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All the Wrong Moves

When Emily returned to the bullpen after dropping off completed paperwork to Hotch, she found JJ at her desk, but not Reid.

"You're not his keeper," she reminded herself sternly.

She squared her shoulders and approached JJ who was just ending a phone call with a detective in Rochester Mass.

"Where's Reid?"

She nearly winced at the squeak in her voice. She was Emily Prentiss, she did not squeak!

JJ smirked at her. "He's helping Morgan with a newbie defense class."

"How did Morgan manage that?"

"He didn't have to manage anything. Reid agreed without argument. I was surprised, actually. Maybe he's bored. We haven't had much to do for the last couple of days."

"Reid was bored enough to play sparring partner with Morgan."

JJ smirked again at Emily's obvious disbelief. "Why don't you go down and find out?"

"Maybe I will, I just finished the last of my paperwork and I was thinking about going down for a workout anyway. Want to join me?"

"No… I'm still behind on some reports."

Emily shrugged and hurried to the elevators. JJ watched her leave then hurried up to Garcia's office. It was all going exactly according to plan.


"The first thing you have to know about defending yourself is that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. You also have to remember that if you don't know how to get them down it doesn't matter who's the larger one." Morgan was saying when Emily entered the gym.

She barely restrained the urge to roll her eyes at Morgan's speech. She'd heard it before when he'd talked her into helping him. It always got the same reaction from at least one know-it-all in the class.

She leaned up against the wall and watched as a rather beefy cadet said the inevitable. "You're saying that toothpick can take you down," he indicated Reid who stood quietly next to Morgan.

A few of the cadet's sniggered, but most of them seemed horrified, Emily thought. Morgan glowered at the beefy cadet. "Let me introduce you cadet. This is Supervisory Special Agent Dr. Spencer Reid. He's a profiler and your superior, so I'd rethink your attitude."

The entire class burst out laughing. Cadet Bradley glared at anyone that turned his way while Morgan said something to Reid. Emily moved to get a better view of them, wondering just what Morgan would do next.

"Cadet, why don't you help us with the next demonstration?"

Bradley took a step backward, then sighed and moved to the center of the dark blue mat on the floor where Morgan and Reid were standing.

"Yes sir!"

Emily almost laughed as Morgan turned away from the new cadet and addressed the rest of the class. "Now… I'm sure there're more of you out there that have the same attitude as Bradley here. I'm here to tell you that it doesn't matter your size, or your sex, for that matter, in taking down an opponent. The only thing that matters is that you don't hit the ground in a fight. Mr. Bradley… Would you please grab Dr Reid from behind?"

The cadet's square face went crimson in the cheeks. He didn't move. "It's alright Mr. Bradley. Dr. Reid knows this is just a demonstration. He won't hurt you… Well, not too badly anyway."

Bradley's eyes began to bulge in his head. His face was magenta with little white spots on his cheeks.

"Go ahead," Morgan, gestured go ahead to Bradley.

Bradley finally grabbed Reid, who tried to throw him off, but couldn't budge the larger man. His inability to throw off his attacker made the big man smile. Cadet Bradley's face returned to normal and he resembled a man that thought he had it made. Unfortunately, the curve up of his lips and the light in his eyes didn't do very much for his looks.

Emily ignored him for Reid who suddenly went very still for about thirty seconds, then made his move. His opponent had relaxed, so, quick as lightening, Reid raised one foot and stomped on Bradley's foot.

The large mad howled in pain and released Reid. Emily smirked and almost clapped when Reid rammed his elbow back into the Cadet's solar plexus. Bradley dropped like a steer under the stunner in a slaughterhouse and lay coughing and gagging.

Morgan's lips were pressed tightly together. He helped Bradley to his feet as the rest of the class roared with laughter. His dark eyes caught Emily and he winked at her before turning his attention back to the class. "Alright, quiet everyone."

They all snapped to attention except for Bradley who was still bent over and wheezing. Reid stood clear while Morgan asked him if he needed a break or the infirmary.

"No sir," he wheezed. "I'm fine."

"Now, does anyone have any questions?" Morgan asked the class while Bradley went to the back of the grouping and shooting daggers at Reid at the same time.

"There has to be a trick to that," one cadet scoffed.

Morgan turned his eyes on the skinny red headed man who was thinner than Reid was.

"Why don't you help me out and we'll see." Morgan asked.

"Me against you, I don't think so."

"If you want to be in law enforcement you better know how to defend yourself," Morgan advised. "I promise I won't hurt you."

The red head with the unfortunate name of Herbert Morris joined Morgan on the mat. Emily watched Morgan teach him how to leg sweep and that targeting an attackers thighs using your knees or kicks as a weapon could take out an opponent very easily and make it nearly impossible to fight back.

"Now, I know you've all seen martial arts films and seen boxing matches. What is the reason for using your legs or arms as protection to block blows?"

Everyone looked at each other until a small woman with black hair in a ponytail and matching black eyes raised her hands. "My dad loves boxing and he said the forearms and legs can absorb more punishment than the rest of the body."

"That's right… If you have to engage an attacker and they are punching away, use your arms to defend."

Morgan had Reid help him with demonstrating leg blocks. "If your opponent comes at you with a kick raise your lead leg and use it as a compact shield, like this.

He kicked and Reid responded with a leg lift that blocked the kick. Morgan show the correct way to block a punch with forearms.

"Now, I want you to break into pairs and practice what you've seen for the rest of the class. First, make sure you glove up and get your knee and arm pads."

Emily watched for the rest of the class, thinking that Morgan made a very good teacher. He was patient, and he didn't take crap from the more cocky male cadets. Bradley was a completely different person by the end of the class, although he was still glaring at Reid as they all left.

"Well," she said going up to tap Reid on the shoulder. "That was very interesting. Since when do you fight like that?"

Reid flinched in surprise and his eyes went the size of saucers. "I've been practicing with Morgan for a while."

"Yeah… my man is pretty good if I do say so myself, if I could only get him on the weights in the gym."

"Morgan, I told you -"

"Guys, the fighting is over." Emily held up her hands like a referee at a game.

"Yeah, and I'm out of here. I have a date." Morgan smirked.

"I have to go too," Reid started to say.

"No, you can't go, I need a workout and since Morgan's already halfway out the door…"

Morgan ignored Reid as his friend tried to get his attention. Reid's head snapped around to her when she grabbed his arm, so he didn't see Morgan turn back and wink at Emily.

"Come on, there's no one here and I promise I won't hurt you too badly."

His eyebrows went up. "After that demonstration, you think you can take me."

"Getting a little cocky are we," she wondered.

"No, it's just that I was holding back and I don't want to hurt you."

"You just said the exact wrong thing. Why don't you play the attacker and I'll show you who's holding back?"

He nodded and circled behind her. For an instant before his arms came around her, she felt the heat of him on her back as though she stood in front of a raging campfire. Still, she tensed just before he touched her as though she'd been expecting the punch line to a joke but was expected to ignore it. Instead of wrapping around her waist, his arms crossed over her chest, one of his long fingers brushed the front of her left breast. She hitched in a surprised breath and he instantly released her.

"Hey," she managed to say. "You're supposed to hold on. Are you afraid of me Spencer?"

The heat from his body was right there again washing over her like an open flame. He grabbed her again and she threw him over her shoulder without effort. He flipped to the mat and landed with a thud. She jumped on top of him pinning his shoulders with her hands. His breath whooshed out after several seconds, and he didn't try to move to throw her off, he just stared at her with eyes that saw too much.

She moved, bringing one knee up to his crotch as she had been trained, but wasn't prepared to feel that somewhere in all of this the tone had changed for him. She could feel it so she said as sarcastically as she could "You made that too easy -"

He scissored his legs, flipped and reversed their positions so fast she was the one knocked breathless.

"I don't think so."

He let go of her shoulders, but something in his face kept her pinned to the mat as if his hands were on her body. The heat she'd felt when she'd stood with her body facing away from him returned and burned into her like a laser. His face and his body lowered onto her in a way that wasn't defensive. She didn't know if he realized that he was licking his lips, but she wasn't about to call attention to it because the pink of his tongue and all the possibilities of a kiss with him muddled her brain.

"Emily…" He sighed out her name like a prayer and she shivered.

Her arms wrapped around his neck and drew him down. Electricity arced between them as their mouths met in a kiss so soft and chaste it was almost like kissing in a church in front of your family at your wedding.

Something else jolted in her brain and she rolled away even though she wanted to rip into him like a lion with its prey and devour him whole. She wanted to feel his body and revel in the delight of his touch, but - "No," she said, getting to her feet and leaving him there with his breath heaving in his chest.

She didn't see his face go white as she hurried out of the gym, to the lockers and a shower as cold as she could stand it.