Shattered. [Aaron Hotchner + Emily Prentiss]

Chapter 6.

"Leila! C'mon. We don't want to be late for the jet."

"Coming!" The girl came out of the hotel bedroom carrying her bag, a book and stuffed animal, all ready to head to the air strip. "Ready!"

"Come on then, JJ and Reid are waiting in the car."

The girls headed through the hotel hallways, eventually making their way to the parking garage to see Rossi and Morgan packing up their car. They walked over to the matching black SUV parked opposite the boys, and put their bags in the trunk before hoping in. JJ and Emily sat in the front, Reid and Leila in the back. They began driving out the concrete lot, following Rossi and Morgan until they took an exit headed towards the hospital, to pick up Aaron. The whole ride, Emily's mind was focused on two things - Leila and Hotch. She knew she wasn't making a mistake by taking Leila in, but it risked the relationship of both her friend and boss. She didn't want it to be different at work.

"Hey, Em, you okay?" JJ reached her hand over and tapped Emily's shoulder, pulling her out of her trance, after she noticed the sudden speed change in the car, and the grip of the steering wheel so tight it made her knuckles white. Profilers, right?

"What? Yeah." She looked in her mirror to see Reid and Leila happily listing their favourite authors. She was so smart, it blew Emily's mind a bit. How could a 9 year old be so wise and smart, yet also courageous and kind after everything she went through with her dad. There's inevitably more she hasn't talked about to Emily, but it would come out soon enough.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, uh just something with Hotch. It's fine."

"I'm always here, you know that?"

"Yeah, thanks." The paired smiled at each other before going back to the comfortable silence. It was like that all the way to the airstrip. "Come on, guys."

The 4 made their way out onto the tarmac, heading towards the jet stairs. It was blatantly obvious how terrified Leila was of flying by this point, so Emily pulled her aside.

"Hey, you're going to be okay." She said once she crouched in front of her, to meet the girl's eyes.

"I know, I'm just worried." She turned to look at the jet and gulped.

"There's nothing to be worried about. It's a little over an hour's trip, and then we will be in Virginia."

"Are you sure you're going to be okay? With Aaron and all?"

Emily just nodded. In reality, she was scared to face him after what happened the night before. It's not that it was a bad split, or even a long relationship, but the fear she would say the wrong thing, and make all chances go out the window, was weighing her down like a ton of bricks. "Come on, they're waiting." Emily stood up and nudged the girl towards the stairs, when they saw the matching SUV pull up.

"Can I wait for them?" The girl asked, hopefully.

"Yeah." She didn't look down at the brunette standing beneath her, instead she locked eye contact with Hotch through the windshield. Neither 3 men looked impressed, but then again Emily hadn't done anything wrong other than focus her attention on the child in her custody. "I'll be up there."

-

Everyone was settled on the plane, with Morgan watching Reid and Leila battling it out through a chest game but also listening to music, JJ and Rossi talking, and Aaron and Emily on opposite sides of the plane cabin.

"He said they broke up because of Leila, and how rushed they felt."

"She didn't even tell me they officially got together." The blonde replied to the older man.