Emily's POV

Hotch arrived about twenty minutes after Stella and Reid had left. Emily let him in, trying not to show him how nervous she was. Six months ago, she would never have dreamed of inviting her boss over for dinner like this. Now, she was hoping that he might kiss her before the night was over. She wanted him to hold her in his strong arms again and tell her that everything was going to be okay because, when he did, she found herself believing that it was true.

"Hey," he greeted her quietly, placing a wine bottle in her hand. "I wasn't sure what you were fixing for dinner, but I thought this would go well with anything."

Emily looked up at him from beneath her long, dark lashes. "Thanks. I actually made lasagna, so this will go perfectly."

Hotch sat down on one of the bar stools while Emily poured them both a glass of the red wine.

"Can I help you with anything?" he asked, gingerly taking a sip of the sweet beverage. He was usually a beer kind of guy, but tonight wine had seemed appropriate. Much more appropriate.

Emily shook her head. "I just have to toss the salad and slice the bread. The lasagna will be done in about twenty minutes."

"Has Stella already left on her date with Reid?" Hotch wanted to know, looking around the apartment. Little things gave away the fact that Emily no longer lived alone: The backpack by the desk, the Hollister sweatshirt hanging on the closet door, and the school books neatly stacked at the end of the kitchen counter.

Smiling, Emily nodded. "Yeah, they left around six. Reid was so nervous and so was she."

Hotch took another sip of wine. "Think it'll go anywhere?"

"Oh yeah. Reid was definitely smitten and Stella was just as bad. I'd guess they're probably gonna end up sharing their first kiss before the evening is over." Suddenly, Emily cursed herself. Why was she talking about sharing first kisses? "Way to give a hint, Em! No doubt he knows what you're up too by now!" she thought to herself.

"Do you ever miss being that age?" Aaron spoke thoughtfully as he swirled the wine around in his glass gently.

Emily took a sip of hers and then stared down into the shallow depth of the half-full wine glass. "No, never. I would never wish those days back."

Aaron smiled, trying to lighten the mood. He could tell he'd brought up some sort of sensitive subject and that hadn't been his intention at all. "Me neither. Like Rossi said last night: Teenage girls are too dramatic."

Over dinner, Emily and Aaron swapped stories from their life and found themselves laughing gaily with one another.

"Gosh, I love him!" Emily thought to herself, scraping the remains of her meal into the trashcan as Hotch cleaned the dishes off the table. "Should I kiss him first?"

Aaron Hotchner was kicking himself inwardly. He'd brought the bottle of wine for one reason; He had hoped to get Emily slightly buzzed so he could make some headway with their…relationship. "Just kiss her and see what her reaction is!" he told himself.

Stella's POV

Spencer and I were making out feverishly in the back of the dark theater when the credits ended and the lights came up.

"Excuse me," a voice called. "Could you two get out of here so I can clean the theater? We've got another showing in twenty minutes."

I broke away from Spencer, gasping for oxygen and completely embarrassed that someone had discovered us.

"Um…yeah, sure. We were just about to leave anyway," Reid stammered awkwardly. He stood up, my hand still clasped firmly in his, and led me out of the theater.

I waited until we got to the car to speak. He opened the door for me and then went around to his side to get in the driver's seat.

"Spencer…" I began slowly. "I…uh…wow!"

"I couldn't have picked a better word myself," he admitted, smiling shyly as he reached over to take my hand again.

"But…I mean, surely you don't like me!" I exclaimed, inwardly praying that he really did. "I'm just some dorky eighteen year old."

"You're not dorky," Reid objected. "Besides, according to some very reliable studies, older guys are better for younger girls. And there's only seven years, three months and thirty six days between us."

I laughed a little. "You thought about it too, huh?"

"Only the whole time we were in Maine."

I shook my finger at him playfully. "If you let yourself get so distracted by one girl, you'll end up getting yourself killed," I pointed out.

Spencer blushed again. "Yeah, that's what Morgan said. And J.J. And Hotch. And Rossi," he added.

"So…what now?" I asked quietly, breaking a few minutes long silence.

"Well, I promised you dinner, so what say we go eat somewhere?" Spencer suggested.

"That sounds good to me."

Over dinner, our conversation never lagged. We discussed my childhood, his childhood, working for the BAU, being adopted by Emily Prentiss, and dozens of other topics. The waitress at the restaurant kept smiling at us as we leaned across the table towards one another.

"I just have to say this," she finally spoke up. "You two make such a cute couple." Both of us blushed and smiled, embarrassed.

"Thanks," I told her, scratching my head nervously.

"She's right, you know," Spencer said when she was gone again. "We do make a cute couple."

"So, we are a couple?" I asked, trying to clarify the fact. "Sorry if I'm going about this all wrong. I've never had a boyfriend before."

"Really?" Reid looked genuinely surprised. "But surely, before you moved here…" His voice trailed off as I shook my head adamantly.

"No. My parents used to always say I couldn't date until I was eighteen and even if I had allowed myself to break that rule after they died, nobody ever asked me out." I looked down at my plate. "When you're parentless, you're labeled 'problem child' pretty quickly."

"You're fine just the way you are," Spencer assured me. "Well, what I know about you seems fine. And I'd like to get to know you better."

I smiled, my heart pounding with excitement. "I'd like that, Spencer."

Okay, please review! It'll be at least twenty-four hours before I update next cause I'm gonna leave the laptop for a while.