A Day With My Friend

Disclaimer: CBS doesn't want to trade me Criminal Minds, no matter what I offered...

Summary: Emily and JJ relax and unwind...

A/N: This popped into my head and I couldn't resist...

Thanks for reading, I hope you like this story enough to review.

"The hardest part about being friends, is loving you so much." Author Unknown

Emily sighed as she unlocked her front door, tossing her keys on the end table while placing her gun and badge down next to them.

Toeing off her black boots, she felt the pressure tighten in her neck, and released a sigh of frustration.

She knew that no matter how much she felt for him, her feelings would never be reciprocated, and needed to figure out how to let it go.

Making her way over to the kitchen, she pondered whether now would be a good time to drown her sorrows in ice cream or tequila.

"Ugh, make up your mind already." she muttered to herself, both coping mechanisms were taunting her to decide.

As she reached over to grab the ice cream carton, she heard knocking on her front door, causing the brunette to slam the freezer door with a sigh and wander over to the peephole.

Frowning, when she looked through the hole and didn't see anyone, she started to wander back to the kitchen only to hear another knock, this one more persistent.

Grabbing the doorknob, "What?"

"Well hello to you too" JJ said, struggling to carry two pizza boxes and a plastic bag, "How about a little help here?" she noticed the annoyed look on her friend's face, "Who pissed you off?"

"Well maybe you for one." Emily said grabbing the pizzas, "I hope you got pepperoni, you know how my stomach can't handle peppers and anchovies."

JJ dropped the plastic bag on to the coffee table, "I know, I know. Your ulcer, you don't have to remind me."

"Not that I'm not grateful for the food, but what brings you by?" Emily asked, noticing the blonde's quiet demeanor, "You have another fight with Will?"

JJ pulled the beer out of the bag, along with some DVDs, "How do you know me so well?"

Walking towards the kitchen for paper plates and napkins, "Well I'm only one-third of your best friend."

Emily passed the blonde a paper plate, "So what did you two fight about this time?"

Pulling a pepperoni off her pizza and munching on it, "What do you think?"

"Ah, the job" Emily answered, sipping on a beer, "He's complaining about the long hours away from Henry and him? Didn't you tell him that, this was part of the job when you two first started seeing each other?"

"And he promised not to let it get in the way of us" JJ reminded her brunette friend, "And that, he said he can make it work."

"Sorry, Jayje" Emily told her apologetically, "Men can be scum."

"Yes they can," JJ told her, finishing off her third slice, then looked over at the brunette, "And how go things in Crushville."

Emily dropped the half-finished crust, "Excuse me?"

"Your crush on Hotch" JJ replied casually, "Oh come off it, I know."

Emily bit her lip, "God this is pathetic, everyone knows, huh?"

Rolling her head to the brunette's direction, "Seriously, no. Don't go freaking out, I only figured it out and possibly Garcia but that's it."

"Garcia knows?" Emily banged her head, "Now I'm really starting to regret this pizza."

"Don't go spazzing out on me now," JJ told her, "Garcia might know, I'm not really sure."

Rubbing her forehead, "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse. It just did."

"What are you yapping about now?" JJ replied polishing off on the untouched pizza slice, "I'm so going to regret this in five minutes."

"Right before I left for the day, passing along the finished case file," Emily murmured, covering her hand, "I heard him and Dave talking about her."

"Oh" JJ said, her stomach souring at the idea of the other brunette, "Come on lets get into position."

Emily sighed when the blonde dragged her off of her couch and grabbed the DVDs.

"You want me to do what?" Emily asked, as both women stretched their in the Chair pose.

"Now move towards the Dolphin pose" a female voice emanated from the television.

Both female agents lean forward and arching their backs down with their foreheads touching the blue mats in front of them while their elbows and arms rest on the floor.

"Go meet a guy" JJ replied, groaning as she slipped nearly losing her balance, "It's not like I'm asking you to go do the first guy that crosses your path, but you can't keep yourself cooped up and away from the opposite sex, that's just not healthy."

"Yeah that's really going to help me get over Hotch and his brunette curating, triathlon running girlfriend." Emily quipped, "You know, why are we even talking about my problems? What about you and Will?"

"Feel that tension leaving your body?" the woman on the yoga DVD asked.

"No" Both Emily and JJ replied.

"Now move into the Downward-Facing Dog" the woman replied.

The two women lifted their heads and arms off the floor, placing their palms down on to the mat.

Emily turned her head towards JJ, "Now on to your problems."

"My problems?" JJ replied, "Please there are not enough hours in the day to go over what's wrong with me and Will."

"Compromis,e" Emily told her, inhaling, "You want your relationship to work, right?"

"Right." JJ told her, "Not just for Henry, but I can't just stop being an agent. You seen what this job did to all of Dave's marriages, and Hotch's too."

Emily winced at the reminder of Hotch's failed marriage, "I know the Bureau hasn't really been great for marriages, hell not even for relationships either, but you have to draw the line somewhere Jayje. What's more important the job or your family?"

JJ exhaled, "I know, I know. It's just every time Will and I make plans we either get a case, or we end up fighting and get sidetracked by other things."

"You need to set time aside just for the two of you, one that won't be interrupted by the BAU, Henry or anything else." Emily told her, "You know all you have to do is pick the phone and one of us will watch Henry for you."

"I know" JJ told her, "I just don't want to impose on anyone's time."

"Now move into the Garland pose," the female voice said.

Not knowing that position, they looked at the screen and JJ rolled her blue eyes at the sight.

"God, I'll never be able to get out of that one." Emily quipped, "Looks more like a frog..."

"Or someone taking a crap." JJ replied, moving to squat down on the floor, "Now back from avoiding the obvious. Your single status."

While their heels are on the floor, both women kept their elbows pressed against their thighs as they kept themselves in their pose.

"Look, I hate being single as much as the next girl" Emily told her moving into the High Lunges, "But unless hot, single, straight men fall out of the sky, I'm flying solo."

"Em" JJ said as both women moved into the Upward Salute, "You're far too young and far too gorgeous to stay single."

"Look I know you're taking this whole one-third best friend deal seriously" Emily told her, "But I really don't want to focus on the tragedy that is known as my dating life."

"I don't want to be a rotten best friend, but I don't want to keep you in a steady stream of batteries for Mr. Big." JJ told her, "So I'm going to give you some advice that was given to me, 'Make time for yourself'."

"Don't you just feel free and opened?" the woman asked from the DVD, "Now lets move into Warrior II pose."

Both Emily and JJ moved into that stance, and the brunette rolled her eyes when JJ opened her mouth to urge her to date.

"Do you have any idea how many freaks are out there?" Emily reminded the blonde, "Of course you do, you're a profiler now. Well I'm not going to put myself on the chopping block just to satisfy your own need to set me up."

"God, Emily it's not like I'm going to set you up with a serial killer or a bank robber or anything" JJ told her, "There are plenty of single guys in the Bureau..."

"No." Emily told her, "I'd never date anyone I'd work with."

"Except for Hotch" JJ reminded her, "Sorry, fine then. How about someone from Will's department? So that way if I ever get to have a date night, you can double with us?"

"Gee thanks" Emily deadpanned, "Why not just post an ad on the side of a bus, 'Desperate Agent Needs A Date'? God this sucks. Why can't I just get what I want?"

"I really am sorry, Em" JJ told her, "But sometimes we don't get everything we want."

"I know, Jayje, I know" Emily told her, both going into the Tree pose, "I'm just going to have to let this go..."

"Well I hope you don't go the angry girl route" JJ told her, as she stretched high in her pose, "Because I would so hate to have to visit you in jail. You'd probably make me post your bail."

"A good friend would" Emily told her, turning her head to stare at her blonde friend.

As the two women sat on their mats, they got into their meditation stances, each trying to find their inner peace when the sound of the persistent ringing phone pulled them from their calming center.

"God, I thought I told you to put that damn phone on vibrate." JJ told the brunette, "We're on standby so there's no cases."

"I thought I did." Emily replied hitting ignore not even bothering to look at the caller id, then turning it to silent.

"Find the inner peace" the woman chanted, "Focus on the sound of your own breathing."

"How the hell am I suppose to focus on my inner peace if I have focus on my breathing?" JJ replied, "God this guru woman makes no sense."

Emily turned her head to her friend, "I didn't ask to do this, you know. I would have been happier going to the gym and punching the bag."

"Imagining it's his face or hers?" JJ grinned as she closed her eyes again, "But then if I were you, I'd have a hard time choosing between the two, too."

"Shut up" Emily replied, taking a deep breath, "Find a happy place, happy place."

"Well I would if someone quit yapping" JJ replied.

Both women groaned at the banging on the door, "Ignore it." JJ told her, "Door to door solicitors are not welcomed."

"Open up, Prentiss, I know you're in there." Hotch's voice rang out.

"You have got to be kidding me," Emily said opening her eyes, "How the hell did he know I was home?"

"Garcia." JJ and Emily replied.

"Great there goes my shot at finding inner peace." Emily snorted out, hitting pause on the remote.

"You want me to go?" JJ asked her.

"Nah, it's not like he's here for a social call," Emily told her, "He's probably here to bitch me out for not signing something official."

Opening the apartment door, "Yeah?"

"Are you alone?" Hotch asked with a raised eyebrow looking in the living room only to see it's empty, "I heard voices."

"Well you're not having a hallucinating break, yeah I have company." Emily told him.

That's when he took in her appearance, the sweat off of her face and the disheveled clothes told his profiler mind that she had exerted herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry to disturb you" Hotch replied nervously, "Can we speak for a moment?"

"About what?" Emily asked looking for any case files in his hands, "What did I forget to sign?"

"Sign?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah, I know you're not the type to drop by to hang out" Emily told him, "So what brings you by?"

"You didn't answer your cell phone" Hotch told her, "I'm uh... well the thing is, that I was wondering if you'd like to uh..."

"What?" Emily asked, she turned her head and noticed JJ's own blonde head peeking through, she made a gesture for the smirking blonde to move back.

"Emily?" Hotch called out to the distracted woman, "Whose in there?"

"An annoying, sweating blonde" Emily replied glaring at her female friend, not noticing the hurt look that flashed on his own face.

"Oh, I hadn't realized that you were with someone" Hotch said, "How long?"

"About three months" Emily commented distracted by the kissing faces the blonde was doing from the hallway, "So you wanted to ask me something?"

"Oh, it's not... never mind. You obviously have other plans" Hotch said, "I'm going to let you go now."

That tone caught her attention and she finally got a good look at her boss. He looked like he hadn't eaten or had a good nights rest.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked him, "You seem off. Hotch, whatever it is, you can tell me."

"I don't want to disturb you or your date" he told her, "You seem happy."

"Getting hot and sweaty does that to a girl" she informed him, "But hey, I've always got time for a friend."

"Well its... your busy" Hotch said, causing the blonde to groan and make her presence know.

"God, can't you two just get your shit together?" JJ barked out startling the dark-haired agents, "You have no idea how annoying this is to watch."

"JJ?" Hotch asked shocked, "You're here?"

"Of course I'm here." she told her boss, "Every weekend the two of us do this. Get hot and sweaty with each other."

Emily rolled her eyes, "We have a fat, fast food fueling grub fest then work it off with either exercising or yoga-ing."

"And this time it was yoga." JJ told him, "Now I'm going to go now and work Will into a date night. You two have fun."

And before either dark hair agent could notice the blonde was out the door like that.

Hotch stood in the middle of the small living room, his hands shoved into his pockets watching Emily straighten up letting him have time to process the nugget of her and JJ's weekly ritual.

"Sorry to interrupt your girls' night" Hotch said apologetically, "If I had any idea, I wouldn't have just showed up."

Emily turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow, "Uh huh, sure."

"Seriously" Hotch proclaimed, "I really had no idea that you two did this. Garcia never told me."

"That's because she doesn't know" Emily told him, "Look JJ and I love Garcia, love her. But if she knew we did this little weekly ritual and invited her in, it'd change from relaxation into a full fledge slumber party with gossiping and movies and that's not what we need right now. We need calm."

"Oh" Hotch said, semi-relieved, "I understand. Don't worry she won't here anything from me."

Emily exhaled at that, "Thanks. So now can I know what brought you by?"

"I thought, well, you see..." Hotch replied, this made Emily shove Hotch down on the couch, "What the...?"

"You know this would go a lot easier if I could have some words come out of your mouth" Emily told him, "Hell even a noun or a syllable would do."

Hotch took a deep breath, "I wanted to ask you out."

Emily had to double check to see if her jaw dropped at that, then she narrowed her eyes, how could he just do that to her?

"You slimy, piece of crap" Emily retorted smacking Hotch with a couch pillow, "Just because Beth and I will never be best friends doesn't give you the right to ask another woman out. Of all the low life, despicable things I've ever heard..."

"Beth and I broke up." Hotch replied but she kept up her rant.

"I can't believe it, I can't believe you did something so sneaky and underhanded..." Emily stopped, "Did you say break up?"

Hotch felt himself laugh for the first time in a long time, "Yes, now can you take a deep breath."

Emily inhaled, "Sorry. But it's a girl code thing." she dropped the pillow, "Sorry about your break up."

Shaking his head, "I'm not. As nice and sweet as Beth is, sometimes people aren't meant to be in each others lives for more than a minute."

Leaning back, "You're taking this awfully well. What brought this all on?"

Hotch picked up the small pillow, "Actually Dave did. He and I were talking this afternoon about my break up, and he asked me if it was knew what I wanted. That's when your face popped into my head and Dave told me to get my shit together or risk watching you find someone else..."

Emily nodded, turning her attention to removing the DVD and placing it back in its case, "And who would that be?"

Hotch grinned watching the always calm and in control Emily startled when he placed his hands on hers, tossing the disc on to the counter.

"You" Hotch told her, his hands cupping her cheeks as his thumb flicked across her lower lip "I want you."

Biting her lower lip, "Me?"

Grinning her pulled her into a kiss, "Yes you, you idiot."

Emily's smile made his heart beat faster as she wrapped her arms around his waist while he pulled her towards the couch.

As they fell backwards Hotch, ran his hand up and down her smooth skin, "So how's the yoga thing going?"

"It helps with the stress" Emily told him, "I've tried to figure out what to do with my social life, I almost decided to take a cooking class."

"Cooking class?" Hotch's nose crinkled at that, "But I heard that you're..."

"Not the world's greatest cook," Emily finished, "Yeah I know, I almost poisoned everyone with Chef Rossi's class. Don't have to remind me."

Hotch chuckled as he pulled her close to him, "Don't remind me. I'm the one that had to watch Reid turn a horrible shade of green from your cooking..."

Emily grinned at him as she pinched his sides making the man cry out, "Oh, nice way to treat your boyfriend."

Her features showed the shock, "My what?"

He leaned back to lie on the couch, pulling her down on to his chest, "Yes, Emily I said boyfriend. That is if you'll have me."

Emily rotated her head to look at him, "Hell yeah, what took you so long?"

Dropping a kiss on her forehead, "I don't know, I honestly don't know."

Emily felt herself finally relax while Hotch wrapped his arms around her, keeping her close to him, hopefully forever.

David Tyson Gentry said, "True friendship comes when the silence between two people is comfortable."

Until Next Time...

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