A/N: Hey all! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please R&R! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Chapter 7: It's Love:

Emily and Morgan walked into the hotel lobby hand in hand, ready for the festivities that night and for their plan to unfold. She had a great feeling about tonight that could have been due entirely to the man at her side, but she felt that nothing could possibly go wrong.

They made their way to the banquet room where their party would be held. Just as they were to step through the entrance she felt Derek tug on her hand, stopping them in the wide doorway.

She turned around confused, only to find herself engulfed in his arms.

"Derek?" she said, smiling.

He looked above them and she followed his gaze. Mistletoe.

She looked back at him to find him smiling mischievously at her. She smiled back, amused, like he really needed a reason to kiss her. Still, she let him pull her close, wrapping his arms around her. She tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes waiting for the second their lips would touch in one of their electrifying kisses.

But instead of a kiss they heard the sound of throat clearing and she was pretty sure it was aimed at them. They pulled apart reluctantly, each one ready to hurt the person who dared interrupt their moment.

"Rossi, man," Morgan exclaimed in annoyance. "You are seriously cramping my style."

Rossi eyed them weirdly. "Yeah, well… sorry about that. Garcia wanted me to let you guys know that JJ called."

"Where's Garcia?" Emily inquired, wondering why she didn't just tell her herself.

"She said she'll be here in a minute, with that guy, uh…" Rossi trailed off.

"Kevin," Morgan offered.

"Yeah, and that both you're phones are off. That's why she called me," Rossi explained. "JJ's going to be here in fifteen minutes. She wants you, Emily, and Garcia to meet her outside."

Emily pulled out her phone and sure enough it was off. "Thanks for relaying the message."

"Ok," Morgan spoke up, squeezing Emily's shoulder. "You're going to need your coat. I'll go get it for you."

She shot him a thankful look as he walked away, loving him even more.

"Well that was nice," Rossi pointed out.

Emily turned around to intercept the familiar raised eyebrow look of David Rossi. "Derek is a nice man," Emily assured, a little annoyed.

"I know that… but, it's just more apparent now that you two are together," Rossi elaborated. She knew he had more to say so she waited. "I think its all because of you. You bring out the best in people, Emily."

She hadn't expected that and her face broke out in a smile. "Thank you Dave." And then she didn't know why, she leaned into him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Realizing what she'd done, she pulled back to give him a wide-eyed stare. He was shooting her a curious, but otherwise unreadable look.

"Uh… that was nice of you to say."

Rossi was about to say something else, but didn't get a chance to.

"Here's your jacket Emily," Morgan announced, reappearing at her side.

She turned towards him to take it from him only to find Derek and Rossi locked in an intense stare.

Uh oh, she thought. She did not have time for this.

"Um…I'm going to wait outside for Garcia and JJ," she said quickly, walking away.

Truthfully, she was trying to escape. She knew she had committed a blunder. She had no idea why she had done what she'd done. All she knew was that it was an impulse. One that she would not let happen again.


She had left them alone together, on purpose. Morgan knew; she was running from his questions. But that had him confused; why would she run if it was nothing? Of course, she could have probably just wanted to get outside and start the mission. Yeah, that was probably it.

"Uh Derek," he heard Rossi speak up.

Derek focused his gaze on the older agent, looking at him with uncontained suspicion.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be? I only just saw the woman I love kiss another guy," Morgan answered with unbridled hostility.

"It was only a kiss on the cheek," Rossi began to explain. "Wait a minute… The woman you love?"

Realization dawned on his face, just hearing what he said. Wow, he loved her; it was almost hard to believe.

'I mean, I've only been dating Emily for four months,' he thought.

But he had cared for her for so much longer.

"Yeah, I love her," Morgan confessed, all hostility gone because of the topic at hand.

"Wow… you two are pretty serious then?"

It was a question, but Derek realized he was mostly speaking to himself.

Derek answered anyways. "Yeah we are."

"Has she said anything to you?" Rossi pried.

It was a question that had multiple intentions; at least that's the way Derek took it. David Rossi was really asking if he had told her and if so did Emily reciprocate his feelings? David Rossi was fishing. And what he had hoped to hook was his girlfriend.

"Not yet," Morgan answered. "But I haven't told her yet, either. But I intend to remedy that tonight."

He hoped his tone conveyed the back-off attitude he felt.

"Well… good luck with that," Rossi replied with actually sincerity.

The guy was confusing the heck out of him.

"Uh… thanks."

"I'm going to find Reid, make sure he still has his date, maybe give him a few pointers," Rossi commented.

He walked away leaving Morgan bewildered.


Emily wrapped her coat around her tighter and stuffed her hands into the pockets. It was freezing out there.

"Garcia, are you sure JJ said she wanted us to meet her outside?" Emily whined.

Garcia shot her an oh-my-God look; to be fair, Emily had been whining since they had got out there, and deserved the look.

"Yes, she specifically said, 'meet me in front of the doors,'" Garcia related. "Besides, don't you want to catch a glimpse of this date who's supposed to be better than our boss-man?"

"Well, yeah," Emily grumbled. "I just wish I didn't have to freeze my ass off to do it."

Garcia let out a long-suffering sigh that ended in an excited noise.

"What Penelope? What's up?" Emily asked quickly.

"Speaking of Hotch, here he comes," Garcia announced.

"Really, where? Can you see his date?" Emily asked eagerly.

Garcia pointed to Hotch walking towards the hotel from the parking lot. But as Emily glanced around she could see that he was definitely solo.

"Where's his date?" Emily wondered aloud.

"Don't know," Garcia answered, clearly puzzled.

When he finally reached them Emily greeted him with a smile. "Hey Hotch!"

She was dying to question him but always deferred to the good little employee mode with him. Garcia on the other hand…

"Boss-man, where's the date?" she demanded.

Hotch smiled. "She's actually already here. I'm supposed to meet her inside. Find me later so I can introduce you."

The girls nodded dumbly.

"What are you two doing out here?" he asked them.

"Meeting JJ," Emily answered for the pair.

"She's supposed to be here already. Did you see her in the parking lot?" Garcia inquired.

"No, sorry. See you inside," Hotch answered, walking away.

They watched him go.

"Well, he was in a rush," Garcia commented.

"Guess his date must be hot," Emily said mostly to herself. "Ouch!"

Garcia had suddenly slapped her shoulder.

"What was that for?"

"No one is as hot as our lovely JJ," Garcia scolded.

"Ok… sheesh," Emily rubbed her shoulder. "Garcia did you ever take my advice and start the decaf?"

"Ha ha."


Morgan stood alone waiting for his girlfriend, vaguely wondering what was taking so long and also wondering when the party would get started, when he spotted one part of Operation Hotch and JJ alone near the refreshment table.

"Hotch, man," Morgan greeted, as he approached his friend. "What are you doing here alone?"

"I could ask you the same question," Hotch countered.

"My girl's waiting outside for JJ," Morgan informed.

"Your girl?" Hotch questioned, disapprovingly. "I'm guessing you wouldn't want Emily to find out about that particular endearment. I won't mention it."

Morgan got scared. His girlfriend was notoriously known around the FBI for abhorring any references to chauvinistic ways. She'd kill him. "Please don't."

Hotch let out a chuckle that indicated to Derek he was joking. Who knew?

"I'm kidding Derek… My date's meeting me here. She should be here in a few minutes," Hotch offered.

"Cool," Morgan replied, containing his curiosity. "Mind if I wait with you, at least until Emily gets back?"

"Go right ahead," Hotch allowed, graciously.

The two men stood there in a moment's silence until Hotch spoke up.

"So you and Emily… how's that going?" Hotch asked with a bit of awkwardness.

"It's going really good," Derek answered truthfully, as he watched people walk by mingling. He spotted Rossi in the corner of the room talking with a pretty redhead. Good, he thought, the man has his own date. "Uh… you knew Rossi back in the day. What was he like?"

Hotch looked at him, startled at the change of subject. "Well… he was pretty much the same as he is now. Driven is a good word to describe him then and now. Why?"

"I heard he had a streak with womanizing," Morgan said outright.

Hotch frowned. "Well… I don't really like to talk about my co-workers personal lives. But that was mostly a rumour."

"Mostly?" Derek needed to know.

"Well… I know he went out with a few women in the bureau. Usually it ended quickly. One actually ended up being his first wife, I think."

"I see," Derek nodded, taking this info in.

"Why the sudden interest in David Rossi's personal life?" Hotch asked, looking at him with his profiler's stare.

"Uh… no reason. Just curious," he answered lamely. He had one more question, though. "Did he ever go after a woman already attached to someone else?"

"Derek, what's up?" Hotch asked in a no-nonsense voice.

"Nothing, nothing, never mind," he quickly backtracked. "Forget I asked."

They stood there in silence once again.

"There was one," Hotch interrupted the silence.


"JJ!" Emily exclaimed, so happy to see her friend walking towards her. She was freezing. And she momentarily forgot why they were out there. But Garcia didn't.

"JJ, where's your date?" Garcia questioned.

JJ laughed at her friend's exuberance. "I'm meeting him inside," she answered.

Something twitched inside Emily's brain at her friends answer. She watched as JJ flipped open her phone. "Yep, he should already be inside."

"All right, let's get going," Garcia said, her impatience imminent.

Emily continued to stare at her friend strangely, something was off but she didn't know what. "By the way, what's his name?" She couldn't believe she hadn't asked this question sooner.

"Oh crap!" JJ exclaimed, surprising Emily. "I forgot my purse in the car. You guys go on in, I'll meet you inside!"

Well, there was no purse in sight. So it was the truth. Still…

"Nah, we can wait for you," Garcia assured and Emily's face fell. She was cold.

"You guys, your lips are starting to turn blue. Go inside, I'll be there in a sec," JJ ordered and Emily was quick to listen.


They were all standing together in a group, Emily at his side, Rossi with his date, Ariel, Reid and Layla, Garcia and Kevin, and Hotch. Emily and Garcia had rushed inside to find them to announce that JJ would be inside in a minute and her date was somewhere inside. Morgan and the others surveyed the room eyeing every lone guy as a potential.

"Hotch, where's your date?" Garcia jumped on his alone-ness. "I thought she was already here. Don't tell me she stood you up?"

Garcia looked annoyed and Morgan was ready to tell her to calm down. But Hotch's answer cut him off and had him itching with curiosity.

"No, in fact, here she comes."

Everyone looked at Hotch and followed his gaze, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the girl who was in JJ's place.

Morgan's mouth dropped open in confusion when the only person who seemed to be walking their way was JJ herself. What was going on?

He heard Emily murmur next to his ear in disbelief, "I knew it," only loud enough for him to hear.

Morgan stared down at his girlfriend wondering what she meant before returning his gaze to his blonde friend who now stood in front of Hotch. And watched as the media liaison gave their boss a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Hey JJ," Hotch greeted, in front of their audience. "Thanks for coming."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," she answered, beaming.

The pair turned their attention onto the bewildered faces of their friends, waiting expectantly for a reaction that would inevitably done.

"You two—" Morgan heard his girlfriend pronounce, unable to get more out.

"What's—" Rossi attempted.

"No way!" Morgan explained the feeling of the entire team.

"Ok, what the heck guys?" only Penelope managed to articulate.

Reid put his hand up to speak, seemingly having put it all together. "I believe that Hotch and JJ—"

Penelope held up a hand to cut the young genius off quickly. Reid's face fell, and Morgan gave his friend a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

"Nope, I want to hear it from them."

They were all very surprised when the couple just burst into laughter. They waited for them to calm down in annoyance. When they finally did the couple explained that they couldn't resist and that they'd heard them planning on the plane and decided to have some fun.

"So all this was to… get revenge on us?" Emily asked. It was clear to Derek that his girlfriend was going to be disappointed if it was all just a ploy, a trick on them.

"No… not all of it," JJ assured, an infuriating smirk on her face.

"We did actually think it was a good idea for us to come together," Hotch elaborated

"We just wanted to do it our way," JJ explained.

All continued to stare at the couple, still bewildered.

"We're going to give you time to process," Hotch told them. "JJ would you care to dance?"

"Love too."

They walked away holding hands as the team continued to stare.

"I can't believe them," Garcia murmured, deflated.


"I still can't believe they tricked us," Garcia said in outrage.

"Honey, weren't you the ones who tried to trick them first," Kevin pointed out.

But pointing it out was the wrong thing to do. She slapped his shoulder in reply.

"Ouch!" Kevin exclaimed.

Everyone laughed out loud.

"Kevin has a point," Emily spoke up. "We were the ones messing with them first."

"For a good reason," Garcia pouted.

"We know, baby girl, we know," Morgan comforted.

"If JJ thinks inviting us over for Christmas will make up for this, she's got another thing coming!" Garcia announced.

"Penelope we already knew we were going to JJ's for Christmas," Morgan pointed out.

"Yeah remember we didn't want JJ to be alone," Reid offered.

"Yeah I guess…" she trailed off.

Emily let out a sigh. "I for one am not going to pout any longer… I want to have some fun tonight."

She pulled on Derek's arms. "And you're going to dance with me."

They left behind their group of friends, hoping they'd have fun too.

Emily put her arms around Derek's neck, letting his arms encircle her waist. She sighed contently as she put her head on his broad shoulder and swayed to the music. It was very nice and very soothing and she had the urge to pull back and tell him just that.

Ready to let him know how she felt, she was caught of guard when she found him watching her with such intense eyes. Her open mouth closed and she couldn't take her eyes from his loving look.

"Emily," he spoke her name, laughter behind his words. "What's up?"

He smiled at her and she almost melted.

"I… I am just so glad…" she started tentatively. He nodded for her to go on, knowing she had more to say. "…that … that you pulled me onto that dance floor four months ago."

He chuckled lightly, placing a kiss on her forehead. "So am I," he agreed sincerely.

She leaned back into him this time hugging him tightly, pretty much stopping the dancing.

"Emily…"

There was a sense of urgency to the tone in which he said her name. She pulled back to gaze back into his eyes. She could tell he had something important to say.

"Yeah?" she answered.

Instead of answering he took her hand and pulled her quickly out of the noisy banquet room, passing by their friends who gave them curious looks. They didn't stop until they found a quiet deserted spot in the busy hotel.

"Derek, what is it?" she asked urgently, her hands on his arms to hold him in place.

She watched him take a few deep breaths, she was almost worried. He had something really important to say, she could tell.

"Em," he started, using his nickname for her. His hands went up to cup her face. She smiled at his tender touch. "I care about you so much."

She reached a hand up to caress his own face. "I care about you too," she assured.

He took her hand in his free one and placed a kiss on her palm.

"Emily, I love you."

She stared up at his wonderful face. She could tell he was truly sincere and she could also see the anxiousness in his eyes as he waited for her to speak, to respond.

He didn't know, she thought, how much she loved him. He was everything to her and she could not stand to be apart from him for even one second.

"Emily?" he said unsurely.

She was ready to burst with happiness. That's probably why she burst out a second later, "I love you, too, Derek!"

She watched as Derek took a moment to make sense of her jumbled words and then as a smile broke out on his face.

He chuckled. "You had me scared for a second there."

She smiled and kissed his cheek. "I'm sorry… I was just letting the moment wash over me and sink in. You really do love me?"

Derek wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close. "Of course, I love you. You're my world."

She knew she was blushing furiously but she didn't care. He loved her and all her fears about getting hurt were for nothing.

"You're mine too!"


Well that's it for now. This would be a good ending to the story. But anyone who has read For You, Always, knows that there's a lot more in store for the lovely couple.

Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I will try to update very soon!

Thanks to all those who reviewed: kdzl; Bobban; beth; and star jelly.

See ya all soon!