Quantico, VA 2006
"This isn't a whirl, Agent Hotchner. I don't know how the paper got screwed up, or if you believe my parents pulled some strings, which they didn't by the way," Emily said firmly, to the tall man standing before her, "I belong in this unit. And all I'm asking you for, is the chance to show you that," Emily said, pleading her case. Emily had gone to the BAU, where JJ worked, because she had gotten a job transfer there. She had been working in a local field office, but she decided to take profiling classes as well, and was quickly transferred to the BAU.
The only problem was that when she got there, she found out that neither Agent Aaron Hotchner, the Unit Chief, nor Agent Jason Gideon, the senior special agent, had approved a transfer. They had no clue that she was even coming. They had quickly dismissed her and left on a case.
"Em, I'll call you when we're heading home. And you meet up with Hotch then and tell him that you were in fact transferred here," JJ had told her.
"Thank, Jayje," Emily said with a small smile. She was a little crushed that the agents had so quickly dismissed her, but JJ knew how to make things better.
"Of course," She said giving Emily a hug, "Give my love to Riley. We'll have dinner when I get back?" JJ asked.
"Definitely," Emily nodded, "She missed you this week," She said with a smile.
"Maybe tonight or tomorrow I'll give my girl a call," JJ said with a laugh, "I gotta run. Bye, hon," JJ said waving, and she left with her team for the midwest to catch a serial killer.
"Have you been here for three days?" Hotch asked with a raised eyebrow. After everything she had just said, that was all he had gotten out of it? Emily took a deep breath, calming down before she responded.
"I was told you were returning today, so I came back to explain," Emily said, "I, reviewed your newest file, while I was waiting," Emily said quickly, before Hotch could respond. She then went to give the working profile that she had come up with.
"You can see maintenance for a desk and supplies. We brief new cases at ten o'clock in the conference room," Hotch said after a moment.
"Thank you sir. You won't be sorry," Emily told him with a smile. She turned to leave.
"And Emily," He said.
"Yes, sir?" She asked. He smiled.
"JJ's in her office, waiting. Make sure you tell her the news. Other wise, she'll be harassing me all day tomorrow," He said with a grin.
"I will, sir," Emily said with a nod. She laughed at JJ. JJ and Hotch were very close, because they spent the most time together. JJ was not a profiler. She was the media liaison, which meant she dealt with the bureaucrats and helped Hotch with the politics of the job, besides working with the press and supporting victims' families. Emily knew that JJ and Hotch were good friends, so she sort of figured JJ would let it slip that she and Emily were friends.
Emily walked along the catwalk to JJ's office, which was just a few doors down from Hotch's.
Emily knocked.
"Come in," JJ murmured. She was looking down at a file when Emily shut the door.
"You can't harass our boss tomorrow JJ," Emily said subtly. JJ looked up.
"What are you-?" JJ began, but then realized with a grin what Emily had said.
"Our?" She asked excitedly.
"Yes ma'am!" Emily said with a grin. JJ hopped out of her chair and hugged her.
"Let's go. Now. We're leaving. We are celebrating! We're goin to a bar!" JJ exclaimed.
"Jay, I don't want to start my first day on the new job with a hangover," Emily said gently.
"Where's Riley?" JJ asked.
"With the Macphersons," Emily said. They were Emily's neighbors.
"Well, then let's pick her up and go to your house and I'll make you guys a celebratory dinner, and I will casually slip you a few shots of tequila," JJ said with a shrug.
"Are you even old enough to drink?" Emily teased the twenty-eight year old agent with a drink, "What are you, like twelve?"
"I hate you. And let's just remember, they carded you too," JJ reminded her.
"Well good. I hate when they don't. I feel so damn old," Emily said laughing, as JJ gathered her bags.
"C'mon," JJ said pulling Emily out of her office. As they walked by Hotch's office, JJ poked her head in.
"Bye Hotch," She said with a grin.
"Bye, Jayje. And uhm, go easy on the celebrating tonight. I don't want her," He said motioning to Emily, "coming in with a hangover on the first day."
"Told you," Emily muttered hitting Emily.
"Party. Pooper," JJ teased.
"Well have a few," He allowed, "But only a few."
"Fair enough. See you tomorrow," JJ waved and shut his door. As they walked away, JJ said, "Now mind you, he's only that funny with me. During the day, especially on cases, he is all business, serious, one hundred and ten percent of the day," JJ said rolling her eyes.
"I'll keep that in mind," Emily said as they reached their cars.
"I'll see you at your house. I'm gonna hit the grocery store," JJ said, hugging Emily, "And the liquor store," She added.
"See you, Jayje," Emily said with a smile. They hopped in their cars and went their separate ways.
Quantico, VA 2007
"JJ! He just hit me!" The stringy haired, nerdy but charming man, Dr. Spencer Reid, exclaimed, as he was being relentlessly teased by Emily's partner, Special Agent Derek Morgan. Derek was tall dark and handsome. He had pearly white teeth that he often flashed with his signature flirting smile. He was the team's original playboy. The whole team was on the jet on the way home from a case.
"Behave boys," JJ muttered, not looking up from the file she was reading, "Or I will ground you both."
"Yes mom," Derek retorted with a chuckle. With that, Emily, who was walking by with a book and a mug of coffee, hit Derek with her book.
"JJ! Why can she hit me?" He asked. JJ rolled her eyes.
"Cuz you're a smart ass," Emily told him, sitting down across from JJ, giving her the mug of coffee.
"Thank you," JJ said with a smile, "Where's," JJ began and then in a really low, quiet voice, whispered, "the girl," and then in a normal voice, "tonight?"
"Girl?" Derek asked raising his eyebrow, "What girl? Emily are you a lesbian?" Derek asked laughing.
"Mind your fucking business," Emily said laughing, throwing her book at his head. He caught it with one hand.
"Lucky I caught that. You could have dented this beautiful head. I don't think ladies want a dented head," Derek told her.
"No, but they're fine with an empty one," Emily retorted.
"You two fight worse than my son and his friends," Hotch said from the other end of the plane.
"How old's Jack, now Hotch?" Emily asked. She was stilling learning about her new family everyday.
"Almost three," Hotch said. With that, everyone laughed at them.
"I hate you all," Emily murmured. Curling her knees up, she leaned her head on JJ's shoulder and closed her eyes. JJ rubbed her knee while reading the file. Derek put her book down in front of her, and sat back in his seat.
"Are you two lesbians together?" Derek teased again. With out opening her eyes, Emily took the book and threw it back a Derek, hitting him square in the chest.
"Shouldn't have given me the book back," She murmured, and drifted to sleep.
A few hours later, JJ woke Emily.
"We're here," JJ murmured. Emily woke up and rubbed her eyes. She saw that everyone was stretching out and standing up.
"You drooled on my shoulder," JJ told her. She grimaced.
"Sorry, hon," She said biting her lip.
"It's ok," JJ laughed, "Let's get out of here," JJ said. They grabbed their go bags. Emily hugged Derek.
"Bye, princess," He said to her. She smiled.
"Bye, princess," She responded. He laughed. He made sure Hotch and Gideon were ahead of them, and he slapped her ass.
"Derek!" She squealed. He laughed.
"See you later," He grinned, "Bye Jayje. Later, pretty boy," He said to Reid.
"Bye guys," Reid said waving to Emily, JJ and Derek, and he went off on their separate ways.
"Emily," Hotch said to her.
"Yeah?" She asked.
"Can I have a word?" He asked.
"Sure," She said, "Jay, can you pick up…" Emily began.
"Yeah. And I'll stay and wait with…" JJ said. It amused her how they could communicate so well without finishing their sentences.
"And will you warm up the…" Emily said.
"And I'll keep…" JJ said, not wanting to say 'keep her up' in case Hotch could hear.
"Thank you," Emily said with a smile. JJ walked away leaving Emily and Hotch.
"What was that all about?" He asked as they made their way to his office.
"We've been friends for two years and now we don't even need to finish our sentences. We just get each other," Emily said shrugging. They reached Hotch's office. They entered and he shut the door.
"Have a seat," He offered. She sat down on the couch, and he sat on the plush chair across.
"So…how are you doing?" He asked. On the last case, Emily had resigned from the team because Strauss, the Section Chief, had been asking for dirt on Hotch and the rest of the team. Rather than sell them out, she quit. Hotch had been suspended at the time, but his team needed help on the case they were working on in Milwaukee, so Hotch convinced Emily to go with him to help. They were both reinstated to their jobs following the case. The case had ended with Emily going into the unsub's house solo, getting hit with a two by four, and the victim being saved, before the unsub could kill her. The unsub's son was taken away, and the unsub was arrested. Over all it had been relatively successful.
"I'm good," Emily said nodding, "My head's all better. And JJ and I have been talking…not a lot of compartmentalizing with her," Emily said laughing. One strength Emily had was objectifying herself and keeping her emotions in check. She was easily able to put her emotions in boxes and pack them away in her mind, to get her jobs done efficiently. That's why she was so good undercover, until her last case.
"JJ's blunt. She'll get what she wants out of you," He said agreeing, "Does she know about Strauss?" He asked.
"Yeah. I told her. But you know she won't say anything," Emily said quickly.
"I know. I'm glad you told her, though," Hotch said.
"Why?" Emily asked curiously.
"I just like knowing that you are in fact talking to someone, and you're not bottling it all up," He said.
"For the most part, my bottling it up is over," Emily said. This was half true. She would always keep her under cover days to herself. And Riley. Riley was the biggest secret Emily had. She didn't want her team knowing about Riley, because Emily never trusted any one. With her under cover jobs, only Emily's handler, Sean McCallister, and her partners, Tsia Mosley, Clyde Easter and Jeremy Wolff, who were her JTF-12 team and worked closely with her in her Interpol days, knew about Riley.
Emily didn't want anyone knowing about Riley, because especially in her undercover days, Emily had a bad habit of slipping under the radar and running away. That's what she did with her last undercover case. That's why she left JTF-12. People not knowing about Riley meant there were no strings attached in any of her relationships. JJ was the only strings, and thus far, Emily had stuck with JJ. But with this new team, that Emily was growing closer to each day, it was hard for her to keep it all a secret. If Emily ever had to run from this team, them knowing about Riley would be too much. It would be easier to track Emily if they had a kid to look for too, and plus, emotionally it would be too hard on everyone. Emily just knew, the fewer people that knew about Riley, the better.
"What are you thinking about?" Hotch asked.
"Nothing," Emily murmured.
"Emily," Hotch warned.
"I'm good. Promise. Can I go?" She asked, "JJ's warming up my favorite casserole," She said with a sheepish grin.
"Yes. Go," He allowed.
"Thank you," She said sincerely, "For making me go to Milwaukee."
"Thank you," He said genuinely, "For coming."
With that, Emily left. Half an hour later, she was home. She unlocked the door and threw her go bag at the front door.
"Riley," Emily called.
"Mommy!" The nine year girl exclaimed, "you're home!"
"C'mere!" Emily said with a grin. She picked up daughter and hugged her tightly.
"How was school this week?" Emily asked with a smile.
"Great. I got an A+ on my spelling test!" She exclaimed, dragging Emily by her hand to the fridge, "Aunt JJ put it up so you could see," Riley explained.
"That's great, honey. I'm so proud of you," Emily said kissing her forehead.
"Guess what else?" Riley asked excitedly.
"What else?" Emily teased.
"Do I look different to you?" She asked with a big grin.
"Hmm…you look like you've gotten a little shorter…and you're hair is definitely a different color," Emily joked.
"No silly! Look! My teeth! Two fell out this week!" She exclaimed.
"Two? Did Molly Macpherson punch you out?" Emily said laughing. Molly was the neighbor that helped babysit Riley while Emily was out.
"No she did not!" Riley exclaimed, "They fell out! And Molly said to wait to show them before I put them under my pillow and the tooth fairy takes em away, in case you didn't believe me!" Riley said showing Emily the two teeth.
"Very nice! Go put those under your pillow. You'll double the money from the tooth fairy because there's two, ya know!" Emily told her.
"I know!" riley said.
"Also, it's bed time. So brush your teeth and hop in bed. I need to talk to JJ, and then I will tuck you in. Good?" Emily asked.
"Good," Riley agreed. She ran off and Emily went into the kitchen.
"Hey," JJ said with a smile.
"Hi," Emily said.
"How was your talk?" JJ asked.
"Short, sweet and to the point," Emily said with a shrug.
"You're plate's in the microwave. Go tuck her in and explain. I'll warm up your food," JJ said.
"Thank you," Emily said with a smile, and she walked away to tuck her daughter into bed.
