Hey, back for my second fic. :)
I appreciate any and all reviews, anonymous or signed. I'm learning and I want to be better at what I do, so please do R & R.
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds.
Emily lifted her light blue carry-on from the overhead cabinet with ease, until predictably, an impatient male passenger insisted his way through the crowded aisle. His elbow rammed into her lower back, causing Emily to loosen her grip on her bag's handle. It slipped completely and landed in her arms. She cursed unexpectedly in Spanish—very lightly—the language she'd been conversing in for the last month.
Hugging the bag to her chest, she turned to look at the man who had almost knocked everyone over in his path. Emily casted a dirty look behind his back, the former FBI agent wishing she could put the guy in a headlock right about now. Some people were too inconsiderate.
She lowered herself back to her seat and waited for everyone else to clear out. The plane wasn't leaving with her in it, after all.
The toddler beside Emily accidentally laid his tiny hand on her arm. The contact made her smile.
"Hi. That's a nice shirt you have on there." She faced him and the boy looked up at her uncertainly with rounded eyes.
"I don't like purple."
At that his mother looked up with a smirk, glancing at Emily. She gave the younger woman a smile.
"Really? I like purple."
"My mom made me wear this. I told her I didn't like it." He answered, oblivious that his mom was listening in.
"Well, I think you should listen to your mom. Because you look very handsome."
The toddler's cheeks flushed, gaining a chuckle from mom. "You think so?"
"Yes, I do. What's your name?"
"Neil. But I'm not supposed to say my last name because we just became friends."
That earned a hearty laugh from Emily, a quality she had regained over the years. "That's alright. I'm Emily." She said, still grinning.
She looked around and saw that most passengers had boarded off, and Emily reached for her bag again.
"It was nice talking to you, Neil." Emily smiled, removing herself from the tight space.
"Bye, Emily." Neil waved shyly.
She didn't see them again, though the brief conversation with Neil had her preoccupied all the way to the airport baggage retrieval. Emily always wanted a child. A husband. A family.
Clearly, Emily wasn't ready at fifteen. But as she grew older and found her footing, Emily realized that the family life was indeed for her. Looking back, it was easily understood why she never got to act on it despite her desire to do so. After more than one near-death experience and staring into serial killers' eyes—oh, and when she had to watch her friends attend her burial—where in the world would she have the energy or time to even entertain the thought?
Emily always admired JJ for having been able to achieve it all. To have been able to do what she loved, and to have Will and Henry waiting for her back home.
Not that her life at the moment was any further from Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss'.
She was now head of Interpol, overseeing any and all cases. Up in the highest ranks, the job was still as stressful and her life was still hanging in the balance at some points, but the difference was that she was always in a selfish position. Emily didn't have a team; she didn't have to think about the safety of others. There was no worrying about hurting people on the job, because there weren't any to start with.
Sometimes that was a good thing, but there have been moments when Emily wished she was back at that round table. With Garcia's flashy technology, Reid's brilliance, Morgan's teasing, JJ's comforting presence... Rossi's cooking.
Life in the BAU was hard, hard, hard, haaaaard. But she never felt alone. Someone always had her back, and she was beginning to miss that feeling.
Being away from the team led her to a lot of realizations. The most startling one was that she missed Hotch.
It wasn't that she didn't miss the others. She missed her old team so bad.
But it was different with Hotch. Whenever she thought about him or their days together, her stomach would flutter. She missed him with every fiber of her being, with so much intensity that it left her wondering why. Emily missed him so much that it hurt. It physically hurt.
It scared her the first few times. She didn't understand. She couldn't, because she was always in a place called denial.
Memories of him flooded her head, overwhelming her. The dark hair, those slightly bushy eyebrows—
"You look like you're paying attention," Emily snapped to the speaker. "But I know you better than that."
The voice belonged to a six foot two man wearing a black hoodie with dark pants that covered powerful leg muscles. Light brown hair framed his face, and ocean blue eyes smirked at her.
"What are you doing here?" Emily pushed past her surprise and grinned as she eased up on her toes to give him a hug. "I thought your day was booked."
"I'm so happy to see you. The Skype video calls didn't do your beautiful face justice." He turned to kiss her, his hands on her hips. Emily melted into his arms, moving closer. "And yeah, my day was booked. It still is. But Rivers gave me twenty minutes to come and meet you."
"Twenty minutes? He's softening up, Eric."
He chuckled. "If I go past twenty, he's going to give me an ultimatum."
"How much time do you have left?"
Eric lifted his hand from her face to glance at his watch. His face scrunched up distastefully. "Ten minutes—shit, just came down to nine."
"I wouldn't want you to run late. I know how important today's scrimmage is." Emily hid her disappointment, putting on her cheeriest voice.
"Today is important, not because of some scrimmage, but because my girlfriend's finally back home after four weeks of saving the world."
Saving the world… that was a big deal. Then, hunting down killers fuelled by their own motives was a big deal, too. That was a nice term. Maybe she was saving the world, one day at a time.
Emily smiled. "I missed you."
"What about we get a bite to eat?"
She smoothed down a part of his hair that stuck up. "You have six minutes left."
"Coffee, then. Please, Em."
"That ultimatum is gonna suck, believe me."
"You care about my career too much."
She grinned. "Someone has to."
"I'll make you dinner tonight. Anything you want. Say yes?" Eric said, taking her hands.
"Yes. Okay." Emily laughed. "I caught some sleep on the plane, so I might just be unpacking for the rest of the day."
He nodded thoughtfully and smiled. "Sounds like a sureproof plan."
Emily playfully tapped his wristwatch. "Five minutes, Eric."
He groaned, planting his lips to her forehead before sighing. "I will see you tonight."
"Show them what a legend is, okay?"
"I will. I love you."
"I love you, too." Emily broke into a grin and watched Eric leave the area, turning to her once to flash a sweet smile. Once he was gone, her mind asked for her luggage. She looked around and saw the burgundy suitcase upright on the floor. Eric must have taken it down for her.
She reminded herself to thank him later. Emily took all her belongings and started to walk back to the lobby. The wheels rolled familiarly on the marble floor as she dragged the bag across the room to where the vending machine was.
Fishing in her pockets for change while she went over the candy bars inside, she caught a reflection on the panel that made her freeze. Five people passed by behind her, and Emily could not hide the joy. She spun around, calling out the first person closest to her.
"Jayje!"
JJ heard her right away, her face shifting from surprise to recognition. She stopped and left her things where she stood, running to meet her old friend.
They embraced and giggled like school girls, clinging to each other for as long as time had kept them apart. "You do not age at all. My god, you look like yourself back when you first met Will."
"That's crazy talk, Emily." JJ grinned. "I have aged plenty. You, on the other hand, still look as stunning as ever."
They were interrupted by Garcia's small shriek as she joined in the huddle. "Emily Prentiss, you have no idea how much I longed to see your gorgeous face. I knew there was a reason I went along this case."
"I had to drag you on that plane, baby girl. You should thank me." Morgan appeared on Emily's side, squeezing her shoulders.
"Actually, Morgan, I pre-ordered all our tickets." Reid piped up.
Emily's face was hot from excitement. She hadn't seen them in years and to have them all around her was a tear-jerker experience.
Surrounded with the people she loved. It felt wonderful.
"Wait, you guys were on a case? You fly commercial now?" Emily looked at them. "What happened to our jet?"
"It's going through some repairs." His voice made her skin tingle. Emily looked up a bit cautiously as Hotch stepped forward. They smiled at each other, Hotch's eyes crinkling at the side. He still looked the same; they all did, except you could see when thirteen years did to them physically. Hotch met her gaze. "It's been too long, Emily."
Her throat jammed. "I agree."
"How long will you be in DC?" JJ's hand distracted her. "I propose a girl's night out for old time's sake. Maybe we'll meet another Brad-the-FBI-agent."
Garcia laughed gleefully. "Crap, I remember that! That was so hilarious."
Emily remembered that night very well. Good times. She noticed Garcia's more subtle take on fashion, wearing a cream colored top with a tan skirt and nude pumps. Touching her friend, she said, "You look different, Penelope. Good different."
"I work at the Pentagon now, sweetie. Can't argue with the dress code there." Garcia replied. "Besides, my outfits may have worked when I was younger, but someone mistook my style for creepy and asked if I lived alone with cats."
Emily stifled a big laugh, bringing a hand to her mouth. "That's horrible."
"Tell me about it! If only I could get that idiot's IP address, I'd create a virus that would eat his operating system alive."
"Come on, I'm going to have to arrest you for that." Morgan declared. Emily glanced at her frequent ex-partner, taking note of his thickening beard. "I grew it out. I think it works well with the ladies." He said to her, catching her looking.
"Oh, don't tell me you haven't settled down, Morgan. I won't believe it."
He let out a booming laugh, pecking the side of her face. "Once a profiler, always, huh? I'm seeing someone. Just—well, I don't know if it's serious. We'll see where it goes."
"So, my ray of sunshine, when's the wedding?" Garcia nudged her, grinning.
Emily's caught off guard expression matched Hotch's, little did she know. She scanned the group, lingering on Hotch but he didn't seem to notice. She chuckled, clearing her throat. "Until he proposes, a wedding's just speculation."
"He will. Eric will. He would be stupid not to want to marry you." JJ responded.
Emily finally caught Hotch looking at her, his piercing eyes burning a hole. Her neck flared up first. The heat rose to her cheeks and settled there. She began to scratch at an itch that was non-existent. "I don't know, guys. I mean, I don't wanna assume." Emily replied weakly as Hotch's stare grew heavier.
"If you're unsure, Emily, I could calculate the probability of your chances—" Reid said before Morgan put a hand to his mouth.
She grinned. "Thanks for the offer, Reid."
Reid smiled amicably, lightly hitting Morgan in the arm. Morgan hit him back, and the past flashed before Emily's eyes. It was just like them thirteen years ago. Like nothing had changed.
Emily was still smiling as she faced JJ, narrowly escaping Hotch. "How's Henry? I haven't hugged that boy in forever."
"Henry's big. Oh, Em, he still remembers you. Calls you Aunt Emily. We'd love to have you over sometime."
Emily nodded eagerly. "We will make that happen."
JJ beamed. "Speaking of Henry, I promised to have lunch with him today. I have to go."
"Oh, sounds fun. Tell him I said hi." Emily smiled sadly, missing JJ already.
"Sure. Hey, Spence, you're coming with me, right?" JJ asked, breaking up playtime with Morgan. He huffed, catching his breath, and nodded. Taking his duffel bag, he gave Emily a tight hug before waving goodbye.
"I gotta get moving, too. Have a mountain of criminals to track all over the country." Garcia sighed, kissing everyone. "And I have to feed my fifty cats."
They all laughed. Morgan offered to escort her out, saying that he had to attend to work also. "Prentiss, you and me, we'll find a case to work on together. You know, kick some ass like we used to."
"Definitely. We'll keep in touch, okay?" She hated the longing in her heart for her friends and wished they didn't have to go their separate ways.
"Alright. Bye, Prentiss, Hotch."
"Keep safe." Hotch told them, raising a hand goodbye.
As Morgan's footsteps got further and further away, Emily was forced to look at the one person she was left standing with. Her hands suddenly went cold, and Emily felt very shy.
"What about you?" She croaked out, looking at Hotch. "Don't let me keep you from anything, Hotch."
He smiled, and her knees wobbled. "No, no, I don't have to be anywhere."
Hope lit up in her. "Oh."
"Are you hungry?"
Emily's mouth dropped slightly as she blushed furiously. For crying out loud, he was only asking. That didn't mean anything.
"I ate a little on my way back from Spain."
"A little?" He had his hands in his pockets, and his head was cocked to the side. Hotch had on a small smile.
"Pudding. And a glass of water." Emily couldn't hide a chuckle.
Hotch hesitated, making her lean forward in curiosity. She caught a whiff of his scent and she tried not to smile as he was still using the same cologne. Emily searched his muddled face. She used to profile him so well, but at present she was having a little difficulty.
"Emily…" He started off.
Her heart thumped nervously; expectantly, as she waited for his next words.
"I was thinking we could have lunch. If you want to." Hotch said, his face going back to his signature stoic expression. "Unless, of course, someone beat me to it."
Emily understood, immediately filling in for him. "No. You're… I mean, I'm available. For lunch." Why she felt the need to add the last part was beyond her.
"Great." He answered, not missing a beat. "You can tell me about Spain, and we can have something a little more substantial than pudding."
"Hey, the pudding was really good."
"I know a restaurant that will knock that pudding out of the ballpark."
Emily grinned, falling into comfort. "Really?"
"Really." Hotch smiled back at her. "Are you ready?"
She nodded, about to take her suitcase, but his hand found it first. Emily almost cringed at the thought that they almost touched hands.
"I got it. It's okay."
"Hotch, no, it's alright. I can take it." Emily protested, though secretly pleased.
"I insist."
She found herself looking into his eyes, hearing the strength and assurance in his voice. Same old Hotch. The same one she… nevermind. "Okay. Thank you, Hotch."
Emily's heart almost stopped altogether when he simply smiled at her for what felt like an eternity. There was just something undeniably beautiful about him.
"I'm really glad to see you again, Emily."
I was thinking about a second chapter. I figured if most of you like where this is going, you'd probably want to see that lunch date happening. But I'm no mind reader, so please sound off in the review section.
Chapter two? Yeah? No?
Tell me what you think of this chapter! :)
Thanks for taking the time to read. x