Hey! So I want to start off by saying that this story is going to be replacing 'Who Said Being a Step mom was Easy' since I have put that story on long term hiatus.
I've noticed that there aren't many Luke/Emily stories out there, which surprises me, so I want to do something about it since I love the thought of them together!
So I hope you enjoy the story!
Summary: A package arrives at the BAU that threatens to expose the relationship of two FBI agents.
Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or the characters, if I did, there would be more Luke and Emily scenes on screen:)
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It was like every other day at the Behavioural Analysis Unit. People came in, sat down at their desks, and did their work. Everything was at a good pace. It was early morning, Emily, as per usual arrived first. Then came in Spencer and Tara who just so happened to have arrive at the same time. Then JJ, then Luke, Matt and Penelope arrived shortly after. And lastly Dave, who was uncharacteristically late on that particular day, but no one thought twice about it.
Dave opened the glass doors and walked into the crowded bullpen, he saw JJ and Matt listening to Spencer ramble about god knows what, Dave chuckled to himself, Spencer Reid wasn't your average adult, all the more reasons to love him. Luke, Penelope and Tara were in the break room making coffee, which left Emily and himself. As he walked up the stairs that led to his and Emily's office he quickly looked through her window on the way passed and smiled seeing her engrossed in paperwork.
He walked into his office and dropped his briefcase on the end of his desk. He was about to open his briefcase to take out his files, when he saw a large envelope on his desk. He frowned when he picked it up and started to examine it. There wasn't any writing on it, it was completely blank, no name, no return address, nothing. His eyes lifted away from the envelope and onto his desk, trying to think of anyone who could've sent it. Joy would've written on it and Kai would without a doubt draw on it like he always did.
He couldn't think of anyone else who would send him anything, he shook his head and headed out of his office and over to Emily's. He knocked twice before receiving a 'Come in' from inside. He went inside, never taking his eyes off the envelope.
"Morning Dave." Emily said.
"Morning Emily..." He trailed off, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, this had really bewildered him.
Emily looked at him with concern crossing her features. "Dave? What's going on?"
"I don't know... I just received this." He said holding up the envelope.
She took it from him and looked at it, then flipped it over. "Huh, that's odd... any idea who sent it?"
He shook his head. "I can't think of anyone who would send something that... plain."
Emily looked like she was thinking for a moment. "You don't think... an unsub... sent it, do you?" She asked, it was evident on her face that she was just as confused as he was by this.
"Maybe... it makes sense. I mean only an unsub would purposely write nothing on the front."
She nodded her head. "Alright, gather up the rest of the team into the conference room, we should see what this is together, whether it's nothing to worry about or a potential case."
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A few minutes later, the entire team was gathered in the conference room except for Dave and Emily.
"What do you think this is about?" Luke asked the rest of the team. Penelope hadn't received any information about a case so to say they were confused would be an understatement.
"I have no idea ..." Tara said shaking her head.
"I saw Rossi go into Emily's office, he looked kind of out of it." Matt said.
Just then, the two people in question walked into the conference room, they team knew it had to be serious since neither of them sat down.
"I know you guys are probably confused." Dave started. "So I'm going to explain. This morning when I arrived at my desk, I saw this." He said slightly raising his right hand which was holding the envelope. "As you can see it has nothing on it, so it could be something completely harmless, or it could be something we need to look into and if it is, it's easier to open in front of all of you." The team all nodded, now understanding what the round up was for.
Dave took a moment to watch the team, before he flipped over the envelope and started to rip open the sealed top. A second later he put his hand inside, and pulled out what looked to be like a stack of large printed out photographs. His eyebrows knitted together when he looked at the photo that was on top of the stack, he then began slowly flipping through a couple more, after going through a few he stopped and sighed, bowing his head down. The team frowned, they couldn't see what the photos were, but it couldn't be good if it had gotten that reaction out of Dave.
Emily stepped closer to him. "Dave? What is it?" she asked him, reaching out to take the photos from him so she could see what they were.
He quickly put them back in the envelope and looked Emily in the eye. His eyes clearly told her 'Are you sure you want to see this?' even though he knew she'd find out anyway. She nodded slightly. He sighed again and unwillingly passed the envelope to Emily. She gave him a final glance before taking the photos back out of the envelope. She gasped loudly as she took in what she was seeing. 'This can't be happening.'
She then rapidly began flicking through each photo, carelessly putting each photo at the back of the pile as she flipped through. She started breathing heavily and looked as if she were about to pass out at any moment. It was very clear to the team that she was panicking but what was shocking them most was that she was doing nothing to conceal her feelings like she normally would, it was just raw emotion. She suddenly stopped looking through them when she reached a certain photo, she just stared at it, her mouth agape. She looked up at the team with a wild look of panic and before anyone knew it, she had scarpered from the room, unknowingly dropping and scattering the photos on the round table, before running down the catwalk and into her office, slamming the door shut behind her and sitting in her desk chair with her head in her hands.
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The team all stood frozen in shock, staring in the direction of where Emily fled the room.
"What just happened?" JJ asked, breaking the silence.
The team snapped out of their state of shock and simultaneously looked down at the photos that were spread across the table, seeing what was on them that caused such a reaction from their friend.
All of their jaws dropped and eyes widened when they took in what they were seeing. On one of the photographs that were near the top, was a clear image of Emily and Luke walking down the street at night holding hands, Emily was wearing a knee high, black dress and Luke was wearing a suit. Then there was another photo beside it that looked as if it were taken from inside of Luke's house, they were sitting on his couch, Emily's head resting in his lap while he ran his fingers through her hair as they were watching something on his tv. Next to that photo was one of them sitting in the small cafe near Emily's apartment, they were holding hands on the table, and smiling at each other. Their eyes glided over to the photo that was on top of the rest, the one that had caused Emily to run from the room. It made everyone's eyes water.
It was of Emily and Luke laying on their stomachs in bed, the bed sheet draped loosely around their naked torsos. They had their heads laid on one of their arms, facing each other with their free hands joined together beside them. The camera's angle didn't show anything except the top of them and their faces, and the team could see the love and affection radiating from them as they looked lovingly into each others eyes.
Around these photographs had to be at least fifty more, all of them resembled the same thing. They were either of them kissing, hugging, out on dates, walking down the street together, them in bed, walking Roxy or just them at work, sitting at their desk.
The team all looked over to Luke, who had his hands covering his mouth staring at the desk, his jaw tensed and fury in his eyes, it looked like he was about to hit the first thing that came into contact to him. But behind the anger, the team could see hurt and embarrassment. His friends, his family had just seen his most private and intimate moments in the worst way possible.
"Luke..." Spencer said quietly. Ever since he had joined the team, Spencer had become the little brother Luke never had. They were really good friends and it was obvious that Spencer was shocked by the new discovery that Emily and Luke were together.
Luke shook his head before he stood up abruptly, almost knocking over his chair at the speed. He opened and closed his mouth several times but no words seemed to come out. At this point, his anger had almost completely disappeared and was replaced with embarrassment. His cheeks were starting to go a light shade of pink, he quickly turned away from them so they wouldn't see the tears slowly pooling in his eyes. He couldn't believe he and Emily had been outed like that, they were planning on telling the team at their own pace, but whoever took the photos of them had other ideas.
"I.. I need to go..." He didn't even bother finishing before he was out the door. The team watched as he ran over to Emily's office. They saw him knock a few times, then place his ear against the door and began to say something to get her to unlock the door.
Seconds later they saw Emily quickly stand up from her chair to go unlock the door, opening it and pulling him inside before relocking it and practically jumping into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck making sure to hold him close to her. Luke gently started rubbing her back and rocking them slightly from side to side, burying his face in her hair. He looked up for a second and saw the team watching them, so he slowly reached forward to shut the blinds.
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As Luke raced down the catwalk to Emily's office, all that was on his mind was making sure she was okay, he wanted to shield her from the humiliation. He wanted to tell her everything would be okay, even though he knew it wasn't.
He knocked on her door waiting for her reply. Nothing. He knocked again. Nothing. Luke placed his ear against the door, the palms of his hands resting on the smooth wood. As he listened carefully, he could here the quiet sobs that were escaping her lips and his heart broke.
"Em? It's me, let me in." Luke pleaded with her. It was silent. Then all of a sudden he heard rustling from inside and heard her unlock the door, before swinging it open. He barely had time to look at her before she had pulled him inside her office and had the door shut and re-locked.
Just as Luke turned around, Emily had thrown herself into his arms, clinging onto him for dear life. He wrapped his arms around her, rubbing smoothing patterns over her back and rocking them gently as she cried silently into his shoulder. As he looked up from burying his face in her hair, he saw the team watching them from the conference room, so he moved forward slightly and pulled the rod to shut the blinds to her office, giving them more privacy.
After a few minutes of them just comforting each other, he gently pulled back and took her face in his hands. She looked up at him with tears still threatening to escape her eyes, so he leaned down and kissed her.
As his lips softly caressed hers, he felt the tension easing from her body. Her hands eventually lowered until they were resting on his waist. He heard her sigh, and pull away. She stayed still for a moment, keeping her gaze on his chest, she was afraid that looking him in the eye would open the floodgates again.
"What are we going to do Luke?" She said, her voice cracking slightly.
"What do you mean?" He asked her.
"I mean..." She broke their contact as she moved over to sit in her desk chair, balancing her elbows on her knees and her hands clasped together as she bowed her head. "What are we going to do now the team knows were together? Hell, there is a massive possibility that one of us has a stalker!" She paused, shaking her head. "Luke... Cruz is going to be pissed... Partners dating? A subordinate dating another subordinate? It's frowned upon but it happens. But a superior dating a subordinate? It's strictly prohibited, we could both get fired!"
Luke sighed heavily. He walked over to her, until he was standing in front of her and bent down on one knee, taking her hands in his.
"Em, the team will understand, and if they don't I'll make them understand, I promise. And as for Cruz, the team will fight for us, they may not know why we did this, but they're our best friends, they're our family, they wouldn't let us get fired and do nothing about it. And anyway, there is a chance Cruz won't fire us as long as we stick to certain rules. And if it doesn't look good, I'll quit."
Emily's head snapped up from where they were staring at her hands to look at him in awe and shock. "Luke... I... You can't do that for me..."
Luke gave a light chuckle. "Emily, we've been together for five months and I care about you deeply, I know how hard you worked for this job, you've wanted this since you were a kid-"
"So have you." She pointed out as she cut him off.
"Maybe so, but there are plenty of opportunity's for me out there. You on the other hand have finally gotten your dream job, your unit chief of the Behavioural Analysis Unit Emily, I'm not about to let you throw all of this away." Luke said sincerely. Emily shook her head and tightened her grip on their hands.
"Luke..." She trailed off, she couldn't grasp the idea of Luke quitting his job just so she could keep hers. No man had ever treated Emily the way Luke treated her. He was loving and affectionate and he always put her first, she never thought she'd want a man who would take care of her, but it was one of the many reasons why she loved Luke, he did just that.
"Emily we'll talk about this when the time comes, right now all we need to worry about is finding out who took those photos of us."
She nodded her head slowly and sighed. "Yeah..." she paused, biting her lip. "I can't believe this is happening."
"I know Em, I think we need to let the team help us the best they can, they can help find this guy." He said as he stood up from his kneeling position and helped her up off her chair.
"I know, It's just going to be awkward and I don't know how to face that..." she said honestly as she stood in front of him, still tightly clinging to his hands.
He gave her a small smile before taking her in his arms. He'd never admit it, but having her in his arms was one of his most favourite things. Whenever he felt down and in need of comfort, just having Emily in his presence calmed him instantly. If he could, he'd make sure that she never left his hold.
Luke softly brushed aside her bangs and laid a gentle kiss to her forehead.
"I promise no matter what happens Em, I'll always be here so don't feel like you need to put up your walls and compartmentalise what you're feeling, tell me, that's what I'm here for." He told her while he used the pad of his thumb to trace small patterns over her face.
She didn't say anything, instead, she leaned forward and put her hand at the back of his head as she brought his lips down to hers.
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A few minutes later, both Emily and Luke had made their way back into the conference room where they were met with silence.
Emily drew a shaky breath and pursed her lips. She crossed her arms over her chest, like this was the only way she could protect herself from any humiliation.
"I know that you guys probably have a lot of questions..." Emily started slowly, as if she was testing how she sounded before carrying on.
"And you can ask them, just not now. Now I think it's best we start on finding out who sent the package." She said, this time more confidently but still uneasy.
Everyone nodded, still trying to process everything they had discovered that day.
"Dave, you saw absolutely nothing? You have no idea who sent this?" Emily asked him.
Dave stuck his hands in his pockets and shook his head. "No, nothing. Garcia check security footage from this morning, maybe they picked up video of who sent this."
Garcia looked at him for a second before nodding vigorously and began typing furiously on her laptop. A few seconds later Garcia had pulled up footage from that morning and enlarged it on the screen in the conference room. Everyone watched as Garcia sped up the video and watched carefully to see if they could see anyone.
Minutes later, the team were still watching the screen when Reid quickly said. "Garcia stop the footage a second."
Garcia quickly paused it and looked at her quizzically.
"Did anyone else see that?" Reid asked the group of profilers as she gestured to the screen.
"See what?" Luke asked.
Reid leaned down beside Garcia from where she was standing and looked at her laptop.
"Garcia rewind it a few seconds and slow it down." Reid told her. Garcia nodded and quickly did as asked.
They all re watched the footage and were all surprised when they saw the screen go black for not even a second, before the video appeared again.
"Did you guys see how the screen went black? On fast speed it would've only shown for a millisecond but I was lucky enough to notice it. And after the footage reappeared the frames had moved. See here-" He said pointing to the receptionist. "He was at the other side of the desk before the screen goes black."
