Great Loss (a hotchniss story)

family

"I can drive, seriously," he says.

Emily tosses him the key, before closing the back door. "Don't break the car."

He nods and they both hop in. They buckle their seatbelts and Emily looks back to see Athena and Jack sitting in the back, both at the windows. Athena has her blanket and Neo, while Jack also has a blanket and a neck pillow. They were in for an hour long drive.

"What movie do you want?" Emily asks.

"Emmy do you have Sing?" Jack replies.

Emily nods. One of the many movies Penelope brought was Sing. Once they left the house, she started the movie.

In the mirror, Athena looks over to Jack. "Is this scary?"

He shakes his head. "No, they're all singing."

Athena laughs. "Mommy sings."

Hotch gives Emily a glance. "Do you really now?"

"Aaron Hotchner, there's a lot of things you don't know about me," Emily smirks.

20 minutes in, both Jack and Athena fall asleep. Emily turns off the movie and both Hotch and her sit in silence, right in front of them was Derek's car, who they were following because Penelope had the directions. "Now that the kids are asleep, should we talk about us now? And no jumping out of the car."

Emily chuckles. "Don't worry, I won't."

"They both know they're siblings. And they seem to get along well, which is good," Hotch whispers loudly. "And you Emily Prentiss, need to make a decision."

With his free right hand, he takes Emily's left hand in his, she doesn't pull away. "I just want you to know, whatever you decide, I'll go with, even if I end up seeing you and my daughter only for the holiday as. If you don't want to go, then that's good. If you want to be Chief at Interpol, I won't stop you. We could do long distance."

"Long distance? We're not even dating," Emily scoffs.

Hotch glances at Emily and then back on the road. Their view was spectacular, mountains covered with snow and trees feet away from each other. "Well Emily Prentiss, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

She looks at him in awe, he makes eye contact. "We both have feelings for each other. And I can't bare to see you with anyone else. So —."

"Yes."

He smiles and brings her hand to his lips, he kisses them and puts them back down. For the rest of the car ride, they hold hands, as Hotch drives with his left hand. Emily looks out the window.

He said that he wants to make it work, even if I take the offer. I'd be leaving my family again. Kate and her family want to stay here, Meg's adapted. And what about Elle? She finally has Derek, and I don't want her to feel the urge to come along. It's not right.

The car comes to a stop, Emily looks outside and sees large fairy lights hanging and a big Christmas tree, right in the middle. Surrounding the tree are buildings and stores.

They get out, Emily nudges Jack to wake up and Hotch opens Athena's door to carry her. Everyone meets in front of their car.

Penelope walks to the front, facing everybody. "Entire family, we have a couple hours to spare here. It's the Outlets, shopping, sitting down, whatever. We have a small lunch here and then we'll go play in more snow. But bundle up because snow's falling soon!"

They all look up and see grey clouds. Not knowing where to start, they talk amongst each other. It was only 12 pm and their lunch reservations were at 2pm."