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sequinsmile-x · 3 years

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Fracture

Theo Hotchner breaks his arm.

A mini-fic set post ITSWM. (I know I haven’t finished posting that yet but I wrote some fluff for this universe because I needed the serotonin, and thought you might too.)

Rating: General

Words: 2.5k

It happens in slow motion. Aaron watches as Theo falls from the jungle gym, landing awkwardly on his arm as he hits the ground. There’s a beat of silence, a moment where Aaron thinks everything might be ok when runs over, and then his son starts crying hysterically as he sits up.

When he sees Theo’s arm, bent at an unnatural angle, his first thought is that Emily was going to kill him.

____________

Emily feels her phone ring in her pocket for the second time in as many minutes and the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She knows it’s Aaron without looking, having rejected his initial call only a minute before with the intention of calling him back the minute she was free. He never calls her at work, knowing the pressure of her job since he had once done it himself.

He usually texts her, sends her a photo of the kids as they do something adorable or slightly mischievous. Photos of Amelia smiling widely at the camera, or Theo and Jack playing Mario Kart together, matching looks of concentration on their faces. They helped, reminding her of what was waiting for her when she got home from horrific case after horrific case, that despite everything she still had her family.

She’d never tell Aaron that they also hurt at times. Tiny reminders of what she missed out on when she was away.

The fact he was calling her twice in such quick succession could only mean something was wrong.

Emily looks at the team as they deliver the profile to the local detectives. Dave catches her eye and gives her a quick nod as she lifts her phone and tilts her head down a hallway.

She answers the phone just as it’s about to ring out. “Aaron, is everything ok?”

Aaron sighs over the phone. “It’s Theo, he’s okay I promise, but he’s broken his arm.”

For a moment she swears her heart stops in her chest, panic seeping through her body at the thought of her precious little boy being hurt. “He’s not okay if he’s got a broken bone, Aaron.”

“Sweetheart.” He says firmly, preventing her from spiralling any further. “He’s in a bit of pain but he’s ok. He’s just convinced me this means we get to have ice cream for dinner.”

She barks out a laugh that catches in her throat. “That boy will do anything for ice cream.” She pauses to take a breath, her emotions still overwhelming despite Aaron’s attempts to distract her. “What happened?”

“He fell off the jungle gym.”

She frowns at this, indignation running through her veins. “Aaron, I-”

“Yes, I know you told me he has almost fallen off of it before. I can’t exactly tell him he can’t go on it though sweetheart.”

She sighs, and feels the anger leave her just as quickly as it came. She looks over her shoulder when she hears the room full of local officers and detectives start to disperse.

“Do you want to talk to him?” Aaron asks gently.

“Yes please.” She breathes out, and waits a second as she hears Aaron talking to Theo in the background, the sound of the emergency room they were in almost drowning out their conversation.

“Hi, Mommy.” He sniffs, sounding incredibly sorry for himself. Her chest feels tight at the sound of it, at the use of the name ‘mommy’ when her 8 year old had mostly been calling her ‘mom’ lately.

“Hi, sweetie. How are you feeling?”

“My arm hurts.” He grumbles. “The doctor said I could get a cast in any colour.”

“Really?” She asks, voice full of fake enthusiasm. “What colour are you going for?”

“Green.” He sniffs again, a sign that he had been crying that broke her heart. “Are you coming home?”

Emily closes her eyes, and she blows out a breath. “I can’t, sweetie. I’m working, remember? I’m in Texas.”

“Okay.” The disappointment in his voice is palpable, and it takes everything in her to not start crying there and then. Thoughts of how she could leave in the middle of the case, assign someone else as agent in charge and just go home and hug her son.

And maybe smack her husband for letting Theo go on the jungle gym in the first place.

“Emily.” Dave’s voice interrupts her and she turns to look at him, holding up a finger to show she just needed another minute.

“Theo, honey, I’ve got to go okay. I love you so much. I’ll call later.”

“Love you too.”

She smiles at that, as she has done every single time since he first said it. “Can you pass me back to Dad?”

There's another shuffle on the other end of the phone, a quick curse from her husband as one of them nearly drops the phone. “Sweetheart?”

“I’ve really got to go, I’m sorry.”

“Baby, we get it.” He reassures, clearly able to hear how sad she is, how torn she is over what to do. “Theo gets it too usually, you know you’re the first thing any of us wants when we’re sick or hurt.”

Emily nods despite the fact she knows he can’t see her, and she hastily wipes away the tear the movement drops onto her cheek. “I know, you Hotchner’s really can’t cope without me.” She jokes.

“We can get by until you wrap up the case.” He replies, and she can just imagine the grin on his face, the way it would bring out his dimples. “I’ll text when we’re home okay?”

“Yeah, thank you. Love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart.”

She hangs up the phone and turns back to Dave, who is standing behind her still, with concern all over his face. “Is everything okay at home?”

Emily sighs as she puts her phone back in her pocket and starts to walk back to the conference room, Dave keeping pace at her side. “Theo’s broken his arm, so Aaron took him to hospital.”

Despite how neutrally she tries to say it she clearly fails, Dave coming to a stop and putting a hand on her arm. “The poor kid. We can always manage here if you need to head back.”

She frowns at him. “I can still do my job, Dave.”

He holds his hands up in surrender. “I never said you couldn’t, Bella. I just know that you aren’t going to believe he’s fine until you see him for yourself.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I am fine.” She practically growls at him before walking past into the conference room.

“Yeah.” Dave says to himself. “That was definitely said in a way a person who was fine would say it.”

____________

Emily was aware that she was in a foul mood, snapping at the team as they asked questions or every time they came up against a dead end. The need to get home as quickly as possible clawing at her throat. Photos that Aaron had sent her the night before of Theo with his bright green arm cast, and a bowl of ice cream in front of him only further deepening that need.

It culminates in her shouting at Derek like she never had before, something that made him say the ‘Hotch attitude’ was finally rubbing off on her. She threatened him with victimology for the rest of his career and then stormed out, ignoring the way the locals looked at her as she did.

She finds solace in the women’s bathroom, or at least she did right up until Dave followed her in.

“You shouldn’t be here, Dave.” She says as she briefly turns to look at him, before going back to looking at her weary face in the mirror. Sleep had not come easy for her the night before, George Foyet always making his way back into her subconscious every time someone in her family was hurt.

“Neither should you, Emily.” He clears his throat, clearly ready for an argument. “Which is why I’ve booked you a flight home.”

Emily turns quickly at that, stares him down. “You did what?”

“I booked you a flight, it leaves in two hours. I’ll drive you to the airport.”

She takes a step towards him and crosses her arms across her chest. “I can’t just leave in the middle of a case. I am the Unit Chief.”

“And you’re a damn good one, but you’re also an excellent mother. And I know that you need to see your little boy more than he needs to see you.”

Emily stares at him before nodding, relenting to doing exactly what she had been wanting to do in the 30 hours it had been since Aaron had called her. “You’re right. I’ll go. But I expect updates about what's going on here.”

“As you wish.” He stands out of her way so she can get past him and leave the bathroom. “The ticket is first class by the way, so drink some free champagne and do everyone a favour and chill out.”

Emily grimaces as they walk back towards the conference room. “Have I really been that bad?”

“You owe everyone at least one drink. I think you owe Derek a month off of paperwork.”

“He wishes.” Emily scoffs.

____________

Aaron watches in amusement as Amelia climbs onto the couch next to Theo and starts to, not very gently, stroke his hair. It’s what Emily did for all of them, Aaron included, when they were sick or hurt and Theo lets his sister do it, despite it clearly being the last thing he wanted. Watching his two year old daughter mirror her mother made his heart constrict, and he wished more than ever that his wife was here.

His phone rings and he grabs it, smiling as he sees Emily’s name and picture on the screen. “Hey, how are things?”

“I’m on a plane.” She replies, a small laugh in her voice. “Dave bought me a ticket and drove me to the airport. Took me as far as security would let him to make sure I got onboard.”

Aaron couldn’t pretend he was anything other than relieved. He’d noticed the tension in his wife during the brief phone calls and text exchanges about their son’s injury. Not to mention Theo was miserable, barely putting up with his little sister's antics anymore, and getting crankier by the second.

“What time do you get in?”

“Too late for you to even think about picking me up, I’ll get a cab home.”

He wants to argue, to go get her and tell her everything is fine, but he knows that's not what she needs him to do. She would want him here, in their home, with their kids. “Okay, just text me when you land.”

“I will. Love you.”

“You too.” He says as he hangs up.

“Everything okay, Dad?” Jack’s voice comes from behind him.

Aaron turns to look at his 17 year old son. “Yeah, Emily is on her way.”

Jack smiles at him, the same smile he inherited from Haley. “Uncle Dave sent her home?” Jack laughs at Aaron’s nod. “That’s a whole day sooner than you said it would happen.”

Aaron laughs. “She must have been in a really bad mood.”

____________

When Emily gets home it’s already well past Theo’s bedtime. As soon as she is in the house she sneaks into his bedroom and her chest tightens at the sight of his bright green cast laid on a pillow next to him. Archie held tightly under Theo’s good arm. She walks over to his bed and presses a kiss to his forehead, whispering apologies for not being home earlier into his hairline.

Amelia is also asleep. Emily sits down on the edge of her bed and tucks her in a little bit tighter and runs her fingers through her daughter's increasingly unruly hair.

Jack was still up, playing video games online with his friends. She pops her head in his room and quietly says hi, aware she had accidentally embarrassed him in the past. He throws her a grateful smile and a wave and she closes the door behind her.

When she gets to her own room Aaron is sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for her, and immediately stands as she closes the door behind her. She’s in his arms before she can really register it, and the lump that had sat in her throat since Aaron called her about Theo dissipates almost immediately.

Emily wraps her arms tightly around him, and presses her face into his soft t-shirt. “Hey.”

Aaron presses a kiss to the top of her head and rubs a hand up and down her back. “Hey sweetheart.”

He encourages her to get ready for bed, and joins her. Their nighttime routines are easily done around each other, years of practise behind them. Once they settle into bed he immediately pulls her into his arms and rests her on his chest.

“You ok?” He asks gently, fingers running up and down her arm.

“Yes.” She swallows against the word, and it tasted like a lie. “No. I just feel like a bad mom.” She admits into his chest, the fear that had been circling around in her head for longer than the last couple of days bursting out of her. “I know I’m not.” She says as she feels him take in a breath to admonish her, and she rubs the tension from his chest with the palm of her hand. “Being their mom is my favourite thing, but when I can’t be here when my son hurts himself...it really sucks.”

Aaron hears the way her voice cracks, and the way her body shudders when she tries to hold back the tears he had no doubt she had been putting off since he called her to tell her about Theo’s accident.

“You’re okay, Em. And so is he.” Aaron kisses the top of her head. “He’ll be so happy when he wakes up to see you tomorrow, and I’ll go back to being second favourite even though I gave him ice-cream two days in a row.”

She pushes herself up by the hand on his chest, her tearstained face coming into view. “Two days in a row?”

____________

Theo is delighted to see her the next morning, all but forgetting about his broken arm as he launches himself at her. He begs her to sign his cast, to draw a picture on it for him, and she smiles when she sees the scribbles on it clearly left by Aaron helping Amelia hold the pen.

When her daughter realises she is home she squeals and demands to be held by her mother for hours.

They watch a movie together, all of them piling into the living room. Theo chooses the movie, Monsters Inc, and Aaron levels a glare at Jack when he opens his mouth to complain.

“Breaking your arm is fun.” Theo exclaims as he sits in between his parents, ready to watch his favourite movie.

Aaron and Emily exchange a look over the top of their son’s head and they both suppress a laugh.

They were all going to be fine.

#Hotchniss #hotchniss fic #hotchniss fanfic #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #WTB Universe #ITSWM #David Rossi being a busy body #The OG hotchniss shipper #mini fic

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sequinsmile-x · 3 years

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Hi, can I order a totally jealous Emily Prentiss?🥺She can't say anything because she and aaron don't have a romantic relationship, but it ends up exploding and they both bring out their feelings.

Order up!!

Just a quick note, if you have sent me one of these I have it and will get to it eventually. Feel free to send me more, I love doing them :)

Happier

Words: 2k

Warnings: A bit of cursing

She doesn’t know what it is at first. Or at least, that's what she tells herself when Aaron introduces them to Beth. That she doesn’t know what the gnawing feeling in her belly is, or why her whole body burns when she sees them together. The way Aaron’s hand falls to Beth’s lower back on a team night out when he invites her along makes her want to cry. How seeing him kiss her makes Emily’s chest ache and her teeth clench as she holds back the words that want to claw their way out of her throat.

It should have been me.

It was her, exactly once. They’d all been out for drinks, the team's favourite way of blowing off steam after a particularly rough case. All of them staring ahead in silence on the jet home, their minds rolling over the fresh horrors they had seen, until someone, usually Derek, would suggest drinks the following night.

Aaron, ever the gentleman, had taken her home. Sharing a cab with her despite the fact she lived in the opposite direction to him and insisting he walked her to her door. If it had been anyone else she would have questioned their motivation and assumed they were searching for the invitation into her apartment that was on the tip of her tongue. But Aaron didn’t, he simply walked her to her door and turned away once he was happy she was safe. Something in her snapped, dozens of small moments leading up to that one. She placed a hand on his shoulder and spun him round, kissing him before he could say anything.

He left her apartment in the early hours of the morning, his lips pressed against her bare shoulder as he murmured something about having to get home to Jack. A promise that they would talk about this, both of them acknowledging that this could never be just once into the darkness of her bedroom.

Sean McAllister called the next day, and once was all they ever got.

A small part of her, a naive part, had hoped that something could happen when she came back from Paris. But it never happened. Their friendship remained unaffected by the night they had spent together and she often wondered if she’d imagined it, if she had dreamt how it felt to have his hands on her skin.

Then he’d look at her, something close to affection in his eyes and she’d know she hadn’t. That it had been real, but all they would ever have.

“He’s happy.”

Dave’s voice makes her jump, and she turns to look at him where he has appeared next to her, her hand on her chest as she blows out a breath. She realises she’d been staring, her face set in a firm line and her grip on her glass tight.

“Damn it, Dave. We need to get you a bell or something.” She says, ignoring what he had said. Hoping he would drop it. He smirks at her as he tilts his head towards where Aaron and Beth are dancing and laughing together.

“He’s happy.”

She clears her throat, hoping her voice remains steady. “So you’ve said.”

“But he could be happier.”

Her head snaps from where she’d been watching them back to Dave, her eyebrows raised, her mouth open in shock.

“How do you-”

“I know everything, bella.” He says, smirking at her again, and she briefly wonders if Aaron would suspend her if she punched the older man in the face. “The case just before Doyle escaped if I’m correct?”

Dave laughs at her when she blushes slightly, giving him the only answer he needs.

“Shut up, Dave.” She says, taking a sip of her drink so she could re centre herself. She makes the mistake of looking back over and feels the usual turning of her stomach as she looks at Aaron and Beth and they are kissing.

“You’re jealous.”

She opens her mouth to argue with him but can’t. He’d given a name to what she’d been feeling for weeks. Jealousy.

She wanted it to be her.

“Like I said,” Dave says, laying a hand on her shoulder. “He’s happy, but he could be happier.” He squeezes her shoulder. “Just make sure you’re sure if you say something. He’s been through enough.”

That is what kept her quiet. What stopped her from telling him how she felt, even before Beth came on the scene. Aaron deserved a happy ending, a peaceful epilogue to his life after so much pain and sorrow. She wanted him and his son, his sweet, wonderful, son to have that. Even if she wasn’t part of it.

She’d get over it. Eventually.

Dave walks off before she can reply and Emily sighs, shaking her head as she downs the rest of her drink. She looks back over and decides she can’t stay any longer, can’t watch the man she’s fairly sure she loves with the woman he loved. Aaron’s eyes briefly catch hers and she smiles before looking away.

Emily quickly says goodbye to the rest of the team, claiming a headache when the rest they try to make her stay.

She’s on the sidewalk trying to hail a cab when she hears the door of the bar open again and her shoulders tense. She knows it’s him before she turns around, able to sense his presence so easily it tore through her, lancing at her fragile nerves.

“Is everything ok, Emily?” He asks, his hands in his pockets as he looks at her, gentle concern written all over his face.

“I’m fine, Hotch.” She says, tearing her eyes away from his, knowing he would catch her out if he looked at her for too long. “I’m just not feeling it tonight.”

“Em-”

“Please, Aaron.” She practically pleads, cursing under her breath when another cab drives straight past her. “Just leave it, I’m fine.”

“At least let me get you home.” He offers. He hadn’t been drinking, he had driven to the bar that night, and she remembers watching him open the car door for Beth as they arrived.

She scoffs. “And what, show me to my door? Come in for a night cap?” She asks, more malice in her voice than she intended. Coming the closest to addressing the one night they had spent together than either of them ever had.

“Emily.” He steps towards her, placing his hand on her shoulder and she shrugs him off, his touch burning through her. Flashes of memories of how it felt to be under him, overwhelmed by him, washing over her.

“Please. Leave it.” She says, stepping forwards as a cab finally stops for her. “Go back to your girlfriend, Aaron.”

She knows she’s being unfair, the desolate look on his face making her heart clench in her chest as she climbs into the cab and gives her address to the driver, and she doesn’t look at him again as they drive off.

She just wanted him to be happy, why didn’t he understand that?

__________

Emily has been home for two hours, having changed into her pajamas and pouring herself a large glass of wine the moment she walks into her apartment, when there's a knock at her door.

She sighs, placing her glass down on the coffee table as she stands, assuming it is Dave who has come to check on her. The texts he had sent her after she left the bar were ignored apart from a confirmation that she had made it home.

She opens the door without checking who it is, a chastisement for her nosey, but well meaning, friend already making its way out.

“Look, Dave I appreciate-” She looks up and stops, face to face with Aaron. “Oh. Not Dave.”

“Definitely not.” He says, a soft smile on his face. She doesn’t move, just stands there staring at him as he clears his throat. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” She stutters out, stepping back to let him in. He walks further into her apartment, looking around, and she realises he had never been here before, his only visits having been to her old place before her fake death. She stands behind him and crosses her arms across her chest, as if protecting herself. “What do you want, Aaron?”

“This is a nice place.” He says, turning back to look at her.

“Aaron.”

“I think we should talk.” He steps towards her and offers his hand out, but she just stares at it before raising her eyebrow at him.

“About what?”

“Us.” He grabs her hand and leads her towards her couch. It takes her a second to register what he’s said, and she wrenches her hands out of his.

“Us?” She scoffs. “You have a girlfriend, Aaron. We are nothing.” She says, not believing the words as she says them herself.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Aaron replies, as if it’s the most simple thing in the world. As if she hadn’t watched him kissing Beth only a few hours before.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Beth and I broke up.”

“God, Aaron.” She looks at the floor and blows out a breath before she looks back at him. “That’s not…” She drifts off unsure what she wants to say. “Why?”

“I think you know why, Emily.” He holds her hand again and she doesn't pull away this time, lets herself get dragged towards him. “We never spoke about it. I thought we would, but then you pulled away. At the time I thought you regretted it, that you realised that screwed up single fathers weren’t your thing.”

Her face falls at that, her spare hand moving of its own accord to cup his cheek. “Aaron-”

“Then by the time I realised what was actually going on you were already lost. I gave you space when you came back and we still never talked about it so I thought it was over before it even started.” He moves his hand to her lower back, holding her in place. As if his words weren’t enough of an anchor to keep her in place. “Then I met Beth and she was nice, and funny. And she made me feel happy.”

She does start to pull away at that, but he holds her firmly in place.

“Never for a second did I think you felt the same way, Emily. Otherwise I would have waited until you were ready.” He says, and she opens her mouth to talk but he carries on. “You weren’t being very subtle tonight.”

She flushes and bites her lip. “I’m sorry.” She says, finally finding her voice. “I didn’t want to get in the way of anything. I’d have gotten over it eventually.”

“I wouldn’t have.” He says firmly, pulling her slightly closer. “You’re it, Emily. And I know you might not be ready yet, that you might need time. But I’ll be here waiting for you when you are.”

She chokes out a sound that sounds somewhere between a laugh and a sob and she hugs him, closing the final gap between them as she buries her face in his jacket, his scent overwhelming her. She isn’t sure how much time passes, how long they stand there in her living room before she speaks.

“Aaron?” She pulls back to look at him, a smile on her face.

“Yes?” He replies as he tucks some hair behind her ear, the tender gesture making her stomach burn, but for entirely different reasons to earlier in the bar

“I’m ready.”

He kisses her so fiercely the only reason she stays standing is his grip on her, his arms tight around her back. She kisses him back, pouring everything she cannot say yet into it, hoping he understands.

__________

At their wedding a year later Dave makes a speech taking credit for finally pushing them together. His exaggerated words about finding Emily seething with jealousy in a downtown dive bar making the small crowd laugh and her blush, hiding her face into Aaron’s shoulder as he chuckles at her when she groans.

Aaron cups the back of her head and she looks up at him, unable to stop herself from smiling.

She kisses him and all she feels is love.

#hotchniss #hotchniss mini fic #hotchniss fan fiction #aaron x emily #aaron hotchner x emily prentiss #aaron hotchner #emily prentiss #jealous emily #Dave being a busybody as always #Dave Rossi: the OG Hotchniss shipper #this got softer than I meant it to??#as always #Happy friday friends

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