10 things I hate about you - Hotchniss

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Aaron had probably never driven that quickly. Breaking more traffic rules than he was even able to count, he was surprised that he had survived the whole ride.

He already spotted Agent Miller on the sidewalk, next to him Emily. She was sitting on the ground, throwing up heavily.

"Thank God, you're here", the younger agent sighed.

Aaron ignored him and kneeled down in front of Emily.

"Hey", he whispered and she raised her head, her eyes red and watered. He gently pushed her hair out of her face and cupped her right cheek with his hand. "How are you feeling?"

He should call himself lucky for his good reflexes, since Emily's answer to his question was throwing up again. He had quickly moved aside and stroked her back while looking up at the other agent.

"When did she start to throw up?", he asked sternly.

"Uh, I guess about half an hour ago-"

"Why didn't you call me earlier then?!", Aaron snapped.

"I called you as soon as she told me to!", Miller defended himself.

Letting out a sigh, Aaron took another look at Emily. He hated seeing her this way, he had been so worried about her, and this was even worse than he had expected.

"We have to get her home", he then said.

"I thought her mother shouldn't find out?"

"Do you want to wait here until she's sober again? She needs fresh clothes and a bed to sleep in."

"But if someone sees us, not only we'd lose our jobs, Emily would be in trouble, too", Miller pointed out. "She drank so much, she really should be checked out by a doctor."

"The chance of her mother finding out this way would be even higher", Aaron shook his head. "No, we'll drive her home and let someone from the staff check on her. I'll drive her home, we'll meet us there."

Miller just nodded, completely lost in the situation, and climbed into his car.

Aaron watched him drive away, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Then, he turned to Emily again, who seemed to have fallen asleep.

"Hey, Em", he said softly and tapped on her arm. "How about driving you home?"

She slowly opened her eyes at the sound of his voice.

"Can you get up? Can you do that?", he asked as he slowly helped her to get up. Emily was not able to even stand straight on her own, and she was leaning on him for full support. Nevertheless, they were able to get to his car this way. "Perfect, that's my girl."

He had experienced her being drunk before, but this was obviously a whole new level. Usually, she'd talk a lot and do really weird things, but now, she was just wasted. He knew that she'd probably throw up in his car, but all he cared about was getting her home safely.

The Prentiss' family had a doctor working at their place, who got along quite well with Emily. Aaron was hoping that he'd check on her discreetly, so that she wouldn't get any more trouble.

While he was driving, he used his right hand to either stroke her back or to hold her hand, whatever she wanted. It was just everything about her comfort.

Emily herself didn't even recognize anything from a certain point on. Her vision was completely blurry, she felt numb and the only thing she actually felt was herself throwing up. She remembered how she had looked up into Aaron's eyes, but she wasn't able to tell if that had been a hallucination or reality.

She hadn't planned to get this drunk, she really hadn't. It was just all the pain consuming her little body, all the thoughts about the 'break' in Aaron's and hers relationship. She had tried to find a way to get rid of all that pain. And as so often before, she had found a friend in a lot of alcohol.

As Aaron pulled up in front of the Prentiss' mansion, Emily was already passed out. Carefully, he lifted her out of the car and carried her in a bridal-style. She was snuggling against his chest and mumbling in her sleep, and Aaron hoped that she would not wake up and throw up again.

He met Miller at the front door, who was already waiting.

"Did you see anyone?", Aaron whispered.

He shook his head: "Everything was empty."

"Let's go, then."

The two agents entered the house a quietly as possible. After they had reached Emily's room, Aaron told Miller to leave. It was easy to tell how relieved the young agent was, and Aaron just shook his head in annoyance.

He quickly changed Emily's outfit in a comfy pajamas and cleaned her face before bringing her to bed. After he had finally covered her with a blanket, he sat down at the edge of her bed.

It was his fault that she was feeling that miserable. He had proposed the break, thinking that it would help them. But he had been wrong, obviously. Maybe it had helped he himself, but it had only made things worse for Emily. God, he felt so damn stupid and selfish.

He really wanted to change, for their relationship, for her. But he failed, over and over again. Maybe he wasn't even able to change, maybe he was destined to fail at relationships. Maybe he was destined to be alone.

The next morning rolled around quicker than expected. Aaron had spent the whole night just sitting there, on the edge of her bed. It was around 9 am when Emily woke up. She had a terrible headache and felt how weak her whole body was. Slowly, she started to remember how much she had drunken the previous night.

As she looked up, her eyes met Aaron's. Neither of them was able to say a word. She wanted to scream at him, to cry, to tell him how stupid his idea of a break was and how much she missed him, but she wasn't able to open her mouth.

Same went for Aaron, he wanted to take all the blame, to get her back, to comfort her, but there was just a heavy lump in his throat.

So they just kept staring at each other, in silence.

"I'm sorry", he then managed to whisper. "I'm so sorry."

"About what?", she looked at him, confused.

"About the break", he sighed. "About even proposing it."

"The break, yes", she mumbled. "We definitely have to talk about this one."

"We have to", he nodded.

"How about later?", she then asked, yawning. "I'm really tired."

"Of course", Aaron replied and was about to turn away.

"Hey", Emily leaned up a bit. "Won't you lay with me?"

Once again, how he deserved such a forgiving woman. Of course she could be mad, too, but she always managed to forgive him and give him a second chance.

"Do you really want me to stay?", he whispered. "Even-"

"Even after what happened yesterday, yes", she nodded. "I always want you to stay. And you need to get some sleep, too. You look like shit."