sequinsmile-x

[sequinsmile-x]

I Knew You'd Linger Like a Tattoo Kiss - Neck Kisses

A series of unrelated one-shots and mini fics about the many types of kisses Aaron and Emily share.

-x-

Hi besties,

Just another short, very sweet, thing about our two idiots.

This fulfils the 'neck kisses' prompt.

Please see the master list for a full list of tags, and the list of prompts for this series.

As always, let me know what you think <3

-x-

Words: 1.1k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

They rarely had the chance to just exist. 

There was always something going on. There was always a soccer match on a Saturday morning, or an invitation to a night out from Penelope. There were always chores and things to do around their, new,  house.  

There was always work. Their jobs were hectic, the nature of their work as unpredictable as it was busy, and it took up more of their time than she thinks either she or Aaron would like. She saw it in his eyes sometimes, saw the guilt that would linger there if he told her he’d have to stay late, and she knew it was a hangover from his marriage to Haley, a lingering fear that he was repeating the mistakes of his past and doing damage to their marriage, too. It was something he struggled with even more now that she no longer worked for the FBI. She’d started to work for Interpol again shortly after she and Aaron became official. It was the right choice for them, not just because of the rules they’d broken to be together in the first place, but because she didn’t feel like herself anymore after everything with Ian. The job change had been what she’d needed, and it had allowed her to be the partner she knew Aaron deserved. 

She grimaces as another wave of nausea rolls through her body, and she sips her ginger ale, hoping it will settle her stomach even just a little bit, and she smiles, her hand low on her still flat belly as she rubs her thumb back and forth below her belly button. They’d only known she was pregnant for a few days, and the disbelief hadn’t quite worn off. The feeling that this wasn’t real, that she’d wake up from a dream alone and in Paris, dead to almost everyone, still lingering under her skin, making her itch in a way she hoped would never fade because she never wanted to take any of this for granted. 

Life was about to get even busier, and she couldn’t wait. 

She loved their beautifully hectic life; she wouldn’t want to change it for anything, but when she had the chance to spend a lazy day with her husband, it was an opportunity she always grasped with both hands. 

Jack was away at camp for the weekend, so they had the house to themselves, and Emily intended to make the most of it. 

“You okay, sweetheart?” 

She turns to look at him, smiling at his slightly rumpled hair and the sleepy look in his eyes. They’d got out of bed hours ago to make breakfast, and they’d been snuggled on the couch ever since, wrapped up around each other as they watched movies they’d seen countless times before. She hums and sips her ginger ale again before she puts the can down on the coffee table and lies back down, snuggling up against him again, her back against his chest. 

“Your kid hates me, I think,” she grumbles good-naturedly, turning her head just enough to stamp a kiss against his lips, “I feel like crap.” 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, his lips against her neck as he presses a kiss there, “Is there anything I can do?” 

“I’ll be okay,” she says, reaching for his hand and placing it over her stomach, “It will all be worth it in the end.” He kisses her neck again, and she can feel his smile against her skin when it makes her shiver. “Don’t get any ideas, mister,” she says, tilting her head to look at him, “Sex is what got me into this mess in the first place.” 

He chuckles and kisses her neck again before stamping his lips against her cheek, “We should tell Jack soon,” he says, thinking out loud more than anything, “He’s going to notice you’re sick.”

“When he gets home?” She offers, smiling as she thinks about it. Jack had been asking for a baby brother or sister since before she and Aaron had even discussed it themselves. He’d asked her when they told him they were together, his expression hopeful as he asked if it meant he’d be a big brother one day. She still laughed when she thought about it - about the look of panic that had flashed in Aaron’s eyes at his son’s question, about how he smiled at her when their eyes met over Jack’s head. 

She’d always wanted this, had always wanted to be part of a family like the ones she always used to look at with envy, and now she had it, and it was everything she always knew it would be and more. 

“He’ll be so excited,” Aaron says, and she nods, humming in response as she settles back against him. 

“I got him a t-shirt,” she says idly, twisting Aaron’s wedding ring around his finger, “It says ‘big brother’ on it,” he pulls back to look at her, love and adoration she still wasn’t quite sure she deserved painted across his face, the way he felt about her stitched into every fine line and his dimples. It makes her blush, but not with embarrassment, but joy because she knew she looked at him the same way too. “I saw it in the store and couldn’t resist. I thought we could give it to him when we tell him.” 

“He’ll love that,” Aaron replies, kissing her shoulder and then her neck, smiling when she rolls her eyes at him, “I love you.” 

She captures his chin to hold him in place, to stop him from tickling her neck again, and she kisses him properly, putting everything into it that she hoped one day she’d find the words for. Nothing ever seemed to be enough, never seemed to capture just how much she did love him, three little words were all she had, but inadequate for how she felt. 

“I love you too,” she says, kissing him again before she pulls back, “Now, let's watch another movie.” 

He salutes her and grins when she rolls her eyes again, and then he reaches for the remote. “You take our lazy days very seriously.” 

“Well, we are about to have even less of them,” she says, getting as comfortable as she can while he flicks through the movie options on the screen, “I don’t think a newborn would make this any easier.” 

“Worth it though, right?” He asks, even though he already knows the answer, and she squeezes his hand and lifts it to kiss his knuckles. 

“Totally worth it.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

I Knew You'd Linger Like a Tattoo Kiss - Neck Kisses

A series of unrelated one-shots and mini fics about the many types of kisses Aaron and Emily share.

-x-

Hi besties,

Just another short, very sweet, thing about our two idiots.

This fulfils the 'neck kisses' prompt.

Please see the master list for a full list of tags, and the list of prompts for this series.

As always, let me know what you think <3

-x-

Words: 1.1k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

They rarely had the chance to just exist. 

There was always something going on. There was always a soccer match on a Saturday morning, or an invitation to a night out from Penelope. There were always chores and things to do around their, new,  house.  

There was always work. Their jobs were hectic, the nature of their work as unpredictable as it was busy, and it took up more of their time than she thinks either she or Aaron would like. She saw it in his eyes sometimes, saw the guilt that would linger there if he told her he’d have to stay late, and she knew it was a hangover from his marriage to Haley, a lingering fear that he was repeating the mistakes of his past and doing damage to their marriage, too. It was something he struggled with even more now that she no longer worked for the FBI. She’d started to work for Interpol again shortly after she and Aaron became official. It was the right choice for them, not just because of the rules they’d broken to be together in the first place, but because she didn’t feel like herself anymore after everything with Ian. The job change had been what she’d needed, and it had allowed her to be the partner she knew Aaron deserved. 

She grimaces as another wave of nausea rolls through her body, and she sips her ginger ale, hoping it will settle her stomach even just a little bit, and she smiles, her hand low on her still flat belly as she rubs her thumb back and forth below her belly button. They’d only known she was pregnant for a few days, and the disbelief hadn’t quite worn off. The feeling that this wasn’t real, that she’d wake up from a dream alone and in Paris, dead to almost everyone, still lingering under her skin, making her itch in a way she hoped would never fade because she never wanted to take any of this for granted. 

Life was about to get even busier, and she couldn’t wait. 

She loved their beautifully hectic life; she wouldn’t want to change it for anything, but when she had the chance to spend a lazy day with her husband, it was an opportunity she always grasped with both hands. 

Jack was away at camp for the weekend, so they had the house to themselves, and Emily intended to make the most of it. 

“You okay, sweetheart?” 

She turns to look at him, smiling at his slightly rumpled hair and the sleepy look in his eyes. They’d got out of bed hours ago to make breakfast, and they’d been snuggled on the couch ever since, wrapped up around each other as they watched movies they’d seen countless times before. She hums and sips her ginger ale again before she puts the can down on the coffee table and lies back down, snuggling up against him again, her back against his chest. 

“Your kid hates me, I think,” she grumbles good-naturedly, turning her head just enough to stamp a kiss against his lips, “I feel like crap.” 

“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, his lips against her neck as he presses a kiss there, “Is there anything I can do?” 

“I’ll be okay,” she says, reaching for his hand and placing it over her stomach, “It will all be worth it in the end.” He kisses her neck again, and she can feel his smile against her skin when it makes her shiver. “Don’t get any ideas, mister,” she says, tilting her head to look at him, “Sex is what got me into this mess in the first place.” 

He chuckles and kisses her neck again before stamping his lips against her cheek, “We should tell Jack soon,” he says, thinking out loud more than anything, “He’s going to notice you’re sick.”

“When he gets home?” She offers, smiling as she thinks about it. Jack had been asking for a baby brother or sister since before she and Aaron had even discussed it themselves. He’d asked her when they told him they were together, his expression hopeful as he asked if it meant he’d be a big brother one day. She still laughed when she thought about it - about the look of panic that had flashed in Aaron’s eyes at his son’s question, about how he smiled at her when their eyes met over Jack’s head. 

She’d always wanted this, had always wanted to be part of a family like the ones she always used to look at with envy, and now she had it, and it was everything she always knew it would be and more. 

“He’ll be so excited,” Aaron says, and she nods, humming in response as she settles back against him. 

“I got him a t-shirt,” she says idly, twisting Aaron’s wedding ring around his finger, “It says ‘big brother’ on it,” he pulls back to look at her, love and adoration she still wasn’t quite sure she deserved painted across his face, the way he felt about her stitched into every fine line and his dimples. It makes her blush, but not with embarrassment, but joy because she knew she looked at him the same way too. “I saw it in the store and couldn’t resist. I thought we could give it to him when we tell him.” 

“He’ll love that,” Aaron replies, kissing her shoulder and then her neck, smiling when she rolls her eyes at him, “I love you.” 

She captures his chin to hold him in place, to stop him from tickling her neck again, and she kisses him properly, putting everything into it that she hoped one day she’d find the words for. Nothing ever seemed to be enough, never seemed to capture just how much she did love him, three little words were all she had, but inadequate for how she felt. 

“I love you too,” she says, kissing him again before she pulls back, “Now, let's watch another movie.” 

He salutes her and grins when she rolls her eyes again, and then he reaches for the remote. “You take our lazy days very seriously.” 

“Well, we are about to have even less of them,” she says, getting as comfortable as she can while he flicks through the movie options on the screen, “I don’t think a newborn would make this any easier.” 

“Worth it though, right?” He asks, even though he already knows the answer, and she squeezes his hand and lifts it to kiss his knuckles. 

“Totally worth it.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

You've Got a Friend in Me - Part 3

She takes a step forward and stumbles, chuckling under her breath when she looks down to see Sergio at her feet, his head tilted to the side as he looks up at her, something she thinks might be curiosity written across his face. He’d been all over her recently, even more so than usual.

AKA - the one where Emily is pregnant and Sergio is obsessed with the baby.

Part 3/3

Part 1 , Part 2

-x-

Hi besties,

This has more feelings in it that I originally intended, but lets be honest, that's not new haha

Thank you for the love on this fic, and as always - let me know what you think <3

-x-

Warnings: None (pregnancy for the fic overall)

Words: 1.5k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

She couldn’t stop staring at her daughter. 

Her daughter. 

A little girl. 

They hadn’t found out what they were having during her pregnancy. She was determined for it to be a surprise, to find out as her baby was passed to her. When the nurse told them it was a girl as she handed her into Emily’s shaking hands, it felt right. Like everything was finally clicking into place. She’d held her little girl against her chest and looked at her, studying her features as her world narrowed down to her, the baby and Aaron, all three of them huddled together while everyone else in the room seemed to disappear. 

It was only when the nurse asked if Aaron wanted to cut the cord that Emily’s world opened back up. Aaron had nodded, and he tore himself away from her side - where he’d been unfaltering in his love and support for hours - and he listened intently as the nurse told him what to do. She’d just about been able to tear her attention away from her baby to look at him, to see the same frown of concentration she’d seen on his face a thousand times as he was careful to follow the instructions she’d barely heard him given. It makes her fall in love with him all over again, makes her want to leap out of the bed, even though she isn’t sure she could if she wanted to, and soothe the deep line between his brows with the press of her thumb. 

He loved her, Jack and now Rose so entirely that she often wondered what she’d done to deserve this, to finally have a place in the type of family that she used to look at with barely concealed envy. She liked to think they were due it, that both she and Aaron had survived the unsurvivable - both together and apart - to make it right here. To make it to each other. 

She’d enjoyed a few hours where it was just them before Aaron went to get Jack. She had said from the start that she wanted the little boy to be the only visitor in the hospital. She wanted time to settle in as a family, to soak up every happy and exhausting moment before she shared it with the world. It was a rule she’d set that had followed them home, one she’d keep in place until Rose was a couple of weeks old. 

She’d waited a long time for this, and at one point she thought she’d wait forever, so for once she wasn’t thinking about other people's feelings. She wasn’t thinking of Penelope’s pout or her mother’s passive-aggressive comments when she told everyone no visitors at first. She was just thinking of her baby, her little boy, her husband and the soft epilogue they all deserved. 

Jack was delighted when he came to visit them. He’d made no secret of the fact that he wanted a sister and not a brother, and he’d been so careful when he held her for the first time. Gentle in a way that made her ache as he leant down and kissed his little sister’s forehead. 

Emily tilts her head to look down at Rose, and she wonders if it will ever stop. If she’ll ever look at her baby and not be hit with a wave of love so strong it was overwhelming, taking up all the space in her chest as it forces her to gasp as she tries to suck in a breath. She knew it was hormones, that she was hard-wired to think Rose was the cutest thing she’d ever seen, but all logic went out the window every time she looked at her sweet face. 

Ever since Aaron had left them to go get Jack from school, Emily had been lying on the couch with Rose fast asleep on her chest, and she struggled to think of the last time she’d been so happy. She was exhausted. Sore in ways she didn’t know was possible, and leaking out of places she wasn’t entirely sure she knew she had, but she was so happy. 

She chuckles as she feels Sergio’s purr vibrate through her chest, and she looks at him, curled up next to Rose with his chin resting on her tiny back as Emily holds her in place with her hand on her bottom. 

She wasn’t the only one who was happy. 

Sergio had been obsessed with Rose since they brought her home just a few hours ago. He’d sniffed her, his expression curious as he gently booped her sleeper covered feet with his nose, and ever since he’d seemingly determined she was the same creature he’d been in love with for months, he’d been stuck to her side. 

“You finally met your best friend, huh?” She says, scratching between his ears, “I think I’m going to have a hard time keeping you two apart.” She smiles as she hears a car pull onto the driveway, and she kisses Rose’s dark hair, “That will be Daddy with your brother,” she says, kissing her again, “He’ll be so excited to see you.” 

They’d got home from the hospital that afternoon while Jack was at school. Aaron hadn’t told him that morning that she and Rose were being discharged because he knew Jack would refuse to go to school if he had. 

Emily groans as she sits up, dislodging Sergio as she does so, her hand on Rose’s back as she keeps her firmly against her chest. She’s just about sitting comfortably when she hears thundering footsteps on the porch steps and her eldest's excited voice travelling through the wooden door. 

“Hurry up, Dad.” He says, and Aaron’s response is a little quieter, muffled by the front door before she hears the key scrape in the lock. The door opens, and Jack runs into the living room, his eyes wide in delight as he runs over, “You’re home.” It surprises her when he hugs her first. When he wraps his arms around her neck and gives her attention over his baby sister. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” she says as she wraps an arm around him and kisses his temple, looking over at her husband with shining eyes before she pulls back to look at Jack, “We wanted to surprise you by being here when you got home.”

“This is the best surprise ever,” he says, looking down at Rose, “Can I hold her again? I remember how to!” 

“Of course you can, buddy,” Aaron says, smiling as he walks over, “You just need to wash your hands first.” He adds, and Jack is out of the room before Aaron has even finished his sentence, and it makes him laugh. He sits on the couch next to Emily and wraps his arm around her shoulders, “How are my girls?” 

“We’re good,” Emily says, turning her head to kiss him, “We snuggled with Sergio while you were gone.” 

He smiles as he kisses her back, the action lost somewhere among their happiness, a smile pressed against a smile, “I was gone for 30 minutes, and you were snuggling with another guy.” 

“Well, he was snuggling with her really,” she hums, “I think I was just convenient to lie on.” 

Jack runs back into the room, residual soap on his t-shirt from how enthusiastically he’d washed his hands, and he holds them up as if to prove he’d done as she asked, “Can I hold her now?” 

Emily nods, “Of course, sweetie,” she says, nodding towards the other end of the couch, “Why don’t you sit down?” He does as he’s asked and holds his arms out like he’d shown him in the hospital the night before. 

Aaron puts a cushion under his elbow to support it, “Remember what we told you? You need to-”

“Support her head, I know,” he says, rolling his eyes in a way Aaron would always claim he never did before Emily lived with them. He smiles as Emily carefully places Rose in his arms, and his eyes and smile get wider, love shining down on his little sister, “Hi Rosie, do you remember me?” 

Emily makes sure she stays close, but sits back so she’s leaning against Aaron, groaning in delight as he holds her against him, his lips pressed against her temple as they watch their children together. She feels love flood her lungs when Jack continues to talk to his sister, and she has to blow out a slow breath to try and get a grasp on her emotions, but they slip through her fingers, and any attempt to stop herself from crying is lost when Sergio climbs onto the back of the couch. He settles behind Jack and rests his chin on his shoulder, staring down at the newest member of the family as he starts to purr loudly enough she can hear it from where she was sitting. 

“God damn it,” she says, sniffing as she wipes her cheek as tears slip down onto them. She turns to look at Aaron and sees tears shining in his eyes too, “That’s the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

[sequinsmile-x]

You've Got a Friend in Me - Part 3

She takes a step forward and stumbles, chuckling under her breath when she looks down to see Sergio at her feet, his head tilted to the side as he looks up at her, something she thinks might be curiosity written across his face. He’d been all over her recently, even more so than usual.

AKA - the one where Emily is pregnant and Sergio is obsessed with the baby.

Part 3/3

Part 1 , Part 2

-x-

Hi besties,

This has more feelings in it that I originally intended, but lets be honest, that's not new haha

Thank you for the love on this fic, and as always - let me know what you think <3

-x-

Warnings: None (pregnancy for the fic overall)

Words: 1.5k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

She couldn’t stop staring at her daughter. 

Her daughter. 

A little girl. 

They hadn’t found out what they were having during her pregnancy. She was determined for it to be a surprise, to find out as her baby was passed to her. When the nurse told them it was a girl as she handed her into Emily’s shaking hands, it felt right. Like everything was finally clicking into place. She’d held her little girl against her chest and looked at her, studying her features as her world narrowed down to her, the baby and Aaron, all three of them huddled together while everyone else in the room seemed to disappear. 

It was only when the nurse asked if Aaron wanted to cut the cord that Emily’s world opened back up. Aaron had nodded, and he tore himself away from her side - where he’d been unfaltering in his love and support for hours - and he listened intently as the nurse told him what to do. She’d just about been able to tear her attention away from her baby to look at him, to see the same frown of concentration she’d seen on his face a thousand times as he was careful to follow the instructions she’d barely heard him given. It makes her fall in love with him all over again, makes her want to leap out of the bed, even though she isn’t sure she could if she wanted to, and soothe the deep line between his brows with the press of her thumb. 

He loved her, Jack and now Rose so entirely that she often wondered what she’d done to deserve this, to finally have a place in the type of family that she used to look at with barely concealed envy. She liked to think they were due it, that both she and Aaron had survived the unsurvivable - both together and apart - to make it right here. To make it to each other. 

She’d enjoyed a few hours where it was just them before Aaron went to get Jack. She had said from the start that she wanted the little boy to be the only visitor in the hospital. She wanted time to settle in as a family, to soak up every happy and exhausting moment before she shared it with the world. It was a rule she’d set that had followed them home, one she’d keep in place until Rose was a couple of weeks old. 

She’d waited a long time for this, and at one point she thought she’d wait forever, so for once she wasn’t thinking about other people's feelings. She wasn’t thinking of Penelope’s pout or her mother’s passive-aggressive comments when she told everyone no visitors at first. She was just thinking of her baby, her little boy, her husband and the soft epilogue they all deserved. 

Jack was delighted when he came to visit them. He’d made no secret of the fact that he wanted a sister and not a brother, and he’d been so careful when he held her for the first time. Gentle in a way that made her ache as he leant down and kissed his little sister’s forehead. 

Emily tilts her head to look down at Rose, and she wonders if it will ever stop. If she’ll ever look at her baby and not be hit with a wave of love so strong it was overwhelming, taking up all the space in her chest as it forces her to gasp as she tries to suck in a breath. She knew it was hormones, that she was hard-wired to think Rose was the cutest thing she’d ever seen, but all logic went out the window every time she looked at her sweet face. 

Ever since Aaron had left them to go get Jack from school, Emily had been lying on the couch with Rose fast asleep on her chest, and she struggled to think of the last time she’d been so happy. She was exhausted. Sore in ways she didn’t know was possible, and leaking out of places she wasn’t entirely sure she knew she had, but she was so happy. 

She chuckles as she feels Sergio’s purr vibrate through her chest, and she looks at him, curled up next to Rose with his chin resting on her tiny back as Emily holds her in place with her hand on her bottom. 

She wasn’t the only one who was happy. 

Sergio had been obsessed with Rose since they brought her home just a few hours ago. He’d sniffed her, his expression curious as he gently booped her sleeper covered feet with his nose, and ever since he’d seemingly determined she was the same creature he’d been in love with for months, he’d been stuck to her side. 

“You finally met your best friend, huh?” She says, scratching between his ears, “I think I’m going to have a hard time keeping you two apart.” She smiles as she hears a car pull onto the driveway, and she kisses Rose’s dark hair, “That will be Daddy with your brother,” she says, kissing her again, “He’ll be so excited to see you.” 

They’d got home from the hospital that afternoon while Jack was at school. Aaron hadn’t told him that morning that she and Rose were being discharged because he knew Jack would refuse to go to school if he had. 

Emily groans as she sits up, dislodging Sergio as she does so, her hand on Rose’s back as she keeps her firmly against her chest. She’s just about sitting comfortably when she hears thundering footsteps on the porch steps and her eldest's excited voice travelling through the wooden door. 

“Hurry up, Dad.” He says, and Aaron’s response is a little quieter, muffled by the front door before she hears the key scrape in the lock. The door opens, and Jack runs into the living room, his eyes wide in delight as he runs over, “You’re home.” It surprises her when he hugs her first. When he wraps his arms around her neck and gives her attention over his baby sister. “I missed you.” 

“I missed you too,” she says as she wraps an arm around him and kisses his temple, looking over at her husband with shining eyes before she pulls back to look at Jack, “We wanted to surprise you by being here when you got home.”

“This is the best surprise ever,” he says, looking down at Rose, “Can I hold her again? I remember how to!” 

“Of course you can, buddy,” Aaron says, smiling as he walks over, “You just need to wash your hands first.” He adds, and Jack is out of the room before Aaron has even finished his sentence, and it makes him laugh. He sits on the couch next to Emily and wraps his arm around her shoulders, “How are my girls?” 

“We’re good,” Emily says, turning her head to kiss him, “We snuggled with Sergio while you were gone.” 

He smiles as he kisses her back, the action lost somewhere among their happiness, a smile pressed against a smile, “I was gone for 30 minutes, and you were snuggling with another guy.” 

“Well, he was snuggling with her really,” she hums, “I think I was just convenient to lie on.” 

Jack runs back into the room, residual soap on his t-shirt from how enthusiastically he’d washed his hands, and he holds them up as if to prove he’d done as she asked, “Can I hold her now?” 

Emily nods, “Of course, sweetie,” she says, nodding towards the other end of the couch, “Why don’t you sit down?” He does as he’s asked and holds his arms out like he’d shown him in the hospital the night before. 

Aaron puts a cushion under his elbow to support it, “Remember what we told you? You need to-”

“Support her head, I know,” he says, rolling his eyes in a way Aaron would always claim he never did before Emily lived with them. He smiles as Emily carefully places Rose in his arms, and his eyes and smile get wider, love shining down on his little sister, “Hi Rosie, do you remember me?” 

Emily makes sure she stays close, but sits back so she’s leaning against Aaron, groaning in delight as he holds her against him, his lips pressed against her temple as they watch their children together. She feels love flood her lungs when Jack continues to talk to his sister, and she has to blow out a slow breath to try and get a grasp on her emotions, but they slip through her fingers, and any attempt to stop herself from crying is lost when Sergio climbs onto the back of the couch. He settles behind Jack and rests his chin on his shoulder, staring down at the newest member of the family as he starts to purr loudly enough she can hear it from where she was sitting. 

“God damn it,” she says, sniffing as she wipes her cheek as tears slip down onto them. She turns to look at Aaron and sees tears shining in his eyes too, “That’s the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

[sequinsmile-x]

Reminder to all my fellow SSRI takers - they impact your ability to cope with the sun and the heat.

Please hydrate and wear sunscreen!

(and remember to take your meds <3)

[sequinsmile-x]

Solace

She’d convinced herself pregnancy would be easier this time around, that because she’d done it once before, there would be fewer surprises this time around, that she’d be more prepared. Then the doctor had told her she was looking at two babies on the ultrasound scan, and all of that confidence disappeared. 

A one shot in my series of unrelated kissing prompt fics

-x-

Hi besties,

This is another edition of 'Vic learnt something horrifying about pregnancy that she didn't know before and decided to do it to Emily'.

This is them being soft idiots in love with each other and their family, and is exactly what I needed to write on overly warm, long Tuesday <3

As always, let me know what you think.

-x-

Warnings: pregnancy

Words: 2.2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

“Mama, head hurts.”

The whine in the toddler's voice makes Emily ache, and she turns her head to kiss Lucas’s head, breathing in the smell of his strawberry-scented shampoo.

“I know,” she says, tucking him as close to her side as she can. She presses another kiss against his hairline, hoping it soothes him like it used to when he was a tiny baby curled up on her chest. She tries to smother a cough, but fails, and she sighs as she pulls back.“I know, baby.”

Lucas had picked up a cold from daycare, a bug that had swept through the children, and now their house, like wildfire. Emily knew it was inevitable she’d catch it. The two-year-old had been all about her since the second he was born, but Lucas was even more all about her when he was sick. He’d desperately burrow into her side in a way that Aaron always joked was him trying to climb back inside of her, seeking out the love and comfort she always had waiting for him, for all of her Hotchner boys. 

“I not baby,” he says, frowning as he pulls back to look at her, and she has to press her lips together to stop herself from smiling too widely. He was exactly like Aaron, a carbon copy of his father, right down to his dimples and his frown, and she loved it. She loved seeing her husband’s smile flit across her son’s face, a version of the smile she loved so dearly unburdened by trauma and pain, innocence pressed into the very corners of it that she’d burn the world down to protect. Lucas places his hand on her belly, his frown breaking into the smile she loved so much as a foot kicks against his tiny hand, “They the babies.” 

Twins. Twin girls, no less. 

She and Aaron had decided they wanted another baby when Lucas turned one. Time hadn’t necessarily been on their side, and it had taken a long time for her to get pregnant with Lucas. This time around, it took less time, but still long enough to make her worry it never would. When she finally found herself looking at a positive pregnancy test, the mix of shock and happiness had made her burst into tears in their bathroom. Aaron had rushed in, ready to comfort her like he did every month, but she’d smiled at him and he knew.

She’d convinced herself pregnancy would be easier this time around, that because she’d done it once before, there would be fewer surprises this time around, that she’d be more prepared. Then the doctor had told her she was looking at two babies on the ultrasound scan, and all of that confidence disappeared. 

With Lucas, they hadn’t found out what they were having. Emily had been resolute, determined that it would be a surprise when the baby was born, and Aaron was - as ever - happy to support her in whatever she wanted. The moment she found out, the moment Lucas was passed to her and she was told they had another son, it was everything she’d ever wanted it to be, everything she’d waited for through every difficult moment, worth it the second she felt her little boy’s skin pressed against hers. With the twins, she wanted to find out as soon as possible, quipping to Aaron that finding out there was more than one baby growing inside of her was surprise enough for one pregnancy. 

She was 7 months along now and exhausted, but excited for this next stage in their life and, she thought, it would be nice if at least one of the girls looked like her. The doctors had told her to stay as relaxed as possible and Aaron took the order seriously, it’s why he was in the kitchen with Jack making dinner and she was curled up on the couch with their youngest - their youngest for now, letting him snuggled against her as she tried to make him feel better. 

“Sorry, sweet boy,” she says, kissing his temple again, hiding a smile in his hair. “You’re right,” she pulls back to cough, groaning when she feels her whole body shudder with it. She coughs again, barely recovering from the first one, and a sharp pain spreads through her side, making her breath catch in her chest as she places a hand over the place where it hurts. “What the fu…” she trails off, just about present enough to stop herself from cursing in front of her two-year-old. For a second, she thinks it’s faded, that the pain was a weird quirk of having one of her daughters pressed right up against her lungs, but then she breathes in and it happens again. She presses her lips together, desperate not to freak out her little boy, and she runs her fingers through his hair, “Why don’t we go see what Daddy and Jack are up to?”

He nods enthusiastically and jumps up off the couch, already running towards the kitchen before she's even up off the couch. The pain is sharp as she straightens out, and she places her hand on her side, rubbing against it in an attempt to soothe the pain to no avail. She’s about to call out for Aaron, not wanting to worry either Lucas or Jack, but then he’s there, walking into the living room with a smile on his face. 

“Lucas seems to be feeling a little better at least…” he drifts off when he sees her, his smile melting into a frown as he walks over, his hand on her elbow, “Sweetheart, are you okay?” 

“I don’t know,” she says, wincing as the intake of breath to speak makes the pain briefly worse, “This pain came out of nowhere.” 

“Is it contractions?” He asks, and she loves him for being calm so she doesn’t have to be, her port in a storm as the waves started to lap at her ankles. 

She shakes her head, “No, I don’t think so. It’s…too high up?” She tries to explain, tries to place the pain that feels familiar but she can’t name, her eyes wide as she looks at him, “I have no idea what it is.” 

He nods and squeezes her elbow, leaning forward to stamp a kiss against her forehead, an attempt to sooth her just like she’d been doing for Lucas for days, “Okay, I’ll call Jess and see if she can come sit with the boys, and then we’ll go to the hospital to get you and the Mini Prentiss’ looked at.”

She smiles despite her growing concern, and her lower lip trembles, “Mini Hotchners,” she corrects, and he winks at her.

“I don’t know, causing trouble before they are even born seems like Prentiss behaviour to me.” 

___

Her anxiety is made a little better when an initial exam in the emergency room lets them know the twins are okay, and that Emily isn’t in labour. 

The pain doesn’t stop, though, it’s sharp and consistent, made worse by breathing or moving too quickly. The thing that keeps her grounded is Aaron. His hand in hers and his presence a comfort she had once lived without but knew she never could again. She turns to look at him as he kisses her knuckles, one of her hands sandwiched between both of his as he sits in the chair next to her bed, and she sighs, wincing again as her chest hurts. 

There’s a knock on the door, and the doctor walks in, a different one than the one who’d checked the babies were okay. Her smile is kind, and what Emily thinks is supposed to be reassuring. 

“I’m Doctor King,” she says, walking over towards the bed Emily is sitting up on, “I’ve been told you have acute pain?”

“Yeah,” Emily replies, “It hurts here,” she says, placing her hand on the spot in question.

“Is it okay if I examine you?” Doctor King asks, and Emily nods. She winces when the other woman presses her fingers lightly against the source of the pain. “Does it hurt more when you breathe?” 

“Yes,” Emily grits out, squeezing Aaron’s hand tightly, “And if I move,” she coughs and whimpers, a sound she can’t deny because of how much it hurts, “And when I cough.” 

“Were you coughing before the pain started?” She asks, and Emily nods, making a knowing tight smile pass across the Doctor’s face, “I think you have a fractured rib,” she says, moving her hand up slightly further, nodding when Emily winces again, “Maybe two.” 

Suddenly, it clicks into place. The familiarity of the pain she knew she’d felt before, a pain she’d felt countless times over the years, but it had always happened because of trauma. Because of a takedown gone wrong, or the violence of men with nothing more to lose, but she hadn’t hurt herself. 

She’d been sitting on the couch with her son. 

“Fractured ribs?” Aaron asks, sounding as incredulous as she felt, “How is that possible? She didn’t fall.” 

Doctor King sighs and nods, “It’s rare, but it does happen in some pregnancies,” she points at Emily’s bump, “One of your babies is quite high up, and the internal pressure on your ribs means that something as simple as a cough can make them fracture.” 

“My cough made me fracture two ribs?” Emily asks, choking on a laugh and then wincing, “That’s…ridiculous.” 

Doctor King hums sympathetically, “Pregnancy really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?” She quips, “It feels like two fractured ribs, the only way to absolutely confirm is with an X-ray, but with your pregnancy-”

“No, that’s okay,” Emily says, cutting off the offer before the doctor can finish it, “I’ve had fractured ribs before, this feels like that, now that I know it’s possible.” 

“Then you’ll know how to deal with it,” she replies, “Tylenol, ice packs, breathing exercises, avoiding strenuous activities.”

Emily laughs disbelievingly, “No strenuous activities?” She asks, “I’m meant to give birth to two babies soon, and they could come anytime from six weeks from now.” 

“One thing at a time, Emily,” Doctor King says, her kind smile making a return, “Ribs can heal in anything from three weeks, as long as you rest,” she flicks her gaze to Aaron, “And are maybe weighted on hand and foot.”

Emily hums, nodding as she tries to calm herself down, “He does that anyway,” she says, wiping some tears from her cheeks, “He and our boys don’t let me do anything.”

“Then you should heal up in time to have your girls the way you want to,” she replies, smiling at her one last time, “I’ll go fill out your paperwork for you, and then you’ll be good to go home.” 

Emily nods, mumbling a thank you that is drowned out by Aaron’s more enthusiastic one. She huffs out a breath and clenches her teeth when it hurts. 

“You were right.” 

Aaron kisses her knuckles and smiles softly at her when she turns to look at him, “About what, sweetheart?” 

“They aren’t even born yet and they are causing trouble,” she says, unable to fight her smile at the thought of it, “Like mother, like daughters, I guess.” 

He stands up and kisses her forehead, then her cheek, and then the corner of her lips, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

___

“She’s kicking.” 

Aaron smiles and turns to look at his wife, his attention immediately on her and her bump, “Which one?” 

“Baby A,” she says, scrunching her nose up at the nickname the doctors had assigned the twins. They needed to come up with names, two names, soon. A book that was supposed to help was on her nightstand, post-it notes -  green for her, yellow for Aaron - spread throughout it to mark out names they liked. The page with the name Lucas on it was still dog-eared from last time, a fold she would never unfold so she could remember that moment, the second she knew she’d found their son’s name. She looks at Aaron and tries to smile, “I think she can feel the cold from the icepack.” 

He smiles sympathetically at her and shifts closer, careful not to jostle her as he wraps his arm around her shoulders, “Are you okay, sweetheart?” 

It was a question he’d asked multiple times since they left the hospital, and it was one she didn’t know the answer to. She’d put on as brave a face as possible, had slipped back into old habits when they got home, and Jack was still awake way past his bedtime, concern painted across his features as he asked if she and the babies were okay. She’d told him yes, had hugged him, her eyes and teeth clenched tight to hold back the wince when he unintentionally pressed against her fractured ribs. 

“I don’t know,” she answers honestly, shrugging ever so slightly, “I’ll let you know when I do, though.” 

He smiles and nods, kissing her temple as he breathes her in, “I’ll be here when you’re ready.” 

She pulls back just enough to kiss him, her hand on his cheek as she holds him in place, “You owe me for this, you know,” she quips, “Not only am I giving you two more children, but I’m literally breaking bones to do it.” 

“You’re right, I owe you,” he laughs, bright and beautiful, and he nods, his forehead against hers, “ But I owe you everything anyway.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

Solace

She’d convinced herself pregnancy would be easier this time around, that because she’d done it once before, there would be fewer surprises this time around, that she’d be more prepared. Then the doctor had told her she was looking at two babies on the ultrasound scan, and all of that confidence disappeared. 

A one shot in my series of unrelated kissing prompt fics

-x-

Hi besties,

This is another edition of 'Vic learnt something horrifying about pregnancy that she didn't know before and decided to do it to Emily'.

This is them being soft idiots in love with each other and their family, and is exactly what I needed to write on overly warm, long Tuesday <3

As always, let me know what you think.

-x-

Warnings: pregnancy

Words: 2.2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

“Mama, head hurts.”

The whine in the toddler's voice makes Emily ache, and she turns her head to kiss Lucas’s head, breathing in the smell of his strawberry-scented shampoo.

“I know,” she says, tucking him as close to her side as she can. She presses another kiss against his hairline, hoping it soothes him like it used to when he was a tiny baby curled up on her chest. She tries to smother a cough, but fails, and she sighs as she pulls back.“I know, baby.”

Lucas had picked up a cold from daycare, a bug that had swept through the children, and now their house, like wildfire. Emily knew it was inevitable she’d catch it. The two-year-old had been all about her since the second he was born, but Lucas was even more all about her when he was sick. He’d desperately burrow into her side in a way that Aaron always joked was him trying to climb back inside of her, seeking out the love and comfort she always had waiting for him, for all of her Hotchner boys. 

“I not baby,” he says, frowning as he pulls back to look at her, and she has to press her lips together to stop herself from smiling too widely. He was exactly like Aaron, a carbon copy of his father, right down to his dimples and his frown, and she loved it. She loved seeing her husband’s smile flit across her son’s face, a version of the smile she loved so dearly unburdened by trauma and pain, innocence pressed into the very corners of it that she’d burn the world down to protect. Lucas places his hand on her belly, his frown breaking into the smile she loved so much as a foot kicks against his tiny hand, “They the babies.” 

Twins. Twin girls, no less. 

She and Aaron had decided they wanted another baby when Lucas turned one. Time hadn’t necessarily been on their side, and it had taken a long time for her to get pregnant with Lucas. This time around, it took less time, but still long enough to make her worry it never would. When she finally found herself looking at a positive pregnancy test, the mix of shock and happiness had made her burst into tears in their bathroom. Aaron had rushed in, ready to comfort her like he did every month, but she’d smiled at him and he knew.

She’d convinced herself pregnancy would be easier this time around, that because she’d done it once before, there would be fewer surprises this time around, that she’d be more prepared. Then the doctor had told her she was looking at two babies on the ultrasound scan, and all of that confidence disappeared. 

With Lucas, they hadn’t found out what they were having. Emily had been resolute, determined that it would be a surprise when the baby was born, and Aaron was - as ever - happy to support her in whatever she wanted. The moment she found out, the moment Lucas was passed to her and she was told they had another son, it was everything she’d ever wanted it to be, everything she’d waited for through every difficult moment, worth it the second she felt her little boy’s skin pressed against hers. With the twins, she wanted to find out as soon as possible, quipping to Aaron that finding out there was more than one baby growing inside of her was surprise enough for one pregnancy. 

She was 7 months along now and exhausted, but excited for this next stage in their life and, she thought, it would be nice if at least one of the girls looked like her. The doctors had told her to stay as relaxed as possible and Aaron took the order seriously, it’s why he was in the kitchen with Jack making dinner and she was curled up on the couch with their youngest - their youngest for now, letting him snuggled against her as she tried to make him feel better. 

“Sorry, sweet boy,” she says, kissing his temple again, hiding a smile in his hair. “You’re right,” she pulls back to cough, groaning when she feels her whole body shudder with it. She coughs again, barely recovering from the first one, and a sharp pain spreads through her side, making her breath catch in her chest as she places a hand over the place where it hurts. “What the fu…” she trails off, just about present enough to stop herself from cursing in front of her two-year-old. For a second, she thinks it’s faded, that the pain was a weird quirk of having one of her daughters pressed right up against her lungs, but then she breathes in and it happens again. She presses her lips together, desperate not to freak out her little boy, and she runs her fingers through his hair, “Why don’t we go see what Daddy and Jack are up to?”

He nods enthusiastically and jumps up off the couch, already running towards the kitchen before she's even up off the couch. The pain is sharp as she straightens out, and she places her hand on her side, rubbing against it in an attempt to soothe the pain to no avail. She’s about to call out for Aaron, not wanting to worry either Lucas or Jack, but then he’s there, walking into the living room with a smile on his face. 

“Lucas seems to be feeling a little better at least…” he drifts off when he sees her, his smile melting into a frown as he walks over, his hand on her elbow, “Sweetheart, are you okay?” 

“I don’t know,” she says, wincing as the intake of breath to speak makes the pain briefly worse, “This pain came out of nowhere.” 

“Is it contractions?” He asks, and she loves him for being calm so she doesn’t have to be, her port in a storm as the waves started to lap at her ankles. 

She shakes her head, “No, I don’t think so. It’s…too high up?” She tries to explain, tries to place the pain that feels familiar but she can’t name, her eyes wide as she looks at him, “I have no idea what it is.” 

He nods and squeezes her elbow, leaning forward to stamp a kiss against her forehead, an attempt to sooth her just like she’d been doing for Lucas for days, “Okay, I’ll call Jess and see if she can come sit with the boys, and then we’ll go to the hospital to get you and the Mini Prentiss’ looked at.”

She smiles despite her growing concern, and her lower lip trembles, “Mini Hotchners,” she corrects, and he winks at her.

“I don’t know, causing trouble before they are even born seems like Prentiss behaviour to me.” 

___

Her anxiety is made a little better when an initial exam in the emergency room lets them know the twins are okay, and that Emily isn’t in labour. 

The pain doesn’t stop, though, it’s sharp and consistent, made worse by breathing or moving too quickly. The thing that keeps her grounded is Aaron. His hand in hers and his presence a comfort she had once lived without but knew she never could again. She turns to look at him as he kisses her knuckles, one of her hands sandwiched between both of his as he sits in the chair next to her bed, and she sighs, wincing again as her chest hurts. 

There’s a knock on the door, and the doctor walks in, a different one than the one who’d checked the babies were okay. Her smile is kind, and what Emily thinks is supposed to be reassuring. 

“I’m Doctor King,” she says, walking over towards the bed Emily is sitting up on, “I’ve been told you have acute pain?”

“Yeah,” Emily replies, “It hurts here,” she says, placing her hand on the spot in question.

“Is it okay if I examine you?” Doctor King asks, and Emily nods. She winces when the other woman presses her fingers lightly against the source of the pain. “Does it hurt more when you breathe?” 

“Yes,” Emily grits out, squeezing Aaron’s hand tightly, “And if I move,” she coughs and whimpers, a sound she can’t deny because of how much it hurts, “And when I cough.” 

“Were you coughing before the pain started?” She asks, and Emily nods, making a knowing tight smile pass across the Doctor’s face, “I think you have a fractured rib,” she says, moving her hand up slightly further, nodding when Emily winces again, “Maybe two.” 

Suddenly, it clicks into place. The familiarity of the pain she knew she’d felt before, a pain she’d felt countless times over the years, but it had always happened because of trauma. Because of a takedown gone wrong, or the violence of men with nothing more to lose, but she hadn’t hurt herself. 

She’d been sitting on the couch with her son. 

“Fractured ribs?” Aaron asks, sounding as incredulous as she felt, “How is that possible? She didn’t fall.” 

Doctor King sighs and nods, “It’s rare, but it does happen in some pregnancies,” she points at Emily’s bump, “One of your babies is quite high up, and the internal pressure on your ribs means that something as simple as a cough can make them fracture.” 

“My cough made me fracture two ribs?” Emily asks, choking on a laugh and then wincing, “That’s…ridiculous.” 

Doctor King hums sympathetically, “Pregnancy really is the gift that keeps on giving, isn’t it?” She quips, “It feels like two fractured ribs, the only way to absolutely confirm is with an X-ray, but with your pregnancy-”

“No, that’s okay,” Emily says, cutting off the offer before the doctor can finish it, “I’ve had fractured ribs before, this feels like that, now that I know it’s possible.” 

“Then you’ll know how to deal with it,” she replies, “Tylenol, ice packs, breathing exercises, avoiding strenuous activities.”

Emily laughs disbelievingly, “No strenuous activities?” She asks, “I’m meant to give birth to two babies soon, and they could come anytime from six weeks from now.” 

“One thing at a time, Emily,” Doctor King says, her kind smile making a return, “Ribs can heal in anything from three weeks, as long as you rest,” she flicks her gaze to Aaron, “And are maybe weighted on hand and foot.”

Emily hums, nodding as she tries to calm herself down, “He does that anyway,” she says, wiping some tears from her cheeks, “He and our boys don’t let me do anything.”

“Then you should heal up in time to have your girls the way you want to,” she replies, smiling at her one last time, “I’ll go fill out your paperwork for you, and then you’ll be good to go home.” 

Emily nods, mumbling a thank you that is drowned out by Aaron’s more enthusiastic one. She huffs out a breath and clenches her teeth when it hurts. 

“You were right.” 

Aaron kisses her knuckles and smiles softly at her when she turns to look at him, “About what, sweetheart?” 

“They aren’t even born yet and they are causing trouble,” she says, unable to fight her smile at the thought of it, “Like mother, like daughters, I guess.” 

He stands up and kisses her forehead, then her cheek, and then the corner of her lips, “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” 

___

“She’s kicking.” 

Aaron smiles and turns to look at his wife, his attention immediately on her and her bump, “Which one?” 

“Baby A,” she says, scrunching her nose up at the nickname the doctors had assigned the twins. They needed to come up with names, two names, soon. A book that was supposed to help was on her nightstand, post-it notes -  green for her, yellow for Aaron - spread throughout it to mark out names they liked. The page with the name Lucas on it was still dog-eared from last time, a fold she would never unfold so she could remember that moment, the second she knew she’d found their son’s name. She looks at Aaron and tries to smile, “I think she can feel the cold from the icepack.” 

He smiles sympathetically at her and shifts closer, careful not to jostle her as he wraps his arm around her shoulders, “Are you okay, sweetheart?” 

It was a question he’d asked multiple times since they left the hospital, and it was one she didn’t know the answer to. She’d put on as brave a face as possible, had slipped back into old habits when they got home, and Jack was still awake way past his bedtime, concern painted across his features as he asked if she and the babies were okay. She’d told him yes, had hugged him, her eyes and teeth clenched tight to hold back the wince when he unintentionally pressed against her fractured ribs. 

“I don’t know,” she answers honestly, shrugging ever so slightly, “I’ll let you know when I do, though.” 

He smiles and nods, kissing her temple as he breathes her in, “I’ll be here when you’re ready.” 

She pulls back just enough to kiss him, her hand on his cheek as she holds him in place, “You owe me for this, you know,” she quips, “Not only am I giving you two more children, but I’m literally breaking bones to do it.” 

“You’re right, I owe you,” he laughs, bright and beautiful, and he nods, his forehead against hers, “ But I owe you everything anyway.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

Piece by Piece

It wasn’t something she could change overnight; it wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with either of her parents today or anytime soon. She’d have to prepare for it, to come to terms with the fact that it could damage an already fragile relationship beyond repair.

It definitely wasn’t something she was prepared to do on Father’s Day of all days. 

-x-

Hi besties,

I know Father's Day can be a hard day for a lot of people, so if it is for you I'm holding space for you. I usually write something fluffy on days like today, but instead I did a little bit of projecting of my daddy issues onto Emily (so what's new, I guess?) but there is plenty of Hotchniss being soft idiots for each other too.

Anyway, I love you all, I hope you're okay, and as always let me know what you think <3

-x-

Warnings: daddy issues

Words: 2.5k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

The first time Aaron meets Emily’s father, it’s a surprise. 

Emily had been grumbling about the event her mother had invited them to for weeks. She didn’t want to go, but she knew it was easier to, that not going to a charity event wasn’t a hill she wanted to die on or an argument she had the energy to fight. She was saving all of that up for her and Aaron’s wedding, determined to make sure she had the day they wanted, not the one her mother thought they should have. 

“You know,” she says, stopping as they step into the hotel where the event was happening, tugging him aside for a moment between the two of them before they’d be on display all evening. She looks him up and down and straightens out his bow tie for no other reason than to touch it, him, a small display of affection that she can do here in front of prying eyes, “The one upside to these things is getting to see you in a tux.” 

He smiles at her, and she cups his cheek for a moment, seeking out the comfort and love she always found in the dimple there before she lets her hand drop back down to her side. He wraps his arm around her, his hand splayed out on her back, fingers grazing her skin as they slip over the hem of her dark green silk dress. 

“You look beautiful,” he says, his smile getting wider when she rolls her eyes at him, “But you always do.” He reaches for her left hand, taking the time to run his finger over her engagement ring. “You ready?” 

She blows out a shaky breath and nods, “As ready as I can be for one of those things,” she scrunches up her nose and links her arms through his as they carry on walking towards the event space, “There better be plenty of champagne.” 

He chuckles, “I’ll make sure you have a steady supply all evening.” 

She hums, “I know I was marrying you for a reason…” She drifts off, and her hold briefly tightens on his as she looks at her mother, her focus on the man standing next to him, “Fuck,” she mutters under her breath before she straightens her shoulders, a fake smile spreading across her face like a mask, “I’m definitely going to need a drink. Several,” she turns to look at him, her fake smile still stamped across her face, “My dad is here.” 

The moment she says it, he recognises the man in question. He’s older than he is in the pictures Emily has shown him, but it’s him. He has the nose Emily had lamented about more than once, the nose Aaron loved, and hoped their children would have. He always thought she looked like Elizabeth - something he’d never dare tell her - but now he’s looking at both of her parents standing next to each other for the first time, he thinks she might look more like her father. 

“You had no idea he’d be here?” 

Emily shakes her head and blows out a shaky breath as she reaches for a glass of champagne from one of the server's trays, “No idea,” she replies, knocking back half of the glass in one go, “That’s the way he does things. I doubt Mom knew he was coming either.”

She’d never understood her parents’ relationship. Her father had moved out when she was 14, had taken a different posting to her mother, and they both acted like it was normal, like their small family hadn’t broken into two pieces. They never got divorced, never told their friends they were no longer together. Emily’s father dipped in and out of her life ever since, popping up occasionally to show his face at an event to stand at her mother’s side like he’d always been there. She didn’t understand it, and she didn’t want to understand, didn’t want to know why both of her parents had chosen this over being happy. 

It was an example she had always been determined she wasn’t going to follow. She’d always told herself she’d rather be alone than trapped in whatever they had, and for a while, she thought she would be, but then Aaron happened. Sweet, handsome, funny, kind, Aaron, who had been right in front of her for so long. 

When she looked back on it, she’d been in love with him a lot longer than she could admit even to herself.  

“Want to go home?” He offers, and she knows he means it, knows that he’d take her home if she wanted to go, but she shakes her head and downs the rest of her glass of champagne before she immediately picks up another glass. 

“No,” she says, linking her fingers through his, “It’s easier to stay,” her smile falters ever so slightly, just a flash of her peeking out from behind the mask she was wearing, “But thank you.” 

He nods and squeezes her hand, “Whatever you need, sweetheart.” 

She squeezes his hand one last time and then drops it before they walk towards her parents. He watches as she straightens out her shoulders, a tightness in them that only her mom was ever able to bring out in her. He stays in step with her, keeping up his promise to never leave her side at times like this. She didn’t need his support, he knew that, but she wanted it. She wanted him by her side, and it was the honour of a lifetime to be the person she trusted more than anyone else. 

“Dad,” she says as they make it to her parents' side, “I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight.” She looks at her mom, sees the usual behave Emily look in her eyes, and she knows she was right - she had no idea he was coming either. 

“He decided to surprise us,” Elizabeth says, her smile tight as she looks at her daughter, “Are you going to introduce him to Aaron?”

Emily has to clench her teeth to hold back a sigh, and she looks at her father, “Dad, this is Aaron Hotchner, my fiancé,” she says, something sparking in her chest when his eyes widen in surprise, unsure if she’s surprised or not that her mom hadn’t told him. She turns to look at Aaron, “Aaron, this is my dad, Richard Prentiss.” 

Aaron reaches out for his hand, making a point of squeezing a little harder than necessary as he shakes, “Pleasure to meet you, sir.” 

“Same,” Richard says, “Although, it’s unusual to meet your daughter’s other half after he’s already become her fiancé.” 

“Well, it helps if you call your daughter now and again,” Emily quips, the comment escaping before she can stop it. 

“The phone works both ways, Emily,” Richard replies as he finally drops Aaron’s hand. Emily can see something flash in Aaron’s eyes, can see the protectiveness she both loved and hated licking through his chest, and she grabs his hand, squeezing it tightly in a way she knows he means to stay quiet. 

Elizabeth must see it too, because she clears her throat, drawing attention back towards her as she looks at Emily, “You two should mingle,” she says, the closest thing to an apology Emily ever got from her flashing in her eyes, “We’ll see you later.” 

Emily nods and smiles tightly, her eyes fixed on her mom and dad as they walk away, and she blows out a slow breath as she turns to look at Aaron, “Well, that went well.” 

She half expects Aaron to smile at her quip, but he doesn’t, his furious gaze still fixed on Richard as he walks to the other side of the room, “He shouldn’t talk to you like that.” 

She sighs and squeezes his hand again, stepping into his line of sight so he’s looking at her, “I know, honey. I know. But…” she laughs humourlessly, “It is what it is. And I don’t need you fighting my corner over this, okay?” 

It was the same conversation they’d had about her mom back when they first got together, and he hadn’t liked it then either, but he knows it’s what she wants. Her relationship with her parents was complicated to say the least, and she didn’t need him to fix it, she needed him to be there for her. To help put the pieces of herself that would crack and fall away back into place after either of her parents upset her. 

Aaron was, after all, the only person who knew where all of her pieces went.

“Okay,” he says, leaning in to kiss, stamping his lips against hers as a promise. I love you. I’m here. 

She kisses him back and then presses her forehead against his, a brief moment where they were alone even though they were in a room full of people. 

“Let's get you a drink,” she says, squeezing his hand again, “God knows you’ll need it to get through this evening.” 

___

He could count on one hand the number of times he’d met his now father-in-law. Richard had come to the wedding, he’d met Violet when she was three months old, but he still flitted in and out of their lives. 

Aaron knew it upset Emily more than she would ever admit, even to him, but he saw it. He saw the strange mix of disappointment and excitement flick across her face when she opened her father’s RSVP to their wedding. He’d felt how tightly she’d held his hand when Richard held Violet for the first time. He’d met the now two-year-old once since then, and Aaron doubted she remembered who Richard was. 

She stopped being able to hide things from him a long time ago, and he knew the only comfort she found in that was that he couldn’t hide anything from her either. 

He wakes up in bed alone. 

Emily’s side of the bed is still warm, so he knows she hasn’t been gone long. He gets out of bed and goes to find her, making a point of being quiet as he sneaks past Jack and Violet’s rooms. He’s halfway down the stairs when he hears her talking, a harsh, half-whisper as she does her best not to wake anyone else up. 

“It’s Father’s Day, Mom,” she says, “We have plans.” He doesn’t hear whatever Elizabeth says back to her, but he does hear her suppress a groan of frustration. “Plans with the kids and Aaron,” she adds, choking on a disbelieving laugh, “He is the father of my children, you know.” She says as he steps into the living room, and she turns to look at him, her shoulders heavy as she pinches the bridge of her nose, “Yes, I know Dad isn’t in town very often.” She looks up at him, a question in her eyes that she doesn’t need to say outloud, and he simply nods. “We’re going to the park. Vi loves the swings and…” She presses her lips together and closes her eyes, “I’ll text you the details.” 

She ends the call quickly, her grip on her phone tight before she drops it onto the couch, blowing out a breath as she runs her fingers through her hair. 

“Morning,” he says, smiling as she looks up at him, and she huffs out a laugh before she walks over and wraps her arms around him, stamping her lips against his before she leans against his chest. 

“Morning,” she mumbles, squeezing him tightly, her cheek against him as she listens to his heartbeat, letting it centre her after her conversation with her mother.

“So, that was your mom?” 

She hums and pulls back to look at him, “Dad came into town last night. He wants to see the kids, apparently. And he’s leaving first thing tomorrow,” she shakes her head in disbelief, “Which leaves today.” 

“It’s okay, Em-”

“It isn’t okay,” she says, louder than she intends to, but she closes her eyes and lowers her voice, “It isn’t okay, Aaron. He can’t just waltz in and out of my life, of their lives,” she says, pointing up the staris, “He’s met Jack, what three times? And Vi twice? She probably won’t even remember him.” 

He nods, because she’s right; it wasn’t okay. It had never been, but it felt so typical of Emily to only see it because of how it impacted their children. She’d never thought about how unfair it was when it was just her in the equation, when her father’s actions only impacted her. It made Aaron angry for her, it made him love her even more than he already did. 

It made him grateful that she was his and he was hers. 

He squeezes her hips. “What do you want to do?” 

She shrugs, “Nothing that will fix it today.” 

It wasn’t something she could change overnight; it wasn’t a conversation she wanted to have with either of her parents today or anytime soon. She’d have to prepare for it, to come to terms with the fact that it could damage an already fragile relationship beyond repair.

It definitely wasn’t something she was prepared to do on Father’s Day of all days. 

Aaron understands, because of course he does, and he stamps a kiss against her forehead, “So, we go to the park, we see your mom and dad, and come back and spend the rest of the day with Jack and Vi.” 

She smiles at him, “Thank you for understanding.” 

“You never have to thank me, Em.” He replies, kissing her again, “It’s part of the perfect husband package you signed up for.” 

She laughs, her real beautiful laugh, and it makes him smile. She wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him closer, “I must have missed that in small print.” 

His response is cut off by a cry from upstairs, Violet’s voice breaking the quiet air in the house. 

“Dada!” 

Emily chuckles and stamps a kiss against his lips, “You heard her,” she says, kissing him again, “Your other woman is calling you.” 

He winks at her as he steps away, “I’ll go get her.”

“And I’ll get started on breakfast,” she says, briefly turning away before she looks back at him, her smile soft and entirely his, “Aaron?” 

He turns to look at her, “Yes, sweetheart?” 

“Happy Father’s Day.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

Knocks Me Off My Feet

It wasn’t like the woman of his dreams would just walk right into his life. 

The one in which Emily and Aaron meet in an unusual way.

A Young Hotchniss AU.

-x-

Hi besties,

This was inspired by a meme I saw where a guy sent a woman a text basically saying "i'm so sorry I hit you with my car, I was impressed how you knocked your shoulder back into it's socket. Want to go on a date?" And it gave me massive young hotchniss, meet cute vibes - and here we are.

This is a complete AU, not just young them. No real attachment to canon at all. I definitely see this being a version of them I write for again, I have so many ideas for them and if you guys want to read them I'll write them.

As always, let me know what you think!

-x-

Warnings: minor injury

Words: 3.2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

It had been a long day in court. 

Aaron was rarely someone who lived for the weekend. He enjoyed his job, he enjoyed seeking justice for the victims he represented on behalf of the court, but it had been a long day at the end of a long week, and despite not having any plans, he was grateful for two days off. 

He can’t help but think of his ex-fiance as he climbs into his car and about what she’d say if she could see him now. He and Haley had been together since high school. They’d made it through their undergrads together and his time at Harvard Law school, but his career as a prosecutor, the amount of time and energy he put into his work, had started to fracture their relationship. Every late night, every file of casework brought home was another crack in it until it gave way and lay at their feet in pieces. She told him she loved him, that she had wanted to marry him, but that she knew this would never work. That no matter what job he did, he would give it his all, and she wasn’t sure she could cope with that. 

She’d left him and the ring he’d given her in the apartment they’d leased together five months ago. The more he looked back on it, the more he moved forward into whatever his life looked like without her now, he knew the fact that he hadn’t stopped her said everything. He hadn’t gone after her, he’d done as she’d asked, and he hadn’t called. He’d let her move on and was trying to do the same. 

He sighs and gets into his car as he thinks of the weekend ahead. His colleague Dave, a senior prosecutor who loved to get into everyone's business almost as much as he loved his job, kept telling him he needed to go out and meet someone, but Aaron had never been any good at dating. Haley had asked him out back in high school, and he hadn’t had to worry about it since then. He hated the thought of going to bars with no aim other than to talk to someone in the hopes of getting their number. He didn’t want to do online dating, the thought alone made him shiver, but he knew his choices for meeting someone were limited. 

It wasn’t like the woman of his dreams would just walk right into his life. 

He grumbles under his breath as the first set of lights he comes up to go red, and he shakes his head. DC traffic was a nightmare and always had been, and all he wanted was to get home, order a pizza and have a drink while he watched his favourite movie. The light turns green, and he takes his foot off the brake, only to press it down immediately when a woman steps out in front of his car, her focus on her phone as she texts furiously. He stops his car a second too late and he hits her, sucking in a breath at the thunk as she falls to the ground. He unbuckles his belt with shaking hands and gets out of the car, ignoring the beeping of the horn of the vehicle behind him as the driver curses at him as he goes past. 

Aaron doesn’t look at him. He barely pays anyone any attention, doesn’t look at any of the onlookers or people pretending not to look. Instead, he just focuses on her. She’s sitting on the ground, her phone just out of her reach, with her hand pressed against her right shoulder. He kneels down next to her, making sure he leaves a decent amount of space between them.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” 

She groans and looks up at him, and he momentarily feels breathless as their eyes meet. She’s beautiful and quite clearly furious at him, something that only seemed to add to her beauty. 

“Please don’t call me Ma’am,” she grumbles, “Don’t you watch where you’re going?” 

He furrows his brow, “The light was green, you were on your phone…” he stutters, drifting off as guilt flares in his gut when she raises an eyebrow at him. 

“Maybe we can play the blame game when my shoulder is back in its socket,” she says, and he nods. She looks at his car, surveying the bonnet curiously. “I think I can knock it back in-”

“Are you crazy?” He asks, cutting over her, “I’m taking you to the hospital.” 

She scoffs, “I don’t need to go to the hospital.” 

He sighs and looks up, grateful to see their audience has dwindled down to nothing, and he looks back at her. She has defiance painted across her face, and it makes her eyes sparkle, and he wonders just how many people have been on the receiving end of the look she’s giving him. 

“You do, your shoulder is dislocated,” he says, “And I’ll feel a hell of a lot better if I know you get it looked at.”

She chuckles, “Oh, as long as you feel better,” she says, but then she winces as she moves even the slightest bit. “Fine,” she grumbles, clenching her jaw when she tries to stand up, “You’ll have to help me up.” He nods as he stands, and he is very aware of where his hands are as he lifts her. He makes sure they are in a respectable spot on her waist as he helps her onto her feet. He opens the passenger side door for her and quickly gets into the driver's seat. “You have to promise me something. Two things.” 

He looks over at her, “Of course.”

“One, you aren’t some kind of kidnapper or serial killer,” she says, and he smiles, clearing his throat as he nods. 

“I promise I’m not. I actually put people like that away for a living.” 

She nods, “Okay, good.”

“And two?” 

She smiles at him, and he knows he’d do anything to make her smile like that. “You promise you won’t knock anyone else over on the way to the hospital.” 

He laughs as he starts the car back up and pulls back out into the stream of traffic, “I promise.” 

When they make it to the hospital, he helps her out of the car even as she claims she doesn’t need help. He follows her into the hospital and to the desk in the ER waiting room as she explains to the nurse what had happened, mercifully leaving out the fact that he was the one who had knocked her over. She takes a clipboard from the nurse to fill out her information and sits down. He stands awkwardly for a moment, unsure whether she wants him to leave or not now that he’d got her here, but she looks up at him and sighs, holding out the clipboard the nurse had given her, her eyebrow raised as she nods towards the seat next to her. 

“You might as well help me fill this out,” she says, handing it to him as he sits, her smile as teasing as it had been since she’d climbed into his car, “Seeing as I can’t use my dominant hand right now.”

He nods and picks up the pen from the top of the board, realising in abject horror that he hadn’t even asked her what her name is, but she clears her throat, and her lips are pressed together in a way he knows is to stop her from laughing at him. 

“Emily,” she says, and he clears his throat, smiling back at her as he fills out the first box. 

“Aaron,” he replies, realising he hadn’t told her his name either, that he’d been so caught up in making sure she was okay that he’d forgotten to do so. 

“Nice to meet you, Aaron,” she says, smirking when she looks down at her dislocated shoulder, “Well…mostly.” 

He’s about to apologise again, but she beams at him, and he knows that’s not what she's asking for. Instead, he looks back down at the paperwork. “Surname?”

“Prentiss,” she says, “P, r, e, n, t, i, s, s.” 

“Huh,” he says as he fills it out, “Just like the new senator.” 

She hums, “Exactly like her. She’s my mom.” 

He freezes, and any attempt at calming himself down goes in a second, because not only had he hit someone with his car - he’d hit the senator’s daughter. 

“You…she’s your mom?” 

Emily laughs at him and then winces when it jolts her shoulder, “It’s okay, don’t worry. I don’t think she’d notice if I were hit by a car right in front of her,” she smiles self-deprecatingly and shrugs her good shoulder, “I don’t think she’ll hold it against you.”

He wants to ask a follow-up question, but he knows it’s not his place, so instead he nods and looks back down at the paperwork, “Occupation?” 

She scrunches her nose up, “Currently nothing,” she says, pressing her lips together in a tight smile, “I just finished my master's degree. I’m figuring the rest out.” 

“Congratulations,” he says, his smile fading after a moment, “Do you have medical insurance? I can pay for the treatment-”

“I have insurance,” she says, and he only realises she’d placed her hand on his arm when she squeezes. She seems to notice in the same moment and takes her hand away like she’s been burned, looking down at her lap. 

“Do you know the information?” 

She nods and gives him her details, and by the time the doctor calls her through, he almost wishes they had more time to talk.

___

“Motherfucker.” 

She presses her hand against her right shoulder and focuses on the scratch of the imboliser against her palm instead of the pain lancing through her shoulder because she’d moved a little too quickly.

It wasn’t the first time she’d dislocated her shoulder. She’d done it once before when she was 16 and they were living in Paris. She’d snuck out to go to a party and had stayed out later than she meant to, so she’d climbed up the trellis on the outside of the house in an attempt to climb back into her bedroom window. She’d fallen and landed in the grass below, and her shoulder had taken most of the impact. She’d managed to get up off the ground, and one of the security agents assigned to them took her to the hospital. It was only when he told her that her mother wasn’t even home that she realised she could have walked in the front door. 

She thinks she could have even if her mother had been home. She’d never been the focus of her attention. Her desire to be a Senator had been strong even then, and she took as many postings as possible back when she was an ambassador to prove her worth. She didn’t think about how it impacted Emily when they moved all the time, didn’t think about anything other than her political goals. 

Emily wondered if her mother considered it all worth it now she’d achieved it. If she had any regrets over how she’d sacrificed her relationship with her daughter to get elected into the job she’d wanted for decades. 

It’s why Emily hadn’t been paying attention when she walked out in front of Aaron’s car. She’d been in the middle of an argument with her mother over text. Elizabeth was insistent that they were seen together more, said it did her image some good since a part of her campaign had been hinged on her being a single mother. It drove Emily crazy that was the reason her mom wanted to see her, so they could have dinner where they could be seen, rather than because she actually wanted to have dinner with her. She was in the middle of sending a scathing reply, one she was strangely grateful she never actually got to send, when Aaron’s car hit her. 

There was something about him that she found endearing, something that made her want to ruffle his straight edges and the seriousness that seemed to be woven through him. She’d half expected him to be gone from the waiting room by the time she came back out with her shoulder back in place and strapped against her chest, but he was still there looking something close to adorable as he smiled when he saw her. 

He’d insisted on driving her home, and she accepted before she even thought about it, keen to spend as much time with him as possible in a way she didn’t entirely understand. He’d given her his number, and she’d done the same, and he told her if she needed anything, to call. As he walked away, she was sure she’d never see him again, that this would be an amusing story she’d tell people going forward. The handsome stranger who had hit her with his car, the fact that it was her fault a part of it she’d never share, and then took her to the hospital. 

She huffs out a breath and looks at the food in her fridge, and she closes it again, deciding that ordering in dinner would be easier than cooking with one hand. She’s about to riffle through the takeout menu drawer in her kitchen when the buzzer to her apartment rings. She frowns and walks over to the phone on her wall, and she answers. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, it’s me. Aaron.” 

She furrows her brow and tightens her hold on the phone, “Oh, hi.” 

“I uh…I brought you a couple of things. To help out whilst your arm is strapped to your chest.” 

“Oh,” she says, wondering if she should hate him or not for how her cheeks flush, for how she feels the warmth of it spread down her chest, “That’s…that’s really nice of you.” 

There’s a moment of silence, a pause where both of them are trying to figure out what to say. 

“I…I only just realised how creepy this might seem,” he says, and she bites her lip to stop herself from laughing at him, “I’m sorry.” 

“Well, as long as you stick to your promise that you’re not a serial killer or kidnapper, I think we’ll be fine.” 

“I promise,” he says, and she can almost picture his smile, the edges of it slightly fuzzy because she hadn’t been able to commit it to memory yet. “So, can I come up?” 

“Yeah, sorry,” she says, pressing the button to release the front door, “You remember where to go?” 

“I’ll be up in a minute.” 

She hangs up the phone and blows out a shaky breath. She only has a moment to look at herself in the mirror, to fluff her hair a little in a way that has her rolling her eyes at herself, and then there’s a knock on the door. She smiles as she opens the door, and she has to press her lips together in an attempt to contain it the moment she sees him. 

He’s standing on her doorstep with a bag full of food in one hand - different foil dishes piled on top of each other - and a bunch of sunflowers in the other. 

“Hi,” she says, looking him up and down, “Come in.” 

“Thanks,” he replies, stepping past her and into the apartment, “I kept thinking about when I dislocated my shoulder a few years ago and I struggled to cook anything,” he says, turning to look at her, his smile flitting between nervousness and guilt as his eyes drift to her shoulder, “So I thought I’d make some casseroles for you to reheat. You can freeze some too.” 

It’s a type of kindness she’d rarely experienced, so for a moment it takes her by surprise. She furrows her brow and wraps her good arm around herself in an attempt to protect herself. “You cooked for me?”

He nods, “A few different things. I realised partway through that I didn’t know what you like.”

She smiles at him, feels herself relaxing a little in his presence in a way she still doesn’t understand but doesn’t want to fight against. “Did you have nothing better to do with your Saturday?” 

He shakes his head, “No.” 

“And the flowers?” 

He clears his throat, “Another apology for hitting you with my car,” he says, nodding towards the cat tree in the corner of the room, “I noticed you had a cat, so I looked up what flowers wouldn’t kill it.” 

She thinks of Sergio curled up on her bed, and she smiles. Aaron hadn’t met him in the brief moment he’d been in her apartment yesterday, he hadn’t even seen him, and she looks over at the cat tree he’d pointed out. It’s another thing that makes him endearing, something else that makes the walls she’d built around herself start to crumble with nothing more than a show of kindness from a man who had been a stranger just 48 hours ago. 

She hums, “You really notice everything, don’t you?” 

He shrugs, “Apart from beautiful women walking out in front of my car, apparently.” 

She chuckles at the look on his face, and she knows he’s said more than he meant to. She feels herself blush again, and she looks down so he doesn’t see it.

“Thank you, that’s…sweet.” She points behind her, “The kitchen is through here.”

He follows her through and puts the casseroles away in the fridge for her, and fills a vase with water for the flowers. He smiles at her as he places the sunflowers in the water, and then he turns to look at her.

“I should get going, I only wanted to bring you the food.” 

She barely waits for him to take a step before she’s talking, her desire to spend more time with him overriding anything else. “You could stay.” 

He turns to look at her, his eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t want to intrude.” 

“I was about to have dinner anyway,” she says, “And you cooked. Unless you have plans…”

“No, I have no plans,” he says, “As long as you’re sure.” 

She hums, “I’m sure,” she says, holding his eye contact a beat longer than she means to, “You can reheat the meal though.”

He smiles at her, and it’s a smile she thinks she’d like to see every day, and he steps past her, his hand on her waist as he walks towards the fridge, “Deal.” 

Later, months and countless dates and I love yous down the line, they’d argue over whether that night counted as their first date. 

She’d always argue that it wasn’t, that it couldn’t count because her shoulder was still strapped to her chest, and they didn’t even kiss until the following day when he came over again - this time because she invited him over. He’d always disagree and say it did count. He’d kiss her and say that he knew that night that he knew he would fall in love with her. It was something that would make her smile and roll her eyes at her boyfriend as she’d lean in to kiss him.

She’d never admit that she knew she’d fall in love with him that night too, but she knows she doesn’t have to - he already knew. 

[sequinsmile-x]

Knocks Me Off My Feet

It wasn’t like the woman of his dreams would just walk right into his life. 

The one in which Emily and Aaron meet in an unusual way.

A Young Hotchniss AU.

-x-

Hi besties,

This was inspired by a meme I saw where a guy sent a woman a text basically saying "i'm so sorry I hit you with my car, I was impressed how you knocked your shoulder back into it's socket. Want to go on a date?" And it gave me massive young hotchniss, meet cute vibes - and here we are.

This is a complete AU, not just young them. No real attachment to canon at all. I definitely see this being a version of them I write for again, I have so many ideas for them and if you guys want to read them I'll write them.

As always, let me know what you think!

-x-

Warnings: minor injury

Words: 3.2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

It had been a long day in court. 

Aaron was rarely someone who lived for the weekend. He enjoyed his job, he enjoyed seeking justice for the victims he represented on behalf of the court, but it had been a long day at the end of a long week, and despite not having any plans, he was grateful for two days off. 

He can’t help but think of his ex-fiance as he climbs into his car and about what she’d say if she could see him now. He and Haley had been together since high school. They’d made it through their undergrads together and his time at Harvard Law school, but his career as a prosecutor, the amount of time and energy he put into his work, had started to fracture their relationship. Every late night, every file of casework brought home was another crack in it until it gave way and lay at their feet in pieces. She told him she loved him, that she had wanted to marry him, but that she knew this would never work. That no matter what job he did, he would give it his all, and she wasn’t sure she could cope with that. 

She’d left him and the ring he’d given her in the apartment they’d leased together five months ago. The more he looked back on it, the more he moved forward into whatever his life looked like without her now, he knew the fact that he hadn’t stopped her said everything. He hadn’t gone after her, he’d done as she’d asked, and he hadn’t called. He’d let her move on and was trying to do the same. 

He sighs and gets into his car as he thinks of the weekend ahead. His colleague Dave, a senior prosecutor who loved to get into everyone's business almost as much as he loved his job, kept telling him he needed to go out and meet someone, but Aaron had never been any good at dating. Haley had asked him out back in high school, and he hadn’t had to worry about it since then. He hated the thought of going to bars with no aim other than to talk to someone in the hopes of getting their number. He didn’t want to do online dating, the thought alone made him shiver, but he knew his choices for meeting someone were limited. 

It wasn’t like the woman of his dreams would just walk right into his life. 

He grumbles under his breath as the first set of lights he comes up to go red, and he shakes his head. DC traffic was a nightmare and always had been, and all he wanted was to get home, order a pizza and have a drink while he watched his favourite movie. The light turns green, and he takes his foot off the brake, only to press it down immediately when a woman steps out in front of his car, her focus on her phone as she texts furiously. He stops his car a second too late and he hits her, sucking in a breath at the thunk as she falls to the ground. He unbuckles his belt with shaking hands and gets out of the car, ignoring the beeping of the horn of the vehicle behind him as the driver curses at him as he goes past. 

Aaron doesn’t look at him. He barely pays anyone any attention, doesn’t look at any of the onlookers or people pretending not to look. Instead, he just focuses on her. She’s sitting on the ground, her phone just out of her reach, with her hand pressed against her right shoulder. He kneels down next to her, making sure he leaves a decent amount of space between them.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” 

She groans and looks up at him, and he momentarily feels breathless as their eyes meet. She’s beautiful and quite clearly furious at him, something that only seemed to add to her beauty. 

“Please don’t call me Ma’am,” she grumbles, “Don’t you watch where you’re going?” 

He furrows his brow, “The light was green, you were on your phone…” he stutters, drifting off as guilt flares in his gut when she raises an eyebrow at him. 

“Maybe we can play the blame game when my shoulder is back in its socket,” she says, and he nods. She looks at his car, surveying the bonnet curiously. “I think I can knock it back in-”

“Are you crazy?” He asks, cutting over her, “I’m taking you to the hospital.” 

She scoffs, “I don’t need to go to the hospital.” 

He sighs and looks up, grateful to see their audience has dwindled down to nothing, and he looks back at her. She has defiance painted across her face, and it makes her eyes sparkle, and he wonders just how many people have been on the receiving end of the look she’s giving him. 

“You do, your shoulder is dislocated,” he says, “And I’ll feel a hell of a lot better if I know you get it looked at.”

She chuckles, “Oh, as long as you feel better,” she says, but then she winces as she moves even the slightest bit. “Fine,” she grumbles, clenching her jaw when she tries to stand up, “You’ll have to help me up.” He nods as he stands, and he is very aware of where his hands are as he lifts her. He makes sure they are in a respectable spot on her waist as he helps her onto her feet. He opens the passenger side door for her and quickly gets into the driver's seat. “You have to promise me something. Two things.” 

He looks over at her, “Of course.”

“One, you aren’t some kind of kidnapper or serial killer,” she says, and he smiles, clearing his throat as he nods. 

“I promise I’m not. I actually put people like that away for a living.” 

She nods, “Okay, good.”

“And two?” 

She smiles at him, and he knows he’d do anything to make her smile like that. “You promise you won’t knock anyone else over on the way to the hospital.” 

He laughs as he starts the car back up and pulls back out into the stream of traffic, “I promise.” 

When they make it to the hospital, he helps her out of the car even as she claims she doesn’t need help. He follows her into the hospital and to the desk in the ER waiting room as she explains to the nurse what had happened, mercifully leaving out the fact that he was the one who had knocked her over. She takes a clipboard from the nurse to fill out her information and sits down. He stands awkwardly for a moment, unsure whether she wants him to leave or not now that he’d got her here, but she looks up at him and sighs, holding out the clipboard the nurse had given her, her eyebrow raised as she nods towards the seat next to her. 

“You might as well help me fill this out,” she says, handing it to him as he sits, her smile as teasing as it had been since she’d climbed into his car, “Seeing as I can’t use my dominant hand right now.”

He nods and picks up the pen from the top of the board, realising in abject horror that he hadn’t even asked her what her name is, but she clears her throat, and her lips are pressed together in a way he knows is to stop her from laughing at him. 

“Emily,” she says, and he clears his throat, smiling back at her as he fills out the first box. 

“Aaron,” he replies, realising he hadn’t told her his name either, that he’d been so caught up in making sure she was okay that he’d forgotten to do so. 

“Nice to meet you, Aaron,” she says, smirking when she looks down at her dislocated shoulder, “Well…mostly.” 

He’s about to apologise again, but she beams at him, and he knows that’s not what she's asking for. Instead, he looks back down at the paperwork. “Surname?”

“Prentiss,” she says, “P, r, e, n, t, i, s, s.” 

“Huh,” he says as he fills it out, “Just like the new senator.” 

She hums, “Exactly like her. She’s my mom.” 

He freezes, and any attempt at calming himself down goes in a second, because not only had he hit someone with his car - he’d hit the senator’s daughter. 

“You…she’s your mom?” 

Emily laughs at him and then winces when it jolts her shoulder, “It’s okay, don’t worry. I don’t think she’d notice if I were hit by a car right in front of her,” she smiles self-deprecatingly and shrugs her good shoulder, “I don’t think she’ll hold it against you.”

He wants to ask a follow-up question, but he knows it’s not his place, so instead he nods and looks back down at the paperwork, “Occupation?” 

She scrunches her nose up, “Currently nothing,” she says, pressing her lips together in a tight smile, “I just finished my master's degree. I’m figuring the rest out.” 

“Congratulations,” he says, his smile fading after a moment, “Do you have medical insurance? I can pay for the treatment-”

“I have insurance,” she says, and he only realises she’d placed her hand on his arm when she squeezes. She seems to notice in the same moment and takes her hand away like she’s been burned, looking down at her lap. 

“Do you know the information?” 

She nods and gives him her details, and by the time the doctor calls her through, he almost wishes they had more time to talk.

___

“Motherfucker.” 

She presses her hand against her right shoulder and focuses on the scratch of the imboliser against her palm instead of the pain lancing through her shoulder because she’d moved a little too quickly.

It wasn’t the first time she’d dislocated her shoulder. She’d done it once before when she was 16 and they were living in Paris. She’d snuck out to go to a party and had stayed out later than she meant to, so she’d climbed up the trellis on the outside of the house in an attempt to climb back into her bedroom window. She’d fallen and landed in the grass below, and her shoulder had taken most of the impact. She’d managed to get up off the ground, and one of the security agents assigned to them took her to the hospital. It was only when he told her that her mother wasn’t even home that she realised she could have walked in the front door. 

She thinks she could have even if her mother had been home. She’d never been the focus of her attention. Her desire to be a Senator had been strong even then, and she took as many postings as possible back when she was an ambassador to prove her worth. She didn’t think about how it impacted Emily when they moved all the time, didn’t think about anything other than her political goals. 

Emily wondered if her mother considered it all worth it now she’d achieved it. If she had any regrets over how she’d sacrificed her relationship with her daughter to get elected into the job she’d wanted for decades. 

It’s why Emily hadn’t been paying attention when she walked out in front of Aaron’s car. She’d been in the middle of an argument with her mother over text. Elizabeth was insistent that they were seen together more, said it did her image some good since a part of her campaign had been hinged on her being a single mother. It drove Emily crazy that was the reason her mom wanted to see her, so they could have dinner where they could be seen, rather than because she actually wanted to have dinner with her. She was in the middle of sending a scathing reply, one she was strangely grateful she never actually got to send, when Aaron’s car hit her. 

There was something about him that she found endearing, something that made her want to ruffle his straight edges and the seriousness that seemed to be woven through him. She’d half expected him to be gone from the waiting room by the time she came back out with her shoulder back in place and strapped against her chest, but he was still there looking something close to adorable as he smiled when he saw her. 

He’d insisted on driving her home, and she accepted before she even thought about it, keen to spend as much time with him as possible in a way she didn’t entirely understand. He’d given her his number, and she’d done the same, and he told her if she needed anything, to call. As he walked away, she was sure she’d never see him again, that this would be an amusing story she’d tell people going forward. The handsome stranger who had hit her with his car, the fact that it was her fault a part of it she’d never share, and then took her to the hospital. 

She huffs out a breath and looks at the food in her fridge, and she closes it again, deciding that ordering in dinner would be easier than cooking with one hand. She’s about to riffle through the takeout menu drawer in her kitchen when the buzzer to her apartment rings. She frowns and walks over to the phone on her wall, and she answers. 

“Hello?” 

“Hi, it’s me. Aaron.” 

She furrows her brow and tightens her hold on the phone, “Oh, hi.” 

“I uh…I brought you a couple of things. To help out whilst your arm is strapped to your chest.” 

“Oh,” she says, wondering if she should hate him or not for how her cheeks flush, for how she feels the warmth of it spread down her chest, “That’s…that’s really nice of you.” 

There’s a moment of silence, a pause where both of them are trying to figure out what to say. 

“I…I only just realised how creepy this might seem,” he says, and she bites her lip to stop herself from laughing at him, “I’m sorry.” 

“Well, as long as you stick to your promise that you’re not a serial killer or kidnapper, I think we’ll be fine.” 

“I promise,” he says, and she can almost picture his smile, the edges of it slightly fuzzy because she hadn’t been able to commit it to memory yet. “So, can I come up?” 

“Yeah, sorry,” she says, pressing the button to release the front door, “You remember where to go?” 

“I’ll be up in a minute.” 

She hangs up the phone and blows out a shaky breath. She only has a moment to look at herself in the mirror, to fluff her hair a little in a way that has her rolling her eyes at herself, and then there’s a knock on the door. She smiles as she opens the door, and she has to press her lips together in an attempt to contain it the moment she sees him. 

He’s standing on her doorstep with a bag full of food in one hand - different foil dishes piled on top of each other - and a bunch of sunflowers in the other. 

“Hi,” she says, looking him up and down, “Come in.” 

“Thanks,” he replies, stepping past her and into the apartment, “I kept thinking about when I dislocated my shoulder a few years ago and I struggled to cook anything,” he says, turning to look at her, his smile flitting between nervousness and guilt as his eyes drift to her shoulder, “So I thought I’d make some casseroles for you to reheat. You can freeze some too.” 

It’s a type of kindness she’d rarely experienced, so for a moment it takes her by surprise. She furrows her brow and wraps her good arm around herself in an attempt to protect herself. “You cooked for me?”

He nods, “A few different things. I realised partway through that I didn’t know what you like.”

She smiles at him, feels herself relaxing a little in his presence in a way she still doesn’t understand but doesn’t want to fight against. “Did you have nothing better to do with your Saturday?” 

He shakes his head, “No.” 

“And the flowers?” 

He clears his throat, “Another apology for hitting you with my car,” he says, nodding towards the cat tree in the corner of the room, “I noticed you had a cat, so I looked up what flowers wouldn’t kill it.” 

She thinks of Sergio curled up on her bed, and she smiles. Aaron hadn’t met him in the brief moment he’d been in her apartment yesterday, he hadn’t even seen him, and she looks over at the cat tree he’d pointed out. It’s another thing that makes him endearing, something else that makes the walls she’d built around herself start to crumble with nothing more than a show of kindness from a man who had been a stranger just 48 hours ago. 

She hums, “You really notice everything, don’t you?” 

He shrugs, “Apart from beautiful women walking out in front of my car, apparently.” 

She chuckles at the look on his face, and she knows he’s said more than he meant to. She feels herself blush again, and she looks down so he doesn’t see it.

“Thank you, that’s…sweet.” She points behind her, “The kitchen is through here.”

He follows her through and puts the casseroles away in the fridge for her, and fills a vase with water for the flowers. He smiles at her as he places the sunflowers in the water, and then he turns to look at her.

“I should get going, I only wanted to bring you the food.” 

She barely waits for him to take a step before she’s talking, her desire to spend more time with him overriding anything else. “You could stay.” 

He turns to look at her, his eyebrows furrowed, “I don’t want to intrude.” 

“I was about to have dinner anyway,” she says, “And you cooked. Unless you have plans…”

“No, I have no plans,” he says, “As long as you’re sure.” 

She hums, “I’m sure,” she says, holding his eye contact a beat longer than she means to, “You can reheat the meal though.”

He smiles at her, and it’s a smile she thinks she’d like to see every day, and he steps past her, his hand on her waist as he walks towards the fridge, “Deal.” 

Later, months and countless dates and I love yous down the line, they’d argue over whether that night counted as their first date. 

She’d always argue that it wasn’t, that it couldn’t count because her shoulder was still strapped to her chest, and they didn’t even kiss until the following day when he came over again - this time because she invited him over. He’d always disagree and say it did count. He’d kiss her and say that he knew that night that he knew he would fall in love with her. It was something that would make her smile and roll her eyes at her boyfriend as she’d lean in to kiss him.

She’d never admit that she knew she’d fall in love with him that night too, but she knows she doesn’t have to - he already knew. 

[sequinsmile-x]

You've Got a Friend in Me - Part 2

She takes a step forward and stumbles, chuckling under her breath when she looks down to see Sergio at her feet, his head tilted to the side as he looks up at her, something she thinks might be curiosity written across his face. He’d been all over her recently, even more so than usual.

AKA - the one where Emily is pregnant and Sergio is obsessed with the baby.

Part 2/3

Part 1 can be read here

-x-

Hi besties,

Thanks for the love on part one <3 so so pleased you enjoyed this.

The final part will be up early next week.

As always, let me know what you think!

-x-

Warnings: pregnancy

Words: 2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Aaron knew she was exhausted. 

She did her best to hide it, would smile and insist she was fine whenever anyone other than him asked how she was, but she could never quite hide anything from him anymore. 

Pregnancy had been hard on her from the start. She was sick for the first 17 weeks, prone to throwing up at the slightest thing, and she was furious about it. Prone to cursing whoever called it morning sickness in the first place - because she was sick all day - and irritated at the lie she’d been sold about it fading after the first trimester. Aaron was as grateful as she was when the sickness faded. He hated feeling useless, hated that all he could do was hold her hair back for her, rub her back and keep a steady supply of ginger ale in the fridge. 

She was 22 weeks along now, feeling better overall, but tired all the time. He always assumed she’d get mad at him for fussing over her. He would hold his breath on the occasions when he thought he’d pushed it too far, but she seemed to like it, or at least put up with it. She let him look after her, and it felt like nothing short of an honour to be able to do so. When she complained that her commute was wearing her out, when she started coming home and would sink into the couch the moment she could, he offered to take her to and from work every day. She asked if he was sure, her hand on her stomach as she chased the baby’s movements that couldn’t be felt from the outside yet, and when he said yes, she took him up on the offer, something close to relief in her eyes as her shoulders relaxed. He drove her to and from as often as he could, and he put up with the way Clyde would raise an eyebrow at him and smirk whenever he saw him because he knew it was worth it. 

He’d do anything to make Emily feel more comfortable. 

“I think I finally look pregnant,” Emily says, yawning as she shifts in the passenger seat, looking down at her bump, “Not just like I’ve eaten more than I should have,” she smiles at him as he briefly looks at her, “The barista at the coffee shop told me I’d ‘popped’ this morning,” she says, scrunching her nose up, “Whatever that means.” 

He chuckles and reaches over, placing his hand on her belly, his smile impossibly wider as she links their fingers together, “You look beautiful.” 

She hums, “You have to say that, it’s your kid in there.” 

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” He says as he lifts their joint hands to kiss her knuckles before he lets go, returning his hand to the steering wheel. He hears her sigh of relief as the car turns onto their driveway, “What do you want for dinner?”

“Whatever you want, really,” she says, unbuckling her seat belt the moment the engine is off, “I’m too tired to make a decision.” 

“Why don’t you go in and sit down, sweetheart?” He says as he gets out of the car, grabbing both of their bags from the backseat. “I’ll make dinner and we can spend the evening on the couch watching one of those reality shows you pretend you don’t love.” 

She raises her eyebrow at him, “Says the guy who saved it to the DVR.” She yawns again as they walk into the house, “You sure you don’t mind making dinner? I feel like I’m not contributing anything these days.” 

He furrows his brows at her as he locks the door behind them and sets the alarm, and then he walks over, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible to stamp a kiss against her lips. “Not contributing anything? Em, you’re growing a whole new person,” he kisses her again, “The least I can do is make dinner.” 

She smiles at him, love filling the space in her chest she thinks might have always been there waiting for him, and she stamps her lips against his, “You, Aaron Hotchner, might get lucky tonight if you carry on saying shit like that.” 

“I’m always lucky, I’m married to you.” He quips, his smile wide and entirely hers, and she presses her thumbs into his dimples as she drags him in for another kiss. 

“You’re an idiot,” she replies, no bite to her words as she shakes her head at him, at his unfiltered love for her, “But you’re my idiot,” she kisses him one more time, “Go make dinner, me and baby are hungry.” 

He nods and unwraps himself from around her, making sure he’s touching her for as long as possible before he slips away. She yawns again, cursing herself under her breath for being so tired all the time, and she walks into the living room, sighing in relief when she sits down, her hand automatically on her bump as if drawn there, forever seeking out the proof that she finally had everything she’d always wanted. 

She turns her head as she hears a light thunk on the couch, followed by a meow, and she smiles as Sergio saunters over to her, meowing again as he headbutts her hand. 

“Hey, Serg,” she says, scratching between his ears, “You’ll have to put up with me tonight, Jack is at Jess’s.” Sergio chirps at her and climbs into her lap, resting his head on her bump as he gets comfortable. She chuckles and shakes her head lovingly at him, “Ah yes, your other favourite Hotchner is still here though.” 

She smiles at the vibration of him purring against her belly. His obsession with her and the baby had only increased as her pregnancy went on. He’d sit like this whenever given the chance, curled up in her lap with his head resting on her bump. He slept on her side of the bed too, as close to her as he could be with her pregnancy pillow in the way, and some days Emily wasn’t sure what Aaron was more jealous of - the cat or the pillow. 

She smiles when she feels a kick, but it’s only when Sergio sits up and looks offended as he stares at her bump, a look he usually only ever gave Aaron, sparking in his eyes, she realises he’s felt the baby move too. 

The baby’s movements had been something just for her so far. The sensation of gas bubbles in her belly had slowly given way to kicks over the last few weeks, but nothing has been strong enough to be felt from the outside. Aaron spent hours with his palm on her belly, ready to feel their little girl move. Sometimes he fell asleep like it only to wake up to Sergio scratching him, claiming his territory over Emily and the baby in a way she knew Aaron found adorable, even if he’d never say it. 

She sucks in a breath and tears immediately press at the back of her eyes at the thought of this being something she could finally share with her husband. 

“Aaron!” She calls out, only realising how desperate she sounds, how on edge, when Sergio jumps out of her lap and runs away, something immediately followed by a clatter of pans in the kitchen and her husband’s thundering footsteps as he runs to the living room. 

“Is everything okay?” He asks, his eyes wide, hands on his hips as if he were ready for action, and she can’t help but laugh. His confusion only adds to it, makes her place her hand over her mouth as she tries and fails to capture her laughter, the reason for calling him in briefly at the back of her mind, “Em? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” 

“Sorry, honey, yes,” she says, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself down, wiping away a tear from her cheek - unsure if it came from her happiness over the baby moving, or her laughter at her husband’s expense, “I’m fine. We’re both fine.” 

He blows out a slow breath and nods, swallowing thickly as he pushes down the panic that had climbed up his throat when she yelled out for him, “You scared me.” 

“Sorry,” she says, more seriously this time, sobering up as she reaches out a hand for him, smiling when he takes it as she squeezes their fingers together, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.” 

He nods, “What happened?” 

“The baby kicked,” she says, “Properly this time. Sergio felt it.” 

His eyes go wide, almost comically so, as he sits down next to her, one hand still wrapped around hers and the other on her bump, “The baby kicked?” He says, holding his breath as if that would make anything happen any quicker, “What did it feel like?” 

“Weird. Amazing. Everything in between. I thought it was one of the usual movements at first,” she says, shifting his hand to where the baby had moved, “But then Sergio sat up and looked at my bump the way he looks at you, so I realised he must have felt it too.” 

“I can’t believe the damn cat felt the baby move before I did,��� he grumbles, but she knows it’s good natured, that he didn’t really mind. 

“Well, to be fair, he did know the baby was in there before either of us - this kind of tracks. He’ll probably be the first to notice I’m in labour at this rate.” 

Aaron chuckles at that and keeps staring at her stomach, “Is the baby moving now?” 

She shakes her head, “No,” she says, watching as he tries to hide his disappointment from her, and she hooks a finger under his chin to make him look up at her, “Why don’t we order in Chinese food instead of you cooking, so you can sit here all evening with your hand glued to my stomach incase it happens again?” 

He nods, smiling as he leans in to kiss her, “I like that idea.” 

She presses her lips together in an attempt to contain her smile, sure her cheeks would split open if it got any wider. “Well, I am very smart,” she says, stamping her lips against his, “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” 

They sit there all evening, watching the show they both pretended they didn’t enjoy, Aaron’s hand on Emily’s bump as much as possible. Eventually, Sergio joins them again. He curls up in Emily’s lap and glares at Aaron when he realises he isn’t going to move, so he settles for resting his chin on Aaron’s hand. The baby kicks almost immediately, and Emily can’t help but wonder if the obsession Sergio seemed to have with the baby went both ways. It’s a thought that’s fleeting as Aaron gasps in wonder, the sound catching in his chest as tears spring to his eyes. He kisses her again and again, and tells her he loves her, the praise stamped against her cheek, her nose, her mouth. 

She starts to fall asleep on the couch, sandwiched in by her husband and her cat. She drifts off to the feel of her baby shifting in her belly, and she can’t help but wonder how she got so lucky.  She’s startled awake by a hiss from Aaron as he pulls his hand away from her belly, shaking it as he curses under his breath, bright red scratches appearing on the back of it. He shakes his head at Sergio as he saunters away, something close to pride in his step as he disappears into the house. 

“Damn cat.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

You've Got a Friend in Me - Part 2

She takes a step forward and stumbles, chuckling under her breath when she looks down to see Sergio at her feet, his head tilted to the side as he looks up at her, something she thinks might be curiosity written across his face. He’d been all over her recently, even more so than usual.

AKA - the one where Emily is pregnant and Sergio is obsessed with the baby.

Part 2/3

Part 1 can be read here

-x-

Hi besties,

Thanks for the love on part one <3 so so pleased you enjoyed this.

The final part will be up early next week.

As always, let me know what you think!

-x-

Warnings: pregnancy

Words: 2k

Read over on Ao3, or below the cut

Aaron knew she was exhausted. 

She did her best to hide it, would smile and insist she was fine whenever anyone other than him asked how she was, but she could never quite hide anything from him anymore. 

Pregnancy had been hard on her from the start. She was sick for the first 17 weeks, prone to throwing up at the slightest thing, and she was furious about it. Prone to cursing whoever called it morning sickness in the first place - because she was sick all day - and irritated at the lie she’d been sold about it fading after the first trimester. Aaron was as grateful as she was when the sickness faded. He hated feeling useless, hated that all he could do was hold her hair back for her, rub her back and keep a steady supply of ginger ale in the fridge. 

She was 22 weeks along now, feeling better overall, but tired all the time. He always assumed she’d get mad at him for fussing over her. He would hold his breath on the occasions when he thought he’d pushed it too far, but she seemed to like it, or at least put up with it. She let him look after her, and it felt like nothing short of an honour to be able to do so. When she complained that her commute was wearing her out, when she started coming home and would sink into the couch the moment she could, he offered to take her to and from work every day. She asked if he was sure, her hand on her stomach as she chased the baby’s movements that couldn’t be felt from the outside yet, and when he said yes, she took him up on the offer, something close to relief in her eyes as her shoulders relaxed. He drove her to and from as often as he could, and he put up with the way Clyde would raise an eyebrow at him and smirk whenever he saw him because he knew it was worth it. 

He’d do anything to make Emily feel more comfortable. 

“I think I finally look pregnant,” Emily says, yawning as she shifts in the passenger seat, looking down at her bump, “Not just like I’ve eaten more than I should have,” she smiles at him as he briefly looks at her, “The barista at the coffee shop told me I’d ‘popped’ this morning,” she says, scrunching her nose up, “Whatever that means.” 

He chuckles and reaches over, placing his hand on her belly, his smile impossibly wider as she links their fingers together, “You look beautiful.” 

She hums, “You have to say that, it’s your kid in there.” 

“Doesn’t make it any less true.” He says as he lifts their joint hands to kiss her knuckles before he lets go, returning his hand to the steering wheel. He hears her sigh of relief as the car turns onto their driveway, “What do you want for dinner?”

“Whatever you want, really,” she says, unbuckling her seat belt the moment the engine is off, “I’m too tired to make a decision.” 

“Why don’t you go in and sit down, sweetheart?” He says as he gets out of the car, grabbing both of their bags from the backseat. “I’ll make dinner and we can spend the evening on the couch watching one of those reality shows you pretend you don’t love.” 

She raises her eyebrow at him, “Says the guy who saved it to the DVR.” She yawns again as they walk into the house, “You sure you don’t mind making dinner? I feel like I’m not contributing anything these days.” 

He furrows his brows at her as he locks the door behind them and sets the alarm, and then he walks over, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her as close as possible to stamp a kiss against her lips. “Not contributing anything? Em, you’re growing a whole new person,” he kisses her again, “The least I can do is make dinner.” 

She smiles at him, love filling the space in her chest she thinks might have always been there waiting for him, and she stamps her lips against his, “You, Aaron Hotchner, might get lucky tonight if you carry on saying shit like that.” 

“I’m always lucky, I’m married to you.” He quips, his smile wide and entirely hers, and she presses her thumbs into his dimples as she drags him in for another kiss. 

“You’re an idiot,” she replies, no bite to her words as she shakes her head at him, at his unfiltered love for her, “But you’re my idiot,” she kisses him one more time, “Go make dinner, me and baby are hungry.” 

He nods and unwraps himself from around her, making sure he’s touching her for as long as possible before he slips away. She yawns again, cursing herself under her breath for being so tired all the time, and she walks into the living room, sighing in relief when she sits down, her hand automatically on her bump as if drawn there, forever seeking out the proof that she finally had everything she’d always wanted. 

She turns her head as she hears a light thunk on the couch, followed by a meow, and she smiles as Sergio saunters over to her, meowing again as he headbutts her hand. 

“Hey, Serg,” she says, scratching between his ears, “You’ll have to put up with me tonight, Jack is at Jess’s.” Sergio chirps at her and climbs into her lap, resting his head on her bump as he gets comfortable. She chuckles and shakes her head lovingly at him, “Ah yes, your other favourite Hotchner is still here though.” 

She smiles at the vibration of him purring against her belly. His obsession with her and the baby had only increased as her pregnancy went on. He’d sit like this whenever given the chance, curled up in her lap with his head resting on her bump. He slept on her side of the bed too, as close to her as he could be with her pregnancy pillow in the way, and some days Emily wasn’t sure what Aaron was more jealous of - the cat or the pillow. 

She smiles when she feels a kick, but it’s only when Sergio sits up and looks offended as he stares at her bump, a look he usually only ever gave Aaron, sparking in his eyes, she realises he’s felt the baby move too. 

The baby’s movements had been something just for her so far. The sensation of gas bubbles in her belly had slowly given way to kicks over the last few weeks, but nothing has been strong enough to be felt from the outside. Aaron spent hours with his palm on her belly, ready to feel their little girl move. Sometimes he fell asleep like it only to wake up to Sergio scratching him, claiming his territory over Emily and the baby in a way she knew Aaron found adorable, even if he’d never say it. 

She sucks in a breath and tears immediately press at the back of her eyes at the thought of this being something she could finally share with her husband. 

“Aaron!” She calls out, only realising how desperate she sounds, how on edge, when Sergio jumps out of her lap and runs away, something immediately followed by a clatter of pans in the kitchen and her husband’s thundering footsteps as he runs to the living room. 

“Is everything okay?” He asks, his eyes wide, hands on his hips as if he were ready for action, and she can’t help but laugh. His confusion only adds to it, makes her place her hand over her mouth as she tries and fails to capture her laughter, the reason for calling him in briefly at the back of her mind, “Em? Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” 

“Sorry, honey, yes,” she says, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself down, wiping away a tear from her cheek - unsure if it came from her happiness over the baby moving, or her laughter at her husband’s expense, “I’m fine. We’re both fine.” 

He blows out a slow breath and nods, swallowing thickly as he pushes down the panic that had climbed up his throat when she yelled out for him, “You scared me.” 

“Sorry,” she says, more seriously this time, sobering up as she reaches out a hand for him, smiling when he takes it as she squeezes their fingers together, “I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.” 

He nods, “What happened?” 

“The baby kicked,” she says, “Properly this time. Sergio felt it.” 

His eyes go wide, almost comically so, as he sits down next to her, one hand still wrapped around hers and the other on her bump, “The baby kicked?” He says, holding his breath as if that would make anything happen any quicker, “What did it feel like?” 

“Weird. Amazing. Everything in between. I thought it was one of the usual movements at first,” she says, shifting his hand to where the baby had moved, “But then Sergio sat up and looked at my bump the way he looks at you, so I realised he must have felt it too.” 

“I can’t believe the damn cat felt the baby move before I did,” he grumbles, but she knows it’s good natured, that he didn’t really mind. 

“Well, to be fair, he did know the baby was in there before either of us - this kind of tracks. He’ll probably be the first to notice I’m in labour at this rate.” 

Aaron chuckles at that and keeps staring at her stomach, “Is the baby moving now?” 

She shakes her head, “No,” she says, watching as he tries to hide his disappointment from her, and she hooks a finger under his chin to make him look up at her, “Why don’t we order in Chinese food instead of you cooking, so you can sit here all evening with your hand glued to my stomach incase it happens again?” 

He nods, smiling as he leans in to kiss her, “I like that idea.” 

She presses her lips together in an attempt to contain her smile, sure her cheeks would split open if it got any wider. “Well, I am very smart,” she says, stamping her lips against his, “I love you.” 

“I love you, too.” 

They sit there all evening, watching the show they both pretended they didn’t enjoy, Aaron’s hand on Emily’s bump as much as possible. Eventually, Sergio joins them again. He curls up in Emily’s lap and glares at Aaron when he realises he isn’t going to move, so he settles for resting his chin on Aaron’s hand. The baby kicks almost immediately, and Emily can’t help but wonder if the obsession Sergio seemed to have with the baby went both ways. It’s a thought that’s fleeting as Aaron gasps in wonder, the sound catching in his chest as tears spring to his eyes. He kisses her again and again, and tells her he loves her, the praise stamped against her cheek, her nose, her mouth. 

She starts to fall asleep on the couch, sandwiched in by her husband and her cat. She drifts off to the feel of her baby shifting in her belly, and she can’t help but wonder how she got so lucky.  She’s startled awake by a hiss from Aaron as he pulls his hand away from her belly, shaking it as he curses under his breath, bright red scratches appearing on the back of it. He shakes his head at Sergio as he saunters away, something close to pride in his step as he disappears into the house. 

“Damn cat.” 

[sequinsmile-x]

I am CACKLNG

Oh this is just-

[sequinsmile-x]

Just a PSA from fanfic girl herself that I won’t be posting a fic until Friday! I had a session with my PT at the gym today so my brain and body are no longer working, and tomorrow I’m at an awards ceremony with work.

BUT there will be the second chapter of You’ve got a friend in me, and a Aaron sick fic over the weekend ❤️

(Also I know I don’t have to explain but my anxiety makes me explain because I always feel like I need to prove my worth xo)

[sequinsmile-x]

Sometimes I really miss the hotchniss fandom from peak pandemic - the writers now are all so good and the fics are amazing but I remember when it was absolute chaos in the best way.

It was fun! And it’s fun now, but what I mostly remember from that time now is the absolutely relentless, ableist hate I got where I’d wake up to 50 anons saying “go fuck yourself you one legged c*nt” most mornings.

It’s what drove most people away actually!

It’s why I’m so sensitive to the “smaller” hate or criticism now because it was SO prolific then.

I’ve enjoyed both seasons of being in the fandom but now, in my opinion, things are more peaceful and more enjoyable as a creator.

[sequinsmile-x]

cme writers need creative writing classes asap

[sequinsmile-x]

Haven’t been able to stop thinking about Emily thinking of JJ as her best friend, but then overhearing JJ telling Penelope that she’s her best friend.

And just think of how often in her life Emily has been on the outside? How often she’s felt like she doesn’t quite fit in.

So she overhears part of a conversation she isn’t a part of and it hurts more than she expects it to. She feels stupid for feeling so hurt, but she’s suddenly 16 again and the hollow feeling in her chest greets her like an old friend.

(Yes I will be writing this, yes it will include established hotchniss)