What Is Life?

Disclaimer: CBS owns Criminal Minds, enough said.

Summary: Don't ever say that she can't take care of herself, especially when it comes to those she loves...

A/N: Here's the moment everyone has been waiting for the face off of Emily versus Beth.

Enjoy chapter four of the story and I hope you're all still with me on this.

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it enough to leave a review.


Hermoine Gingold said, "Fighting is essentially a masculine idea; a woman's weapon is her tongue."


Emily stood in the living room of her hotel, her cell phone attached to her ear, "I'm assuming you're calling either to ask me forgive you or arrest me for beating you up."

"On a scale of one to infinity, are you sure you're not coming back to the BAU?" Hotch asked, not missing the groan of frustration, "Hey, this isn't me asking, it's Strauss."

"Damn woman" Emily muttered, "You know if we just told her why I left it'd be easier so she could've asked one of the others to ask me back instead of my cheating, lying..."

"I thought you said you didn't hate me" Hotch protested, "Isn't that what you told me three weeks ago?"

"You mean since you broke into my friend's house?" she snapped, trying to remind herself that she needed to learn to keep her temper in check.

"I told you I was sorry about breaking and entering" he told her, "Look, do you want me to tell Strauss?"

"I don't know" she told him, "I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of someone else injecting themselves in our relationship."

That renewed his still broken heart, her saying 'our relationship', that made him feel a sense of mild relief he hadn't felt in over a month.

Hotch let out a sigh, she could hear the tension in his controlled demeanor.

"Well, what do you want to do?" he asked her.

"I told you we should take some time apart" she told him.

"No I meant about with Strauss" he told her, his hope faltering, "Emily, this is ridiculous. Can you just come in and you can speak with her yourself?"

The brunette stiffened her shoulders, as much as she wanted to do nothing more but go to him, she told herself to stay firm. Shaking her head at that thought, she told herself to stay in the presence of mind not the past of what they once were.

"I'll talk to her tomorrow" she said, the finality evident in her voice, "I'm too tired to deal with this now. Good night."

Readying to go to bed, she was about to hang up when he called out to her.

"Emily, I've told her, that I don't want to be with her" Hotch's remorseful tone said, "I don't love her, I've never loved her. I'm in love with you."

"I can't do this now" the brunette ran her hand across her face, "Goodbye, Hotch."

She tossed her cell phone onto the hotel couch and wandered over to the bed. She didn't need to hear that, not now. No matter how much her heart was betraying her, she still needed time.

It was bad enough that he had kept the fact that his former girlfriend had still been in town, but to go and see her behind her back was one thing, that she could've forgiven but not the cheating. Or at least that's what she'd tell herself.

As much as she wanted to be a catty, territorial woman and handle this old school, the former agent in her told her to be the bigger person and walk away.

And she hated it when the adult in her won out. Because she wanted nothing more then to go track down the brunette bimbo and pound her face in.

Rolling on her side, Emily fell asleep with images of the other woman with Hotch.


The brunette awoke with a start, and had to get her barrings before she realized what woke her up.

The shrilling ringing of her cell phone was what startled her from her sleep, and looking down she decided against answering it. Hotch again.

There was no way that she could deal with him again, they were separated. She knew from the number that it wasn't his office phone but private cell phone number. Which meant it wasn't about her returning.

She knew that as genuine as his apology was, they needed boundaries right now, even if he wasn't willing to accept that. The few times that had spoken with the others about her departure they tried to convince her to come back, not for him but for the team.

But the men didn't know why she left, well she suspected that Dave knew but not Morgan otherwise Hotch still wouldn't be breathing.

He may have told Beth that he didn't want to be with her, but he still didn't set a boundary in their relationship regarding exes. And that didn't help the doubt in her stomach that he had still spoken with the other woman.

Oh she knew that he'd want to not see her again, but she knew that woman and she wouldn't give up without a fight because the few times she met the older brunette, she could see from the looks that she shot him that she was more invested in Hotch then he of her.

Did she want to be back with Hotch and Jack? Yes, but thanks to the little interloper, she had a hard time trusting him. And she knew not all of the blame was squarely on the other woman but on Hotch too, and herself. She didn't like to admit it but if she had been more attentive and open with him she could've seen this coming.

And now there was a very good chance she'd be alone for the rest of her life, and having that along with working beside him was what prompted her to leave the BAU. She needed to focus on herself and what she wanted before making a decision of forgiving or forgetting him. He needed that choice too, of what he wanted.

Getting off the bed, she walked towards the bathroom with one thought in mind. Not let this get to her, because if she goes to every worst case scenario, there's a very good chance she'd end up in either holding cell or a padded cell.

Closing her hotel room door, she told herself that if it took her the rest of her life she was bound and determined to not be rolled over by anyone ever again.

Stepping off the elevator, Emily had her eyes trained on the text message she'd received regarding her meeting with Strauss when she felt someone grab her by the elbow.

Looking up she was stunned to see the other woman that ruined her life, and her relationship in front of her.

"Going somewhere?" she asked, wearing a smirk on her face.

"What do you want?" Emily demanded, "Or are you stalking me along with Hotch?"

The older woman exhaled a breathy laugh, her eyes trained on Emily with a hint of amusement in them.

"We need to talk" she told Emily.

"About what?" she countered, "How you purposely set out to destroy my relationship with Aaron? Or how you're desperate to steal him away from me?"

The woman raised an eyebrow, "Well if you're staying here then that must mean he threw you out."

"So, as I said, are you here to stalk me or make smart ass remarks?" the brunette asked.

She knew she should just walk pass the woman and ignore her. But she was tired of being the bigger person.

"Oh" the annoying woman mocked, "Is that suppose to be an insult? Oh, ho."

Emily balled her hand into a fist, not only was she having to deal with this woman inserting herself in her relationship with Hotch but now she had to sit back and be insulted too?

"Are you having a bad day?" she whispered mockingly.

"What the hell do you want?" Emily asked, watching the other woman's arm itching to grasp onto her.

"As I said, we need to talk" the woman nodded her head to a quiet place in the lobby.

"Fine" Emily grumbled, "But hurry this up, some of us actually have to work for a living."

"Stay away from Aaron Hotchner" the woman said, her eyes staring into Emily's.

"You've got to be kidding me" Emily muttered, "Have you lost your mind? First of all you do not tell me who I can or can't be near, and second of all you need to get over your little one sided infatuation with Hotch. He maybe too nice to say it, but I'm not. He's not in love with you."


Hotch sat in his office, shutting himself off from the rest of his team.

He never wanted to lead her on, but there was no way to disway his ex-girlfriend that he's not interested in seeing her anymore. He knew that the blame landed squarely on his shoulders for even re-engaging in a sexual relationship with the woman.

And when he told her so, he thought she was going to punch him in the face.

Rubbing his hands across his face, he looked up when he heard his office door open, "Oh by all means, come on in."

"She still won't talk to you, huh?" JJ asked.

"Whatever gave you that impression?" Hotch snapped out, then quickly regretted it, "I'm sorry, JJ."

"It's fine, I get it" she said dismissively, "But have you tried telling her the truth?"

"Which her?" Hotch asked, setting aside the paper work he knew that he'd never get to, "Emily or Beth?"

"You know which her" JJ said with a raised eyebrow, "I know you've been talking with Emily, and apologizing like crazy."

"And she hangs up after each and every try" Hotch muttered.

"Have you ever thought of telling her the truth?" she asked, watching his eyes roll at that, "I mean the real truth, about why you hooked up with Beth in the first place?"

The blank expression on his face made her groan in frustration, "Jesus Hotch, you think I didn't know, did you?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

The blonde strolled up to the desk ripping the pen from his hand, "For some weird reason you've got this weird need to think you don't deserve to be happy" pacing in front of his desk, "I don't know whether it comes from the fact that you still feel like a failure from your marriage to Haley or if this stems from your childhood but..."

"Alright, alright, alright" he cut her off, "I didn't realize when you signed up to be a profiler you took a side class as a shrink."

"Please this is from years of knowing you" she stopped moving to face him, "But look, as much as I love you like a brother, Emily is one of my best friends and lets face it, you screwed up big time."

"I know that" he muttered, eyeing his cell phone, "I don't know what to do."

"Well since you won't give her the one thing she wanted which was space, then you need to sit down with her and be honest about everything with her" she sighed, "You already apologized which didn't help in your favor, but if you love her, and I mean really love her, then you just need to tell her how you're feeling about why you turned from her."

"I don't think that's going to help" he murmured, "I mean how would you like it if Will sat you down and gave you a list of reasons why he cheated on you?"

"Will would never do that" she told him, "He'd be too afraid that I shoot him in the junk" taking a deep breath, "But honestly I would want a reason, a long, good sit down talk of what was going wrong with us to figure out how to fix it together."

He snorted at that while she shot him a look.

"Did you even consider doing that?" she asked, "Or did you just spring the affair on her all at once?"

Rubbing his head, "No after I told her that..."

"You need to tell her how you feel" JJ cut him off, "I think that if she actually heard it from you that it'd help settle all this."

"You actually think so?" he asked, unsure.

"Trust me, Hotch" JJ said emphatically, "If you want to salvage this you need to be honest with your feelings."

Hotch picked up his cell phone, quickly dialing the brunette's cell phone only to huff out a sigh and setting it down.

"I think you're wrong" he said, "She didn't answer again."

"Huh" she frowned, "Well let me try."

He watched the blonde on her own cell phone, then pulled back with a puzzled look, trying again with the phone pressed to her ear.

"Ok something's definitely wrong" she murmured, "She always answers for me."

Fearing the worst, he got out of his seat heading out of the BAU with the blonde hot on his heels.


"This is a pretty simple thing, Emily" the dark haired woman said, standing face to face with Emily, "You want to keep your pretty little teeth? Then stay away from him."

"Beth" Emily chuckled wryly, "You don't even want to threaten me."

The older brunette shoved Emily back, chuckling when the former agent nearly hit a wall, "Why? What are you going to do about it?"

"You have no idea who I am" Emily said, shrugging the tension from her shoulders.

"Does it look like I care?" Beth replied, "Shouldn't you be at work catching the bad guys?"

"Shouldn't you be out lurking in the bushes like the psycho you are?" Emily quipped.

"There's nothing psycho about me, Emily" she smirked, "Just ask Aaron."

"Aaron" Emily murmured, "Is that where you're going now? To go stalk him like the pathetic freak that you are?"

The other woman clutched onto her purse, looking down right murderous with the glare trained solely on Emily.

Emily took note of the way the other woman held onto her bag, and decided to throw in a jab.

"Oh is that what's in the bag?" Emily asked pointing to the dark shoulder bag, "Your stalker kit? You know binoculars, cameras and cell phone scanners?"

"I don't have time for your games, Emily" Beth hissed out, narrowing her eyes at Emily.

"If you're so desperate to cling onto a man who doesn't want you, maybe you should use handcuffs so he won't flee from you" Emily snapped.

"Oh Aaron has been fleeing, but not from me" Beth snickered, "From you and the drama you call your life."

"You knowing about the issues in my life is hardly shocking" Emily told her directly, "After all it was all over the news. So you might want to save that smug look for someone who doesn't profile people for a living."

Emily strolled up to the woman "But if you think I'm going to let you waltz right into the middle of my relationship and take Hotch and Jack away from me, you're even crazier then I thought."

The brunette chuckled, "Uh, as usual Emily you're missing the point."

"Then tell me" Emily demanded, "Enlighten me, Clemmons."

"Alright" she said, "What Aaron and I have isn't just a usual run of the mill relationship like the two of you had. What he and I have is so much more, so much deeper. Deeper then anything you could ever possibly know."

"Anyone could be in a relationship" Emily told her, "It takes more then sex to bond people, and if you think Hotch just easily gives away his heart then you're sadly mistaken."

"Then you know what he's like in bed" the older woman chuckled darkly, "That raw, passionate, animistic lust" looking at Emily, "But then maybe you don't. Tell me, has he ever said, those three magic little words to you? Huh, he hasn't has he?"

That made Emily pause, of course he told her that he loved her but now, after learning about him and Beth, she had her doubts.

The look on Emily's face made the older woman gleeful, "Oh, what... are you going to cry?"

"No, this look?" Emily hissed out, "This is pity, but not for you. For Hotch. I pity him for ever getting involved with a nut case like you."

"But he loved it" she grinned, "And he loves me."

"Funny, then why was he been calling me?" Emily said, holding up her cell phone, "Not once, twice or even three times within the past twenty four hours? Has he even called you once?"

Beth cocked her head to the side, "I'm sure he's just planning out how to let you down gently since you're such a fragile little china doll. You know with the whole getting killed thing."

"You know what I really want?" Emily told her, watching the woman roll her eyes, "What I really want?"

"What?" she drawled out.

"This" Emily said, balling her fist and punching Beth in the jaw watching he stumble her back connecting with the wall, "That just made me feel so much better."

Rubbing her jaw, the dark haired woman felt the sting of blood on her lip, but her eyes gleamed in excitement looking at Emily.

"You really want to go there, Prentiss?" the older woman asked.

"You have no idea" Emily smirked.

A desk clerk watched the two women, "Is everything all right here?"

"Perfect" Emily said.

"Absolutely" Beth replied, "You think you can take me on?"

"I'm going to enjoy moping the floor with your ass." Emily told her.

"I'd like to see you try that" Beth cooed, raising her hands in a come on signal.

"Make sure to have the doctors check you out for not one black eye but two" Emily told her.

The brunette glared at Emily, "I don't have time for this shit, you're lucky I'm running late."


Emily watched the woman turn to walk away but shoot a defiant look at her one that made the female agent narrow her eyes.

Before she knew what was happening, Emily shoved Beth towards the hotel lounge flinging her over the sofa.

Beth turned around catching herself on the arm of the sofa, and lifted herself to stand up.

"Oh you did not just..." she growled out at Emily.

"I told you, I'd wipe the floor with you" Emily told her.

The older brunette threw her purse down charging toward Emily, knocking them both to the ground.

"You stupid, jealous bitch" Beth shouted, rolling around with Emily on the ground both women not getting equal opportunity to stay in control of the fight.

Emily tugged on Beth's dark hair while the woman clawed her fingernails into Emily's neck and chin.

The former agent took that moment of distraction lifting her knee to shove the woman off of her to stand up and grab onto Beth's coat collar dragging her up.

That angered Beth as she charged forward causing both women to collide with the wall, all the while Beth's shouting words were heard throughout the lobby.

"I'll kill you, I'll kill you" her shrilling tone repeated, trying to cut off Emily's air supply, "I'm going to rip your face off!"

Emily tried to dig her nails into the woman's hands but decided to fight fire with fire. Stomping the heel of her boot onto the woman's high heeled foot.

"Ah!" she cried out, her hands going off of Emily in a quick moment.

That second was all Emily needed, charging at the woman like a linebacker. With herself on top, Emily tried to keep her grip on Beth both wriggling around and ended up rolling across the main floors of the hotel.

"Get off of me, you bitch" Beth shrieked, her hands shoving onto Emily's stomach finding her too strong to move.

Beth grabbed Emily's free hand, and the only thing that the desk clerks could hear was Emily's shriek.

"You bit me?" Emily hissed out in pain, "Great I'm going to need a rabies test."

That's when Beth shoved the younger brunette off of her, straddling her trying to choke her.

"Get off me, you psycho!" Emily gasped, her hands going at the woman's face, scratching and clawing at her eyes.

Beth cried out when she felt Emily's small nails scratching at her cheekbone turning to crawl away from her only for Emily to grab onto her slack covered leg pulling her back.

"Uh uh" Emily rasped out, ignoring the pain in her throat, "This isn't over."

Beth spun on her back, her heel aimed for Emily's face when a strong arm caught it and both women looked up to see Hotch holding the leg.


"Knock it off, Beth" Hotch said, "What the hell are you still doing in D.C., you said you were going to New York for a consult?"

"Aaron" she panted out, watching him quickly drop her leg to help Emily up, "Your crazy ex girlfriend attacked me."

"Funny, I thought you were his crazy ex" JJ muttered, passing Emily a tissue to wipe at the small trace of blood on her lip, "You do know that assaulting a federal agent is a crime which can land you in lock up, right?"

"Who asked you?" Beth growled out, "This is between me, him and her."

"No it's not" Hotch told her, "I told you we were over four weeks ago, I want Emily. I'm in love with Emily."

"What?" the three women said in unison, one was happy, one surprised and one angry.

Hotch faced his former brunette agent, turning his back on the unstable ex, "I'm in love with you, Emily."

Emily shook her head, backing up while Beth tried to make her presence known.

"Fine, you want her?" Beth hissed out, "Take her, but just you watch, Aaron. Don't come crying to me when she gets you killed."

That made the blonde agent angry and doing something she never does, she punched the woman in the nose.

"Ow, this isn't any of your business" Beth grumbled looking at JJ.

"You know what? I'm making it my business" JJ told her, "You made a hell of a mistake coming to my town. And you made an even bigger one messing with my friends and their relationship" keeping her eyes sharp on older woman, "So you get the hell out of our jurisdiction before I lock you up for assault."

When Beth stayed where rooted in place she saw the dark smirk hit the young blonde's face.

"Or you'll have to answer to me" JJ told her.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Beth asked, keeping her eyes locked on the younger woman.

"More then you know" JJ told her, "Because when I fight, I fight to win."

"And believe me she fights scrappy" Hotch chuckled.

The older brunette's glare went from JJ to Emily, taking a deep breath before landing on Hotch, "You two deserve each other. This town sucks."

Marching over to the couch, she grabbed her purse and gave the three a dark glare before storming out of the hotel.

Hotch turned his attention back to Emily, "Sweetheart?"

"No" she slowly said, biting her lower lip, "I told you that I needed time, not just because of your crazy ex girlfriend but because we need to figure out what we want."

"I know what I want" he told her, sighing in defeat, "I told you, I'm not giving up on us, Emily."

The brunette shook her head, "Please, give me space."

The blonde watched her two friends tense up around each other and she sighed watching Emily quickly rush out of the lobby while Hotch gave JJ a nod before heading out to the Bureau issued SUV.

"This is nuts" she murmured to herself pulling her cell phone out, "It's me. We need to talk."


"A fight is not won by just one punch or kick. Either learn to endure or hire a bodyguard." Bruce Lee


To Be Continued...

I hope you all liked this, don't forget to leave a review.

A/N: The person on the other end of the call, it's important. Tell me who do you think it is?...