Part 2:

The next week went by quickly and slowly the icy tension between the former couple lessened. Morgan turned out to have a lot of fun with the little girl, developing an even stronger bond with her than Emily did. To any neighbor they met; they looked like the perfect little family.

When the first week was over, Emily became uneasy with the situation. She had to get back to Quantico for her transfer if she didn't want to risk losing it. Luckily her partner didn't ask for an explanation although he sensed the change. He just assumed that it was about the fact that the killer could show up anytime soon. Nonetheless, he decided to take the girls to the little lake close by. He didn't get the approval from Hotch, but what family sat at home all the time when the weather was fabulous like this. Besides, he was slowly starting to run out of ways to entertain Èanna in the house.

"You can't catch me." Emily raised her eyes from the book to the little girl and Derek running in a wide circle around her. A small smile crept on her lips as she watched. Only once before had she thought of him as a father and then it had been for a thirteen year old, who would rather have wanted him as a big brother. But the last couple of days Derek had taken over the role as foster dad and had the time of his life. By now she probably would have to worry more about his hurt feelings when they left the girl behind, although it wouldn't be easy for her either.

She looked back to her book trying to find the spot where she had left off.

"Stephanie, you should come join us." The tall man blocked of the sun from her, causing her to lose the spot again.

"Nah," she shook her head as she glanced at him, the little girl thrown over his shoulder giggling.

"But I want to show you how good I'm swimming now."

Emily could see the disappointment showing in the girl's face. She sighed and put her book down. As she stood up she shook off the sand from the beach dress she had gotten before they went for their trip to the lake.

"I can't miss that, can I?" She smiled at Èanna, following them down to the water. She was still not planning on joining them in the water, but she would at least be closer to comment. Indeed, the child had gotten pretty good under the instruction of her newest dad. Derek always waited a few feet away from her to catch up, finally she got tired and he caught her to take her back to the beach.

"Why are you still dry?" Derek asked with a smirk on his face. Emily turned to get farther away from the water, realizing what he was up to. But he was faster and crabbed her around her waist carrying her in a few steps, then throwing her into the water.

It took her a moment to fight herself back up. Her dress was soaking wet and now formfitting her body.

"Der…," she caught herself in time. "Chad, you are going to pay for this."

"Really?" He smirked at her, since there wasn't really anything she could do to him right now, as he was already wet.

"You wait and see." She still stood where she landed glaring at him.

"O come on, you are going to dry before we get home." He walked a few steps in offering her a hand to help her walk out. As soon as she grabbed it, he realized his mistake as she dragged him towards the water with all the strength she had. He saw her smirk disappear, when he reached out with his other hand to take her down as well. If she wanted war, she was going to get it.

He was the first one to make it back to the surface. Instantly checking with his eyes to find Èanna playing in the sand, he relaxed and turned to see where Emily was. His momentary check on the little girl had given her time to breathe and plan her next attack. Before he could do anything, she had her hands on his shoulders dragging him back down with her weight. It took him a moment to struggle and get free. Still under water he turned and then made his way back up. His hands were on her hips and their faces were dangerously close.

"Having fun after all, are you?"

"Never said I wasn't," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"Really?"

Their eyes met. It was like time stopped and she felt her heart speed up. They hadn't been this close since the night before Strauss had called them in. And the wet dress showing every curve of her body as well as his bare chest didn't help either. He raised one hand to softly pull a strand of her hair behind her ear. He didn't care much for the audience they had with the team and potentially the killer. If someone asked they could always say they had played the role. His heart was racing and he knew he was close to losing any kind of professionalism in the case. He was sure he read the same kind of feelings in her eyes so he grabbed one of her hands moving it up to his chest laying it down where she could feel his pounding heart.

"Derek…"

He raised his hand to her lips to stop her from talking. He knew how wrong this was and that this was exactly why Strauss had put a stop to their relationship. He quickly glanced to the beach making sure Èanna was still playing, before meeting her eyes again.

"I know." The words were very quiet as he leaned in to meet her lips. He could feel the hesitation in her movement, but only a few seconds later she seemed to have given up on her defense and he could feel her moving closer to him. For a short moment both of them completely lost themselves in the kiss.

"Stephanie!"

She jumped at the sound of the name, both of them immediately scanning the beach for trouble. Thankfully the little girl was just waving and pointing towards her sand castle. She threw a quick glance towards her partner before starting to walk out of the water. As she looked back she saw him disappear in the water.

"Sweetheart that looks great," she reached to her back to get rid of the wet dress. Her eyes soon found Derek's t-shirt as a good replacement to cover her scars from the little girl.

In the meanwhile Hotch and Rossi were exchanging looks at their position in the little restaurant serving the beach. They had both witnessed the kiss and certainly, being profilers, had only confirmed their suspicions that the kiss had gone way too deep.

"Now this explains a whole lot, if you ask me." Rossi took a sip of his coffee leaning back in his chair.

"It certainly explains why she wanted that transfer." Hotch noticed the raised eyebrow of his friend. "She handed it in a couple of weeks ago, saying something about more time with Declan."

"Well Declan might be one reason, but certainly not the only one."

"Did you know there was something going on between them?" The unit chief eyed his colleague, as he had noticed the closeness and subsequent tension, but had put it down to a close friendship.

"I know when it ended. Or should I say who ended it." Rossi had quickly put two and two together.

"What do you mean?"

"A couple of weeks ago Emily was called into Strauss' office. When she came back out she told Morgan to go in. She later disappeared, my guess to his office and I swear I saw tears on her face when she came back. After that it just wasn't the same between them, but neither would talk to any of the team about what happened."

"Well besides the tension they at least stayed professional."

"Professional is one thing, two broken hearts another." Rossi looked back towards the beach as he left Hotch to that thought. "Let's hope they use their chance when Emily is off the team."