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“Em? Sweetheart we’ll be late if we don’t leave soon.”
Aaron looks over his shoulder at their closet, smiling as his girlfriend’s voice floats out of it. “I’ll be two minutes.”
He looks back in the mirror he is standing in front of and readjusts his tie. It was new, deep red in colour and one of the gifts Emily had given him for Christmas. Once he is satisfied with it he sits on the edge of their bed and digs his phone out of his pocket, checking emails as he waits for her to finish getting ready.
Just over 5 minutes pass before he calls out for her again, knowing she was somewhat on edge. The idea of going to her mother’s holiday party stretching out her patience to the point he knew she was close to snapping. She had gone alone last year, the party always falling halfway between Christmas and New Year, giving her mother some excuse for his absence. Now they lived with each other, in the house they had bought together, Elizabeth had made it clear she expected both of them to attend as well as Jack.
“Em, we really need to-”
“Do I look ok?” She interrupts him, and he puts his phone on the bed before he looks up at her.
The automatic reply that she looked beautiful dying in his throat as he looks at her. The dress was a deep red that reminded him of their favourite wine. It was off the shoulder, and his eyes were drawn to her exposed collarbone before his gaze drifted downwards, the form fitting nature of the dress hugging her figure all the way down to just above her knees. Her legs looked endless, enhanced by the black high heels he knew were, in his view, outrageously expensive.
She laughs, and it draws his eyes back up to hers, her eyes bright as she bites her lower lip.
“That good, huh?”
“I think we both know you look incredible.” He clears his throat and stands, taking a step towards her. He runs his thumb over the chain of her necklace resting over her collarbone, the pendant made up of two interlocking rings, the gold standing out against the paleness of her skin. It was one of the gifts he got her for Christmas, and he knew he’d always remember the way her eyes widened at the sight of the Tiffany’s bag as he pulled it out from behind the tree. “Nice necklace.”
“You’ve got good taste.”She laughs. His hands move down to land on her waist, the material of the dress soft against his skin. Emily kisses him, her hands coming up to grip at the lapels of his suit jacket before she pulls back and straightens his tie, shifting her gaze away from his. “Are you sure I look ok?”
He hears the tinge of uncertainty in her voice, the slight colouring of nerves that any time with her mother always brought. The dress had been bought specifically for this event. He’d sat on the edge of their bed patiently the weekend before when she tried on what felt like every dress she owned, declaring none of them were good enough, telling him exactly what she knew her mother would have to say. He’d gently convinced her to go shopping, to invite Penelope along, as he watched the urge to cancel going all together building, which would have had more of a lasting impact than anything Elizabeth could say about her daughter's outfit.
“Baby,” he says, the hands on her hips sliding to her lower back, one slipping down to her ass to grab it, making her laugh again, “you look amazing. I can’t believe I’m about to take you somewhere in this dress where other people will be able to stare at you all night.”
She smiles at him and kisses him, grasping at his neck as she did. “That may be the case, but” she kisses him again, smiling against his lips at the sound of Jack’s loud footfall on the landing outside of their bedroom, she moves to whisper into his ear, “what I’m wearing under the dress is for your eyes only.”
He groans, and he can feel her grinning against his skin, his response is interrupted by the sound of his son on the other side of the door.
“Daddy, Emily, I’m ready.”
“Coming Jack.” Emily replies as she pulls back, her voice not betraying the shit eating smile on her face as she winks at Aaron before she moves past him, leaving him standing alone in their bedroom.
It was going to be a long night.
__________
On the drive to Elizabeth’s it takes most of his willpower to concentrate on driving.
He can’t stop thinking about how beautiful she looks. How beautiful she always looked. It distracted him, long before he would ever admit it, and sometimes he found himself just staring at her. The ease that she carried herself with - that he knew was sometimes bravado, something she protected herself with - captivated him. If he was fortunate Emily would catch him first, a wink thrown in his direction when their eyes caught across the bullpen or on the jet. More often than not it was someone else, Dave or Derek teasing him until Emily put a stop to it, her eyebrow raised as she promised to give them shit back if they didn’t stop.
She was beautiful, inside and out, and he was so lucky she was his.
It put him on edge to know other people would be staring at her all night, her mere presence in a room would allure others, the way she so easily fit into her mother’s life despite how much she hated it. He could practically feel her preparing herself in the seat next to him, how straight she was sitting, the slight tension in her jaw each time he glanced away from the road to look at her.
He feels her hand rest on his arm and he briefly looks at her, her eyes shining with something close to mischief despite the tension in the rest of her body.
“You ok there, honey?”
“I’m fine, love.” He says, throwing a look at Jack in the rear view mirror. The young boy was distracted, watching the Christmas lights out of the window. “Not overly excited about watching Senate wannabes drooling all over my girlfriend all evening.”
He knows if Elizabeth had truly got her way Emily would have married one of them, but that had never been on the cards. Instead, these men who she knew since they were children would appraise her, look her up and down like some prize to be won, like they didn’t have their wives standing right next to them.
The worst part, Aaron thinks, is that she’s used to it. That she plays off the way the men at these events look at her as something she is used to. Something she has put up with since she was young, and he hates it. He can’t help but picture a young Emily, bored out of her mind, made to stand around in large function rooms as if she was something to be put on display, warding off the advances of teenage boys who thought too much of themselves with nothing but a disparaging look.
“It won’t be that bad.” She replies, her voice soft, usually the voice she would reserve for when Jack woke them in the middle of the night, scared of things he had seen in his sleep. Things Aaron knew were memories, not monsters in his closet.
“Em…”
“Look,” she grabs his hand over the centre console of the car, intertwining her fingers with his, “I know it isn’t great, but my relationship with my mother is as good as it's ever been. And I don’t want to fu-” she catches herself, stops herself from cursing half way through the word with a look to the backseat where Jack was sitting, “upset anything. Ok?”
He briefly takes his eyes off the road to look at her and he nods before looking ahead again, squeezing her hand gently. “Ok.”
“Besides,” she says, “I have you and Jack to protect me this evening, right?” She looks back at Jack in the back seat and winking at him, his enthusiastic nod in return making her smile.
Later, Aaron would realise, his son had taken that as encouragement.
__________
Emily straightens Jack’s tie as they stand on the doorstep of Elizabeth’s home, waiting to be let in.
“You used to live here Emily?” Jack asks, his voice full of wonder as he looks around, taking in the estate.
“Sometimes.” Emily answers, smiling at him as she puts her hand on his shoulder. “When we weren’t living in another country this is where we stayed.” She looks at Aaron over Jack’s head. “Did you know your Daddy used to work here? Years ago?”
Jack turns to Aaron, his eyes wide. “Really? Did you know Emily then?”
Aaron ruffles his hair, laughing when Emily tutts at him and straightens it back out. “No, but I saw her once.”
“That's sad. It would have been so cool if you knew each other.”
Their eyes meet over Jack’s head again and they both smile, Aaron’s hand reaching out and squeezing Emily’s as he speaks. “It would have been great.”
__________
“Emily, Aaron.” Elizabeth calls out, gently hugging Emily, a stiffness in the action that showed how infrequent physical affection was between them. “How lovely to see you both,” She looks Emily up and down as they separate, “You’re very dressed up tonight Emily.”
“Merry Christmas, Mother.” Emily replies, plastering on a face smile as she swallows down a reply she knows won’t help. She pulls back to stand closer to Aaron, his hand coming to her lower back, the warmth of his touch through the material of her dress calming her, providing solace as it always did.
“Merry Christmas Elizabeth.” Aaron says, shaking her hand when she offers it. “And thank you for the gifts, they were very generous.”
Emily would like to say she had been surprised by the gifts Elizabeth had sent to their home. A brand new bike for Jack, a top of the line Rolex for Aaron. A fully paid for Spa Day for Emily, with the caveat that Elizabeth went with her.
“No problem at all, I’m just sorry I couldn’t make it all the way to your house to give them to you in person.” Elizabeth replies.
“Yes,” Emily says, sarcasm dripping from her voice, “because Arlington is so far from here.”
She feels Aaron’s hand press deeper into her back, rubbing up and down slightly to calm her, not wanting an argument to break out immediately.
“Jack, say hi to Elizabeth.” Aaron says, preventing the conversation from going any further.
“Hi Mrs Prentiss.” Jack says, waving slightly. “Thank you for the bike.”
Elizabeth smiles. “That’s quite alright Jack, and how many times do I have to ask you to call me Lizzie.” She looks past the three of them and waves slightly behind them. “I should go, please help yourself to drinks,” she looks at Emily directly, “mingle with the other guests.”
“Yes, Mother.” She feels a tugging at her hand and looks down to see Jack standing right next to her, she lowers herself slightly to his level. “Are you ok honey?”
“I need the bathroom.” He whispers, almost looking ashamed to ask, memories of Aaron insisting that he went to the bathroom before they left their home an hour before.
“I’ll take you.” She says, grateful for the way to remove herself from the conversation with her mother. She looks at Aaron and their eyes meet, their conversation silent, and she leads the boy away.
Aaron can’t help but smile as he watches Jack and Emily walk away together, Emily gently guiding his son through the crowd of people.
“Who would have thought all those years ago when you worked here that this is where we’d end up?” Elizabeth says, and when he turns to look at her she’s smiling too. She looks at him fondly and raises an eyebrow. “That’s a lovely necklace Emily is wearing.”
“It was a Christmas gift.” He replies. He can see the unasked question in her eyes, can read her almost as well as he could read Emily. Mother and daughter had more in common than either of them would ever admit.
“Are you planning on giving her any other jewellery anytime soon?”
“It’s not like you to talk around a subject.” He says. “But we’ve spoken about it, she knows I’m going to propose. She just doesn’t know when.”
“Good. I’m glad.” Elizabeth replies. “I’d be able to secure some incredible venues for the wedding.”
He is thankful when Jack comes bounding back over, almost slamming into his side and bringing a conversation Aaron really didn’t want to have to a standstill. Elizabeth gives them a terse smile, her hostess mask slipping back on as she moves past father and son, ready to do the rounds of all of her guests again.
“Where did you leave Emily?” He asks his son, surprised that she wasn’t on his sons heels.
“Over there,” Jack points into the crowd of people, and Aaron spots his girlfriend speaking to a man he doesn’t recognise, “that man held her arm and wouldn’t let go.”
He feels tension flood through his body quickly, his spine stiffening as jealousy tasted bitter on his tongue. He watches as the man touches Emily again, his hand at her elbow, leaning in to speak to her, his mouth far too close to her ear for Aaron’s liking. His hand drifting to her waist.
Aaron is well attuned to Emily, he had been for years, long before they became a couple. In the long months she was in Paris and he knew she was alive he would lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as sleep evaded him. Playing the weeks in the lead up to her showdown with Doyle in his head over and over, cursing himself for the signs he had missed. A silent promise to himself, and to her, that he would never let it happen again.
He sees the small signs, the way she tenses. Her body language similar to when she is flirting with a suspect on a case, a lack of the ease he saw every day in their home. Her smile was tense, not the bright beautiful thing that the mere memory of would bring him comfort in his worst moments.
“Dad.” Jack says, drawing his attention back to him. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah buddy, I’m fine. Why?”
“You’re staring at Emily and you look mad.”
Aaron sighs and relaxes his jaw, smiling as he looks down at his son. “Why don’t we take Emily a drink?”
Jack nods enthusiastically, sticking close to Aaron’s side as he grabs two glasses of wine from a waiter standing nearby and walks towards his girlfriend.
She seemed to sense his presence before he got there, turning and smiling at him, relief in her eyes, as he fights his way through the crowd of people, keeping an eye on the full glasses in his hands and ensuring his son was still by his side.
“Here you go sweetheart.” He says as he makes it to her side, pressing a kiss to her cheek for no other reason than to prove a point. “You disappeared on us.”
“Sorry about that,” she replies, taking the wine glass from him and immediately taking a sip, “this is Eric Grisham.” She says, introducing Aaron to the man standing in front of them. “We knew each other when we were younger, Mother is friends with his father.” She returns her attention to Eric. “Eric, this is Aaron Hotchner, my boyfriend, and his son - Jack.”
“Good to meet you.” Eric says, his tone implying it was anything but as he knocked back the whiskey in his hand. “Em and I were just reminiscing about the old days.”
Emily feels Aaron tense next to her as Eric calls her ‘Em,’ and she hides her smile into the rim of her wine glass. Whilst she hated herself for it sometimes, his unwarranted jealousy often brought out his possessive side, and that always worked out well for her in the end.
“Yes,” She says, deciding to make the situation work in her favour, “We used to get up to all sorts at Mother’s events when we were stateside,” she takes another sip of her drink, “although Eric could never quite keep up.”
Aaron’s arm finds its way around her waist, his hand landing on her hip and he squeezes her skin through her dress, letting her know he knew exactly what she was up to without words.
“Nice to meet you Eric.” Aaron says, not even trying to sound sincere.
“Where did you two meet? You seem like an unlikely pairing.” Eric says, grabbing a glass of red wine from a passing waiter, his eyes flicking to Jack as he spoke.
“At work.” Emily replies tersely, a warning edging into her voice. She was more than happy to tease Aaron herself, to press the buttons she knew she needed to in order to get what she wanted when she got home, but having anyone, and Eric Grisham of all people, imply Aaron wasn’t good enough for her was a step too far. “He’s the Unit Chief of the BAU.”
“Don’t you work for the BAU?” Eric asks, laughing as her expression is the only answer he needs. “Classic Em Prentiss, sleep-”
“Let’s remember there’s a child here.” Aaron says, his jaw tense as he nods at his son, standing next to them. He looks down at his son and sees he is frowning, his gaze fixed on Eric.
“Sorry.” Eric says, leaning down to Jack’s height. “How old are you then buddy?”
“8.” He answers simply, looking the man up and down. “How old are you?”
“Older than you.” Eric replies, standing back up. “He’s sweet.”
Aaron sees how it starts. He watches as someone gently nudges into Jack’s back, an elbow pressing gently into his shirt. He almost sees his son’s entire thought process as he overreacts, rocking forward on his feet as he falls into Eric, knocking the man's hand so his red wine spills all down his front, immediately staining his crisp white shirt.
“Oh for fuck sake, kid.” Eric exclaims, drawing attention from the people around them, and Elizabeth on the other side of the room. He puts his wine glass down on the side table near them. “This shirt was expensive.”
“Calm down, Eric.” Emily says, putting her own glass of wine down as she guides Jack back to Aaron’s side with a hand on the little boy's shoulder. “He’s just a kid.”
“What’s going on?” Elizabeth says, joining them, her smile tense as she tries to maintain her cool as people turn their attention back to their own conversations.
“This little-”
“Oh dear,” Elizabeth interrupts him, not allowing him to say anything to insult her pseudo-grandson, “You’ve split your wine.” She turns to Emily. “Why don’t you help Eric sort himself out, Emily?” She looks at Aaron. “There is some juice that Jack can have in the kitchen, the wait staff can show you where.”
Aaron understands that he’s allbut been dismissed and throws Emily an apologetic look , one she responds to with a slight shake of her head and a smile, letting him know it was ok, before she turns her attention back to her mother.
He sighs as he turns to his son, leading him towards the other side of the room, some spare seats allowing them to sit next to each other.
“What was that all about, buddy?” He asks gently, no anger springing forward, just soft concern for his son’s out of character behaviour.
“It was an accident.”
“Jack.” Aaron says, his eyebrows raised at his son as he waits patiently for the truth.
“I don’t like that guy.” Jack says, still refusing to look at his father, his eyes fixed on the man who had been finding excuses to talk to Emily all evening. Aaron creases his brow and looks over to him, his own jealousy bubbling in his stomach as he watches the man watch his girlfriend, a look on his face that Aaron wishes he could punch off of it. “He won’t leave Emily alone.”
Aaron sighs, “Jack-”
“She’s our Emily, Dad. She lives with us.” Jack exclaims, finally looking at him. Aaron tries his best to suppress his smirk, knowing his girlfriend would be livid if she heard him talk so possessively of her, but he somehow knew Jack would get away with it. “And he wasn’t very nice.”
“You did knock into him and make him spill wine all over himself buddy.”
“It could have been an accident.” He crosses his arms. “And he wasn’t being very nice before that.”
“How are my guys doing?”
Aaron looks up to see Emily in front of them, paper towels in hand as she looks at them, her smile soft.
“We’re ok, aren’t we Jack?” Aaron says, looking back at his son. Jack’s answer is a nod but it seems unsure. Aaron sees the paper towels enter his eyeline, and he takes them off Emily, smiling at her as she kneels in front of Jack, catching his chin in her hand tenderly so he looks at her.
“It’s ok Jack.” She assures him, her hand moving to soothe hair from his forehead, the same thing she would do for Aaron when he couldn’t sleep. “Eric was just surprised, that's all.” Her eye’s meet Aaron’s, the usual sparkle in them that he knew all too well. “Accidents happen.”
“I’m sorry, Emily.” Jack says sincerely, leaning forward to throw his arms around her.
“I know, sweetie.” She hugs him, her hand rubbing up and down his back. “I’m going to go clean up the mess.” She kisses the side of his head and stands, taking the paper towels back off of Aaron with a wink.
They lapse into silence, Aaron letting his son take the lead.
“Daddy?”
“Yes Jack?”
“Did Mrs Lizzie say there is juice?”
__________
Aaron barely sees Emily after that, the hours passing with quick exchanges as he presses glasses of wine into her hand as they pass each other. Every time he looks over, momentarily distracted from conversations with strangers about his work, Jack standing bored next to him, he sees Eric near Emily. Never straying too far from her, clearly not getting the hint that she wanted to be left alone that she was making evident, her quick responses to his questions, the way she would dart away given the chance. Finding herself in conversations with people that clearly bored her.
Jack is asleep, passed out on the couch under Elizabeth’s watchful eye, as the evening starts to draw to a close, and Aaron goes looking for Emily. He spots her across the foyer, leaning against a wall with a drink in her hand, clearly taking a moment to herself. He makes his way over to her, her beauty drawing him across the room, the pull almost gravitational in its force.
“You doing ok?” He asks, standing behind her as his arm reaches round her, his hand coming to rest on her hip. Emily hums and leans back into him, taking a sip of her wine.
“I’m ok. Mother is on top form tonight.” She turns her head to look at him and stamps a quick kiss to his lips. “We should probably go soon. Jack must be exhausted. Where is he?”
“I was about to say the same to you. He is fast asleep on the couch in the formal living room.” He answers, pulling her slightly closer when he sees Eric enter the room. Aaron feels more than hears her laugh at his antics, her spare hand coming to rest over his on her hip. “Your mother put a blanket over him.”
Any response she had is cut off by Eric walking over to them, the smaller crowd now people had started to leave not giving them any reprieve.
“Emily, I keep losing track of you.”
“Oh, how strange.” She replies, her society smile plastered on in a way that makes Aaron choke back a laugh, covering it with a cough when the other man looks at him curiously.
“We still haven’t…caught up.” Eric says, returning his attention to Emily.
“We’re about to head out.” Emily replies, downing half a glass of wine like there had just been a sip left. “Jack needs to get to bed.”
Aaron can’t help but smile when Eric’s hand twitches, moving to cover the still bright red wine stain on his white shirt.
“Still, we should catch up sometime.” Eric says, pulling his suit jacket slightly tighter, trying in vain to cover the stain.
“I don’t think so.” Emily says, finishing her wine and placing the glass on the tray of a passing waitress. “Aaron, Jack and I are kind of a package deal,” she smirks, “and I don’t think you have enough white shirts,” she turns to look at Aaron, kissing him gently, “we should go get Jack.”
“Of course, love.” Aaron says, loosening his hold on her only to rest his arm over her shoulder. “Nice to meet you, Derek.”
Eric clears his throat. “Eric.”
“Right. Eric.” Aaron replies as they walk away, ignoring the way Emily pinches his side as he purposely gets Eric’s name wrong.
“Was that necessary?” She laughs as they walk towards the living room.
“Absolutely.”
__________
Emily stands at the front door of her mother’s house, a sleeping Jack in her arms waiting for Aaron to bring the car around. Jack hadn’t even stirred when she lifted him from the couch, his arms automatically coming up around her neck even in sleep.
“Isn’t he a bit old to be held like that?” Elizabeth asks. Emily turns to look at her and she has to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the look on her mother’s face, a hint of judgement in her eyes.
“Usually yes,” Emily answers, looking out the open door, ignoring the chill of the night, almost wishing Aaron would appear out of thin air, “but when he’s asleep like this he’s dead to the world. Sleep doesn’t always come easily for him,” she says, running her hand over Jack’s head before adjusting him on her hip, “so when it does I can take my arms going numb to keep him that way.”
Elizabeth smiles, her knowledge of Aaron and Jack’s past well established. “You have a lovely family, Emily.”
“Thanks, Mother.” Emily says, taken aback a bit. “We try our best.”
“You do a good job.” She says sincerely, leaning forward to press a kiss to her daughter's cheek. “Thank you for coming tonight.”
“No problem.” Emily answers. She looks out the door and sees their car pulled up, Aaron already getting out of it to help her with Jack. “Thank you for having us.”
“Any time.” Elizabeth says, letting Emily take a step away before she speaks again. “Oh and Emily?”
Emily stops in her tracks and turns around. “Yes.”
“We really should book that spa day soon. You look very tired.”
__________
Emily waits on the upstairs landing of their home, smiling to herself as she listens to Aaron talk to an already sleeping Jack. His soft words of love flowing past the slightly ajar door. She loved them both. A deep, all consuming love that she had never experienced before, hadn’t known she could experience. This family she had found in the ruins of her old life and treasured beyond words.
“He’s definitely out for the count.” Aaron says softly as he walks out and joins her, pulling Jack’s door closed behind him. “It was a late night.”
“Must be all that heroic wine spilling that knocked it out of him.” Emily quips, her smile bright as Aaron closes the gap between them, his hands trailing down her sides before they land on her hips, pulling her closer.
“I am so sorry about that.” Aaron says, his thumbs rubbing delicate circles on her dress. “He must have picked up on how I was feeling.”
“Don’t apologise.” She says, shaking her head. “It was kind of sweet.”
He leans in and kisses her, his hands grabbing at her as her arms snake around his neck, pulling him in closer.
“I believe you promised me something before we went out earlier.” He says against her lips, kissing her again as she laughs.
“Hmm,” she hums, kissing him and biting his lower lip, leaning her forehead against his, “what was it I said?” She teases. “I can’t remember.”
“Something about what you’re wearing under this dress being for my eyes only.” His hand moves to the zipper on the back of her dress, his fingers teasing the skin just above it, making her shiver.
“Oh, I remember now.” She kisses him again, her hand pulling at his tie. “Lead the way then Hotchner.”