Plausible Deniability

Aftershock

She was pressing an ice pack to her face and tonguing at the fresh gash in her lip. She winced as the line was being tugged in her arm and looked out the open ambulance doors. She sighed,

    "I'm fine," she rolled her eyes and looked away from me.

    I quickly double-checked that no one was paying too much attention and hopped inside the truck. She sat up straighter and watched her arm being stitched back up.

    "How is she?" I asked the EMT and watched Evan glare.

    "She'll be fine," he mumbled and tied off another stitch. "Anymore damage and we would have needed to redo the whole thing."

    "I'm fine, Aaron."

    "She'll be bruised and sore for a while but nothing is broken," he paused and just happened to look up into that death stare. "She's fine." He complied and tied off the last stitch. "Ice and rest."

    "Yep," she called behind her as she stumbled out of the doors. I sighed and shook my head.

    "Is she always like that or is it just...?"

    "No. This is very usual. Unfortunately." I mumbled and followed her onto he asphalt. I watched her head over to the car, head down and staring at her boots.

    "Hotch," JJ called me over to her and Emily and I barely felt myself wondering back in their direction. My mind was with her in that car.

    "She okay?" I could tell Emily felt guilty about letting her go in instead of herself.

    "She's tough. She'll be fine," I played along and kept my answers as simple as possible.

    "Well at least it's over." JJ reassured me and gave me a small smirk. I looked at her confused,

    "For now," I kept playing. "Let's just all get back for tonight and start fresh in the morning. There's going to be a ton of paperwork for this one."

    "Lovely," Emily joked and started to head back with JJ and Reid. I took my time talking to the other officers and closing up what we needed to before we headed out. By the time I got back to the car she was asleep. I didn't wake her or even try to speak, I just started the car and headed back to the airport.

    I knew everyone was watching me watch her and in this moment, I didn't care. She was in pain, leaning against the window, knocked out from the medication. It was my fault. I sighed and looked away for a moment and rested my head back on my fist. I closed my eyes and remembered the exact moment that I let her get away with this...

    "Absolutely not."

    "Why not?"

    "No way."

    "Emily can't go in and JJ isn't his type."

    "You're not going in there." I put my foot down at this and looked into her glare. She was still silently arguing and I couldn't let the others see. "Could you all give us a moment, please." I looked around the room at the confused faces and watched them file out the door. I walked over and closed the blinds to the conference room we were using and immediately she opened that mouth.

    "What is wrong with you?"

    "Nothing is wrong with me. You're just not going in there."

    "Someone has to go-"

    "It's not going to be you! I've already made up my mind!"

    "Aaron Hotchner shut up and listen to me!"

    There it was. That temper that no one dared to invoke, knowing that they would be eaten alive. But it was also that temper that I secretly loved. Something about her being so in charge...

    "Stop being my boyfriend for fifteen seconds and be my boss." She looked up at me, her voice was stern but her eyes were soft. I took a deep breath an respond like I should have the first time.

    "Emily can't go in, he'll kill her on the spot." She was nodding her head, agreeing with me like she wanted me to. "JJ isn't his type and if we send in a man, he'll shut everything down. If you go in, it will give us enough time to plan a way to take him out."

    She took a deep breath and pulled herself into me. She kissed me gently, softly so that I would trust. "I'll be okay."

    "He's going to hurt you."

    "I'm already shot, what else could he do?"

    "You know what he could do." I swallowed hard and cleared my throat, tying to shake the thought of her being hurt from my head.

    "I'll live, I promise."

    "You better." I kissed her hard and opened the blinds. Letting everyone know she had won the argument. As usual.

I was so far out of it that I hardly noticed Dave getting out his phone to text me from across the table. My phone buzzed.

Is there something you need to tell me?

    I looked up at him watching me read my phone and lowerd it into my lap. I looked back over at her quickly and was about to respond when another text came through.

I know. She's hard to resist.

    I tried not to smile and tried not to look over at the sleeping agent across the plane but I couldn't help myself. I quickly responded and put my phone in my pocket, getting up and heading for the bathroom. I stopped at the door and looked back at Dave, who gave a subtle nod.

Let me make sure she gets home okay then we can talk.