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Ten

"A row house in Dupont Circle?" Garcia is incredulous. "Wow."

Prentiss shakes her head. "I can't believe I'm doing it. I mean, it's probably not gonna work out anyway, right? There are five other sealed bids, and I offered way below what the owners are asking."

JJ grins. "Uh huh. Sounds to me like someone's hoping they don't get it." The three women and Reid begin heading up to the briefing room.

"Orthophobia, fear of owning personal property," Reid joins in without looking up from the case file.

"No! I don't have a fear of owning stuff. Turn me loose in a shoe store, I'll prove that. My fear is personal property that weighs three hundred tons."

"Actually, depending on materials used, square footage and horizontal versus vertical construction, the average house only weighs about sixty tons," Reid corrects, still not looking up.

Prentiss makes a face. "Well, thanks for that, Reid. I feel light as a bird already." JJ and Garcia smirk to themselves as they walk into the room, where Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan are already waiting.

"What do we got, Baby Girl?" Morgan asks.

On the jet home, everything is quiet, and JJ and Prentiss are both dozing off until the computer beeps to life and Garcia's image pops up on the screen. "Oh, hey, guys! Hey! I just wanted to see what's going on. Hi, hello."

Prentiss sits up and mutters, "This better be important, Garcia."

"Oh, it's nothing. It's just that a messenger came by the office today with some papers from escrow!"

Emily's eyes widen, and she leans forward. "No!"

"Oh, yes! The house in Dupont Circle! You got it!" Garcia throws small pieces of torn-up paper at the camera, evidently in the absence of real confetti. "Whoo!"

Emily laughs happily, and Hotch smiles. "Congratulations."

Her smile fades, and Rossi glances at his watch, amused. "Six seconds. Fastest case of buyer's remorse ever."

Hotch chuckles, and Morgan settles down into the seat across the table from Prentiss. "Well, I say the moment we land, we all head over to Ziggy's and clear out the champagne inventory."

JJ raises her eyebrows, grinning. "Aaaand talk Prentiss down off the ledge," she chuckles.

Emily furrows her brows. "Oh, my stomach doesn't feel so hot."

JJ notices her mood and quickly changes the subject. "Ohh… I was in the middle of the best dream. I dreamt that I was at this exclusive salon getting my hair done." She twirls her hair with a dreamy smile.

"Ah, the psychotherapeutic benefits of dreams: purging unpleasant images and replacing them with good ones," Reid nods. And just like that, the subject has been dropped, much to Emily's relief.

Prentiss is curled up on Will's couch, sipping a celebratory glass of champagne—her second of the night. "You know, people are awfully keen to celebrate me dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on something that I'm not even sure I want," she remarks, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Will chuckles. "It's something that should be celebrated, Emily. I can't believe you haven't even gotten through two glasses of champagne and you're already getting cold feet about it. Buying a house is a good thing. Really. You'll get used to it, and you'll be glad someday."

"What, glad that you talked me into buying this house I'm not certain I want to be the owner of? Anyways, if we should be celebrating anything, we should be celebrating you getting off crutches."

He frowns. "Don't change the subject. Really, Emily. It's not a bad thing, settling down in one place."

She sets her glass down and wraps her arms around herself. "Sorry. I'm just… not sure about this."

He scoots closer and puts a hand on each of her shoulders, then leans forward to catch her eye. "This is a good thing, Emily. I promise you, it is. Don't waste your time worrying about it; it's not something you need to regret."

She finds it hard to breathe with his blue eyes boring into her, and before she can stop herself, she leans in and kisses him. At first, he doesn't respond, but after a moment, he begins to kiss her back. It's not until he responds that she jerks away, eyes wide. "Oh, God. That… Didn't just happen, okay? We had champagne… I need to go home. To my apartment." She stands, takes a deep breath, and shakes her head slightly. "I'm sorry. You're one of my best friends, Will. Don't let the combination of me and champagne screw that up. I'm gonna go. I'm really sorry." She hesitates, then smiles slightly. "Probably best not to mention this, yes?"

He clears his throat and nods. "Right. Our little secret. No more champagne, late nights, and panic, huh? We'll just avoid that combination from now on."

She chuckles awkwardly. "Thanks. Okay. I'm going home now. Bye, Will. We still on for breakfast on Sunday?"

"Yeah. We're still on. Drive safe, okay?"

"Okay. Yeah. I will. See you Sunday." She turns on her heel and hurries to the elevator, waving one last time as the doors slide shut between them.

I believe a kiss was requested... and it just so happened to work out that this chapter has one in it... Didn't do it on purpose, but it worked out nicely all the same. Now go! Review! Merci beaucoup!