Author's Note: FYI—There are spoilers for the episode Omnivore in this chapter. If you haven't seen it, you might want to find a synopsis as I'm not going to go into detail about what happened; I'm just going to take the parts that will fit my plot and use them. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

"What's going on with you and Reid?" Derek asked as he drove the SUV to the scene where The Boston Reaper had chosen to commit his next murders.

"What do you mean?" she returned, forcing her voice to remain even.

"Come on, Prentiss. I'm not blind."

"Look, Derek—"

"You're jealous of him."

Disbelieving laughter bubbled up Emily's throat. "Excuse me?" she asked.

"He's trying to up his game, and you have a problem with it. Everyone knows you're territorial, Prentiss," Derek remarked.

He was so wrong that Emily almost told him she was dating Reid just so she could rub his face in it. But she wasn't ready for that yet. For now, she liked what she had with Reid. And she liked that they were the only ones in on it.

"What do you mean, 'he's trying to up his game?'" she asked.

"You really haven't noticed?" Derek asked.

"Noticed what?" she asked. Now she was getting frustrated. If there was one thing Emily Prentiss hated, it was being the last to know.

"It used to be that I was the first one in, and you were always second—right behind me. Notice anything different lately?" he asked.

Emily thought for a minute, then gritted her teeth to keep from speaking. She. Was going. To Kill. Reid.

It had been a long couple of days. First, a young couple had been killed on the side of the road, then an elderly couple, followed by a city bus full of innocent passengers. The Reaper was relentless. The team was regrouping—gathering together at the local police station to brainstorm. "We're missing something," Morgan said.

"Let's go over it again," Hotch said. "What do we know?"

"We know that he likes younger women," Prentiss said.

"We know that he likes to kill them with knives as opposed to the guns he uses to kill men," Reid threw in.

"Something just isn't sitting right with me about George Foyet. If you come that close to losing your life, and you're that scared of it happening again, why don't you leave town? Why do you insist on staying?" JJ asked. "And why on Earth would you turn down police protection?"

"So that you could be in on what's happening with the investigation," Reid said. "If he stays, he's able to keep up and if the Reaper does reappear, then he'll know."

"George Foyet had a list of aliases that he was using. Hotch, do you still have that list?" Morgan asked.

Hotch pulled the list out of his pocket and handed it to him.

"I'm gonna call Garcia," he said, standing up as he opened his cell phone.

"Grim Central," Penelope answered blandly.

"Garcia? You OK?" he asked.

"Like you care," she said. He could practically hear the pout in her voice.

He chuckled. "What's going on?"

"You guys are tracking The Reaper! You know if I don't hear from the team for hours on end, I'm gonna freak out! And yet for the last twelve—that's right—twelve hours…I haven't heard from any of you. Do you know what that does to my heart?"

"Well, the last thing I want to do, Garcia, is break your heart," he said teasingly.

Penelope sighed. "Don't play games, Morgan! This is serious."

"You're right. It's serious. From now on, I'll make sure you get called at least every two hours," he promised her.

"Thank you," she said primly.

"You're welcome. I need you to look up some names for me," he told her, getting back to the topic at hand.

"Sure."

"George Foyet is The Reaper," Morgan said as he snapped his phone shut.

"What?" Hotch and Prentiss asked in unison.

"I had Garcia look up the names he was using, and every single one of them had worked as some sort of teachers assistant. Who was fired for engaging in inappropriate behavior with young girls," he informed them.

Hotch stood and began barking commands. Morgan was ordered to take three of the local officers to one of Foyets' addresses, Prentiss was ordered to do the same at a second location, and Hotch would take Reid, JJ, and another local to the last location.

"Clear!" The location had been OK'd, and Derek lowered his gun with a sigh. If they didn't catch this guy soon, he was going to take out half of Boston. He caught a shadow out of the corner of his eye before he had the wind knocked out of him when he took a shoulder to the abdomen. Everything went black as he flew backwards through the picture window and landed on the front lawn.

Derek rolled the bullet around in his fingers while the EMT used tweezers to pull the glass from his shoulder. "He could have killed me, Prentiss," he said somberly. Instead, George Foyet had chosen to leave the bullet on his chest while he'd been unconscious.

"He didn't," Emily said fiercely; she wasn't sure what else to say.

Derek sighed.

"They got him," Hotch said as he walked into the room.

"Bastard," Derek said. "He stole my credentials. Did they find them?"

Hotch shook his head. "Not yet."

"Great," Derek said angrily.

The flight had been long and the conversation had been nil. No one had anything to say. The Reaper had finally been caught, and that was enough. But everyone was exhausted when they got off the plane and walked into the BAU. "Paperwork can wait until Monday," Hotch said. "None of us are likely to forget what happened." With that, he disappeared into his office and shut the door.

"Thank God!" Penelope said as she practically flew out of her office. She stopped beside Derek, making sure to get a good look at him without actually looking at him. "You guys are all OK," she said softly.

"Garcia, what are you still doing here?" JJ asked in surprise.

"I thought that we could all use a drink," she said. "Or you know, ten."

"Good night," Hotch said as he walked out of his office and headed for the elevator.

"Night, Hotch," Reid said.

"I could use a drink," JJ said.

"I could use a few rounds," Derek agreed, standing.

"I just wanna jot some notes down before I leave," Prentiss said.

"Me, too," Reid agreed.

"So we'll see you at the bar in a bit?" Penelope asked.

They both nodded.

"Good. Let's go," she said to JJ and Morgan.

Prentiss rounded on Reid as soon as the elevator doors closed to take Morgan, JJ, and Garcia to the lobby. "I don't need you to take care of me!" she said angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Reid asked confused.

Prentiss laughed harshly. "I didn't even realize it until Morgan pointed it out."

"I still don't know…" Reid's voice trailed off.

"You're watching out for me, Reid. Trying to protect me! I've always been one of the first ones in when we go to a crime scene, and now, you've somehow managed to elbow your way in front of me as if I need you to take care of me. I don't!" she said hotly. "And…see. This is exactly why people who work together shouldn't get involved!"

Reid put his hands in his pants pockets as he cleared his throat. "So…hey," he said cautiously. "I had a meeting with Hotch a couple weeks ago. As it turns out, my brain is in great shape. Seems I could be more assertive in the field." There was a short pause. "Still haven't worked my way up to kicking down the door, but I'm working on it."

Emily sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Reid said doubtingly. "So, if you're done trying to find reasons for us to not be together, I'm tired. I'm going home."

"Reid…"

"I've been thinking for three days, Em. I'm tired. I don't wanna think, and right now, anything you say is just gonna piss me off. So save it until I'm better rested, OK?" He grabbed his go bag off his desk and made his way to the elevator. When the doors didn't open quickly enough, he took the stairs.

"Whoa! What are you doing?" Penelope asked as Emily approached the table with three shots of Tequila and a glass with some lemon wedges inside.

"Catching up," Emily said dryly as she lifted an eyebrow at her friend. "That OK with you?" she said.

"That is fine with me," Penelope said. For some reason, Emily was spoiling for a good fight and Penelope wasn't about to give her one. She watched as her friend licked her wrist, shook some salt on it, licked it again, and then took her shot of tequila followed by a lemon wedge. She repeated the process twice more. "I'm gonna dance," she said when she was finished.

"Well…there," JJ said.

"What got her panties in a bunch?" Penelope asked.

Derek shrugged. "I'm not sure," he said, taking a swallow of beer.

Thank God the music was loud because Penelope winced when she looked at his arm. She couldn't see his wounds, but she was sure they were sore.

"The Reaper got to all of us," JJ said.

Derek grinned half heartedly. "Got my boxers in a bunch," he admitted teasingly.

Penelope laughed and JJ gave her a strange look. Penelope never laughed at anything Morgan said.

"Oh, look. Emily found a dance partner," JJ said with a laugh.

"Maybe she's looking to win a bet," Derek said dryly.

Penelope frowned. "I doubt it. Looks like Emily's trying to get laid. According to our bet, she needs to go out with someone five times before she can win."

Derek rolled his eyes as he took a swallow of beer.

"What?" Penelope asked.

"It just seems to me that if someone wants to get laid, she should just go out and try to do that. What's the point in dating if you're just horny?" Derek asked.

"They're just…the rules!" Penelope said.

"So, what do you have to do if you lose this bet?"

"I am not going to answer that," Penelope said, her cheeks flaming. She sure as hell wasn't going to admit that she had to ask him out on a date if she lost.

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," she muttered.

"Oh, hey! There's my husband!" JJ said as she stood. "I'm gonna get him on the dance floor."

Reid never showed up, and Penelope and Derek sat at the table for a few hours, making small talk. It was new to them—they'd never done that before. But they seemed to be good at it; they were both engrossed in conversation when Emily walked up to the table.

"Hey. I'm leaving," she announced.

"Where are you going?" Penelope asked in surprise.

"Home with…" She pointed to the man she'd spent the last few hours with on the dance floor and chatting at the bar. "Him."

"Who in the hell is that?" Penelope asked.

"Mr. Right Now," Emily said.

"Em—"

"I'm a big girl, Garcia."

"Call me in the morning or I'm going to come looking for you."

"Gotcha," Prentiss said as she grabbed Derek's beer and finished it off. Then she disappeared.

Penelope closed her phone and then collapsed onto her couch. It was two in the morning, and Prentiss still wasn't answering. She was going to kill her friend the next time she saw her. She sighed as she picked up her remote and turned the television on, glad to find an old episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway? She'd been watching for a few minutes when there was a pounding on her door. "Thank God!" she muttered, opening the door. "Oh," she said in a small voice. "You're not Emily." But she couldn't say she was really surprised.

Derek shook his head. "Nope. Definitely not Emily," he agreed.

"You're on the other side of this door an awful lot lately," she said.

He nodded as he lifted his hand. He placed it on the area of her chest just below her neck and gave her a soft push backwards. "You said I was horrible in bed," he reminded her.

Penelope winced. "Sorry about that," she muttered.

"I think I deserve a change to prove you wrong."

Penelope blinked in surprise. "But…I just rescinded."

"But you didn't mean it," he said.

"Look, Morgan…you…you're emotions are heightened…because you could have been killed today. And…ok, so…maybe I'd like to, but I won't take advantage of you while you're emotions are running high!" she said.

Derek laughed harshly. "Take advantage of me?" he asked. "Penelope, I've wanted to fuck you for so long, I don't' think that's even possible."

She supposed it might have turned some women off to have it put so blatantly. It made her insides quiver. He'd wanted her for so long? Penelope was left with no other choice. She grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her, lifting her lips to his in a frenzied kiss.