Chapter One
Emily is awakened by the buzzing of her alarm. She reaches for it and shuts it off for the second time. She rolls out of bed and heads to the bathroom to get ready for work. It's Monday morning and her first day back after her latest concussion. She didn't get as much sleep as she would have liked staying with JJ over the last few days because Henry just isn't one to let you sleep. So sleeping in her own bed for the first night was great. She did however enjoy the time she got to spend with Henry and in turn, JJ. She even managed to get through the first series with Christopher Eccleston, and the second series with David Tennant. JJ enjoyed both series and said she wouldn't mind continuing to watch them sometime.
The next two weeks out of rotation should help her get back into the swing of things at work. She finishes getting ready, and heads downstairs to get something to eat. She decides to just do something simple so she stops with waffles and some fruit to allow her enough time to get to work before most of the other team members.
She walks into the BAU even earlier than she expected since she did not do a big breakfast and managed to catch most of the lights green. Nobody in the bullpen as arrived yet which is what Emily was hoping for. As she gets to her desk, she glances up at Hotch's office and sees him sitting there bent over his desk filling out paper work.
"Of course." She said as she glances over to JJ's office. She doesn't see JJ in her office right now even though the lights are on, and she is normal in pretty early too.
"Of course what?" she hears behind her. Emily turns and see JJ walking out the break room door with two cups of coffee and hands one to her.
"Thanks." She takes the cup offered to her after putting her stuff down at her desk. She points with her head up towards Hotch "I was referring to Hotch being here already, just like you."
"Yeah well, if criminals only did crimes between 8-5, they would be too easy to catch." JJ said with a smile. She made her way to her office, and just before she went in she turned and said "Welcome back."
"You too since you've been gone as long as I have." Emily replied with a grin. JJ turned and entered her office while Emily set her coffee down on her desk and went to knock on Hotch's door, and opened when she heard him respond.
"Welcome back Prentiss." He said as he looked up at her.
"Just wanted to check and see if you got my file from the doctor restricting me from field duty for the next four weeks." Emily told him.
"I did. And since we are off rotation for the next two weeks, that really only gives you two weeks left after that. So any time within that last week, can i get you to do your firearm re-qualification?" Hotch asks her.
"Damn, that's coming up again already? Seems like I just did it." she replied. Hotch nods in agreement. "Alright I will schedule it. Lets just hope we don't get called out just before I get to go to it."
"It not actually due until about 2 weeks after you come off restrictions, so even if we do, you still have a little bit of time." Hotch tells her.
"Alright. Back to work I go then." She said as she gets up and heads for the door.
She's almost back to her seat when she hears "Oh I'm so happy your back and safe with us." As she turns around she is swallowed up in a hug by the tech goddess known as Penelope Garcia.
"Garcia, you saw me Friday night and Saturday night." Emily said with a smile.
"Oh I know that, but that was there and this is here." she replied. "Two totally different things."
"OK Garcia, if you say so. Can I sit down and try to get some of the consults done before we have to go home?" Emily asks.
"Sure, how about we grab JJ for lunch and we start planning girls night huh?" Garcia asks.
"Yeah, OK" She replied and Garcia leaves with a wave of her hand. "See you later."
Emily starts to work on her consults and about 15 minutes later every one else starts coming into the office and welcoming her back. They all exchange pleasantries start working. Settling into their routines of banter, witty remarks and playfulness, the day goes by for Emily fairly quickly.
She leaves the office after almost clearing her desk of the consults she had and heads home. She decides to swing by her favorite place to eat for something to eat. She hits send on her cars Bluetooth and puts in an order for her usual. After picking it up and walking into her condo, she closes the door behind her.
She sets the food on the counter in the kitchen and takes the rest of her stuff upstairs. She changes into some comfortable clothes and heads back down stairs. As she is eating she is trying to figure out if she should tell Garcia and JJ about being gay. After a while, she is still unsure as to tell them or not. She throws away her trash and heads back upstairs to her bedroom.
She flips on the TV, grabs the book from the shelf she has been reading and climbs in bed. She changes the channel on the TV to the news and watches it for a few minutes before opening her book to where she had left off.
She had been reading for about 30 minutes when her phone vibrates with a text message from JJ. "How was it being back at work today?"
Emily hits send on JJ's number and waits for her to answer. When she does, she said "Hey, my day was pretty good. Went by quick. How was yours? Didn't see you most the afternoon. "
" Was alright up until the afternoon. Then Hotch and I got stuck in a budget meeting until after 5. Got back to my office right at 5:30, then had to pass out another pile of consults to you guys before taking off. Took another half hour." JJ said.
"Ouch. We losing the jet yet?" Emily asked with a grin.
"Ha-ha no. Not yet. Pen would be furious if we do and she has to go with us." JJ answered.
"Yep. "Things" would get done I'm sure of to get the jet back." Emily said pausing after things to add significance to the word.
"No doubt. Look I've got to go get Henry ready for bed. I'll talk with you tomorrow." JJ said.
"Alright JJ, see you at work tomorrow. G'Night." Emily said.
"Night"and JJ hangs up. Emily puts her phone on the charger and goes back to reading her book.
Not long after she started reading again her phone is going off again. This time its Garcia.
"Hello Pen, what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" Emily asks.
"I was just calling to see how you were doing." Garcia said.
"Oh come off it Pen, we talked throughout the day and at lunch. You got about as much out of me as far as the girls night out as you could possibly want. So why is it you really called Pen?" Emily asked, not really wanting to play games right now. "I've had a long day, and I'm getting ready to go to sleep."
"Well it's not the only reason I called, but I really do want to know how you're doing." Garcia started.
"I'm fine. I'm really glad to be back at work. Just glad I don't have to worry about field duty for a while. And I can't wait for our girls night out. I've been meaning to talk to you and JJ. I've got some things I've wanted to tell you 2 for a while, and that seems like the right time." Emily tells her.
"What do you want to tell us?" Garcia asked suddenly all the more interested in the upcoming girls night.
"I guess you can find out on Friday." Emily said with a smile. "Now, why else were you calling?" She asked.
"Well I was just wondering if maybe we could change it from a girls night out, to a girls night in instead? You know, maybe go over to your place and order take out or something." Garcia suggested.
That would be fine with Emily, she wasn't that thrilled on trying to tell them while they are out at the bars or in a restaurant. It would be so much easier to tell them something of that caliber in the privacy of her own home. To Garcia, she said "Yeah we can do that. I don't have an issue with it, and I doubt JJ will either. Did something come up to cause this change?" Emily asked.
"Well you know how Kevin and I have been on again off again?" she asks. Waiting for the uh-huh from Emily before she continues "Well he asked me to go on a date Friday night. After I told him we were planning on doing a girls night out and that I would be going to bars and clubs with you and JJ, I go to thinking I might want to give him another shot." Garcia explains.
"Hey its cool Pen, I get it. You want a life outside of the BAU. We all get it, but I'm just not sure Kevin can understand the work you do or why. don't get me wrong, he one of the decent guys, I just don't know if he is right for you." Emily said.
"Yeah, but its been a long time since we went out, and maybe he has changed." replied Garcia.
"Well if you want to go on the date, we can always cancel girls night" Emily starts.
Garcia interrupt Emily before she gets started. "No no no no no no no." She wants to know what Emily has been wanting to tell her and JJ. She wants this girls night to happen now more than ever. But maybe she can swing both, just have to take a little convincing Kevin. "This girls night is something we all need, so we are doing it. That's why I was asking if we could change it to a girls night in. I can just have Kevin swing by the apartments and call me when he is here. I can tell him to plan for something after say 9 or so in the city since you live so far away from the rest of us, then just get him to bring me home after our date."
"I guess that could work." Emily said. "Can I ask you a favor Pen?"
"Anything Sugar." Garcia replies.
"Can you keep the fact that I've got something I want to talk about to yourself? And don't be bringing it up at work either. Its something personal and I don't everyone knowing right now, that's why I want to tell you and JJ." Emily tells her hoping she will listen.
Garcia has been with this team and around profilers long enough to realize that there is a plea in Emily's voice, and is not comfortable with what she wants to talk to them about coming out to the team right now. Garcia couldn't remember a time that had Emily this unsettled. "Yeah, I can do that Em, no problem."
"Thanks Pen, I appreciate that. I remember what I said about Kevin. Don't keep trying over and over again if it's not working. That's just the textbook definition of insanity?" Emily tells her.
"What is?" Garcia asked.
"Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." Emily replied.
"And just who said that?" asked Garcia.
"A lot of people have said it, one of the most famous though is Albert Einstein." Emily said.
"Sometimes I forget just how much like Reid you can get." Garcia said with a laugh.
Emily laughs too "Yeah, sometimes even I forget."
"Alright, I'm going to get with Kevin tomorrow and see if we can set up the night the way we planned. And I will keep in mind what you said about trying with him again." Garcia said.
"OK Pen, good night and see you tomorrow." Emily said. She then hears a night from Garcia and the line goes dead as she hung up. Emily glances at the clock and realizes its after 10. She checked her call times and realized she talked to JJ and Garcia for almost 2 hours. She climbs out of bed, puts her book up and plugs her phone into the charger and goes and crawls back into bed hoping she can get some sleep.
