When Aaron opened the door, the sight before him left him speechless. He had seen Emily dressed up before – usually when she was going undercover to catch an unsub – but never had he seen her quite like this. And knowing that it was for him that she looked this way just made it all the better. He let his eyes roam over her features, top to bottom and back again, taking it all in, before finally meeting her dark brown eyes that sparkled with her amusement at his blatantly checking her out. How did I get so lucky?, he wondered.

"You look absolutely stunning." He finally told her and was rewarded with a shy smile that he thought to be the perfect accessory to her exquisiteness. He stepped to the side so they could enter, ruffling Amanda's hair in hello as she passed him by. He shut the door after them and Amanda rushed to the living room to find Jack while Emily remained in the hall with him. Turning to her, he closed the distance between them quickly, tugging her ever closer with one hand on her neck, the other on her hip, until his lips were pressed firmly against hers. He could tell that he'd surprised her when she tensed for a moment, before relaxing into him and kissing him back, her casted wrist wrapped around his back, and her other hand burrowing into the hair at the nape of his neck. When he felt her begin to break away, he pulled her tighter against him for just a moment, kissing her even more fervently before finally releasing her. "I've been thinking about doing that all day." She grinned at him and let him lead her into the living room. "There's someone I want you to meet. This is my brother, Sean. Sean, this is Emily and Amanda."

Emily took in the tall man before her, noting that despite the age difference and his being blonde, the family resemblance between the two men was still fairly obvious. "Nice to meet you." She replied to his greeting as she shook his hand. "So you're the one getting stuck on babysitting duty tonight?"

"Indeed. But I don't mind. I'm just surprised Aaron's actually getting out for a change. I think you're having quite the effect on him – he spent nearly twenty minutes just picking out a tie." He told her in a conspiratorial whisper loud enough for his brother to hear clearly. Emily surreptitiously glanced over at her date, eyeing the black, grey, and white striped silk tie that he'd paired with a white shirt and a black pinstripe suit.

"And on that note, we should probably get going." Aaron interrupted, obviously embarrassed that Sean had let that little bit of information slip. Ignoring the smug grin on Sean's face, he led Emily out the door after they said goodbye to the kids.

When he opened the passenger side door of his SUV for her, she turned to face him, not getting in just yet. "Good choice." She told him.

He quirked an eyebrow, clearly not getting what she was referring to.

"The tie. It's a good choice. I like it."

"Oh." He averted his eyes, clearly embarrassed again at the renewal of the subject.

"If it makes you feel any better, I spent 45 minutes just picking out this dress." She told him with a grin.

She watched his eyes skate over her body again, feeling a thrill when his dimpled smile let her know he liked what he saw. "Hmm, well then, I'm not the only one that made a good choice tonight." He told her before leaning in to place a short, sweet kiss on her lips. Emily climbed into the SUV with a smirk, knowing that she was giving him a nice view of her rear as she did so.

By the time Aaron had gotten into the driver's seat and backed the SUV out of his driveway, she couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "So are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope. Not a chance," was his quick reply.

"Not even a little hint?" She pleaded with him playfully.

"Okay. One hint. Water."

"Water? That's a little vague. Can you be more specific?"

"Nope." He answered with a grin.

"If I guess it, will you tell me?"

"Nope." He replied again. She huffed at his answer, but it was obvious she wasn't really upset. If anything, she was intrigued.

She was debating on ways to try and get more information out of him, but was interrupted by a ringing cellphone. "Is that mine or yours?" She asked.

"I think it's yours."

She opened her clutch and took out her phone to find that JJ was calling her. "It's JJ. Can't be a case or she'd have called you first and I'm still on medical leave."

"You should answer it anyways. It might be important."

Normally she made a rule about not answer her phone on dates (unless it was someone from work or the date was going horribly), but he had a point – it could be important. "Hey Jayje, what's up?"

"Hey Em! Where are you at? Garcia and I are standing outside your door with a pizza and margarita mix ("and a milkshake for Amanda" she heard Pen add in the background), but you're nowhere to be found."

"Oh. Uh, sorry. I kinda already have plans for tonight. I won't be home for a while."

"You have plans?" JJ asked incredulously. "Wait, are you on a date?" ("She's on a date?" Pen squealed.)

"Um….maybe." Crap, how was she gonna get outta this?

"You are on a date! With who? And why didn't you tell us?"

"Um…. uh…"

"Oh my god, you're on a date with Hotch, aren't you?" ("Hotch?" Garcia's shriek was hard to miss.)

"Uh, I have to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Emily hung up the phone before JJ could get in another word. "Oh my god." Emily groaned, planting her forehead in her palm. She started giggling uncontrollably. It figures that she wouldn't even be able to make it through one date with Aaron without everyone finding out. When she got her giggling under control, she informed him of the conversation, adding on "We're so busted."

"How did she know it was me you're out with?" He asked in disbelief, thinking JJ really should take the training to become a profiler.

"Uh, I guess she put two and two together. She knows that I like you, she knows that I haven't been dating anyone for a while, and I usually tell her who I'm going out with, so simply by the fact that I didn't tell her – well, I guess she figured it out. And Garcia was there, so now she knows – which means that within the next 5 minutes Morgan will know too. I guess the only one out of the loop here is Rossi."

He pulled the SUV into a parking lot, and Emily only just realized that they'd arrived – and not just anywhere. "Oh my god. La Rosa Nautica? But how? They're booked for months in advance." La Rosa Nautica was an extremely upscale restaurant with international cuisine that was actually out in the bay, at the end of a pier. She'd never been before and always wanted to go, but the reservations were incredibly hard to get.

He smiled, just glad that she seemed really happy with his choice. "Rossi's actually not out of the loop any more. He's a friend of the maître d' and I had to let slip about us to get him to call in the favor."

She grinned at him. "Apparently we're not very good at keeping secrets."

"Apparently not." He got out of the car and came around to her side to open the door for her again.

Hmm, I could get used to this, she thought to herself. She took his arm and they began the long walk down the lighted pier. When they made it inside Aaron gave his name to the maître d' and they were seated right away. The waitress took their order – ceviche for Emily and mandarin chicken for Aaron – and then left them to their date.

Emily was the first one to break the comfortable silence that had settled between them. "You know, I really love the ocean. Not really the beach – I've never been one of those people content to sit on the sand and bake in the sun – but I've always loved swimming in the ocean. There's something really beautiful and powerful about it, and I find the smell of the ocean to be really relaxing. Whenever I was having a really rough time of things growing up, I'd find the nearest body of water – usually a bay or an ocean – and spend the day there, and I don't know, things always just felt better after that."

"Was it hard? Moving around so much as you grew up?" He inquired.

She pondered his question before shrugging slightly. "Mainly it was just lonely. It's hard to make friends when you're never in one place very long and your parents are diplomats. I think that's part of the reason I was so upset when I found out about Jenna. I had really wanted a sibling for the longest time – I thought it would make moving so much easier." Aaron nodded but didn't say anything. "It wasn't all bad though. I went to some really great schools, learned several languages, and it's lead me to where I am today." She offered him a smile, before changing the subject. (Her childhood and adolescence wasn't something she particularly wanted to delve into on a first date.) "So what about you – are you pro-ocean or are you more of a clinging to dry land type of guy?"

"Is there a middle ground in there somewhere? I like going to the beach on occasion, but I was never intent on being a merman or anything. When I was a kid, we weren't much of a family and we didn't do a lot of things together, but I do remember this one summer when my father insisted we were going to go on a family vacation to Myrtle Beach. And at the time we had this really old, beat up, piece of junk car. It was in pretty bad shape and couldn't go more than 45 miles an hour, even on a highway, so it took us nearly two whole days to get there, and the air conditioning didn't work. And of course my brother and I were fighting in the back the entire way, which drove our parents nuts. There's a rather large age difference between us, so we had nothing in common of course. Anyways, finally, we get there and find out that the beach has been closed for the past week because someone had spotted a shark. We spent the day on the boardwalk, and then ended up getting right back in the car and driving home. It's kinda strange, but even though we were miserable in the car, it's probably one of the happier memories from that time in my life."

Emily had never heard Aaron talk about his family or his childhood, but she had a feeling that she wasn't the only one who hadn't grown up in an ideal home. Nevertheless, she assumed he wanted to talk about it as much as she wanted to talk about hers – which is to say, not at all. So she changed the subject. "Sean seems like a nice guy. What's he do for a living?"

The waitress arrived with their food at that moment, and Aaron waited until they'd been served and she'd departed, before answering her question. "He actually opened up a restaurant in New York City a couple years ago. I thought he'd be following our father and myself into law, but then he shows up a few years back to tell me he's planning on moving to New York to study with a renowned chef. But his restaurant is doing well and it seems to be working out for him, so I'm just glad he's found what makes him happy. Plus, he makes fantastic lasagna for Jack and me whenever he's in town."

"So is he just here visiting then?"

"Yeah, he had some time off and decided to make the trip down to stay for a few days. I told him I had a date, and he volunteered to babysit – much to my surprise. But then, he's always trying to set me up with a friend of a friend, or something of the sort. I always blow him off, but maybe now he'll let me be and stop trying to force me out on blind dates. I told him I'm taken." He shot her a wink, which she answered back with a warm smile.

The conversation tapered off a bit as they enjoyed their food, but the silence between them was comfortable and the dialogue they did share didn't feel forced or unnatural.

"We're getting a cat." She informed him at one point.

"So you caved, I take it?"

"Nope. I don't consider it caving because I wanted one too." She retorted.

"Sure, sure. Whatever lets you sleep at night." He mocked her teasingly.

When they'd finished their meals, the waitress came by to ask if they wanted dessert, but Aaron waved her off. "I've got other plans." He informed Emily.

She was surprised. She hadn't expected him to take her to such an elegant restaurant, and she definitely hadn't expected anything more than dinner. But he ignored her not-so-subtle attempts to find out his plans, and paid the check before they left the restaurant. They got back in the SUV, but their next stop was close at hand and when Aaron pulled into the parking lot, Emily flashed him a huge grin.

"This may just be the best date ever." She stated before hopping out of the vehicle. He had taken her to the Cold Stone Creamery for dessert – a place well known for having the absolute best ice cream in town. Did this guy know her, or what?

He followed her out of the car, glad that she seemed quite delighted with his decision. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she leaned in against him, each enjoying the contact between them as they headed into the building. They placed their orders – Aaron getting one of the specialties, while Emily created her own chocolaty concoction in a cone – and then headed outside to find a place to sit.

They found a bench facing out towards the bay, which they were still near, and sat down. Aaron wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulders to which she responded by scooting closer into his side. They finished their ice cream in silence, watching the sky turn from light blue to orange and pink as the sun began to set. When she'd finished her ice cream, she rested her head on his shoulder and felt his arm tighten about her. She let out a contented sigh. This moment with him was complete bliss, she couldn't ask for anything more. "Thank you for tonight, Aaron. It's been absolutely perfect."

He pressed a light kiss to her hair before responding in hushed tones. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

She lifted her head from his shoulder and kissed him, slowly and tenderly, expressing her gratitude and affection for him in the best way she knew how.

Reluctantly they left the bench when the air grew too chilly to ignore any more and they headed back home. On the way back, Aaron inquired about her plans for the following day and invited her and Amanda over for dinner with Sean, Jack and himself, to which she readily agreed. When they arrived, Emily was loath to even get out of the vehicle, knowing that it would mean the end to the best date she'd ever had. Looking back at the start of the evening, she couldn't believe she'd been so nervous. Aaron had been her friend for years and they'd never had trouble spending time together before – she wasn't quite sure why she thought that would change if she was dating him.

Unwillingly she got out of the car and walked with him to the door of his apartment before he stopped them. "Can I get a goodnight kiss?" he asked her with a grin.

"You know you don't have to ask, right?" She replied cheekily before leaning up to kiss him. She nipped playfully at his bottom lip before sliding her tongue into his mouth to tease him just a bit. She just didn't expect how caught up she'd get in the sensation of kissing him and it wasn't until a long moment later that they were breaking apart due to a door opening and the sound of Sean Hotchner clearing his throat loudly. Emily pulled away from Aaron, blushing from embarrassment as she panted for breath. Aaron, on the other hand, glared at Sean and shoved him back inside, shutting the door as he purposefully ignored the smirk on his younger brother's face.

"Well, that was embarrassing." Emily stated, her cheeks still a bright red. "I should probably get Amanda and go."

She reached for the door knob, but he stopped her. "Wait a minute, I wasn't done saying goodnight," he told her with a grin before quickly leaning in to kiss her and rekindling the heat between them, pulling her body to his close once again.

Reluctantly, he finally pulled away. "Thanks for having dinner with me tonight, Emily."

She smiled sweetly at him before opening the door and heading into the apartment. Amanda was already asleep, so Aaron carried her to the car and buckled her in as Emily followed, after awkwardly thanking Sean for watching the kids and bidding him goodnight.

She headed home, blissfully happy with the direction her life seemed to be taking.

Hey guys! Just a quick note… La Rosa Nautica is actually based on a real restaurant, but it's in Lima, Peru, not in Quantico, VA. I've only been once, but it's a super nice restaurant and it's out on the ocean. I put it in the bay in this story b/c they'd have to make a longer trip than I thought was realistic for the story. I don't really know anything about bays, but I'm guessing they might not have piers like oceans do, so if they don't, please just overlook that fact for the sake of the story. If you want an idea of what it looks like you can go to google, click on images, and type in "la rosa nautica restaurant". It's really pretty when it's all lit up at night. Also, the Cold Stone Creamery is awesome – so if there's one near you, I highly recommend checking it out if you haven't yet! :)