Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters…

Author's Note: Okay so this is my first story ever on fan fiction so I am hoping that you are willing to go easy on me. I love Criminal Minds and the Hotch/Prentiss pairing so I stumbled upon this site yesterday and decided to give this a shot. Please be patient with me because I don't have much writing experience and am hoping that this sounds good… Thanks. This is a situation that I think should have happened in "Haunted"…setting is in season 5…

The chemistry had always been there… that was a fact. And as much as Emily Prentiss had never believed in love at first site, up until she had joined the Behavior Analysis Unit, she had known it had been there all along.

Emily remembered walking into the BAU for the first time ever, seeing many pairs of eyes staring at her in confusion. They had probably been wondering who she was and why she was carrying a box in her arms. She, herself, understood why they would be wondering that because if she were them, she knew that she would have the same question.

Emily also remembered knocking on the door of his office and hearing his voice telling her to come in. She had swept her shoulder length brown hair out of her face and had entered his office with ease. Before she had entered his office, Emily had been expecting to see a balding man with a huge temper sitting behind the desk where she had directed her attention to. That was what she expected when she had been told that she was to meet with the Unit Chief of the Bureau, but instead, she saw him, Aaron Hotchner. He had caught her eye immediately and Emily had tried her best not to stare at him for longer than needed.

"Hi. My name is Emily Prentiss" she had stuttered quickly, her heart beating faster when she saw how attractive he was, with his dark black hair, dark brown eyes and sultry smile. He had a fantastic build with muscles that she could see through his suit jacket.

He had smiled at her, showing off wondrous dimples that she hadn't known were there. He was even more attractive when he smiled. He had risen from his desk chair and had approached the spot where she was standing. He was much taller than she, even with her heels on.

"Hi. Oh are you Elizabeth Prentiss' daughter? I did some security work for your mother. I was part of her staff. You were off to Harvard at the time, right?"

All Emily could do was nod as he leaned forward to shake her hand. She had hoped that he didn't feel the heat that was radiating off of her hand. She finally got the courage to answer him. "Actually it was Yale" she answered quickly, flashing a smile at him that she hoped looked dazzling.

"Are your parents well?" he had asked her.

"Yeah…yeah they're great" Emily had responded, still smiling. A somewhat awkward silence had passed over the two of them. They both stood in front of the other, smiling. Emily was hoping that as a profiler, he couldn't read the fact that she had fallen in love with him already.

Finally he had asked "What can I do for you?"

Emily was surprised that he had asked her this. She thought that he had known about this already, that she was to start here today.

"Um…actually, I was hoping that you could tell me where to put my stuff" Emily had answered, seeing his smile fade and a confused expression come upon his face.

"I…I'm supposed to start here today, at the BAU" Emily had finished, pulling a piece of paper out of her box and handing it to him to see.

Agent Hotchner had taken the paper from her hand, skimming it quickly. "Agent Prentiss, I never signed any transcript saying that you could start here today. You must be confused".

A knock on the door had interrupted their conversation and the door opened, revealing a pretty blonde haired woman in her thirties.

"Um Hotch?" she had asked. "We're ready to begin".

"Just a moment" he had responded. The blonde closed the door and Agent Hotchner had turned to Emily.

"I'm sorry, Agent Prentiss. There must have been some sort of confusion" he had answered, turning away from her and opening up his office door to exit, leaving Emily standing in the doorway, holding her box. She felt extremely foolish and disappointed for two reasons: that she wouldn't be working for Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome along with the fact that he had also been wearing a wedding ring. Of course a man as attractive as him would be taken already...

Now it was about three years later and everything had worked out with Emily and her job at the BAU. Hotch had given her a chance to prove herself as a worthy agent and here she was, with a job as a profiler.

Emily had felt that she and Hotch had gotten closer in their relationship. They were finally starting to become what one would refer to as friends. He had been somewhat cold to her when she had first become part of the team, but now, she felt something more between them, almost like a spark.

It was a difficult time in Hotch's life right now and Emily was wanting to be the one that was there for him in this difficult time. Hotch had gotten divorced from his ex-wife, Haley, and now, a psychopath was after him. His name was George Foyet. Foyet was once an adopted child turned killer, now Hotch's arch-nemesis. Otherwise known as the" Boston Reaper", Foyet was a cold-blooded killer who murdered numerous people without feeling an ounce of pain while he was at it. Now Foyet was after Hotch. He had put him in the hospital after stabbing him many times at his apartment and now Hotch was 34 days out of the hospital and Foyet was still on the loose

Hotch's ex-wife, Haley, and his son, Jack, were now in protective custody because of Foyet and his violence towards Hotch. Emily could sense that Hotch was tense and nervous now.

Today, they had just wrapped up a pretty difficult case with a mentally insane unsub who had shot five people in a pharmacy, killing three and injuring two in Louisville, Kentucky. They had caught the man, Darrin Call, who hadn't been on his medication when he had killed those people in the pharmacy. He had been abused during his childhood as well. Now, Call was caught and Emily was walking Hotch up to his apartment back in Quantico, Virginia.

Hotch opened up the door to his apartment turning on the lights and leading Emily inside behind him.

"You know you didn't have to walk me up here, Prentiss".

"I know" Emily answered. Hotch turned to her and saw the mixture of concern and compassion in her dark brown eyes. She looked nervous, her brown straight hair falling past her shoulders, a tense expression on her face.

"So do you think Call's going to be okay?" Emily asked him.

"I don't know"

Emily looked at the ground. "He got his answers, killed the man who haunted him".

"And what else is there?" Hotch met her eyes this time as they continued to speak about the unsub.

"Years of torture" she replied.

"Think he'll get over that?"

"How could he? But at least he doesn't have to feel like he's alone anymore".

Hotch raised his eyebrow slightly. "He doesn't have anyone".

He's got Tommy. He's not alone". Emily looked at him, concern evident in her face. Hotch looked back at her trying to read her. There was something about the way she was standing, the look in her eyes. He definitely saw genuine apprehension and anxiety there, but something else was there; was it love?

Hotch noticed that she had moved somewhat closer to him. She was still looking at him with that look in her eyes. "Hotch, I'm so sorry about everything that has been going on lately. I really want to be there for you. And never be afraid to ask me for anything that you may ever need. You are never alone. The whole team is worried about you".

Emily had moved even closer now, she and Hotch were now standing directly in front of each other. "I care about you" she said quietly. "I want you to know that".

An awkward silence passed over the two of them, reminding her of that day when she had walked into the BAU for the first time.

Before she could register what was happening, she felt Hotch moving closer to her and then his arms wrapped awkwardly around her waist and they hugged, for the first time ever. She wrapped her arms around his neck and moved closer to him. There was barely a breath of air between their closely wrapped bodies. Emily leaned her head gently on his shoulder and Hotch gently rubbed a hand on her back. It was only meant to be a comfort hug between friends, but they both knew that it was more than that.

Hotch and Emily pulled away slowly after about two minutes of hugging, looking into each other's eyes. Then before either of them knew it, Hotch was slowly leaning in and Emily was doing the same, slowly closing her eyes before their lips touched.

Their first kiss was chaste; nothing too passionate for the first time. Basically they were frozen, both surprised beyond understanding. Hotch couldn't believe that he was kissing Prentiss. Every alarm in his body went off, telling him that it was wrong, but he didn't personally think it was wrong. In fact, it felt only too right.

Emily stood completely still, scared to take things to the next level. Hotch's lips, which often seemed to be in a too tight expression, were surprisingly soft and supple on her own. They stayed like that for a couple of seconds before breaking apart, both refusing to look at the other. Emily looked down at the ground instead of at Hotch and slowly moved towards the door to leave.

Before she could even touch the doorknob, Emily felt Hotch grab her arm and turn her around to face him. His lips crashed onto her parted ones with such energy that she almost lost her balance. Her back collided with the door and he pressed her against it, this time passionately kissing her lips. His tongue invaded her mouth and battled with hers while sucking on her lower lip, causing the brunette to moan.

They made out for a while against the door of his apartment and before he knew it, her clothes and his were off and on the floor and they were in his bed. Hotch looked into her eyes for permission that he knew she had already granted him, along with the fact that she was on birth control. The only sounds that were heard in the room were their loud moaning, panting and grunting.

"Mmmm…Ohhh" Prentiss had moaned. "Hotch….please…go harder".

Hotch started going at her in a gentle pace at first, but when she had uttered her next words, he pounded into her as hard as he could. Both of them moaned in union with each other. Soon they had both came, exploding into each other with outstanding power.

Hotch was lying next to her in his bed, both of them breathing heavy from their passionate encounter. Their naked bodies were soaked in sweat and his arms wrapped around her warm body.

"Emily?" Hotch murmured, the first time that they had spoken since they had finished having sex for the first time.

Emily turned towards him, facing him entirely. Her hair was sweat-soaked and her makeup was somewhat smeared. Her lipstick was definitely gone from her lips and Hotch assumed it was all over him now.

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know how much you mean to me and that I don't regret doing anything that we just did".

Emily smiled gently and leaned forward to kiss his mouth again. She now knew that nothing would ever come between them and that this was everything that she wanted, to be with Aaron Hotchner in every way possible.

Thanks for reading! Please review. I wanted to continue in a second chapter. Let me know what you think…