10 things I love about you - Hotchniss

the story

"How long have you been standing there?"

Penelope Garcia nearly suffered a from a heart attack as she turned around to find Emily leaning in the doorframe to her office.

"Just a few minutes", the brunette chuckled. "Sorry, I didn't want to disturb you. You seemed really busy."

"Never too busy for a little chat", the technical analyst smiled and leaned back in her chair.

"I actually just stopped by to say thank you", Emily smiled.

It had taken Garcia a few minutes to delete Emily's resignation and to put her back in the system, yet Emily was more than thankful for that. Without her, there would have been no way back after she had handed it in.

"For what?", Garcia smiled mischievously.

"Um, for taking back my resignation?", the other replied, slightly confused. Was there anything else she had forgotten?

"Oh, that", the blonde laughed. "Bummer, I thought you were thanking me for keeping your hot little secret."

"My - what?", Emily gasped, suddenly feeling how her whole body felt hot, then cold and then hot again.

"Oh, come on, you can tell me", Garcia begged. "There's no need to hide from me anyways, I already found out a lot."

And then she remembered. Garcia had been the first to discover that Emily's and Aaron's paths had already crossed years ago. However, Emily had believed that her lie, claiming that they have never actually met, had convinced her.

She knew that she could trust Garcia, and that she was actually just really curious about everything. Nevertheless, Emily had thought that this would never slip out. Obviously, she had been wrong.

"I have no idea what you are talking about", she then stated, trying to keep a straight face.

"Beep, try again", Garcia replied. "I won't tell anyone, Emily, I promise. It's safe with me."

Letting out a sigh, Emily closed the door. It was senseless to deny.

"What did you find out?", she asked, sitting down on the chair in front of her the colleague.

"Well, I already knew that you were lying on your first day", the blonde shrugged. "You said that you've been gone for school but when Hotch had started at your mother's mansion, you were spending your holidays at home. You weren't quite the picture-book-daughter, I actually found out a lot about you."

"Wait", Emily interrupted. "You already knew back then? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well, I figured if you don't want to talk about it, there might be a reason", Garcia said. "Why should I expose you, only because I cannot keep my nose out of everyone's business?"

"Thank you, really", Emily smiled.

"The fact that you lied, however, made me even more curious", she continued. "I just assumed that you might have met, but turns out you did a lot more than that, didn't you?"

She smiled wickedly, and Emily blushed. God, this was so embarrassing.

"I mean, I didn't even think about that until I looked up why Hotch's work ended so rapidly", she smiled proudly, and Emily realized that she was actually sitting in front of a really well-educated profiler. "And then one thing led to another. I'm pretty sure that there is nothing I cannot find out."

"I'd sign that", the brunette sighed and leaned back. "So, there you have it. You found out."

"I just want to know", Garcia then asked. "What happened? Why did you break up? I want to know the whole story!"

Emily took a deep breath: "Well, as you already figured, Aaron's work ended quite rapidly. In the beginning, he was assigned to have an eye on me, much to his disguise. I was awful; smoking the guts out of my lungs, drinking way too much and taking every chance to make my mother angry at me. We hated each other; I hated him for being like a babysitter to me and he hated me for being the reason why he couldn't do his actual work, the security stuff. A lot happened. I got my heart broken by another guy, I broke Aaron's nose once after he insulted me... it was just a lot."

She looked down at her hands as she realized that she had never really told all this to anyone. And somehow, it felt good, relieving, but it also hurt endlessly.

"And yet, we ended up falling for each other. I don't know at which point it all changed, but I, for my part, fell heavily. And I used to believe that he did, too."

There was a sharp pain in her chest now, similar to the one she had felt that one morning it had all ended.

"We had to keep it a secret, of course. My mother would've gone mental if she had found out that we were a couple. For a while, it seemed perfect. We still fought a lot, but I figured it was all worth it."

"What happened then?"

"I always wanted to work for the FBI, but my mother obviously had different plans, and even though I was really reckless towards her, I never had the guts to tell her that this was my dream. I told Aaron, though, and he encouraged me to pursue my dreams. So I applied and they wanted me to come to their aptitude test, which happened to me on the same day as my mother's birthday. We managed to find a way for me to get there without her knowledge and I passed the test. The next day, my bed was empty and I found a letter from him, telling me that my mother had found out about us and was now offering him to either fire him or to recommend him to the BAU - his dream - if he told her where I had gone the day before."

Emily stopped. Was she just pouring her heart out to a colleague? God, she must seem so desperate.

"And he chose a completely different path. He didn't tell her anything and just quit, instead. And until a few weeks ago, we have never seen each other or spoken again."

"Hotch refused a recommendation for the BAU for you?", Garcia nearly squealed. "That's so romantic!"

"It was stupid", Emily stated flatly. A part of her wished that she had never told this story, as it felt like someone had stabbed the old wound again.

"You know that this guy lives for his work", Garcia said. "I believe he always has. So you must've meant a lot to him."

Emily swallowed. If only Garcia knew how much he had meant to her in reverse.

"Yea, whatever."