AN: Okay, guys! You guys have asked for this chapter, so here it is! Let me know what you think, I'm not too good at the relationship side of stories, so feedback, good or bad, would be great!

Chapter 4

The next morning, Penny came downstairs at 7:30 to find JJ in the kitchen. She was the only other one up.

"It smells good." Penny said as she walked into the kitchen.

JJ turned around. "I'm surprised you are up. How did you sleep?"

"Fine." Penny said with a shrug as she glanced at the stovetop. "Are you making pancakes?"

"Yep." JJ said as she mixed the batter.

"Can I help?" Penny asked as she moved to the sink to wash her hands.

"Sure, if you want." JJ smiled. "Do you help your parents cook?"

Penny snorted. "My parents can't cook, are you kidding me? They both burn water. I'm the cook in the house."

JJ let out a laugh. "Yeah, that hasn't changed. Your parents both lived off of take out. Do you make pancakes a lot?"

"Oh, yeah." She smiled fondly. "Its Nickel's favorite food, and my dad loves sugar. I would make huge batches on the weekends and then freeze the leftovers in individual bags for the rest of the week if anyone wants them for breakfast."

"Well, you can make the pancakes while I get started on the bacon, okay?" JJ suggested.

Penny's eyes lit up. "Sure!" She took the bowl from JJ and poured some batter on the stove while JJ started cooking up the bacon.

"None of the other kids like to cook, so its normally just me down here." JJ told Penny as she turned the bacon.

"Thats too bad, cooking is a lot of fun." Penny said as she carefully flipped the pancakes to find the other side a perfect golden color. JJ watched Penny for a minute, smiling at how calm and content she was.

"So, sweets." JJ started. "Do you know how your parents got together?"

Penny laughed. "God, yes. Thats their favorite story to tell."

"Would you mind sharing with me?"

"Sure." Penny smiled thoughtfully as she shook her head at the memory of her parents telling them for the fiftieth time the story of how they got together."

The team had just finished up the case at Cyrus's. A case that hit her parents hard since her mom had decided to take the blame for being an FBI agent instead of her dad- even though they weren't together.

Spencer hadn't been able to sleep because he couldn't understand why Emily had done what she did. He blamed himself for her getting hurt and the memory of the bruises on her face made him cringe. Even without his eidetic memory, he knew that sight would be burned into his memory for the rest of his life. Before he even realized what he was doing, he ended up at Emily's apartment. He rang her doorbell. She yanked the door open.

"Reid? What are you doing here?" She asked.

"I don't understand." He said.

"What... are... you... doing... here." Emily said very slowly.

"No, not that. I understood your question. I don't understand why you would admit to being the FBI agent. He had already assumed it was me, why would you put yourself through that purposefully?"

"He was going to kill you." Emily said. "I couldn't let that happen."

"You shouldn't have put yourself in danger for me!" Spencer exclaimed. "I don't want you to ever put yourself in danger for me again. I couldn't- if you got hurt because of me- I'd never be able to forgive myself."

"Spencer, if I had the opportunity to change that decision a hundred times, I would make the same decision every time." She told him matter-of-factly.

"But-"

"Spencer, you have had some horrible cases, especially lately. After everything with Hankel and Gideon leaving, I really didn't want to see you suffer again, so I decided to take it. I would do it again."

"And that is a problem. It doesn't make any sense for you to do that for me. You can't do that ever again, Emily."

"And why not? You don't control me Reid." She crossed her arms as she leaned into the doorframe. She wasn't defensive, just... resigned.

"Because I love you and seeing you get hurt like that nearly killed me!" He almost yelled at her. He stopped as he realized what he had said.

"You... you love me?" Emily asked, standing up.

"I... I- yeah, I do. I'm sorry, Emily. I know you don't feel the same way, but I do and I can't bare to watch you let yourself get hurt because of me again and-"

Emily cut him off by attacking him with a kiss. Spencer, though surprised, kissed her back enthusiastically. Finally, they pulled back and Emily leaned her forehead against Spencer's while she caught her breath.

"Spencer." She gasped out.

"Yes?" He asked hesitantly, unsure what she was going to say.

"I love you too." She told him before pulling him into a kiss again.

"Mom had realized she loved him quite a while before that, but Dad didn't realize that he had loved her for years until that moment. According to them, the rest is history. They dated for a while, and they got engaged. But then the stuff with Doyle happened, and-" Penny cut herself off. "They don't like talking about that, so I don't know if they would want me to repeat it." She admitted to JJ.

"They got together after Cyrus?" She asked, shocked.

"Some profilers we are." A voice said from the other side of the room. Penny and JJ looked up at Hotch, who had just come into the kitchen. He was followed by Penelope and Derek, who had just shown up. The twins were already asleep when they had gotten back the night before, so they just spent the night at the Hotchner home. Rossi came in behind them.

"You didn't suspect?" Penny asked him curiously.

"No, I didn't. Did any of you?" He asked the rest of the team. They shook their heads, mystified. "Your parents were quite good at keeping their relationship a secret from everyone. So they have been together since then?"

"Well... almost." Penny admitted.

"Emily, I don't understand!" Spencer yelled into the phone. "What is wrong? You are closing yourself off from me and you won't tell me anything anymore. What happened?" He was trying to get her to go see Solarus with him, she said she just wanted to be alone... which had been her response for almost two weeks. It was like a light switch. She always wanted to be with him, and him with her. All of a sudden, she wanted space, which he was willing to give. But he knew her, and he knew her well. Something else was going on, not just her wanting space.

"I don't want to get married." She heard herself yelling into the phone in response. She heard his intake of breath.

"What?" Came his almost inaudible response. She closed her eyes as she prepared to break his heart.

"I don't want to get married. I don't want to date. I want to break up." She repeated.

"Can I- can I ask why?" Spencer asked softly.

"I don't love you anymore, Reid." She said as harshly as she could. She needed him to let her go, she needed him to not be involved so that he wouldn't get hurt by her past.

"Oh." He said. "I'm sorry. I'll stop bothering you then. I'll see you at work Prentiss." He hung up the phone and she stared at the one in her hand, feeling numb.

Tears started streaming down her face. She knew that every word she had said had hurt him, and it nearly killed her. She knew what buttons to push to get him to lay off, and it had hurt him. They had been together for years, and she knew she would never love anyone the way she did him.

"I'll never stop loving you Reid. I'm sorry, but its for your own protection." She whispered. she sunk down to the floor in her bathroom, pulled her knees up to her chest, and sobbed.

Penny had finished the pancakes by then, and sat down, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, my poor babies!" Penelope cried as she pulled Penny into a hug. "That must have hurt the two of them so much."

"How long were they apart?" Morgan asked as he poured syrup on his pancakes before passing it around.

"Over a year." She said. "Dad really thought Mom was dead too." She told the people at the table.

"But... how did he find out?" JJ asked her.

"My mom couldn't take it anymore- it hurt her knowing that he thought she was dead, but it nearly killed her knowing that he thought she stopped loving him."

"So what did she do?" Garcia asked her namesake.

"Well..."