I know. I know. Me actually posting a one shot story. Shocking isn't it? These scenes have been sitting in my extra file for ages because I haven't found the right story to put them in. Then it struck me while out cleaning off the driveway that it might make a good one shot. So to celebrate the start of spring training for baseball, here it is. Enjoy. P.S. There is no pairing of characters in this. Just a story of friendship.
The jet glided through the ink black sky, winging its way home to Washington. On board all was quiet, everyone was asleep except for one. Emily sat in the seat closest to the cockpit so that the reading light wouldn't disturb the rest of the team. Her book laid face down on her lap while she gazed the window into the darkness beyond.
Whenever the team was returning from a case late at night, Emily made sure she stayed awake for the entire flight. She was still having the occasional nightmare. She had thought she had finally gotten past them, but the events with Declan had brought them back. Even so, they still had a tendency to pick the most inopportune time to resurface. She didn't want to have any in front of the team. She knew that the team knew she was still plagued by them and it would be embarrassing but she could deal with that. What she couldn't handle would be the pitying looks afterward, like she still couldn't cope with her trauma. And sometimes Emily did wonder if she was. Maybe she should take up the offer Dave had made several weeks about unofficially seeing a therapist he knew.
On one end of the couch Derek watched her through half lidded eyes. He knew what she was doing. The whole team knew she was still suffering from reoccurring nightmares. Unbeknownst to her, they had all witnessed a few minor ones since Emily had rejoined the team. As a group they agreed to keep that little fact to themselves. They knew if they mentioned the occurrences to her, Emily would mentally retreat and deny it. He stretched and sat up, his back cracking. His movement immediately captured her attention. With a groan he got up to join her, her wary eyes following him the whole way.
"So what's keeping you up tonight?" he asked casually as he flopped into the seat across from her and set his headphones and ipod on the table. He wondered if she would tell him the truth.
"Nothing," Emily lied smoothly. Derek mentally sighed. "I'm just not tired at the moment."
Derek nodded at her answer like he believed it. He briefly considered challenging her on it but he also knew how it would end. It would end with a thoroughly pissed off and uncommunicative Emily Prentiss. Instead he asked, "Any big plans for your week off?"
The entire team was scheduled for their annual leave to start on Monday. He knew what everyone was doing expect for her. Hotch and Jack was going camping. JJ, Will and Henry were planning on visiting his family in New Orleans. Reid was heading to Vegas to spend some quality time with his mother. Dave was scheduled for a mini book tour for his latest one. Penelope was going back to San Francisco and he was heading to Chicago.
"Actually I do," she said with a light laugh. "Tomorrow I'm going to take my neighbor's three grandsons to the park for the afternoon. Get them out of her hair for a couple of hours."
Derek thought for a moment. Three brothers? His mental light bulb flickered. "Are you referring to those boys I met while I was replacing your broken window? Harold and Rhett?
Emily rolled her eyes. "Jared and Seth. You met Ben on another day."
"Right." He snapped his fingers. "The older one…"
"Jared," she supplied.
"Jared. He broke the window and was offering to work it off by doing chores for you. The other one, Rhett…"
Emily knew he was teasing her and played along. "Seth."
"Seth," he continued. "He was and I quote 'only here to play with Sergio'. He was very emphatic about it. And Len…"
"Ben."
"Ben just stared at me the whole time like I had two heads and barely said more than five words to me."
Emily laughed. "I'm impressed, Morgan. You actually vaguely remembered them."
He also laughed. "I did. What are you going to do with them at the park?"
She shrugged. "Probably play some catch and then go to the playground."
"You know how to play catch?" he teased.
She frowned at him. "Of course I do," she said somewhat testily.
He held up his hands. "Just teasing, Prentiss. It sounds like fun. Do you mind if I tag along? I don't leave for Chicago until Sunday."
Emily arched a dubious eyebrow. "You sure, Morgan? Those three can be quite a handful when they get wound up."
"Positive. How hard can it be? They are what? Twelve, ten and seven?" he asked.
"Eight, six and four." she corrected.
"Whatever," he said dismissively. "So what do you say? Can I come over and play, Miss Prentiss?" he wheedled.
Emily pretended to give it some serious thought. "Okay. Just don't come whining to me that they are bothering you."
Derek grinned. "Deal."
The following afternoon found Derek sitting on the hood of his pick up truck waiting for Emily and entourage to arrive. He took a quick peek at his watch. She said to meet them at the park not far from her house at noon. It was quarter after. As if on cue, Emily's car pulled into the parking space two-spots down from his. He watched her turn in her seat to look in the back and say something. Probably cautioning the brothers to be on their best behavior. He chuckled. We'll see how long that lasts.
Emily was the first out of the car. She was dressed casually for a day in the park in jeans, tennis shoes, a white tee shirt with red sleeves and shoulders, and a solid red ball cap. She had her black hair pulled up in a ponytail and tucked through the back of the hat. Emerging from the passenger side was a tall, lean red headed teenager wearing a Washington Nationals shirt. It took Derek a moment to recognize Russ. He was the young man Emily has been mentoring and he and his friend Jimmy had been a big help in remodeling Emily's row house. As Russ went to the trunk, two boys and Jericho spilled out of the backseat.
"Sorry, Derek, that we are a little late," Emily apologized when he met up with them. We had a slight change in plans. Ben came down with an ear ache and couldn't come."
"Poor kid. Hope he feels better," he said sincerely. "No problem on the wait. I haven't been here long."
"Good." She pulled the two brothers in front of her. "Guys, you remember Mr. Derek don't you?"
When they both nodded, she continued. "This is Jared," she said, placing her hand on the taller of the two and tousling his light brown hair.
"Mr. Russ is going to show us how to play baseball," he said eagerly, grinning up at the dark agent, his two front teeth missing.
"Cool. I like playing baseball," he said, also grinning.
Emily laid her other hand on the younger boy's head and did the same thing. "And this is…"
"I'm only here for the ice cream," he informed everyone very seriously.
Emily laughed and finished her sentence. "… Seth who only came along for the ice cream."
"Nothing wrong with that," Derek said with a straight face, earning a small smile from the boy.
Russ, with an equipment bag slung over one shoulder, joined the group and held out his hand. "Hey, Derek, how's it hanging? Ace said you were going to join us."
"Things are hanging good," he said, shaking hands with the young man and then cocking an eyebrow at Emily. "Ace?" She winced slightly and looked away.
"It's a nickname I gave her because of the way she can…"
"Okay, guys, what do you want to do first?" she asked loudly, cutting Russ off in mid sentence.
Jared started bouncing up and down in eager anticipation. "Baseball, baseball, baseball," he chanted.
"Seth?" Emily asked the younger boy, knowing he did not share his brother's affinity for the sport.
He thought for a moment then shrugged. "Okay."
"Cool!" Jared exclaimed and dashed off to the ball field with Jericho on his heels. The rest followed at a more sedate pace.
Watching her dog take off after Jared, Emily thought it was funny that while Mutt was tolerate of her friends and co-workers he simply adored kids up to a point like, for example, when Henry called him a pony and tried to ride him. Mutt had sat down so that the young boy would slide off then he went out the dog door and hid out in his doghouse for the remainder of the visit. Sergio, sensing that he was about to show up on Henry's radar, pulled off an admirable vanishing act of his own. She guessed since children were shorter than adults Mutt found them less threatening.
Jared had it all planned out by the time they had caught up to him and Jericho. "We can split into two teams. Me, Seth, and Miss Emily can be on one. Mr. Russ and Mr. Derek on the other. Jerry can be on both because he doesn't have any hands so he can't bat."
Derek glanced at the dog, sporting a blue bandana with baseballs on it, seemed unimpressed with his nickname. The poor dog was going to get confused with all these names. Everyone called him Jericho. Emily was the only one to call him Mutt.
"Good idea, Jared," Emily said, "But why don't we toss a ball around a bit to loosen up?"
"Okay," he agreed. Then a thought occurred to him and he turned to Morgan. "Mr. Derek. Can you hit a few first?"
"Sure," he answered. He went over to the bag Russ had brought and sorted through the bats until he found the one that felt comfortable in his hands.
"Hey, Emily. Would you do me the pleasure of tossing a few to me?" he asked, digging through the bag for a baseball.
"I'll give it a try," Emily said, slipping on a glove.
Derek pulled a ball out and frowned at it when it felt odd. "Emily, why does this baseball have small holes in it?" he asked, turning the ball over in his hand looking at the pockmarks.
Emily grinned. "Because our outfielder has big, pointy teeth." Jericho barked at him from his position in center field.
He made a face. "That makes sense," he observed and tossed it underhanded to Emily who caught it neatly and then trotted out to the pitcher's mound.
"You might want to stand half way if you want to get the ball over the plate," he called out after her.
"I thought I would give it a shot first," she shouted back over her shoulder.
"This should be fun," he said to himself as he dug in at the batter's box and took a few practice swings to loosen up. Russ, decked out in a catcher's mask, settled behind the plate.
Derek watched in bemusement as Emily toed the rubber, went into her windup and sent the baseball…whizzing past his right ear. Letting out a squeak of surprise, he dove to the dirt, the sound of the ball smacking into Russ's mitt echoing his ears.
"What the hell?" he swore, rising to his feet.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" came Seth's voice from the dugout. "Mr. Derek said a bad word. That's a dollar in the curse jar."
"What?" Emily asked, holding up her arms in question, a look of innocence on her face. "You were crowding the plate."
Russ snickered. Derek turned to glared at him. "You think that was funny?"
"No, Sir," he answered, glad the mask hide his broad grin. He threw the ball back to Emily who caught it effortlessly. "Ball one."
Emily circled the mound, stepped up to the rubber, licked her fingers and leaned forward. Derek glanced down to see Russ flashing signs at her. Emily nodded and straightened.
"Bring it on," he muttered, tightening and loosening his grip on the bat.
Emily let the ball fly.
Derek grinned. She just left the ball over the plate. He stepped forward and brought the bat around, eagerly anticipating the sound of ball on wood. Just when the bat was about to connect the baseball suddenly dropped and he swung harmlessly over it. The momentum spun him around.
"Strike one!" Russ called out.
"Strike one!" echoed the boys in the dugout.
Emily winked at him as she caught the ball from Russ. She returned to the rubber and assumed her stance. Derek shook his head and resettled in the batter's box. He kept his eyes glued to her pitching hand.
She went through her windup and let the ball go. Derek watched it leave her hand and hurtled towards him. It looked like a standard curveball arching to the outside then curving in. This he could hit, he loved curveballs. Then the ball started to wobble, it went up and down and then drifted left to right and back again. Derek had no idea how fast it was going and found himself still swinging as the ball slammed into the catcher's glove with a resounding thud.
"Strike two!" Russ and the boys said in unison.
Derek glared into the dugout and the two boys waved madly back. Out in center field Mutt let out a huge sigh and plopped onto his stomach, resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to be chasing any balls in the near future. Derek turned back to the mound and mouthed the word change up. Emily sent him a wicked grin and nodded. She then licked her fingers and got ready for her next pitch.
"This is war," he grumbled as he adjusted his cap and resumed his stance.
So far he had seen a slider and a change up and he wondered what other pitches she had left in her arsenal. He soon found out. Emily blew it past him with a fastball above the knees, freezing him at the plate.
"Strike three! You're out!" came the chorus. Mutt rolled over and played dead.
With a rueful smile he met Emily halfway. "You got me, show off."
"Yup."
He held out the bat. "Okay, so you can pitch but can you hit?"
Emily exchanged the glove for the bat. "Guess we'll have to see won't we?" she said innocently.
Chuckling Derek made his way to the mound. He loosened some of the dirt in front of the rubber and when he turned to face the plate he had to blink in surprise. Emily had settled into the left-handed batter's box. His eyebrows shot up. She's a switch hitter?
As he watched her exchange a few words with Russ, Derek mentally reviewed his own selection of pitches. He eventually settled on his own version of a slider. He went through his windup and sent the ball careening toward home plate. Emily watched the ball, took a step and swung.
CRACK!
Who knew Emily was a low-ball hitter? He turned to watch, first the ball and then the dog, disappear over the home run fence. Russ joined him on the mound and together they watched Emily trot around the bases. When she reached home plate, she jumped on it and then traded high fives with Jared and Seth.
Derek looked over at the young man who now had the catcher's mask resting on top of his head. "Did you teach Emily how to play baseball?"
Russ grinned. "Nope. Ace, taught me. You should see her field a line drive."
"You've been holding out on me, Ace," he accused her later.
They were sitting on top of a picnic table watching Jared and Seth scampering over the playground equipment like two hyped up monkeys. After playing baseball for a while, Emily had treated everyone to ice cream, chocolate for her and the brothers and vanilla for Derek and Mutt. Russ had mint and was now reclining against a tree texting away on his phone. Mutt was contently snoring away in the shade under the table.
"How so?" Emily asked, finishing the last of her sugar cone.
"Back in Texas you said you didn't know anything about sports," he pointed out.
"Au contraire," she said, waggling a finger at him. "I said I didn't know anything about football. You never mentioned baseball."
Derek chuckled. "You got me there." He shifted around until he was sitting sideways on the table so that he could see her better. "Okay, Miss Smarty Pants, how do you know so much about baseball?"
Emily glanced at him and then let her gaze wander back over the playground. She began to twist the paper napkin she held in her hands. Even though she has know Derek for almost seven years and considered him her partner and one of her closest friends, she still had trouble talking about herself. Derek had been right all those months ago, before the Doyle fiasco blew up in her face, that she had trust issues.
She took a deep breath and began. "As you know my parents weren't around much when I was growing up. Both paid more attention to their individual careers than to me. Anyhow when my Father was present he shared with me his love of baseball. I fell in love with it for two reasons: one, because it was his passion and it could be something that was all our own and nobody else's. Two because if I liked it as much as he did maybe I would be more worthy of his love."
Derek remained quiet while she paused to collect herself. He knew she would appreciate it that he wasn't interrupting with unwanted questions. Instead, he let her tell it in her own fashion. Unconsciously her fingers started to shred the napkin.
"We use to go out on embassy's grounds where he taught me how to field and hit. And the times we were stateside or in some country where baseball was popular, Father would take me the ballpark to see a game or two. It was fun, just the two of us. That was the only time I liked being an ambassador's kid. We always had great seats and were able to go to the locker rooms and meet the players." Emily smiled at the memories.
"Wow!" Derek said, impressed.
Emily glanced at him. "It was great. They were all very nice and gave me tips on how to improve my play."
"What did your mother think of it?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him. He had a feeling that the Ambassador had not approved.
Emily let out a rueful laugh. "She hated it. She thought it was a crude and vulgar game, that it was an unsuitable sport for a girl to play, especially me. Nothing irked her more when I came in from a lesson with Father with a dirty face and wearing grass stained clothes. Her disapproval only made me fall in love with it even more." She fell silent, eyes back on the brothers.
"Do you and your father still go and see any games?" he asked softly after a few minutes.
She shook her head slowly. "Not for a long time. We…we drifted further apart when I was in high school. By then my parents had technically gone their separate ways."
Derek interpreted 'technically' to mean that Emily's parents had never officially divorced. They lived their own lives but came together for public events to maintain the image of a happily married couple. Over the years since Emily had joined the team, he had seen pictures of her parents in the society pages.
"Do you keep going?"
Again she shook her head. "No. It's no fun going alone. You don't have anyone to rehash the plays with."
"But then you met Russ," Derek observed, following her line of thought.
This time she turned to fully face him, the paper napkin in pieces at her feet. "And then I met Russ," she repeated with a smile. "Here was this boy with a glove that was almost falling apart who so desperately wanted to play baseball but had no one to teach him."
"But you did."
Emily shrugged her shoulders as if it was nothing. "I had all this skill and knowledge and it seemed silly not to share it."
Derek liked how her eyes lit up when she talked about the boy, no, young man. He hoped she was proud of what she had accomplished with him.
"Don't get me wrong about his aunt," she quickly said. "She cared for him in her own strange way but she didn't believe in spending money on anything beyond the basics she was required to provide to him. She didn't mind that I offered to pay for Little League every summer or when I asked to take him to the ballpark whenever I could because the money didn't come out of her pocket."
Derek smiled. "Emily, you raised a smart, sensible and talented young man," he said in admiration, his chest swelling in pride for his friend.
Emily frowned at his words. "I did no such thing."
His face grew serious. "Don't sell yourself short, Emily. You had a big influence on how he turned out. You should be proud of yourself."
She looked at him in surprise. He was giving her way too much credit. She was simply Russ' friend, not a mentor, a big sister and definitely not a parent. She was too screwed up to be a good one.
"Emily, think of what you'll be able to achieve with the Dynamic Duo and their brother." He gestured to Jared and Seth who were having a friendly tussle at the top of the slide over who gets to go down first. "And don't forget Declan."
At the mention of the blonde boy's name, Emily's face became shuttered and she stared at the ground. Derek realized he had overstepped his boundaries when the words left his mouth. Not long ago Declan and Emily had come face to face for the first time in six years and it hadn't gone well.
"He still won't talk to you?"
Emily bit her lip. "No," she said quietly. "I called to see if he might want to come along today but he refused to come to the phone."
"I'm so sorry, Emily," he said, laying a comforting hand on her knee. He still felt bad for pushing her to have more contact with Declan when she clearly didn't want to. She had been afraid that this would happen. "It's just going to take some more time. He'll come around."
"It's for the best," she said, pretending that his refusal to see her didn't hurt even though that very hurt showed clearly in her eyes. She glanced at her watch. "I should get the boys back to their grandmother," she said, changing the subject.
"I guess so," he agreed, sad to see this relaxing afternoon end. It had been fun even when she bruised his male ego by striking him out on three straight pitches.
Emily peered under the picnic table at the dozing dog. "Mutt! Heir!" she called out firmly.
Mutt shot to his feet and came to stand before her, his tail wagging, still looking dapper in his blue bandana. He gazed intently at her.
She pointed to the boys. "Hol sie her!" she commanded.
As Mutt dashed off to retrieve the brothers, Derek grinned mischievously at her. "I love it when you talk German."
Emily laughed as she watched her dog start to nudge the boys in her direction.
"Can you handle a softball?" he asked, an idea forming in his head.
She turned back to him with a slight frown. "Yes, softball has the same principles as baseball except for how the ball is pitched. Why?"
"With you and that arm of yours on the Bureau's softball team, we would so trounce the Secret Service team."
"You think?" she asked, eyes sparkling with the challenge.
"I know so," he said with a grin, knowing he had her.
"Then sign me up. They're nothing but a bunch of blowhards."
Derek chuckled, loving how she never backed down from a challenge. Already he was looking forward to playing with her and wiping the smirks off their faces.
After the busy and fun Saturday at the park with Derek, Russ and the boys, Emily felt it was her right to have a lazy Sunday. She could sleep in, maybe go for a slow run around the neighborhood and then snuggle up with a good book or two for the rest of the day. And if she were really lucky the MacGruder boys would come over and borrow Mutt for several hours, allowing her to spend some quality with Sergio.
The sleeping in lasted until ten thirty when the before mentioned Sergio decided that he had waited patiently for his breakfast long enough and sat on her face. "Alright, alright. I get the hint. You're hungry," she said around a mouthful of black fur.
She pushed the cat to one side, rolled out of bed, and promptly tripped over the dog. As she donned a robe she longed for the days when her bedroom was obstacle free. Now there was always an animal or a chew bone under foot. Emily had no idea why Mutt always insisted on bringing one to bed each night but he never took it back downstairs the next morning. Sighing she picked up the bone, tucked it into her pocket with the plan to drop it in his toy box.
Sergio and Mutt raced each other to the kitchen. The cat always won by taking his favorite shortcut, squeezing between the balusters halfway down the stairs and leaping nimbly down. Emily took her time. Mutt sat attention and Sergio weaved between her feet as she filled both bowls with dry kibble and put fresh water in the shared water bowl. Mutt gulped his down within a minute while Sergio sat and contently munched on his.
"Nein!" Emily said loudly when she saw the dog trying to steal some of Sergio's food. "Lass das."
Mutt gave the bowl one more wistful look before backing away. Emily decided to distract him from the food. "Los, bring mir die Zeitung."
His ears perked up and let out a sharp bark before dashing down to the basement and out the dog door that Derek had installed so that he could have access to the front garden. A minute later she could hear his toenails clicking up the hardwood stairs. He appeared at her side holding the plastic bag containing the newspaper in his mouth. Of course he tried to play tug of war with her but Emily gave him a stern look and commanded, "Lass los !"
He immediately dropped his end and she rewarded him with a vigorous ear rub. "Braver Hund." Mutt's tail pounded the floor.
Settling at the breakfast bar Emily spread the newspaper out. Before she started reading, she thought back to yesterday and smiled. It had turned out to be a fun afternoon for all. On the drive back, the boys had kept asking her when Mr. Derek could join them in another game because they thought he was so cool. And he was. Derek was great with them. Not a bad way to start vacation, she thought and took a sip of her orange juice. Then Emily spent the rest of the morning perusing the Sunday paper and enjoying a leisurely meal.
And now you know why Russ calls Emily 'Ace' and how she knows so much about baseball. Hoped you enjoyed it and let me know what you think. Otherwise see you all on Weds. Until then.