Chapter 7

Emily had been working on the paperwork for almost two hours now and everyone except her and Hotch, who was working away in his office, had left. She found it increasingly difficult to concentrate. She kept playing her interrogation by Garcia and JJ over and over again in her mind. Did he really have feelings for her, or were her blonde friends giving her false hope? He did seem genuine when apologising, and when he called her by her first name, it was soft and caring. But then again he could just be feeling bad for putting the team through the ordeal. She was getting more and more frustrated by the minute. She wished something would just make it all clear to her. Her mind was clouded with judgement and confusion. Closing her eyes, she leaned back on her chair and began rubbing her head, trying to prevent the headache she felt coming on from blooming. Her eyes becoming heavier by the minute and she felt herself slowly begin to fall asleep.

She felt a hand gently land on her shoulder and she knew instantly from the scent that it was Hotch, she sat back up right, opening her eyes slowly. She looked around the room before looking up to meet his gaze. His eye's were dark and there was a shine there, she had never seen before. She lifted her hand to her shoulder and rested it on top of his hand. Unsure if she had crossed the line, she expected him to draw back, but to her surprise, he didn't. He kept his hand on Emily's shoulder. She felt the corners of her month curl up and in return his did too.

Dave was right; he did need to do something. He spent every night wallowing in his own self pity and guilt for what had happened with Haley. He didn't love her anymore, he knew that. His feelings for Haley were gone shortly after signing the divorce papers. He knew his marriage was falling apart slowly long before Haley left, he wasn't the nine-till-five working husband she wanted him to be. He didn't know exactly when he began to care so much for Emily Prentiss but he knew for sure that these feelings weren't going to go away easily and he felt he didn't want them to. When he stepped out of his office and saw Emily just sitting there, asleep at her desk, it hit him just how much he did care for her. She looked so peaceful, so beautiful.

Emily Prentiss is such a strong willed woman, and for that he admired her. She had stood up to Strauss and quit because she didn't want to be a puppet for their boss. She had quit for him, so he wouldn't lose his job, and then came back, when he asked her to.

He had seen the worry in her eye's when he lay in the hospital bed after Foyet's attack. Thinking back, he figured his old friend was right. That level of concern was more than that of a worried colleague. Maybe there was something more then. Maybe she could handle his broken self. Maybe, just maybe... But not just now, not tonight. He would wait. He wanted to know for sure.

He was hesitant to wake her when he saw her sleeping in the empty bullpen but figured it would be better than being woken up by the team coming in, in the morning to find she had slept there all night.

He finally broke the silence that lay between them for the last couple of minutes.

"You should go home and sleep, it'll do you no good sleeping there." He broke eye contact with her and slid his hand out from under hers as he bent down to pick up her bag. "Come on, I'll walk out with you."

Together they walked out to the car park in comfortable silence. On reaching her SUV, Emily turned to say something to Hotch. He meet her eye's and tilted his head, willing her to go on.

Dropping her head, she figured it could wait.

"I'll, eh... see you in the morning." She settled with that, nodding her head she turned round to get into her vehicle.

"Good night, Emily." He said, his voice was low and she could hear the affection in his tone.

He used her first name again. She spun round quickly but found he was already making his way over to the other side of the parking lot. Quickly shaking her head, stopping herself from thinking anymore of the subject she slipped her holster off, placing her weapon under her seat and jumped into her vehicle and began her drive home.