A/N: Hello there! Well this is my first attempt to write fan fiction. My plan is to make this a multi-chapter story but right now I'll just publish the first chapter which can be read as a one-shot. I will not update this story on a regular basis right now due to school and other stuff going on in my life right now so this will remain a one-shot for quite a while. I don't have a beta so any errors is my fault and it is my responsibility to correct them so please feel free to pm me if you find any so I can make this story better. Moving on. I have already made my excuses for my English in my profile so let's just skip that and move on to the disclaimer.

Disclaimer: Everything and everyone you recognize from the TV show is not mine, it belongs to the CBS. The plot to this story and everything and everyone you don't recognize from the show is a product of my imagination and of that, I am the owner.

Hide & Seek

A Criminal Minds Fan Fiction

by Sweda

"It's all fun and games 'til somebody calls the cops. Then it's hide and seek."

- Unknown

"... Happy Birthday to youuu!" the team sang in unison. Their eyes glistened with joy and they all had a slight red touch to their faces thanks to the burning candles placed all over the round table.

It had been five months since Emily had declined Clyde's offer to run the London Office and stayed with the BAU, her family. She had after an internal battle let her love for the team win over The feeling. She was done with running. It may not felt like home at the moment but she sure as hell was going to try to make it feel like that again. If she didn't, Doyle had won. He would had taken away the thing she love, her family. She wasn't going to let that happen, he had already tore apart her family once. The first thing she had done after making the decision to stay was to tell the team. They had somehow picked up that she considered taking Clyde's offer and leave, again. When she told them about her decision they were all thrilled and the whole thing ended in an endless amount of hugs.

But it didn't really end there. A few days after Emily had made her announcement Garcia had thrown her a Yay-for-staying-party and the whole team had eaten so many of Garcia's delicious muffins that they weren't able to move within the next four hours.

After the party Emily had brought Derek aside to ask him a question. She didn't remember why, but at that moment she was very nervous which was very uncharacteristic for her. Derek had already done so much for her and asking him for another favour seemed to push it to the top. She had finally, after chewing on her thumb nail and biting her lip, asked if he could come with her and look at the house they had been looking at before the whole bank robbery chaos took place. He had laughed at her nervousness of asking him and happily told her that he would come with her.

The next day they where once again walking around in the house they had a few days before and was absorbing its beauty. The cracks in the foundation was still remaining but this time Emily wasn't going to use them as an excuse. Of course she was still a bit worried that it was a bad purchase but after some convincing from Morgan and a promise that he would help her fix them she had talked to the real estate agent and signed the deal. Morgan had been thrilled and his eyes had sparkled like a child's on christmas eve when they later that day had gone for coffee a few blocks down the street to discuss the renovation of her new home.

Now, Saturday night, sitting at the round table dressed in a black knee-length dress supplemented with a pair of black stilettos and taking small sips of her delicate wine, which Rossi had ordered for everyone except for JJ and Kevin who was serving as drivers tonight, and looking at the happy faces of her friends she was more convinced then ever that she had made the right decision in staying.

Everyone was gathered in the cosy restaurant to celebrate Hotch's birthday. In the question of bringing the two young boys they had all made the decision for tonight to be a night for the grown-ups.

Emily observed that almost half of the team had settled their roots down and had found a loved one. JJ had Will and they seemed just as madly in love as when they first met. Garcia and Kevin had made up after the wedding and now they refused to let go off each other. Hotch had once again found love and Emily was convinced Beth was the best thing happening to him since Jack's birth. After everything he had been through he deserves to be happy. Reid hadn't found a partner but he was still young. Rossi on the other hand had a little less time in front of him but he hadn't long ago lost his first wife and Emily knew she had been the love of his life, even though he had divorced her and gotten remarried, twice. Her own best friend seemed happy still living the life of a single man but Emily had the feeling he was starting to consider settling down with someone and start a family, he had always been amazing with kids. Then it was herself. She had for three months been dating her current boyfriend Dylan. In the beginning she had avoided telling her team about him afraid it might not last but now, three moths later, she couldn't use that as an excuse for them still not knowing about him.

Hotch broke Emily's train of thought by expressing his thoughts about the team's effort to put together this event. "You really didn't have to do this for me you know." His face was covered with one of those very rare smiles.

"Oh stop talking nonsense my birthday Boss man. We didn't do this because we felt we had to, we did this because we care for you and wanted to do this," Garcia said flinging her arms around indicating the nice restaurant they had lured their boss to enjoy a delicious meal and was now on to the desert. "Now, shut you mouth and blow out the candles!" This made the whole gathering burst into laughter and urged Hotch to do as Garcia said.

"Oh, oh and don't forget to make a wish!" an exited Reid squealed.

A slightly emotional Hotch leaned forward and blew out the candles neatly placed on top of the fruit cake. Everyone could see he was moved by Garcia's kind words and they all applaud after all the candle had gone out. After blowing out the candles he leaned for his girlfriend and gave her a soft kiss. Morgan started to wolf-whistle and Garcia wasn't slow to follow. Emily feeling in a good mood joined in to and soon the whole table was clapping hands and rejoice escaped everyones mouth. Both Hotch and Beth blushed from all the attention and even though his actions only minutes before had brought the unwanted attention to them Hotch couldn't help himself to place a small peck on Beth's mouth before starting to cut the cake.

"What did you wish for?" Reid wanted to know after everyone had calmed down and pieces of cake was being passed around.

"Don't tell him!" Garcia shouted. "If you do, your wish won't come true!"

"Oh come on, Baby Girl, you don't really believe that do you?" Morgan said.

"You know I do," Garcia answered while digging in on her cake.

"Do you also believe in black cats crossing the road giving you bad luck?"

"Of course I do. I also believe in horoscopes, lucky charms and soul mates."

"I think I can tell you what I wished for without anything too bad happening," Hotch said smiling at Morgan and Garcia's discussion.

"Fine, but if something bad happens during the next days I'm going to blame you, my dear Team Leader," Garcia said while leaning back against the chair and started sipping on her wine.

This made Hotch hesitate but Emily couldn't wait any longer. "Come on Hotch, just tell us. Nobody is going to blame you if something bad happens." Pointing at Reid sitting across the table from herself Emily continued speaking. "We should actually blame Red since he was the one asking."

"Hey, that's not fair!" Reid exclaimed in a high-pitched voice and looked at Emily.

Morgan, sitting next to Emily, started chuckling and held up his fist for her to bump. Emily did so and continued grinning. Rossi shook his head at the childish behaviour but couldn't hold back the smile forming on his lips. He looked at the woman he saw as his daughter and felt his heart swell. He had already lost her once and he was so happy with her decision to stay put. Not willing to admit it to anyone but himself he wasn't sure he could handle losing her again. Well he wouldn't have lost her like he had the first time but still, going to work everyday without seeing her face would brake him. He would probably not think twice about retiring and moving to London just so he could be there to watch her back. That girl had a tendency to bring trouble to herself and Rossi felt obligated to protect her. He had no doubt Morgan felt the same way. Ever since Emily had returned from the dead, their friendship had deepened and in the field they moved as one person. A look from the other was all they needed to know what to do. Having such a strong partnership as they had was everything a law enforcement could ask for. They would give up their own life for their parter in a heartbeat.

"Just tell us Hotch. I can be the scapegoat if anything bad happens," the old agent said and chuckled.

"Okay, I wished for everything to stay the same. I wished for keeping my team just as it is because I couldn't wish for a better one. I also wished for everyone sitting at this table to be happy because I know I am and everybody deserves to know the feeling. The feeling of wanting to wake up in the morning because you know what's waiting for you in real life is so much better than anything you can dream of, both at home and at work. We have had our problems, all of us, and maybe because of those problems we are all sitting here today sharing our love for each other and I couldn't wish for something better. Every one of you sitting around this table will always have a special place in my heart and I hope you know that," Pausing Hotch took a breath and squeezed Beth's hand. "And that is what I wished for," he finished with his voice full of emotions.

During his speech the assemblage had fallen silent and had listened with great intensity to what Hotch was saying. To say his words ha affected them would be un understatement. Garcia hadn't managed to keep the tears from falling and JJ was struggling to keep them at bay but didn't succeed. Reid felt a warmth in his heart he hadn't felt in a long time. Rossi was so proud of his friend for speaking those words, he knew how hard it was for Hotch to express his feelings for his team and their loved ones. Will thought about how lucky he was to be going to spend the rest of his life with the woman he loves and Kevin was honoured that he was included in those words his girlfriend's boss had been speaking. Beth had never let go of Hotch's hand and her gaze was filled with so much love for the man that it was hard to describe. As for Morgan, he had in the middle of Hotch's speech reached for Emily's hand laying on the table and held it tight.

Emily had some trouble herself keeping the tears from shedding and had, when Morgan first grazed her hand, looked away from Hotch and gazed into the warm, loving, brown eyes of her partner and squeezed back. Yes it had been the right decision to stay, no doubt.

"I think you touched a soft spot there," Rossi said and the whole table chuckled lightly.

"You could say so," JJ said while wiping the tears off her face.

"Yeah, I think Sugarplum here needs a few tissues," Kevin announced looking at his girlfriend.

"For future notice, you should really give us a heads up before you start going all emotional. It gets a lot less messier if we have the time to put on water proof mascara," Garcia said while trying to wipe the moisture of her face with a napkin without totally messing up the make-up. "I mean, look at poor JJ over there. Can't you see how she's struggling?"

The table burst into a heart-warming laughter since the one person really struggling was Garcia herself. JJ had, with some help from Will, managed to restore her face to normal and was now laughing at her friend's lame attempt to blame her own struggle on someone else.

"I think the person we really should be worrying about is you, Hot Mama. Kevin you might want to help her out a little since she keeps getting the opposite result to her wishful actions," Morgan was referring to the fact that while trying to wipe away the traces of misplaced make-up, Garcia manage to smear it out even more.

"Come on, Sweetcheeks, give me the napkin," Kevin grabbed for the napkin and started helping Garcia wipe off her misplaced make-up.

"I don't mean to be the party trooper but are we going to get any cake at this side of the table?" Reid wondered indicating where himself, Emily, Morgan, JJ and Will was placed. His eyes kept darting back to the plate of cake standing in front of Garcia sitting next to him. Before his speech Hotch had managed to pass out cake to Beth, Kevin and Garcia. In front of the others where empty plates waiting to serve their purpose.

Once again the gathering started laughing. Leave it to Reid to complain about the missing cake.

Hotch spur back into action and soon everyone had a pice of cake placed on the table in front of them.

"Oh my God! This is amazing!" Emily exclaimed as she took the first bite of her piece of cake.

"Careful there, Princess, we wouldn't want you to have an orgasm here at the table," Morgan teased and earned a playful slap on his shoulder from Emily.

"I haven't eaten a cake this good in years so shut your pretty mouth and let me have my food orgasm without you ruining the whole thing," she said while digging into her piece of cake.

Morgan just looked at his partner and chuckled. Amused he watch as she took yet another bite of the cake and enjoyed its taste.

"I don't think I've ever seen someone enjoy cake as much as you do, Emily," Garcia said with a smirk.

"Well moving around a lot made me appreciate the smaller things," Emily answered as she scoped up another bite. "Such as amazing food." She paused her intake of cake to take a sip of her wine.

Morgan, who had already finished his piece of cake, just had to steal a piece of her remaining cake. He would probably never admit it but the cake was a damn good cake. He stuck his fork in her cake and made a quick journey to his mouth.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Emily shouted panic evident in her voice as she tried to stop the fork from reaching Derek's mouth but it was too late.

Morgan laughed at the look on his partner's face.

"You stole from my amazing piece of cake! Did your mother not teach you manners, Derek Morgan?!" Emily was glaring at a laughing Morgan struggling with the pain his laughing caused his stomach.

By now everyone was laughing at the humorous scene taking place at the birthday table.

"Children behave," Rossi, who sat on the other side of Emily, urged while touching her shoulder slightly. "I'm sure there is plenty of cake left for you to share."

"As long as he doesn't eat it all," Emily muttered and settled back to enjoying the remaining of her cake. She was now watching Morgan carefully and whenever he got too close to her plate for her liking, she made a move at his hand with her fork. JJ shook her head at her friends' childish behaviour which maybe her four year old son would posses, not her very grown up coworkers. She caught Will's eyes and knew he was thinking the same thing.

The evening continued pretty much the same. After some amount of wine Emily had forgotten all about Morgan's stunt and was now happily charing her glass of alcohol with him. Small talk was made and every now and then a strain of laughter could be heard from their table. It wasn't until JJ glanced at her watch she realised how late it had gotten.

"We should probably get going. I'm sure Annie would like to sleep in her own bed tonight," JJ said indicating their babysitter.

Hotch frowned as he looked at his own watch. It showed half past twelve. "I guess we should head home to. I think Jessica would appreciate a break from Jack by now."

The parents started to gather their things and stood up. Just as Hotch was pulling out a few bills from his wallet Emily spoke up.

"Put those back. Don't you dare try to pay for this. This is our gift to you, which means we're paying."

Hotch was about to protest but was cut off by Morgan. "Listen to the woman. I thought you had learned by now that they're always right. Even if they're wrong."

"Hey!" Garcia, JJ, Beth and Emily exclaimed. Emily also took the opportunity to slap Morgan's arm smiling. Morgan started rubbing the spot she had hit.

"Next time someone else is sitting next to her," he said tilting his head at Emily.

"I sat next to her too and I never got exposed to any physical harm," Rossi shrugged and rose from his chair. The team laughed at Rossi's comment. "I don't know about the rest of you but I'm heading home too."

"Maybe we all should head home," Reid said glancing at his watch. "It's starting to get late."

"Okay, just let me finish this glass and I'll get going," Emily said and pointed at her almost empty glass of wine.

"What do you say Kevin? Shall we leave these kids and go home?" Garcia said and nodded at Emily and Morgan.

"Yeah, we should probably get some rest."

Garcia patted Kevin's thigh and started to stand up, he wasn't late to follow.

"Well I guess it's just me, you and this drunk here left then, Kid," Morgan laughed and placed a hand on Emily's back.

"I've only had three glasses, Mister," Emily said with a smirk. "Which is way below my alcohol tolerance," she continued blinking one of her eyes at him.

This made Morgan laugh and place a small kiss at the top of Emily's head. How could you not love the woman?

"Well I don't really know how to thank you for this evening," Hotch said slightly uncomfortable.

"A hug will do fine!" Garcia said and embraced her boss in a colourful hug.

JJ followed after Garcia had let go and gave her boss a hug. They also gave Beth a hug before stepping back to let the men say their goodbyes. Will and Kevin both shook hands with Hotch and gave Beth quick hugs. Rossi didn't follow the two men but embraced both Hotch and Beth in big hugs. The others started to say goodbye to each other and as they did Emily rose form the table and gave Hotch a hug.

"I'm so glad you decided to stay," he stated as they held each other.

"Me too," Emily answered smiling while ending the hug.

The goodbyes continued flowing through the room and the last person Emily said goodbye to was Rossi. He gave her a big hug and placed a small kiss on her cheek.

"I take it you make sure this one gets home safely," Rossi said to Morgan.

"You have my word, man."

Emily tried to brush over the mens' protectiveness of her but was actually moved by how much they cared for her. Exactly like Hotch, she couldn't wish for a better team. Rossi let go of her and started walking towards the door where the rest of the persons leaving was already standing. The team had decided to split the bill between them and therefore had everyone except Hotch left a few dollars to the remaining Agents to pay when they left.

"I don't want to hear anything about someone at the station tomorrow. You all deserve some time off work. Paperwork can wait until Monday, take tomorrow off and do the best of the day!" Hotch said and snook his arm around Beth's waist.

"Thanks man, drive carefully!" Morgan called as they watch the group leave the restaurant.

"How are you getting home Reid?" Morgan wanted to know.

"Oh I made plans with Garcia and Kevin to carpool," Reid said sipping at his glass of water. He had given up the wine a few hours ago because he didn't like how alcohol made him feel.

Both Emily and Morgan glared at Reid and did not understand how someone so smart could be so stupid.

"You mean the people who just left?" Morgan asked amused.

That's when Reid realised why they both where staring at him with such amused looks. To be able to carpool with someone it was facilitate to leave at the same time as the person driving the car did. Emily could see Reid realising his mistake and giggled at his face expression.

"I better hurry before they drive off!" Reid said and quickly rose from his chair. "See you on Monday!" he shouted over his shoulder as he ran towards the doors.

Emily and Morgan laughed at their friend hurrying out from the restaurant.

"He is suppose to be a genius but sometimes he is dumber than Sergio," Emily laughed.

Morgan just shook his head and chuckled. "Some days I think his IQ is limited to statistics and math."

"I agree."

After finished laughing Morgan spoke up. "So what are you planning for tomorrow now that Bossman gave us some unusual free time?"

Emily considered what to answer and soon came up with one. "I'm thinking of reading a book in the park or maybe unpack the last of my boxes. You?"

"I recently bought this property I'm thinking of heading out to. Maybe break down some walls and start painting."

"That sounds like fun," Emily said genuinely.

"You gotta come with me some day. I think it's time for you to help me some now when we've finished your house," Morgan said wiggling his eyebrows.

"Hmm, maybe I could read that book and unpack the boxes some other day," Emily laughed and emptied her glass.

"So you're up for tomorrow?" Morgan asked with a big smile plastered on his face. Spending the day at his property sounded good but having Emily there with him sounded ever better.

"Yes, I would love to."

"Awesome, Princess!" Morgan said while his smile grew wider if even possible.

Smiling at his excitement Emily stood up and put on her jacket. Arriving to the restaurant she hadn't been in a need of the jacket but now, about to leave the restaurant at one in the morning, she would sure as hell need it even though it was the beginning of May. Morgan followed her actions and waved for the waiter to pay the bill.

After paying they walked out in the chilling night and waved for a cab. It only took a few minutes before a cab stopped and they hopped in. Morgan told the driver to drive to Emily's address and they rode silently, enjoying each others presence. The ride didn't take long and soon Emily was stepping out if the cab in front of her home. Morgan was about to follow before she stopped him by bending down and looking into the cab.

"I know you told Rossi you would make sure I got home safely but let's not forget that I'm a trained FBI agent who can take care of herself," she smiled.

"Ever so stubborn," Morgan chuckled and stayed in the cab. "See you tomorrow!"

"See ya!" Emily said before slamming the door and waited for the cab to drive off before walking to her door.

A/N: Thank you for reading this and please leave a review so I know if I did well or not. Don't expect the whole story to be this happy because that ain't what's waiting for you. I hope you had a good read and remember to take care of yourselves fellow Fanfictioners!