Sunday had dragged so slowly for Aaron Hotchner. He'd spent the entire day arguing with himself, over whether to go to Emily's apartment and apologize to her or not. He wanted to but he just couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew that he'd only end up making things worse, as he still felt that they shouldn't tell the team about their relationship.

So he stayed at home and spent the remainder of his weekend fending off questions from his son, about why Emily hadn't stayed for another 'sleepover' and when he would get to see her again.

When Sunday evening finally came, Hotch helped Jack take a bath, before tucking him into bed and kissing him goodnight.

"Good night, Buddy."

"Good night, Daddy." The little boy smiled half-heartedly at his father.

Aaron's eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong, Jack?"

"I miss Emily." The child responded, honestly. "I like it when she's here."

The profiler sighed, pulling his son into a tight cuddle. "Me too, Buddy. Me too."

Hotch woke up on Monday morning, happy that he was finally going to get to see her again, after the one day away from her that seemed to last a lifetime.

After dropping Jack off at Jessica's with his school things, he made his way to work.

The unit chief got started on a file on his desk, glancing up every time he heard any movement in the bullpen. Rossi was the next member of his team to arrive. The older profiler gave his friend a nod, as a hello, before making his way to his own office to get started on some work.

Hotch couldn't bring himself to concentrate on the paperwork before him, constantly shifting his gaze to the bullpen every few seconds, eagerly awaiting her arrival. He had to see her. Even if she refused to look at him or speak to him all day, he just wanted to see her again.

After glancing down for what must have been the hundredth time, he spotted Emily Prentiss rounding the corner and walking into the bullpen with her head down.

He stared at her intensely, praying she'd look up at him, hoping she'd flash him that gorgeous smile, he'd missed yesterday, more than he thought possible.

But when the beautiful brunette did eventually risk a glance in his direction, he wished she'd just kept her head down. Even so far away he could see the sadness in her eyes, the hurt and the pain, expressed through her features. The hurt and the pain that he had caused.

Hotch continued to watch Emily as she settled herself down at her desk. He noticed the smile she forced onto her face as Morgan and Reid entered and greeted her. He noticed how she tried almost desperately to laugh along as Morgan began his usual 'Reid teasing' session.

He focused on Morgan and Reid now. They could tell that something was wrong with their friend.

He witnessed the look the pair flashed JJ, as the media liaison approached the small group, silently letting her know that their friend was upset.

His eyes followed Morgan as he scurried away, soon returning with Penelope Garcia, obviously an attempt to try and cheer Emily up.

But Aaron knew that it wouldn't help. He was the only one who could make things better, but he was damned if her knew how.

He gave a small smile as he witnessed the team all trying so hard to make Emily smile. The all cared for her so much and none of them knew that this was his fault.

David Rossi strode purposefully into the Unit chief's office. "What the hell have you done?"

Okay, so maybe one of them knew. Hotch glared up at his friend, unsure of what to say.

"Don't go all quiet on me, Aaron." Dave spat. "Look me in the eye and tell me that you're not the reason Emily's upset." Rossi took Hotch's silence as confirmation that his suspicions were correct. "Why, Aaron? You were happy. She was happy." He seemed unable to understand any reason why this could have possibly happened. "Do you really hate yourself that much, that you have to ruin the best thing that's happened to you in a very long time?"

"I…"

"No, you know what, I don't want to hear it." Dave cut him off. "Just fix it."

With that said, the older profiler stormed out of the room, leaving Aaron alone with his thoughts. Looking back down into the bullpen, he noticed that Emily had managed to convince the others to leave her for the time being.

As the day went on, Hotch hardly got any work at all done, between gazing down at Emily and trying to come up with an idea of how to make things up to her. After he saw her turn down Morgan and Reid's offer of lunch, he took his opportunity to talk with her while the coast was clear.

"Emily…" He couldn't think of what to say next. So many apologies had ran through his head in his office, but now he was stood in front of her, nothing sprang to mind. "Emily I…" He paused again.

"Can I help you with something, sir?" Prentiss asked blandly, not lifting her gaze from her paper work.

"Don't."

"Don't what, Hotch?"

"Don't… Sir me."

"Sorry, I guess I'm just used to calling you that." She spat his own words back at him.

"Emily…"

"I thought this was what you wanted."

"What I wanted?" He inquired, looking confused. "I want you."

"Well you've got a funny way of showing it."

"Jack missed you yesterday. He…"

"Don't you dare, Hotch!" Emily cut him off, finally lifting her gaze from the work in front of her, to glare up at the agent stood before her. "Don't use your son against me."

"I'm sorry." Aaron placed a hand and Emily's shoulder. "I know I messed up. I just want to make things right between us."

"Maybe you shouldn't be touching me, Sir. Somebody might see us."

"You know what, I don't care." He told her.

"That's not what you said on Saturday."

"Forget what I said on Saturday. There is a reason I have David Rossi setting up dates for me. I'm useless at this whole dating thing. I have no idea how to talk to women and I always say the wrong things. Emily, you have no idea how much I missed you yesterday. I don't care how crazy it sounds, but for some reason I can't spend a single day without you without going insane. I just want you to be happy. I want us to be happy. If you want me to, I'll march up to Strauss' office right now and tell her just how much I love you."

Emily's eyes widened at his confession. "You love me?"

Hotch's own expression matched Emily's as he realized what he had just let slip. He thought things over in his mind before offering her a soft smile. "Yes, I love you." He pressed a light kiss to her forehead, reveling as her first true smile of the day spread across her face. "Now, do you want me to go and tell Strauss?"

"No."

"Oh thank God." Hotch let out a long breath.

The female profiler chuckled softly, turning fully to face him. "Do you really mean that? You love me?""

"I do." He admitted. "I know it's probably a little soon in our relationship to be confessing that. But it's out there now, I guess."

"So this isn't just sex to you?"

Hotch flinched, a little hurt by her question. "Come on, Emily. You can't really believe I ever thought that. Do you really think so little of me?"

"No." She admitted, reaching out to grab at his arm as he began to pull away from her. "No, I'm sorry. I know I over reacted a little. I was just worried that you didn't care about me the way I cared about you. I knew I was falling for you and your adorable son, and I was falling fast. So when you seemed like you were embarrassed to be with me and then you referred to our relationship as a boss and subordinate having sex, and then, to top it all off, you called me 'Prentiss'." She paused for a brief moment before continuing. "I don't know. It hurt."

"I know." Aaron grabbed her hand and squeezed lightly. "I'm sorry. I'm working on that. Have you noticed that I haven't called you 'Prentiss' once today?"

"I have, actually." She beamed up at him. "I'm very impressed."

He winked at her, flashing those gorgeous dimples her way.

Emily quickly pulled away from Hotch as she spotted JJ and Garcia heading their way. "Thank you for helping me with that file, sir."

Hotch's eyebrows furrowed in confusion until he noticed the other female members of his team nearing Emily's desk. "No problem, Sweetheart. Anytime."

Emily's eyes widened at the pet name he used in front of their colleagues. "Aaron, I thought…"

He silenced her with a kiss, earning a gasp from all three ladies. "What? Can't a guy change his mind?"

"Oh. My. God!" Garcia let out, her jaw practically touching the floor. The technical analyst turned to the lady by her side. "Did you know about this?"

"I had my suspicions." JJ responded, grinning at the brunette pair before her. "Especially after a strange phone call the other week, regarding the dress size requirements for Emily, for an undercover operation that still hasn't come across my desk yet." The blonde smirked over at her boss.

"Oh, I forgot to inform you." Hotch responded stoically. "That operation isn't going forward anymore."

Emily, JJ and Penelope all laughed loudly at their boss' failed attempt to cover up his recent deceitfulness.

"Wait, he's buying you dresses?" Garcia exclaimed incredulously, gawking at her raven haired friend. "How long exactly has this been going on?"

"Not long at all." She replied, thinking back, smiling. "Actually, he bought me the dress before we even had our first date."

JJ and Penelope continued to question Emily on every single detail of the last few weeks of her life and after a short while Hotch gave up on his protests for them to get back to work and made his way back up to his office, earning an approving nod from Dave along the way.

Aaron witnessed, moments later, Garcia announcing the news to Morgan and Reid upon their return from their lunch break. His lips tugged upwards as he saw the happy expressions the male profilers offered Emily. He let of a slight snicker as he caught Emily's eye roll as Morgan had, no doubt, began to tease her.

She had been right, of course. No one on their team was going to judge them for their feelings. They were all so happy for them. He knew now for certain this was what he wanted. Emily Prentiss. She was his, to show off to the world. Well, to his team anyway. He trusted that none of them would take the information any further and he just had to hope that they could keep it away from Strauss for as long as possible. But if she did find out, it would be worth it. It had to be worth it, for Emily. They would deal with that hurdle, if and when it came.

The Unit Chief was dragged away from his thoughts, by the sound of his cell phone beeping. He glanced down into the bullpen, seeing that the message was from Emily, noticing that the rest of his team had all now returned to work.

'So, if we don't have a case this Friday… me, you, Jack, dinner?'

Hotch full on grinned at the message, before typing his reply.

'I'm not sure, I was considering having Martin over for dinner. Maybe keep my options open.'

He witnessed as Emily laughed wholeheartedly down at her desk, beaming up at him, before returning her attention to her cell phone.

'Whoever knew that SSA Aaron Hotchner had such a sense of humor?'

'I've told you already, I can't let everyone see this side of me. It would ruin my reputation. Plus, who said I was joking?'

'Haha, very funny, Aaron. Can I at least look after Jack, while you and Martin have your date? In all honesty, he's my favorite Hotchner.'

Aaron smiled softly at that, before remembering something that was happening this weekend.

'Actually Emily, all jokes aside, Jessica's parents are visiting her this Friday and staying for the weekend. I promised Jessica that she could keep Jack this Friday night so that he could spend some time with his grandparents. And I would collect him on Saturday afternoon.'

'Oh, well we can make our Friday night thing a Saturday night this weekend if you like?'

'We could… Or I could take you out on Friday, to that new Greek restaurant on Savile Walk, I know you've been wanting to try? Then we could even go to see a movie that isn't out of Jack's DVD collection?'

'You know what, Agent Hotchner? You're not as bad at this dating thing as you think.'

Hotch chuckled at that.

'So it's a date?'

'It's a date on one condition…'

'You name it.'

'We get to go back to yours afterwards, drink more wine than we should and talk all about your date.'

'Of course, that's our tradition. That's not going to stop now, just because it's you that I'm dating.'

'So it's a deal?'

'I can't think of a way I'd rather spend my Friday night.'

And he meant it. His time sat on the sofa, talking and laughing with Emily Prentiss on a Friday night had become such a highlight in his life. No matter how little or how far forward his relationship with her progressed, he knew that he would always treasure those times.

His cell beeped once more.

'Are you sure about that statement, Aaron? I mean, we do have the place to ourselves, after all… ;-)'

His stare instantly met her lust filled gaze down in the bullpen. Well of course, there were plenty of other memories that he was going to treasure as well. That much, he was sure of.

6 and a half years late I know.

If there is anyone of the original readers still reading this after all this time, you have amazing dedication and I can only apologize for the disgustingly long wait. All I can blame it on is life. I found this half written chapter on an old laptop and i started to finish it and remembered how much i used to love to write when I was at school. After finally remembering the password and email for my account, I thought i would share this with you. This is the final chapter. To anyone still reading, I hope you enjoy.

Jade x