Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. No copyright infringement is intended. I'm just having some fun playing with these wonderful characters.

A/N: This is my sequel to "The Way Forward". Dr. Spencer Reid and Emily Prentiss have been dating for 6 months. However, the past few months have been contentious, so they are going to couples therapy.

Chapter 1: Stormy Weather

"To overcome difficulties is to experience the full delight of existence." - Arthur Schopenhauer

Dr. Joseph Frankl looked at the couple sitting in his office at the Samaritan Counseling Center. At first glance, they looked as mismatched as any couple could look.

The man was in his twenties, long and lanky wearing a sweater vest and tie. If Dr. Frankl didn't have the file in front of him, he would have the man pegged as an academic of some sort, perhaps a grad student. He wouldn't have pegged him as doctor, let alone one with 3 PhD's. He certainly wouldn't have thought the man worked for the FBI. He had been surprised to see the young man use a cane. As he sat there, he looked for all the world like a student who had been sent to the principle's office.

The woman was much different, dressed like a lawyer in a suit that looked both professional and elegant. Dr. Frankl placed her in her thirties. He had a much easier time believing she worked for the FBI. At the same time, though, she had a haunted look about her. Every so often the two of them would steal looks at the other, always with a sense of guilt or worry.

"So," Dr. Frankl began," Spencer, Emily, I see here that Dr. Stephens referred you to me. It's not usual for me to have couples in here who have together for 6 months unless they're married. Perhaps you could talk about what brought you here."

"Our boss," the young man, Dr. Spencer Reid, said.

"Our boss suggested therapy, but that's not what brought here, Spencer," said the woman, Emily Prentiss.

"So what did?" Dr. Frankl asked.

"We've been fighting." She said it in a low voice.

"Well, conflict is a part of most relationships." Dr. Frankl said in a soothing voice, hoping to elicit more details.

"The problem is we work together," Dr. Reid said. "It got so bad our boss spoke to me about it."

"Is that when he recommended therapy?"

"No."

"Spencer, we need to talk," Aaron Hotchner looked serious. Of course, he always looked serious at work. Of course this time he had a reason to look so serious. Six months ago Dr. Reid and Emily Prentiss starting dating. It wasn't an ideal situation, but they both promised they could be professional and see each other. Hotch had trusted them, and for several months everything was fine.

But not lately. Lately it seemed like the two of them were snapping at each other. On the last case, the locals could sense the animosity between the two agents. Hotch and JJ smoothed everything over, but it was past time for Hotch to sit his agents down for a talk. Emily had already left, and Spencer was the only one left still in the office.

"What is it, Hotch?" Spencer knew, but he didn't know what to say. He knew it was bad if Hotch was calling him by his first name.

"I think you know. Whatever is going on between the two of you...It's got to end. I've given the two of you room to work it out, but it's starting to affect your work. If it continues, one of you may need to go."

The discomfort and awkwardness Dr. Reid felt from how things had gotten between him and Emily over the past 6 weeks transformed into panic. He's talking about a transfer! Crap!

"How would that work, Hotch?"

"What?"

"If things got that bad, how would you choose who went?"

"I'm hoping it won't go that far."

"But if it did?"

"The fairness would be seniority, of course. But Reid, I don't want to even think about that. Look, I don't know what happened between the two of you, and I don't need to know. Just... try to work it out.

"So what happened next,"Dr. Frankl asked. "Did the two of you talk about it?"

"No," Emily said. "Genius over there," her words dripped with venom, "decided he wanted to take a leave of absence. He didn't talk to me about it until he made up his mind and arranged it." She looked at Spencer with murder in her eyes.

Dr. Reid seemed to shrink into himself, managing to look more and more ashamed of his actions.

"Tell me more," Dr. Frankl said.

"Leave of absence! What do you mean you're taking a leave of absence?" Emily wasn't asking so much as she was shrieking.

"I'm just taking a break from for a couple of weeks."

"A break? From what?"

"From the team. It's a research project I've wanted to do, it's just not the kind the FBI pays for. It'll just be a few weeks. Just a good break."

"When you say a break from the team, you mean from me. Go ahead, just say it. You just tell me you want a break from me."

"Maybe it would be good if we had a few days apart. We always seem to argue. Like now."

Emily was quiet for a few moments. "You're a coward. Just like you're father. Things get a little tough and you want to run. So go ahead, Spencer. Run. Go on your little break. Maybe you don't need to come back!"

Emily was hanging her head. It was hurt her to remember how badly she had yelled at Spencer. She didn't see Spencer's reaction to her. His hand kept reaching out to touch her, reassure her perhaps. But Dr. Frankl saw Dr. Reid's hand hesitate, in fear perhaps.

"Your father?" Dr. Frankl asked.

"Yeah, "Spencer said. " He left me and my mother when I was 10." From the look on his face, Dr. Frankl guessed Reid was reliving being abandoned by his father. The interesting thing to Fr. Frankl, however, was Emily's reaction. She wasn't hanging her head, anymore. She was looking at Reid, sympathy in her eyes. Her hand raised a few times, like it wanted to hold Spencer's hand. Each time it raised, however, it returned to her lap.

"So, if Spencer here was going to away, how did the two of you end up here?"

"I had a talk with our boss," Emily said.

A few days after Reid told Prentiss about taking a leave of absence, she found herself in Hotch's office. He had called her in. "Did Reid talk to you about taking a few weeks off?"

"Yes. There's a research project he wants to do."

"Emily, I think we both know it has very little to do with research. Look, I'm sorry for how things have between you two. I understand if the two of you think this is the best thing. I just want both of you to understand, I wasn't threatening to transfer anyone yet."

Emily's head snapped up. "Excuse me?"

Hotch suddenly realized that Reid hadn't talked to Emily about their little chat.

"I talked to Reid a few days a go, and I told him I was concerned about you two. I told him, just to underline the serious ness of the situaiton, that if the two of you couldn't find a way to get along I might need to transfer someone. I think he latched on to that, and not my concern about you two."

"You said one of us might get transferred?"

"I mentioned it, but I told him I wasn't looking to do that unless it was necessary."

"If it was, who would you transfer?"

"I really haven't given it any thought."

"But if you did, you would want to be fair, right? So what, probably by seniority?"

"Probably, but I really don't want to do that at all."

"Sir, maybe you should have these talks when both of us are in the room."

"I'm sorry. It was on my mind and you had already left. I ... I'm sorry Emily."

"It's fine. It is really is. How set in stone is his leave of absence?"

"It's still being considered."

"I see. Excuse me for a moment, would you." When she left, Aaron Hotchner felt a need to massage the bridge of his nose. He was steeling himself for a maelstorm of yelling he was sure was coming. Did he just pour gasoline on a fire?

Down in the bullpen, Emily found Ried and said,"Dr. Reid, may I speak with you a moment?"

Spencer Reid saw the look in her eyes, and realized it wasn't so much a question as a command. "Sure."

She lead him into a corner of the bullpen and said,"You idiot. You fucking moron."

"Emily, look," he started to say, but she cut him off.

"It's hard to believe that you have 3 PhDs, and you're just another neanderthal."

"I.. What?"

"I just spoke to Hotch. Tell me the leave of absence isn't because you were afraid I was going to get transferred out. Just tell me that."

"You worked so hard to get here. And if he told you it was for the good of the team, you'd do it. You almost gave this up so Strauss couldn't use you for her games. I... It wouldn't be right if you had to leave because of me."

"Spencer, listen to me very carefully. If you take that leave of absence, I will not be here when you get back. We are very close to being done. If you want to save what we have, you have to talk to me. Now, we can either go up and talk to our boss about what's going on, or you can go away, and I'll go too. Your choice."

"And he chose to stay?"

"I did." Spencer said. "We talked to Hotch. He told us he was seeing a therapist, and suggested it was something we might want to think about it. So we met with Dr. Stephens, and he suggested you might be able to help us."

"I see. So how did the two of you start seeing each other?"

"I'm a ... a recovering drug addict," Spencer. We were finishing a case and I had...cravings. I asked Emily if she could stay with me. I was..afraid what would have happened if I was alone."

"Was she the first one you thought of, when you thought of people to stay with?"

"She was the only one I thought of."

"And you Emily, " Dr. Frankl asked, "you were open to this."

"Of course."

"If he asked you that today, would you."

"Of course I would."

"And so, that was the beginning. So tell me, did the two of you fight a lot in the beginning?"

"No." They said in unison.

"So, when did the fighting begin?"

"Six weeks ago," Spencer said.

"Really. What started it?"

"She started being jealous."

"Oh no you don't. Don't you put this on me."

Dr. Frankl put up his hand. "One moment Emily. Spencer, she was jealous? Of who?"

"Any woman who talked to me. She thought they all wanted me."

"I know that look."

"You are the only one who looks at me like that."

"Don't tell me you don't notice. You..."

"All right you two." Dr. Frankl's voice was gentle, yet firm. "Emily, what do you think started it?"

"I asked him if he wanted kids."

"That started a long time before 6 weeks ago."

"Maybe if you didn't keep changing the subject when I brought it up. Every time I brought it up."

"Okay, let's shift focus for just a moment, " Dr. Frankl said. "Emily, what's the longest you've ever been in a relationship."

"Six months."

"And you Spencer?"

"A few weeks at the most."

"Really?"

"Women look at me more like an oddity than anything else. After a few weeks the novelty wears off."

"Spencer," Emily started and the look on her face signaled to Dr. Frankl that she looked at him as so much more.

"All right, it's soon time to wrap up. But I want to tell both of you, I see a lot of hope here. I just want to tell you the same thing I tell every couple I counsel. Things can work out for the two of you, and I think I can help you do it. but what I want the two of you to understand is as long as the two of you think of yourselves as Spencer and Emily, or Spencer or Emily, or even Spencer vs. Emily it will be hit or miss. When the two of you look at your relationship as the most important thing in your lives, when you make sacrifices and compromises not to each other but to the relationship... that's when you can know it will last. I can help you get there, but only if the two of you are willing to accept that as your goal. That's where we'll pick things up next time."

Outside, in the Samaritan Counseling Center's parking lot, Dr. Reid and Emily looked at each other. They had driven here in separate cars, they were reluctant to drive away. It felt to both of them that they had things that needed to be said, but neither one knew where, or how, to begin. They stood there a while, in an uncomfortable silence that bordered on feeling oppressive, when suddenly both their cellphones rang.

"No." Emily said. She knew if both their cellphones were going off at the same time, it meant they had a case.

When they answered their calls, her suspicions were confirmed. They needed to go.

"We need to talk." she said.

"What, exactly do we need to talk about?"

"What do you mean?"

"It seems to me, there is only one thing we have to decide right now. Do we want to continue with this? Do we want to stay together, to try to achieve what he was just talking about? I don't know about you, but I want to. I've screwed Emily. I know that. I've been standing here, trying to think of words that could possibly explain how sorry I am about how I've been acting. There aren't any, but I know I want to do better. What about you? Do you want to try to fix this?"

"Yes."

"That may be all we need to talk about, right this second. If this case means going away, we might have a chance to spen alone. We can ask JJ to get us a room together."

"It just...I feel like so much to say."

"There is, but I think all we need to say is this." Reid hugged her and held her tight. " I love you Emily. I'm not running. I don't think you are either." Then he kissed her. The kiss started as chaste, but she held on to him and the kiss became passionate.

When their lips parted, Emily said in a reluctant tone, "We've got to go. You're right though, this is all we needed to say right now."

A/N: I had actually meant to stretch this over a couple chapters, but the fic already has a mind of it's own.