AN: This is my first Criminal Minds frantic, I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own Criminal Minds or any of its characters, if I did Hotch and Prentiss would be together!

Undercover?

"Let's review what we have so far," Hotch said. The whole team was currently in the Greenville, North Carolina local police station where they had been given a small room and an evidence board to use.

"Two couples murdered within two weeks. Both on a Tuesday evening," Reid began.

"All white, in their thirties and shot through the head execution style," Morgan continued. Pictures of the couples and the crime scenes covered the evidence board and had been arranged in chronological order from the first to last killing.

"They were all last seen in one restaurant where the men of each couple proposed." The restaurant in question famed itself for being the most romantic restaurant in the State so proposals were nightly occasions.

"The UNSUB seems to resent that fact however he has his anger in control. He is definitely an organised offender, taking care to leave no forensic evidence behind," Rossi added.

"We don't have enough to go on to narrow down a suspect list. We don't even have a list unless we consider every single white male in his thirties a suspect. That would is thousands of people," JJ sighed.

"And if he keeps to his timeframe he is striking again tonight. Why can't we just close down the restaurant?" Police Chief Wilson asked. He had been the one to call in the team after having attended one of their seminars. He'd really believed that they would be able to make a difference but now it seemed unlikely.

"If we close down the restaurant the UNSUB will simply move to new hunting grounds. At least now we know where he will strike," Hotch explained.

"We have to send in a couple undercover. Then when the UNSUB goes after them we can arrest him before the couple are in any danger," Rossi suggested. It seemed like the only way they could keep the killer from striking again tonight.

"I can get you two of my people to do it right away," Wilson said and began moving towards the door.

"I think it would be wiser to send in two of us," Hotch remarked. "In case things do get out of hand with the UNSUB we have the best chance of stalling him."

Wilson huffed a "Fine," and stomped out of the room, upset that these FBI profilers apparently thought that they were better than his people. After all HE was the one who was in charge here, HE had asked them to come here so they should at least consider his opinions.

"Rossi can you go talk to him later?" Hotch asked. "He thinks we are overstepping our boundaries and I don't think he would react very well if I went to talk to him."

"Sure," Rossi responded.

"But now it's really more important to focus on the case. Garcia I want you following all the footage from the restaurant, they have agreed to give us access to their cameras. If you see anything suspicious alert the couple and the SWAT team outside which JJ can organise. That leaves Emily to be undercover as the female. Any volunteers for her partner?" he asked looking around the room.

"Well I think Hotch should do it," Garcia remarked slyly after an awkward silence. She had noticed some chemistry between the two and hoped that this would push them in the right direction.

"I agree," Reid said, "after all Rossi's a bit too old, no offense."

"None taken."

"And I'm not really all that comfortable with the job, Morgan doesn't fit his M.O. which only leaves you Hotch."

"Is that okay with you?" Hotch asked Prentiss nervously. Secretly a thrill of pleasure had shot through him as soon as Garcia suggested him. Recently he had been looking at Prentiss, Emily, differently. It was, of course, wholly inappropriate. He was her Unit Chief, she his subordinate, but here was an opportunity to be with her in the way he wanted without either of their jobs being endangered. And he was praying that she would agree.

"Sure," Prentiss answered also hiding her excitement. She had been overjoyed when she'd found out that Beth and Hotch were over, he had just said she wasn't right for him, and that joy had made her reconsider her feelings for Hotch.

"Good. Then Morgan and Reid can also pretend to be customers in the Restaurant, that way you can be the backup in case something unexpected happens."

An hour later the four of them were hooked up to mikes, Hotch had been given a ring in a fancy box. Morgan and Reid entered the Restaurant first, choosing a table in a corner of the room were they could overlook the whole Restaurant and especially the table in the middle of the room were Hotch and Prentiss would be sitting. They had both ordered when Hotch and Prentiss entered the room.

Hotch was dressed in a suit with a white shirt and a dark blue tie while Prentiss looked stunning in a red, low cut dress that nicely accented her hair.

"They look nervous," Reid remarked.

And indeed they both were nervous. Not about the undercover work, both of them had done a lot of that, but because they would be pretending to be a couple. Hotch hesitantly reached out with his hand and Emily quickly grabbed it and smiled up at him encouragingly.

She leaned upwards and gave Hotch a quick peck on the lips, one that thrilled both of them. They then made it to the waiter who asked them about their reservations. Hotch responded that the two of them had reservations for "Hotchner" and the man's eyes widened. He had obviously been informed that these two were special guests.

Once they had been shown their table Hotch grumbled, "He wasn't supposed to know about us. His boss was instructed to keep all of the information to himself. Any suspicious behaviour could tip off the UNSUB."

Prentiss smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. His reaction wasn't obvious to anyone but us."

"You're probably right," Hotch sighed. His nerves were under a lot of strain right now. He was trying to not look at Prentiss' dress, keep looking out for their UNSUB as well as pretending to be in a relationship with Prentiss.

She obviously sensed this as she reached out to stroke his arm. "Relax Aaron," she said. She was surprised at how different that sounded, how familiar.

Hotch echoed her thoughts, "It sounds strange doesn't it? I've gotten so used to everybody calling me Hotch."

That was the moment that their mike crackled in their ear and Morgan's laughing voice came through to them. "Guys talking about UNSUB's isn't really couples conversation material. From over here you two look like porcelain dolls that are terrified of touching each other. You don't look like a madly in love couple who are about to agree to get married. Try to make it a bit more convincing."

"Thanks Morgan," Emily responded sarcastically. Why was this so difficult for her? She'd had no problems with Ian Doyle but maybe that was just because she didn't care about him in the slightest. After all he was the bad guy and Hotch wasn't. She could do this.

"Kiss me," she instructed Hotch and saw his eyes widen in surprise before he hesitantly leaned over to her and softly touched his lips to hers.

She responded immediately grabbing hold of his hair, only taking a quick moment to admire its silkiness, and pulled him in closer. Instinctively he grabbed hold of her waist and pulled them even closer together, his tongue asking permission to enter her mouth.

She granted it immediately and as their tongues danced together the kiss heated up even more until neither of them was aware of their surroundings. It was just them. Emily and Aaron.

Until they heard Reid, "Umm, guys you're doing a great job and everything but I think you're bothering the other customers." He sounded unbelievably uncomfortable.

Emily and Aaron separated themselves from each other and became aware of their surroundings again, in particular and old woman who was sitting at the table next to them muttering something about how they were the reason for "the decline of society and morals."

Emily couldn't help giggling at that and Aaron smiled at her as well. Their first course had now been served and they ate their meal while chatting with each other familiarly about everything really. Emily told him about the house that she had thought about buying, they talked about Jack, it really seemed like they would never run out of topics of conversations.

Then after the waiter had served desert it was time. Morgan gave the waiter a quick nod and he turned the spotlight on Emily and Aaron's table as well as turning off the music that had been softly playing in the background.

Aaron stood up and got down on one knee in front of Emily. For just one second he remembered when he'd asked Haley the same question and the familiar pain twisted in his stomach but he refused to go down that road right now. He was here, in the present and he had a job to do.

"Emily Prentiss, will you do me the honour of marrying me?" he asked looking into her eyes and pretending, for just a second, that this was real.

Tears had begun to fill her eyes, not all of them fake, and she wiped at them before saying, "Yes, of course."

He slipped the ring on to her finger and in the applause of both the staff and the customer one old lady could be heard saying, "Humph, maybe he's a half decent guy after all. Unless of course he's already knocked her up." She gave them a hard stare before turning back to her meal.

He initiated their kiss this time and it was just as thrilling, exciting and new as the last one. They broke apart quicker this time. It was time to leave and they had a killer to catch.

They stepped outside of the restaurant into the chilly evening air and began walking to their car in the car park. They were both acutely aware of the footsteps behind them. They knew it wasn't Morgan and Reid, they hadn't left yet.

They were almost to the car, not their usual SUV but a common Audi, when a gruff voice called out, "Wait!"

They both stopped and turned to take in their UNSUB. He was a white male and in his thirties, they had been correct in his assumptions, and looked like an average guy. He was clean-shaven and obviously took care of his appearance neither being dressed too shabby nor flashy.

Aaron pulled Emily slightly behind him, like any boyfriend would, but it was actually so she could draw her gun without catching the UNSUB's eye.

"Yeah," he said.

"I just wanted to congratulate you guys. You know, getting married. It's a big step." While he was speaking the UNSUB was inching closer to them, something both of them noticed.

"Thanks," Aaron responded. "But we really have to go home now."

That was when the UNSUB made his move. He too had pulled his gun and was pointing it at Aaron saying, "Get in my car and nobody gets hurt."

Unfortunately for the UNSUB the SWAT team was ready. They poured onto the scene, more than ten of them, accompanied by Reid and Morgan. Prentiss had jumped out from behind Hotch as well and was pointing her gun at the UNSUB.

"Put your gun down. FBI."

The UNSUB looked both shocked and overwhelmed but never less followed the order and slowly put down his gun. The SWAT team was on him immediately, handcuffing him before taking him away in a car and reading him his Miranda rights.

"You both okay?" Morgan asked them and they both nodded in return.

Honestly they both felt a bit lost right now. Unsure about their feelings and each other and they didn't speak at all on the plane ride back.

At Quantico however Hotch asked Prentiss to come to his office for a debriefing on the undercover part of the case. She obliged and arrived at his office where he was sitting in his chair.

"Emily," he began and she felt so happy that he was still using her first name, "I don't really know how to say this but I have feelings for you. Feelings that aren't really professional. I tried to ignore them before but they just won't go away. I want to ask you something, and please don't feel in anyway obligated to say yes to this if you don't feel the same way. We can just pretend it never happened but Emily Prentiss would you go out on a date with me?" he asked. He studied her face closely but it was giving nothing away.

He quickly backtracked, "I'm sorry, we'll just forget about it okay."

Now she unfroze, "No of course not. No wait I mean yes. Yes I'll go on a date with you, I'd love to. I meant no we shouldn't forget about it."

At that a huge smile spread across his face and he walked around his desk to take her in his arms. The statement was also met with a huge cheer from outside the door.

Hotch frowned and went to open it only to find the whole BAU team outside the door, obviously having been eavesdropping.

He sighed, "Go now."

They left but not before they could congratulate him and of course tell them both that they'd been betting on when they'd get together for months.

And when they did leave Aaron finally got the chance to kiss his Emily.

AN: Please review, it'll only take a second and I would really appreciate it.