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Derek was shocked to say the least. He was about to go up to her but thought better of it. Instead he turned around and hightailed it out of there as fast as possible. As much as he wanted to embrace Emily and her feelings, he was now forced to deal with this revelation and his own feelings for her that had been hanging over his head. And he couldn't do that with Emily knowing that he knew about her feelings for him.

O/o

The next day at 8:59am Emily showed up at the bullpen and was met with emptiness. At 9 when she walked into the conference she was greeted by more hugs and smiles before she was thrown straight back into it with a case involving the murders of teenage boys aged between 14 and 18. Not an easy case, but at least nothing that would be easily relatable to what happened to her.

They didn't appear to be tortured. Just a single slice through their neck from behind cutting their coronary artery leaving them to bleed out in minutes.

Within an hour they were on a plane and going through the case files. Each were perusing at their own pace once the briefing on the plane had been finished. Emily had secluded herself at the back of the plane placing her files on the seat next to her making it very clear that she wanted to be left alone. And that wish was granted.

That however didn't stop the glances from Derek that didn't go unnoticed by JJ. JJ knew that Emily had been giving him the cold shoulder since he had left her apartment, what she didn't know was that he had come to the conclusion that it was possible that he probably reciprocated Emily's feelings. He thought. Probably. Most likely.

Hell. Who was he kidding? Of course he cared for her. He loved her. And he would declare it to the team and to the whole damn world if she wanted him to. But he wasn't about to do that before she was ready, nor before he actually had a chance to talk to her.

He wanted her to know he was always there for her but that he didn't expect anything from her. But he couldn't do that if kept avoiding him.

Hotch was determined to give Emily some time to get back to grips with being a member of this team and as such had partnered her up with Reid working on the geographical profile. Yes, she would be staying at the precinct to work, but at least she would be working so she couldn't complain. Not too much anyway.

O/o

Three days into the case it was early morning and they were at the police station. The leads were trickling in and that meant that while they were indeed getting somewhere, it was happening very slowly.

O/o

When another body turned up Emily was still on precinct arrest under Hotch's orders and begrudgingly continued to scan paperwork while she was stuck in the room by herself.

Instead of reading more of the same information she figured that she'd make herself useful and go and get lunch for herself and for the rest of the team. And coffee. Coffee was always a necessity in their line of work.

She grabbed the keys and headed for the sole SUV in the parking lot and then began to head to a place on the corner of town to grab some food and apparently the best coffee you could buy.

After she placed her order she waited at the breakfast bar nursing her own coffee in her hands. The officers were right, it was the best coffee in town. Realising that she was going to need it, she ordered herself another coffee and made sure to drink her current one quickly so that she would be done by the time her food was ready. Admittedly she was still struggling to sleep comfortably in her own bed, let alone one in an unknown hotel room. In saying that, she hadn't really had a lot of sleep over the past few days. Therefore coffee had become her greatest friend.

Order 37 up.

Emily handed over her ticket and headed back out to the car. Unbeknownst to her, her cell phone was buzzing in her pocket, but she couldn't feel it.

O/o

When the rest of the team arrived back at the station they noticed the missing SUV.

Hotch enquired with other officers but nobody had noticed the FBI agent slip out. This caused Hotch to begin to panic slightly. Granted, six months ago Emily's absence wouldn't make him go queezy like this, it did now.

He pulled out his phone and was greeted by the equally worried looks of his co-workers and Emily's voicemail. That did not sit well with him.

He decided to give her 15 minutes and one more call before he got Garcia to trace her phone.

Just as the time was running out Emily bustled through the doors coffee trays and food bags in hand. Meeting up with the other she could feel the tension in the air and immediately noticed Hotch's stern disposition.

"Where have you been?"

"To get food…?"

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"My phone…?" Taking it out she looked at it. "Jees, sorry Hotch it's on vibrate." she said apologetically.

"Emily do you know how close I was to calling Garcia when I couldn't get a hold of you. That is the point of your phone. You can't just leave without letting anyone know where you are going."

"I'm sorry Ho-"

"No Emily, y-"

"Hotch. I went to get food. We all take turns at doing that. And the only reason that I did do that is because you have me stuck in this room reading the same information over and over again. If you have a problem with me professionally, please tell Agent Prentiss Agent Hotchner, not Emily. You keep treating me like Emily at work, not Agent Prentiss. Agent Prentiss is here to do her job, but you won't let her. So yes, I went to get food."

Everyone was quiet.

Hotch looked at her.

"I… you're right Emilly. – Agent Prentiss I mean. I let the worry of myself and this team cloud my judgement. You're here to do a job- your job and I have been holding you back. I'm sorry."

Emily nodded her head. "Okay."

The tension in the room was broken by Rossi's stomach growling. "Did you say that you had food in that bag?" Everyone grinned and sat down to eat and drink while they went over what the new body told them.

They took ten minutes to re-group and start eating.

Reid started. "There appeared to be a slight change in M.O this time."

"The neck was sliced the same as usual."

"And the artery was severed."

"Except this time there were signs of an intense struggle. He had defensive bruises and abrasions."

"Not only that, he had water in his lungs."

Emily was slowly eating her panini but stopped dead in her tracks.

"It looks like he drowned, but was then given CPR and revived so that he could die by the severed artery."

"What does that mean for us and for our investigation?"

"It-"

Emily held been holding it back as long as possible but couldn't do it anymore. The feeling of the cold water burning her throat as her head was being held in the water.

She was going to lose her lunch.

Briskly she got up and made her way out of the room just as Derek was beginning to talk. They had noticed her getting green around the gills and decided that they ought to leave it be. But when she got up and left, they all looked at each other and then to JJ.

Getting up she hightailed it after Emily following her to the bathroom and arriving in time to hear her retching over the toilet.

"Emily. Emily let me in."

Emily continued and wouldn't open the door.

"Open this damn door or so help me God I swear to you that I will climb over."

Still nothing.

"Or I'll get Derek to kick it in. And you know that I will."

Mere moments later the door unlocked and JJ pushed it open. She could see Emily hunched over the toilet shaking her head in between heaves. Whenever she thought that she was finally done, another urge would hit making her dry heave because there was nothing left to come up.

JJ's hand was soothingly rubbing Emily's back while the other was holding her hair back. She was wishing that Emily would talk to one of them. She was going to have to have a conversation with her once this case was over and done with.

And take some time off. That's what she would do. After this case they were both going to take some time off and get in touch with one another again as friends.

Emily just didn't know it yet.

I am so sorry to keep you waiting. I estimate another 8 or so chapters. A trial and another case that will bring the lovebirds together in the ends. Please let me know what you think and I will update ASAP.