Disclaimer : Sadly i do not own Criminal Minds or the characters


Rossi and Hotch were sitting in Hotch's office looking out to the bullpen. Morgan was lounging in his chair talking to Reid and Prentiss who had JJ sitting on her desk. They were all laughing at something Morgan said , mostly likely a raunchy pick-up line.

" You know it's been 5 months since you and Beth split up" Rossi said eyeing Hotch for a reaction.

"I know how long its been Dave, what are you digging for?" Hotch returned in his usual monotone.

"Why don't you tell Emily how you feel?" Rossi said. There was the reaction he was looking for. Hotch looked nervous , if just for a second before he could hide it, it was there.

"I don't know what you're talking about Dave." Hotch said his voice breaking just a little.

Then they saw a man about Hotch's height and build with dark brown eyes and brown hair approach Emily.

~ In the Bullpen~

Emily heard him before she saw him

"Hey Emms" . There was only one person who called her that. She turned her chair around quickly and was met with a familiar face standing in front of her. John Cooley. A wide smile quickly spread across her face and she stood up wrapping her arms around him for a warm hug.

" John what are you doing here?" She asked with caution laced in her words

"Don't worry its nothing bad. I just got a job in D.C. and wanted to come by and see you. I start my job in a couple days and I was hoping we could have dinner and catch up." He said with a bit of shyness

" absolutely " she said before turning to introduce him to her team. " John This is SSA Jennifer Jareau , Dr. Reid, and SSA Derek Morgan "

He shook everyone's hand with a polite hello for each of them

" So how do you know Emily? JJ asked with a sly smile

" We met when we were fifteen , You all investigated the death of our friend Matthew a few years ago, the three of us were quite the trouble makers back in Italy. " John replied with a smile stealing a glance at Emily who was smirking and trying to hide that she was blushing.

"Hello, i'm Agent Hotchner" Hotch said coming up behind Emily who jumped at the sound of his voice, not realizing he and Rossi had made their way down to the bullpen.

" Sorry Hotch I didn't hear you guys come down, this is my friend John Cooley." Emily said to Hotch as the two men shook hands. " And Rossi you guys have already met, when we investigated Matthews death" Emily said looking at Rossi who had a somewhat concerned expression.

"Nice to see you again Agent Rossi " John said with a smile

" I need to go over some new policies with you guys so conference room in five." Hotch said to the team before turning to go back to his office.

" So Emms how does tomorrow night sound?" John said with a small smile

"That sounds great " Emily replied. "Here let me give you my number " she said before writing some numbers on a post-it and handing it to John

He ripped the bottom of the post-it off and sprawled some numbers on it " And here is mine" He said with a smile .

" Great i will talk to you later then " Emily said giving him a hug

" I'll Talk to you later Emms" He said before turning back to her team who were all staring at her. JJ had a devious smile on her face, Reid and Morgan both had raised eyebrows , and Rossi still looked concerned.

"What?" she asked innocently

" Princess has game , who would have known " Morgan said with a mocking smile spreading across his face.

" What ?! No it's not like that he is an old friend we are just catching up." Emily said looking down at her files

" Your eyes dilated when you saw him meaning that you're attracted to him and when you replied to Morgan you avoided eye contact and your blink rate sped up which mea- "

"Thank you Dr. Reid. " Emily said her words heavy with sarcasm as she stood up and headed to the conference room. Once she couldn't hear them any more JJ spoke

" Rossi what's bugging you? " JJ could easily see the concern laying in his eyes . When he didn't answer she kept probing, " You don't trust him." she said , it wasn't a question. she could tell by his behavior.

" What aren't you telling us?" Morgan spoke with concern

"Nothing it's not my place to say anything " Rossi said with emotionless words as he too made his way to the conference room. When he got in the room he took a seat next to Emily at the round table. She was writing in her reports for the case they had just finished in Vermont.

" You know we aren't meeting in here for another five minutes" He said turning his chair to face her.

" I know . I don't need four pairs of eyes profiling me while i'm writing a report though" she said without looking up from her work. He could tell she was agitated.

" Kiddo you can talk to me . you know that right?" He said, his concern finally making its way into his voice.

She sighed and looked up at him " Yeah I know , i'm really excited about him being here. I guess i'm just torn and don't really know what to do." she said quietly.

" You think he still loves you but you don't love him anymore." Rossi said equally as quiet completely understanding.

" I guess you could say that " She said in a small voice looking back to her report.

A moment passed by silently before the rest of the team made their way into the room all taking their seats. Emily wasn't actually listening to what Hotch was saying, she was busy trying to get her mind around her thoughts. She nodded when appropriate and sat at her seat quietly. Occasionally she could feel Rossi glancing at her, but he didn't look at her long enough for attention to be drawn to her which she was grateful. By the time the meeting was over it was time to go home. Emily gathered her things and made her way down to the parking lot and to her car.

Thirty minutes later she was finally home and made her way for a hot shower. When she got out she threw on yoga pants and a t-shirt, found a book, and settled herself on her couch next to a sleeping Sergio. She practically fell off the couch when she heard her phone vibrate next to her. When she picked it up she saw it was a text message.

From : John
"Hey Emms "

TBC