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Emily yawns as she finishes her cup of coffee, immediately putting the pot back on, ready to have another cup immediately.
“Morning Prentiss,” Derek says as he walks up to her, joining her in the bullpen’s kitchen.
“Morning,” she replies, watching intently as the coffee starts to pour.
Derek looks around them and sees that Aaron’s office light is still off, and he frowns at her when he realises she’d come into work alone.
“No Hotch this morning?”
She shakes her head and looks at him, “No, he could no longer deny that he’d caught the flu from Jack,” she replies, smiling softly, “I’m now the last one standing.”
It had only been two days since Jack had come home from school with what initially seemed like a run-of-the-mill cold, but had quickly turned into the flu, but it felt like weeks. She hated seeing him so sick, his usual happy demeanour nowhere to be found, but secretly enjoyed how clingy it made him, relishing in the extra hugs whilst swallowing down her shame.
The young boy was all about her when he was sick, clinging to her as if his life depended on it as she tried to help him take a lukewarm bath to bring his temperature down. His warm skin pressed against hers as he struggled to fall asleep, his blocked nose and cough keeping him awake. It turned out Aaron was the same, his need to seek her out for comfort was yet another thing his son had clearly inherited from him. She’d barely slept, worried about her boyfriend as his fever climbed throughout the night, only breaking through the worst of it as the sun started to rise.
Aaron had started showing symptoms the following morning but was insistent he was fine. It was only in the evening, when he all but dragged himself into their bed, his whole body heavy, that he finally conceded he was sick. His face pressed into her neck as she soothed him in a way that was not dissimilar to how she had cared for his son too.
It was why she was about to down her second cup of coffee of the morning and had her phone on loud in case he called and needed her. She had been hesitant to leave the house at all that morning, leaving behind her two sick Hotchner boys feeling nothing short of wrong, but he’d insisted she went to work. She’d left them laying together in the master bedroom, meds for each of them in the cabinet in the bathroom and the promise she’d call to check up on them when she could.
She’d called Jessica on her way to work, asking her to stop by if she could, only to find the other woman was already in the middle of making them chicken soup. Emily made a mental note to ensure they get her something extra nice for Christmas.
“He looked in bad shape yesterday,” Derek says, leaning on the counter as he speaks to her, “I’m surprised he didn’t fight you on it.”
She scoffs as the coffee finishes pouring, immediately grabbing the decanter and pouring it into her mug.
“You’re kidding right?” She laughs, shaking her head as she thinks of how he’d still tried to get out of bed that morning, even though he could barely stand because he was that sick. “He’s worse than Jack.”
Derek laughs, “I don’t doubt that for a second. So, what did you have to do to convince him to stay home?” He asks, smirking at her in a way that makes her raise an eyebrow at him.
She thinks back to just over an hour before when she’d tucked Aaron back into bed, Jack fast asleep next to him. Aaron had still been insisting he was fine, that he’d be ok, despite the fact he was fading fast himself. Only placated by her whispered promise of showing him the new lingerie she’d bought specifically for their anniversary.
“I don’t think you want to know the answer to that question,” she replies winking at him, laughing as a look of disgust breaks out over his face.
“Gross, Em. I don’t need to know that.”
Emily’s smile widens. Derek was always more than happy to talk about his sexual exploits, but the moment she ever insinuated anything about her and Aaron’s sex life he turned into a prepubescent boy.
Emily got a kick out of it.
Aaron did not.
“You asked,” Emily says, shrugging her shoulders as she goes finishes making her coffee as they are joined by Penelope. “Honestly, it’s almost a miracle I haven’t caught it yet.”
That, she knew, was true. Not entirely in the way she was implying, although the night before Aaron woke up with his symptoms at their worst they had spent a rushed, but very pleasant, 15 minutes in the shower together. The only time alone they’d truly had since Jack came home from school sick.
Emily moves away from the coffee pot to give Penelope space, lifting her cup to her lips, the smell of the coffee alone a balm to her exhausted body.
“You should know by now that Emily and the bossman are insatiable, and who can blame them? They’re both gorgeous,” Penelope says as she pours herself a cup of coffee, and Emily nods in agreement, her smile widening as Derek continues to glare at her. She takes a sip of her coffee as Penelope continues. “I just hope they put all that sex to good use at some point and make me another BAU baby to spoil.”
Emily chokes around her mouthful of coffee, coughing as it goes the wrong way, her hand against her chest as she recovers from what her friend had just said, not missing how Derek was now the one laughing at her.
“Pen.”
Penelope smiles at her, before turning away and walking back towards her office. “I’m just saying,” she calls over her shoulder, and Emily shakes her head at her friend.
She looks at Derek and sees the amused smile on his face, and rolls her eyes.
“You’re laughing now,” she says, taking another sip of her coffee and preparing to walk off, leaning in towards him, waiting until he had a mouthful of coffee himself before she whispers, loud enough that only he can hear her. “But when we do eventually have a kid, and you hold them for the first time, I will remind you what needed to happen for them to exist.”
She smirks as she walks off, the sound of Derek’s coughing as he inhales his own coffee her soundtrack back to her desk.
___
She is only a little surprised when she gets home, later than she would have liked, to find Jessica’s car parked outside on their driveway.
She lets herself into the house and is met with the smell of fresh soup, and the underlying scent of bleach, enough to indicate that someone had been sick whilst she was gone. It makes guilt she’d never felt before becoming part of this family lick at her insides. Guilt for leaving them both at home even though she’d had no other choice.
Aaron always told her that was what it felt like to be a parent, a role she would now confidently say she had in Jack’s life, that no matter what you did, it often felt like the wrong choice.
“I’m home,” Emily calls out, dumping her bag just inside the doorway as she shrugs out of her coat.
Jessica comes into view and she smiles at her, “Hi, Emily.”
“Jess,” she replies, stepping out of her shoes and towards the other woman, “What are you still doing here?” She pulls her into a hug, one that is enthusiastically returned, “I thought you were only going to drop around some food for them.”
Jessica chuckles as she pulls back, her eyebrow raised, “Well, when I got here Aaron was in your home office doing paperwork.”
“Of course he was,” Emily lets out a laugh, shaking her head at the man she loves.
“So I sent him back to bed, and thought it was best I stayed,” she says, stepping back from Emily, “Jack is still a little out of it, he was sick earlier, but he’s perked up a bit more this afternoon. He kept asking when you’d be home.”
Emily smiles, the thought of the little boy she loved so much was always enough to warm her from the inside out.
“Thank you so much for staying with them,” Emily replies, “You didn’t have to.”
“They’re my family too,” Jess replies simply, shrugging her shoulders as if spending her whole day looking after them hadn’t been a big deal, “Haley always said Aaron was a nightmare to deal with when he’s sick,” she laughs, “So, I don’t envy you.”
At first, when she and Aaron started their relationship, Emily struggled to find her footing with Jessica. She never wanted to overstep, or to make it seem like she was trying to take Haley’s place, especially when it came to Jack. But Jessica had never been anything short of supportive, evening helping them pack up boxes when they moved into their house, and had told Emily on more than one occasion that she was exactly what Aaron and Jack had needed.
“Jack is definitely the easier of the two, at least I can convince him to take medicine.”
Jessica smiles, “Speaking of, Jack took some Tylenol about an hour ago,” her smile widens, “the problem patient insisted he didn’t need any meds, but is up in your room resting.”
Emily goes to reply, but is cut off by a voice from upstairs, “Emmy?”
She looks at Jessica, both of them exchanging a small smile at the pitiful sound of Jack’s voice as it travels down the stairs.
“I’ve been summoned,” she says, “I’ll be up in a second, honey,” she shouts up the stairs, not surprised when she sees him standing at the top, “Get back into bed ok? I’m just saying goodbye to Aunt Jessie.”
He nods, rubbing at his eyes as he disappears from view, and Emily looks back at Jessica, not missing the sparkle in her eyes, something Emily would call happiness. They exchange another hug, and a goodbye, and Emily checks the front door is locked before she heads upstairs.
She opens Jack’s bedroom door and finds him sitting up in bed, a sad look on his face as he hugs his favourite toy, a stuffed alpaca she’d bought him at the zoo.
“Hey sweetie,” she says quietly, aware that he’d had a headache when she left that morning, “How are you feeling?”
He sniffs pitifully, “Hurts.”
She frowns, and crosses the room and sits on his bed, “What hurts, Jack? Your head? Your tummy?” He simply nods in response, and she sighs, “I’m sorry, baby. You’ll feel better tomorrow.”
He snuggles into her side, his skin still slightly too warm, his face against her neck, “You said that yesterday,” he whines, and it takes all of her self-control not to laugh at him.
“I know I did, but I mean it. You feel better now than you did then, right?” She asks, and he nods into her neck. She smiles into the top of his head before pressing a kiss there, her hand cupping his head to hold him against her. “So you’ll feel better tomorrow, I promise.”
He wipes his nose on the sleeve of his pyjama shirt, and she mentally cringes at the amount of laundry there would be by the time the week was out. Jack was already on his last set of sheets after sweating through two other sets, something he’d lamented when she’d put down his Power Rangers set, claiming it was ‘for babies.’
“You promise?” He asks, tilting his head just enough to look up at her, and she smiles at him, tapping the end of his red nose gently.
“Have I ever lied to you before?” She asks, and he creases his brow as he thinks about it, before shaking his head, “Then I’m not going to start now,” she runs her hand up and down his back, “Want me to stay until you fall asleep?”
He nods in response and she readjusts them in bed so he’s laying down, still clutching at her, and she's laying next to him on top of his covers. She plays with his hair, softly singing to him as he gets heavier against her, his blocked nose making him snore in a way he usually wouldn’t.
She slips out from under him, ensuring the covers are still over him properly, and she leans down to kiss his forehead.
“Love you, Jack,” she whispers, kissing his head again, and she turns to leave the room, barely hearing his mumbled reply.
“Love you, Momma.”
___
Emily checks in on Aaron briefly but sees he is fast asleep, so takes the opportunity to grab something to eat. She helps herself to the soup Jessica had brought over, followed by an equally as large glass of wine, all the time thinking of Jack’s slip-up as he was half asleep.
He’d never called her anything other than Emily, or Emmy if he was sad, and she was happy with that. She’d never wanted to take Haley’s place, knowing the other woman was irreplaceable, but she couldn’t lie to herself and say that it hadn’t meant something to her.
She knew it was likely just a one-time thing, that Jack wouldn’t even remember it, but she locked it away. A moment just for her to treasure, until she and Aaron hopefully had a child or two together. When she’d be Momma for more than just an evening.
She puts the dishes she used in the sink and heads upstairs, smiling when she walks into the master bedroom and finds Aaron still fast asleep, his arm flung over her pillow. She gets ready for bed, tiredness from the lack of sleep the night before kicking in. She climbs into bed next to him, and the movement against the mattress is enough to wake him.
“Em?”
He sounds worse than he did when she left that morning, and she winces on his behalf, knowing he’d never admit how sore his throat was.
“It’s me, honey. Go back to sleep,” she says, placing her hand on his forehead, pleased that at least his fever was lower, “unless you want some meds?”
Aaron shakes his head as expected and shifts, moving so he’s got his head on her chest, his arms tight around her despite being ill. Emily kisses his forehead and runs her hand through his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp in a way she knew he found comforting.
“How are you feeling?” She asks, smiling at the feeling of his breath skipping across her collarbone.
“Terrible,” he chokes out, his chest wracking with a cough, “but better.”
“Good,” she replies, kissing his forehead again, “I’m glad.”
“How was work?” He asks, and she rolls her eyes despite the fact he can’t see her face.
“It was fine, Aaron. We survived one day without you,” she feels how he tightens his grip slightly, and she hides a smile against the top of his head, “Don’t make a habit of it though, I missed you.”
“Missed you too,” he replies, turning his head just enough to kiss her neck, “I’ll be in tomorrow.”
She hums, knowing it wasn’t worth the argument right now, and replies diplomatically. “We’ll see how you are in the morning.”
“How are you not sick?” He half grumbles, and it makes her laugh. It’s enough for him to move to look up at her, and she shrugs in response, one of her hands still buried in his hair.
“I guess I just have superior genes,” she replies, laughing harder when he glowers at her, the frown that had never worked on her even when he was just her boss flitting across his face, “I think it’s just luck, honey,” she kisses him, a quick thing stamped against his lips, and then encourages him to lay his head back down on her, “Now try and get some sleep.”
“Love you,” he says as he settles back down, his body heavy against hers.
“Love you too.”
___
Emily wakes up feeling like death only two days later, her chest rattling with the same cough that had been echoing around their home for almost a week.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Aaron says, back to his usual self, as he lightly pushes her back into bed, pulling the covers up over her, “You’re sick.”
She sniffs, her head pounding, “And whose fault is that?”
“Jack’s technically,” he quips, and Emily shakes her head.
“No, Jack is a sweet boy, he’d never get me sick,” she jokingly replies, her laugh lost to a cough, her hand pressing into her chest as she rides it out, “You, on the other hand…”
“Well, I’m very sorry,” he replies, leaning in to kiss her cheek, “I’ll buy you your favourite ice cream on the way home as an apology,” he kisses her and stands up, “Call me if you need anything.”
She hums, already wrapped around his pillow, the call of sleep too strong for her to ignore.
“Em?” He asks, and she hums again, her eyes drifting shut, “What was that you said the other day about superior genes?”
She throws a pillow at him, and later, when she was better, she maintains the only reason she missed is that she was sick.