Hello again!
I'm terribly sorry I made you guys wait so long for an update! I promise to continue (and eventually finish) all stories marked as "incomplete" - I just need time! So, here's what I have for now!Feedback is really appreciated - both if you liked it and if you didn't like it!Enjoy!

Mentioning the possibility of a pregnancy had finally convinced Emily to get examined in the hospital. However - still being Emily Prentiss, after all - she had insisted of going alone. Of course Hotch had objected at first, but eventually, it had taken Emily just one statement to convince him how important this was for her. Maybe because it had been the first time she had actually looked him in the eyes, maybe because her voice had been so shaky and low that it had sent cold shivers down his spine. Any way - Hotch was pretty sure her words would be stuck in his memory for the rest of his life...

"If you went in there with me - if you stayed with me during... what they're about to do - I don't think I could ever look at you again."

Perplex by both her confession itself and her honesty, Hotch had just nodded and reassured her that he was there for her, that he'd be there in less than a minute if she changed her mind. And then, he had pretended not to notice how Emily purposely slipped her phone out of the pockets of her jeans, leaving it on the backseat of his car. The mere fact that she had done that secretly had made him realize the reason behind her reaction: If she had wanted to prove to him that she could handle whatever was expecting her during the examinations that were about to follow, she would have made sure he noticed her leaving her phone. However, doing it secretly could only serve another purpose: Eliminating the temptation of actually calling Hotch, of allowing him to see her in the most vulnerable, defenseless situation she could imagine.

Now, seeing her leave the hospital a few hours later, he hated himself for not having followed her, for having let her go through all this by herself. Even from a distance, Hotch could tell that the test results had been positive. She was wearing differnt clothes now, and that alone told him anything he had to know. If Emily had just gotten drunk and had consensually had sex with a random stranger, there would've been no need for the hospital to keep her clothes. Hotch shivered involuntarily when the term evidence popped up in his mind. What scared him even more, though, was how tiny, how fragile, Emily looked in those loose-fitting pink nurse scrubs she had been given. She was hugging her shaking body while slowly slurping back to the car.

When she opened the backdoor and got in, Emily desperately tried to look everywhere except for Hotch's face. Eventally, she opted for the notches in the leather of her seat, as if they were the most interesting thing in the world. Hotch patiently waited. Emily hadn't spoken a word yet, but her silence conveyed more pain than words ever could. Not wanting to make her feel stared at by turning around, Hoch discretely watched her in the rearview mirror, thinking about what to say. There were so many questions on his mind that he didn't dare to ask, knowing Emily wasn't ready to answer any of them. When he saw tears running down her cheeks, Hotch averted his gaze from the rearview mirror, wanting to give her at least a tiny bit of privacy after the events of the past hours.

"Emily? I'm so sorry..." She didn't react. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"I want to go home, Hotch!" She whispered shakily. "Please let me go home!"

PLEASE CONTINUE READING:

There will be a follow-up story to "Disgust", the title will be "Denial" and it will be dealing with just that. Regarding the change of the story's focus, I have decided to not just post it as a new chapter to this fic. The problem is that you will not be notified as soon as Denial goes online if you just "follow" this story. Therefore I would strongly advise you to "follow" me as an author in order to get a convenient little email as soon as Denial appears on ! :)

THANK YOU!