A/N: And here it is, the last part to this story. As I mentioned earlier, this is the first story in what will be at least a three story arc. The way Criminal Minds and NCIS is turning out this season, there might be a fourth story, but definitely three stories here.

Emily Prentiss' bra and panties were lying on the floor of the BAU.

Those were words that Hotch never thought would ever be strung together, but it was the thought that popped into his head first. Then the next thought was why was Agent Gibbs buying Emily a bra and panties? Correction thong. That was even worse. Unconsciously, he tightened his grip on the woman in question.

Emily's other teammates stared incredulously at her. What type of gift was that?

Hotch could see shock and surprise on JJ and Garcia's faces. Reid was trying to curl up into a ball of embarrassment. Morgan looked angry and suspicious and Rossi, well, damn Dave, he looked amused and not fazed at all by the events. But then again, bras and thongs on the floor of the BAU was probably something Rossi had seen before. Hotch scowled darkly at the older man who simply lifted his eyebrow up in a mild, questioning look.

Her cheeks still burning, Emily pulled herself away from Hotch's hold and bent down to pick up her private gift. Watching Emily bend down, Hotch imagined what she might look like in the lacy gray underwear and almost slapped himself for even having such a thought. Looking up he saw his male colleagues minds had wandered down the same path his had and he shot them all a glare. Morgan and Reid had the grace to look embarrassed, but Rossi merely smirked back at him, causing Hotch to frown more deeply.

Garcia, feeling badly about how she had behaved, bent down to help Prentiss. She picked up the bra and noticed the label. The tech analyst let out a small gasp.

"It's La Perla!"

"Wow!" JJ's eyes were round. "He must have dropped a fortune to get that for you." She looked slyly at Emily. "That was some impression you must have made on Agent Gibbs."

"Seriously, Em," Morgan began, a slight frown of concern on his face. "Just what did go down between you and Gibbs?" He moved forward and crossed his arms over his chest, looking every inch the protective older brother. "Why is he giving you underwear, Princess?"

Emily began to open her mouth to say they were getting the wrong idea when she looked around at the faces surrounding her. Slowly, she closed her mouth. Really, it wasn't any of their business. She didn't conduct herself improperly at all and she did a damn good job working with NCIS. The Ice Queen herself even complimented her in front of everyone and even said Director Vance was raving about her. If Gibbs wanted to give her this gift, it didn't concern them and if they hadn't been prying into her personal business in the first place, they never would have known.

And besides, not letting them know the whole story will just drive each and every one of them nuts.

Emily stood up and carefully wrapped the pretty lingerie back up in the pink tissue paper. She gazed pointedly at JJ and held out her hand for the bottom of the gift box before putting the gray set back into it and closing the lid. She then noticed the card Gibbs had left. Emily opened it up, read the brief message which caused her to smile softly before slipping the card into her blazer pocket and the gift into a desk drawer. She then pulled out her chair, sat down and began to go through her inbox.

The rest of the team exchanged glances. Garcia blurted out, "You mean you're not going to tell us?"

"Nope," Emily replied as she booted up her computer, for a moment sounding eerily like Gibbs.

"Oh, come on, Em," JJ protested. "You have to let us know what happened."

"No I don't," Emily replied as she logged on.

"Prentiss, that's not fair," Morgan protested. "I have to know if I need to go have a talk with this Gibbs or not."

Emily almost snapped at him to stay out of her business, but held herself back. Instead, with a nonchalant shrug she knew would drive the handsome man even more insane, she simply said, "Good luck with that, but don't let the gray hair fool you. Gibbs is very fit." She gave him a saucy wink that had Morgan taken aback and added more fuel to Garcia and JJ's burning curiosity.

The three of them began to bombard Emily with questions.

"Ooooh! Did you see Gibbs au naturel?" Garcia asked.

"What happened the night you spent at his place?" JJ queried.

"You don't think I can take, Gibbs?" Morgan sputtered.

"Are his abs better than Morgan's?" JJ fired out.

Morgan stared at the young blonde. "What do you mean by that?"

"I'm just asking," JJ shrugged.

"Enough!" Hotch roared out. He glared at his team and Morgan, JJ and Garcia shrank back a little. "This is no way to behave! Prentiss is right, whatever happened between herself and," there was just the slightest pause before he continued, "Gibbs, is her business. According to Chief Strauss, we have nothing but pride to feel on how Emily represented us while working with NCIS." He swung his glare again at the three nosiest members. They nodded reluctantly. Hotch looked over at Reid who seemed relieved the whole incident was over and then over at Rossi. The oldest member simply looked bored, but he did catch Aaron's eye and then glanced at Emily and back at the Unit Leader. Rossi's message was clear.

You'd better take this opportunity to clear the air with her.

"Thank you, sir," Emily replied primly as she calmly opened up her email program.

"Now, I think there's a lot of follow up paperwork that needs to be done for our case in Montana," Hotch continued. One more glare sent them back to their desks. He stood there next to Emily's desk, watching and making certain everyone was following his orders before his attention went back to the brunette. "Prentiss, a word in my office if you please."

He was standing over her so all he saw was the top of Emily's dark head. He saw her hesitate a moment before she nodded. With one hand on the back of her chair, he helped pull it back as she stood. Without looking directly at him, she edged past him to the short flight of stairs up to his office. Hotch swung one more glare around the room at his team before his eyes settled last on Rossi who gave him an encouraging look. Hotch turned around and followed Emily up to his office.

As he closed the door behind him, he saw she had already taken a seat in one of the visitor chairs before his desk. Her hands were folded neatly on her lap, but he could see one finger already worrying the cuticle on another finger.

Hotch came around to the other side of the desk so he could sit in his chair. He looked at Emily who gave him a mildly inquiring look. "Congratulations on the work you did with NCIS. I don't have all the details but given Chief Strauss' reactions, it sounds like it was a very successful inter-agency partnership."

"Thank you, sir," she replied. "I enjoyed working with Agent Gibbs and his team."

He was letting the "sir's" slide though they were getting on his nerves and he really didn't want to talk about Gibbs. However much he was dying to know more about the gift, Hotch would rather walk over broken glass in bare feet before admitting it. Instead he changed topics completely. He cleared his throat. "I do want to know how you're doing. It has only been a short time since…Matthew and the case with Father Silvano."

He saw her tense ever so slightly and sighed silently. This was still going to be an issue between them. Rossi was right, he needed to clear the air.

"I can assure you that I'm fit for duty as my work with NCIS showed-," she began in a tight voice.

Hotch held up his hand. "That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking you as your friend, Emily, are you doing okay?"

He could see the suspicion in her eyes, wondering if he was going to take anything he said and use it against her. There was definitely a long way to go between them.

"I obviously still mourn the loss of my friend," she replied cautiously. "But I think I'm ready to come back to work. I know I'm ready."

"I think so too," Hotch replied with a slight smile. "Prentiss, it was never about your abilities as an agent that worried me. You had just been through so much the last few months that I wanted to make sure you were okay. You are perhaps one of the best agents I've ever seen come through the Bureau, nevermind the BAU. But we all have our moments when we need to take a step back. To take a break."

"Even you, Hotch?" she challenged, knowing that he didn't follow his own advice.

"Touche, but yes, even me. Which is why there's always someone there who will tell me to go and take that break. Usually Dave. We're a lot alike, Emily, too stubborn and too committed. But just like I need someone to tell me to step back, so do you. Sometimes we're so close, do deep, we don't see when we're drowning. Hopefully, someone close to us will."

He looked intently at her with an expression in his eyes she could not read. It was so dark and intense that it set off a nervous flutter in her stomach and she could feel heat building in her lower belly, in her cheeks, turning them slightly pink. She saw Hotch cataloguing her physical reaction and something even darker flared in his eyes.

"And you're that someone for me?" she asked quietly.

Hotch swallowed, thrown by what had suddenly started to manifest itself in the atmosphere between them. The air was suddenly thick, heated and charged with an electricity that fairly crackled. Somehow, this conversation seemed to have turned into something else. What he wasn't sure, but he knew they were beginning to tread in some dangerous waters, waters neither of them were likely prepared to deal with.

"As your Unit Leader, that's my job."

It was like dousing the heated air between them with a cold buck of water and they were both snapped back to the present. Unconsciously because they did not know they had been leaning forward, both Hotch and Emily sat back in their chairs.

"Well, thank, Hotch. Glad to know you have my back," Emily replied.

"It goes for what happened this week," Hotch continued. "During the video conference call with NCIS. I was upset with Gibbs, not you. He shouldn't have put you into any dangerous situation at all." He held up his hand when she started to speak. "Again, it's not about your abilities. You're mine-, one of my team members, and the agent in charge should know better. I'm sure Gibbs would have felt the same if the roles had been reversed. I'm sorry if it felt like I was criticizing you. That was not the case."

She stared at him and gave him a small smile. Emily didn't think she had ever heard Hotch apologize before. He definitely had never complimented her work and she got both from him in a span of ten minutes. Would wonders never cease? "Thank you, si-, Hotch."

He smiled again at the use of his nickname. For a second, he debated whether or not to give her the gift, but then thought what the hell? Hotch reached around behind him to pick up the fruit basket from the credenza. It might not be overly-priced lingerie, but the sincerity of the gift was definitely there. "It's nothing fancy," he began, "But its a little welcome back gift."

Emily was a little surprised to receive anything. As far as gifts were concerned, Hotch typically gave each team member a gift card to the coffee place they all went to at Christmas and on their birthdays, he treated to lunch. Maybe he gave something more to Rossi and she knew he had given JJ a baby gift, but that was it. It was a small basket that had some beautiful pears, dried fruits and nuts and a small box of chocolates in it. A purple ribbon was tied around it and Emily recognized the basket as being something from Harry and David. She smiled at him.

"Thank you, though I'll have a hard time keeping Reid and Morgan out of it," she replied. "Thank you, Hotch. It was very kind of you."

"Let me know if they give you too much trouble," Hotch replied. He stood and Emily got the cue that their meeting was over. He held his hand out to her. "Welcome back, Agent Prentiss."

She grinned at his formality and put her hand in his. "Thank you, Agent Hotchner."

They shook hands, but as she started to pull back, she felt his grip on her hand tighten and she paused. Once more, their eyes locked and something seemed to pass between them, some indescribable heat that both thrilled and frightened them both. His thumb stroked the back of her hand ever so softly and she felt her breath catch.

"I'm glad you're back, Emily," he said softly.

"Me too," she whispered.

Almost reluctantly, he let her soft hand go. Emily picked up her fruit basket and made her way over to the door, she pulled it open and with one more small smile at him, left and went back to her desk. Hotch watched her from his window as she set her fruit basket down, ignoring Morgan's questions. He saw her pause as she started to sit down and then pull something from her blazer pocket. It was Gibbs' card. Irrational irritation flooded Hotch's body as he saw her glance at the card and then put it back into her blazer with a small pat on her pocket. Emily sat back down at her desk and started to work.

He wouldn't admit it, but not knowing why Gibbs gave Emily the bra and thong set and what exactly he wrote in his card to her was driving Hotch crazy. But he could never ask and would likely never know. But that still didn't mean it wouldn't bother him for a long time.

Emily pulled her keyboard towards her, renewed confidence filling her. She wouldn't admit it, but Matthew's case had definitely thrown her off-balance and her confidence was further shaken by what she thought was Hotch's lack of faith in her and her abilities. She was just glad that he had re-assured her of his belief in her, but her confidence had already begun to be built back up thanks to her time at NCIS.

Her hand stole down to the outside of her blazer pocket and she patted it again, touching it like some lucky talisman as she remembered the words Gibbs had written on it:

"Rule #5 – You don't waste good. You Emily Prentiss are good. Anyone else who has a different opinion, tell them to come see me. Gibbs."

Emily smiled, patted her pocket one more time and began her work.

Fini.

A/N 2: I want to thank everyone for the kind comments they've given me throughout this story. I'm actually not a fan of crossovers myself, so I was surprised I undertook this. It just felt right having these two teams meet at some point. Emily Prentiss is my favorite character so it was an obvious choice for me to make her the connection point. I am surprised by the amount of people who seem to favor an Emily/Gibbs pairing. I'm glad I made that relationship convincing enough for people to see the possibility of it, but I do have a plan for the story arc, so folks will just have to wait and see what happens next. I don't really see those two as being romantically involved, but I do agree, from my set up, there is a deep connection between them.

So I hope you enjoyed this story. I'm trying to finish up a few more stories before I get started on the second story in this Criminal Minds/NCIS crossover arc. Just know that the next story, yes, while Emily will again be heavily featured, that story is really going to be about Gibbs and Hotch because for the first time Team Gibbs and Team Hotch will have to work together on a case where something from Emily's past will have both men more protective of her than ever. And no, I'm not talking about Doyle. Stay tuned. Thanks again!