At Last
This story was initially inspired by the song 'At Last', then it started growing bigger and bigger and nagging me until I gave up and wrote it.
It's cheesy and fluffy and illogical... but I decided to give it a try nonetheless.
Today:
Emily bit her lip and dropped the report she'd been trying to fill in over the past three hours finally acknowledging that the day was over and she didn't get much work done, but at least the pile of disastrous and unfortunate initiatives she managed to take that day were about to be filed as past. Likely the following days would have been even worse. Not every human being would have been able to be as clumsy as her, but believe it or not Emily Prentiss was born to make possible the impossible; her ability to find awkward situations and make them even more painfully embarrassing was a unique gift, some of those talents that either you're born with either you can just dream about… You gave her a glock and a killer on the run or an unsub to profile and she wouldn't flinch and handle it with the perseverance and determination of a salmon swimming upstream: a warrior with a mission. But when the matter was personal relationships and men, she managed to solve the situation with the grace of a stampede of bison in a crystal shop, and this time she proved herself such an overachiever that she didn't have a clue on how to get out of that situation. Maybe changing identity and hiding in a fishermen village in Iceland would do…
She watched at the clock, almost 10 o'clock. She looked around the bullpen, everything was still and silent and everyone was gone, even Hotch, even the cleaners.
She switched off the desk lamp and sat still for a while in the darkness of the room, a bitter smile and a lone angry tear running down her cheek. She tried to remind herself for what damn reason she put herself in that position and turning her head in the direction of Derek's workplace she emitted a chocked sigh. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark she could spot the thick envelope wrapped in red ribbon that she had left on his desk few hours before. She went through all the possible scenarios she could think of for the moment he would have found it. Considering that it was Friday night he wouldn't have opened it until Monday morning, then all the team would have been around to witness his tirade. Awesome. But no worries by that time she would have already got to Iceland.
When that idea came up to her mind that afternoon she was seriously driven by the best intentions, but it all turned into a sneaky maneuver behind Morgan's back, hence the red ribbon around the envelope in the vane hope to sooth his reaction. To be honest it wasn't entirely her fault, she had tried to tell him about her plan, and she about to when someone else got in the way and she had to make a decision without consulting him.
She couldn't believe she had been so impulsive and let emotions take over in the first place. She blamed herself, his mischievous smile and that damn song…
Four weeks before
"So what do you think? Drinks?" Penelope welcomed the team in the bullpen after that crazy week of work.
Profiling unsubs was draining and sometimes and coming back from their trip into a psychopath's mind, they couldn't avoid feeling sick and filthy as if getting close to those perverted minds exposed them to the risk of impregnate their soul with the stain of evil, like it was a contagious disease.
"I don't know… I wanted to finish this essay on astrophysics I have been reading for a while now.." Reid answered distantly.
"Wrong answer my bird, you come along and have some booze" Penelope squinted without loosing her smile.
"Do you know that asking a question implies that the counterpart is free to give you an answer? In the specific yes or no?" Reid objected, but without much effort in it.
"For common humans maybe. But in my position of goddess a question is a mere gesture of patience and good will toward you, mortal creatures, aimed to offer you the chance to give me the right answer; which you failed. Lucky you I am mighty and enlightened, and instead of turning you into ashes with a snap of my fingers I will mercifully show you the road to redemption" she answered in an over-enthusiastic tone which sounded suspicious even to the others.
"Which is?" Reid inquired now amused and ready to give in to the blond head.
"Follow me and you'll see" she replied impishly.
The rest of the team complied with Penelope's orders when they realized she wouldn't have let them miss this one.
"Hei babygirl, wanna tell me what's going on here?" Morgan tried to get some insight on her cheerful mood, especially after such a harsh week.
"Hot stuff, your seductive manners won't work on me this time" she shook her head "my lips are sealed, you all will know when it's time"
Except for the fact that they all knew already what that night was about, all except Morgan.
Half an hour later they were sitting at the table Garcia had reserved in a nice bar and the conversation had picked up, when all of a sudden the lights went off and a giant cake followed by a happy birthday song made its way toward an astonished and successfully surprised Derek "Oh, you didn't!" he almost shouted laughing at the obviously exaggerated number of candles on the cake.
One of the young waitresses who served the cake winked at him commenting how splendidly he was bearing his venerable age, and squinted in a smile when he responded back with some charming joke.
"Ok, I have to admit I didn't see this coming" he addressed his colleagues before toasting to the occasion "thank you all, really".
The night went on smooth and easy, the company, the laughs and some sips of alcohol always helped to ease the heavy heart after cases like that, and knowing their friend wasn't celebrating alone the midnight hour of his birthday made them all cheerful and satisfied with the success of their surprise.
"So kid, all that scene about your astrophysics book and Penelope being a goddess was just an attempt to play me" Derek addressed Reid.
"A well performed attempt, since you were completely taken aback" Emily commented.
"Except for the fact that I actually am a goddess, my beautiful friend" Garcia commented maliciously taking a puff of chocolate cream off the cake with her finger.
"…and I am actually reading an interesting essay" Reid started just to be silenced by Rossi putting in his hand a glass of whiskey and proposing another toast to the company.
Emily rolled her eyes and smiled looking at Reid, she bowed her head toward JJ and Penelope "It's definitely high time for Reid to find a girlfriend" she commented sipping her Merlot.
"Well, not just for Reid…" JJ answered looking back suggestively at her friend, rightly followed by Penelope.
Emily arched her eyebrows not expecting that curve ball "Meaning what?" she inquired starting to suspect that Morgan wasn't the only one who had been set up for the night.
"Absolutely nothing" Penelope answered with an innocent face "except for the fact that such a beautiful, intelligent and impressive woman being single is basically an insult to mother nature and a tragic loss for that gorgeous desperate soul, out there in the cold, looking for his perfect match…"
"Oh then, if that gorgeous soul is the perfect match for such an outstanding woman I am sure he'll have plenty of ways to impress her and find where she's hiding" Prentiss played along.
"Here you are Princess" a sulky voice came at her shoulders making her startle, her eyes widening while Penelope was playfully reminding her the old proverb 'be careful what you wish for'.
Emily relaxed a bit when she realized it was Morgan, who joined them bringing gifts in the form of Will and Kevin.
Right in that moment the music register changed and Etta James' voice gathered many couples on the dance floor on the notes of At last. JJ and Penelope promptly left with their partners heading to the dance floor, but before disappearing the blond analyst didn't fail to remind something to Derek "You know that if you don't dance on the night of your birthday it'll bring you bad luck for the rest of the year, hot stuff. Don't you?"
"Well, if that's the case you'll be my damsel for this round Prentiss" he extended a hand toward her.
"I am pretty convinced that your waitress would be happy to replace me in this" she complained reluctantly following him toward the centre of the spot where everybody was dancing.
"It's my birthday Princess, you don't want to deny a birthday wish to an old friend. Do you?" he motioned her with one of those smiles.
'At last, my love has come along my lonely days are over and life is like a song...'
"So" he carried on once they picked the rhythm and started moving in each other's arms "what's up with you tonight? Aren't you enjoying the party?"
"Oh, I am" she answered and then explained once he rose his eyebrow in doubtful interrogation "I believe Penelope and JJ are on a mission to set me up for a date, and I don't like being partnered up with some dude someone else picked for me" she explained a bit of uncomfortably.
"I see" he commented, then after a silent pause he proposed "then choose him by yourself. Anybody you like around?" he asked, rolling her in order to have a panoramic of the men in the surroundings.
"Oh c'mon Derek, it's not like picking cereals at the supermarket" she objected.
"No you're right it's easier." He replied with a smirk "once you've opened a cereal box you have to finish it even if you are not enthusiastic about the taste, but in this case if you don't enjoy your first bite, you move on to the next bowl"
She looked at him for a moment ready to comment on his over romantic take on relationships, when a thought occurred to her and she simply commented with an equal smirk "Right, that's why you were so ready to take a bite on every single woman who winked at you tonight, right?"
She hit the right point, all night long a considerable number attractive women had seductively approached Morgan; different ages, different styles, different types, he just had to choose. To all of them he kindly answered with a bright smile, exchanged few flirtatious words but without any real intention to explore further the conversation.
'At last the skies above are blue, my heart was wrapped up in clover the night I looked at you…'
He laughed, being the uncomfortable one this time "Well, you know… I guess I'm getting old for that kind of games, I'm not sure I'm up for this kind of acquaintances anymore. And it's not easy to get to know someone, someone who can understand and put up with the kind of life we do" he turned more serious.
"So no clover for our hearts tonight" Emily replied smiling after a silence, quoting the lines of the song.
"Ah.. never say never, Princess. The night is still young" he reciprocated her smile.
'You smile and then the spell is cast and here we are in heaven…'
For a while they went on dancing looking in each other's eyes with knowing looks, like if the song actually worked a spell on them. Only few minutes after they realized the song was over and almost everybody had gone back to their tables. The reluctant feeling of letting go of each other coupled with the awareness of the awkward situation and of the eyes of at least two team members pointed at them.
"Are those two okay?" Will inquired nudging JJ. She stared at Emily and Derek looking at each other's with a dreaming smile on their faces and apparently oblivious to what was going on around them. Then she turned to Penelope, whose attention was drawn to the same focus. For a brief moment they silently questioned the situation exchanging inquiring looks, but immediately discarded the possibility with a laugh.
That night coming back home the feeling that something actually clicked lingered in both Emily and Derek, and as often happens at birthdays when the awareness that an other year has flown away kicks in, Derek started assessing his personal life, if there was any personal life to assess… As he told Emily it wasn't easy to fit a decent relationship into their rhythm of life, at present the only people he trusted and was ready to share his feeling with were his family and his team, which was a second family as a matter of fact. He wondered how things would have been that night, on the dance floor if Prentiss hadn't been a colleague, what would have stopped him from sinking into her eyes, her smile, her scent. Although he reckoned it was a dysfunctional idea, it went on nagging him until the much-needed sleep kicked in.
The day after in the office the birthday wishes were briefly renewed and the hilarity of the previous night was set aside as soon as they started going over the details of some potential cases. That sort of alchemy that both Emily and Derek had shared the night before was promptly hidden and stashed in a corner on a stand-by mode and replaced by the professional behavior they always kept while working cases. It's surprising how the most vivid feeling can become a blurry impression if not properly cared and nurtured, so that moment they both shared slowly sunk in some remote corner and seemed to be fast forgotten.
They both ended up convincing themselves that their bond was a dear friendship and nothing more was going on. That moment was just the result of alcohol, euphoria and of the right song, there was no reason to dwell on a fantasy that could potentially compromise their friendship and their professional relationship, and that electricity through her bodies when they were closed or occasionally touched each other, was just a suggestion, a shiver. Right, winter chill…
So that's the first part, there's a second part in stand-by and I'll publish it if you think it's worth to read...