Chapter Text
Emily curses under her breath as she shifts in the bed, her hand pressed against her immobilised shoulder as she breathes through the pain.
“Shit,” she says, leaning back against the pillow behind her, gritting her teeth as the wave of pain starts to dissipate.
The takedown was supposed to have been simple enough, but they’d misjudged where the unsub was hiding in the abandoned warehouse they’d tracked him to. He’d pushed Emily into a wall with enough force that her shoulder had dislocated, forcing itself out of its joint as her head also connected with the wall, leaving her with a concussion.
There’s a quiet knock on her hospital room door and she looks up as it opens, smiling softly at her boyfriend as he walks in, concern painted across his features as he looks at her. He’d been so worried at the scene, immediately by her side as he instructed the rest of the team to chase down the man who’d hurt her. She was grateful that they were still in DC, that this hadn’t happened on the other side of the country, because she knew the flight home would have been rough on both of them. That any jolt would make pain shoot through her and Aaron would have to watch, wholly unable to help her in any way other than holding her hand.
“Hi honey,” she says as he walks over, offering out her good hand to him, linking her fingers with his as he sits on the edge of the bed, “What did the doctor say?”
He squeezes her hand and reaches out to tuck some of her hair behind her ear. He knew she wasn’t going to like what he was about to say.
“They said you have to stay tonight,” he says, pressing his lips together to stop himself from smiling when she reacts in the exact way he knew she would, a mix of disappointment and defiance spreading across her face as she scoffs. She opens her mouth to refuse it, to insist that she is fine to go home, but he cuts her off before she can, “I’ve spoken to Jess, Jack is already asleep so I’m going to stay here with you all night,” he says, smiling as she pouts, something he knew she would deny if he pointed it out, “Keep you company and out of trouble.”
She can’t fight her smile, too much pain medication in her system to allow her to, so she nods instead, “I guess thats an acceptable compromise,” she says, removing her hand from his to tug at the collar of his jacket, pulling him in for a gentle kiss. She smiles as she pulls back, “Love you.”
“Love you too sweetheart,” he replies, warmth spreading in his chest as he says the words, the ability to do so, to be so open in his affection for her still new enough that every time it was liable to take his breath away.
They’d been together for four months. It was a type of happiness he never thought he’d find again, a type of love he didn’t think existed. It felt like a dream sometimes that they’d found each other after everything they’d both been through, a chance at a happy ending neither one of them thought they’d have.
He clears his throat as he pulls back properly, his eyes fixed on her face as he tries to measure her reaction to the next part, well aware that it likely wasn’t going to go down very well.
“There’s something else,” he says carefully, his smile tight as he carries on, “Your mother is here.”
Her eyes go wide in a way he’s sure would be funny in other circumstances and her mouth falls open, making her stutter for a moment before she finds her voice, “What? How? Why? You’re my emergency contact.”
“I know, sweetheart,” he says, his hand landing on her thigh, the weight of his palm a comfort through the scratchy sheets, “The nurse said there was a mix-up with your file.”
She rolls her eyes and groans, the sound turning into a pained one as she leans back and her shoulder hits the mattress a little too hard. He shushes her comfortingly, a sound she’s sure he’d find irritating if it was anyone other than him, his comfort something she sought out not something she avoided, and he cups her jaw, letting his thumb move back and forth on her cheek.
“Any chance I can get away with not seeing her?” She asks, sighing when he raises an eyebrow at her, “Right, of course not. Because of everything about her,” she blows out a breath as she tilts her head to look at him properly, “Want to go hide somewhere?” she says, lifting her hand to reach up and run her fingers through his hair, “I wouldn’t blame you.”
Elizabeth didn’t know they were together. She was the last person they had to tell, and he didn’t take Emily’s reluctance to do so personally. He knew their relationship was beyond complicated, that there were many layers to it that he wasn’t even privy to yet. She wanted to protect their relationship, he knew that, and he would wait as long as she needed to.
He chuckles as he stamps a kiss against her forehead and then her lips before he pulls back, “I think I’d be a shitty boyfriend if I left you at the mercy of your mother.”
He stands up, suppressing a smile when she frowns at the loss of contact, and he walks over to the door, briefly popping his head out to let the nurse know to let Emily’s mother in. He walks back over and sits in the chair next to her bed, keeping a respectable distance so they wouldn’t get caught out. He feels himself itching to reach out for her hand, to link their fingers together so he could remind himself she was fine, that he still had her here with him. He knew he’d be hearing the scream of pain that had left her as her shoulder dislocated for days, the sound still echoing around his head.
The door opens and Emily immediately tenses, forcing her to blow out a steady breath as her mother steps into the room.
“Mother,” she says, smiling politely, “You didn’t have to come down here, I’m sorry they called you. I know you’re busy.”
“Nonsense, Emily,” Elizabeth says as she walks into the room, “I got a call that my daughter was in the hospital, of course, I’m going to…” she drifts off as she seemingly notices Aaron in the room, “Agent Hotchner, I wasn’t expecting to see you here,” she looks back and forth between Emily and Aaron and she clears her throat as she sits in the chair on the opposite side of Emily’s bed, “It’s nice to see you, despite the circumstances.”
He smiles politely at her, his eyes flicking to his girlfriend, her discomfort clear to him even if it wasn’t to Elizabeth, “You too, Ambassador Prentiss.”
Elizabeth hums as she looks back and forth between them, “So, do you always make a habit of sitting with your agents when they get injured at work?” She asks, clasping her hands together on her lap, “Although, I suppose it’s the right thing to do when they don’t have a spouse of their own or children, otherwise, they’d just be here by themselves.”
Emily doesn’t have to look at Aaron to sense the protectiveness flowing off of him like cologne, the need to shield her from any kind of harm, even something as simple as passive-aggressive comments from her mother, stronger than usual. She knew he was carrying some guilt from not being able to stop her from getting hurt today. It was something that lingered from when Ian had torn through their lives, something that made itself known every time she got hurt even a little bit. His reaction to things as simple as a papercut or a blister from new shoes more aligned with the injuries she’d suffered then, the love he now had a name for trapped inside his chest at the time with nowhere to go.
Later when he’d ask, she wouldn’t be able to explain what makes her reach out for his hand, why she links her fingers through his and makes a point of squeezing them in full view of her mother, but she does it. Love and affection, and no small amount of painkillers, making her braver than she’d felt in a long time.
“Actually, Mother,” she says, looking back at Elizabeth, “Aaron is here because he’s my…” she drifts off, the word boyfriend always seeming so juvenile when she thinks about what he means to her, “We’re together.”
Elizabeth’s only physical reaction is a slight raising of her eyebrows as she looks at Aaron and then at her daughter. She clicks her tongue and clears her throat, “I see,” she says, her lips pressed together, “You’ll have to accept my apologies, Agent Hotchner, Emily doesn’t tell me much about her life and I didn’t know that you two were…dating now.”
Emily stops herself from rolling her eyes at her mother’s obvious attempt to bait her, “Well,” she says, squeezing Aaron’s hand in what she hopes he takes as a silent request to stay quiet, “We don’t exactly see each other a lot, and I don’t remember the last time you called.”
She actually did remember the last time her mother called her. It was months ago, and it hadn’t been a social call but a request to go to an event she was hosting. It was shortly after Emily’s first date with Aaron, the giddiness from it all still lingering under her skin, his fingerprints still tattooed against her hips and thighs. She couldn’t help but wonder if she had a different relationship with her mother, if they’d been what each other had always wanted, she would have told her. If she would have sat on her couch and gushed over the new guy she was seeing to her mom and shared in her excitement for what she knew was the last relationship she’d ever be in, the feelings she’d had for Aaron for years confirmed by the first press of his lips to hers.
“The phone does work both ways, Emily,” Elizabeth says, and Emily feels Aaron’s hand tense around hers and she squeezes again, briefly looking at him and shaking her head every so slightly.
“Do you have any assignments coming up?” Emily asks, changing the conversation on purpose, wanting to move things along before Aaron marks his first meeting with her mother as more than just her boss by telling her off.
By the time her mother excuses herself to leave Emily is relieved that it will just be her and Aaron again, the tension Elizabeth always brought to a room something she could do without on her best days, let alone when her head was aching and her shoulder was immobilised. Aaron shows her out, ever the gentleman in a way Emily’s sure should annoy her, and for a moment she’s alone. She rests her head back against the pillow and blows out a steady breath. She pinches the bridge of her nose and groans, the pulsing in her head that had been made worse by her mother’s presence making her want to do nothing more than sleep.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”
She opens her eyes, groaning as the bright hospital lighting makes her head hurt even more and she smiles softly at him as he sits on her bed.
“I’m okay,” she says, sighing, “I’m considering having Pen break into the hospital’s systems and fire the nurse who called my mom,” she says, her lips curling into a smile as he chuckles, “But I’m okay,” she looks at him and can see the stress that was still lingering in his jaw, the concern for her that was still in his eyes, and she smiles softly, “You know what I need though?”
He furrows his brow, ready to jump up and get whatever she wants, “What?”
“You to climb into this bed with me,” she says, her smile getting wider as he immediately tries to argue with her, something she cuts off as she wraps her hand around his, “Please? You know I sleep better when we snuggle.”
It’s a dirty trick and she knows it, the way he sighs as he leans forward and presses his forehead to hers a sign that he knows it too, “Em, baby, I don’t want to hurt you.”
She cups the back of his head and stamps her lips against his, “You never could,” she says softly. There’s a beat of silence before he nods and she smiles widely, kissing him again before he stands up.
He slips off his shoes and is careful as he climbs into the bed, both of them ignoring how she winces when she settles against him, the movement enough to jolt her shoulder. She sighs contentedly as he wraps his arms around her and she smiles when he kisses her temple.
“Better?” He asks, his lips still against her skin, and she nods, turning her head to press her forehead into his neck.
“Much better,” she replies, settling further into his embrace, into the comfort he always provided just by being there with her.
“She didn’t even ask how you are.”
She frowns, her brain not quite able to keep up, the pain and the medication catching up with her, exhaustion slowly taking over, “What?”
“Your mom,” he says, holding her slightly tighter but still managing to ensure he doesn’t hurt her, “She didn’t ask how you are.”
“Oh,” she says, chuckling mirthlessly, “Yeah,” she tilts her head to look at him, “She never does really. If she did we might get dangerously close to actually talking instead of just speaking.”
He clenches his jaw, irritation at the mother of the woman he loves burning him from the inside out, “I always knew things were difficult between you,” he says, running his fingers back and forth over her arm, trying to press comfort into her skin, “But she was rude to you, sweetheart. The dig she made about you not having a spouse, and the comment about the phone going both ways. She’s your mother, she should-”
She can feel him getting worked up, the need to look after her, to protect her, coursing through him so strongly she can almost feel it. His love for her passing from his chest into hers as he sits behind her, his arms around her as they provide the anchor she never knew she needed. She cuts him off, her hand on his cheek as she encourages him to look at her.
“Honey, my relationship with her has always been complicated. This…is as good as it’s ever going to get.”
He frowns again, “But you deserve better.”
“Maybe, but-”
“Definitely.”
She presses her lips together to stop her smile from spreading, her cheeks already aching with it, “Even if I do, it’s not going to happen. She’s never going to change and I had to accept that a long time ago in order to maintain some kind of a relationship with her.”
He sighs, “So you just accept the way she speaks to you?”
She hums as she nods, “And you’re going to have to too,” she says, and his frown deepens, outrage painted into the fine lines on his face, in the dark circles under his eyes that she can see in more detail when she’s this close. She cuts him off before he can say anything, “I don’t need you fighting my battles with her, Aaron. I’ve been doing it myself for as long as I can remember. What I do need is for you to be there afterwards,” she says, her hand cupping the back of his head, holding him in place as she looks deeply into his eyes, “Help me paint over any cracks she may have created.”
He hates it, hates that she’s asking him to just sit back as her mother of all people continually hurts her, but he knows he has to. He was never one to deny her anyway, his desire to be exactly what she needed him to be something that had been around long before their first kiss.
“Okay.”
She smiles up at him, “You promise?”
He nods, leaning in to kiss her quickly, his reply escaping even though he’s unsure if he’ll always be able to stick to it, “I promise.”
She smiles and kisses him before she settles against him again, “I think I need some sleep.”
He kisses her temple and runs his hand up and down her arm again, “You get some rest,” he says softly, “I’ll be here when you wake up.”
“You promise?” She asks again, her words more slurred this time as she finally gives in to the pull of sleep.
“I promise,” he repeats, well aware that was one he was able to keep.