Author's Note: One shot companion to A Slight Inconvenience. You'll probably want to read that first before this, but it's not totally necessary.
A Minor Disruption.
Six months later, Emily Prentiss was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, eager to be back at work at the BAU despite the solemn nature of their work. The only remaining signs of her illness were occasional bouts of fatigue, but she was used to working through it even before this whole ordeal had taken place. She'd given House a call as well, to see how Thirteen had been doing after the scuffle with Jake Patterson, the UNSUB.
House had stayed true to his word, and helped her all through her illness…in more ways than one. They'd grown closer, much closer during the six months she'd gone through the medicinal therapy to get over the sickness, although the team had blissfully stayed oblivious to this. Though, the two assumed that once Emily was back at work full-time, they would sense that something was different between the couple.
And there was something else: House's visit to the BAU, which had been scheduled for exactly a week after Emily returned to work; a Monday morning, which would probably be a slow morning full of only paperwork after the weekend. But she had neglected to inform Hotch of this, wanting instead to see his reaction when the doctor arrived at their doorstep. Sure, it was a bit underhanded, but she thought it'd be funny to see them duke it out, if it came to that. It was clear to her, and she was sure to everyone else as well, that the two alpha males greatly disliked each other. Of course, they respected the other, but they drew the line there.
On that particular morning, House arrived at the academy in Quantico, certainly a sight, limping through the hallways with a visitor's badge clipped to his jacket. His typical morose air had been replaced with a smug grin. As he approached the doors, Reid heard the uneven footsteps and looked up. Obviously, with his eidetic memory, he recognized the doctor, and immediately raced to the doors and greeted the man.
"Dr. House!" he said, surprised. "What brings you here?"
He cocked a brow. "Agent Prentiss invited me for a tour."
"Really?" The young genius definitely had not expected that from Emily. "Well, she's in Agent Hotchner's office right now. It's-" He pointed to the wooden door. "-right up there." He paused, an inquisitive look on his face. "You know, I read up on disseminated nocardiosis, her diagnosis, and I found that ten percent of cases with uncomplicated pneumonia are fatal. It's interesting that-"
"Yeah, whatever kid." House dismissed Reid's ramblings with a wave of his hand, and hobbled up the stairs, ignoring Morgan's curious stare as Reid explained in whispered tones the meaning of House's appearance.
House, on the other hand, now had his back turned to the two as he rapped on the unit chief's door with his knuckles. He heard some shuffling of feet from the inside, and after a few quick moments the door opened, revealing Hotch and Emily side-by-side. Her hair was slightly mussed, her lips a bit swollen, and his face was flushed. House wondered what..activities the two had been getting up to behind the locked door. He didn't remember that the two being in an official relationship during the time of Emily's stay at Princeton-Plainsborough. But his thoughts were interrupted when he witnessed the look of dismay that crept onto Hotch's face.
Instead of asking House directly, he turned to Emily and said, "What's Dr. House doing here?"
"I invited him for a tour," she replied with a cunning smile, "to repay him for figuring out my diagnosis."
"Oh," was all Hotch said.
"It's nice to see you, Dr. House," she said, shaking his hand. The silly grin was still plastered on House's face.
"Same to you." It seemed, though, that he was more interested in what was going on between the two of them, rather than the tour, because he continued, "You know, Agent Hotchner, your face is looking a bit red. Feeling feverish?" His voice was innocent, though had a knowing look in his eyes, and Hotch grew even redder.
"No, I'm fine," said Hotch, keeping his voice steady, "but thanks for worrying."
"Oh, I'm not worried."
"Excuse me?" Hotch's eyes narrowed.
"Not about you, anyway. Actually, I'm more worried about my former patient." He gestured to Emily. "I mean, with the close contact you two must share, I don't want her to catch anything else. Not after her immune system has been compromised so severely already."
Emily's eyes darted from one man to the other, as if she were watching a tennis match. This wasn't going the way she had hoped. "Uh, Dr. House, how about that tour now?"
He disregarded that she had even spoken.
"I don't know what you're insinuating, doctor," spat Hotch, "but I think you'd better listen to Agent Prentiss and go for that tour-" He murmured to Emily, though loud enough that House could still hear, "-and make it quick."
"Hey, hey." House put his hands up in the traditional signal of surrender. "I'm not trying to make you mad, agent. No, I'm just being a good doctor, and warning my ex-patient. STD's aren't the only thing that can be spread through-"
"Go now." Hotch cut him off, unwilling to hear the rest of House's sentence. Emily had never seen him so flustered, and frankly, she was a bit scared. He looked as if he wanted to hit the doctor so hard his head would fly off his neck.
"Agent Hotchner is right," House said finally, his devious grin growing even wider, "let's get on that tour."
Emily's agreement was nothing short of hasty. This hadn't turned out to be a good idea after all, though she would have something to tease Hotch about once they were alone again.
Author's Note: Short and sweet. This was fun to write; I hope you like it.