of the stairs, his concern for his sister clear. Aaron looks at Emily and nods his head towards Issac and she nods in response, a silent agreement that he’d go and look after their youngest whilst she spoke to Hazel passing between them. He turns and heads up the stairs, his arm around Issac’s shoulders as he leads him back to his room. 

“Come on buddy,” he says, smiling softly at him, “Why don’t you show me that level on your game that you were telling me about?” 

Emily half pays attention as Issac frowns and eventually agrees with Aaron and lets himself be led upstairs. She focuses on Hazel, on the way she’s crying against her, the material of her shirt sticking to her skin, and her attempt to soothe her. She shushes her gently like she hadn’t in years and guides her towards the living room, barely getting a second to sit down herself before Hazel is pressed up against her again, her damp face against her neck.

“Do you want to tell me what happened with Brock?” She asks, hating how her daughter tenses against her, how her grip on her shirt tightens. 

Hazel and Brock had been dating for a few months. It had been long enough that he’d been to the house a few times, he’d sat at the dining table with them and been polite whilst they ate dinner and she and Aaron were sworn to ‘behave’ by their daughter. Hazel was infatuated with him. The kind of young love Emily knew almost always ended in heartbreak, but she’d hoped that Hazel would be spared this. 

Hazel sniffs as she pulls back, avoiding Emily’s eye contact as she looks down at her lap, “I don’t want you to be mad.”

“Sweet girl,” Emily says softly, cupping her chin and making her look up, “I won’t be mad. You can tell me anything you know that.” 

Hazel nods and her lower lip trembles again, her emotions still rumbling in her chest and forcing their way out. 

“We were going to…” she clears her throat and closes her eyes, “We were going to have sex,” she says, her voice low, embarrassment colouring every word. Emily is grateful for years of political training, for the fact she can school her features and not show her shock to the teenager sitting in front of her, forcing herself to breathe normally even though it feels like she’s been sucker-punched, “And I thought I was ready but…I didn’t want to. I changed my mind.” 

Emily had always been very open with her children when it came to sex. She didn’t want them to make the choices she had, didn’t want them to look for love and acceptance in all the wrong places and then be left to make the decisions she’d had to when she was young. She and Aaron had disagreed over it occasionally, the thought of his kids having sex as teenagers almost too much for him to bear, but she’d always been more realistic with it - aware they were going to do it anyway. Despite that, this was still hard to take. Hazel was the same age she had been in Rome, and, more than anything, it highlighted just how young she’d been then herself. 

She clears her throat, grateful when her voice doesn’t shake as she asks the first question that comes to mind, “Did he hurt you?” She asks tucking some of Hazel’s hair behind her ear. The teenager looks up at her questioningly, her head tilted in a way that made her seem even younger, “He didn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do?” 

Hazel’s eyes go wide as Emily’s question registers and she shakes her head, allowing a small sense of relief to wash over her mother, “No. He didn’t,” she says, more tears falling past her lash line as she laughs bitterly, “He called me a tease and then broke up with me,” she chokes on a sound between a laugh and a sob, “He told me if I wouldn’t sleep with him someone else would.”

Anger licks at Emily’s insides as Hazel sobs, the sound catching in her chest as she covers her mouth and Emily can feel her own heart cracking in her chest. Every instinct she has is screaming at her to go find the teenage boy who had broken her little girl’s heart and tell him exactly what she thinks of him, but she reminds herself that isn’t what her daughter would want, or even need.

She needed her right here listening to her as she cried and bore her heart to her, pressed up against her chest in a way she hadn’t been in years. 

“I just want someone to love me like Dad loves you,” Hazel cries, shuddering against her, “I thought Brock did.” 

Emily sighs sadly and kisses the top of Hazel’s head as she continues to play with her hair, running her fingers through it like she had done ever since she was small. It was something that had always soothed all of the Hotchners including Aaron, her secret way of calming them down - a touch her husband always liked to say was magic. 

“Sweetheart,” Emily says softly, resting her cheek on top of Hazel’s head, “You’re 15. You have so much time to figure it all out,” she assures her, “I know that doesn’t help how this feels right now. But you do.” 

Hazel laughs humourlessly as she pulls back and shakes her head, “Boys suck.”

Emily chuckles and nods, leaning forward to kiss Hazel’s forehead, “I’m quite fond of your dad and your brothers,” she says, her smile widening slightly when one flashes across her daughter’s face, “But you’re right about the rest of them.” 

Hazel’s smile shakes, “Can I…”

She drifts off, and Emily can see how her cheeks go slightly pink, as if she’s embarrassed by whatever she wants to ask, “Can you what, sweetheart?” 

“Can I sleep in your bed with you and Dad?” She asks, avoiding eye contact again, “I don’t want to sleep alone, and it always made me feel better when I was a kid.” 

Emily has to stop herself from smiling too widely, and from telling Hazel that she was still a kid, well aware it wouldn’t go down well, and she nods, reaching out for her daughter's hand and squeezing it.

“Of course you can, baby.”

___

Aaron is able to distract Issac for a while. 

He’s worried about Hazel, about whatever happened with Brock, the teenage boy Aaron had never been fond of anyway, but he tries to put it to one side to focus on his son. Eventually, not long after he hears Emily and Hazel walk up the stairs and towards the master bedroom, he puts the controller in his hands down, smiling at his son as he checks the time. 

“Time for bed Zac.”

Issac nods and switches off the console, handing Aaron the controller he’d been using so he could put them on the side. Issac hesitates as he lies down, sighing like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders as he does so. 

“Dad,” he says, the concern he’d had for his big sister coming back in full force “Why was Hazel upset?” 

Aaron sighs and sits on the edge of his son’s bed, his hands clasped in his lap as he looks at his youngest, “Brock broke up with her.” 

Issac looks affronted, a frown on his face that Emily would say was all him as he sits up a little straighter, “Why?” 

Aaron had a feeling he knew, but he hoped he was wrong because he knew he’d have to convince his wife to not hunt down a teenage boy he wanted to tell off himself. 

“I don’t know, buddy,” he says, “She’s going to be sad for a little while though.” 

Issac’s frown deepens, “Shall we beat him up?” 

“No, Issac,” Aaron chuckles and reaches out to ruffle his son’s hair, “You need to spend a little less time with Uncle Derek.” 

Issac looks at the one remaining stuffed animal in his room. A few months ago he’d declared he was too old for them and had asked his parents to get rid of all but one - a stuffed black and white cat called Hector that he’d loved since he was a toddler - claiming it would be good to have one for emergencies. Emily had bagged them all up and put them in the loft in case he ever changed his mind, and they all pretended he didn’t cuddle up to Hector every night. Aaron watches as he reaches out for it, hesitating for a split second before he wraps his hand around Hector’s paw and passes it to Aaron. 

“Can you give this to her?” 

Aaron presses his lips together to suppress a smile and grabs the toy from him, “Are you sure buddy?”

Issac nods, “It’s for emergencies and this is an emergency.” 

He smiles and stands up, dropping a kiss on his youngest’s head, blown away by his kindness and empathy as always, “That’s sweet. I’ll make sure she gets him.” 

Issac smiles as he settles back down, “Love you, Dad.”

“Love you too, Zac,” he says, kissing his head again before he heads towards the door, “You know where we are if you need us.” 

He blows out a breath as he steps out into the hallway and he smiles at the stuffed cat in his hands. They’d lost it once when Issac was young, misplacing it at an airport during a vacation. Issac had spent almost a day crying in Emily’s arms as Aaron hunted it down, edging on abusing his privileges as an FBI agent to get his son’s favourite toy back. He steps into the master bedroom and smiles softly as he spots Emily and Hazel curled up together, the teenager looking younger than usual with her make-up gone and her head on her mother’s chest. 

“Zac wanted you to have this,” Aaron says as he walks across the room, exchanging a smile with his wife as he hands the cat over to Hazel.

Hazel chuckles, the sound wet as it catches in her throat. She hugs the toy against her chest and rests her cheek on the top of it, “Hi Hector,” she whispers against its threadbare fur, “Will Zaccy be okay without it? He still likes to sleep with it.” 

Aaron sits on the edge of the bed, “He said he’d be fine,” he assures her, his lips curled into a half smile, “He said this was an emergency.”

“That’s sweet,” Emily says, running her fingers through Hazel’s hair as she imagines how seriously her youngest would have been as he passed the toy over to give to his sister. As an only child, she’d never experienced the love of a sibling, not until she joined the BAU and was suddenly surrounded by people she would one day class as her family. She loved the love her children had for each other, and it gave her comfort that they’d always have each other - even long after she and Aaron were gone one day hopefully decades from now. 

Aaron reaches out and places his hand on Hazel’s knee and squeezes, “You okay, sweetheart?” 

She shrugs, her focus on Hector as she plucks at some lose fur, “I don’t know,” she replies, her lips pressed into a firm line, “Boys are stupid,” she says, her eyes flashing up at him, “Present company not included of course.”

Aaron chuckles and squeezes her knee again, “I’m sure your Mom would agree that I can be plenty stupid myself,” he says, winking at Emily when she rolls her eyes, “You sleeping in here with us?” 

Hazel sniffs and nods, tightening her hold on Hector, “Yeah. Mom said it was okay.” 

“Of course it is,” he says, “I’m going to get ready for bed,” he says, squeezing her knee one more time before he stands up. 

Emily gets up too, slipping out from underneath Hazel, “Me too.” 

“Before you make out in the bathroom,” Hazel says, settling down onto Emily’s pillow, “Please remember your heartbroken kid in your bed.”

Emily smirks at Hazel as she walks to the bathroom, making a point of stepping a little closer to Aaron than necessary, “No promises, honey.” 

As soon as the ensuite door closes behind them, Hazel’s half-hearted joke in response to Emily lost behind the wood, Emily’s shoulders sag, the fake cheeriness she’d put on for their daughter gone in an instant. She covers her face with her hands and sighs, her chest shuddering with it as it escapes. Aaron walks over and pulls her into a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around her. She hooks her arms around his back, pressing herself as close to him as possible, soaking as much comfort as she can from him until they go back out into the bedroom and she has to be okay again. 

“What happened?”

She rests her forehead against his shoulder for a moment before she pulls back to look at him, “You have to promise me that you’ll be level-headed about this,” she murmurs, her tongue wetting her lower lip as she shakes her head, “Because I don’t want to be and one of us has to be so we don’t end up on the local news.”

He smiles as he tucks some hair behind her ear, the low light of the bathroom catching on the silver strands he loved so much. She’d dyed her hair for years, hiding the grey flecks that would appear in her roots every couple of months. He’d encouraged her to grow it out. Something about growing older with her, about watching the years they’d spent together reflected in the laugh lines around her eyes that made him love her even more. 

“Well,” he says, “You did used to be a spy. I think we’d get away with it,” he clears his throat  when she raises her eyebrow at him and he nods, “I promise.” 

She blows out a breath and closes her eyes, giving herself a moment to calm herself down, “They were going to have sex,” she says as evenly as she can, not missing how his eyebrows shoot up his forehead and how his grip on her tightens, “She changed her mind and he dumped her for it.”

“He did wha-” he cuts himself off as he raises his voice, the way she glares at him enough to force him to clear his throat, his anger pushed down into his belly, making it roll in a way that makes him feel nauseous, “That is…” he shakes his head, “Is she okay?” 

She laughs humourlessly, “No. She’s completely heartbroken, she said she just wants someone to love her,” her voice cracks and tears burn at the back of her eyes, her breath shaky as she tries to hold it back, “I remember how that feels, Aaron,” her chin trembles, “I just don’t want her to think that next time she doesn’t have a choice if she wants someone to stay with her.” 

“Sweetheart,” he says, cupping her cheek and wiping away a tear as it slips past her lashes, “She knows she has us, and she’s got a lot of friends and two brothers who love her,” he leans in and kisses her forehead, “She’ll be okay. Maybe not today, or for a little while, but she will be,” he offers her a half smile, “She’s just like you.” 

She smiles at him. It shakes, but it’s genuine, and she nods, hugging him again and breathing him in, giving herself another couple of seconds of him before she steps away and sighs. 

“We should actually get ready for bed,” she says softly, “Before she thinks we really are making out in here.” 

He chuckles and nods, and they get ready quickly and quietly, both of them desperate to get back out to their little girl. Emily is ready first, something that was unusual - her normal skincare routine stripped back to the basics, and she kisses him before she leaves the bathroom, a murmur of her love for him pressed against his lips. 

He’s just about ready himself when he hears his phone vibrate on the counter where he’d set it down as he got changed into his pjyamas and he picks it up, frowning curiously when he sees it’s from Jack. 

Zac texted me about Brock. We ride at dawn. 

Aaron sighs and lovingly shakes his head, enjoying a moment of amusement he knows he shouldn’t show his wife to keep his promise to her that he’d be level-headed about it. He sends a response to his oldest, telling him he’d call him in the morning, and then he heads out to the bedroom. He can’t help but smile when he sees Emily and Hazel curled up together, Hector squished between them. For a moment it’s 10 years ago and Hazel is 5 and upset about monsters that didn’t exist anywhere other than her dreams, not 15 and heartbroken over a boy that never deserved her. He wished he could make it go away for her like he did back then, that there was some way he could make this better, but he knew all he and Emily could do was be there for her. 

“Is he going to join us or just stand there and stare at us?” Hazel stage whispers, not lifting her head from Emily’s shoulders, and he shakes his head before he walks over, climbing under the covers. 

“We should get some sleep,” he says, dropping kisses on both of their foreheads like he would have done all those years ago, another flash of his past colliding with his preset. 

Hazel hums in response and encourages him closer, sighing something near contentedly as she settles between both her parents, “Love you.” 

“We love you too, Haze,” Emily says, running her fingers through her hair, “Try and get some sleep, sweetie.” 

They both lay there for longer than necessary and watch her, their focus on her sharp long after she’s fallen asleep, her grip on the stuffed cat in her arms finally loosening. Both Emily and Aaron wonder where the time had gone, how it had been 15 years since they’d first brought Hazel home, and as they drift off to sleep themselves they idly hope time would slow down so they could enjoy as much time with their children as possible. 

-x-

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[em-prentiss]

Twoshots

use my best colors for your portrait: Aaron and Emily end up in the same art class; they draw each other. College AU.

I’ll ruin it all over, and over (like I always do): Aaron notices Emily biting her nails, so he buys her worry rings.

Series

Twin flames: Aaron and Emily's relationship, from the time they meet at her mother's estate, to their time at the BAU. Total word count: 19.9k

High Hotchniss: Aaron and Emily, each under the effects of anesthesia. Total word count: 5.2k

I still love you, I promise: Aaron and Emily's relationship, during and post Scratch. Total word count: 6.5k

picture of your face in an invisible locket: Emily joins the BAU. How long will it take for them to realize she and Aaron are married? AU. Total word count: 20.2k

Multi-chapters

Golden: A series of unrelated oneshots and mini fics (15/?)

writing the book of love: A series of unrelated blurbs inspired by my favorite lyrics (1/?)

three clicks and I’m home: A series of oneshots, wherein Spencer is more or less Aaron and Emily’s eldest son. (2/?)

intertwined, sewn together: A series of unconnected fluff blurbs inspired by prompts from tumblr <3 (3/8)

Back to main masterlist

[sleuthy-scientist]

The Honourary Honouree, Agent Hotchner

sleuthy_scientist

Summary:

The story of an award and secret soiree actually worthy of one Agent Hotchner.

(to read, click link at end of my author's notes)

Notes:

Please read:

I have gone back and forth the last few days ad nauseam about what part of this fic I should update next. I have two other fics that will be part of this series/collection. One set before my fic Time After Time, and one after.

For the prequel, I have letters written from Emily's perspective to Aaron with pictures for snapshots of her development through each month of the pregnancy he missed.

I also have random out of order snapshots for the subsequent sequel, of their life together and their kids growing up, set after Hotchniss has officially gotten back together.

I thought long and hard about this, even if it seems meaningless to some of you reading my fics. But I wanted to do this right and give you all this Hotchniss kind of alternative universe, epic story of their love, we deserved to see on screen. Hopefully my words do them justice, unlike the show did.

P.S.

I've decided to give you all this current story THE HONOURARY HONOUREE AGENT HOTCHNER as a hopeful light and fluffy spoiler story for the future. Because if you're reading TIME AFTER TIME from this series, it is going to be one hell of an emotional rollercoaster in the next few updates, and you all deserve to see the light at the end of the tunnel, to know eventually they will get the happy ending they both deserve, together.

P. P. S.

I have so many pics for fics of Emily. Paget is just so freaking adorable with all her expressions and each one, so clearly, tells a story of it's own, worth more than a thousand words.

P.P.P.S.

I both apologize sincerely for this rambling word vomit of my thought process, and I'm also sorry, not sorry about it. So without further adieu, please enjoy this mini future fic in my Time After Time universe dedicated to exploring the life of Hotchniss.

[lilacprentiss]

low key been obsessed with the idea of a hotchniss fic where hotch wants emily to meet beth and she’s obviously jealous. so she keeps putting it off because she doesn’t want to see them together BUT plot twist he wants her to meet beth cuz beth’s dating jessica

hELLO 👀

that would be so ?? 🥺💗💓💘💞! he met beth while training and they became quick friends and he told her about an agent at the office that he’s v much fond of and she’s the one that’s like ‘you like her so more than a friend??’ (oh think of the new girl scene where winston is talking about aly, and nick and reagan are like ‘dude you like her’) and he’s like ‘hm maybe i do’ but he doesn’t act on his feelings bc he thinks emily doesn’t feel the same way abt him :( but she does. and at the trilathon when they all meet beth, emily is v standoffish w him after, bc she’s jealous. she doesn’t talk to him much at work either, remaining strictly professional and only talking to him when necessary. BUT, after the regina episode (sorry i forgot the episode number mb), he knocks on her hotel door bc he’s obv worried abt her, and she lets him in and they have a very heartfelt moment about how she’s feeling and how regina’s words got to her. he comforts her as the gentleman he is (😋) and when he’s wiping her tears from her cheek, she tries so hard not to lean into his touch bc she thinks he has a gf, so she leans away from him and tries to create some distance between, and he’s just v :( bc he thinks she doesn’t like him ~that~ way ( definition of idiots in love :/ )

[blatant-attitude]

I couldn’t think of a good title for this one. It’s not one of my favorites I’ve written— but I can’t find any other area of this mini fic to try to spruce up and make better. I hope you guys enjoy it! ;)

Emily is jealous of Beth; Aaron is oblivious.

She can't tell if the headache is from the hangover lingering in her skull, or from the glaring across the table at the brown-haired woman with the overpowering cheap perfume from the over bubbly smiling-to-early-in-the-fucking-morning smile and laugh making google eyes at her boss.

JJ passes her a Tylenol as the waiter sets down Emily’s order of a hamburger, no onion in front of her. The waiter sets a grilled chicken salad in front of that wanna-be brunette bimbo who has an arm wrapped around Aaron’s own arm. Emily pops the Tylenol with a gulp of her large water before springing up from the table, mumbling something about peeing and washing her hands before she eats.

She can feel the team's curious eyes burn into her back as she disappears down the hallway that contains the bathroom. It's not long before JJ and Garcia are both coming to the bathroom after her. They study her with curious eyes while Emily washes her hands and refuses to acknowledge the two that just walked in.

“Em, honey, are you ok?” JJ asks her tentatively, stepping forwards and placing a hand on Emily’s shoulder. Garcia stands back still, watching with curious eyes.

“No. I'm not ok, JJ, because I am crazy head over heels in love with that man out there and he has another brunette wrapped around his arm, and she's not even that pretty.” Emily responded in petty, eyes welling up with tears. Her hands wipe at her eyes, clearing them of her unshed tears.

“Oh, honey.” Garcia pouted to Emily as she wrapped her in a hug, squeezing her to her chest. “You are going to be just fine, do you want me to shut down all of her credit cards? Or maybe make her nose and forehead look bigger in all of her pictures?” She offers up, which is enough to have Emily letting out a little laugh.

“No, let's not incriminate you in the process. Besides, her looking bad in pictures won't change her looks in real life.” Emily responds, pulling back and wiping her eyes again. “I think I'm going to head home. I'm still tired, and I can't promise I won't say something I might regret come Monday.” She opens the door, not leaving any room for conversation.

Morgan, Reid, and Rossi watch her as she exits and asks the waiter for a box. Aaron twists his head around and looks for a minute before turning back to the woman next to him. Garcia and JJ rejoin the group, giving a simple ‘she-just-isn't-feeling-well’ as an explanation for her sudden departure.

________________

Several days pass by before Morgan begins questioning her about what happened. ‘You weren't actually sick Saturday, were you?’ he begins which makes her roll her eyes.

“Derek, I really don't want to talk about this.” She sighs, wishing they were trapped in this car for another hour with each other. “I was hungover. That’s it.”

“Oh, so it doesn’t have anything to do with Beth and the obvious eyes you’ve been making at Hotch since you got back?” He slings at her, which makes her anger begin to explode.

“Derek Morgan, I told you I did not want to talk about this. If you say one more word I will unleash hell onto you.” She seethes, teeth clenching and brows furrowing.

He remains quiet for the rest of the ride, but she knows her outburst was enough of the answer he needed. Derek Morgan knows that Emily Prentiss is in love with her boss, and said boss has no idea.

________________

The coffee is shit, and so is the weather outside in Seattle is much the same. It’s been stormy, raining constantly, who’s is to be expected of Seattle. She can only assume that Rossi has just come inside from the rain because he steps up next to her soaking wet and begins pouring coffee.

“He is truly oblivious, isn’t he?” He comments as he brings the coffee to his lips, turning and leaning against the counter. Emily follows his gaze from where she stands, letting it land on Aaron hovering above a table and reading a file with JJ and some rookie cop.

“I’m not sure what you're talking about.” Emily denies it, leaving it there. They both let her say it, and they both don’t mention it’s a lie. They let silent understanding settle between them before he gives a silent nod and leaves her in the room to be by herself again.

Emily plasters on an unbothered face once more and heads out to solve the case.

________________

“How did it go with Hotch?” JJ questions when Emily and the man in question arrive back from interviewing a family member. JJ sits down at the desk chair next to Emily in the conference room of whatever town they're in this weekend. Emily just glances up from where her head is bent down into a file, dark hair falling around in a curtain around her as she does.

“It went like it always does. We found things out and we left.” She snapped back to her friend before turning her head back into the file in front of her. JJ just gives a sigh, not budging. She’ll get more information from the brunette soon enough.

It takes two hours before Emily is pulling JJ into a bathroom with frustration plastered across her face. “Why is he so stupid? Am I not being obvious enough? I mean, I don't want him to be unfaithful to his...whatever they’re calling it-- because I know his fidelity means so much to him. Especially after that stunt that blonde bimbo he married pulled on him. I don't know what to do anymore, JJ.”

Emily is upset; that JJ can see. JJ also knows that Emily just needs someone to listen to her so she can get the frustration out. “Feel better?” Emily just glares up at the question, scoffing in amusement. “No, but thank you for listening.”

The two leave the bathroom with curious looks from deputies, and the rest of the team members. JJ brushes it off, but Emily sends glares to her colleagues of the FBI. Hotch returns her glare, face set sternly as it meets hers across the room. Reid glances down, seeming to wish he could disappear with the tension in the room. Morgan and JJ just watch the two, eager to see who’s going to break first. Rossi gives a little chuckle, shaking his head as the two brunettes continue to stare at each other head-on. Emily turns away first, choosing instead to return her mind to her file.

________________

Emily’s morning spent with Derek looking at houses and talking about foundations has her rethinking even buying a house. The case comes in while they’re still looking at homes. They arrive on the scene quickly, and Emily has to force her mind to focus. Why does he have to look so good in a plain t-shirt and some jeans?

When the bomb went off in the bank, the only thought in her head was how she was going to tell him how she felt, because she wasn't sure she would make it through the day if this is how it was going to go. Covered in soot, she worked her way into a room where she could hear a faint scream for help and found an older couple.

By the end of the day, she was disarming a bomb around her best friend's man while still covered in the soot from the first explosion. She clips the wire with the hope that she's got it right, and feels her body break into chills of relief when she does. She leans to the side, feeling her racing heart slow with her panting breaths as she leans back. Body weak with the crushing adrenaline high.

Morgan and Aaron come running up the stairs to where she’s now sitting next to an equally breathless Will. Morgan begins to clip the chains around Will while Aaron offers Emily a hand to pull her up. The slight contact has Emily’s heart rate picking up and her stomach clenching together as she remembers what she’d told herself earlier in the day.

A wedding is (secretly) planned for the next day and everyone is leaving in favor of a shower and sleep before she's got a chance to pull Aaron to the side by herself. She stands in the shower letting the scalding water run down her body, doing what she told Clyde she would do. The conversation plays over and over in her mind, keeping her awake through the night.

“...but um..If I had more help-- say, running the London Gateway Office. You’d get your answer a lot quicker.”

“Yeah, you should fix that.”

“Well, I'm trying.” A job. He’s offering her a job.

“You have always had bad timing.” She thinks of Aaron. Of his new love for this brunette. Of her infatuation with him that he can’t see.

“Oh, come on Emily, don't you miss this?” She does...somewhat.

“I--Yeah. I will.”

Emily zips her dress with the conversation on her mind still. A job running the London office. Even thinking about it has her head spinning so much she’s unsure of when she arrived at the party… wedding.

Emily’s conversation with Derek ends with a sad sigh and Penelope spewing something garbled into her drink as she leaves and Hotch, Jack, and her enter the room. Derek leads Jack and the other woman away to the fountain, leaving her with him. “How are you?” He questions with an easy smile that has her shaking her head with a deep sigh. “That bad, huh?” Easy conversation leads to an agreeable breakfast date where they can talk about it, but Emily knows deep down she won’t go to that date. She’ll say what she needs to say tonight, and that’ll be the end of it.

Easy dancing on the boxed-off yard with the team, being passed through their arms until she lands in Aaron’s arms has her laughter flowing freely. Being held here, in his arms, is what has her realizing that maybe she always knew they weren’t going to last. Maybe that part of her is what made her want to accept the job in London.

“We both know that I won’t be at breakfast in the morning. Clyde Easter offered me a job running the London Office. I've decided to take it. You and I both know that I was always going to leave again. I can't grab onto my life the way it was before Doyle.” Her words are whispered softly against his shoulder as she leans close to him. Soft hands trace to grab his face, turning his eyes to meet hers. “Aaron Hotchner, I love you. I have loved you since I first saw you all those years ago in my mother's home, and I continued to love you all this time. Until the next time.” With a sad smile and a chaste pressed kiss to his lips, she pulls back and leaves the yard.

The rest of the crowd stare in shock. Emily has just kissed Aaron in front of his date. “Aaron?” Emily hears Beth because that's her name, Beth, question in shock as she steps up to him and grabs his arm gently. “Beth, I’m-- I’m so sorry. I've got to go after her.” Aaron’s voice carries across the yard as he jogs after her, following her inside and catching her arm just inside the door.

“Emily, wait! How long? How long have I been blind?” The question has her giving a dry laugh but his hand tightens around her wrist in seriousness. “After your divorce. I knew before then you wouldn’t have gone for anything offered because you are too good of a man. After the divorce, I started flirting then, but it seemed that you were the only one who hadn’t noticed. Then Foyet and Doyle happened, and now here we are. You're with Beth and I’m flying across the Atlantic to take a job with Interpol.” There’s a slight pout to her mouth when she finishes talking.

Aaron feels the pulse speeding up in her wrist where he holds it. His other hand reaches up and cups her sharp jawline. He presses another kiss to her lips, pressing hard enough she feels her lips will bruise. Foreheads rest against each other when he pulls back. “I’m sorry I didn't see it earlier. Maybe we could've had something amazing.” He drops his hands from her, backing away from where she stands and he leaves. Walking back outside to inevitably explain everything to his girlfriend, who stares at the both of them in complete shock.

@florenceremingtonthethird - A tag as promised : )

[eponymeanon]

She was in the kitchen making pasta, her back to the entry of the apartment when she heard the door open.

She immediately recognised the sound of his footsteps against the wooden floor, as he took of his coat, put down his bag and kicked off his shoes.

The apartment was strangely silent.

Usually he’d hear music or the tv would be on but not tonight.

“Em?” he asked lightly.

“Kitchen” he heard her answer.

He came behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his face into her neck.

That’s when it hit him. How completely in love with her he was.

“I love you.” He murmured

It’s the first time he’d actually ever said the words.

In that moment Emily should have been feeling so incandescently happy but instead she felt fear growing into her stomach and the urgent need to run. Run as fast and as far as she could.

Hotch seeing her lack of response started worrying that maybe the feeling wasn’t reciprocated, maybe she had finally realised he wasn’t worth it. But before he could say anything she spoke.

“What’s gotten into you tonight, being all lovely. Who are you and what have you done with Agent Hotchner?” she joked lightly.

He chuckled.

It was the only thing she’d had came up with.

Humour

It was the easiest way of not worrying him.

“Can’t I tell my beautiful girlfriend I love her?” he asked.

There. He had said it again.

Love

Thoughts began racing through her head.

He was way too good for her and he deserved so much better than what she could ever give him.

God if only he knew the real her.

All the terrible things she’d done.

He wouldn’t even be able to look at her in the eye.

But it was her fault for letting things get this far.

She’d wanted to stop it but the thing is she really really liked him.

Perhaps love was too strong of a word, perhaps not. Maybe it was such a big deal or her to say “I love you” to someone because she had only said it to three men in her life and each time she had regretted it.

The first man she’d said it to was her father but he then left when she was 11. Leaving her and her mother broken. That day she’d promised herself she would never let a man break her like that.

The second one was to John. She was young, naive and just wanted to be loved for once. Unfortunately that has also been a huge deception as he didn’t feel the same.

The third one was Ian Doyle and she had hated herself for it. In the beginning she told herself she was just doing her job which was true but at some point Emily disappeared, only Lauren remained. And Lauren had loved Ian despite the kind of man he was.

Because every man she'd ever known and loved, except for Matthew, had let her down and although she knows he's a good, honest man, there's no doubt in her mind that someway he'll end up just like all the others.

Her mutisme destabilised him.

“Em are you alright?” he asked gently.

She suppressed a flinch.

“Yeah I’m fine just a little tired.”

Classic excuse he probably wouldn’t buy but it was the best she could do right now.

As good as she was at lying he could see she wasn’t being truthful with him. He made her turn so she would face him. When her eyes didn’t meet his he knew something serious was up. The tricky part would be actually getting something out of her because if there was something he had learned about Emily Prentiss over the years was that she rarely spoke about her feelings.

She gave him a sad smile and nodded, she still didn't completely believe that she was worth the love of anyone, much less someone like him.

“So talk to me. Please.” He pleaded.

She sighed. “Aaron I- I’m scared.”

“Scared of what sweetheart?”

“That you’re going to leave me, realise I’m not worth it.” She let out truthfully.

He was stunned. There he thought she was the one who would want to leave him when in reality she was actually scared he would leave her.

“I’m not going anywhere Em, and you are worth it. You make me happy like I haven’t been in a long time.”

“So I’ve got nothing to worry about?” She asked.

“Nothing at all.”

The rest of the evening went smoothly, they didn’t talk much but it was a comfortable silence. They went to bed, he wrapped his arms around her hugging her tight as she stroked his hair. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard her whisper “I love you too.”

[ptrckjcne]

→ link to my previously pinned post!

→ link to full masterlist!

thank you all so, so much for 400 followers! to be honest, i'm kind of speechless when it comes to the fact that there's actually four hundred of you who choose to follow me, and i just wish i could have taken a few minutes with each and every one to tell you how much i appreciate you! <3

i've been able to make some great friends through this site and this fandom, all people whom i'm extremely grateful for, and i'm honestly just hoping i can continue to befriend you all – and in the process remind you how much i love you!

join the celebration for the 400 followers! → choose a dog breed, and leave your request!

rules: you can submit as many times as you wish, and multiple times for the same category if you'd like. please do keep in mind that i only write sfw, and i write fem!reader unless otherwise is specified in the request!

characters / ships you can request / i write for: luke alvez, derek morgan, aaron hotchner, emily prentiss / garvez, ralvez, hotchniss.

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[realtime-00]

Dreams

Just the Hotchniss + one bed fic.

While on a case in Montana, Emily and Hotch find out that they don't share that different of dreams.

Word Count: 2.7k

18+ Minors;DNI

Warnings: Cussing, unprotected sex

The team was in Montana, working to find a lost soul killing bull riders because he couldn’t have what they worked so hard to achieve. They had been called in two days ago. By the fourth hour there they had already worked a profile, given it to the locals whose numbers didn’t even add up to that of their team and interviewing the bull riders that were in town with the rodeo that week.

It was cold, that kind of crisp cold that took your breath away when you walked outside first thing in the morning. It reminded Emily of her childhood, travelling around Russia with her mom in the dead of winter. They had yet to get a lead on a suspect. Working long days, hundreds of interviews with the riders, staff, and even some patrons of the rodeo. They were exhausted to say the least. It’s why no one batted an eye when Hotch suggested they get some rest at night.

It was just four out of the seven of the team. Henry and Will had the flu, passing it on to JJ, giving her a week at home. Rossi was on his annual leave, taking the much needed off time they were pretty much forced to do. That left Emily, Hotch, Morgan and Reid in the field, Garcia manning the fort back in Quantico. There were two hotels in the small ass town they were in. The next hotel being over an hour away and too much of an inconvenience to travel to at night.

With the rodeo being in town this meant each hotel was packed. Packed so much to its limits that the hotel staff actually had to force two bull riders into another room just so the team would have somewhere to lay their heads at night. It should have made them feel bad, it didn’t. Not having rooms forced them to double up. It was a quick decision, Reid and Morgan sharing a room and Emily and Hotch sharing the other.

It wasn’t unusual for them to share rooms. It was unusual for them to share beds though. It was Emily’s single thought when they walked into the room the first night. A queen-sized bed sitting in the middle of the room, night stands on both sides. Accompanied by a small desk in the corner and a mini fridge. “Shit,” she thought to herself. This would be interesting. She really didn’t care at the moment, she just wanted to take off her boots with cow shit on the bottom, take a shower and lie down on the first flat surface she found. She thought Hotch probably felt the same way. So, that’s what they did. Took turns showering, changing into pajamas, and finally getting into bed. Just pleasantries exchanged between them as they went through their routines.

The bed was comfortable. Not too big, but not so small they were on top of each other. “Thank God for that,” she thought turning over onto her side to face the wall as Hotch climbed into bed. “Goodnight, Hotch,” she threw over her shoulder as she reached to turn her lamp off. “Goodnight, Emily,” he replied doing the same.

As Emily laid there trying her best to go to sleep, she wondered what kind of sleeper Hotch was. Did he snore? Did he kick and move around all night? She had seen him sleep a few times on the jet. He had this tiny pillow he kept in the cabinet and would curl his arms around as he laid his head against the window or arm rest. They had all agreed not to profile each other a long time ago but she couldn’t help but think he had to sleep wrapped around something. It made sense really, she had seen how he was when he and Haley were married. Loving, attentive, his arm around her waist as they sat in the bar, taking her to the dance floor smiling wildly and kissing her forehead. It made sense that he was used to holding something in his sleep.

It was why Emily wasn’t surprised to wake up at 3:24 a.m. with an arm wrapped around her stomach. What she was surprised by was the feeling of gentle puffs of air against her neck and a nose pressed against her pulse. Hotch was wrapped so tightly around her she could feel his hand under her in the middle of her back. How was she going to move without waking him up? It’s not that she minded it, not in the slightest bit. Being entrapped by a strong, attractive, fuck and good smelling man. She just knew if he woke up, he would be mortified. Wrapped around his subordinate like they were a married couple. After lying there for what felt like hours, she just decided to go back to sleep. That hopefully he would shift again by himself, and it would save her the embarrassment of having to untangle from him.

When she woke up again it was a quarter past five and she could hear the shower running in the bathroom. She wondered if he had woken up the same way she did. Deciding not to mention it she turned the light on and began to get out her outfit for the day. It was then, the bathroom door opened, steam piling out into the chilly room. Hotch wearing nothing but a fluffy white towel, wrapped low around his hips, water from his hair dripping down onto his shoulders, running down his chest. She could swear to God her mouth went dry. “I uh- I thought you would still be asleep, and I forgot my suit in the closet,” He stuttered out, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. “I can get dressed out here if you want to go ahead and shower. I left you some hot water,” He murmured sheepishly with his head down, already heading to the closet to retrieve his suit. Emily had yet to say anything. Didn’t even think she could, she just stood there, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Her brain finally kicking into gear, she hurriedly grabbed her toiletries and clothes and made a beeline to the bathroom.

Meanwhile, Hotch was mentally scolding himself in the bedroom. He had woken up at five, arm around Emily’s torso with his head buried in her neck. He hadn’t slept that good since he and Haley got divorced. Her warm body had plagued his dreams, resulting in his erection pressed up against her hip. Fuck, he hoped she hadn’t woken up before him. He didn’t know what he would say if she had. Would she push him away? He really hoped that she wouldn’t. Maybe invite him into her arms, between her legs. A man could dream he supposed.

The second day passed with no new leads, rounds of interviews, Garcia narrowing down lists of potential suspects to no avail. She hoped they would get a break soon, get back to Quantico where it wasn’t quite as cold. Around 10 Hotch suggested they call it a day, no closer than they were that morning. Everyone feeling restless as another body had turned up. Grabbing a quick dinner at the local diner, they finally got back to the hotel around 11:30 p.m. Emily wondered if tonight would be like last night, wrapped up in Hotch’s arms while they caught the few hours of sleep they were allowed. In the back of her mind, she kind of hoped it would.

After bedtime routines, they both settled into the mattress. Bodies aching from the cold, muscles filled with tension as they were hyper aware of each other. “Goodnight, Emily,” came from Hotch as he repeated the action from the night before of turning off the bedside lamp. “Mmm, Night,” slipped from Emily’s lips having already turned hers off and snuggled deep down into the comforter.

Emily woke with a start, still dark in the room, the only light from the sliver of moonlight coming through the curtains. She was on her side facing the window, comforter up around her neck nestled into the pillows with a warm brick wall behind her. It had happened again, except this time Hotch’s hand was holding tightly to her right breast, kneading slowly. She felt a quiet gasp escape her lips as she felt his hips rock behind her. His erection nestled between her ass cheeks, his lips on the nape of her neck where her hair was pulled up into a ponytail. Dear God, the man was huge she could feel it every time his hips rocked slightly into her. Was he dreaming about Haley? Thinking he was at home wrapped around her body. It was then she heard it, the slightest whisper coming out of his mouth, “Emily,” as her rocked into her again. Holy fuck, he was dreaming about her. She had to move, either wake him up or get him to move back to his side of the bed. She could feel the throbbing between her legs, the rush of heat from having him so close. She wanted this, wanted it so bad, probably as bad as he obviously did, but couldn’t think of a good way to wake him up without it being awkward.

Right when she was about to maneuver him back to his side of the bed, she heard his breathing change. His hand stopped its slow caress, the gentle motion of his hips stilling. He was awake. She tried her best to keep her breathing even, to not let him know she had been awake, feeling him. Emily felt him move forward slightly, placing a gentle kiss to the nape of her neck where his lips had been. His hand that was around her breast, lightly trailing down to her lower stomach and staying there. She could hear his quick breath almost feel his heart thudding against her back pounding as wildly as hers was. What was he going to do now? He wasn’t moving away from her, just letting his finger rub small circles on her stomach through her shirt. His lips still pressed against her nape, just pressed against her skin. His erection still pressed against the curve of her ass, unmoving. Maybe this wouldn’t backfire. Would give them what they both want.

Emily slowly grabbed his hand from her stomach, placing it back on her breast squeezing it slowly. She heard the sharp intake of air and his body go rigid the second she moved. She felt him sit up on his arm that had been under her pillow, searching for her face. Finally, she turned her head to see him hovering right above her, while his hand gently rolled her nipple. Hotch leaned down lips so close to hers that she could feel the tips of them. “Emily, we don’t have-,” he was cut off by her leaning up to catch his lips between her own. It was hungry, desperate, searching for something inside of each other. She didn’t turn from her side, bringing her hand up to slide behind his head and into his hair, gripping it, pulling him closer to her. When they broke the kiss, he trailed kisses and bites down her neck, stopping at the join of her shoulder to suck a bruise into it.

She felt the arm that he was propped up on slide up under her head and around her body to join his other hand, massaging both of her breast, rolling, and pinching each nipple. She could hear the moans coming from her mouth, breathy and low. Felt how his hips bucked into her each time she did, searching for the friction he needed against his cock.

When his right hand pulled up her shirt to her bare breast his left hand slid down to her sleep shorts, running his fingers along the hem, almost asking permission to enter them. When she gave a small nod, he slid his fingers down into her shorts, into her panties down to her lips. Feeling how wet she was he let out a load groan against her neck, bucking his hips into her. “Fuck Emily, you’re so damn wet,” he grunted out as he slipped his fingers between her folds to her clit. “So soft, bet you taste good too,” he whispered as he circled her clit with his middle finger then bringing it up to spread across her bottom lip; then swiping his tongue across it and sucking it into his mouth. “Gonna feel so good around me,” he whispered almost as if he was talking to himself.

She wanted to feel him, reaching behind her and running her hand over his boxers that were straining against his cock. The strangled noise he let out sounding like music to her ears as she pushed them down to wrap her hand around it. She ran her thumb over the tip, his body rigid, like a lightning bolt had struck through him. He was huge, her hand barely wrapping around him, thick, and she could feel the veins protruding as she slowly stroked him.

“Hotch, I need you so bad,” she whispered as his lips found hers again. Springing into action he pushed his boxers down, her sleep shorts and panties following suit. When Emily tried to flip onto her back he pushed her shoulder, “Stay there, going to finish this how it started,” he said as he bent her left leg. “Hold your leg,” he grunted as he ran his cock through her wet folds, tapping the tip against her clit, making her cry out. When he slowly pushed in she felt her eyes roll back in her head. The sting of him stretching her so good, she could barely breathe. He was seated in her so deep she was sure she was going to pass out. “Fuck Emily, you’re so tight,” he breathed against her neck, his words strained as he pumped into her a few times. Grabbing her left hand from her leg, he placed it low on her stomach pressing hard, earning a small whimper from her. “Can you feel me, Emily? Feel how deep I am inside of you? Been dreaming of this for months, knew you’d take my cock so well,” he ground out as he fucked into her from behind. “Please, Hotch. Please,”

She wasn’t sure what she was begging for, to cum, for him to fuck her harder or what. Hotch snaked his right hand down her body to rub her clit, making her grab his forearm, nails digging into the skin. “I know baby, you’re gonna cum all over my cock aren’t you. It’s okay, go ahead. Cum for me Emily,”. Those words pushing her over the edge, orgasming so hard she was sure she was drawing blood where her nails were dug into Hotch’s arm. Feeling her clench around him brought him to his own orgasm, pulling out of her so fast and fisting his cock until he spilled all over her pussy. Covering her and dripping onto her thighs, while she rode out the wake of her orgasm, legs shaking and breathing heavily. He placed two long kisses to her shoulder before climbing out of bed and disappearing to the bathroom for a minute. Coming back with a warm washcloth. Walking around to her side of the bed she saw him kneel in front of her in all his naked glory. Spreading her legs, but not immediately cleaning her off. She saw his cock twitch when he saw his cum dripping down her folds. He then started cleaning her up, giving her a sweet kiss on the lips before discarding the washcloth and climbing back into his side of the bed.

She felt his arms wrap around her and pull her to lay on his chest as he placed tiny kisses to her forehead. “Hotch?” Emily asked looking up at his face. “Hmm?” he replied eyes closed while stroking her back with his hand. “I always knew you were a cuddler,” she smiled at him. Breaking into a smile without opening his eyes, he poked her in the ribs and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

[ssaemilyhotchner]

thrilled by the still of your hand hotchniss・rated T・1.3k words

He likes to watch her when she fights.

He knows she has a killer right cross. What he hadn't realized until now, however, is that she has a killer everything else, too.

He has certainly never taken her skills and training for advantage in the field, but he's also never really paid attention to the sheer grace with which she takes down a suspect. But here in the gym, watching her closely, he sees just how artistic she is. It’s almost like she’s dancing—a deadly dance for her opponent, but it’s fluid, captivating, practically seductive. 

She’s been itching for a good fight lately, and thrumming with nervous energy of their own, JJ and Luke had readily taken her up on the offer: winner of the first fight (you ladies are going down, Luke promised) fights the person remaining, winner sweeps all, something like that. They care less about the details and more about the outlet. 

It’s this that Hotch is thinking about as Emily first takes down Luke.

Emily’s eyes are sharp, her hands furling in and out of fists, as her first sparring partner bounces on the balls of his feet. He slowly advances, but there’s something in his gaze, a little flicker of what looks to be reluctance, and it is just what Emily needs. When the flat side of her foot makes sharp contact with his cheek, he realizes he shouldn’t even have hesitated in the first place. This is Emily Prentiss, after all; born into politics, she’s probably been able to hold her own since she was six.

He grabs ahold of her wrist the next time her hand comes around in a well-placed swing, and the interruption pulls her off-balance. With a practiced twist, she follows the momentum into a nimble roll, but to neither JJ’s nor Hotch’s surprise, she’s back on her feet in a heartbeat, catching Luke right in the gut. It’s a good thing they’re wearing gloves, Hotch thinks with a wry smile playing at his lips.

--

Read the rest of the story here.

[sequinsmile-x]

This is Our Place, We Make The Rules - Chapter 12 - Snow Day

A collection of non-sequential mini-fics and one-shots of Hotchniss and their life at home.

Chapter 12 - Snow Day

-x-

Hi besties,

I know it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere, but the warmth and humidity has seriously been getting to me - so I decided to write a little snow based fic to distract myself from it all haha

This fic felt like the perfect place for this little thing to go <3

As always, let me know what you think!

-x-

Warnings: None!

Words: 2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

She’s pulled from sleep as the bedroom door flies open, the brief sound of small feet against the plus carpet filling the room before Jack lands on the bed. 

“Mom, Dad. It snowed!” 

Aaron sits up and switches on the lamp on his nightstand, groaning as their eldest’s loud enthusiasm fills their bedroom, “Jack, buddy, your brother is asleep next door.” 

Jack’s eyes go wide and he briefly covers his mouth before he carries on talking, his stage whisper somehow louder than his normal tone of voice, “But it snowed so much. Do you think school will be cancelled?” 

Emily smiles and ruffles his hair, “I doubt that, honey,” she says, stretching as she climbs out of bed. She walks the short distance to the window and pulls the curtains open, “It has to be a lot of- Holy crap” her mouth falls open when she sees her snow-covered backyard, the picnic table barely visible under it all, “That is a lot of snow.” 

“Bad word Mom.” 

She turns at the sound of her husband’s laugh, one of her favourite sounds in the world right up there with her sons’ laughter, and she raises her eyebrow at him when he parrots what Jack has said, his dimples carved out deep in his cheeks. She thinks she loves him more than usual in moments like this. When he’s relaxed and entirely hers and the boys, with no outside influence which could possibly taint their time together.

“Yeah,” he says, agreeing with their son, “Bad word Mom,” he says, his hand ghosting over her back the first sign that he’d climbed out of bed too, “That is a lot of snow. Maybe school will be called off.” 

“No school?” Jack exclaims from behind them, his joy obvious, “Does that mean you won’t have to work?” 

Emily opens her mouth to respond but is cut off by Aaron, his touch more insistent for a moment as he talks to Jack. 

“If there’s no school, we won’t go to work,” he says, smiling at his wife, “The roads will be dangerous. The team is overdue a day off anyway, we’ve been on back-to-back cases lately.” 

She raises her eyebrow at him, “You’re just going to make that call?” 

He shrugs, “One of the perks of being the boss.” 

She rolls her eyes, but her response is cut off when she hears Benjamin crying from the nursery, she sighs and heads out of the room, “Honey,” she waits until Aaron’s eyes meet hers, “You check to see if the school has emailed, I’ll get the littlest Hotch.” 

She smiles as she steps into the nursery, already soothing Benjamin as she lifts him from the crib and into her arms, settling the 8-month-old onto her hip as she kisses his forehead, “Oh my sweet grumpy boy,” she says, kissing him again as she runs a hand up and down his back, unable to stop her smile from getting wider as she looks into a frown that made him look even more like Aaron than he usually did, “You look so much like Daddy.” 

She sits on the chair in the corner of the room and settles him against her chest, smiling against his dark hair when he stops crying, happy and content in her arms. She hums quietly, a nameless tune that she’d hummed to him ever since he was a tiny newborn, something that always brought both of them comfort. She loved spending time just the two of them, quiet moments that were always too fleeting, moments she knew she’d look back on fondly when he was a tall, gangly thing who thought his parents were the most embarrassing people on the planet. 

“It snowed last night, Benny,” she says, rocking them back and forth in the chair, smiling when he looks up at her, his smile wide, exposing the few teeth that had erupted past his gums in the last few months, “Jack might not have to go to school, which means Daddy and I won’t go to work, and we’ll all just spend the day at home.” 

Benjamin puts his hands on her chest, pushing himself upwards, spit bubbles on his lower lip as he babbles to himself, sounds that were close to Dada filling the room around them. 

Emily sighs, poking at his kissable cheek, doing it again when he giggles, “You lived inside of me for 9 months, I made you from scratch and fed you with my body but Daddy is still your favourite, huh?” 

“I think we both know he’d pick you over me any day of the week.” 

She turns to look at her husband and smiles when she sees him standing in the doorway, his hair and t-shirt still rumbled from sleep, his grey sweatpants low on his hips. “Did the school email?” 

He nods, his smile sleepy and warm and entirely hers, “They did - it’s officially a snow day.” 

Her smile gets wider, the thought of spending a day at home with her boys, with no interruptions or outside influence, warming her from the inside out.  There was something so achingly normal about it, so beautifully ordinary, that it sometimes didn’t feel real, like it was a fantasy she’d made up for herself. Then Aaron would be there, his touch something she knew she couldn’t make up, his love something she knew her subconscious couldn’t create because she’d never experienced it before him. She’d worry it wasn’t real and then she’d look at her son's faces. See the innocence reflecting back at her, the endless possibilities and the future they held and she knew she it was real, that they were tangible proof she’d survived the very worst and made it to this.

“Did you hear that, Benny?” She says, turning her attention back to her son, her smile wider again at the sight of his, “We get to spend all day at home and we can play in the snow.” 

“We’ll finally get to see him in that snow suit Garcia bought him,” Aaron says, chuckling when Emily’s eyes go wide in delight, her excitement increasing.

“Oh sweet boy,” she says, thinking of the green quilted snowsuit and the tiny bear ears on the hood that had earned a gasp from her the first time she’d seen them, “You are about to look so fucking cute.” 

“Bad word, Em. Such a dirty mouth this morning.” Aaron says, his smile teasing when she turns to look at him, her eyes narrowed as she stands up, Benjamin on her hip as she walks over. She gently nudges her shoulder into her husband and raises her eyebrow.

“Any more of that from you, honey,” she says, her voice purposely overly sweet, “The cursing will be the dirtiest thing my mouth will be doing for a while.” 

___

She sighs contentedly as she sinks onto the couch, her hands wrapped around the hot chocolate Aaron had made, the whiskey he’d put in it warm and soothing as she takes a sip, settling into the cushions around her and the blanket over her lap. 

It had been a perfect day. They’d spent a lot of time outside, wrapped up warm and cosy as they played in the snow. Emily had sat on the porch with Benjamin in her lap, his snowsuit just as adorable as she’d known it would be, a blanket wrapped around the two of them as they watched Jack and Aaron build a snowman. Benjamin had loved the snow, fascinated by it as he dug his hands into piles of it and giggled when he smeared fistfuls of it on his parent’s cheeks. 

She closes her eyes as she thinks of the laughter they’d shared all day. Jack and Aaron’s matching laughs as they had a snowball fight, and Benjamin’s giggle as he watched them. She could picture him running around with them next year, toddling around in the snow as he tried to keep up with them, his smile matching theirs as he tried to keep up. 

The thought of it warms her more than the hot chocolate in her hands ever could.

“They are both asleep,” Aaron says as he walks into the living room, “I don’t think Benny has ever gone down so quickly.” 

She hums as she pulls the blanket back enough for him to sneak under it too, laying it over both of their laps as she leans into his side, “He had a lot of fun today.” 

“They both did,” he replies, kissing her temple, taking the hot chocolate from her when she offers it to him, “It was a nice day.” 

“The best,” she says, taking the mug back from him after he has a sip, “I never had days like today with my parents,” she smiles sadly, not aware she was going to say it until she had, “It was nice to see the boys enjoying themselves like that.”

He frowns as he looks at her, tilting his head curiously as their eyes meet, “Your mom and dad never took the day off for a snow day with you?” 

She scoffs, “Please, you’ve met my mother. Does she seem like someone who would build a snowman or throw a snowball?” She asks, her smile sad as she shrugs, “On the rare occasion I was in a part of the world that has enough snow for days like today to happen I would spend them alone and just walk around in it,” she presses her lips together, “Well, that and I’d sneak a bottle of whiskey out of my mom’s liquor cabinet and make hot toddies.” 

He chuckles, the sound sad as it catches in his chest when he thinks of her when she was young, how every story she told painted a picture of her as a lonely figure. It made him ache for her, made him all the more aware that days like today were as much for her as they were for the boys. 

“Some of my only good memories of my dad were on snow days,” he says, pulling her closer, his cheek resting on top of her head, “He’d always try and make the biggest snowman on the street. Sean and I would get as much snow as possible and bring it to him,” he smiles sadly when she tilts her head to look up at him, “It made me so angry as I got older. Why couldn’t he have been like that all the time, you know?” 

She nods and cups his cheek, stroking her thumb back and forth over his jaw, “You’re an amazing father, Aaron,” she says, knowing he always needed the reassurance anytime he spoke about his dad, the scars, both physical and mental, left behind by a man she’d never meet as well known to her as her own, “The boys, and anyone else who may come along, are so lucky to have you.”

She smiles when does, the thought of expanding their family even further one that always brought them joy. 

“I’m sorry you never got to experience any of this when you were their age,” he says, his voice as soft as his touch. Gentle and delicate as he leans in to kiss her cheek and then the tip of her nose, drawing a laugh out of her as he carries on, his lips catching as much of her face as possible.

She sighs, her forehead against his as she leans in closer. She’d accepted that her childhood hadn’t been what she’d wanted a long time ago and she knew it couldn’t change, that nothing could be undone, but it didn’t make it any easier. In moments like this, wrapped up around her husband in the home they shared, their little boys asleep and safe upstairs, she could find peace in it. 

“Thats okay,” she says, kissing him, her lips soft and fleeting against his, “I have it now.” 

[emilyshotchniss]

Tis’ the Damn Season

my first mini-fic in nearly a year is finally here! it’s hotchniss at christmas and i really hope you like it :)

for the lovely and incomparable @sequinsmile-x , whose fics have brought me so much joy and comfort throughout this shitty shitty year and because she deserves all the good things<3

special mention to @whitecrossgirl for inspiring this one! think of it as a continuation of Mistletoe Kiss!

Word count: 2.4k

Warnings: none, just the fluffiest shit ever<3

read on ao3 or below the cut!

When Emily stepped foot into the bullpen, she was quite literally lost for words. Seemingly overnight, their everyday office had been transformed into Santas Grotto, decorations covering every inch of the office.

“Garcia,” She called, as Penelope sheepishly stepped out of the kitchen and into Emilys line of sight.

“Didnt Hotch talk to you about all this?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Emily, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Penelope said matter of factly.

“I thought he told you to only decorate your office,” she questioned.

“Emily, I really have no clue what you’re taking about, I did only decorate my lair.” Garcia said as if it was the most simple thing ever.

“So then who did this?” Emily asked, suppressing a laugh, gesturing to the office.

“I don’t know- Ooh! Maybe it was the ELVES!” Garcia squealed.

“Funny,” She scoffed. “I didn’t know elves had blonde hair and wore rainbow platform heels to work” Emily deadpanned, before settling at her desk.

She glanced up to Hotch’s office, and realised his door was wide open, listening in to their entire exchange. She met his eyes with a faint blush and a smile, as he grinned back at her, gently rolling his eyes at Garcias antics. She got on with her paperwork, ignoring the rapid fluttering in her stomach.

The day went on, a festive atmosphere flowing through the bullpen as Christmas music filled the air, making the the most of a case-free day. Emily finished the last file in her current pile, and stood from her desk to hand it to Hotch.

“Anyone need files taken up?” She asked her teammates.

“We’re all good sugar,” Morgan replied, earning a smile from the brunette. She made her way up the stairs, and entered Hotch’s office. The moment she disappeared from view, the team leapt into action.

“Go JJ go!” Garcia whispered (loudly, but still, the effort was appreciated).

Derek quickly placed tape on the piece of mistletoe and handed it off to JJ. She was tasked with placing it above Hotch’s office doorway, in a desperate attempt to get their friends to finally face whatever they’d clearly been dancing around for months, if not years.

She tiptoed up the stairs then walked casually to his door, reaching up and sticking the mistletoe up quickly on her way by, upping her pace to a rapid speed walk to get back to the others surrounding Dereks desk once she’d completed her mission.

“Nice work pennsylvania petite,” Derek said playfully, gently nudging her in the ribs.

So… what now?” Reid asked the group.

“We wait, mio figlio.” Rossi replied, seemingly appearing from thin air, startling the group.

They watched Hotch’s office for what felt like hours, until finally they saw Emily approach the door, Hotch following close behind her.

“Thanks Prentiss, if you could just sign off on that last one that would be great.” He told her, clearing his throat.

“No problem Hotch,” She replied, stepping closer to the doorway.

“Oh jesus christ,” Rossi muttered shaking his head.

“This better work Derek, because I cannot continue to watch them act like fools around each other much longer. I’m too old for it.”

“Have faith my friend… have faith,” Derek said before whistling to the pair of agents on the catwalk.

“Hey lovebirds, look up,” He smirked, not even attempting to hide his amusement.

His comment startled the pair of agents, and as soon as they realised what was happening, they were both flushing red. Hotch awkwardly cleared his throat again whilst Emily stared at the floor.

“It’s okay, we don’t- we don’t have to,” She mumbled, attempting to hide the blush across her cheeks.

“No, no, it’s fine. Really,” He replied with a smile, sensing she was uncomfortable and attempting to alleviate some of the tension suddenly enveloping them.

Before she even realised what was happening, his hand was on her arm and his lips were brushing against her cheek, ghosting over the corner of her mouth. She began to relax into his touch, but the moment was over before she knew it, and reality set back in. He stepped back from her, giving her space, but when he looked at her he could’ve sworn she looked almost… disappointed.

He pushed that thought away as quickly as it came to him and squeezed her arm before handing her the file back.

“Thanks, Hotch, thanks, yeah I’ll, I’ll sign that right now…” She trailed off, giving him a tight-lipped smile before returning to her desk.

“Back to work everyone.” Hotch said, the stoic mask back in place as he re-entered his office, closing the door behind him.

“What are you guys looking at?” Emily said, a failed attempt at being stern.

“Nothing, n-nothing,” They all mumbled before heading back to their respective desks.

When she thought she was out of the spotlight, she took her hand and gently traced where his lips met her skin with her fingers.

She didn’t realise was they were all still watching her over their computers, beaming with glee.

The day drew to a close, everybody filtering out at a reasonable hour for once. Emily hit the button on the elevator, and stepped inside, when a hand slid through the doors, and a deep voice boomed into the silence, and she froze.

“Hold the elevator! Oh, hey, Prentiss,”

“Hey, Hotch,” She breathed.

“Did you uh, did you talk to Garcia, about santas grotto?” She smirked at him.

“Despite her desperate attempts to convince me that it was in fact Santas elves that broke into the behavioural analysis unit, yes, I spoke to her and eventually she agreed to tone it down a little.” He laughed.

“God, he really needs to smile more…” She thought to herself.

“It was fun today though, the decorations, and music, plus not having a case,” She smiled.

“Yeah, yeah it was,” He smiled back.

They fell into an awkward silence, the tension between them thickening. Finally, god, finally the elevator arrived at the parking lot.

“Right, uh, well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow Hotch.” She said, making her way out of the elevator.

“Oh, uh, let me walk you to your car.” He replied, not quite ready to say goodbye to her.

“Oh it’s okay, my car’s just down there Hotch, thank you though,” She smiled. “Goodnight.”

And then she was off, her car fading out of view and exiting the garage, whilst he remained frozen in place. Pulling himself together, he followed suit and headed home not far behind her.

He’d been home for nearly two hours when he heard a knock at the door. He moved through his apartment and answered his door, puzzled when he found Emily standing in his doorway.

“Emily? it’s nine thirty, what are you doing here?”

She had changed out of her usual work attire into a pair of yoga pants and a yale sweatshirt, that even after all this time still looked a few sizes too big on her slender frame. It took him back to those early days in her mothers mansion, when she was known only as the ambassadors “wild child”. It took his breath away for a split second.

“Can-Can I come in?” She asked, barely above a whisper.

“Sure, yeah, of course.” He replied, her demeanour worrying him ever so slightly, stepping aside to let her through.

“Is everything alright?” He asked her tentatively.

“Honestly? No, no it’s not alright,” She said, exhaling deeply. She spoke again after he was silent for a beat, clearly confused.

“Hotch, what are we doing?” She asked, chewing on her bottom lip.

“What do you mean?” He asked her, despite already knowing the answer.

“This. Us. This thing we’ve been avoiding.”

More silence. “God, Aaron, say something to her. Say anything, jesus, why weren’t any words coming out?” He thought to himself.

“Look, Hotch, I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable but I have to be honest with you. I can’t keep living like this.” She replied shakily.

“Like what?” He replied, her comment genuinely confusing him for a second.

“Like I’m not in love with you.” She choked out, her eyes glassing over as she smacked a hand over her mouth, regretting ever opening it in the first place.

That got his attention. He looked up at her, finding her close to tears, eyes shining in the glow of the fairy lights from his tree and immediately felt the overwhelming urge to touch her. To comfort her in the way he’d been longing to for years.

Did she think he didn’t feel the same?

Had he made her feel like that?

He was by her side in two strides, taking her hands in his.

“You love me?” He asked.

“Forget it Hotch, I shouldn’t have said anything, I’m sorry for barging in.” She replied, avoiding his eyes and attempting to free herself from his grasp. He placed his hands on either side of her chin, turning her head gently back towards his gaze.

“Emily.” He pressed, needing to know how she truly felt. “You love me.” He stated simply, his expression softening.

“I know I shouldn’t, and I’m sorry - you’re my boss, I’m your subordinate, it goes against like every HR rule in the book, but I do. And I know that’s not fair to drop on you like this, you’ve been through enough and god, you don’t need some emotionally stunted screw up to-“

She wasn’t talking anymore, she realised, as she felt his lips on hers, and suddenly something clicked. She relaxed into his embrace, deepening the kiss until they were short of breath.

He pulled away chest heaving, tucking a stray piece of raven hair behind her ear.

“Emily… I love you too.” He said, as he felt his own eyes grow glassy now. Blinking quickly, he continued.

“I think deep down I always have. Ever since I first saw you, roaming the halls of your mothers mansion, wreaking havoc wherever you went.” He said with a reminiscent smile, watching as one began to grow across her own face too. “I’m so sorry if I ever made you believe otherwise.”

A sob escaped her then, the emotion she’d been fighting so hard to keep hidden spilling over the surface.

“God, for two profilers we really are unbelievably stupid.” She laughed, a tear escaping her eye. He caught it as it fell, wiping it from her cheek with a feather light touch, as if she was the most precious thing he’d ever touched.

As he stroked her cheekbone with his thumb and looked at her, he realised that she might just be the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. In the glow of the christmas lights, he could see the shine of her hair, and the soft brown of her eyes up close, and he internally cursed himself for wasting so much time.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to make a move.” He smiled. Her hands came up and settled behind his neck.

“I’m sorry for making you think i didn’t feel the same. And I’m sorry you feel like you’re an emotionally stunted screw up because let me assure you… you’re anything but.” He said firmly, as she tensed in his hold.

“Aaron,” She began, but he cut her off.

“No. You’re the best agent on this team, the best friend to this team, the glue that holds this team together. We fell apart when you were gone - I didn’t know how we were going to recover. But from the moment you came back to us, everything finally felt like it would be okay again. So don’t you dare call yourself an ‘emotionally stunted screw-up’.” He tilted her chin back towards his face, watching her blink back the tears that threatened to fall.

“God, I’ve wanted to tell you that for months…” He laughed nervously.

“You need to smile more.” She told him, running a thumb over his dimple. “I’ve wanted to tell you that for months.”

“So… we’re gonna do this then? Us?” She asked hesitantly.

“I think we’d be stupid to waste anymore time.” He replied, smiling as she blew out a breath she’d clearly been holding.

“Thank god.” She laughed, as he pulled her into a tight hug.

“Do you want to stay?” He asked into her shoulder.

“We could watch a movie or something, and I uh- I can give you a t-shirt to sleep in, or not, if you don’t want to stay that’s completely fine-“ He was cut off.

“Aaron,” She started. “I’d love to.” She replied, fingers threading through the short hairs at the nape of his neck.

“But it is getting late, so maybe we could take a rain-check on the movie?”

“Of course we can,” He smiled. “I’ll go grab you a t-shirt.”

“Oh, uh, do you have a spare blanket, you know, for the couch?” She asked him.

“You are not taking the couch.” He told her firmly, and she blushed at their unspoken understanding.

He took her hand and led her to his bedroom, grabbing an old Beatles t-shirt from his drawer for her. He ducked into the bathroom quickly, allowing her to change and to take a moment to steady himself. He re-entered his bedroom to find Emily tucked under his duvet, looking impossibly tiny in his big bed. Making his way to his side of the mattress, he joined her, and she instantly moulded to his side, resting her head on his chest, tucking it under his chin.

“Thank you.” She said, barely above a whisper.

“For what?”

“For telling me how much I’m needed. No one’s ever told me those things before.” She croaked our, fighting tears again.

He pulled her even closer to him and held her tight, one hand wrapped around her middle, the other stroking her hair.

“I should’ve told you sooner. I meant every word.” He replied.

“I can’t believe I’m a better agent than Morgan,” She joked, smiling into his chest.

“Do not tell him I said that,” He laughed, pressing a kiss to her head.

He felt her yawn against him, and shifted down under the covers making them more comfortable. Readjusting her head, he resumed his motions on her hair.

“We should sleep, you’re tired.” He told her.

“Mmm… okay.” She mumbled, fighting the slumber that was overtaking her. “Goodnight Aaron.”

His heart swelled so much he was scared it was going to burst from his chest. Clearing his throat, he replied.

“Goodnight Em. This is the best Christmas present I could have asked for.” He felt her grin against his chest, and eventually they fell asleep, entwined in each other’s embrace.

After all, there was nowhere else they’d rather be.

[idyllicentropies]

Idyllicentropies Masterlist

Yes, I know it’s short but I’m working on it :)

I’ll Follow You Home: When Emily Prentiss gets kidnapped with only a mysterious voicemail as a clue, the team must find her quickly. A newfound love surfaces, but the danger is not gone. (2/?)

Renegade: After Emily Prentiss comes home from Paris, she begins to struggle with everything that happened with Doyle. Aaron notices, like he always does. (1/?)

Idyllic Entropies: A collection of mini- fics (3/?)

My Favorite Fics:

Not by me, but I love supporting other writers, so here’s a few of my favorite criminal minds (most hotchniss though) fics.

Consequences by SequinSmile on Ao3: One case, three different outcomes.

The Big Book of Tropes and Cliches by whitecrossgirl on Ao3: A series of unrelated one-shots.

An Eye For An Eye by whitecrossgirl on Ao3: A Lauren arc au.

in my veins by aubreyprc on Ao3: Three members of the team get into a car accident and one of them won’t make it.

We See No End, We Don’t Know How by Purpleplasticpurse on Ao3: The story of Aaron and Emily from the early days of him working for the Ambassador, and onward to present day.

sunday by emilyhotchner on Ao3: They’re just headaches, until they’re not.

[whump-town]

Hotchniss

Emily Whump

Angst: **domestic abuse warning** Emily is in a bad relationship but she knows who she can always come home to

Don’t leave me: He’s afraid something bad is going to happen, she think he’s just anxious... something bad happens

Hospital: Emily is hurt and a very worried, retired Hotch rushes in

“It’s A Date”: Hotch takes Emily on a vacation post-JJ’s wedding and it goes surprisingly well (less whump and more comfort)

The Bridges Between You and Me: Maybe he really did kill Emily Prentiss

Nation of Two: She’s waiting for his soft snore but now she wraps him up in her arms. Enjoying his proximity. He may be a stupid man but that’s what she signed up for

Fluff

Nation of Two: She’s waiting for his soft snore but now she wraps him up in her arms. Enjoying his proximity. He may be a stupid man but that’s what she signed up for.

Fluff ask

Slow dancing: Hotch and Emily dance to Taylor Swift

Forehead/Cheek kisses: Hotch and Emily fluff

Hotch wakes up high after surgery 

Mini-fics

Hotch with a Daughter: Hotch and Emily have a daughter

Maybe Time Running Out Is A Gift: domestic bliss

Hotch Whump

Too Close: Hotch has a heart attack and Emily worries… mostly soft Hotch and even softer Hotchniss

High School AU: Emily tossing a rope out her window for Hotch to climb up so she can clean him up after his father’s been drinking

Man Flu: sick Hotch

“I love you,” said the dead man to the dead girl: Emily has to fake Hotch’s death

Come Down: Hotch isn’t told that Emily is alive and goes to serve his own justice

The Perfect Match: Hotch is a disaster

He’s Not Taking His Medicine

Never Enough: they keep coming back here but they deserve better than each other

See, How The Most Dangerous Thing Is Love: She can’t stop running and, like an idiot, he keeps chasing.

The Kiss: She’s not sure if she wants to deck him or make sure he never leaves her sight again

Close: Emily attacks Hotch in his sleep

Faking Sleep To Count Your Breath: A life-altering car accident changes the course of everything Hotch and Emily had known before

Multi-Chapter

Shattered Hearts, Fractured Lungs: Emily Prentiss just wants to do her job but a messy case sends her sprawling into the arms of a dying man with a toddler and his weird, broken family.

A Causality of the Job: Infected with an unknown pathogen, Hotch and Emily are quarantined with fevers

Going Through the Motions: Post-Foyet timeline of getting Hotch back on his feet with caretaker!Emily

[literallyprentissstwin]

show me you care. - criminal minds x victorious

Characters: Emily & Aaron Hotchner (Hotchniss, and yes, they are already married here); Jade (Hotchniss daughter, from Victorious), Beck (Victorious), the team of Season 7, the gang of Hollywood Arts (the name oft he school doesn´t change, only the location :D) (Victorious)

 Warnings: none really, swearing (those of you who watch Victorious know how Jade is so), fluff (yep, that´s a warning)

 A/N: hi, so i had this idea in my head for a little while now. I always wanted to write a Hotchniss OS with them having a daughter and since i bingewatched too much Victorious lately (blame Netflix), i wanted to combine those two shows. It´s not necessary that you know or watch Victorious to read this OS.

thank you to @uncomfie for prereading and calming me down! :) 

also this is the song Jade is singing in this fic :) 

 For those of you who don´t know Victorious: it´s actually a kids/teen show about a bunch of teens going to a school for actors, writers and singers called Hollywood Arts. The show is set in Los Angeles, California. For this OS I needed to change the location to something closer, sorry. The character I chose to play Hotchniss daughter, Jade West, reminds me of Emily in her teen years. So I chose her as the Hotchniss child. I can link you some videos of the show if you are interested and to get a better impression of Jade.  

I hope you enjoy reading this OS & feel free to leave some feedback, i´m dying for feedback! <3

wordcount: 4,6k

 aileen xx

„If I see any more of these case files on my desk, I think I´m gonna be sick.“, JJ groaned as she opened the next file to start working on it. 

„Agreed. I could use some coffee. Anyone want some?“, Reid asked as he got up and stretched his muscles.

„Well, I could use some.“, Derek, JJ and Reid heard someone say from behind them.

Derek was the first one to turn around and a small smile creeped up his face.

„Well, if that isn´t our Mini-Prentiss and her Mister Charming.“, he laughed and got up to hug Jade.

„Yeah, don´t call me that.“, Jade said after she pulled away from him and only gave a short wave towards Reid & JJ, before she took Beck´s hand again and leant onto him for support.

„What can we help you with?“, JJ wanted to know as she got up from her desk and walked closer towards the teen.

„I´m looking for my parents. I called them like a billion times today and no one picked up the stupid phone. So I decided to come here during lunch break and talk to them.“, Jade explained.

„We´ve been busy all morning with paperwork. Maybe they overheard you calling and..“, Reid started to explain but got interrupted by Jade.

„Yeah, whatever. Are they here? It´s really important.“, Jade asked impatiently and tapped with her foot.

„They are in your Dad´s office going over a case file.“, Derek answered and pointed towards the office with the closed blinds and the closed door.

„Thanks, D!“, Jade smiled before she made her way up the stairs with her boyfriend.

Carefully, she knocked at the door and waited for a reply.

„Come in.“, she heard the serious voice of her father. Slowly, she opened the door and was met with her parents looking at her and Beck, small smiles showing on their faces.

„Hey Mom, Hey Dad.“, Jade greeted them as she walked towards them so give them a quick hug.

„Hey honey, Hi back.“, Aaron greeted back at which Beck only replied witha slight wave.

„I called you. Many times.“, Jade began talking and she stood between her parents next to her fathers desk, while Beck still stood in the doorframe.

„Oh god, sorry. We´ve been busy all morning and didn´t have time to check our phones.“, Emily said as she took out her phone to see that her daughter was indeed right. She had 50 missed calls and basically many more unanswered text messages from her.

„Yeah..it´s okay..I´m here now.“, Jade replied, „there´s something we need to talk about.“

„What is it? Are you in trouble?“, Hotch immediatley asked, concerned.

„What..no, Dad. I´m not in trouble. It´s just…you remember me talking about the Full Moon Jam. This big gig at our school Friday night.“, Jade began explaining and looking at her parents.

Hotch and Emily looked at eachother, both not really remembering what their daughter was talking about. They tried to hide it, but since Jade was the daugther of two highprofessional profilers, she knew what was going on.

„You forgot, did you?“, she said, a bit of disappointment lacing in her voice.

„No, we didn´t it´s just..“, Emily began, but got interrupted by Jade.

„Yeah whatever. Anyway, what I wanted to ask was if you´ll be there and see me perform. Because Sikowitz really needs to know until today and i told him i´m gonna talk to you about it. So, are you coming? It´s in two days. Please. “, Jade asked.

Hotch and Emily looked at eachother and sighed. Aaron got up and walked closer to his daughter and right from there on, Jade knew what their answer was.

„Jade, we would love to come, really, but..“, Hotch started but also he was interrupted by his daugher.

„But you can´t, because you´ve got to work and work is important. I got it, thanks.“, Jade hissed and grabbed her bag she had dropped onto the floor before she started to turn around only to be stopped by her father.

„Jade..“, he said, but Jade wasn´t having any of it.

„No, it´s okay Dad. I´m used to it. How could I possibly think that for one time, I would be more important than this damn job? I´m so dumb.“, Jade answered as she turned around, staring at her father.

„Maybe if you would have told us earlier, there would have been a chance to come, but you know our job.“, Emily explained and tried to reason with her daughter, but it seemed like it only made things worse.

„If I would have told you earlier? Mom, I´m going to this school now for over two years. You actually chose this school for me and yet, you haven´t been to a play I was in or which I wrote, you haven´t seen me perform yet. It´s been two fucking years. And every fucking time, I told you early enough, but everytime, something else was more important than I was. So don´t make this out to be my fault okay? Because the only one´s to blame are you.“, Jade screamed and with this, she turned around and ran off, leaving her boyfriend and her shocked parents behind.

„I-I better go now too. I-It was nice seeing you, Mr. And Mrs. Hotchner.“, Beck said as he waved goodbye and left the office as well to go after Jade.

„She hates us, Aaron. What kind of parents are we?“, Emily stuttered, tears gathering in her eyes at the realization of how much they must have hurt their daughter. Hotch just stepped forward and embraced his wife in a tight hug, but as much as he tried to console Emily, he was plagued by the same thoughts. Thoughts about what terrible parents they were.

Right after the fight between Jade and her parents, she and Beck had rushed out of the building and back to their school where they met up with the rest of their friends.

„What´s up?“, Beck greeted them as he and Jade sat down at their usual table.

„We were just talking about the Full Moon Jam on Friday and..“, Tori said at which Jade got up and left.

„Wow, what did I do this time?“, Tori wondered. She and Jade don´t have the best of relationship and wouldn´t consider themselves as friends, yet.

„It´s nothing you did, Tori. Don´t worry. It´s just…the Full Moon Jam might not be Jade´s favorite topic to talk about today.“, Beck explained and started to eat his food he had gotten on the way back from school.

„What do you mean? She can be really proud of herself because she´s singing this solo.“, André asked, wondering what got his friend so upset.

„Well, Jade and I, we´ve been visiting her parents at work before we came to you guys because she asked them to come and watch her perform on Friday night.“, Beck started and basically everyone at the table knew how this story might end. „They said no?“, Robbie guessed.

„Yep. They are too busy with work. Jade just got really angry and frustrated and they fought. Then she just ran off and yeah. On the way back here, she didn´t say a word. You know, i´ve seen jade in basically every mood, but this one? I think she´s really sad and hurt that her parents declined her invitation again.“, Beck finished talking and looked at his friends.

„I feel so bad for her. I mean, have her parents ever been to a play before where she was in or which she wrote?“, Tori asked. She had just recently joined Hollywood Arts and didn´t know her friends all that well up to now. „No, I don´t think so.“, Cat answered, „at least, I can´t remember. I don´t even know how her parents look like.“

The group sighed. Suddenly, everyone lost appetite and felt quite bad for her friend.

„I wish there is anything we could do.“, Tori sighed to which the friends agreed.

„Yeah..me too. But for now, I´m gonna go and look for her. See you later.“, Beck said and got up, looking for his girlfriend.

It was already after 10pm when Emily and Aaron finally arrived back home. Why was paperwork always so much more work than being away on a case? They had tried to get in contact with Jade all day long, but she always declined the calls or didn´t reply to any textmessages. Arriving back home, the couple was hoping to talk with their daughter and explain everything to her though they knew that it was probably too late for that.

Entering the house, Emily noticed Jade´s favorite boots next to the cupboard in the hall way, a sign that she must be at home. „Jade, we´re home.“, Emily shouted through the house as she got rid of her coat and shoes. Aaron did the same and followed his wife to their daughters room.

Emily carefully knocked at the door and waited for a reply, but nothing happened. Slowly, she opened the door and saw Jade laying on the bed with her earpods in.

„Jade.“, she tried again, but the young girl didn´t seem to hear her mother. This is why Emily decided to walk towards her and tapped on her shoulder.

„Jesus Christ. Are you trying to kill me?“, Jade screamed as she got kind of frightened since her back had been facing the door and she didn´t hear anyone coming in.

„Sorry, we were calling for you, but we got no reaction.“, Aaron explained. „Oh.“, Jade said, but put her earpods back in and turned the music up more. Aaron rolled his eyes and bent down to put the earpods away from his daughter.

„Hey, I was enjoying this music.“, Jade hissed angrily and sat up, trying to get her phone back.

„And you can have it back any second, but first we need to talk.“, Emily said as she sat down on the bed opposite of Jade.

„There is nothing to talk about.“, Jade snorted and laid back in her bed facing the ceiling and staring up to it.

„You sure? Because I personally think there is a lot we need to talk about.“, Hotch argued and took a seat in the chair across from Jade´s bed.

„No. Don´t think so. Can I have my phone back?“, Jade asked, not daring to look at her parents.

„Jade!“, Emily warned her daughter.

„What, Mom?“, Jade said angrily as she sat up, „I got it, okay? You´re busy, you can´t come watch me perform, I´m used to getting my hopes up, but them being smashed down in a heart beat. So, it´s fine. Really. I´m used to the fact, that this damn FBI job is more important than I am.“, Jade got up and began to look for her favorite hoodie in her cupboard.

„You know that this is not true, Jade. We love you more than our job.“, Hotch argued. „Really? Haha, okay…well, then I´m either blind or you´re bad at showing it, because I can´t happen to see that you´re caring.“, Jade laughed.

„Look, we´re really sorry, but you know Strauss and everything that happened last year and we really need to..“, Emily started but got interrupted by Jade.

„Yeah, yeah…You´re sorry. Right. I´m sorry. For thinking that my feelings matter. For thinking that for once, I would be your number one priority. I mean, you actually wanted me to go to this school in first place, yet you never were around to see any of my plays or shows or whatever.“

„Jade..“, Aaron began.

„No…I was always the one who had no one with her. Everyone had always some kind of company: Tori, Beck, André, Robbie, Cat, hell even Sinjin. But me, I´m always the loner. The one who no one cares about. There is always something that comes before me, an unsub, paperwork, Strauss. I stopped counting after it happened the second time. But you know what? I´m done. I´ve got it. Really. I won´t bother you with it any longer.“, Jade kept on talking why she at the same time got up and gathered some stuff in her bag and grabbed her keys.

„Jade….we´re really sorry.“, Emily said, choking on tears.

„Yeah..whatever.“, Jade hissed and walked past them out of her own room to the front door where she put on her shoes and turned around to her parents again, „I´m at Beck´s for the night, if you even care. Can I have my phone now?“, she asked and held out her hand, waiting for her Dad to put the phone back into it. When he gave her the phone, she turned to the door and openend it and before Hotch and Emily even knew, she was gone.

„She hates us.“, Emily sobbed as she lay next to Aaron in their shared bed.

„No, Emily. She doesn´t hate us. She´s just angry and sad. It´s her way of coping with it.“, the man tried to calm down his wife. He held her close to him and rubbed her back in soothing circles.

„No, Aaron. She hates us and to be honest, she has every right to do so. I mean what kind of parents are we? We always knew that it would be hard to have a child and both of us working in such a stressful and busy job, but never in my life did I plan to do such a bad job as a mother. I always wanted to be better than my own mother and look at me now, I´m even worse than she was.“

„Okay, Em, stop right there.“, Aaron warned as he carefully sat up, bringing Emily with him, „First of all, you´re not a bad mother. Get this out of your head okay? Yes, we knew that it would be stressful and yes, I didn´t expect it to be so hard, but let´s take this as a chance to be better, to grow. Eventually, Jade will calm down and she´ll understand. I know, this doesn´t make things better and we have a lot of work to do to make it up to her. But we´re not giving up, okay? We can do this.“

„I just feel so bad. Did you see the look in her eyes? Like, she is always the one who doesn´t care or doesn´t feel bothered by any of this. But when I looked her in the eyes, I saw me. I saw how hurt she was, how sad and disappointed. This gig, this school means everything to her. She never ever let us in before. She mostly never shares things with us that she cares so deeply about because she´s scared of getting hurt or rejected. And guess what we did?“, Emily explained and sighed.

And right in that moment, Aaron knew that his wife was right. Jade was one of the girls, that wasn´t scared to speak their mind. She doesn´t have a problem with speaking back and she always stands her ground. She´s stubborn and hardworking, just like her mother, and she barely let people in, not even her boyfriend Beck. Because she was scared of getting hurt. And this is exactly what happened now, and the more he thought about it, the more he felt bad about it, and if he was completley honest with himself, he totally deserved to feel like that.

„I hate them.“, Jade exclaimed as she let herself fall down onto Beck´s couch.

„Jade..“,Beck started but got interrupted by his girlfriend.

„No, I mean it. I have this feeling they don´t really care about me going to this school and me living my dream there. But I don´t get why, because they send me there in first place. And can´t they understand that I don´t wanna be a stupid federal agent or lawyer or whatever?“, Jade screamed and threw her hands around. Beck quickly grabbed them and held them down.

„Stop.“, he simply said and looked Jade deep into her eyes and this was that moment, when the gates broke and all the emotions Jade had inside her broke loose. Jade was never the one to cry, she never openly shared her emotions, but right now, she felt safe to do so and all she felt was hurt and sadness. Beck gathered his sobbing girlfriend in his arms and tried to calm her down.

„It´s okay, babe. It´s gonna be okay.“, Beck whispered as he soothingly rubbed her back and kissed her forehead.

„I-I don´t know..I-I never felt this..this vulnerable. Hell, I never cried. What´s wrong with me?“, Jade exclaimed as she carefully leaned back against the sofa.

„You´re also human, Jade. Eventhough you don´t wanna see it. You´re a human being with feelings and those feelings get hurt just as easily as any others. That´s normal and it´s okay to feel things, to feel sad and overwhelmed and most importantly, it´s okay to show those emotions. You don´t need to hide them, at least not from me. I love you no matter what.“, Beck said and he brought Jade back into his embrace, the teenager clinging to his shirt.

„I don´t know what I would do without you. I´m sorry for being annoying, most of the time.“, Jade said at which Beck laughed.

„I wouldn´t have it any other way.“, he smiled down at Jade and again kissed her forehead before silence spread between the couple.

„I just thought that this one time, only this one time, they would actually care about what I´m doing in school, that they would show interest. I don´t know why I actually believed that this would happen, but here I am. I mean, I get it. This job is important, I understand it. But maybe…“

„No, Jade. This job can´t be more important than you. There is no way in hell that parents should put their jobs before their kids. I mean, okay…it´s a quite stressful job and you know your parents got my respect for doing it, but there should be a way to actually combine work and private life. It shouldn´t be either work or private life. Never in a billion years.“, Beck argued. It hurt his heart to see his strong girlfriend like this and he was ready to punch somebody. He understood that this job was important to the Hotchners, but he didn´t understand how Jade could only come in second place?

Jade sighed and gently laid against Beck´s shoulder closing her eyes. „I know, but there is nothing I can do to change their mind. Guess I have to live with the fact that they will never be interested in me or my life. But at least I got you.“, she said as she smiled and looked up to her boyfriend.

Beck smiled back and leaned forward to place a kiss on her lips. „Always.“

It turned Friday, and still things hadn´t changed in the Hotchner household. After the night at Beck´s place, Jade had returned home after school only to find the house empty, but what did she expect? The tension between the family was so thick that one could practically cut it with a knife. Ever since Jade had returned back home from school and her parents back home from work, she didn´t leave her room and if she did, then only to go to the bathroom or to grab something to drink. Later that night, she left to go back to school for rehearsals, not bothering to tell her parents where she´s going or what she´s doing. In general, she hasn´t been talking to them ever since the fight on Wednesday. At work, Aaron had asked Rossi and JJ, the godparents of Jade for advice, but nothing they told him could make him feel better about himself. Rossi even made him feel worse.

 And now, it turned Friday. The day of Jade´s big gig. The whole school was there, all the people getting ready to perform. All the people showing her families around the school. Everyone, but Jade. Her heart hurt and was full of sadness, but she needed to focus on her song. So she went to get ready, not knowing that the evening would take an interesting turn.

„What are you two clowns still doing here?“, Rossi exclaimed as he entered Hotch´s office in which Emily was also working on her paper work. Ever since the two of them got married, she basically didn´t use her desk anymore and always did her work up in Aaron´s office.

„We have work to do and..“, Hotch explained, but Rossi wasn´t having any of it.

„No, no you don´t.“, he walked towards the desk and grabbed the casefiles from them.

„Dave..“, Emily argued but got shushed by the Italian.

„Now you two listen to me very closely. There is this girl, who happens to be my little stubborn, but talented and loveable goddaughter and she´s having this gig at her school tonight. She´s terribly sad that her parents chose work over her. Now, I don´t know about you, but I think you have a lot of making up to do. I suggest you start by going there.“, he said and placed the files back on Hotch´s desk, but still out of his reach.

„But..“, Emily started, but got again interrupted by the italian. „No buts, Emily. Show Jade that you care about her, that you are interested in the things she does. Show her that she can still trust you.“, David argued and looked at both of his friends, „you better decided quick, because the gig is about to start and you still have to go there and it´s rushhour.“

Hotch and Emily looked at eachother, but in Dave´s opinion, they were taking too much time.

„Okay, let´s get up, up, up.“, he ushered them out of their chairs and handed them their coats and pushed them out of the office, „go! Hurry! You don´t wanna be late! I expect a full report later tonight, when I come over to your place. You´re welcome.“, David smiled as he watched his two friends leave.

„Now I know where Jade got her stubborness from.“, he joked and the rest of the time laughed at it, hoping that the couple would arrive in time.

It was almost stage time for Jade and she kept looking through the crowd, still no sign of her parents. Sadly, she shook her head and went backstage to get ready when André and Beck walked towards her.

„You ready?“, André wanted to know.

„Yeah, whatever. Let´s get it over with.“, she replied at which André nodded and quickly left.

„Hey, you´re gonna be amazing.“, Beck tried to reassure his girlfriend and kissed her before he also left to go into the crowd.

Jade took a deep breath before she heard her name being called out and she had to enter the stage. She barely had any time to skim the crowd one last time before the music began to play and she started to sing along.

 You think you know me

But you don't know me

You think you own me

But you can't control me

You look at me

And there's just one thing that you see

So listen to me

Listen to me

 As loud as she could, she continued singing the song she had wrote for this special day. She had been so proud o fit and so desperatley wanted to show it to her parents, but they didn´t care, so here she was. Alone. Again. Expressing all her feelings in that one song that meant the world to her.

 You push me back

I push you back

Harder, harder

You scream at me

I scream at you

Louder, l-l-l-l-louder

I'm dangerous, I'm warning you

But you're not afraid of me

And I can't convince you

You don't know me

 She continued singing like that until the song was over and she felt kind of relieved. The crowd seemed to love her song. At least, someone cared. After she bowed down, she shared a quick smile with Beck who was sitting front row, before she went backstage and was greeted by all her friends.

„This was so good, Jade.“, Cat said and hugged her friend.

„Thank you!“, Jade smiled and hugged her back, one thing she barely did.

„She´s right. This was insane. You can be proud of you.“, Tori agreed, smiling at Jade.

„Thanks, Vega. I appreciate this.“

„Hey, look who I found in the crowd.“, the group heard Beck say and at his voice, Jade turned around not trusting her eyes.

„Mom? Dad? What…what are you doing here?“, Jade stuttered in disbelieve. Her parents, they were here, right in front of her. Wait? Had they beend there to watch her perform as well?

„We didn´t want to miss our little girl performing her first selfwritten song.You were fantastic. Absolutley brilliant. We´re so proud of you.“, Hotch smiled as he stepped closer and carefully hugged his daughter.

„B-But work..“, Jade stuttered after she let go of her father and hugged her mother. „Nothing in this world should be more important than you, Jade. We learned our lesson and we´re so so sorry. I hope you can give us a second chance.“, Emily asked her and Jade looked at Beck who gave her a quick nod.

„Okay.“, Jade smiled and again, hugged both of her parents, „but you know I´m still mad. Kinda.“

„We know and you have every right to be. But we feel really bad.“, Hotch said again.

„But wait, how did you change your mind and come here?“, Tori asked from behind the family.

„Well, we may have had a little help from your godfather.“, Aaron stuttered. „He basically kicked us out of the office.“, Emily admitted.

„You gotta love Dave.“, Jade laughed.

The parents smiled at their daughter, feeling relieved that she was willing to give them a second chance.

„Wait, you said that you wanted to make it up to me right?“, Jade smirked as she looked at her parents.

„Oh, oh no, i know this look.“, Emily said as she looked at her husband.

„Well, maybe we could all go out to dinner now. I´ll bring my friends..and Tori, and you bring your friends. And then we all gonna get sushi and you pay.“, Jade suggested.

Hotch groaned, but got hit in the side by his wife and said: „Of course, that´s the least we can do.“

„Great, meet you at the Sushi palace by 10?“, Jade asked.

„Anything for you.“, Emily said.

“I know every family has its problems. But I admire those that stick together.” - Unknown

unedited, sorry for any grammar or language mistakes. 

[ @dontshootmespence @veroinnumera @ultrarebelheart @illegalcerebral @cherrybombs-and-rabbitholes @bucky-smiles @butsomeofusarelookingatthestars @jennferjareau @crimindsaspe @remember-me-forever-silent-angel @ssaunitchief @docspencerreid @uncomfie @lookwhatyoumademequeue @tenaciousarcadeexpert @marvelfanlife @sam-carter-in-training @sweater-vest-reid @crimeshowtrash @acespence @spencerreidreads @idkbutspencer @iammostdefinitelyonfire26 @princesswagger14 @dionnaea ]

[eponymeanon]

Nonchalance

Emily is 11 when he leaves. She wished he’d left sooner, at an age where she wouldn’t have understood what was going on. She’d figured her parents’ marriage wasn’t doing well. They never spoke to one another, they didn’t even fight. That’s what the Prentiss’ always did anyway, they avoided conflict. Both her mother and father being diplomats avoiding conflicts (or any other type of emotion really) was their job, it was like breathing to them.

Her father had finally left on a sunny July afternoon. Her mother was posted in Egypt at the time. She remembers that day so vividly because of the extreme heat. She hadn’t complained about it though, knowing that would do no good except annoy everyone, her mother particularly.

Emily was quite mature for an 11 year old girl, she’d learned at a young age how to manage her emotions, well more like buttle up everything. She knew no one truly cared.

But that afternoon when she saw her dad loading the trunk of his car she couldn’t help it. She came up behind him and asked,

“Where are you going?”

“Away.” He simply answered.

“Why? For how long?”

“It’s a grown up matter Emily, you wouldn’t understand.”

That’s when it hits her. He won’t come back, this is it, he’s leaving her. She feels the tears forming in her eyes but before she can say anything her father speaks.

“Do not make a scene Emily, I wish things would be different but they aren’t, you’ll understand when your older.” He climbs into his car, doesn’t turn around, doesn’t bother to try and fight. He doesn’t beg for forgiveness, doesn’t apologise. He doesn’t do anything.

Years later she’s let down by a man once again. She’s 15 and when she tells him she’s pregnant he tells her “Sounds like a you problem” and walks away. She doesn’t know what to do, she certainly cannot tell her mother so she confides in the only person she truly still trusts.

Matthew.

He helps her but it messes him up. She blames herself for it, so when 3 months later her mother tells her they’re leaving Italy she takes it as her way out and shoves down her feelings of guilt in a tiny box.

After that it all goes down. Sex, alcohol, drugs you name it. She’s not proud of what she’s become but it’s the easiest way to avoid dealings with emotions. Her already fragile relationship with her mother deteriorates even more. Finally she is sent to boarding school.

Nonchalance is her new state of mind. If you act like you don’t care about anything all the time you start to believe it too at some point. She knows she’s messed up, broken, unfixable but she picks herself up and puts on a façade. She changes radically, builds up walls so that no one can know what she’s really like. After the whole Doyle fiasco she decides to apply to the FBI, the BAU more specifically.

That’s where she meets him.

Although they have a rough start, she immediately knows he’s a good man. The way he talks to the victims, his dedication to the job. Aaron Hotchner is a good person.

Year after year she realises she’s falling for him. He gets a divorce and she takes care of him after Foyet, but that doesn’t change anything. Why would someone like him ever want to be wit someone like her? So she shoves her feelings in another one of her tiny boxes.

Then Doyle comes back to haunt. And while she lays on the cold floor her life flashes before her eyes. She always thought she would die alone but she didn’t expected it to hurt this much.

When Morgan barges in and begs her to open her eyes it’s already too late, she’s gone.

She doesn’t hear Hotch sob and whisper in her ear “I’ve always loved you Emily, I was just too much of a coward to tell you.”