I hope you will enjoy it...
Chapter 1:
Emily Prentiss was always been a strong and independent woman. She had no other choise, she knew from her childhood that had to rely only on herself. Growing up, this situation has not changed.
In fact, she never felt the need to be romantically linked with a man to feel fulfilled. For that she had her work which, though it wasn't one of the happier and joyful jobs in the world, it makes her feel like she could make a little difference.
Sure, she would have liked to have someone waiting for her to return home, someone who didn't have four legs and a tail, but Emily Prentiss has always known how to satisfy herself and she was sure that she had nothing to complain about...or, at least, she believed...until Andrew Baltazar has entered her life.
They were dating by a couple of months, but, for Emily, things had never been so great to.
Andrew was a manager with his part of notoriety, often forced to travel in the other States for his work, going frequently in Arkansas, Mississipi and Georgia. Because of their jobs, the moments that they spent together in Virginia were few, but in those days he knew how atone his absences.
Everyone could easily see the beneficial effects of her new relationship in the entusiasm with which she faced her days, although none of the team had met in person the guy she talked about. All her colleagues were glad for her, the only one who harbored resentments about that was Derek Morgan, not even he knew the reason why he couldn't be happy for his patner, he loved see her smiling, he adored see that spark in her eyes, probabily he was just jealous that he wasn't the maker of her own happiness.
One night, before the team left the Bureau to come back to their lives, Garcia proposed an evening all together:
"Come on my loves, we don't spend much time together...and when we do, we are surrounded by victims and murderers so, please, it's just a dinner...or, if you don't want to talk, we can go to the cinema! But, please, let's do something funny all together...and if you don't accept, you will find yourself inundated with so many cases that will regret this refusal and..."
"Ok, it's enough baby-girl..." Morgan interrupted her speech "...I'm in!"
"Me too" Rossi joined himself and so on the other team members
"I'm so proud of you!" Garcia said happily "And, if you want, you can bring your boyfriends and girlfriends...so as we can finally meet Andrew" she ended glancing at Prentiss
"Guys, I don't know if he wants to come, we are dating only a few weeks...and then he could be away for work" she said quickly, nervous about being the center of attention
"Ok, first of all you don't have any reason to be so agitated, you're not submitting Andrew to your mother..." Penelope said to Emily, trying to calm her down and to convince her, of course "...and then, we haven't decided on the day yet, he could also be free from his commitments"
"Alright, I'll ask him, but if he doesn't want to come I can't force him"
"Don't worry, if we see you coming alone we star thinking you are jealous and you don't want us to know him" JJ joked
"Or we could start thinking that Andrew is a figment of your imagination" Morgan added, immediately regretting having said it out loud
"Very funny, Morgan!" Prentiss said, without fun in her voice.
Soon after, the Agents reached an agreement and, after agreeing to see each other the next night, everyone returned to their own homes.
When Emily opened her apartment door, she found Andrew waiting for her.
As soon as he saw her, he ended his phone call and he went to meet her with a bouquet of roses to give her the kiss of welcome back.
"What are you doing here?" she asked surprised when they broke apart
"Why? Are you not happy to see me?"
"Yes, I am for sure! But do not expect you until tomorrow morning..."
"Yeah, I had to go back tomorrow but luckily my meeting in Hattiesburg wetter better than I planned so I hastened to leave Mississippi to see you as soon as possible..." Andrew explained
"This is fabulous! I was just about to ask you something..."
"Should I be worried?"
"No. I don't think, at least. Listen, do you have to leave in the next following days?"
"Nope. If I don't receive calls from my copartner I though to spend my next days with you! Why do you ask me that? Do you have something up in your mind?"
"Not properly..." Prentiss has started to say while some anxiety made its way inside her "...it's just that tomorrow night we organized a dinner with members of my team and I was wondering if you want to come. My colleagues are keen to meet you..."
"I dunno, I'm afraid to feel uncomfortable in the midst of all of you agents"
"We will not talk about work, but if we begin to do so, you can talk with Kevin, Garcia's boyfriend, he is not exactly an Agent as us"
"We can't just stay home? We haven't seen each other that much, I want to take advantage of these moments before I'm off again...or before you go away again"
"I'm sorry, I already told them that I'll go. It isn't anything special, I'm not submitting you to my mother"
"Yeah, but you always say there like your family and, considering what little you've said about your mother, maybe I would be more comfortable with going to your mothers" Andrew answered
"Okay, no problem, I don't wanna to force you if you don't want. I'm sorry to go out while you are at home..."
"Oh, don't worry. I'll go back mine and put in order and-you know what? I changed mine, I'll come with you tomorrow night. But you should know that I'm doing it for you only!"
"Aww, you are so sweet" Emily said giving him a heartfelt thank you kiss "You'll see that you will not regret it, they are all very nice"
"Good to know! Tell me only one thing, why they really want to know me?"
"Why? Because I've talk about you..so there just curious"
"I'm happy that you talk about me and I can't wait to meet your colleagues. But now, time to go to bed"
"It's early to go to sleep..." Emily argued
"Who said anything about sleeping?" Andrew clarified, dragging Prentiss in her bedroom.
The following evening.
The dinner was fabolous and everyone had a great time. The group came out from the restaurant to discuss how continue the night. The ladies were hand-in-hand with their boyfriends while the men were all singles, all except Hotch who brought Beth.
Emily's colleagues were happy to have finally met her boyfriend, a charming and pleasant man, phisically pretty similar to Morgan: tall and muscled while, in other respects, the two men were completely different.
The only one who hasn't changed his mind about Andrew was just Morgan, rather, now that Derek has met Andrew, he liked him even less...
"So..." an half-drunk Garcia took over the situation "...we do something else all together or we conclude the evening?"
"I would love to stay, but Andrew has to be up early tomorrow, so we're gonna head home"
"If you wanna stay, i'll take you home, no problem, really" Morgan looked at them both, but, before Emily could consider his offer, Andrew answered for her, without taking into account her wishes: "Thanks, but as she said, I'll take her home"
Morgan's instinct suggested to him to kick Andrew's butt but reason prevailed so he tryed to open his mouth to respond in kind to its provocation but Rossi, with a soft elbow into his ribs, made him realize that this wasn't the time or the place for that. Sure thing was that Morgan momentarily dropped the subject, promising himself that next time would not have been so kind, even if that meant make a bad impression in front of Emily.
So the team decided to end their night and everyone came back to their own car. The only one who postponed his return home was Morgan, he prefered take a walk to push through his anger. After just a few steps, Derek heard footsteps behind him so he turned to discover who was following him and he found himself almost face-to-face with David Rossi.
"So, what's wrong with you tonight?" the older man enquired
"Nothing, everything is alright"
"Sure, and I am Richard Gere!" the Italian agent humored "Come on Morgan, don't try to fool me..."
"If you already figured everything out what I supposed to say?"
"What you feel inside. Vented, you will feel better...and then I have a theory to prove..."
"Okay, it's about Emily's boyfriend..."
"As I thought, it's all about Prentiss"
"What do you mean?" asked Morgan not fully understanding his exclamation
"Please, Morgan, ask questions as smart as you are! Everyone has noticed the the relationship between you and Prentiss which goes beyond of the simple friendship. I think the only ones who haven't noticed it yet are...well, the two of you! It's certainly for this reason that no one of you two can't settle down with a stable and lasting relationship"
"Rossi, where the 'don't do a profile to each other' rule is?"
"Making a profile consists in closely observing and studying the people behaviour, instead it catches the eye easily without being a profiler! So, tell me, what is not convincing you about Prentiss' boyfriend?"
"I don't know how to explain myself, is the set of most things that makes impossible for me to tolerate that guy..."
"Well, just in case you don't know that, this is jealousy!"
"No, I'm not jealous"
"Oh, yeah Morgan, you are! Believe me."
"Ok, whatever you want, but don't tell me that he didn't seem strange..."
"Well, yes, but maybe he was only embarrassed..."
"I don't think so, it's seems like he wanted hide something. And then, what were all those question about our job?"
"Just curiosity?" Rossi hypothesized
"This kind of curiosity would be justified for someone who you have just met not for someone who date with a profiler..."
"Maybe he doesn't want do a bad impression with Prentiss or maybe he doesn't want annoy her with his questions"
"And you date someone for how long? About 2 or 3 months and he doesn't ask anything about your job, especially if it isn't very common like ours? Please man..."
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." quoted Rossi
"And what has that got to do now?"
"It describes perfectly the situation. By the way, are you going to do something?"
"I want to get to the bottom of this story, I wanna discover who is really Andrew..."
"Morgan, I am no one to tell you what you have or don't have to do but I can recommend you only one thing: pay attention, with Prentiss I mean"
"Why? I do it for her own good, I don't wanna see her tearful with the broken heart, I just...I can't!"
"Okay, you're adult, do what you want, what you feel is right and take your responsibilities but let me tell you a couple of things: first of all, if you really wanna do this, you should talk with Prentiss first, it don't make her happy if you act behind her but if you don't wanna do this don't talk with her until you will be absolutely certain of what you discovered. Anyhow, will not please her know that you invaded her privacy."
"Got it. What about the second thing?"
"Last but not least, if you really love someone you should be happy to see her happy...I know, it's difficult but I speak from experience"
"I'm happy to see her smiling...but it bothers me that-"
"That the one who makes her happy aren't you, right?" Rossi concluded his sentence
"Yeah" Morgan admitted with some reluctance
"Good. Now it's getting late. Go home and sleep, tomorrow it will seem more clear" the senior agent ended preparing to return to his own car "Goodnight Morgan"
"Goodnight. And...thanks man" Morgan said a little less angry, getting a gesture in response from his colleague.
M&P
"What did you say your colleague's name is, the one sitting next to you? Derwin?" Andrew asked Emily
"Nope, Derek, Derek Morgan" she corrected him
"Anyway, he is an asshole and I don't like him!"
"He is not an jerk at all!" Emily said, taking the side of her colleague "And then, why you don't like him, if I may ask?"
"I told you, he is a jerk. You can understand it from how he talks, from how he behaves"
"You too, however, could be nicer before"
"Excuse me? I can't accept that you take the defense of a stranger rather than your boyfriend's" Andrew answered angry
"I'm not taking anyone's defenses and, by the way, I know him longer than I know you, so he isn't exactly a stranger...I meant that you could answer him differently" Emily said with all the intention to avoid the discussion
"So is it my fault?"
"Again? I told you that I will not blame anyone. Listen, if you want to argue let me out here and I'll walk home"
"Stop it. I'll take you home, we are almost there"
The couple spent the last minutes of the trip in silence.
When they were in front of Emily's condo, Andrew pulled up and, first to greet her, added: "When you going to apologize, call me"
"You are kidding, aren't you?" Emily asked shocked
"No, I'm very serious! I think that you owe me an apology so, when your ready, call me" Andrew reiterated, bending down to kiss her goodnight, but Emily undid her seatbelt and got out.
That night, despite the fatigue, with all their thoughts, the rest wasn't very pleased for Morgan and Prentiss.
To be continued...