Disclaimer : I don't own Criminal Minds.

Employee of the Month

Chapter Seven

A few days had passed, she had moved into her new place with the help of Hotch and JJ. They seemed to be taking turns in watching over her. Which she appreciated, but she couldn't help but notice the pity looks they kept giving her. She knew they meant well, but 'you okay?' was wearing a little thin. She just wanted this to all be over.

Malachi hadn't been heard from since he had left the office that day. He seemed to have gone into hiding. He had made no attempts to contact her, which was a blessing.

She looked around her new environment. It was a little smaller than her last place, but it was okay.

She poured herself some wine and sat on her couch. She was back at work tomorrow, she couldn't wait to get back, but was concerned about what the team was going to be like with her. Did they know everything now?

She was deep in thought when her doorbell sounded. She looked through the spy hole. It was Hotch, she looked at her watch it was only 8, she assumed it was later. She opened the door and Hotch gave her a weak smile.

"Hey"

"Hey, come in...."

Without many words they sat on her couch. Hotch was there to deliver good news and bad news.

"So...Malachi is set for disciplinary hearing next week...good news or bad news?"

"Bad first, then the good news will be so much sweeter" she smiled

"Okay, legally the charge of err....sexual assault, as you probably guessed, won't go any further, lack of evidence...." he paused at his words, he knew by her face that she knew it was her fault there was no evidence. But what she did was understandable.

"Yeah that was inevitable..."

"Prentiss....Emily, most people would have reacted the way you did"

"Yeah but most people in this situation, are not law enforcement" she could feel her eyes stinging. "Now the good news"

"Yeah well...they found your blood on his clothes from that night and he has pretty much admitted he assaulted you, but he wont admit ….err....rape...."

"Hotch it's fine, I knew this would happen. But at least he isn't saying nothing happened at all"

"Yeah, I suppose. Also you have to see the 'shrink' in the morning before you do anything else. Okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine, I understand that"

"Take that opportunity, use her to your advantage....you know get everything off your chest"

"I will...make take more than one meeting though" she laughed, even though her eyes were filled with tears, "Sorry"

Hotch gave her a stern look "Don't you dare apologise"

He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Everything going to be okay though isn't it? At work and everything I mean. With the team, do they all know now?"

"Yes, they got Garcia to hack the report for the hearing. Garcia only told them the basics though....they don't know the details"

"Okay....you had better go" they both stood and Emily walked him to the door "See you in the morning then Hotch and thanks for letting me know what's going on. I really do appreciate it and everything your doing for me"

"What sort of a friend would I be if I didn't help you out in your time of need" he smiled and walked away.

She walked into the psychologists office. The doctor seemed friendly enough. She had escaped the team by heading in through the back way. She really wanted to get this meeting out of the way first.

The session went well, she opened up about the events that had taken place with Malachi. The doctor had suggested they continue seeing each other for a few weeks, which Emily agreed to. She also wrote a prescription for some mild sedatives in case she had any more panic attacks. Emily was adamant she wasn't going to need them. But the doctor insisted she had them just in case.

The team were all in, Morgan, JJ, Reid and Garcia where in the bull-pen.

"So Prentiss still coming back today?" Reid asked

"Yes" JJ answered "I spoke to her last night, she is actually missing this place" she smiled

"So she is, okay?"

"Yes Morgan, she will be fine, I'm pretty certain she can still handle herself"

"I don't doubt that, not for a second."

"But?" Garcia looked at Morgan with a glare

"But..."

"But nothing is your answer sweetie....okay?"

"Okay" Morgan gave her a smile.

"Well paper work beckons me" JJ announced and turned heading to her office. She fired Emily a text to come and see her as soon a she got in. she had a quick response of 'okay' and she dived into her stacked up files that lay upon her desk.

Emily stood in the elevator watching the floors go up. Then it landed where it should. She stepped out of the little tin box and took a breath, she walked into the office and felt the eyes all around her. She headed to her desk and logged in.

"Hey Emily" Reid called to her

"Hey Reid, much happened while I was gone?"

"Not really, been a quite week, for a change" he threw her a smile

Morgan headed towards her.

"Hey, I know you have probably heard this about two million times over....but.....you okay?"

"Yes Morgan I'm fine. Or at least I will be when all of this is over"

He placed a hand on her elbow and smiled.

"Good...just remember we are all her for you okay. You can lean on me any time you like" he laughed

"Why thank you Agent Morgan, I will keep that in mind" she laughed with him and patted his arm playfully. With that notion Morgan felt it, she was going to be okay. As long as he got punished for something. She would be okay. He could see in her eyes that she could and would handle this, to the best of her abilities.

She left the boys and headed to JJ's office. The door was open and she headed in lightly tapping the door as she did.

"What's up JJ?"

"How did your assessment go?"

"Yeah it was okay, she has set up a few more meetings and she gave me free drugs. Legally" she laughed

"I see you have your sense of humour back" she smiled, she noticed she seemed a lot stronger today. Compared to the past week. Truth was Emily was just glad to be back at work. The best distraction she had.

"So why she give you drugs?" JJ quizzed

"Just for...err..." she paused "Well I had a little panic attack a few days ago, so she gave me some pills to help if it happens again.

"Okay....you didn't tell me about that"

"You and Hotch seemed worried enough, I didn't want to worry you anymore."

"Fair enough"

"Well I had better go get some work done, I guess I have a back log of paper work to do"

"You would have guessed right" they both exchanged smiles and Emily headed back to her desk.

Hotch was in his office, he looked out of his window and noticed Emily sitting down to her desk. He knew she had a mountain of paper work she had to catch up on.

He watched the way she was working. She was handling everything really well. But he couldn't help but worry about her. She was so professional with her work. Not like Elle, she had become reckless, he couldn't picture Emily being that way. But you could never predict what people were actually thinking. Especially a woman, he thought to himself, even as a profiler he had found that task difficult at the best of times. Mapping the thought process of a serial killer or a mass murderer was one thing, but with a woman, it was a lot harder to anticipate there next move. There to good at hiding what's actually going on.

He felt this feeling inside, this feeling of needing to protect her. To look after her. But he knew after Malachi, she was going to find it hard to trust any man. But hopefully she knew him well enough to know he cared about her and would never do anything to hurt her.

His thoughts were disturbed by Dave at his door.

"Aaron..."

"What's up Dave?"

"Not much, just checking in"

"Okay, any particular reason?"

"I don't know, you have anything you want to discus....like maybe your feelings about Emily. Maybe?"

"Well that would depend on what your exactly asking me? I'm just worried for her. I like to think I can protect my team. It hurts when one of them get hurt"

"And that's all it is?"

"I don't understand"

"You care about her. Right? But not like the way you care about Morgan and Reid or JJ?"

"What are you implying her Dave? she is my subordinate and co-worker remember"

"I have seen the way you look at her. How you work together. Your reaction when you found out about all of this. The fact you have been watching her through that window for the past 20 or so minutes in very deep thought....what were you thinking about?"

"I just want to look out for her...the next few weeks will be tough on her. I'm just being a good friend....what's so bad with that?" Hotch was becoming irate with Dave's line of questioning.

"I know that, but you feel for her more than a friend, don't you?"

There was silence, Hotch looked at the papers in front of him.

"I have work to do"

"Fine, I'll leave you to it"

"Thank you" he continued writing up reports and Dave headed out of his office and headed to his own. With a slight smile on his face. Hotch had confirmed to him that he liked Emily, even though he didn't say it. He liked it when he was right.