AN: Hey guys! Wow! Thank you does not even begin to cover it. I never thought this would be such a success. For now it's going to stay a two-shot, but I'm open to further suggestions. So this part is set right after 'It Takes a Village' Enjoy!

Derek still couldn't wrap his head around the events that had occurred over the last few days. He had carried Emily's coffin. He saw it go into the ground. So to see her standing there, had been a shock to say the least. For a minute he thought he had been dreaming. It was the only thing that made sense. He was only dreaming and when he woke up, she would still be dead. He would go to the BAU and solve cases without his partner. Then he would go home and lose himself in a drink or two, or when things got really bad, the arms of another women. It didn't matter who it was, just never the same one twice. At the rate he was going, it was only a matter of time before he slept with DC's entire female population. As terrible as it sounded, Derek had gotten used to it. The drunken rage that caused him to put holes in walls. The emptiness he felt whenever he slept with another woman, knowing none of them would ever be enough. The sadness and loneliness that had all but surrounded him and claimed him as their own. He had grown so used to the darkness that part of him actually kind of liked it. But it hadn't been a dream and now everything was going to change again.

He sat at his desk and attempted to finish the Doyle report, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't seem to concentrate. The stress of the last six months had finally taken it's toll and now that it was over he really just wanted to go home.

"You're still here." He looked up to see Emily standing in the doorway of his office.

"Things have changed over the last six months." He said as he went back to his report. He really didn't want to have this conversation right now.

"I can see that, but even Hotch left over an hour ago."

"Like I said, things have changed." He closed his laptop and looked back up at her. "If everyone left, what are you still doing here then?" He said as he began to put away the files that were scattered about on his desk and put his laptop in its case. He would gladly finish this at home if it meant avoiding the confrontation Derek knew that Emily was here for.

"I just thought you could use some company." Okay that was a lie. That stunt she had pulled in court today had given her some courage and she needed to talk to him before it all ran out.

"Thanks, but I'm about to leave anyways."

"Oh okay." Silence ensued as she watched him get ready to leave. Emily was slowly losing her nerve. She had to say something before he left or she would spend the rest of her life regretting it. "Look Derek. I'm so sorry. I really did want to tell you, but I.. I just couldn't. No one could know. I just.. I need you to understand that." Not exactly what she had in kind, but hey at least it opened the door to conversation.

"Emily, today has been hell. Can we just not do this now?" Or maybe it hadn't. Oh great, now what?

"Derek.." Emily started, but he couldn't do it. He couldn't go back to the way things were. Instead he shut the door to his office and started down the hallway towards the exit. She said the only thing she could honk of that she knew would make him turn around.

"I read your letter." Derek stopped dead in his tracks. There was no way she could've read that. He had left it at her grave, buried underneath all those flowers so no one would find it. He turned around, a look of utter shock on his face.

"You.. Wh.. How?..." But words were failing him. No one was supposed to know how he felt. That secret was supposed to have died with Emily.

"When JJ met me in Paris, she gave me a folder. It was in there. I don't think she even realized what it was." Emily said as she walked towards him, closing the distance between them.

"Emily, I..."

"No Derek." It was her turn to be bold now. "I love you. It took me almost dying to finally realize it, but I love you. I always have. And I want to give this a chance. I.." But she was cut off by Derek's lips against hers. The kiss was gentle, nothing how Emily had imagined it, yet filled with all the love and emotion they had both kept pent up inside them for the last six years.

"God Emily, I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too." Derek kissed her forehead and pulled her into one of his trademark bone crushing hugs. He wouldn't let her go. Not now, not ever.

"Hey easy big guy, I still need to breathe." Emily pushed him away just enough so she could see his face. "We have what, ten hours until Hotch wants us back in the office? What do you say we get out of here?"

"I think that sounds like the best idea I've heard in a while." Derek said as he took Emily's hand and lead her down to bullpen.

They would make it, he just knew they would. Sure it might be tricky seeing as they were going to be partners again, but compared to the hell they had been put through as of late, that hardly seemed like a problem. If anything, they would probably trust each other now more than they ever had. The last thought that crossed Derek's mind as they left the BAU was how this was sure to make for an interesting story one day. The last in Emily's was how in the world were they going to explain this one to the team.