Emily Prentiss jolted awake at the sound of her cell phone ringing in the middle of the night. It was her partner, Derek Morgan calling.
"Prentiss."
"It's Morgan. We've got a case. Hotch wants us on the road within the hour."
"A case? Is the whole team coming in on it?"
It was rare for them to get a case without JJ knowing about it, and seeing as how JJ was sleeping next to her in the bed, she was sure JJ didn't know about it.
"Hotch just wants to send us for now to the local police with the initial investigation. The rest of the team will join us tomorrow sometime, but we've got to get to South Carolina now."
"Okay, I'll be ready."
"I'll pick you up in 45 minutes?"
"Um, yeah, that will work."
Emily darted out of bed to get ready.
"Em?" a sleepy JJ had begun to stir.
"It's okay, JJ. Go back to sleep. Morgan and I have to get to South Carolina. You guys will be joining us later." Emily leaned over to kiss JJ. "I'll see you soon."
With that, she grabbed her go-bag and headed out the door. She knew Morgan would be picking her up at her condo soon, and she needed to make it there from JJ's before he did.
When Morgan arrived at Emily's she noticed she was just getting out of her vehicle.
"Been somewhere?"
"What? Oh, no. I just had to get something from the car."
Morgan looked at her. He knew she was lying seeing as how every other car in the lot was covered in the early morning dew, and Emily's clearly wasn't. He decided to let it go though because they needed to go.
"Well, get in. I have a feeling we have a long day ahead."
Hotch was right. The local police did need help. This was the first murder the town had seen in almost 40 years. Most of the officers weren't even alive the last time the town had a murder.
By the middle of the day, the rest of the team had joined Morgan and Prentiss and began working the profile. It was the first murder in this town, but it fit a series of murders over the past year in small towns similar in size to this one. Because they were spread out in location, and most seemed like nothing more than a home burglary gone bad, it took a while before someone could put together that it was likely the same unsub.
Hotch sent Morgan and Prentiss back to the hotel about an hour before the rest of the team. They were exhausted and he needed them at full strength the next day.
Emily was getting settled in when Morgan knocked on her door.
"Hey, do you have any ibuprofen? My head is killing me."
"It's in my bag, on the side. I'm going to shower, so help yourself."
Emily normally wouldn't want anyone going through her bag, especially Morgan, but she was so tired tonight that she all she wanted to do was get in the shower and get to bed.
"Thanks."
Morgan started checking the pockets of Emily's bag. Something was different. Did Emily get a new bag? This didn't look like hers. Of course, all their bags was black, so maybe he just forgot.
He found some Aleve tucked into one of the pockets next to a bag of Cheetos.
Cheetos? Since when did Emily start eating Cheetos? That was more of JJ's thing.
Morgan decided he didn't care, grabbed the Aleve, and was about to leave when he saw it. On the inside of the bag was embroidered initials.
JJ.
Morgan smiled. It was all starting to make sense. All the times Emily wasn't in her room in the mornings when they were on a case. Why Emily clearly hadn't been home this morning when he picked her up. Why she had ended up with JJ's go-bag instead of her own. And it was definitely JJ's bag. As Morgan peaked inside, the clothing definitely belonged to the Media Liaison, and not Ms. Emily Prentiss.
Emily and JJ were dating. Or at least sleeping together. Morgan couldn't believe he missed all the signs, but looking back, all the signs were there.
Morgan knew Emily liked her privacy, and that the right thing to do was ignore it and not mention it. Things could get complicated of the higher ups knew Emily and JJ were, well, whatever.
Of course, Morgan didn't care about the right thing. All he wanted was to see his partner's face when she found out he knew.
Morgan grabbed the bag of Cheetos, propped himself up on one of the beds so that he would be facing Emily when she came out of the shower and waited.
A few minutes later, he heard the shower turn off. It was only a matter of time now. He also realized that Emily didn't have her pajamas in the bathroom with her. Or well, JJ's pajamas. As he was realizing she would have to come out in a towel, Emily opened the bathroom door. She was indeed in nothing but a towel.
"Morgan! What the hell are you still doing here?"
Morgan licked the Cheetos off his fingers.
"Oh, I just thought I'd finish my late-night snack."
"What are you talking about?"
"Cheetos, Emily?"
"Yeah, and?"
"They were in your go-bag."
Suddenly Emily realized her mistake, as she grabbed the bag to search for her pajamas.
"So," Emily said slowly. Shit. How much did he know? "I packed some Cheetos."
"You know, I've never seen you eat Cheetos before," Morgan was not going to let her off the hook easily.
"So, I had a craving. Shoot me."
"In fact, the only person on our team that I ever see eating Cheetos is JJ."
"Maybe she's rubbing off on me."
"Yeah, I bet she is," Morgan mumbled beneath his breath with a grin.
"What?"
"Nothing. I just thought it was weird you know that you had Cheetos in your bag. Also, Aleve isn't your normal brand of pills either...in fact, I think that's also JJs."
Emily knew now that Morgan knew, but she wasn't going to give him anything. She just looked at him with a cold look in her eyes.
"Let's see. You clearly weren't home this morning when I picked you up. There was no dew on your car. All those times on cases when I've knocked on your door and you didn't answer, only for you to show up later in the lobby with JJ."
"Where are you going with this, Morgan?"
"Tell me, Agent Prentiss. How did you end up with JJ's go-bag this morning?"
"We had a girls night out and I stayed over. I must have grabbed the wrong one."
"Really? A girls night out without Garcia? I don't think so, Emily."
"Whatever, Derek. You can go now."
"Oh no, I'm enjoying myself too much," Derek couldn't help himself. "So, how long have you and JJ been, whatever?"
"You need to go." Emily was done with this conversation, and she was starting to get cold, seeing as how she was STILL in her towel.
"Okay, but don't think we're done here, Prentiss," Morgan said as he opened the door, taking his bag of Cheetos with him.
When the door was open, a surprised JJ was standing there, go-bag in hand.
"Morgan! Hi, I was just, um..." JJ wasn't sure why Morgan was in Emily's room, and why Emily was in a towel. She was flustered.
"Oh, I see you brought Emily's go-bag to her. She's going to need that," Morgan winked.
"Sorry, I ate your Cheetos," he said as he raised the bag. "See you ladies tomorrow."
JJ and Emily stood in silence as Morgan closed the door behind him, faces red with embarrassment.
