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Emily always felt unnerved when Aaron wasn’t in the bullpen. It felt wrong, just like their home did on the rare occasion when he wasn’t there and she was. Like she couldn’t quite settle until she could catch his eye through the slats of the blinds to his office, or if she couldn’t watch him react to a dirty text she would send in the middle of a meeting out of nothing but boredom and the need to rile him up.
He’d woken her that morning with a kiss to her forehead as she buried her face into his pillow. It was an early start for him, an interview at a prison 3 hours away that meant he had woken up even before he usually did, quietly moving around their bedroom so she could get the extra sleep. The kiss to her forehead and the feeling of his knuckles down her cheek had woken her, his unnecessary reminder that she was taking Jack to school that morning soft against her skin.
She would usually do anything to get out of paperwork, the part of her job she considered the most boring, but it was her solace. Spencer was with Aaron, meaning she couldn’t even entertain herself by getting a rise out of her friend by purposely incorrectly quoting old movies, and Derek was driving her insane, his own boredom making him wind her up as the day went on.
“Emily Prentiss!”
She grimaces as she hears her name being allbut bellowed across the bullpen, loud enough that she heard it over the music blaring through her headphones. She tears them out as a slight blush rising to her cheeks as she feels every set of eyes in the room land on her. She turns to see Penelope standing at the glass doors before she walks over, purpose in every step.
“Pen, hi.” She replies, plastering on a smile that she hoped would placate her exuberant friend.
“Don’t ‘Pen’ me, you were meant to have your finalised guest list to me yesterday.”
“Well, I-”
“There are less than 3 weeks to go, Em! You need to start taking this more seriously.” Penelope exclaims as she walks away, clearly expecting Emily to follow her. She sighs, closing her eyes briefly as she blows out a breath, opening them again to glare at Derek as he laughs at her.
“What did you expect when you asked her to plan your wedding, Princess?” He says, a grin on his face that she finds very punchable. “She’s been rooting for you guys since day one.”
“I’d shut your mouth if I were you Derek, or I’ll tell her you volunteered to be on flower duty.” She smiles as he immediately sobers, his grin replaced by a look that could only be described as horrified. Her cell phone rings and it cuts off any further threats and she sees a number she doesn’t recognise. She’d never be able to explain it, even to Aaron when he would later ask, but somehow she knew it was something to do with Jack. Her body tenses, and she ignores the shake to her finger as she answers the phone.
“Agent Prentiss.”
“Hi Agent Prentiss, I’m Louise, I’m the nurse at Jack’s school.” She freezes, her breath caught in her throat. “You’re on his list of emergency contacts. We couldn’t get hold of Mr Hotchner.”
Emily’s heart drops to her stomach as she looks up at Aaron’s empty office. “Yeah he’s um…he’s at a prison interviewing someone today. Is Jack ok?”
“He took a nasty fall at recess and we think his arm might be fractured, so we sent him to the hospital.”
“Oh god, ok.” She says, standing as she haphazardly throws her belongings into her purse, ignoring how Derek was trying to get her attention. “Which hospital?”
“George Washington. One of the TA’s will stay with him until you get there.”
“Thank you.” She hangs up before anything else can be said, turning to see the concerned look on Derek’s face. “Jack broke his arm at school, I have to go to the hospital.”
“Shit, do you want me to come with you?”
She shakes her head. “No it’s ok. I’m going to try and get hold of Aaron on the way, but can you try too? In case I don’t get service there?”
“Of course, whatever you need.” Derek replies and she smiles gratefully, before pausing and looking in the direction of Penelope’s office. “I’ll deal with the wedding planner from hell. But if I end up as an usher you owe me big time.”
She huffs out a laugh, her breath stuttering in her chest. “Thanks Derek.”
_____
Emily doesn’t realise how anxious she is until she sees Jack with her own eyes. The reality that he really was ok, like she had been repeating to herself the entire 45 minute drive to the hospital, sinking in as he looks up at her from the bed he was in.
“Emily!” He exclaims, looking almost as relieved as she felt. He looks so small in the bed he was in, much younger than his 8 years, his arm delicately clutched to his chest. She notices the woman in the room with him, someone she recognises as ‘Miss Sophie’ from Jack’s school, but for a moment all she can focus on is the little boy in front of her.
“Hey sweetie,” she walks over to him and sits on the edge of his bed, pressing a kiss to the crown of his head, “how are you doing?”
“My arm hurts.” He frowns, his lower lip sticking out in a pout that was unlike him. It makes her heart ache, the need to protect this boy that she loved as her own overwhelming her.
“I know it does, baby.” She soothes, her fingers running through his hair. She finally turns to the other woman in the room who was gathering her things. “Thank you so much for staying with him.”
“No problem at all.” Sophie says, smiling as she puts her purse over her shoulder. “I think he’s the most polite kid on the planet.”
Emily laughs at that, nodding as she agrees. “It took him months to stop calling me ‘Miss Emily’ when Aaron and I started dating,” she turns to Jack, “say thank you to Miss Sophie.”
“Thanks Miss Sophie.” Jack says waving with the arm that wasn’t gently laid against his abdomen.
“You’re welcome Jack, you just be a bit more careful from now on.” She looks at Emily. “He’s already had an x-ray and the doctor said she would be back soon.”
Sophie waves at them both and walks out of the room, leaving Emily and Jack alone for the first time since she arrived. She shifts so she’s sitting on the bed properly with him and he immediately leans against her, his head coming to rest on her shoulder.
“Is Daddy not coming?”
“He had to leave early for work today, remember? That's why I took you to school by myself. I called him and left a message, and Uncle Derek is going to try and call him too.” She says reassuringly, looking down at him. She sees how he frowns, and she tilts his head with a finger crooked under his chin so he is looking up at her. “I’m going to stay right here though? Ok. And as soon as your dad gets here he’s going to want to see you.”
He nods, leaning against her again and they lapse into silence, her fingers tracing through his hair in a way she knew he liked. She did it for him whenever he was sick, the sensation seeming to calm him. It was one of many things she had learned he had in common with his father.
The door to the room opens again and a kind looking doctor walks in, a warm smile on her face.
“Jack, I see your mom got here!” She says, and Emily opens her mouth to correct her, but Jack beats her to it.
“She isn’t my mom, she’s Emily. She’s marrying my dad in,” he turns to Emily, his eyes wide, “how many days is it?”
“18.” Emily answers, sharing an amused smile with the nurse.
“In 18 days. I’m Daddy’s best man.” Jack looks back at the doctor. “Emily is going to be my step-mom, but not evil like in the movies. She’s nice to me and she smells like flowers.”
“Well that’s very lucky Jack.” The doctor says, an amused smile on her face. She sits down in the chair next to the bed as she looks up at Emily. “It’s nice to meet you, I’m Doctor Kay.” Emily smiles and nods.
“Nice to meet you too.”
“Well, Jack. Your arm is definitely broken, so we are going to have to reset it and put a cast on it, ok?”
Jack shrinks further into Emily’s side, as if he was trying to hide away. “Is that going to hurt?”
“It won’t be comfortable, but you just need to hold Emily’s hand really tightly, and it will all be over in a few seconds.”
He looks at Emily as if waiting for confirmation and she smiles encouragingly at him.
“Remember what I said, I’m going to be here the whole time. And you can pick the colour for your cast.”
“You can pick any colour you want Jack.” Doctor Kay confirms kindly, her presence not only calming the young boy but Emily too, her nerves instantly set alight again at the confirmation that Jack’s arm was broken.
Jack looks deep in concentration for a moment, instantly forgetting his nervousness, his eyebrows knitting together just like Aaron’s did when he was thinking.
“How long will I have it on for?” He asks, his gaze fixed on the doctor.
“6 weeks, and then we’ll scan your arm again.”
“Purple.” He says instantly, the speed to his answer surprising Emily.
The doctor smiles at him as she stands up. “Purple it is.” She looks over at Emily. “I’ll just go get everything sorted and then I’ll be right back.”
“Thank you.” Emily smiles, running her hand through Jack’s hair again. He leans into her side a little further, relaxing into her. “Purple huh? Your favourite colour is green. You could have got that.”
“I know.” He says, looking up at her. “But I’ll have it for the wedding and Aunt Pen said the flowers are going to be purple.”
She pulls him into a hug, careful to not jostle his arm, so he doesn’t see the tears that gather in her eyes as a wave of love for him threatens to overpower her.
_____
Emily swears she can feel her heart breaking as Jack whimpers as his arm is reset, his tear streaked face pressed against her neck. She soothes him as best as she can, grateful when the nurse assisting the doctor hands her a tissue for her own tears as well as Jacks, and when she distracts him so Emily could wipe them away without him noticing.
Aaron calls just as the cast is finished, Jack under strict instructions to keep his arm still as the material finishes firming up. He was fascinated by it, any pain he had felt only minutes ago forgotten as he asks the doctor endless questions about it.
“Jack, it’s your dad I’m just going to step out to answer it ok?” She says, easing off of the bed.
“Ok.” He smiles at her, a nervousness to it now she is no longer pressed up against him.
“I’ll just be right outside.”
She clicks the door shut and answers the phone on the last ring, any greeting she has for her fiancee cut off the moment she does so.
“Emily? What the hell happened? I have 5 missed calls from the school, 4 from you. 7 from Derek. I-”
“Aaron, love. Breathe. Everything is ok.” She interrupts him, hearing the usually uncharacteristic spiral that only her or his son could get out of him. Any concern for either of them making his stoicness melt away. “I’m with Jack at the hospital, he broke his arm during recess. He’s already got a cast on.”
“Shit, is he ok?” He asks, clearly packing his things up quickly, a hurried comment to Spencer she doesn’t quite catch. “I’m sorry I’m not there.”
“It’s ok. And he’s fine. He was a little shaken up when I got here, but nothing that a hug and the promise of ice cream for dinner couldn’t solve.”
“Em-”
“He’s fine.” She assures him, interrupting him again when she hears sternness return to his tone. “I’ll walk right back into his room in a minute so you can talk to him, but first you need to calm down otherwise you’ll freak him out again.”
He sighs. “You’re right.”
“I’m always right.” She quips, and she can hear another sigh down the phone. She can picture the way he’d be smiling, shaking his head at himself for always falling for her antics. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah…now I know that you both are.”
She can’t help the smile that spreads across her face. “I’ll get Jack to talk to you and then you go straight home, we’ll be released from here within the hour.”
“I-”
She opens the door to Jack’s room and continues talking. “If you even think about breaking any traffic laws to get here you’re in trouble.”
_____
He gets stuck in traffic. She’s oddly grateful for it, knowing it gives him no choice but to take the journey slowly, knowing that her threats about not speeding absolutely would have been ignored otherwise.
Emily lets Jack eat ice cream for dinner as promised, and watches his favourite Disney movie despite the fact they had all seen it so many times they could recite it from memory.
When it becomes clear that Aaron wouldn’t make it home in time, a text with an unnecessary apology arriving as the credits to the movie rolled, she settles a sleepy Jack into bed.
She carefully lays a pillow under his arm to elevate it, her touch as gentle as it had ever been as she remembers the anguish on his face from earlier. How he gripped at her as the doctor reset his arm. She makes sure he has everything, his favourite toy just within reach even though he insisted every night that he was too old now, and she kisses his forehead, standing to prepare to leave his room.
“Emily?”
She smiles, settling back down onto the edge of his bed, her fingers running through his light coloured hair.
“Yes, honey?”
She expects him to ask her to read to him, even though he usually enjoys reading alone these days. He always wanted the extra attention when he wasn’t well and Emily was always willing to give it to him, flashes of a part of his life that she had missed but often thought about.
“The doctor thought you were my mom.”
She falters at that, not expecting him to bring it up. When her and Aaron first got together and sat Jack down to explain everything he had been ecstatic, beating even Penelope in his enthusiasm for their relationship. Emily’s place in Jack’s life had been clear from day one, a maternal figure but not his mom, and she was glad for any part of this boy she loved so deeply it sometimes took her breath away.
Haley was a part of their lives, of their home. Jack’s own memories of her were hazy now, so Aaron often filled in the gaps. Stories about the mother of his son that spanned decades brought to life in the walls of a house she would never know. Photos of her and Jack, and her and Aaron, strewn in amongst the photos of what their family looked like now. Emily, Aaron and Jack finding happiness when there was a time she thought none could be found. A new life built on the foundations of their old ones.
“She did.” Emily says softly. “Did that upset you?”
He shakes his head immediately. “Sometimes…” He trails off, unsure about how to phrase what he is thinking. Emily’s hand moves to his cheek and cups it, her thumb rubbing a gentle rhythm against his skin.
“You can tell me anything, you know that.”
Jack nods and sniffs, his eyes shining up at her. “Sometimes I worry Mommy would be upset.”
“About what?”
“How much I love you.”
“Oh baby,” she moves so she’s hugging him to her chest, his good arm coming around her neck, “she wouldn’t be upset at all. I promise.” She pulls back and wipes a tear from his cheek. “She loved you so much, and all she wanted was for you to be loved.”
He nods, his lower lip trembling as he cries. “I’m really happy you’re going to be my step-mom.”
“Me too, Jack. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
She stays with him until he falls asleep, slipping out from his room and closing the door gently behind her.
She’s proud of herself for holding the tears back until the door clicks shut.
_____
Aaron has never been more grateful to walk into his house, the anxiety that had been building in his chest since he had spoken to Emily dissipating the moment he steps through the door. The scent of home, family and her settling him unlike anything else had ever been able to. The house is silent so he’s quiet as he looks for the two most important people in his life.
He finds Emily on the couch, curled up into one of the corners with her head supported by the arm, her hand under her cheek as she softly snores. There's a mostly empty glass of wine on the coffee table in front of her, the tv on with the volume low, a mindless tv show on in the background he doubts she watched a second of. He grabs the throw over the back of the couch and places it over her, a gentle kiss against her forehead as he walks out of the living room, intent on returning as soon as he’s seen his son with his own eyes.
Aaron breathes a little easier the moment he sees Jack. The little boy is fast asleep in his bed, his casted arm on a pillow and his favourite toy tucked under the other. The smell of Emily’s perfume lingered in the air and Aaron couldn't help but wonder how long she sat there with his son, his love for her more consuming than it had ever been.
Aaron presses a kiss to Jack’s forehead and quietly leaves the room, not wanting to disturb him. He walks back down the stairs and is greeted with the sight of Emily sitting up on the couch, rubbing her eyes as she yawns.
“Hey.” He says, surprised by the weariness in his own voice as he walks back into the living room.
“Hey love.” She replies, smiling sleepily at him. “Sorry, I didn’t realise I’d fallen asleep.” He settles next to her on the couch and wraps his arm around her, his hand settling on her shoulder as she hums with contentment, her cheek against his chest. “Are you ok?”
“I’ve been better.” He kisses her temple. “My son got hurt today and I wasn’t even there to help him. And this was the best case scenario. What if we’d been away.”
“Aaron.” She sits up to look at him, her hand cupping his cheek in the same way she had done for his son an hour before. “You’re a great dad, I won’t have you thinking otherwise.
“But-”
“No.” She says firmly, her forehead coming to rest against his. “That little boy loves you. He was telling anyone who would listen today that you’re a superhero. He knows what we do is important. But,” she pulls back to look at him, his face now cupped in both her hands, “he also knows that nothing is as important to you, to us, as he is. Ok?”
He’s silent for a moment too long and she raises an eyebrow at him and it makes him huff out a laugh, the last of the tension leaving his body. “Ok.”
“Good. Because I’m exhausted and would hate to have to fight with you right now.” She kisses him quickly before settling back into his side. “How was the journey?”
“Reid is terrible at car games.” He quips, feeling her laugh against him. “Garcia called me when I was on the way home.” He says, smiling into the top of her head, a kiss against her hairline, as she groans in response. “Something about the final guest list.”
“I’ll call her tomorrow.” She mutters, readjusting herself as she burrows deeper into him, her hand slipping under his suit jacket, warm against his ribs even through the material of his shirt. “Next time we get married we’re eloping.”
“Next time?” He can’t help but smile. He knows he should get her to bed. Her voice was slowing down, words slurring together as she started to fall asleep again, but she was different like this. Naked in her honesty about her affection for him as she was somewhere between awake and asleep, the last defences she was taught to build as a child slipping away. Nothing left but her love for him, for their life together.
“Yeah,” she says, as if it is the most obvious thing in the world, “if we renew our vows in 20 years or whatever. Just you and me on a beach somewhere. And Jack of course, if he wants to be there. He might be too cool for us by then.”
He can feel her breathing start to slow, her weight sinking into him as she finally gives in to sleep. Aaron runs his fingers through her hair.
“We should go to bed.”
She grumbles, but doesn’t move. “5 more minutes.”
“Em-”
“5 more minutes.” She repeats almost petulantly, moving so her forehead is pressing against his chest. “Please.”
He sighs, knowing he had never been able to deny her anything.
“Ok, 5 more minutes.” He feels her sleepy smile against him and can’t help but shake his head at her. “I can’t wait to marry you, sweetheart.”
“Right back at you Hotchner. Now shut up, I’m trying to sleep.”