Hello! I know it has been a REALLY long time since I have updated anything on this site. Real life has taken over in a major way - new job combined with a husband who has had two hospital stays in the past year (but much healthier now) and two young kids who are very cute but very demanding have not left a lot of time for writing.

I am still working on "The Lies That Bind" - I've had a serious case of writers nap block with that one but I know where I want it to go and I'm committed to finishing it. But in the meantime, here's a new one - it started as a one-shot to "200" but will now be at least two chapters. We'll see. I'd love to hear what you think!

Chapter One

"How long do we have you?" Hotch asked the question but no one really wanted to know the answer, knowing that however long she said, it wouldn't be long enough.

She glanced at her watch. "Six hours." Morgan squeezed his eyes closed, wishing time would just stop. He was incredibly grateful that they had JJ back. That she had come back to help save JJ. But he wanted more time. From the time that she landed in D.C., it had been go go go. Trying to rescue JJ and Cruz. One part of him wanted to know exactly what she had known about JJ's situation and how she had known it. The other part didn't care...he just wanted her.

"I'm so glad I finally got to meet you. I've heard such amazing things."

She laughed nervously, glancing first at Alex, and then at her old team, catching his eye for a brief second, before looking away. "All lies." The words were out of her mouth before she had a chance to think about it and she cringed. Unfortunately it wasn't far from the truth. Half of it was lies.

Penelope hadn't let go of her hand since they had rescued JJ and squeezed it in a show of support. Emily glanced over at her and smiled, almost guiltily. Knowing that if she never had lied to her friends...her family...she'd probably still be here with them. She loved London. She really did. But she had lied about her past and this was the result. She was done apologizing for it ... If she had to do it over again, she still wouldn't have put them in danger.

Hotch glanced at his watch, hating to be the first one to leave and not wanting to leave Emily just yet but he knew Jack was waiting for him at home. As much as he missed his friend, life still went on. Plus, he could tell another member of the group was itching at getting their former colleague alone. And it wasn't Penelope.

"I'm going to get going," he announced, glancing over towards JJ. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thanks, Hotch," she replied, a yawn escaping at the same time. She looked over at her husband. "I"m ready too. I'm exhausted and I want to snuggle in bed with my boys."

"You guys are a bunch of party poopers," Penelope huffed. "But I'll forgive you just this once."

Hotch pulled Emily into his arms for a quick hug goodbye. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear. "I really appreciate what you did for JJ."

She smiled in return as she pulled back, her hands resting on his forearms. "No where else in would have been. You and JJ gave up so much for me. There was no way I could stay put and not do anything I could to help find her."

"Don't be a stranger," he told her, squeezing her hand before he walked away.

JJ and Will appeared in front of her then, both wanting to express their heartfelt gratitude for the role Emily played in saving JJ. Will hugged her tightly. "That's twice now," he whispered. "I hope you are never in a situation where I have to repay the favor but you know I'll be there in a heartbeat."

Emily smiled. "I love you both. I was only doing what JJ would have, and has, done if the situation were reversed. Take care of her."

"Of course," Will replied.

She turned and pulled JJ into a fierce hug. "I love you. Don't you forget that."

JJ had tears in her eyes. "Never. Please don't be a stranger."

"I won't," Emily wiped at her own eyes. "Come visit me soon. Please?!"

JJ and Will both laughed as they turned to leave. They were followed a short time later by Alex and Dave, leaving Emily with Penelope, Reid and Morgan. Penelope could sense that Morgan was getting antsy. Emily's remaining time in DC was winding down and she knew that her Chocolate Thunder did not want to spend his remaining time with her kick-ass friend in a noisy bar. Although she was hoping that this time they would make the most of what little time they had together rather than hurling at denials and hurtful accusations at one another until their something-more-than-friends relationship imploded.

Penelope could sense the fact that her two best friends needed some time alone before she and Derek had to be at the airport. The last two weeks had been a whirlwind but she couldn't help but feel incredibly happy for the two of them. As much as she and Derek loved to flirt with each other, it was always intentionally over the top because they knew they were friends. The best of friends but friends just the same. What Derek felt for Emily though? That had always been a different story. Penelope had noticed it not long after Emily had joined the BAU. She had brought out her chocolate stud's inner nerd. They way he flirted with Emily was way different than how he did with Penelope. It was subtle but even Reid could see what was behind it. The fact that they held out as long as they did always baffled her. How Emily could keep herself from those rock-hard abs, Penelope couldn't even fathom.

When Emily had returned from Paris, the way Derek had looked at her, Penelope thought it was just a matter of time before they would finally get their act together. The shocked expression on his face when Emily walked through the door broke her heart and it was obvious to everyone in the room that his feelings for the brunette ran deep. Only Penelope had known just how devastated Derek was after Emily "died". How much he blamed himself for not finding her in time to save her. How he couldn't sleep at night without seeing that final image of her, bloodied and broken and clinging to life as she begged him to let her go. A never ending nightmare that he lived through over and over for seven hellish months.

Penelope finished her tea and dropped the empty cup in the trash before picking up the magazines she had purchased for the long flight home. Glancing at her watch, she knew she had to start getting back so they could head for the airport. She hoped she had given her two friends enough time to say a "proper" goodbye. She chuckled to herself. She could only imagine that first night they were together - the release of six years of built up sexual tension had to cause some fireworks. For her own sake, she was glad she had decided to take her time coming home from the bar that night. Shaking her head at her own thoughts she hesitated momentarily outside of the door to Emily's apartment-"flat," she thought to herself - but the sounds she heard coming from inside the apartment were not the "goodbye" she expected to hear.

The couple froze as the door opened, staring at her in shock. Clearly they had not expected her to return so quickly. "Am I interrupting something?" Garcia asked, glancing back and forth between the two of them. Derek was red-faced and looked like it was taking all of his restraint not to put his fist through Emily's wall. Emily had been crying, of that Garcia was sure, but she quickly wiped at her eyes, eliminating any evidence of her tears. "Guys..."

"I think it's time to leave for the airport," Emily interrupted before Penelope had a chance to ask what was wrong. She smoothed her skirt down with her hands and picked up her phone, keys and purse, avoiding eye contact with both of them the whole time. "Your flight is in a couple of hours and it's going to take a while to get through security."

Penelope glanced over at Derek, clearly waiting for some sign that he wanted to finish whatever he and Emily had been arguing about before she had interrupted. But instead he sighed, clearly dejected and resigned to the fact that whatever they had been discussing had not gone his way, and replied, "Yeah we should get going. You need help with your bags, Babygirl?" She nodded, dumbfounded, but kept her eyes on him as he began to move past her towards Emily's spare bedroom. She could have sworn that he was fighting tears.

She watched as Emily and Derek hugged goodbye at the airport. On one hand, the hug they shared seemed incredibly awkward. On the other hand, even as awkward as it seemed, it was also as if neither wanted to let go. Her own heart broke for them. Here were two people, two of her best friends, that clearly were in love but both were so incredibly guarded that even when they finally seemed to be on the right track, their own stubbornness, and unbelievable ability to not let themselves be happy, got in the way.

Turning her head away from the window as the city of London faded away below them, Penelope finally got a look at her hunky best friend. "What's going on, Derek? It's obvious something happened while I was out earlier. Talk to me, sweetie."

Derek sighed, dejected. "It's nothing, Babygirl. I really don't want to talk about it right now. I just want to close my eyes and sleep the whole way home."

She placed her hand over top of his, squeezing lightly. "You know I love you, right?" Derek nodded. "And because I love you I'm going to give you some advice and you're going to listen to it." He tried to protest but she held her hand up, effectively silencing him. "You and Emily feel far too strongly about one another and have been through way too much together to let something silly like an ocean get between you. And you're both so damn guarded that neither of you will actually admit the fact that you're head over heels in love with one another. But even if you never do, and even if the past two weeks is the furthest a relationship between the two of you would ever go, don't let it ruin your friendship. Don't look back at this moment and regret the fact that this was how you left things."

"Well my pretties," Penelope began, making a show of yawning and glancing at her watch. "As much as I want to stay and play with you all night, I need my beauty sleep before life returns to normal tomorrow. Hey Genuis...want to share a cab? You're not far from my apartment and you know how much I hate to go home by myself at night. This job has ensured that I never go anywhere alone when anyone can be lurking in the shadows."

Derek rolled his eyes, seeing right through her. "You don't need to leave, Babygirl." He tried to sound sincere but he wasn't sure she bought it.

She didn't. "I'm tired, my big strong man. And while I would normally have you serve as my own personal hunky bodyguard, someone has to get my gorgeous pseudo-sister here to her fancy private plane in a few hours." Penelope turned to Reid. "So whaddya say, hot stuff?"

Reid nodded as Penelope wrapped her arms around Emily. "You will call me as soon as you land in merry old England. I love you and miss you all the time. You know you always have a place to stay when you come visit. Although I suspect you may not need one."

Emily rolled her eyes, chuckling. "I know PG. I love you too."

Reid said his goodbyes as well before following Penelope out the front door of the establishment they frequented after work, leaving Derek and Emily awkwardly sitting at the bar by themselves. "Do you want another one?" Derek asked, nodding to her watered down vodka tonic.

Emily shook her head as she pushed the drink away. "No. I don't even know why I ordered that one, I'm done."

Derek signaled to the bartender, indicating he wanted to close out the tab. Emily fidgeted nervously. She still had four hours before she needed to be at the airfield but didn't have a clue where she and Derek stood in order to know what they would do once they left the bar.

Derek finished signing his name to the credit card slip and sneaked a glance over at Emily. She was scrolling through something on her phone as she waited for him to finish up. He wondered what was going through her mind right now. Did she feel as awkward as he did? The last time they had been in the same room together, eighteen months earlier, he felt the same way. And it hadn't gone well. They had spent two amazing weeks together but it all had come crashing down the day he and Penelope were due to leave London after the Olympics and their temporary duty assignment had ended. Penelope had tried to talk to him on the flight home about what she had walked in on right before Emily had driven them to the airport, as well as multiple times since then, but he wouldn't reveal what had transpired when she had left them alone in Emily's apartment to run an errand. And she could only watch helplessly as six years of friendship and something more had come crashing down. Penelope was the only one who had any idea how he had felt about his raven-haired former partner. Although working with a team of profilers, it was possible they all did and Hotch had set off a coordinated effort to get the two of them alone tonight.

He slowly pocketed his credit card, turning to her while she pocketed her phone. "Everything okay?"

Emily nodded. "Just the pilot, wanting to let me know we aren't cleared for take-off until morning. Fog or something. I guess I'll need to find a hotel for the night."

"You know you don't need to do that," he told her as he led her towards the exit. They stepped outside into the unseasonably mild February night. Not warm by any means but not too cold that they could walk for a bit and enjoy the fresh air. And apparently warm enough that the freezing rain from earlier had turned to a light rain with a dense fog settling over the city, and causing all flights out of the city, including private ones, to be grounded until morning.

"I have to sleep somewhere Derek. I now have at least another twelve hours to kill," she informed him.

"You know you can stay with me," he pointed out, nodding his head towards the direction they needed to walk to get to his house.

Emily reached out to grab his arm, stopping him from any further progress. "Derek, is that what you really want?"

"What I wanted was never a question, Emily."

To be continued...

So what do you think? Should I continue? Is anything ever easy for these two? I woukd love to hear your feedback. Reviews make me smile!