Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I do not own the song According to You. I own nothing but my imagination.

Note: This story is written in response to LacytheDemonicDuck, Angel N Darkness, PrincessAletheia's Song Prompt Challenge Forum. More specifically, it is from the bonus song title prompts (#1). I have never written a story from a prompt from any of the forums, I've never written a Hotch/Prentiss story and I've never written anything like this, so drop me a note and tell me what you think of it.

Slight spoilers for Penelope, Mayhem, Demonology and 100.

According To You

Emily Prentiss was a woman on a mission. Less than three hours ago, she had shared a passionate kiss with one Aaron Hotchner and she was on her way to ensure more kisses like that in the future. He might not know it yet, but they were meant for each other; Emily knew it, Rossi knew it, hell even Reid knew it and she was fairly sure Aaron knew it as well, he was just too scared admit it. As she drove ten miles over the posted speed limit, she thought back to the kiss.

It started out innocently enough, she and Hotch had been meeting in his office to go over some files when she felt an eyelash fall into her eye. Not having a mirror readily available, she rubbed at her eye, trying to get the lash out that way. After about five minutes of covertly digging around in her eye, Hotch finally said something. "I know case reviews are boring Prentiss, but I didn't think they were so bad that you would actually try to claw your own eye out to avoid them."

Emily turned red, so much for casually trying to get the eyelash out. "Sorry Hotch, I have something in my eye."

He got up, came around his desk and stood in front of her, "Let me see if I can get it out for you." Emily stood up and tipped her head up toward the light. After a minute of searching, Hotch said, "I see it, don't move." Emily felt his fingertip at the corner of her eye and a few seconds later she heard, "Got it!" She blinked and was relieved when she didn't feel anything else in there. It was at that point she noticed that Hotch hadn't moved, but was instead staring into her eyes.

"Hotch…" Emily began, but was unable to finish her question as his lips came softly down on hers. She would be lying if she said she wasn't surprised by this, because she was. She was shocked actually, but in a good way. She had felt an attraction to her boss from her first day at the BAU, but had never acted on it…until now.

She leaned into the kiss and at first it was just that, a nice, slow kiss, but then she felt his tongue snake into her mouth, exploring its depths. She returned the action and both of them stayed entwined until they had to come up for air.

Gasping, their mouths pulled apart, but their bodies stayed together for another minute before Hotch backed up and returned to the other side of his desk. Emily, still panting, said breathlessly, "That was-"

Hotch interrupted her, "Completely inappropriate. I'm sorry Emily; I never should have done that."

Emily frowned, she had been about to say it had been wonderful, but apparently the man standing before her didn't feel the same way. "Oh," she said softly, "I kind of liked it and it felt like you did too."

He softened his own voice, "I'm sorry, but this can't happen again," he said, sidestepping her comment. "There are regulations, Prentiss, strict regulations regarding these types of relationships. I also have the team to think about and a son to consider, and all of these things tell me that a relationship with you would be a mistake."

By this point, Emily's face had turned red with embarrassment; it was bad enough he didn't want a relationship with her, did he have to list the many reasons why he didn't? "Fine, whatever Hotch. Look, it's getting late, can we finish reviewing these cases tomorrow?"

He nodded, thinking that would be best for both of them. "Of course."

"Good," Emily said and then high tailed it out of his office. She practically ran down the stairs to her desk, grabbed her purse and briefcase and then sprinted to the elevators. Three minutes later she was in her car speeding toward her house, tears pouring down her face. She got home, changed into some yoga pants and a t-shirt and drowned her sorrows in tub of ice cream. As she ate, she felt her embarrassment and sadness turn to anger and frustration. He felt something for her, she knew he did. She was a world class profiler for God sake, she was trained in recognizing behaviors and she could tell for at least the last year that he had feelings for her, he had initiated the kiss! And now he was trying to hide behind some bullshit bureau regulations?! Uh-uh, not on her watch!

She threw what was left of the ice cream into the freezer, grabbed her coat and her keys and jumped in her car, and that's what had her speeding down the road to her boss's apartment at ten o'clock at night.

Fifteen minutes later, she arrived at her destination, pulled into a parking space, sweet talked the doorman in to letting her in the building and then charged up to Hotch's door. Before she could lose her nerve, she pounded on the door before remembering that Jack was probably asleep inside.

Ten seconds later, the door flung open and Hotch stood in the doorway, looking very surprised. "Prentiss?" He asked, confused, "Do we have a case?"

She shook her head as she pushed past him and into his apartment. "No, but we need to talk."

Hotch sighed, he knew something like this had been coming, his explanation that afternoon had been weak, even to his own ears, but he had hoped to have a couple of days to prepare for the confrontation. He watched as she took off her coat and laid it on the back of the couch; she was the only woman he knew who could make sweatpants look sexy. He shook his head in an attempt to refocus on the situation at hand. "Can I get you something to drink?" He asked, ever the polite host.

"No," she said, taking in his clothing. He had also changed since arriving home from work and he was now wearing a pair of faded jeans and an old t-shirt. Before seeing him like this, Emily didn't think anything could look better than a suited-up Hotch, but she had been wrong; casual Hotch was much, much sexier. She cleared her throat to divert her mind back to her original topic.

"Look Hotch, I'm going to lay it all out on the table; I have feelings for you and I have for a while now. I haven't acted on them before because it always seemed like the wrong time. First you were married, and then after the divorce you were stressed because Jason left. After that, we had a new team member to get used to and then Garcia was shot. I thought after that we would be in a good place to start something, but then New York happened and Matthew died and Foyet attacked you and Haley died, and you know what? I finally realized that conditions will never be right for you and I to get together, our jobs are too volatile, so I've decided not to wait anymore. I'm stating, right here, right now, that I want to start something with you Hotch, and I think you do too."

"Emily-" he started, but was interrupted.

"No. Answer me this Hotch; do you feel anything for me? Something other than the feelings that a boss feels for a subordinate? Something other than friendship? I don't want to make more of a fool out of myself than I already have, so at least do me the courtesy of giving me an honest answer." She held her breath as Hotch pondered her question.

"Yes, of course I have feelings for you Emily, but-" Once again he was interrupted.

"No, no buts," Emily said, breathing a sigh of relief. "Of course there are things against us, but we can work through them," she told him.

"There are many factors against us Prentiss; I'm not sure we can get past them," Hotch told her honestly.

"Well let's go through all of them," she said, making herself comfy on his sofa. Hotch remained standing for a few seconds before he realized she was here to stay, and he decided to make himself comfortable as well. He sat on the opposite end of the couch and waited for her to begin.

"According to you, we can't have a relationship because of the fraternization regulations at work." Hotch nodded as she said this, "But I checked Hotch, and there is nothing forbidding relationships between agents, it's just frowned upon."

"But you're my subordinate," Hotch said, knowing there had to be something in the regulations about that.

"True," Emily said, "But Rossi also has the same rank as you. He may not be a unit chief, but he is a senior agent and he can do my evaluations."

Hotch thought about that, "But it's inappropriate, Prentiss. It could adversely affect the team."

"How is it inappropriate Hotch? We're two single, consenting adults. It's not like I'm some twenty-one year old intern who is being seduced by her boss; I'm a strong, educated, armed woman! And if you're worried about the team's reaction, don't be," she said with a smirk.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The rest of the team has wanted us to get together for a while now. At our last girl's night, JJ and Garcia spent the night berating me for not making a move on you, and last month when you were in that horrendous mood for a week, Rossi practically offered to pay me to sleep with you. His exact words were, 'the man needs to get laid Emily, for all our sakes.' Of course after he propositioned me, he couldn't stand up straight for a while, but still, the thought was there." Seeing him open his mouth to interrupt her, Emily began talking faster, "Hell, even Morgan and Reid were trying to push me toward you the last time we were all out at the bar. I think the team will be fine if we get together."

"I have a son to think about Emily," he said softly.

Her own expression softened, "I know that Hotch, and I would never want to see him hurt by anything. Don't you know that I love him too? God, I've grown more attached to that little boy than I ever thought possible." Since Haley's death, Emily had been coming by to do little things like cook for them and watch movies with them and had just been generally spending time with them. She had somewhat stepped into a motherly role for Jack and she had become sort of a fixture in their apartment. "We all heard Haley's last words to you; she wanted you to teach Jack how to love. What could be better for him than to see his dad in a loving relationship?"

She could see he was pondering her words, so she decided to push it a little further. "According to you Hotch, there are a bunch of obstacles, but according to me we're perfect for each other. We've known each other for years, we see each other every day, we know the role our jobs play in our lives, and we each understand the various demands on our free time. Aside from the job, we have a ton in common, we have fun when we're together and we understand each other's wants and needs. But most importantly, we have chemistry and I think that was proven earlier today."

Hotch was silent for a full minute, and Emily began thinking she had made a huge fool out of herself when suddenly he looked at her and said, "Your third day."

"What?" She asked, confused.

He gave her a soft smile, "I've been in love with you since your third day on the team. On your first day, I was too pissed at Strauss to know that I loved you, and you were in Cuba for your second day, so it wasn't until the middle of your third day that I realized I was head over heels in love with you."

Emily breathed a mental sigh of relief as she felt her own face break into a smile. "So what are we going to do about it?" She asked.

"This," he said as he tugged her into his arms. Shortly after, they picked up where they had left off in his office.

The End