#in the us they call em weedwhackers

[cacodemon-cascade]

Whipperwhackers.

i have decided that to simplify my life and make everyone else's worse i am going to combine american and british spellings. for example:

•centere

•programmme

•graey

•apflatment

[octothorpetopus]

Something Borrowed

Aaron Hotchner x Emily Prentiss

Emily and Hotch finally get married.

“I regret not choosing pants.” Emily brushed her hair off her shoulders and turned sideways to look at herself in the mirror. “Hotch told me he would have been fine if I’d wore pants instead of a dress.”

“Of course he would,” JJ responded. “But if it makes you feel better, you look gorgeous.” Emily grinned and ran her fingers over the soft silk dress.

“True.” She turned around. “How are we feeling, ladies?” JJ and Penelope looked at each other and then back at her.

“How are we feeling? How are you feeling, Em? You’re getting married in a couple of hours.” Penelope took Emily’s hands and squeezed them. “It’s okay if you’re nervous, you know.”

“I’m not.” Emily let out a breath and to her surprise, it wasn’t shaky. Her heart wasn’t pounding either. She really wasn’t nervous.

“Why should she be, Pen? It’s Hotch, for God’s sake.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Emily asked as she turned on JJ, arms folded.

“Nothing! Just...” JJ smiled and any walls that had gone up slid down. “You’ve been living with him for six months. You read his son a bedtime story every night. You’re practically already married to the man.”

“Yeah, but now I get tax benefits.”

“Hmm.” JJ shrugged. “When you put it that way.”

“Emily?” Hotch’s muffled voice came through the door. “Can I come in?”

“What part of ‘the groom can’t see the bride in her dress before the wedding’ doesn’t make sense to you, Hotch?” Penelope folded her arms and leaned against the door.

“Uh... the part where Emily’s mom is here and won’t stop yelling at me.”

“I am not yelling at you!” Ambassador Prentiss yelled.

“I disagree.” Emily sighed and smoothed her dress down with her hands.

“Fine. Aaron, your eyes better be closed.” Penelope opened the door on Ambassador Prentiss and Hotch, whose eyes were indeed closed. “Come in, mom.” Emily’s mother stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. She looked her daughter up and down and smiled.

“You look beautiful, Emily.”

“Thanks, mom. What’s happening? What do you need?”

“What, a mother can’t stop in to see her daughter on the day if her wedding?” Emily raised her eyebrows. “Fine. There’s something I wanted to give you.” The ambassador reached into her pocket and pulled out something small and vaguely papery. “This is one of the roses from my wedding. I thought maybe it could be your something old.”

“Thanks, mom, but I’m not really doing that.”

“Come on, humor me.” Emily shrugged.

“Fine. I’ll tuck it into my bouquet. JJ?” JJ nodded and retrieved Emily’s bouquet (simple lilacs and daisies). “Mom, I have to finish getting ready. Can you go bug Aaron some more?”

“Fine, fine, I’m going. I’ll see you in a bit, Em.” Emily kissed her mother on the cheek and waved her off. When she was gone, Emily turned back to Penelope and JJ. She put her hand over her heart and mock-swooned.

“Damn, you guys look good.” Penelope swirled her skirt around her and smiled.

“We always look good, sweetheart, but navy blue was a good choice.” It was true, they all looked spectacular. Then again, Emily had always looked good in white.

“Huh. I guess you guys are my something blue, then.”

“Don’t forget your ring.” Emily looked down at the pale blue diamond surrounded by delicate platinum leaves on her finger.

“Who knew Hotch had such good taste in jewelry?” Emily snickered.

“I have a sneaking suspicion he may have taken someone with him when he went shopping,” JJ said, looking pointedly at Penelope.

“Something old.” Emily ran her fingers lightly over the dried rose. “Something new.” Her something new was her dress, which was a simple short-sleeved trumpet gown. It had been the first and only dress she tried on (Emily Prentiss abhorred dress shopping). “And several different blue things.”

“So all that’s left is something borrowed,” JJ said, sharing a glance with Penelope.

“What? What was that?”

“Come with us, sweetie.”

“Guys, I still have to do my hair, and the wedding’s in, like, an hour-“

“This won’t take long,” Penelope said, dragging Emily along by the hand.

“Where are we going?” Neither JJ or Penelope answered. They wound up in a coatroom of the event center. “Hey, guys? What the hell are we doing here?” JJ waved her hand just as someone knocked on the door.

“Hey, guys.” Morgan’s voice was muffled through the door.

“Let us in,” Spencer whispered. JJ opened the door and Derek, Spencer, and Rossi entered the already cramped coatroom. The six of them stood shoulder-to-shoulder.

“Guys, someone please tell me what we’re all doing here.” Emily rubbed her bare arms, which were covered in goosebumps. The air conditioning in the coatroom was aggressive to say the least.

“We have something for you,” Morgan said.

“Well, several somethings,” Spencer added. “We figured you would have something old, new, and blue, but we wanted you to have something borrowed. Hey, did you guys know that this tradition is actually meant to ward off infertility?”

“Thanks, Reid,” the other four echoed in unison.

“You guys don’t have to do this.” Emily smiled warmly at her family.

“No. But we want to.” Rossi put an arm around her shoulders. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chain with something small and silver dangling at the end of it. “From me. These are my dog tags from Vietnam.” Emily hesitated, but took them. She put the chain around her neck and tucked the tags under the fabric of her dress.

“Thanks, dad- I mean, Dave.” Everyone chuckled. Spencer reached over as if to touch her face, but when he pulled his hand away, there was a playing card in his hand that had appeared as if by magic. A queen of spades.

“The first card trick I ever did with you, this was your card.” He handed it to her.

“Thank you, Spencer.” Emily squeezed his hand. Derek tucked his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out a page of a book. It was the title page of a copy of Slaughterhouse Five. He didn’t say anything, just smiled brilliantly at her. She nodded and took the page.

Penelope handed her something, and in the dark, Emily couldn’t tell what it was.

“Tap the top,” Penelope whispered, and when Emily did, a soft pink glow lit up everyone’s faces. It was a tiny pink frog light, one that Emily recognized well from Penelope’s desk. “I have the green one right here in my pocket.” Emily held the frog close to her chest.

“Thank you, Pen.”

Finally, JJ handed her a dart. Emily recognized it immediately. “This is the dart I accidentally hit you with.”

“Yeah, the hospital let me keep it after they wiped the blood off.”

“Thank you, JJ.” There was another knock at the door.

“Emily?” It was Hotch. “Can I come in?”

“Come on, guys, let’s give them some room,” JJ said, and practically dragged everyone but Emily out of the room.

“Fine,” Emily sighed. “But keep your eyes closed.” This time when she opened the door, Hotch’s eyes were wide open. “Aaron,” she groaned.

“Come on, Emily,” he said as he entered the coatroom and shut the door behind him. “You think I’m not going to marry you just because I saw your dress?”

“No,” Emily admitted.

“Exactly. You look beautiful, by the way.”

“I know.” He kissed her cheek. “What are you doing here, Hotch?” It was funny, but she had never quite been able to stop calling him Hotch. She doubted she ever would.

“I’m here to give you my something borrowed.”

“Hotch, I already have five something borrowed. I’m marrying you. I’m borrowing you for the rest of our lives.” Hotch smiles, but shook his head.

“Please. It took me weeks to figure out what to give you.”

“Fine.” Emily held out her hand. “Hand it over.”

“Close your eyes.” She rolled her eyes.

“You didn’t close your eyes when I asked you to.”

“Just do it, would you?” She obliged and something small, flat, and hard pressed into her hand.

“My ID badge?” She asked when she finally looked. “Wait, this is a new badge. I thought you said this was something borrowed.”

“Well, it’s sort of new, sort of borrowed. The badge is new. Look at the name.” Emily looked closer. The name in thick black letters at the base of the card no longer read “Emily Prentiss”. It read “Emily Hotchner”.

“Yeah, but there’s one mistake here. I’m not borrowing your last name.” Hotch’s face fell.

“I thought we decided you were taking my name. Did you change your mind?”

“No. But borrowing it implies I’m giving it back. Your last name’s mine, pal.” Hotch grinned and shook his head.

“You know, we’re not married yet. I could still-“ he turned as if to leave.

“Don’t even joke about that.” Emily grabbed him by the sleeve and pulled him to her. She wrapped an arm around his neck as she kissed him and then pushed him away playfully. “Go. I love you, but my hair’s not done yet and so help me god I’m not getting married with messy hair.”

“I’d marry you even if you tried to cut your hair with a weedwhacker five minutes before the ceremony.”

“Yeah, yeah, you love me.”

“I do.” Hotch kissed her forehead and left her alone in the coatroom. Emily collapsed against the soft wall of coats, holding her her gifts to her chest.

“Emily Hotchner,” she said to herself, and laughed out loud.

Emily heard the sound of Pachabel’s Canon in D even from outside the ballroom. She let out a long, steady exhale and squeezed Penelope’s hand, and then JJ’s.

“You guys should go,” she said. Penelope slipped her arm through Derek’s, and JJ put hers through Spencer’s, and they opened the doors to the ballroom. Emily watched them disappear down the aisle. She couldn’t quite see Hotch, but he was there. She knew he was there.

Emily stepped into the room on her own, holding her head high. She had made the decision to walk by herself down the aisle a long time ago. Being married didn’t mean she was going to let go of the self-reliance she had carried with her her whole life.

Her hair was tied behind her head in a tight bun, pinned with JJ’s dart. Rossi’s dog tags remained tucked under her dress. Penelope’s frog was tucked in the pocket of her dress. Reid’s card, Morgan’s page, and Hotch’s badge were all tucked into her bouquet, along with her mother’s flower. She was a walking conglomeration of her family and her relationships with them. She carried with her everyone she loved.

“Hi,” Hotch whispered as she reached the end of the aisle.

“Long time, no see,” she responded. “Ready, Agent Hotchner?” He chuckled silently.

“I’ve never been more ready in my life. How about you, Agent Prentiss?”

“I’m only Agent Prentiss for about another hour,” she said.

“Hey, guys?” Morgan leaned over from his spot beside Hotch. “You realize everyone’s waiting on you, right?” Emily fought the urge to flip him the bird.

“You didn’t answer my question,” Hotch whispered.

“Hotch, I’ve followed you into burning buildings. I’ve chased down unsubs, guns ablazing with you. I’ve seen Reid and Morgan do drunk karaoke with you. Marrying you? That’s nothing.”