Disclaimer – I own nothing!
A/N: Um, yeah. I'm still alive. Enjoy!
Emily and Derek decided to show up to work separately. It would just give the gang too much ammunition if they came together. Emily arrived first, as usual, a little ahead of time. She was supposed to be at work at 8am, but she got there at 7:50am. The headed to her desk, dumped her stuff and went to the pantry to make herself some craptastic coffee. She grinned. Reid kept coming up with these words and she'd added them into her vocabulary and was using them in her everyday conversations. Even if it was with herself.
As she waited for the coffee to percolate, she drummed her fingers, lost in thought. She was thinking about the latest theory in evolution and she couldn't wait to discuss it with Reid. She started when she heard a voice at the doorway.
"Not interrupting some happy thoughts am I?" JJ asked, smirking. She knew she would find Emily here and though she had told the team to give the couple their space, she couldn't resist taking a jab at her friend.
"Oh lordy! Unless evolution means happy, then no." Emily said, her hand in her heart trying to calm it down. She looked at JJ, expecting the jab, so she didn't react negatively to it. She was beginning to realize that this was what family did, this was how they teased each other and it was just another way of letting her know that they cared.
JJ smirked and took the container and poured herself a cup of coffee and handed it to Emily. She had known she'd find Emily there, as always, that morning.
"Hey, um, I have a case for you to look at. You specialise in stalkers right?" JJ asked, not knowing how Emily would react. Emily had kept this specialty of hers a secret, after what had happened to her when she was younger. As a victim of a stalker, she knew everything about stalkers, but didn't like the past dredged up.
"How… How did you know?" Emily asked JJ, setting her cup down. She willed herself not to panic and not to go ballistic on JJ, who had definitely probed into her past to get this information.
"I, um, I had to…" JJ started to say and Reid and Rossi walked into the tiny room. JJ was grateful for the disruption because she was pretty sure Emily was upset. Judging by the clenched teeth and the fake smile, very upset. JJ fled from the room while Reid looked at Emily strangely.
"Everything okay?" Reid asked Emily, who looked at him, worriedly and then her expression cleared. She was back, with her mask in place.
"Yeah, it's fine. Just this case JJ was talking to me about disturbed me a little." Emily said, sticking as close to the truth as possible. Reid wasn't very good at reading facial signals and would have probably blown the whole thing if she tried.
"Okay. If you want to go over it together, we can." Reid said, and was nudged into further silence by Rossi. Emily thanked him for his offer and went back to her desk.
Reid looked at Rossi in confusion. "What was that for? I didn't understand." He told Rossi.
"That was because she would mostly want to work with Morgan, if she was going to work with someone." Rossi said, chiding Reid gently for not thinking that.
"If you think that, you don't know Emily at all! She's not one of those people who ditches a friend just because she's dating someone." Reid said, defending his best friend and putting Rossi in his place. He picked up his mug of coffee and went back to his desk, just as Morgan came in.
"Hey Reid!" He said and walked over to Emily's desk and squeezed her shoulder to say hello. She looked up at him, smiled faintly and went back to typing furiously and making clicking noises at the screen in frustration. She had picked up this habit in the Middle East as a child.
Morgan looked at Reid and asked if he knew what was up with her. She had seemed fine when he talked to her that morning. Reid recounted what she had told him this morning and Morgan shrugged his shoulders. If she wanted to be in a pissy mood, he wasn't going to bother her. He knew by now to just leave her alone and give her space when she was upset. She usually sorted it out herself and then would tell him about it.
JJ came out and told them that there were no urgent cases, but to look at the cases assigned to them and finish up their paperwork. Morgan groaned. He hated paperwork! Emily didn't even look up as JJ talked, but glared at JJ as she placed a case folder on her desk and walked away. Emily went back to working on the computer.
Derek walked up to his girlfriend's desk after a few hours and asked if she wanted to head out for lunch. She looked up in confusion.
"It's lunch time already?" She asked, surprised.
"Yeah it is! Everything okay? You wanna talk about it?" Derek offered.
"No. Let's just go for lunch. Let's go to the café down the street. I want their cucumber sandwiches. They are amazing!" She said, realizing exactly how hungry she was. She got up, grabbed her purse and headed out with Derek following her.
They went to the café where they talked and chatted. She told him about the evolution theory she wanted to tell Reid and though he didn't try to argue it out with her, he listened, because this was something she was interested in and he wanted to know all about her. He in turn told her about his latest housing project and what he was doing. Emily also listened intently because she wanted to learn. It was a topic that was completely new to her and she had no knowledge of remodeling or architecture at all.
They headed back to the office and her mood darkened. She bid him goodbye and headed to JJ's office. She knocked on the door and waited patiently for a response. When JJ said "enter" she went in and shut the door. She sat in front of JJ and looked at her with a blank expression, the mask she put on when she was trying to hide what she was truly feeling.
"So, how did you find out? And what do you know?" Emily asked JJ. "I won't work on the case until you tell me what's going on and who knows what and how." She sat back, patient, waiting to hear JJ's explanation.
"Look Emily, you're being childish. There are people's lives at stake here. Stop behaving like you're 10 and do your job." JJ said, getting defensive and at the same time, incredulous that Emily would behave like this! She expected more from her.
"Childish? You call being stalked to the point where I was a shivering mess hiding in a bathroom childish? You call me being angry because someone went snooping into my personal history, into my personal affairs and you not telling me who tipped you off childish? Really JJ. You need to buy another dictionary. Just give me the information I want." Emily said, icily. She was very close to exploding and she didn't want to scream at JJ, but JJ was pushing her. She didn't understand what a big deal this was to Emily.
"Ask your mother then." Was all JJ said.
Emily got up, strode out of her office and walked out of the building. She went to her car and burst into tears cursing her mother. She slammed the steering wheel in frustration and then wiped her eyes. She rested her forehead against it and attempted to collect herself.
Meanwhile, back at the office, JJ had come out of her office, wanting to talk to Hotch about Emily's behavior towards her, which she found unacceptable. Just as she came out, Erin Strauss and Hotch came out of his office and he looked at JJ with reproach. Strauss looked for Emily and upon not finding her, asked the bullpen "Where is Agent Prentiss?". Morgan looked concerned and Reid said that she had gone for a walk.
"When she gets back, let her know that I'd like to see her immediately please. Agent Jereau, your team may disagree with what you have done, but I commend you. The Bureau needs more honest agents like you." She said, with a parting glance at Hotch.
"JJ, I'd like to see you in my office. And guys, when Prentiss comes in, send her to my office. Do not tell her about Strauss." Hotch said, and walked into his office with a wide-eyed and scared JJ following.
"Hotch, what's happening?" JJ asked, sitting down.
"Did you give Prentiss a stalker case file? And did you put it into the system?" Hotch asked JJ.
"Yes. DC police called and gave me the case and asked for Prentiss on the case. When I asked why, they said that The Ambassador had told them to request Emily." JJ said, now truly scared.
"Prentiss was the victim of a stalker when she was younger. She had hidden this information from the Bureau, just like Morgan had hidden his past. Once it is known that Prentiss was a victim of some kind, her job here is in question. And Strauss is no fan of hers. Once you logged it into the system, Strauss was notified. She would wonder why the case was going to Prentiss and asked around. The DC police would have told her who had given them her name and why. Thus endangering her job here. I'm assuming she's upset?" Hotch asked JJ, who was shocked with what she had unknowingly done. She would never be able to make it up to Emily!
There was a knock at the door and Emily came inside.
"I'm assuming that Strauss knows?" She asked. She looked at Hotch, who nodded in confirmation. "I'd like to tell the rest of the team myself please, before heading up to meet Strauss." Emily asked, and when Hotch nodded again, she walked out into the bullpen.
She went and stood next to Derek and slipped her hand in his, taking strength from him. She sighed and told the team the gruesome story. Then explained what had happened, showing bitterness only towards her mother and Strauss and looking at JJ when she said her name and smiling slightly, to show her that she had no hard feelings towards the blonde.
Derek listened in shock when he heard what his girlfriend had been through and what she was about to go through. He looked horrified and stared at Hotch in shock. He pulled her out the door, just wanting some alone time with her. They both went out and turned the corner of the block that the headquarters was on. He stopped and pulled Emily towards him, hugging her tightly.
"Baby, I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry about all this. I wish there was something I could do!" Derek murmured in her hair. Emily just looked up, her eyes bright and drew his head down for a kiss.
"You being here, you holding me is everything I need. You're giving me strength Derek. I need to be strong and I need to show Strauss that she cannot break me." Emily said. She kissed him again and hugged him tight, drawing comfort from the strong arms around her.
She drew back and the couple headed back to the office. Emily sighed and smiled at Derek before they went in. She could do this.
She knocked on Strauss's door and went inside.
A/N: This is a little angst, cause I just am in an angsty mood right now. Hope you enjoy this! Thanks for reading and sticking with the story!