Work Text:
It was a late day at work with a deadline that got pushed up due to military funding and the financials needed to be completed by end of day today. You enjoy crunching numbers and the beauty of spreadsheets, but this was fucking ridiculous. Yes, yes, need to keep people safe with the top-secret project you were working on at Northrup Grumman, but no one needed to baseline the damn project right now. The software design was already approved so what did it matter? Of course, you did not get paid the big bucks to make these decisions but one day, you aspired to be.
By the time you return to your town home in Westboro, MD, it was past 10pm. All you could think of was having a generous glass of wine while taking a bath to soak your stress and aches of the day away. You toss your keys and purse on a table in the foyer, lock up and reset the security system. You take off your coat and shake off the snow before hanging it up in the closet and turn on the lights. Shoes were kicked off and then you walked down the hallway into the living room to pick up the remote control on top of the fireplace. You turn on the flatscreen above on the wall and put on a classic rock station to fill your home with music, but something gives you pause before you put the remote back down.
You suddenly pivot on your feet to see what causes your senses to heighten, and there sitting on your couch dressed all in black is Emily Prentiss. Somehow you missed her when you first walked in.
“Jesus fucking Christ, Em!” You set the remote down and laugh in relief. “Scared the shit outta me.”
She doesn’t say anything but acknowledges you with her lips twisted to the side looking apologetic.
You’re delighted to see her but couldn’t fathom why Emily didn’t call or text you she was going to meet you here at your home. She was close to practically living here, which is why she had a key and the code to the town home and can truly come and go as she pleases, but something was clearly off as you approach her. She hadn’t even taken her coat or shoes off and looked distraught with brown eyes dull and introspective. What really made your heart ache was the dried blood under her nose.
“What the hell happened?!” Now you move quickly to sit beside her and immediately tilt her head to face you. You swipe your thumb above her lip and find it doesn’t come off easily. It was dried.
You frown. “What happened, baby?”
“Case was bad,” she answers in a raspy voice and gently tries to bring your hand down by the wrist. You don’t budge. “But I’m okay.”
You look at her dubiously and narrow your eyes. “Then why is my love sitting on my couch looking uncomfortable and sad?”
She shrugs as her response.
“Okay.” You are patient and lower your hands to slide the coat off her shoulders. “Take this off and I’ll go make us some tea.” You want clear heads for right now if Emily wants to talk and the tea would be soothing and warm for the weather outside.
She nods at that, and you give her a quick kiss that she returns.
The kitchen had an entrance through the living room and quickly take the stainless steel kettle off the stove top to the faucet to fill with water. You do look to your right to make sure Emily is getting comfortable and smiles that she is also taking off her shoes.
As the kettle heats up, you go into a cabinet to grab two clean kitchen towels and run one under warm water. After you rinse it out to be properly damp, you make your way back to the couch and see Emily has neatly folded her coat on the loveseat and her shoes were on the mat in front of the patio doors. What bothers you is her upright posture and her defensively crossed her arms over her stomach. She rarely does that around you anymore, but what’s worse, is she’s staring out through the patio windows. She is watching the snow come down and doesn’t realize you are back. This was so unlike her.
“Em?” you call out gently and watch as she drags her eyes towards you before her head follows. You dangle the towels before her as you sit down once again. “Let me take care of that …”
“It’s alright. I got it,” she says and reaches for the towel to do it herself. You give it up and bunch the dry towel between your hands.
You watch Emily start to dry the blood from under nose. “Wanna talk about it?” you offer as your hand goes to her thigh to squeeze in comfort. Even if she didn’t want to talk, you could offer small gestures of affection.
She doesn’t immediately say anything but when she was done cleaning herself off, Emily points to the picture on the glass coffee table. It was an old picture by the look of it, all folded up and yellow with age. You give her the dry towel to finish cleaning herself up and carefully pick up the picture, unfolding it.
You can’t help the smile that comes seeing a teenage Emily with two boys. All were smiling and had their arms up, except the boy on the right only had one. “Look at you. Still got the same smile.”
The affection you feel at Emily sharing a part of her past turns to concern because if she is showing you this with her mood clearly down, something terrible has happened. You look at her and wait, knowing she’ll speak when she’s ready.
“The picture was taken in Rome when my mother was posted there.” She rolls the wet towel into the dry one and sets them aside on the couch arm. She scoots closer and points to each boy. “That’s Matthew. And that’s Johnny.”
Emily reaches for the picture which you gladly relinquish and guides you to sit back on the couch with her. She strokes Matthew’s face with a thumb. “Matthew died.”
Your eyes widen in horror. Immediately your arm entwines Emily’s as you rest your head against her shoulder. You squeeze her forearm and respond so sadly. “I’m so sorry, Em. What happened?”
All three of them were around the same age in the picture so it had to be shocking to know someone Emily’s age had died. What you didn’t anticipate is what Emily shares next. “This case I told you I was working on …”
“Yeah,” you answer softly and then a shiver runs down your back as you understand where this was leading. “Oh, shit. I … I’m so sorry that you …” But you pause because something didn’t make sense. “I thought you couldn’t work on a case about someone you’re close to?”
That pulls a smile from her. “There’s my smart girl. You’re right. I asked the BAU to look into his death since it was under suspicious circumstances.”
“And they found out what happened?”
She briskly nods. “Yes. We did.”
You tilt your head to look at her profile with a frown. “We? Hotch let you work the case?” You lick your lips and continue softly so confused. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“It’s nothing. Really,” she states firmly.
“Okay.” You rest your head back down on her shoulder and try a different approach. “Then why did I find you in my home sitting in the dark?”
Her lips firmly press together and for a moment, you think Emily’s going to bolt. You’re upset that you were right as she starts to shift under you to untangle limbs. “You’re right. That was inconsiderate of me …”
The tea kettle begins to whistle but you ignore it for now as you hold onto her and plea. “Please don’t go.”
She stiffens under you, and you can tell Emily is weighing her options. To your relief, she settles back against the couch. “Okay,” she states so quietly that you thought you heard wrong.
“Are you in the mood for hazelnut?” you ask, hoping that you heard right.
“Yeah. Sounds good.”
You lift your head and kiss her and then her on the cheek. “I’ll be back quick.”
She squeezes your hand with acknowledgement and as a promise to not go anywhere. You head into the kitchen and turn the stove off and place the teapot on a cooler grate. You take the cream-colored mugs off the wall rack and rummage in the cupboard for the hazelnut and mint teas to steep for both of you. You came back in five minutes and Emily was anxiously waiting for you. She was aggressively going at her fingernails and your eyes move from her nervous habit to gaze at her brown ones with sympathy.
Silently you set down your respective mugs on a wooden coaster before you sit back down and take Emily’s hands in your own. You run soothing circles over dry skin from the cold outside. “Talk to me. Please?”
She looks away, eyes focusing on the hardwood floors. “This is the time I fuck up relationships.”
“What makes you think you’ve fucked up our relationship?” you ask with confusion.
Emily scowls and audibly sighs. “Because … because I should’ve told you about this when it first started happening. And … everything around it that involved me.”
You look confused but she doesn’t see it as she continues. “I’m afraid. Of losing you to something stupid I do. Or don’t do because I can’t talk about how I feel. Or even worse.” Emily’s words turn harsher as she verbally lashes herself. “That I don’t know how to talk to you about it. Which is what I did.”
You reach out and gently touch Emily’s chin, briefly caressing it, before you coax her to turn to face you. You search for her gaze, but you are unable to connect with her just yet. “You’re talking to me now.”
“But, for how long are you gonna tolerate me keeping things from you?” she admits and quietly adds at the end, “how long before you leave me…”
Your eyes water at hearing this startling admission. Never did you think Emily was afraid of you leaving her. That was your fear of her doing that to you. You frantically blink, not wanting to let her go and wipe any tears that may fall. “Em?”
She doesn’t respond verbally or physically, only staring off at the floor. “Emily. Please… please look at me?”
It takes a good long minute for her to find the strength to lift her head and shift her gaze to hold yours. What she sees makes her choke back a sob because there is nothing but love reflecting in your orbs. You smile tenderly. “I need you, Em. So, I’m not going anywhere.”
She laughs out of nerves, not believing you. “Maybe not now …”
“Hey!” You deeply frown and drop your hand to run through her hair before rubbing the back of her neck. “I’m not going anywhere. I’m not just gonna run out on the love of my life because shit got hard. And I’m still well versed in your long ass monologue when things got serious that you’re a pain in the ass who works long hours, is out of state a lot, and has commitment issues. Oh!” You smile, almost forgetting one important part. “And that your mom’s an ass.”
She looks sheepish as she tries to bite back a laugh. “Yeah, I did say all that.” She gazes deeply into your watery eyes that couldn’t hold back tears any longer. “And you’re still here.”
You nod. “I’m still here. Four months later. Cuz, I love you, you fucking dork.”
That makes her laugh. “Tell me how you really feel.”
You know she was kidding but you answer anyway. “You’re my family, Em. Nothing’s gonna change that. And I can see how hard this is for you but I’m not going anywhere just because it gets hard talking about the past. It’s happened with me, too, and you’re still here.”
She smiles tenderly. “Yeah.”
You scoot closer to her and cup Emily’s cheek with your free hand. “We got all the time in the world to share ourselves. I’m just glad you’re here with me, tonight, instead of by yourself. And to me? That’s a brave fucking thing you’ve done, baby.”
Emily joins you in shedding tears as you watch her overcome with emotion. Her lower lip quivers and she visibly shakes, and not from the cold. You were going to bring her into a hug but instead she launches forward and captures your mouth in a fierce, grounding, kiss. It was a kiss that made your body shiver from its intensity, feeling the love Emily has for you and her need to connect physically as words were so difficult for her to find. Her kiss is also an apology and a promise to do better.
And as Emily clings to your top, you press against her while you return the kiss. Now, it was a mutual promise you both declare moving forward and as long as you both could come together like this? You two would weather any storm.