Author's Note: This is just a short little oneshot I came up with after watching last week's episode. I'll just say that there may be minor spoilers, but I really don't think there are. I'd just hate to ruin it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

~Angie


"Where's Reid?" Prentiss asked, looking around the bullpen. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen him for a few hours.

"One guess," JJ answered, looking up from her paperwork.

"Shooting Range?" Emily asked in disbelief.

JJ nodded.

"Again?"

"Apparently between you, Hotch, and me he has a lot of anger to work off," JJ said dryly.

"Well, if he's not working it off between the range and his verbal digs in the field…" Emily said, her voice trailing off.

"It's Reid, Emily," JJ reminded her softly. "It's gonna take some time."

Emily sighed. "Yeah," she said regretfully. It was Reid.


Emily walked all the way to the end of the separated booth's before she found Reid. She stood there waiting as he finished firing his round.

"Wow," she said softly. "Right through the heart every time."

He turned to look at her. "Practice makes perfect," Reid said, and then turned back to his target.

"Can we talk?" she requested.

"About what?" he asked, firing three consecutive shots.

"I know you're mad at me," she said.

"Do you know why I'm mad?" he asked.

"Of course."

Reid nodded. "Then there's nothing to talk about."

"Reid…I was in danger. You were in danger. The entire team was going to be targeted if I didn't leave," she said feelingly.

"I've…heard ya say this before, Prentiss."

"You used to call me Emily."

He shrugged. "I used to trust you."

"Reid—"

"You of all people should have known what this would do to me, Emily!" he said, his emotion causing him to revert to his core. "You were the one who told me I needed to look at why I was the only one Gideon left a letter for!" He laughed harshly. "Of course…you already knew. But it didn't stop ya from doing the very same thing."

Emily sighed. This was just the sort of thing she was waiting for…his cool exterior to slip away so he could finally be honest with her. "Reid, the circumstances—"

"I missed my father," he interrupted. "I missed Elle, I missed Gideon…and I missed you."

"I'm right here, Reid," she told him.

He shook his head. "Not this you," he said with a sweeping gesture of his arm. "I miss the Emily who didn't lie to me...who didn't let me believe that she was dead. This Emily standing before me? I don't know who she is."

Emily stood there for a moment, studying the man standing before her. She hardly recognized him, either. "Reid…do you remember Colorado?" she asked softly.

Reid nodded wordlessly.

"You told me that watching me take that beating from Cyrus's men…had changed you forever…that I'd never know how you felt." Her voice was thick with emotion, and this was where she'd usually force them down, but she realized that if he never saw this side of her, he might never forgive her. "That wasn't true, Reid. Leaving you…leaving all of you…lying to all of you…has changed who I am forever."

"Good!" Reid said unsympathetically as he threw his hands in the air. "It should! Do you know what the worst part is?" he asked, not bothering to wait for an answer. "I always felt something…different with you. I always felt like there should be…more to you and me," he told her candidly.

Her heart nearly skipped a beat at his admission. "I've always felt that, too," she said in a near whisper.

"I don't feel it anymore," he informed her harshly.

Emily blinked a few times before taking a step back, as if he'd physically struck her. "Reid…"

"Don't worry, Prentiss," he said, his apathetic exterior falling back into place. "I've gotten used to this feeling before. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before I do again."