Title: Who I Am
By: realityaskew
Pairing: Hotch/Prentiss
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing belonging to the amazing show Criminal Minds. I was just bored and decided to write a quick little one shot.
Summary: A case really gets to Prentiss and makes her start to worry who she is becoming.

***

Thick grey clouds painted the sky signaling a storm rapidly approaching. The dull screeching of police sirens and their hazy red and blue flashing lights seemed distant and distorted to Emily Prentiss as she emerged from the house of horrors with four year old Betsy Stevens clinging onto her like she was her only lifeline. Back inside the House Hotch and Morgan watched as the bodies of the little girl's mother and father were bagged and more crime scene photos were taken. Back outside JJ did what she could to appease the press and Reid leaned up against a black SUV and looked on with internal disgust as the monster responsible for everything was shoved into the back of a squad car.

Prentiss rushed Betsy over to a waiting ambulance and the EMT's practically had to pry the little girl off of her. Betsy only had a few miner scrapes and bruises on the outside but the damage of having to watch her family being tortured and murdered would never heal. Prentiss turned to go but was stopped when she felt a tiny hand latch onto hers.

"Please don't go." Betsy pleaded, her big doe eyes welling up with tears.

Prentiss sat in the back of the ambulance with Betsy as the EMT's went to work patching her up. Hotch came out of the house with Morgan and looked around for the rest of his team finding Prentiss watching over the young girl with a detached expression on her face.

Aaron Hotchner sat at the desk in the hotel room he was staying in and flipped through some paperwork. He was relieved when he heard a light knock on the door because it gave him a distraction. He honestly wasn't that surprised when he looked through the peep hole and saw Emily standing there. Hotch unlocked the door for her and stepped to the side as she silently slipped past him.

"She asked me to stay with her."

"What?" Hotch asked confused.

"Betsy Stevens the little girl we saved asked me to stay with her. She said that she knew her mother and father were gone and she wanted me to stay with her."

Hotch let out a strained sigh and ran a hand through his short black hair. Any case that involved children was always much more rough; he knew that first hand and five minutes after they had caught Richard Towns earlier that day he had been on the phone begging Haley to let him talk to their son.

"I know that we rescued her and stopped that son of a bitch from ever destroying any one else's lives but what about Betsy? She's never going to be the same again. She has no mother or father anymore, no grandparents or aunts and uncles that can take her in. She's completely alone and I left her because it was just supposed to be another job. Hotch I feel like I'm starting to turn into this cold hearted….machine and it's scaring the hell out of me."

Hotch gently took her by the shoulders and forced her to face him. "Emily you are not turning into anything. This job….this life can really get to you but you know who you are and we both know how strong you are. This case was horrible for all of us but you just need to remind yourself that you stopped Richard Towns from ever hurting anyone else and that Betsy Steven is going to live to see another day because you saved her life.

Emily Prentiss was a rational person and rarely acted on impulse outside of her work but at that moment she wasn't feeling very rational and before she could tell herself otherwise she crashed her lips against Hotch's. Hotch stumbled back out of surprise but quickly regained his balance and wrapped his arms tightly around Emily's waist drawing her closer. To Emily Hotch was warm and he was comfort and he was one of the only human beings on the planet who knew exactly what she was going through at that moment. She felt Hotch's hands helping her unbutton his shirt as they clumsily felt their way towards the couch never breaking contact.

As Hotch's soft lips began making a trail down her throat and across her collar bone Emily Prentiss finally remembered who she was.

THE END

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