Sorry that I've don't update right away, I have been trying to pack for college. I'm leaving on friend and still have so much to pack. Once again I have thank Kate aka flashpenguin, for being amazing! So one more chapter that will hopefully be out before I have to leave. Much Love!
"So what did you guys find out about our victim?" Hotch asked as Emily and Dave came back into the room.
"Nothing that would have indicated she knew her killer," Dave replied. "She was a straight A student who managed to hook up with the wrong guy. Typical story."
"Nothing typical about your boyfriend introducing you to a life of prostitution," Emily huffed. She had sat next to Dave on the ride over, during the interview, and the ride back. Twice he had tried to make conversation with her and she rejected it.
"Perhaps, but a lot of women get into prostitution thru boyfriends and lovers. It's a well known fact," Dave countered.
"Oh yeah, I forgot. You wrote about this in your fourth book," Emily dismissed him in a haughty tone.
Hotch glanced at his two agents. Something was amiss and it wasn't the case and the murder victim.
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"Dave" Hotch said as the team scattered to their respective jobs. He waited until the last member of the team was out of the room before he closed the door and faced his longtime friend. "What's going on with you and Prentiss?"
"Nothing" Dave answered truthfully.
"Well, whatever it is, I don't want it to disrupt the team and put lives in jeopardy, Dave."
"You know as well as I do that Emily has an uncanny ability to keep things professional."
"I know that Dave. Prentiss is a great agent. But I was asking can you?" Hotch said glancing back at his friend and joining his team.
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"Devin Nickels is on the verge of a psychotic break, everyone have your guard up when you go in," Hotch stated clearly as his team strapped on their vests. "Dave and Reid go in the front, and clear the first floor while Morgan and Prentiss go in the back. The sheriff and I will take the perimeter."
"Wait, we know that Nickels is violent with a volatile personality, he's on edge, so be careful," Dave reiterated before the team split and headed to their position to await the signal.
Plastered against the front wall of the house, Dave looked over at Reid and sized him up. This was their first time partnering and though he wasn't nervous, he wondered about Reid's shooting ability. The first time the kid had taken down an UNSUB, it had been a complete fluke. He didn't need flukes if things went wrong.
"Reid," Dave whispered. "I need to know you have my back."
"Yes."
"You sure you don't want to go in first? I can cover you and the area." Dave didn't make this offer lightly; something was off in his gut.
"No, I can do this," Reid assured both himself and Dave as they listened to Hotch give the order through their earpieces. Together, they went in. Reid went left and Dave went right.
With his gun held high, Dave scanned the entryway to the house before stepping to the left and clearing the nearest room. Dave took in the white walls, bare of any picture frames or paintings.
"Clear!" Dave yelled exiting the room and heading back towards the entryway. At that moment Dave felt a sharp pain in the back of his head. Stunned, he fell to his knees, still grasping his service pistol. Suddenly, strong hands grabbed him.
"You really think that you could stop me?" Nickels yelled as he shoved Dave against the nearest wall, just seconds before Dave felt the butt of Nickels pistol collide with the side of his face again. Nickels who, when compared to Dave, was younger, bigger and relatively stronger, and had gained the upper-hand and intended to keep it that way.
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Emily and Morgan waited outside the house for Reid and Dave to call in that their part of the house had been cleared. The seconds continued to pass, the feeling in Emily's gut got stronger, something had gone wrong inside that house, and she needed to know what. No matter what her feelings towards Dave might have been at that moment in time, she was his partner and she had his back.
"Derek? Something's up, I feel it," Emily whispered as they waited behind the house.
"Em, we can't do anything about it until we get a signal," Derek replied taking in the anxious look on his friend's face.
"Derek, cover me. I have to go in." Emily readied her gun and stepped toward the door. She got a few feet from the door before she turned to face Derek one last time.
"I've got you. Go!" Derek told her as she turned back towards the house and disappeared through the backdoor. "Hotch, we have a problem. Em is going in and I'm covering her."
"Don't let her out of your sight," came the reply thru his earpiece.
Emily cleared the kitchen and the dinner room again, before turning to clear Reid and Dave's part of the house. Her suspicions were conformed when she saw Reid slouched against the wall. Lowering her gun she stepped towards the younger agent
"Reid?" Emily whispered kneeling down beside him, she noticed the gash on his forehead and that he wasn't responding but he was breathing.
"How is he?" Morgan asked, concerned, his fingertips seeking out and finding a pulse.
"I'm gonna find Rossi. Stay here with Reid," Emily ordered. Standing up, she made her way down the hall, her senses on full alert.
Reaching the last stretch of hallway, Emily paused before rounding the corner bringing her face to face with Nickels.
As soon as Nickels saw Emily, he pulled Dave forcefully off the ground, pressing his gun against Dave's temple. Emily held herself steady as she tried to get a line on Nickels.
"If you have a shot Em, take it," Dave ordered as Nickels pressed the gun deeper into his temple.
"I can't, not without hitting you too," Emily countered as she continued to hold her line steady and pushed away any feelings for Dave. She wouldn't let that get in her way even though it decided to pop up and try to occupy her mind at the least opportune time.
"Not him Em, me," Dave told her in a calm voice. He watched the emotions flash across Emily's face as those words came from his mouth. Emily knew that if she was to shoot the Unsub, that she would still be putting Dave's life in danger, because the gun could still go off, but she couldn't shoot Dave, not when she still loved him.
"You would never shoot your partner," Nickels pointed out as Emily continued to hesitate. "You wouldn't dare."
"First of all, he's not my partner. Second of all, you have no idea how many women would love to be in my shoes right now! I am going to go down in FBI history for being the person who shoots David Rossi," Emily countered, narrowing her eyes on the target.
"Em? Can I call you that? Em, you won't shoot him." Nickels taunted. Emily looked at Dave one last time. He mouthed three simple words to her: I trust you.
"Wanna bet?" Emily said placing her finger on the trigger. "As soon as I shoot him, I'm shooting you." Seconds after the words came out of her mouth, she nailed Dave with a clean shot to the shoulder. Dave crumpled to the ground, and Emily trained her gun on Nickels and quickly lodged a bullet into his skull.
Emily rushed past Nickel's lifeless body and helped Dave off the ground. "Don't you dare thank me for saving your life; I did exactly what any other woman wants to say they have done...except I missed."
"Thanks Em."
"I said don't thank me Dave. But next time I won't miss," Emily bit out thru clenched teeth just seconds before Hotch made his presence known.
Emily watched as Dave was loaded into the ambulance and Hotch climbed in with him. Little did she know that Hotch heard what she said and was gonna get some answers one way or another.
Hotch sat back and said nothing while the EMTs attached an IV in Dave's left arm and gave him a shot of Demerol. Hotch waited a few minutes before leaning forward with furrowed eyebrows.
"Dave, we need to talk." Hotch lifted Dave's oxygen mask and waited for his agent's response.
"Hotch, they're giving me narcotics." Dave begged off.
"Damn right they are, now you won't be able to feed me any of your bullshit. Now talk!"
"Emily and I were together." Dave stated in a serious voice.
"Well, no shit Sherlock!" Hotch replied through clenched teeth. "Now, what happened in there?"
"She shot me. I think that's pretty evident Aaron."
"Congratulations Dave! You get to keep your badge and credentials for another day. I want to know: why did she shoot you?"
"She was aiming for my head and missed."
"You know that she shot Nickels in the head right?" Hotch said as Dave groaned.
Hotch looked at the EMT. "How long before the Demerol kicks in?"
"Not much longer. Why?"
Dave looked worried. "Yeah, why?"
Hotch leaned back on the jump seat and glared, a small smirk tugged at his mouth.
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Emily sat at her desk with her pen in hand. she didn't know what to write on the report and all she could think about were those three words that Dave mouthed: I trust you. Emily had never not heard more important words in her life. She glanced up towards Dave's office for a second and watched him through the window before diverting her gaze to her work in front of her.
"So Em, how do you plan to explain this to Strauss?" JJ asked before she even reached Emily's desk.
"I don't know," Emily whispered.
"Strauss is gonna wonder why you just didn't kill him," JJ said sarcastically as Emily stood up from her chair without saying a word. She stood outside Dave's door for a few minutes as the tears continued to well in her eyes. Finally, she gathered the courage to knock.
"Come in" Dave said from behind the closed door. Emily took a deep breath and pushed open the door.
"Dave, we need to talk."
