“I didn’t know Aaron had guests.”
Emily looked up from her book to meet the curious eyes of an elderly woman. She had gotten into the habit of reading outside in the morning if the day was nice enough, preferring those few moments outside to the morning tea inside. After all, she was still expressly forbidden from strenuous exercise and, for the next two weeks or so, exercise at all, really. She smiled, assuming by the gardening gear she was Hotch’s next door neighbour. “More like a stray,” she joked, stading carefully to make her way over. “I’m Emily.”
“A new lady friend?” the woman asked even as she gently shook the proffered hand.
The brunette blushed. “Colleague. I was injured and the doctors didn’t feel comfortable with me being home by myself.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Injured, you say? And a colleague? It wasn’t-“
“No,” Emily reassured, clutching her the mug of tea in her hand. “It was a random attack, nothing to do with the job.”
The other woman nodded. “Mildred Taber. I babysit Jack when Aaron needs to make a last minute dash to the office.”
Emily smiled at the mention of the young boy. She knew how much Hotch loved his son. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Mrs Taber.”
“Mildred will do,” she corrected gently. If Aaron Hotchner trusted this woman there was no reason she shouldn’t too. She took Emily in carefully. “You don’t eat much, do you dear? And with that job of yours I can’t say I’m surprised.”
Emily hadn’t expected the woman to take to her so easily or so fast. “I’m afraid the pills they have me on aren’t doing wonders for my appetite,” she admitted. “I have been on leave since the attack, so work isn’t at fault in this case.”
Nevertheless, Mildred tutted. “You and Aaron. All job and no time to recuperate. And they wonder why so many of their agents burn out early.” Mildred linked arms with Emily, steering her back towards Hotch’s front door. “My husband, bless his soul, worked with the FBI before his passing eight years ago and he never stopped to eat during the day.”
Emily was too stunned to put up much of a fight. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Nonsense, dear, it happens to everyone.”
It almost happened to me. The thought flooded her mind without warning and it made her hands shake. Emily was surprised when Mildred stopped half way up Hotch’s front walk, her hand coming out to steady Emily’s. Mildred’s eyes spoke of an unexpected understanding.
“If you’re injured and supposed to be staying with someone, where is Aaron?”
“Meeting,” Emily responded with a rueful smile. “He’s been doing half days as much as possible, but crime never stops.”
“No, it doesn’t,” Mildred agreed, letting go of Emily’s hand and continuing on her path up the front walk. “Well, I was planning on doing some gardening, but you need the company more than my tulips.”
“Oh, no, Mrs Taber, I’ll be-“
“Mildred dear, and don’t argue. We’re going to put some actual food in that stomach of yours. Does Aaron have eggs?”
Hotch sighed as he regarded his desk. Most of the paperwork he could take home with him no problem and, really, could probably draft Emily into helping him, but Strauss had been haunting the office and he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to get home at noon like he’d wanted. He’d allowed Emily to stay with him so he could keep an eye on her and her injury, but the FBI was a demanding job. As he thought through the logistics of it all, he’d figured that as long as there was no case, he’d work half days as often as he could. After all, she’d proven time and time again that she wasn’t invalid.
But he wanted to be home for her. It had been a long time since he’d been injured, but he knew academically what she was most likely going through. She was a profiler, yes, but she was human too, and he knew that she wasn’t unstoppable. Still, Strauss would kill him if he left now. So instead, he picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“It’s me.”
There was silence for a moment. “Why are you calling?”
“Strauss is haunting me.”
She laughed. “Did you do something wrong?”
“I’m not going to make it home like I wanted.”
“I didn’t know you were coming home until tonight.” She did sound shocked.
“The doctor wanted you to stay with someone. If I’m here, then who are you staying with?”
Much to his surprise, Emily laughed again. “Mildred.”
“What?”
“Mildred’s here. Baking.”
“Why is she not baking at home?”
“She doesn’t think I’m eating enough. She made me breakfast.”
“She made you breakfast.” He could tell she was amused by his repetition of her explanation.
Finally, she gave in. “I’ve been reading out front with my morning tea. She was out there gardening. We got to talking. The next thing I know she’s making me breakfast and teaching me to bake. I’m not sure if I’m more impressed at her baking skills or her endless well of patience. I’m a wreck in the kitchen.”
“Huh.” He had no idea what to say to that, nor did he really know what to think about Mildred meeting Emily.
When he’d first requested she stay with him, there were a number of logistics he hadn’t considered. It wasn’t exactly a surprise, for he routinely had enough on his mind to fill a small notebook, but now that she was staying with him, he’d run into a few obstacles he hadn’t been prepared for. Nonetheless, it seemed like Emily was solving them all for him without really realizing it.
The doctors had asked that she stay with someone so she didn’t over do herself. It was a logical concern and one that Hotch had taken very seriously when she’d accepted his invitation. He’d been lucky that she had been to his home once before, and never in his kitchen for when he cleaned it up, he made sure to rearrange his dishes so that most of them were closer to the bottom than on the higher shelves. He tried to set things out as often as possible, and often left books, magazines or even case files on the table surfaces to keep her busy. He even walked to the nearby corner store to pick up a paper for her, so she didn’t have to go herself.
There were other things he noticed that he didn’t comment on. He knew she took a pill before she went to bed and had a sneaking suspicion it was for the nightmares that haunted her. She wasn’t immune to all of the things victims routinely went through, even though she had experience with other people’s night terrors. Those were things he couldn’t help with. Well, more specifically, he didn’t want to help with until she came to him. Emily Prentiss had her pride and he knew it was hard enough for her to feel weak and vulnerable without him drawing attention to it.
Hotch had originally slated a few weeks off, at least until Emily had recovered a little bit more, but the application hadn’t gone through and his request had been denied. Nevertheless, JJ had yet to agree to send them out on a case. He had a sneaking suspicion it was because Emily had only been released from the hospital a few weeks prior, but JJ swore it was simply that there wasn’t anything really worth their time. It sounded callous, but he understood the sentiment. What it had allowed him to do was to take his files home in the afternoon, putting in half a day and an appearance in the office.
But today, as he’d told Emily, Strauss was haunting their particular bullpen and he wasn’t stupid enough to head home with her watching so closely. It made him feel much better that Emily had inadvertently solved the problem for him by her chance meeting with Mildred.
“Stop worrying, I can hear it over the phone.”
Hotch narrowed his eyes, still slightly put off by her playful nature outside the office. Their friendship had shifted and he knew it, but he was still used to the stoic, cool-headed Agent Prentiss, not the happy nature of Emily. And it surprised him that she was so happy. Of course, he knew all she wanted was normalcy and thus, was sure the happiness was mostly an act. But it was a rather convincing one.
“I’ll try and be out of here by 6, but you know how the job is.”
“I do,” she agreed. “Bring me home something interesting to look at. You keep leaving the boring cases.”
He chuckled, mentally scolding himself. He should have known she would figure it out sooner or later. “Be careful.”
“I’ll be fine,” she promised. “And look, Mildred’s here, so I won’t even have to dial 911 by myself.”
“That’s not funny.”
“Goodbye Aaron.”
He pulled the phone away from his ear as she clicked off, looking at it in surprise. He could count on one hand the number of times she’d called him Aaron. As he thought about it, he realized she’d been doing it more and more often since she’d been injured.
Once again, he wasn’t sure what to think.