A/N: This is a Hotch/Emily story. The only difference in this from canon is that Doyle was the one who died (Morgan shot him) rather than Emily 'dieing'. I hope you enjoy it, and please review, as my other stories did not receive that many and it really de-motivates me to write.
Oh, and Dates to Remember does partially apply to this as Chris is in it, but the parts that apply will be described in later chapters.

Please Read and Review. Hope you like it.

Alteration

26 August 2012

Shakespeare once wrote that 'love is not love which alters when alteration finds'. However this does not truly represent the honesty of simple love. Love evolves, it changes and it grows. Love is something that has to grow, or els it will never truly be felt. After all, it's not like you just wake up in the morning and suddenly think 'Hey, I'm in love!'. That was infatuation. As good as it feels, infatuation isn't love.

"Emily? Are you there?" a voice caused her to look up in surprise, to see JJ and Chris staring at her. Chris leaned against small dining table supplied to the BAU department in the kitchenette, holding pink mug in her hands filled with steaming coffee. The blonde stood against the counter, head cocked with a woozy, worried expression. Emily looked between the women who was engaged with a baby, and the woman who was married with three, and felt a sudden jealousy in her stomach.

Why couldn't she have a baby? A husband? Hell, she couldn't even find a decent date!

"You know, you've been doing this spacing out thing more and more lately. Is there something you want to tell us? About a guy perhaps?" JJ teased, and Chris chuckled, sipping her coffee. Emily snorted, and muttered 'I wish' which caused Chris to frown, looking at her. The problem with having two women who were mothers of babies as friends? They tended to have hearing of a dog, no matter where they were. Emily blanched knowing they were going to seriously grill her.

"It's nothing, okay? I'm fine, don't worry," Emily assured them. JJ eyed her suspiciously and Chris just held up a hand in submission, before sipping her tea. The three Agents, as well as Garcia, had been on their monthly 'night-off' (really, Chris had just wanted to wear her favourite red dress that she could once again fit into) and so they had gone out to a new Karaoke bar in town, only to be called back in at eleven-thirty for a sudden case.

They were still dressed up to the maximum, hair still done, make-up still on and still wearing the dresses they had been when they went out at nine. Chris's dark hair was pulled into a French twist, curls framing her face, eyes smoky and wearing a red trombe pencil dress, black strap sandles. JJ wore a nude v-neck bandage dress, black sling-black heels and her blond hair pinned and plaited into a fishtail braid. Her make-up was soft, and now she had a badge pinned to her neckline.

Emily wore a fitted black dress, with lace peep-toe pumps. her hair was curled and her lipstick was a vibrant red, her eyes darkly inked. Garcia had worn the most colour, in a floral vintage 1950's dress, and orange heels and a bright yellow flower bag. In typical Garcia fashion, it ha been classically outrageous, and yet it worked for her. It was safe to say they were all a little bit tipsy, and were currently on their third cups of coffee in order to sober up and waken up.

"Do you not think it's weird that Hotch was the one who called us in, but we were here before him?" Chris asked, yawning slightly. She had removed her shoes about ten minutes ago, at her desk, as had JJ and Emily. Garcia had instantly headed to her office to power up her many computers.

"He probably knew we'd need half an hour to sober up," Emily responded dryly, and Chris chuckled, then winced, putting her hand to her head. The alcohol had started to wear off, for all of them, and they were starting to seriously feel the after effects. Emily's head pounded, and she still couldn't feel her hands or feet... or legs. By the woolliness of JJ, she was starting to get there as well.

"Hello ladies, you look delightfully gorgeous this evening," a sly, and overly pleased Morgan caused them to look over at him, glaring darkly. He put his arm around Chris's shoulders, dressed casually in jeans, boots and a grey tee, a bag over his shoulder. She shrugged him off, barely able to hold herself up, yet alone hold the weight of his arm. "Aww, sugar mama, I'm hurt. Here I thought we were friends?"

His tone was anything but hurt, mocking and jovial as he took enjoyment in their wrecked state. JJ glared at him with shadowed eyes and Chris excused herself, feeling slightly nauseous. She went over to her desk, on the opposite side of the divider to Reid's desk, flopping into her seat and set her head down on it, in her arms. Morgan shook his head, laughing under his breath.

"Why don't you go check on Garcia, Morgan. I think she might have fell ashleep in her office," JJ stated, her voice a tiny bit slurred. She took a quick swig of coffee, closing her eyes and resting her head against the cabinet. Morgan grinned, looking at Emily, before he left the kitchenette, and out of the Bullpen in search of Garcia in her office. Emily exhaled heavily, and blew on her coffee, drinking it slowly.

"You know, at shome point you gonna have to talk to me," JJ told her, and Emily shook her head, smiling softly at her friends persistence. She may hate it when they tried to snoop into her life, and she may hate that she didn't have anyone in her romantic life, but she had JJ and she had her friends and that was almost just as good. Other than the sex... The whole no sex thing sucked ass.

"I think you need some more coffee, Jayje," she stated, and JJ pouted, then bobbed her head, saying 'you're probably right'. Emily smiled softly, and looked at her watch. Twelve-fifteen. Where was Hotch? She frowned, starting to feel worried about it. What if he'd been in an accident on the way to the office? He called them over half an hour ago, so why wasn't he there yet?

"I need everyone in the round room, now," the voice of the very man she had been thinking about ordered them all, and she looked up in relief to see him, only for him to completely ignore her as he marched up the stairs to the round room, dressed in a black suit, perfectly neat, holding files in his arms. She frowned, wonderign abotu his urgency and she picked up her coffee, following him.

She stumbled slightly, but kept her footing, gripping the banister tightly. She crossed the floor and went into the round room, licking her lips as she saw him splaying the files over the desks, movements hurried. He looked up when he felt her enter, swallowing at her appearance. Hotch may have an image of being cold-blooded and stony, but he was a man as well as any other. He could easily recognise a beautiful woman, and there was no mistaking that Emily was truly beautiful, especially in that dress.

Emily felt her cheeks start to flush, even more than they already were, at the heat in his gaze and she gave him a slow, sultry smile without realising it, responding instantly to it. Hotch sniffed and quickly looked away from her, keeping his professionalism as he turned to the screen, pressing a button on the remote. A picture of Lila Archer appeared on the screen, causing Emily to furrow her eyebrows in confusion.

"That's Lila Archer... from Emotional Cages," Emily stated, sitting down in her usual chair. Her head was starting to spin slightly, and she really needed to sit down. Hotch nodded, looking at her briefly. "Is she dead?" her voice was worried. She really didn't want her to be dead. Granted, if her picture was on that screen, there was a high possibility that she was, but someone that young and that talented... it was unfair if she was.

"No," Hotch stated, and Emily gave a relieved sigh, before letting her head hit the table top and covering it with her arms. Her head really was pounding... Hotch looked at her, concerned. "Are you okay, Emily?" he asked, his voice softening slightly. She groaned, and looked up from her arms.

"I'm fine... I just need to get some sleep..." she informed him, smiling shakily. He eyed her, not quite believing, before accepting her excuse. She dropped her head back down into her arms, deciding that it might be good to take a power nap while they waited. Hotch looked at her out the corner of his eye, before shaking his head and looking at his iPad. JJ stumbled into the room, dropping into the seat next Emily with a long moan.

"Will you be able to handle this case, JJ?" Hotch asked, and she looked at him, unfocussed, before nodding and holding up her hand. "What did you four do tonight?" he questioned, genuinely interested in what had bought them down so quickly, and JJ frowned, waving a hand.

"A little of this... a little of that... I think I sang," JJ mumbled, and Hotch rose an eyebrow. Morgan interrupted the conversation as he bought a sleepy, yet sober Garcia into the room. She laughed slightly at the state of Emily and JJ.

"Oh, my poor girls..." she cooed, and JJ dropped her face into her hands, causign Garcia to giggle gleefully. "Our little blond momma got up to some mischief tonight... she danced on a table and sang 'I touch myself' by the Divinyls. I have to admit... it was very interesting. I can see why Will loves her so much," Garcia stated, sitting down on JJ's right. Morgan settled into the seat no Emily's left, prodding her with his pen playfully.

The dark haired woman growled and slapped his hand away viciously, sitting up and glaring at Morgan. Rossi rolled his eyes at them as he sat at the table next to Garcia, holding a cup of Starbucks coffee and a bagel. "Reid's bringing Chris up after she has gotten changed. They'll be a minute," he informed Hotch, who nodded.

"We can catch them up on the plane. Okay, now some of you will remember Lila Archer, from a case back in 2005, correct?" Hotch spoke, and Morgan smirked.

"Pretty sure that Reid will remember her better than anyone else, Hotch," Morgan joked. Hotch gave him a reprimanding look, before clicking a button on his remote, causing several images of decapitated heads to appear of the screen. Garcia yelped and covered her eyes, cursing him outright.

"What was that? Actually, I really don't want to know. Please, just tell me when they are gone," Garcia stated, and Hotch skipped onto the next images of small letters. He told Garcia it was safe, and she looked back at the screen, a disturbed look on her face.

"A few months ago, Lila began to receive these letters, threatening her and her family. She upped her security, believing that the matter would be resolved once she did. Instead, the UnSub stole her dog, a pet chihuahua and sent her the head in a package three days later," Hotch told them. Garcia gasped in horror, muttering 'poor puppy'. "She got the police involved and they began an investigation, only for her mother to go missing. A week later she began to receive parts of her mother in packages, left in her top-security mansion in LA."

"Oh, how horrible," Garcia mumbled, while JJ just looked ready to vomit, covering her mouth with her hand. It was then that Reid finally came in the room, only to freeze when Lila's picture came onto the screen. His hair was rumpled, slightly longer than it had been but short still, and his shirt was un-tucked under his dark blue cardigan. His tie was knotted loosely, and one of his trouser legs rolled up slightly, revealing a dinosaur patterned sock and red converses. His glasses balanced on his nose.

"What... what's going on guys?" he asked, looking around as if it was some joke they were playing on him. He gripped the strap of his satchel tightly, swallowing nervously, face unshaven. Hotch chucked a brown file in Reid''s direction, and he paused, before picking it up and looking through it. "This is horrible..."

"On the plus side, maybe we'll find out what happened between you two," Morgan said tactlessly. Reid paled, and looked at him urgently.

"You can't say anything about that," he stated quickly, and Rossi rose an eyebrow, while Morgan grinned, asking 'Why?' curiously. Reid scowled, looking own at the file and licking his lips, slightly sheepishly. "I never told Chris about it."

"Will this jeopardise the case?" Hotch asked, gravelly, and Reid looked at him, before shaking his head rapidly. "Do you think Chris should stay here?" he questioned, and Reid furrowed his eyebrows, a pondering look on his face.

"No... I think it'll be fine. Besides, she'll just question me if I tell her she can't go," Reid sighed, and Hotch nodded curtly, before looking at JJ and Emily. Chris came in, looking surprisingly sober for someone who had been face down on her desk only twenty minutes before. She had changed out of her red dress, into a black pencil skirt, with a cream embroidered viscose top tucked into it and black sling-back pumps. She had let her hair out of it's twist so in now fell around her shoulders in waves, and she had removed her smoky make up.

"Okay, what did I miss?" she asked, going over to the table and picking up the file that Hotch had left on it. She quickly flicked through it, wincing and grimacing at the images. "Lila Charles. Only divorced for three months, and she gets hate like this. Always knew her husband was more popular than she was," Chris spoke quietly to herself, but Hotch caught it.

"She is recently divorced?" he asked, and Chris nodded, looking at him sharply.

"Yes. They split three months ago after a 'turbulant' marriage. Which we all know means that one of them spent several nights with someone who wasn't their spouse. Raymond Charles. He was her co-star on Emotional Cages before he went on to bigger and better things. Obviously, this applied to his marriage as well. It's funny, they dated for about three years, but got divorced after only seven months of marriage," Chris told them.

"How do you know this?" Morgan asked, his tone disbelieving as he looked at her. She stared back at him blankly, before responding 'It was in Us Weekly'. Morgan rose an eyebrow, and she narrowed her eyes at him. "Didn't peg you for the type to read Us Weekly."

"I'm a mother of three who spent far too much time on maternity leave. Of course I read Us Weekly," she snapped, and Hotch intervened as they began to get off the topic. Coughing, he got their attention back to him and he looked at them severely.

"Her brother was reported missing this evening. She called to check in on him, and when he didn't answer she sent one of her bodyguards to find him. When he wasn't there, she got in touch with me and requested our help to find him," Hotch informed them. There was murmurs from the team, as he looked at his watch. "I expect everyone on the jet and ready to leave in an hour. Make sure you have your go-bags ready."

They began to drift out the round room, one by one, and Reid avoided Chris's eyes guiltily when she gave him a questioning glance, wondering what was wrong with him. Emily however, stayed sitting at the table, taking a deep breath and squeezing her eyes shut.

"Would you like me to take you to your apartment, Prentiss?" Hotch asked, and she opened her eyes wearily. "It would give you a chance to shower and get changed," he told her. She debated it silently in her head. Sit feeling dirty because she went out partying, or go home, take a shower and put on clean clothes and feel more sober than she currently did. There really was no contest in her mind.

"Thanks... I'd like that," she responded, lowly and he bobbed his head once, gulping down a lump that had suddenly formed in his throat. For a moment he had thought she would say no. That would have been extremely embarrassing, but she looked so uncomfortable and miserable sitting there he had just had to offer. In the back of his mind, a treacherous voice muttered 'yeah right' and he quickly shut it up.

"Shall we go then?"

"God, please. I feel like a reject from a zombie thriller," she quipped, and he chuckled as she stood, stumbling a little and having to grab the table to steady herself, before walking from the round room, slowly. Not realising it, he walked behind her, arms slightly outstretched to catch her in case she fell.