7 years - Hotchniss

four years before

"You need to calm down", he heard JJ say, her voice becoming louder as he realized that she was right beside him, not miles away. "You're panicking."

How could they not panic?

Hotch tried to answer, but his whole mind was blank and there was a lump in his throat that he just wasn't able to swallow, so it was useless. He tried to think, he really did; but the more he tried to concentrate, the worse it got.

The only steady thing on his mind was the constant and ever returning sound of the two shots, making him flinch from time to time.

He remembered how he had yelled, but he had been way too late. Whatever he had done, it hadn't been enough to prevent these two shots.

Four years ago:

"No, Aaron, you're behaving selfish and childish and I want you to stop", Emily exclaimed after he had closed the door of his office behind them.

They had just returned from a case in Vegas and she was not very happy about what had happened over there.

"Can't you see that there are people who care about you and who need you?", she turned around to face him, her eyes narrowed in anger as she kept them on him. "That I need you?"

"Emily, it was just an arrest that didn't go as smoothly as we had expected it to be", he tried to explain, but she just shook her head.

"I don't care about the arrest", she hissed. "You didn't wear your vest, Aaron. And you nearly caught a bullet if Morgan hadn't taken the Unsub down beforehand."

"I didn't consider that she would be armed", Hotch sighed. "Therefore I didn't wear it."

"You should always wear it! We all do!", she spat. "We all wore our vests today, why didn't you wear yours? Is this some kind of 'coolness thing'?"

"Don't be ridiculous", he mumbled.

"I am most certainly not the one who's being ridiculous", the brunette snapped. "Imagine me, going in the field without a vest. Wouldn't that bother you?"

His face went a little pale at this thought. "It would bother me", he then replied.

"See?", Emily sighed and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"I'm sorry, Em", her boyfriend finally sighed. "You're right, it was stupid of me."

"Promise me that you will always wear your vest from now on", she sighed and looked down, her anger slowly fading.

"I do, if you do so, too", he nodded.

"Deal, I promise", she said and leaned against his desk. "I'm sorry", she then sighed. "But this topic has become very sensitive to me since you caught a bullet in your vest a few years ago."

"It's okay", he smiled and stepped closer to her. "I don't want to imagine how I would feel if you ever caught one, even with your vest on."

A small smile formed on Emily's lips and she pecked his lips quickly. "I should go, write that report", she then sighed. "Do you come downstairs when you're ready to head home?"

"Sure, I'll hurry", Hotch smiled and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before she got up and left.

"Did you kick his ass for not wearing his vest?", JJ smiled as Emily returned to the bullpen.

"You can bet I did", she nodded and rolled her eyes.

Emily knew that she had probably been overreacting, but the bare thought of losing him scared the guts out of her. She had never grown attached to many people, there were only a few; Matthew, when she was younger, and her team. However, Hotch was the only person she had ever truly loved, and even though she hated to admit it, he was her weakness. If she ever lost him, she just knew that she would never get happy again.

Additionally, there were just so many things left in life she wanted to experience with him, and only him; no one else.

As they arrived home later that day, Hotch found that Emily was awfully quiet. He figured that she was still a bit mad, however, it seemed odd to him.

Only as he joined her in bed a while later, she moved closer to him and rested her head on his chest. He closed his eyes as he began to run his fingers up and down her spine.

"If the world was ending tomorrow", she finally spoke. "What would you do?"

"How would I know that the world was going to end?", he asked back, slightly confused.

"I don't know", she shrugged. "But that's not the point."

"Hm", he mumbled, thinking. "I don't know, honestly, but I would spend every single second with you."

A smile formed on Emily's lips and she moved her head to look up at him. "You would?"

"Of course", he nodded. "Why are you asking me this?"

"Oh, there's just been this thought stuck on my mind", she quickly shrugged.

"Which thought?", he asked and fully opened his eyes as she sat up next to him.

"Well, about you and me", Emily mumbled, not quiet sure about what she was going to do. "And our future..."

"Okay?", Hotch asked, slightly confused, and propped himself up on his elbow.

"So, I was wondering if you ever thought about taking things a bit more serious, you know?", she carefully asked, not daring to look him in the eye.

"Aren't we already 100% serious about our relationship?", he had absolutely no clue what she was talking about, and it scared him a bit. Did she really think that their relationship wasn't serious? After all these years? After they had moved together already?

"That's not what I was talking about", she smiled. "I was talking about taking another step."

"Whereto?"

"God, Aaron", Emily couldn't take it no more. "You're really clueless, aren't you?"

"I guess I am", he said, his voice showing that he was still in pure confusion. He had probably never been as lost as in that moment, but he just couldn't follow her words.

His girlfriend let out a small chuckle before finally looking into his eyes: "I am asking you to marry me, you idiot!"