Acceptance

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the ideas.

I apologise that it has been so long, but I was away last week. However I am afraid I will be updating this one as it comes – sorry if the delay annoys you.

. . .

Emily watched with more than a hint of envy as 'the boys' continued to bicker over the latest of their childish pranks. She had forgotten what those two were like when they got going. It was amazing how the humour had waned over the years, as the team had been hit by one thing after another.

Secretly she hoped that this was the beginning of a fresh start.

"Kid you should know you are never going to win," Derek taunted as he went passed, the bemused looking genius.

"If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?"

"Whoa, what was that?" Morgan spun to face the younger agent.

"William Shakespeare, obviously"

"Obviously," Morgan smirked, "Quote your whole IQ away, I have won, there is no way you will top that."

"Morgan have an IQ of 187, do you really think you are ever going to genuinely win?"

"Not everything boils down to IQ."

"Really, I shall leave you to ponder that," Reid stated standing and leaving the bullpen to get a coffee.

Morgan laughed at the retreating form, turning to make his way towards his office.

"What you do to him this time?" Emily asked as he passed.

"You haven't heard?" he question showing his surprise.

"Well, um no, I haven't, but surely you haven't gone for public humiliation," she winced.

"Hey, give me some credit please; this is a master plan at work here."

"A master plan?" Emily queried.

"Yeah, don't sound so surprised, I'm not all brawn there is brain as well."

"Yeah and you keep in your pants from what I've heard," Emily snubbed, smirking as she returned to her work.

"Whoa, girl you are not getting away with a low shot like that. What gives? You get out the wrong side of bed or something?" Derek said as he perched himself on the side of her desk.

Shaking her head, Emily looked up at Derek, realising that there was no escape now.

"Call it a touch of the green eyed monster."

"You're jealous? Of what?" Derek's brow furrowed at the admission.

"You and Reid and . . ." Emily's voice tailed off, as she realised how petty it sounded.

"And what?"

"I miss the old days, the teasing, the fun, the laughter. On a good day Reid and I can manage a civilised conversation on a topic other then the latest case, but it's all so impersonal. Like he is talking at me rather than with me. I know I betrayed him, I get that, I betrayed you all, but I am starting to wonder if he will ever forgive me."

Emily physically slumped in her chair as the weight lifted at the end of her confession.

"He'll forgive, but he won't forget. That's Reid – take him or leave him, Prentiss you know that. He took a long time to get over Gideon, as you know, and that was only one person letting him down. This time three people have done that at the same time, and to make it worse he has to deal with each of you daily. Gideon wasn't here to face the anger, you all are."

Derek placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

"I guess you just have to show him that you aren't going to give up on him."

Easiersaidthandone, Emily thought.

. . .

Emily looked up at Spencer as he seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated by the computer in front of him. Biting the bullet, she stood and made her way over to his desk.

"Anything I can help with?" she asked casually, coffee mug in hand in case he rebuked her offer, she then had a reasonable escape plan.

Concentrating deeply on the screen in front of him, he spoke freely; "I would ask Garcia, she helped me before, but I'm afraid she may tell Morgan what I am doing this time!"

"Is this another prank? You do know what Hotch will do if he catches you guys up to this in work time."

"But I've finished my work," Spencer looked up innocently at Emily, "and I'm just researching. Well practicing really."

"Spill, what are you up to?" Emily crouched down beside Reid, willing accepting the current truce.

"Well, I found this techi website that has different IT based tricks that can be played. I have read it through and it all seems basic enough. In fact I have managed to complete a couple of the tasks on my own computer so that I know how long I need to have access to Derek's computer to do them, though I haven't been able to reverse the last one on here yet!"

Emily held the giggle as she looked at the screen that had a neon message running across it.

"Can I help?" she offered again.

"This will be fixed in a second," Spencer then stared directly at her, "But there is something you can do."

"Name it," Emily said keenly.

"I need access to Derek's computer. Can you distract him for me? Keep him out of his office until I give you the all clear," Spencer's eyes sparkled in a way she had not seen for a long time.

"Sure," she replied, standing and heading straight towards Derek's office.

As she reached the door, she knocked softly.

"Come in," came the deep voice from inside.

"Derek, have you got a moment?"

"Of course, come in."

Emily slipped into the office and the hovered nervously, realising she had gone off half-cocked.

"What is it Emily?" Derek looked genuinely concerned.

"Well . . . I was wondering if you . . . would like to go and get some . . . lunch," she spoke, thinking on her feet, "I have stupidly forgotten to bring anything with me, and since I've started this health kick I really can't face the canteen food. I hate eating out alone, would you join me in going out for lunch."

Derek nodded, he hadn't really got the time, as he had a pile of paperwork that Hotch was breathing down his neck for, but he knew how down Emily was and didn't want her eating alone.

"Sure, let's go."

. . .

Derek sat back behind his desk, actually feeling all the better for a proper lunch break. With a bit of luck he would crack on with the reports and be out at a reasonable time after all.

Waking his sleeping computer with a flick of the mouse, the neon greeting flashed across the screen:

And if you wrong us shall we not revenge?

Derek sighed,nicetrykid, as the message disappeared he clicked on the familiar icon to access his reports. Automatically the computer went into restart; Derek tutted his displeasure as he waited, the neon greeting taunting him as the computer reloaded. Again he clicked the icon, again the computer restarted, the same annoying message flashing before his desktop appeared. Clicking the icon for a third he hissed Spencer's name as he realised that yet again the genius had one up on him.

Stomping towards his door, ready to confront Reid, he paused. It suddenly dawned on him; Reid would have needed access to his computer. The only opportunity he had was while Derek was at lunch with Emily – had Reid colluded with Prentiss?

The thought of that made the annoyance worthwhile.

. . .

I am putting a note on all of my stories to try and let people know that my updates my become a little erratic due to increased responsibilities at work from now until Christmas. I am sorry to do this. If I had known I would not have started posting stories until they were finished. Please bear with me.