Title: A Delayed Date (Part 1 of 5)
Author: Trista Groulx aka dustytiger
Rating: T (for now)
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters they belong to their creator, network, writers, actors and actresses and all the other people who bring Criminal Minds to life every week. I don't make money from this just joy don't sue me I'm poor.
Summary: Reid and Prentiss never did get to see Solaris, what happens when Prentiss finds out it's playing in the city they are stuck in? Is their friendship ready for another change?
Notes: This was an idea suggested to me like two months ago by lolyncut I loved the idea but couldn't make it work and life kept getting in the way. Anyway this is what I came up with, I hope it's worth the wait. There will be M rated parts so be warned. This is five parts as it stands. I want to write a sixth but it's not coming together and I don't want lolyncut to wait any longer for something that might not work out she's waited long enough.


Emily Prentiss stood in front of Spencer Reid's hotel room door, waiting for him to answer. She wondered if she should have called first, she had no idea if he would even be there. The team had had a case in Las Vegas and she knew that he was planning to spend some time with his mother while he was there. She knew it had been a bad idea to assume he might have stayed in his room. Even Reid would be able to find something to do in Sin City, it was his home town after all. She was about to turn around to leave when the door squeaked open. Her jaw dropped when she saw him standing in front of her, clad in only a towel, which was wrapped around his waist.

"Emily?" he asked. "Come in."

She went inside, trying not to stare at his bare torso. She always wondered what her co-worker hid under his sweater vests, and now that she saw how well toned he was she wanted to see what lay beneath the thin hotel towel. She looked the floor, hoping that if there was any redness to her cheeks she could blame it on the heat in the hotel.

"I'm sorry this is a bad time," she mumbled.

"Stay," he assured her. "My shower has already been interrupted, so you may as well tell me what's going on. Is something wrong?"

"No, of course not, why do you ask?"

"You were fairly persistent; I assumed that meant that something was wrong. The case wrapped so it can't be that, and the jet won't be fixed until tomorrow so it shouldn't be a case. What's going on?"

"Sorry, it's nothing like that. I found out that Solaris was playing tonight and I wanted to know if you wanted to come see it with me since we didn't get a chance to with everything that happened. I did want to go with you, it was just the timing."

"I know that now."

"I'll understand if you turn me down, but it's playing while we're both here and I thought it might be just what we both need."

"Sure, let me go get dressed, what time does it start?"

"There's a showing at seven and another at ten. I thought we could go for dinner first if you know somewhere good."

"I know a few places, given me ten minutes okay? Make yourself comfortable."

She nodded and sat down on the bed uncomfortably. She had tried not to notice the black ink that was peeking out from under his towel but it was hard not to. She wanted to ask him what the whole tattoo was but didn't want to invade his privacy. She was so relieved that they were able to act like friends again and she didn't want to do anything that might change that. She knew when she had gone into hiding and had to fake her death that he would take it the hardest. All she wanted now was to somehow get one of her best friends back and hoped that this would get them back on the right track.

He came out of the bathroom a few minutes later wearing a pair dark brown corduroy pants a sweater and was now wearing his glasses. As much as he looked like his normal self, Prentiss couldn't help but think about how good he had looked wearing only a towel. That was an image that would not soon be forget and wondered if maybe there would be a way she could see more of him. Prentiss smiled at him and they left the room. They drove to an Indian restaurant that wasn't far from the hotel. They were enjoying their meal when a woman came over to the table.

"Oh my gosh! Wow! I thought it was you! Spencer Reid!" she exclaimed. "How long are you in town? There's like a million people from school who want to know what's happened to you – well not a million but you know, like so many people, we have a reunion coming up. Did you get an invitation?"

"I'm going home tomorrow and I have plans tonight. Yes, I got the invitation and no I'm not going."

"Then just come join us for a couple drinks before whatever it is you're doing."

"I don't drink."

"You always were such a keener like that. Don't have a drink then just come and say hello. Everyone wants to know how you turned out, you don't even have Facebook! Just come over and say hi quickly. "

Reid felt trapped and made eye contact with Prentiss. She knew that look all too well, and she hated that this woman was making her friend feel that way. She hoped he would not get mad at her for the way she decided to help him but she thought it was the only way she could be sure that whoever this person was would leave him alone. She assumed the woman had gone to school with Reid at some point in his life and she knew that that was a time of his life he liked to leave in the past.

"Look I don't know who you are," Prentiss growled, reaching for Reid's hand. "But you're interrupting our date right now and you're starting to make me mad."

"Date?" the woman giggled. "Oh that's rich! That's almost as funny as that tabloid story about the actress girl in Hollywood!"

"I assure you that Spencer isn't gay and I should know considering how satisfied he keeps me."

"Oh come on! You two haven't even touched since you walked in here. You're just trying to defend him."

"You can believe that if you want but I know how I feel. I don't want to discuss my sex life with a complete stranger but if you don't leave I might have to. Why don't you slink back to your table while Spencer and I indulge in a wonderful moment of PDA?"

The woman was about to say something when Prentiss stood up and walked across the table. Before Reid could say anything her lips were on his in a frenzied embrace. All the genius could do was wrap his arms around her to pull her closer to him. He wanted his former classmate to believe there really was something going on between them, and he wanted her to leave them alone. He also knew he should make the most of this moment because he was sure he would never get to feel Prentiss touch him like that again. He was terrified to admit how long he'd wanted to do this and wondered if she might feel the same way.

Prentiss couldn't stifle a small moan when she felt Reid's tongue touching her lips and she willingly opened to let him in, not sure she would ever get another chance to find out how well the genius could kiss. She couldn't believe how real their kiss had become, and she wanted to make the most of it. She was sure that once it ended she would never get the chance to anything like that with her friend again, but she needed to make a lasting memory of the moment. She tried to memorise how soft but still demanding, even skilled, he was, and exactly how he smelled and tasted. Their kiss lasted longer than she had expected.

Reid was moving his hands to her face gently when she pulled away, stopping himself when he made eye contact with her again. Suddenly he realised that what they had just shared was just a show and that she might not want more from him. He instantly regretted having taken the embrace too far. He was sure that she wouldn't feel the same way as he did. He was terrified that he would put their friendship in jeopardy and didn't want to lose that again.

"She's gone," Prentiss assured him.

"Good – Emily, you didn't have… that was…" he stammered.

"I know I just wanted to, yeah."

"Oh, so it was just that?"

"If you want," she told him honestly.

"What if I don't?"

"That would be good too."

"It's settled then, the movie starts in an hour, where is it playing?"

She told him and he decided they had time for a coffee at a nearby café, since he didn't want to stay at the restaurant for desert now that he knew his former classmates were there. He took her hand as they left, and was surprised when she didn't let it go when they got outside. He liked the feeling that surged through him when she touched him. They had coffee and a treat before they went to the theatre to watch the movie.

Prentiss didn't want the night to end she had been having an amazing time with Reid. She actually felt like she was on date, and it was the best one she had been on in a very long time. After the movie was done they went back to the hotel. She didn't even realise that she had followed him to the door of his room.

"Would you like to come in?" Reid asked. "It's still too early for me to attempt to sleep so you wouldn't be imposing."

"Sure."

He opened the door to the room, and they went inside. "It's a shame these rooms don't really have anywhere else to sit."

"We're both adults Reid I'm sure we can share a bed. I'm glad we were able to do this I'm sorry we couldn't sooner."

"I understand that now. It was what I missed most while you were – gone."

"I did too. I didn't even realise just how much you meant to me before you were out of my life. If there had been another way I would have done I would have found it, you do believe me right?"

He nodded. "Can this be the last time we talk about this?"

"I'd like that. What do you want to talk about instead?" she started to move to the end of the bed, using the pillows to prop herself up.

"I'm not sure how to express what I want to tell you."

She took his hand. "You can tell me anything and I won't be mad."

"I saw the way you looked at me when I opened the door earlier. I thought it was my imagination, something that I wished could be," he explained his cheeks getting redder as he spoke. "Earlier tonight when you- we? Kissed… Emily I enjoyed that more than any other woman who's done that before. I want more than your friendship for a long time now but I wasn't sure you'd want that until earlier I hope I'm not wrong about that though."

"You're right I was looking at you. I enjoyed every part of this evening. I'd like to see where this goes. I've felt this way for longer than I care to admit but I was afraid to put our friendship through that. After everything that's happened I know that we need to try this."

He leaned in and kissed her softly. Just as earlier a tiny moan escaped her lips the moment he touched her just as she had earlier in the evening. This time she was able to enjoy the moment, and take in every gentle but knowing touch. As much as other members of the team liked to tease the young genius about his lack of experience with woman Prentiss knew that he had learned from the women he'd been with and she had a feeling she would soon discover just how he could please a woman.

She could feel his long fingers begin to journey down her back. She sighed softly enjoying the feeling of those fingers ghosting their way along her spine, never breaking their embrace. Her hands went to his torso, she wanted to see the skin she had been able to see earlier again. She wanted to uncover the tattoo she was sure she saw before as well. She pulled away from him to pull of his sweater.

"Emily," he whispered. "Slow down."

"I've waited too long already," she growled pulling the sweater over his head, revealing the same black ink as before above his hip, her fingers seemed to have a mind of their own and touched the edge.

"Emily," he warned her. "I need to explain this first. It's a Celtic dove and I got it to remind me about..."

His voice trailed off as she gently moved his pants lower. She gasped when she revealed the entire piece of art. He was right that it was a dove intertwined with Celtic knots, but there was also letters, which seemed to be initials, and a certain pair looked very familiar clearly written "EP." She almost recoiled away from him, trying to fight back tears. All of a sudden reality came crashing down around her and she didn't know what to do to make it better.

End Part One

Notes: I know this was an evil place to leave this. I'm not really sure where the tattoo idea came from but I thought it was an interesting dimension.