Disclaimer:

I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 2- Heart-Stopping Emotions

APOV
 I gained consciousness and found myself in Derek Morgan's arms. I scrambled out of them as soon as I was sure I could stand. "Sorry about that" I said, smiling apologetically. "I tend to faint when fictional characters come out of my television." Pen snickered. "I like her, Chocolate God" she said. I grinned at her. Hotch cleared his throat and I turned my attention to him. "Uhm, Hi" I offered up weakly and held out a hand. "I'm Arie Summers and I know who you are. Please don't think that sounds creepy because it clearly isn't." I tilted my head to the side.

He glanced at my proffered hand before shaking it. "You still haven't answered the question: where are we" he asked again. "You, my friends, are in-"Before I could speak anymore, Spencer held up a hand. "I think I might have had something to do with this" Spencer swallowed nervously before continuing. "I picked up a strange object to bring it to you, Hotch, and then there was this pulling feeling and we were here."

"But that doesn't explain how I ended up her" Penelope piped up. "I was sitting at my desk when this happened." Hotch turned to face me. "Miss. Summers" He began, before I cut him off. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, Hotch but please don't call me 'Miss. Summers'… I've always been Arie and I would prefer to keep using that name." I said. "Where is the nearest FBI headquarters, Arie" he finished.

"And I'm sorry to burst your bubble even more" I replied, casting a glance at each of the faces. "But the BAU doesn't exist in this universe as a matter of a fact there is no such thing as a profiler."

I glanced at the wall clock. "I can even prove it to you" I said, picking up the remote from where I had put it. Turning back on the TV, I watched in satisfaction as they looked at their own faces on the television. I turned it off and brought their attention back to me. "I'm sorry that I have to turn it off now" I gestured to the clock. "But it's 12:30 in the morning and I'm tired. We can talk about this in the morning and I have an episode for the girls to watch tonight. Emily, I think you'll remember this. Since I think that you guys are from season 4." I paused and gestured to the door next to me.

'Spencer, David, Derek, and Aaron, you guys, will be sleeping in there… But keep the door open. You don't want to suffocate. The sofa is a bed" I paused yet again and tossed them two pillows. "You can use the sofa cushions as pillows. You don't need a blanket because yet again you will suffocate to death. Emily, JJ, and Pen-"I paused and glared at them.

"Oh don't look so astonished" I scolded. "Yes, I know all of your names. Anyways" Shooting them one last glare, I continued on. "You will be rooming with me. One of you can have my bed. I'm perfectly fine with a pillow and a blanket on the floor. I'll put on the show as soon as we get in there. Got it? Good. Night."

The girls could only follow as I left the boys standing there with their mouths hanging open. I strode towards my bedroom purposely. "Can you guys wait in here" I quizzed. "I have to tell my Gran that I have people staying over and borrow two more pillows." They nodded and entered the room. Knocking on Gran's door, I entered her room. I quickly scribbled down a note and placed it down on her bed table. Grabbing two pillows, I sneaked out of the room, shut the door, and entered my door. "Catch" I said, tossing Emily and JJ a pillow and closing the door behind me.

Yawning deeply, I opened up my laptop, navigated to my Criminal Minds folder, and picked out the 'Minimal Loss' episode. "There you go" I said, pulling my favorite blanket off of the bed. Laurie hissed as I dragged her blanket from under her. I paused, holding the blanket in one hand. "Are any of you allergic to cats" Each of the girls shook their head. I placed spaces for three people on the floor and lay down in my own spot. "Take your pick" I said, gesturing to the remaining spaces.

Once they had lain down, I pressed play and sighed dreamily. "Spencer was magnificent during this case" The girls exchanged glances and my face heated. "Oh yeah and one last thing: DON'T profile me" That was all I said before we watched the episode. Soon it ended and Emily wiped away a stray tear before turning on her side to face me. "It's disconcerting to see yourself as a TV show" she muttered under her breath.

I chewed on my bottom lip before making up my mind. "Tomorrow, I'm going to rent a four bedroom apartment and we'll live there until I can figure this out" I told her. She opened her mouth to speak but I held up a hand. "I don't need anyone's money and besides it isn't good here" I said. "Besides, I have my college fund that I didn't need. We can use that." They were shocked into silence yet again. "Tomorrow morning, we can talk but right now I'm tired… JJ, Can you turn off the light" I asked.

She nodded and turned it off. It had been determined that JJ should have the bed since she had just gotten back from maternity leave. This made me realize exactly what episode we were in. "My god" I breathed. I rolled on my side so that I was facing the bed. "JJ" I whispered, loud enough for her to hear if she was still awake. "Hmmmm" she muttered drowsily. "How are Haley and Jack?" I quizzed. "Fine" she replied, before yawning slightly. The return of the Boston Reaper didn't happen in the show for another month, judging by JJ's response.

If I went into their reality, I could save her… I could save Hotch all the pain. I could, I could… Those were my last thoughts before I drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

The next morning, I got up before the rest of the team and went to fix breakfast for eight people. Looking at the carton of eggs, I calculated how much eggs and toast I would have to make. 8 people equaled at least 16 eggs cracked and put into the pan. Since I knew- or assumed – that everyone liked toast, I made 16 slices. Wiping my forehead from the heat in the kitchen, I made my way over to the old fridge and pulled out the juice cartons, along with the butter, and shredded cheese.

Setting that all on the table, I heaped the eggs onto one large plate and placed the plate in the middle of the table. Somebody tapped me on the shoulder as I was pulling glasses out of the cabinet. "Fuck" I cursed, the glasses almost slipping out of my hand. I whirled around to face Spencer Reid and my face immediately heated up. He stood there rubbing his eyes, looking adorable in a pair of sweatpants and nothing else.

I blushed harder and placed the glasses on the table to give me time to compose myself. "You scared the crap out of me" I told him. He smiled at me. "Sorry" Then, he glanced at the table. "Wow… That's a lot of food." I laughed humorlessly. "Feeding 8 people is a very hard job… I don't know how my mum did it" I replied. "'Did it'" he quoted. The smile slipped from my face and I began piling toast on plate. "My Ma and my step-dad died when I was 16" That was all I offered and he didn't push me. Placing the toast on table, I stood back and rested my hands on hips.

"A job well done… if I must say so myself" I commented smugly. "I'm going to go wake up the girls… Can you get Morgan, Rossi, and Hotch?" He nodded and I danced down the hallway to my bedroom. Pushing the door open, I marveled at the people lying in there. Completely fictional yet utterly real… my life seemed full of contradictions.

I started with JJ first. I shook her shoulder lightly and her eyelids flickered and she sighed. "Come on, JJ" I said softly. "Time to get up… Breakfast is on the table." She yawned and sat up, stretching. "Morning, Arie" she gave me a warm smile and used the hair tie on her wrist to tie up her hair. "Go join Spencer in the kitchen while I wake up the others" I suggested. She gave me one last grin, inched around Pen's sleeping form, and went to join the others in the kitchen.

I moved onto Penelope next. She wasn't too hard to wake…especially with the promise of coffee (which I had all the intention of getting from Starbucks later on). But as I moved on to wake Emily, Pen spoke. "Not so fast, Arie. Sit down so you and Mama Penelope can chat it out, Darling Girl. "I raised an eyebrow at the nickname but complied and sat next to her, folding my legs underneath myself.

"Now" she began, waggling her eyebrows in a way that made me blush. "I've noticed that you, Darling Girl, have a crush on our resident genius. I'm not sure if the team did but word of warning: When they find out expect no end to the teasing."

She paused and watched with great amusement as the top of my ears to the tip of my toes turned red. I was pretty sure there was no part of my body left that was not touched by embarrassment. "Damn" I muttered, making sure she could hear me. "And you're not even a profiler." Garcia grinned at me. "I can see that you to will be perfect, I can't wait to start planning the wedding" she squealed.

"Now wait a minute" my southern accent slipped out. "There ain't gonna be a wedding any time soon." I almost didn't hear the 'Wanna Bet' that slipped out of Pen's mouth. I drew myself to my impressive stature of 5'0, which was not that impressive. I was a couple of inches away from legally being declared a midget. "As a matter of a fact I do" I said proudly. "If Spencer and I get married within a year… I will turn all wedding preparations over to you and JJ." Pen squealed excitedly and hugged me.

"You're welcome" I muttered. "Now let me wake up Emily and you go on and get your breakfast." Pen complied willingly enough, leaving the room without another murmur. I sat still for a couple of minutes and willed myself to go back to normal. After I did that, I crossed over to Emily and gently shook her awake. "Coffee" she mumbled. I laughed. Everybody on the team seemed to rely on coffee. "You'll get it when I get Morgan to drive to the nearest Starbucks while I take a run" I replied, holding out a hand.

She took it and let me pull her up. Rubbing her eyes sleepily, she yawned. "I'm so flippin' tired" she moaned. I laughed again this time at her tone and I had just realized nobody on the team really cursed. "No wonder… we went to bed at 2:30 in the morning" I paused and glanced at the alarm clock. "It is now 9:45. You had 8 hours and some change of sleep. I got up at 8:45 to fix breakfast so be grateful."

Emily had finally composed herself so that she was able to function. I glanced down at her wrinkled suit and raised an eyebrow. "I need to take you guys shopping" I said as we arrived in the kitchen. I plopped myself down in between Spencer and Garcia then began piling my plate full of food. After I had poured myself some juice, I was finally prepared enough to talk.

"You want answers" I asked and waited for them to nod. When they nodded I took a deep breath and spoke.

"Well, you're about to get some"