Hotchniss One-Shots

Cry Pretty

The team was catching on rather quickly that there was something wrong with Emily. It seemed like she was becoming a little more distant. Some thought it could be the stress of becoming the unit chief after Hotch went into witness protection and others weren't sure why.

They had just arrived back from a case when Luke decided to ask the brunette unit chief if she was alright before she went up to her office. She hadn't really said a word to anyone since they had arrived back. Making sure he got her attention, he said, "Emily, are you alright?"

Emily didn't want to admit what was wrong, she just wanted to get up to her office so she could finish her work after the case. She turned back to face Luke when he had gotten her attention. She nodded at him as she said, "Yeah, I'm okay, just looking forward to going home after the long case."

She forced herself to smile at him to reassure him before she turned back and walked towards her office. 

JJ, who had been watching the conversation happen, was concerned even more than before. She had known Emily long enough that she knew when she was forcing herself to smile. She was going to get to the bottom of why she was forcing it but she wanted to give her some time.

Thirty minutes later, JJ made her way towards Emily's office. She knew that she was still there because she could see the top of her head from the open window. After making her way up the few steps, she walked to the door and knocked on it just loud enough for Emily to hear. Hearing a quiet response from inside, she opened the door. The sight before surprised her a little bit. She saw Emily with her head in her hands and tears streaming down her face.

Without looking up, Emily already knew that it was JJ that had come in. She didn't bother wiping the tears since they were still falling down her cheeks. She spoke just loud enough for JJ to hear, "I can't do this without him."

The blonde, confused with the previous statement, said, "Do what Em? Be unit chief? You're doing a good job, he wouldn't have wanted to take over for him if he didn't think that you would you do a good job, if not better than he did."

The brunette shook her head as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Without saying anything she slid the picture that she was looking at across the desk so her friend could get a closer look at it.

JJ took a few steps closer to the desk so she could look at what Emily had just slid across the desk. She looked down at the picture then back up at her before she repeated the process once more. She opened her mouth and closed it once more so she could think of how word what she was thinking. Everything that had been said finally clicked into place. She said, "Em, are you pregnant?"

She finally looked up at JJ, only to nod at her, unsure if she could admit it without her tears starting to fall again. Finding the courage to speak without crying again, she said, "It's his baby JJ."

JJ was attempting to collect her thoughts when she started to ramble, "When did it happen? How did it happen? What don't answer that I know how it happened. Were you two together?-"

She was about to ask another rambled question when Emily finally cut her off. She said, "We were together, and we deeply loved each other despite the long distance between us."

JJ sat down in front of her friend. She said, "How long have you been together?"

She smiled slightly at the memory that question brought, "We got together when I came back here to help the team find you. He asked me out on a date before I went back to London and it just kind of went on from there."

JJ cut her off this time when she said, "Wait. You have been together for almost three years and none of knew or least caught on to the relationship? What kind of profilers are we?"

Emily let out a small laugh before she said, "We were planning on telling everyone but we just didn't know when."

The blonde said, "Does Hotch know about the pregnancy?"

She shook her head and said, "No. I wanted to tell him in person, so I was coming here to visit when everything went down and he went into Witness Protection."

JJ nodded before stood up and grabbed Emily's hand to pull her up as well. She walked around the desk and pulled her friend into a hug. Not pulling away from the hug she said, "You're going to be an amazing mother, I just know it."

She pulled away from the hug just to grab Emily's hand and placed it on her stomach. She said, "You may not be able to feel any movement right now but that's your baby Emily. It may seem hard right now because Hotch isn't here but I'll be there for you every step of the way and Penelope will too."

Happy tears brimmed her as she smiled, " Thank you JJ, I needed that."

JJ smiled back at her, "Anytime."

She paused before she continued, "I'm making this promise to you that we will catch Scratch and Hotch can come home with Jack."

Emily nodded and brought her hand up to play with the long, thin silver necklace chain around her neck. JJ had noticed the necklace before but never knew what it was because whatever was on it was always tucked neatly beneath Emily's shirt. She decided to ask this time, "What is that Em?"

She slowly pulled out what hidden so carefully beneath her shirt and let it for JJ to see. JJ was quite surprised to see a diamond engagement ring hanging from the necklace. She said, " You're engaged?"

Emily nodded with a smile on her face, "He proposed after that case was over when Morgan left."

She continued, "I put it on the necklace chain right before I came back since we hadn't told anyone. After he left, I just kept it there because I never wanted to take it off."

JJ smiled when she heard her say that. She knew how much Emily truly loved Hotch. She said, "Before either one of us can go home, Penelope needs to be told so she can stop worrying about you, at least a little bit." 

Emily chuckled slightly before nodded and collected her stuff before heading out of the office with JJ.