A/N: And we reach the precursor to what is to come :) CAUTION: Reading (beginning of) the following chapter may cause cavities. Please brush after consumption.

Disclaimer: I guess you could sue me, but it would be rather pointless, seeing as I have no money. Suffice to say, it's not mine. Castle belongs to ABC, and CM belongs to CBS.

This is set maybe season 4 or 5 of CM, season 3 (mid) of Castle? No Seaver, JJ is there so is Prentiss, and Castle has not gotten to the season finale yet. However, in my Castle 'verse, there is NO JOSH!

Emily woke up the next morning in a much nicer way than the day before. The alarm hadn't beeped yet, so she shut it off. She could wake Hotch in a few minutes. She stretched…and immediately stopped herself. Somehow, during the night, she and Hotch had gotten tangled up, her legs between his, his arms around her shoulders, holding her close to his chest. She could feel his breathing against her back, and when he woke up a minute later, she pretended to be asleep.

So there they lay, both awake, completely comfortable despite themselves. Hotch, though, being who he was, carefully disentangled himself a minute later, though he would have liked to stay forever.

Emily pretended to wake up when he tapped her shoulder gently.

"Time to get up and face the morning Emily. Guess I didn't set the alarm right."

"Mmm. Ok." Deciding to mess with him a bit, she added, "I was having the best dream…"

"Oh?" His eyes dared her to tell him.

She bit her lip.

There was a knock on the door.

Saved by the bell, Emily thought, rolling out of bed. She walked to the door, looking through the peephole.

A man stood outside in a hotel uniform with a sheet-covered table behind him.

She turned to Hotch. "Did you order room service?"

He frowned, getting up. "No."

The man knocked again. "I have a delivery for a Mrs. Emily Hotchner, from a Miss Penelope Garcia?"

Emily glanced at Hotch and blushed.

Mrs. Emily Hotchner, he thought. I like it.

She opened the door.

The man handed her a package and a bouquet of red roses.

She sighed. "Thank you."

"She also says: 'Good luck.'"

Emily gave him a tired smile and shut the door. She leaned against it, taking a second to stop and smell the flowers. Then she looked up at Hotch.

"This is really gonna suck, isn't it."

He suppressed a smile.

She inspected the package first to make sure it was not from some sex shop, or anywhere else equally embarrassing. It looked fairly innocuous, so she opened it.

"Oh, my…."

Emily pulled out a stunning red, strapless dress.

"She didn't…."

"Wow," said Hotch.

"She did," said Emily. She looked at him. "We need a revenge plan."

"We need to get dressed, first."

"Oh, yeah." Emily glanced at her clothing, blushing. She was only wearing her black short-shorts and a tank top, what she usually slept in, but she didn't usually sleep with her boss.

"And we're scheduled to talk today."

"Right." She looked at the clock. "We should probably get going soon." She grabbed her professional clothes out of her bag and walked over to the bathroom.

Hotch bit his lip. Damn. He'd thought he was making progress. He sighed. I should probably get ready, too.

Hotch glanced at the woman brushing her hair in the mirror. She caught his eye and smiled. He smiled back, which completely threw Emily.

What is up with Hotch? He never smiles, she thought.

Seeing her brow furrow as she pulled her hair back, he asked, "What?"

"Oh…nothing."

Emily shook her ponytail and stepped out of the bathroom, grabbing her coat. "What are we talking about again? At the seminar?"

"Oh, reviewing a few old cases, taking a look at few of theirs, and talking a bit about what makes a serial killer."

"Aah. Easy stuff."

Hotch smirked. Only Emily.

He let her walk out of the hotel room ahead of him, choosing instead to enjoy the view. Downstairs, they got into the SUV, falling into the normalcy of routine.

Hotch drove, Emily in the passenger seat, each sitting in comfortable silence with their own thoughts. Emily….was confused. Hotch was acting very un-Hotch-like. She had always suspected there was a fun loving guy under his professional exterior, but she rarely saw it. Had he figured out what Garcia had done? Did he know? He wasn't stupid, but Emily was pretty sure he didn't know that she liked him. Did he?

She could never tell with Hotch.

"Emily," his voice broke into her thoughts.

She turned to look at him.

"We're here."

They were, indeed, there. Emily got out of the car, looking up at the 12th precinct building, now even more confused. Since when did Hotch call her 'Emily'? Especially on the job? Not that she minded…..but still. It was weird.

They took the elevator up, Emily sneaking glances at Hotch, who was staring straight ahead. There were a few case files in his hands, and she knew that really, these 4 would take most of the day. Then they'd be back to review the NYPD's cases….not that she minded. She'd take this new Hotch for as long as she could.

The next few seconds were a blur to Emily. She stepped out of the elevator, still half-distracted, and caught a brief glimpse of a tall man before he crashed into her, and she fell backwards. Hotch caught her, but the case files dropped out of his hands and spilled all over the elevator floor.

"Ow," the man said, and Hotch glared at him. "I mean, sorry! I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going and...sorry. You're the FBI, right?" Without waiting for an answer he continued on. "Detective Beckett's over there." He pointed in the general direction of the bullpen. He hurried off without bothering to help them clean up.

Emily sighed and knelt down in the elevator next to Hotch, sweeping up the files.

"Thanks," she said.

He looked up at her.

"For catching me."

He gave her a half smile before standing up and offering her his free hand.

She took it with a smile, and they stood for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few seconds.

Emily broke the spell first, shaking her head and looking away from him, feeling suddenly awkward. She walked towards where the policeman had pointed, determined not to let Hotch see her blush. He followed.

Emily reached the desk of the brown-haired detective, who was doing paperwork. She recognized her from a newspaper article on a big case she'd closed. There was a man sitting on the chair next to her, his back to them.

Hotch cleared his throat and the detective looked up.

"Agant Hotchner, FBI. This is Agent Prentiss. We're here for the seminar."

She stood up and the man turned around. "I'm Detective Beckett. This is Richard Castle, he consults on cases…." she trailed off, looking at Castle. He was grinning at Emily.

"Rick!"

"Emily!"

She hugged him. "I haven't seen you in ages! How have you been?"

"Oh, you know, writing best-sellers, trailing a beautiful woman, laser tag battle with my daughter…how have you been? I just saw you in the news."

Detective Beckett glanced between the two of them, slightly thrown by Castle's 'beautiful woman' comment. "I….take it you two know each other?"

Emily glanced at Hotch. "I used to help Rick out with the criminals in his books, but we haven't each other in a long time."

There was a brief silence, tension filling the air.

Hotch cleared his throat again. "Is there a meeting room we could to set up?"

Beckett nodded, relieved. "Right this way."

Castle and Emily walked a few steps behind them, chatting about poker and writers. Hotch heard Emily laugh and a pang of….jealousy shot through him. No. That was ridiculous. He wasn't in a relationship with Emily, he had no right to be jealous.

Beckett lead them to an empty room with a bulletin board, table and chairs. Hotch set the case files down and thanked her. Emily hugged Castle again, and then he and Beckett left.

Hotch pulled out the first case photos without looking at Emily. After a few seconds, she sighed.

"What?"

"What?"

"What is up with you?"

"I…just haven't seen that side of you in awhile. You're not usually so…..demonstrative."

Emily paused for a second. Was he….? He was. "You're jealous!"

"I am not jealous, just….confused."

"Right. Well, you don't have to worry about Rick and me. I like someone else and he…..well, he's completely head over heels for that Detective Beckett. Just look at them."

She pointed out to the bullpen, where Castle was again, watching Beckett do paperwork.

Hotch shook his head. "I am not jealous."

He was, though. He really liked Emily, even if he wasn't ready to admit it. He'd been attracted to her for awhile, even before Haley died. After his divorce, he started positioning himself close to her during interviews and profile briefings. He always tried to sit next to or across from her on the plane. It would take a blind man not to notice how pretty she was, but it wasn't just her looks that he liked.

She was very smart, but not in a Reid way. Oh, he had no doubt she could pull a genius as well, but Emily was witty. She understood the job, understood how important it was to him. The job was part of him, and Emily got that.

He didn't know if she liked him, and didn't want to ruin what they already had by telling her anything. At least, not until he was sure, one way or another.

Hotch re-focused.

They had a job to do here, he could think about Emily when they got back to the hotel.

A/N: Yay! Long chapter! Alright, so I'm going to do…a poll…of sorts….for the cases they review. What do you think the most interesting cases were on CM? Not episodes, cases. Please tell me in a review. I'm going to choose the top five, and the next chapter will be up within the next 2 weeks.

Sorry it'll take so long. Finals suck. So yeah! Review, please. This was the last chapter that I had a draft for, so the next parts might take a bit longer to write. It's shaping up to be pretty long, though.