Emily sat back in her swivel chair and rubbed her fingers over her eyes. There was a pile of paperwork on her desk that she should have finished but she was too distracted to think through it all. She was itching to start working another case but there had been a dry spell and all the cases submitted had been passed off as one offs or coincidences. Emily hated paperwork… she'd joined the BAU to get away from the nine to five desk job, not to be stuck in one where you wrote about mutilated bodies instead of tax returns.

"I think it's time we head back to the apartment. You look really tired" Reid said as he surprised her from behind and gently rubbed her shoulder. He hadn't meant to scare her; he just had a habit of being inconspicuous when they were together at work.

"Reid! You scared me!" she said as she sat up and spun her chair round and gave him a warm but troubled smile.

"What's wrong?" he said with an edge of concern.

Emily gave a little smile as she looked up at him and tilted her head in the way Reid loved. "Don't worry" she said in a voice that imitated a teenage girl trying to convince her mom to late her stay out late. "I'm just really tired… I need to look at something that isn't paperwork" she sighed and got up from her chair, put an arm through her jacket and with the other arm pushed her chair in.

"Food then bed, I guess?" he said with a relieved smile. He worried about her a lot, probably too much he thought.

"That sounds like a plan, my man" she said with a little laugh as they made their way to the elevator. They made small talk about the cases they were filling out paperwork for but they tried to not go into too much detail once they were out of the building. They'd made a deal long ago that work stayed at work.

As they steered their way out into the cold almost- winter air Reid turned to Emily. "Good night, Miss Prentiss" Reid said and gave her a knowing smile.

"Bye, Reid" Emily said with her best attempt at sarcasm as she flashed a smile and got into her car. Reid lingered a second longer before sliding into his car. They'd said goodbye but they really didn't need to, it was only an act for any of the team that might see them. They both went back to the apartment they had shared for almost a year and a half and later they'd get into the same bed.

Emily strolled through the living room and into their open plan kitchen. The fridge was covered in local takeaway numbers for when they came back late off a case. Reid came in just after her and dropped onto the couch. Emily sighed and pulled their favourite pizza place's number off the fridge and carried it out to the lounge; she didn't feel like cooking, or eating for that matter but Reid might.

Reid smiled at her and lifted up one of his arms to invite her for a cuddle. Emily returned his contagious smile and slide in next to him. She loved the way her head fit perfectly in the crook of his neck, like they were made to stay like that. She sat like that for who knows how long, she lost track of time when they were together like that, when everything felt perfect.

She gave a subconscious smile and opened her eyes without realizing she'd closed them. She gave another little satisfied smile and looked up at Reid. She expected to see him smiling too or maybe see his eyes closed but he was just looking straight ahead with a troubled look.

"What're you thinking about?" she said, carefully hiding the worry in her voice.

"Uh, nothing" he said but she could tell he was hiding something.

"Come on, Spencer. What's eating at you" she said and sat up a bit so their heads were almost level.

"I was, uh, thinking about a case a while back" he said, his voice still sounding like he was far away.

"You wanna be a little more specific?" she said with a little laugh as she played with a strand of his hair.

"It was, uh…" he shifted uncomfortably and licked his lips. "It was before we, uh, got together" he gave a heavy sigh and closed his eyes for a few seconds. "All that stuff with Cyrus and the explosion…" he said with another tired sigh.

"You still think about it, huh?" she said, concern seeping into her voice.

"It's hard not to, Emily. You gave up everything for me… you could have been killed" he said, his voice straining to keep composure. It was still hard to him to think about it now; they'd never really talked about it. They just put it down to risks of the job they did and tried to put it to the back of their minds.

"Yeah, but I wasn't. I'm here with you, Reid. So I got a couple of bruises, there not here now are they?" she said with a little smile that she hoped he'd notice.

"No, I guess not. It's just…" he struggled to find the words and licked his lips. "I just find it hard, you know? I don't really know what I would have done if you, um… if he'd k- killed you" he said finally and ran a hand through his hair.

Emily thought for a second before letting out a little sigh and lifting up her arm so his body slipped quickly down onto hers so his head was resting on her lap. She loved it when they sat like that. She ran a hand through his hair, he'd had a haircut. A big one too, even Hotch had joked about him looking like he was from a boy band. He'd cut his hair a little after that and she liked it how it was… she couldn't help miss the way he tucked it behind his ear though.

Reid closed his eyes without realising it; he hadn't slept well for the last few days. The last few months had been rough. JJ had left and every case after that had felt like it was missing something. Rossi had been distracted after one of his old cases had to be reopened and Hotch was preoccupied with finding JJ's replacement. He'd meant to talk about how he was feeling with Emily but they always ended up so peaceful like they were right there, and he didn't like ruining the few times they could be a couple by talking about the past.

"We all miss her Spencer…" she said as if she had read his mind. She stroked a few of the loose strands away from his face and looked down at his face. His face was obviously tired but there was something underneath that told her he was still troubled. "It feels like every investigation is missing something. Like a machine when you take out one of the pieces. You think it won't make a difference to such a well performing machine but it does. It makes every cog in that machine question it's place" she said, her voice getting a little crackly towards the end as she fought to keep her composure. She was upset about JJ leaving but she knew they'd stay friends not matter where she moved to, it was hard not to cling to the people who had seen the same horrific encounters as you. Reid wasn't sure, though. He thought she'd forget about him and that's what upset her most, the fact that he didn't really know how much he meant to everyone.

Reid's eyes flickered open and he licked his lips again. "She didn't want to go, Emily. That's what gets me the most. She did everything right and they still made her leave…" he sighed again and scrunched his eyes closed before looking back up at her. "Why do they keep me around when all I do is mess up but they make her leave... it's not fair" he said and sighed again.

"Hey, this isn't your fault, Reid. And beating yourself up about it isn't helping anyone" she ruffled his hair softly and sighed. "Come on, lover boy. I think it's your bed time. Don't think I haven't noticed you sneaking out of bed when you think I'm asleep. You're not going to learn anything new from your books at 3 in the morning. Besides, I like someone to snuggle when it gets cold" she said and gave him a playful nudge.

Listening to Emily to talk to him like that made Reid completely at ease. He loved the way she knew how he was thinking, how she knew he wasn't sleeping, how she knew he loved to snuggle. He sat up slowly and stood, wincing the slightest bit at his knee. The doctor wasn't kidding when he told him it would take a while to get back to normal; being short in the knee was no fun at all.

He let Emily walk in front of him then wrapped his arms awkwardly around her. His face snuggled into her neck and gave it the most delicate of kisses. Emily let out a cross between a moan and a sigh and smiled to herself. He always knew how to make her feel better after a long day of work, what she didn't know was she had the same affect on him.

She gently tugged his hand and led him to the bedroom. With most couples it would have ended with out of breath, hot bodies lying next to each other but there was something about their relationship that was different. They definitely had their moments but, for the most part, they fell asleep fully clothed and snuggling. And they liked it like that, passion was different for them.

Passion was there every day, when they caught eyes during Hotch's briefings, across the bullpen or snuggled up on the couch. They didn't need to be bare skinned to feel it. They just had to be them.