When Aaron returned to the apartment, he found his brother waiting for him in the living room, still wearing that smug grin. "What? Are you 15 or something?" Aaron groused at him.

But his demeanor had no effect whatsoever on his younger brother – but then again, it never usually did. "So… are you in love with her?"

"It was our first date!" Aaron exclaimed.

"Aaand?" Sean continued prying.

Knowing how relentless his brother could be – really he was as bad as Rossi sometimes! – he knew he wasn't getting out of this discussion, so he shrugged off his suit jacket and toed off his shoes, taking a seat on the couch before answering. "Yeah, I think I might be."

"So have you told her yet?"

"Don't be ridiculous. It's way too soon for that."

"There's no rule on how long you're supposed to wait, y'know?"

"I'll tell her when the time is right – when I'm ready." And he would. But now wasn't that time.

Thankfully, Sean seemed to pick up on his tone that clearly implied the discussion was over and he let the subject drop. "They're coming over tomorrow for dinner and as payback for that little stunt you just pulled, you're making dinner. Lasagna." He thought about it for a moment before tacking on for good measure, "And dessert."

"Yes, sir." Sean replied snidely. But really, he wasn't upset – cooking is what he does best. Plus he'd have another opportunity to observe Emily and his brother together.

XXX

Most of Emily's morning had been spent on the phone with Garcia and JJ recounting every last detail of the date, and of course apologizing profusely for keeping them out of the loop. When Amanda's new bike finally arrived at 11 a.m., they set out for lunch and then to the park. After several hours of practicing her new riding skills, Emily snapped a couple pictures of Mandy on her bike to commemorate the day, and then they'd set out for the nearest pet shelter.

Picking out a kitten had been the easiest part – a little black and white fur ball had immediately made its presence known to them with loud meows as soon as they entered the shelter, and the purring when Amanda picked him up was just too adorable to ignore. Picking out a name was easy too because he had already been given one by a volunteer at the shelter. The cat was named Sergio, after Sergio Rossi – an Italian fashion designer that the volunteer was a huge fan of – and Emily couldn't help thinking it was good luck that the woman had decided to go with the first name and not the last. How awkward would that have been? Can you imagine… Emily, where'd you get those scratches on your arms? Oh, Rossi kept scratching me the other day when I was trying to pet him... Yeah, Sergio was much better.

What wasn't so easy was picking out a collar and tags. Amanda kept changing her mind about the color and design she wanted and by the time she'd decided on a blue collar with a red heart-shaped tag, they had less than an hour to buy everything they needed (i.e. cat food, water and food dishes, litter and litter box, and cat toys), make it home to drop off everything, and then make it to Aaron's on time. What's worse, Emily felt really guilty about leaving the kitten home alone right away without even letting him get used to them or his surroundings, so she'd ended up calling Aaron on the way home and asking him how he felt about a third (rather furry) guest for dinner that night. Luckily he agreed readily and so they headed over to his apartment for dinner, straight from the pet supplies store.

When Aaron opened the apartment door, the first thing she noticed was a heavenly aroma coming from the kitchen. The second thing she noticed was him lifting the kitten out of her hands to say hello – to the cat, not to her. Who would've suspected that Aaron Hotchner was a cat man? She'd definitely always assumed he'd be a dog man, but maybe he was both. At any rate, Emily was coming to the conclusion that stoic BAU unit chief plus fluffy little fur ball equates to some serious Hotchner cuteness! Where was her camera when she needed it?

He eventually passed the kitten on to Jack and then turned back to Emily to say hello, enveloping her in a warm, albeit brief hug. Amanda passed them by, following after Jack who was headed to the living room, but Aaron quickly swooped around and picked her up, tickling her until she was screaming with laughter. He finally relented, setting her back down on the ground. "Hey kiddo, don't I get a hello?"

Mandy nodded enthusiastically. "Hi Aaron! Do you like our new kitty? His name is Sergio. We just got him today!"

He smiled at her. "I do like your new kitty. He seems very nice."

"He is really nice." She told him before running off after Jack to play with her new cat.

"You're in an awfully good mood today." Emily observed.

"I am. I've been looking forward to this all day. Now how about a proper hello?" He asked, leaning in towards her suggestively.

She quickly closed the distance between them and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before walking away coyly. It didn't take him more than a split second to pull her back to him and initiate a kiss between them that was a lot more heated and demanding. She didn't let it last too long though – too worried that his brother would walk in on them kissing again. That was one embarrassment she didn't need repeated – she wasn't exactly someone who engaged in or appreciated public displays of affection, so getting caught by the brother was quite cringe-worthy in her opinion.

"Sean is in the kitchen if you want to say hello." He told her when they pulled apart, before warning her, "And don't let him get to you – he likes to tease anyone he can."

He headed for the living room and she headed for the kitchen, hoping things wouldn't feel as awkward as they felt the night before.

When she entered the kitchen, she found Sean rolling out homemade dough on the countertop.

"It smells delicious in here."

"Emily!" He whipped around to face her. "I didn't know you were standing there. And thank you – I hope you think it tastes as delicious as it smells."

She shot him a smile. "I'm sure it will. Do you need any help?"

"Uh sure. Do you wanna peel and slice some apples?"

She nodded and moved to grab a paring knife from the cutlery drawer. They worked side by side for a short while before Sean broke the silence. "So last night went well?"

Emily thought back to the night before, remembering how perfectly everything had gone. It had been like a dream. "Yeah, it did. It was really great, actually."

Sean glanced over at her to find her reminiscing with a dazed look on her face. Yeah, he recognized that kind of sappy face – Emily Prentiss had it and had it bad for his brother.

"Where did you two meet?" He inquired.

"We work together, actually."

"You're a profiler?" He asked her with a slight bit of skepticism to his question.

"Yes. Why, does that surprise you?" She challenged him, not liking anyone doubting her ability to do her job and do it well.

He held up his hands, palms facing out. "Hey, no, I'm all for that whole men-being-nurses-and-women-being-firefighters-or-whatever equality thing. I just don't get why anyone really would choose to go into that line of work. I mean, I know Aaron loves it, but it's awfully gruesome."

"Well, I could give you the "making a difference" spiel, but I'll assume you've already heard it. Mainly we just like the adrenaline rushes and the chance to kick criminal ass." She retorted with a smirk.

"So are you in love with Aaron?" He asked her bluntly, wanting to see what her reaction would be as he caught her off-guard.

Emily's eyes grew wide and her face flushed with color at his question. "What? Why would you ask me that?"

He shrugged nonchalantly and went back to fitting his dough into a pie pan. "He's my brother and he cares a lot about you. I'm just making sure you're not jerking his chain around. The last thing he needs is for someone to toy with him."

Emily couldn't help staring in shock at Sean. Part of her felt indignant and insulted at even the slightest suggestion that she would ever intentionally hurt Aaron. The other part of her thought it was really very sweet how he was looking out for his brother – even if it meant she was getting the third degree from a guy she'd only known for a day. She went back to slicing apples, debating on her answer. Was she in love with Aaron? Okay, that was a clear and resounding YES. But did she have any intentions of telling Aaron that yet? Definitely not. And she certainly didn't plan on telling his brother before she told him. But that didn't mean she couldn't tell him something – at least to dispel the notion that she wasn't serious about Aaron.

"I'm not toying with him or jerking his chain around. I care about him a lot. We're both taking a risk with this relationship since we work together, and neither one of us would have started this if we weren't serious about it."

"Good. That's all I wanted to know. And in that case, welcome to the family. It's not much, but we take care of our own." He told her with a grin.

She rolled her eyes and returned the smile, just glad that the interrogation seemed to be over – for the moment at least.

Once the preparations were finished, Sean checked on the lasagna and pulled it out of the oven, slipping the pie in to bake in its place. In the meantime, Emily headed to the living room to alert Aaron and the kids that it was time to eat.

The evening passed quickly, and Emily was relieved when Sean refrained from directing any more startlingly blunt questions her way. Instead he regaled them with stories of what it was like living in a small rundown apartment in Harlem with two drugged-out roommates when he first moved to New York. Luckily, he'd made new friends fast and had moved to a new place within 3 months, but not without having a few near-death (and in retrospect, quite funny) experiences first.

By the end of the night, Emily had decided that despite their initial awkwardness and the third degree she'd received, she really liked Sean a lot. He was worlds away in personality types from his brother, but he seemed to care a lot about Aaron and Jack, and that's something that they had in common.

Just a few quick things… First off, Sergio Rossi is a real Italian (shoe) designer, I didn't make him up.

Secondly, there will probably be one more chapter to this story (2 if my muse returns).

And thirdly, I just wanted to say a special thanks to the following people who have been very diligent about reviewing throughout this story, to which I am very grateful: I luv emily prentiss 2012, Alice Prince, Angel N Darkness, calzonaobessed, onetreefan, HGRHfan35, HPforever-after, vampiremuggle, JJ, fanficlover, HisPrincess12, Kimd33, crazyobsessions, and sarweber22.

I hope I haven't missed anyone, but if I have, just know that I am very grateful for all the reviews I receive! Oh, and I can't believe I've received over 300 reviews on this fic – I'm blown away, people! That being said, if you'd take the time to leave one for this chapter, I'd greatly appreciate it… :)