"Where'd he go?" Morgan asked looking around the neighborhood.
"Into that small coulda sac!" Emily replied.
The team ran into the small coulda sac of houses in front of them. They were chasing down their unsub: Chad Brown. He was a chemist turned domestic bioterrorist. He had killed over fifty people from mutated strains of diseases, and the BAU was hot on his trail, chasing him into a small, rundown neighborhood in Austin, Texas.
"Let's split up. Reid and Morgan take those three on the right." Hotch said looking around at his team. "JJ and Rossi take the two straight ahead. Prentiss come with me. We'll take the two on the left."
Everyone nodded in agreement and split up. The neighborhood was practically deserted. Buildings were cracked and boarded up, showing signs that no one had lived there for months, maybe even years. After running around for a few minutes, Hotch decided to check in with everyone via their earpieces. "Anything guys?" Hotch asked.
"Negative, Hotch." Morgan's slightly static voice responded.
"Yeah, same here." JJ said with a sigh.
Just then, Emily caught a glimpse of Brown looking around the corner. They made eye contact for a brief moment before he bolted into a house. "I've got eyes on him now. He just went into the house on the corner of sixth and blue jay. Hotch and I got him." Emily said rushing towards the house, keeping her head low.
Hotch quickly followed behind her to the house. When the reached the front door, Emily attempted to turn the knob but it stopped. "Stand back." Emily said taking a few steps back. Hotch did as told by his partner. Emily quickly turned to the side and kicked the door in, causing wood to splitter in all directions.
The two entered the house cautiously. It was dusty and had little furniture left in it. All the windows still had their glass in them and the shuttles were closed. Emily and Hotch split up to opposite sides of the house. Emily saw a new set of footprints in the layer of dust that had collected on the floor but the dust faded, making Emily lose the trail. "Clear!" She shouted after looking over the living room and bathroom. She slowly made her way upstairs.
"Clear!" Hotch shouted from the kitchen. He made his way into a room at the end of the house. He felt a light layer of sweat across his forehead. His breathing was heavy, but he did his best to keep quiet.
After a minute or two of searching, Emily came back down the stairs, holstering her gun. She saw Hotch at the bottom of the stairs who'd holstered his gun as well. "Upstairs is clear." She sighed.
"The rest of the downstairs is clear as well." Hotch said.
The brunette woman put her hands on her hips in confusion. "Where could he have gone? All the windows were closed, and there isn't even a back door to the house."
Just then, the two heard the front door lock click shut. They turned their attention front door and a quiet hissing began. They looked down at the ventilation and saw gas coming out from all the vents. They tried opening the door, but it was somehow locked from the outside. The gas quickly filled the room, making it difficult from them to even see each other. They covered their mouths and began coughing, swatting at the air to try a fan away the gas.
It soon dissipated, and Emily and Hotch looked at one another with confused expressions. Just then, Hotch's phone rang. He didn't recognize the caller ID but picked it up anyways. "Hello?" He asked in a serious tone.
"Agent Hotchner." A male voice said. "I hope you and Agent Prentiss enjoy my gift to you."
"What gift would that be?"
Emily watched him intensely, trying to hear the voice on the other line. She quickly took out her phone and called Garcia. "Garcia, trace this call. It's the unsub." Emily said quickly.
"I'm going to need a couple minutes. Keep him talking." Garcia responded as she frantically typed.
Emily gestured to Hotch to keep the unsub talking. "You should've let me do my work in peace." Chad said in a somewhat menacing voice.
"You know I can't do that. You killed fifty people. How many more lives do you plan on taking?" Hotch asked walking around slightly.
"As many as it takes for my message to get across."
"And what message would that be?"
"You should've figured it out by now. You're a smart man."
Hotch looked over at Emily who was still on the line with Garcia. "How we doing on the call, Penelope?" Emily asked.
"Babe, I'm doing the best I can but the signal keeps bouncing off of three different towers. I need another minute." Garcia replied.
Emily turned her attention back towards Hotch. "If you had just left me alone, you and your pretty friend wouldn't have to die." Chad said in a low voice.
Hotch felt his heart rate quicken but he lost his composure over the phone. "You mean the gas?" He asked.
"It wasn't just gas. I aerosolized anthrax into a gas many months ago, and you are going to be my first test subjects. You and along with hundreds of other people should be dead in two days."
Then the unsub hung up the phone. "Anything?" Emily asked.
She heard Garcia let out a sigh on the other line. "No I was so close. This guy is good, but I'm better. I managed to trace the signal of the call within fifteen miles of where you guys followed him to the coulda sac."
Emily was shocked. "Fifteen miles? How is that possible. He was less than a minute in front of us."
"Are you sure it was Brown you were chasing? It could've been a ruse to get you guys into the house. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who could outrun two FBI agents." Garcia said.
Garcia's theory made sense. Brown was five foot six and only weighed a hundred and forty pounds. In the heat of the moment, Emily and Hotch could've easily mistaken him for someone else, seeing that Emily had only seen him from around a corner. "Thanks Garcia." Emily hung up the phone. She turned back to Hotch who had a worried expression. "Penelope said that the call came from fifteen miles away. We were lured into a trap."
"Brown told me he aerosolized anthrax. We need to get the CDC down here now." Hotch said in a scared voice.
Emily's breath immediately hitched. Her mind immediately flashed back to the anthrax cases all those years ago. She remembered first hearing about it back in Chicago. She remembered how terrified she was, but this was easily worse.
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Fifteen minutes later, the CDC had sealed off the house with Emily and Hotch inside. They had called the team as well to bring them spare clothes they didn't care about, knowing that their work clothes would have to be incinerated regardless if they had been exposed or not.
Emily saw JJ through the thick cellophane. JJ gave her friend a flat, pitiful smile. "Hey, Em. How are you doing?" Her blonde friend asked.
"I'm scared out of my mind." Emily said quietly.
"I know. Maybe it was just a fluke. We'll find Brown. Garcia's already working on finding his location."
Emily simply nodded. She opened her mouth to speak, but a CDC agent grabbed Emily's arm. This startled her, making her gasp as she was pulled away from her friend. "You need to take a decontamination shower. We have a shower set up for you over here." The agent said through his suit.
Emily nodded in response and followed the agent to an area with blurred cellophane and shower head. She felt extremely self conscious and exposed, but she reluctantly undressed herself, handing her clothes to the agent. The shower was cold and the pressure was harsh, it almost made Emily's skin burn from the sensation.
After fifteen minutes, Emily quickly dressed herself in a Yale t-shirt and leggings. Her hair was damp as water droplets clung to the ends of her raven locks. She returned to the house that was being swept by several CDC agents.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hotch taking his decontamination shower just outside of the house in a blurred cellophane tent. She couldn't help but stare. She walked as he ranked his calloused hands through his wet, dark brown hair. The brunette woman couldn't look away. She watched the muscles in his broad shoulders, arms, and back flex as the water rushed over them. Emily felt her cheeks and neck become hot. She quickly turned her attention elsewhere when she saw Hotch begin to turn around.
No more than ten minutes later, Hotch came into a room that used to be the kitchen where he saw Emily sitting on the counter. He noticed how different she looked in casual clothing. Her straight, raven hair was slightly messy and her bangs were slightly swept out of her face. Her face was completely absent of makeup. It was then he could fully take in her dark brown eyes and heart-shaped lips. Hotch watched as she bit her bottom lip out of anxiety.
Emily looked back up at him with a scared expression. Her hands tightly gripped the edge of the center; so much so that her knuckles were beginning to turn white. They stood in silence as they watched CDC sweep across the house. The two agents watched the CDC do this for hours.
After the sun had set, Emily and Hotch made their way into a cellophane tent once more CDC agents had left the house. They saw the rest of their BAU team on the other side of the clear film. They all had scared, empathetic looks on their faces. "How are you doing, Aaron?" Rossi asked.
While Hotch was terrified out of his mind, he remained strong for the sake of his team. "Have you found anything on Brown yet?" Hotch asked crossing his arms as if nothing was wrong.
Rossi let out a disappointed sigh but thought it was best not to argue. "Garcia narrowed his location to within five miles of here. There hasn't been any activity from him since the stunt he pulled on you two." Morgan said.
"What exactly did he do to you guys?" JJ asked crossing his arms.
"He lured us into a trap. He managed to aerosolize anthrax and released it into the house." Emily said trying not to sound scared.
The team froze. "Are you sure it's anthrax?" Reid asked.
"No, but we can't take any chances. They're going to hold us until our blood work comes back." Hotch replied. It was just then that Hotch and Emily realized that it was now dark outside. Hotch noticed the time on Rossi's watch and it read 8:59. He hadn't realized how much time had passed. "You should all go home and get some rest."
The team knew that it was best not to argue with Hotch right now. They simply nodded. Emily knew none of them wanted to leave, especially JJ, but they could work from the BAU with Garcia. "You two try to get some rest if you can." Morgan said looking back and forth between his frightened team members.
Emily and Hotch watched as their team slowly left one by one. They both let out heavy sighs and looked at one another. The house was now practically empty. CDC agents were outside in the cellophane tents to observe Emily and Hotch. They had provided them with cots, blankets, and pillows in what used to be the living room. They sat across from one another, neither speaking.
Emily finally looked up at Hotch who was already staring at her with his intense brown eyes. She gave him a small grin as she sat up. "Can I?" She asked gesturing to the empty space beside Hotch's cot.
"Be my guest." Hotch said scooting over slightly.
The two sat on Hotch's cot with their back against the wall. Emily let out a sigh as she pulled her legs closer to her chest. Hotch turned his attention toward the beautiful brunette. "Emily," He began. Emily turned towards him slightly, acknowledging that he had her attention. "If I don't make it back, tell Jack I'm sorry. Tell him that I love him more than anything, and tell Jessica to remind him everyday how much his dad loved him."
Emily felt her heart ache at Hotch's words. He knew he was more scared than he wanted to show, but he had been more vulnerable around her recently. "Stop, Hotch. We'll get out of here."
"Please just do this for me."
Emily gave him a flat smile and nodded. She bit her corner of her bottom lip as she stared down at her hands. "I never had a great relationship with my mom." Emily said with a slight chuckle. "I was always a bit of a troublemaker, but she liked you. She'd want to hear it from you. Please tell her and the team that I love them."
Hotch simply nodded, giving Emily a reassuring nod. They continued to sit in silence for several minutes. Emily could feel tears of fear well up in her eyes. She had been containing them for hours now, but she couldn't hold them back anymore. With much reluctance, she turned her head towards Hotch and lightly sniffed. Hotch immediately turned to face his partner with concerned eyes. "I'm scared, Aaron." She said weakly.
"I know. I am too. But there's nothing we can do until our results come back." He said trying to reassure her.
"Thank you." She gave him a weak smile before looking forward at the wall again.
As if it were instinct, Hotch held his hand out. Emily looked at it then at Hotch with a slightly puzzled face before grabbing it, intertwining their fingers. Her hand fit perfectly in his. He looked over her slender, pale fingers and held her hand delicately as it if were porcelain. Then he felt a weight on his shoulder. Turning his head subtly, he found Emily's head resting on his shoulder. He inhaled her scent and let out a heavy sigh.
The two stayed like this for twenty minutes before finally going to bed. Although the room was pitch black, Emily and Hotch had difficulty falling asleep. The thought of the fatal bacterial disease coursing through their bodies made them uneasy. Eventually when the need for sleep became to great, Emily fell asleep. An hour later, Hotch followed suit.
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The next morning, Emily and Hotch were woken up by the sound of CDC agents outside of the house. Emily rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked out the window. She saw several people in hazmat suits walking around the house. She heard Hotch stir and let out a groan. She turned in her bed and saw a tired Hotch with slightly messy hair. She found it difficult to hide her smile. "Morning." Hotch said in a low voice that took Emily by surprise.
"Morning, Hotch." Emily replied with a flat smile.
A few hours later, Hotch received a call on the phone. Emily turned towards him and peaked over at the caller ID. It was Rossi. Hotch answered the phone with a serious expression "Hello? (...) Are you sure? (...) When can we leave? (...) That's great! I'll tell her now." Hotch said and hung up the phone.
Emily saw the faintest of smiles in his face. "What did Rossi say?" She asked in anticipation.
"Our results were negative. It was all a ruse to scare us."
Emily's breath hitched in surprise. She couldn't describe how terrified she was, knowing that she could die in days without saying goodbye to everyone she loved. A bright smile spread across her face, and without thinking, she threw her arms around Hotch. Initially, Hotch was taken aback but quickly wrapped his arms around Emily's small frame.
They stayed liked this for several seconds before finally pulling apart. When they pulled away, Emily still had her hands around Hotch's neck while his rested gently on her hips. They looked into each other's dark orbs before Emily couldn't contain her feelings anymore and pulled Hotch's lips down to hers. Like the hug prior, Hotch didn't react at first. But as soon as he felt the warmth of her lips, he deepened the kiss by pulling her closer by her hips. The kiss was soft yet passionate. Both could feel the years of unspoken loved in the kiss. They eventually pulled apart when their lungs became tight, desperate for air.
They both stated at one another, breathing heavily, unable to read each other's expressions. Hotch's hands were still on her hips, but Emily loosened her grip slightly on Hotch's neck. Hotch's expression remained dumbfounded before he finally spoke. "Well, uh, that was expected." He breathed out heavily.
Emily was taken aback slightly by his words. "Unexpected good or unexpected bad?" She leaned back a bit, taking in his features, trying to read him further; despite the unspoken rule that the team wasn't allowed to profile one another, but she couldn't help it.
She waited anxiously for his answer. But then she saw a smile press across his face, showing off the dimples she secretly loved so much. "Definitely good." He replied softly.
Without another word, Emily smiled brightly back at him before he pulled her in by her waist, connecting the lips once again. This kiss felt different than the first now having the knowledge of each other's feelings, Hotch could feel Emily relax under his touch. He smiled through the kiss, putting his hands on her back to pulled her in even closer.
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