Late the next day, the team finally managed to wrap up the case, thanks to JJ and Reid, who were able to make a connection that they'd been missing for the past several days.
They were now on a flight back to Quantico, all thankful to be going home. Morgan listened to his music and snoozed on and off, Reid read, and Rossi was busily scratching away at a notepad, probably working on the manuscript for his next book. Emily was reading a detective novel, using Bean as a shelf, and Hotch slept with his head in what limited lap space she had left. He was feeling much better than the first night he'd been sick, but he still wasn't quite back to feeling like his regular self.
Every so often, Emily glanced up at JJ. The blonde wasn't acting normal: she seemed upset about something, but Emily couldn't figure out what it was. JJ sat by herself in one of the single seats in the back of the plane, something she almost never did. She wasn't sleeping, either, just staring out the window and gently chewing her bottom lip, seemingly lost in thought. Interestingly, she wasn't even trying to compartmentalize.
Emily had first noticed JJ acting funny this morning, actually. It'd been pretty hectic for all of them. Another one of the kidnapped girls' bodies had been found around 4 AM, so they all had to get up out of bed to go check it out. Hotch sulked because he couldn't go - he'd thrown up twice more during the night, and Emily had forced him to stay back at the hotel. The hot water in the suite's shower had run out after only Morgan and Reid had used it, causing Rossi to grumble in annoyance, and JJ was none too pleased that she'd had to wash her hair in the sink for the third day in a row. Emily was just glad she'd showered the night before. She was running on four hours of sleep, since she'd gone to the store in the middle of the night to get the stuff for Hotch.
The hotel's continental breakfast didn't open until 6, and, to the agent's dismay, the only coffee they had left in the coffee maker in the room was decaf. And they were already running too late to stop anywhere on the way.
So, when they'd finally set off towards the crime scene that next morning - in the rain, to top it off - they had been uncharacteristically cross with one another. Emily could feel her stress levels escalating already, and it was only 5 in the morning.
Gonna be another long day, she'd thought dully, staring out the window as the soggy wilderness flew by around them.
JJ, who usually was the most level-headed but for some reason this morning had been the most aggravated, leaned over from the passenger seat to flip the stereo on and plugged her phone into the aux cord.
Soon the vulgar sounds of the blonde's favorite new rap album had filled the SUV. This didn't bother Morgan, Emily, or Reid - Morgan liked the music, Reid enjoyed the rhymes and rhythms of it, and while Emily didn't particularly care for it, she wasn't really opposed to it, either. Rossi usually tolerated it, too, since it was JJ's favorite, but apparently today he hadn't been able to stomach it.
"Can we not listen to your trash music right now?" he'd asked grumpily.
"Shut up," JJ had snapped, surprising them all. Morgan, Reid, and Prentiss exchanged a glance in the back seat.
Rossi mumbled something unintelligible, and reached over, aggressively smacking the stereo button and enveloping them all in silence once more.
"Ugh," JJ had muttered, drawing her knees up to her chest, and she'd spent the rest of the ride glaring out the window.
They'd made the rest of the trip in silence, and upon arrival, before Rossi had even gotten the chance to shut the engine off, JJ was out of the vehicle and halfway to where the police tape started, hand outstretched and ready to introduce herself to the lead detective.
Rossi had wordlessly exited the car after her, slamming the door a bit harder than necessary.
"Are they fighting?" Reid had asked a bit worriedly.
"I don't know. Sure doesn't seem like they're happy with each other right now, though, does it?" Morgan had asked. He'd given Emily a concerned look, which she reciprocated.
If Reid had noticed something was wrong, it usually meant that something was very wrong. He was a very good profiler, but somehow he was very rarely observant when it came to the other members of his team and their relationships with one another.
"Let's keep an eye on them," Emily had suggested, and the boys nodded in agreement.
Definitely going to be a long day.
"Careful, Princess," Morgan had cautioned her, grabbing her arm to steady her as she got out of the SUV. "Mud's making the ditch slick..."
Emily's thoughts came back to the present, and she watched her best friend for another minute or so. The blonde just stared out the plane window, not even noticing that someone was watching her.
Something was definitely wrong, Emily concluded. She glanced up at Morgan and Reid to see if they'd noticed anything, but Reid's back was to JJ, and Morgan had his eyes shut. She looked over to Rossi, but he didn't seem to think anything was amiss.
At least, that's what she thought until she watched him for a few more minutes and realized that he wasn't even glancing at JJ at all. In fact he seemed to be completely ignoring her, almost like he was intentionally not looking at her.
Again, unusual behavior. Usually the Italian looked at his fiancée frequently — almost too frequently. They'd yelled at him for being distracting in the past. So why was he ignoring her now?
Emily's book fell flat against the bump. This intra-team profiling was way more interesting than whatever old Sam Spade was up to right now.
Rossi's old instincts were still sharp, apparently, because barely two minutes after Emily had decided to stop pretending to read, he looked up from his notepad and turned his gaze over to her.
"He still sleeping?" the Italian mouthed, tilting his head towards Hotch.
Emily nodded. Her fingers were still gently combing through his hair.
Rossi made an exasperated face.
Emily raised her eyebrows.
"I got a present for you," Rossi whispered theatrically across the plane. "But you can't open it with Sleeping Beauty on your lap."
"Heard that," Hotch mumbled. "I'll get up."
"You don't have to, I can wait —" Emily began, but then her hand fell away from his forehead as he pulled himself into a sitting position next to her.
"That's okay," he said, pressing a kiss against her temple. "Wouldn't want to get between you and a present."
Emily hummed in amused agreement, and leaned into his side. He wrapped an arm around her.
"Remind me again why you two didn't get together, I dunno, like four or five years ago?" Rossi asked.
They didn't have to answer, because the older man handed Emily a gift bag.
"What's this for?" she asked.
"No reason. Open it up," he instructed impatiently.
She reached inside and pulled out a plastic package — inside was a baby mobile, with tiny airplanes and clouds made of felt.
"Oh, Dave," she said, carefully pulling it out of the packaging and holding it up in front of her so that they could see the planes and clouds gently spinning in circles. "This is absolutely adorable — thank you so much," she added, pulling him into a hug.
"You're welcome, kiddo," he said with a pat to her back. "I saw it at the airport and knew you needed it. Now when you're on a case your little one can look up and see the planes and think of Mommy." He paused, and then added, "And Grandpa Dave, of course."
Hotch almost made a comment about Rossi referring to himself as grandpa — usually he adamantly denied that he was old — but he saw the way it made Emily's face light up, like it always did when Rossi acted like she was his daughter, and he decided to keep his mouth shut.
...
Since it was only the middle of the day on a Friday when they got back, the team reluctantly headed into the bullpen to get a start on their reports.
Cruz was waiting for them, with Garcia right behind him, and the technical analyst looked worried to say the least.
Emily shot JJ and Morgan a concerned look, which they reciprocated.
There was no way this was going to be good.
"Mat," Hotch greeted him. "What can we do for you?"
"I need to talk to your team," he said, eyeing Hotch and Morgan and Rossi. "Let's go to the conference room."
"Alright," Hotch agreed cautiously, and they all turned to follow him down the hallway.
"What's going on, PG?" Emily asked the technical analyst in a low voice.
"I don't know, Gumdrop, I tried to get it out of him but he said he didn't want to say anything until everyone is here — is someone leaving? Or, oh God, someone's fired, aren't they —"
"Let's not jump to any conclusions," JJ said from the other side of Emily, although she didn't really look calm, either. "It's not like we did anything wrong."
Emily's eyes flicked up to the back of Hotch's head. She just wanted to reach up and grab his hand, but she couldn't, because —
Oh, God, had Cruz somehow discovered their relationship?
It wasn't really a secret anymore — although no one aside from the team really knew, at least not other agents — but still, they purposely hadn't told Cruz. They were trying to hold off on it as long as possible, since Hotch was technically still Emily's boss. There were already rules against fraternization between equal team members, but between a supervisor and subordinate? It was almost unheard of.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Reid murmured from behind them.
"Yeah, you and me, both, kid," Morgan agreed.
They all filed into the Round Table room.
"Have a seat," Cruz instructed, and, somewhat awkwardly, they all sunk down into their usual spots while he pulled up a chair from the corner, placing it between Hotch and Rossi.
It rubbed all of them wrong that he sat between the two they'd consider to be their leaders, although none of them could really say why.
"You guys know I usually try to leave you alone as much as I can," Cruz began slowly. "You do great work, truly. Sometimes you don't do it conventionally, but you always manage to get the job done."
"Thank you, Sir," Hotch said for all of them.
"Of course," he said with a nod. "You're outstanding agents. The speed and precision with which you apprehend these criminals is unrivaled in the Bureau —"
"Alright, that's enough buttering us up," Rossi said bluntly when he saw Emily shift uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye. His dislike for Cruz wasn't really a secret — whether it was the fact that he'd replaced Strauss, or that he flirted with JJ on a regular basis, no one could really say. He definitely didn't like sitting around and waiting to get yelled at, though. Especially not when it was making his family so anxious. "Spit it out, Cruz."
"Like I said, you're great agents. You work exceptionally well together," Cruz continued, speaking over Rossi. "I think that's partially because of how long you've all been together. On and off for seven years now, not a lot of teams make it that long."
"Okay, Sir, that's true," Morgan interjected, "But what's your point?"
"The higher-ups have been growing concerned lately," he said with a grimace. "They think maybe you're getting too close."
"Too close?" Morgan repeated angrily. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, to be frank — and honestly, I feel ridiculous even discussing this with you — but they're mostly concerned about how your intimate relationships with one another are going to affect how this team functions," he said, with a pointed look from Rossi to JJ and then from Morgan to Garcia.
"As far as I'm aware, they aren't affecting how this team functions," Hotch said tightly.
"That's what I tried to tell them," Cruz said. "They're still skeptical. So —"
" — Aaron," Emily interrupted, eyes wide.
Hotch's eyes flicked over to meet hers, and he could read in her expression what she was trying to say.
It was time to tell Cruz.
He took a deep breath. "I guess you should know... Emily and I..." somehow he didn't really know what to say after that, but it was enough.
Cruz's lips flattened into a line, and he exhaled. "That complicates things."
"Yeah," Hotch agreed, his expression a reflection of their boss's.
"And you're sure about this? It's going to make quite a mess of things. I can't guarantee that we'll be able to keep you all together."
Emily froze up, her mind nearly blank — was Cruz legitimately asking her to pick between her relationship with Hotch and staying with the team?
For some reason her hand instinctively fell to cover the baby, her lips still parted in a little 'o' — even the thought of making such a decision was unfathomable, and for a moment she thought she was going to panic again.
Hotch recovered faster. "If that's really our only option, I'll step down."
That snapped Emily out of it. "Aaron, you can't —"
" — I will if I have to. Someone else can step up, that way we don't have to split the team —"
"Who would step up? All of the rest of you have been in relationships with each other, too — unless, Agent Reid —"
Reid looked momentarily terrified, but soon JJ redirected the conversation in defense of her two best friends.
"I don't see why it's such a big deal," she said boldly. "It's no different than the rest of us being in relationships."
"It is, actually, because Agent Prentiss reports directly to Agent Hotchner —"
" — Rossi outranks me," JJ argued. "How is that any different —"
" — You don't report to Agent Rossi, you report to Agent Hotchner."
JJ paused for a second. "Well, technically Rossi is a Senior Agent, right?"
"Yeah," Cruz agreed cautiously.
"But you still report to Hotch?" she asked, directing her attention to Rossi.
"Yeah, technically," Rossi said, not getting where she was going with this.
"Then let's just switch it," JJ said, her big blue eyes landing on Cruz's. "Move things around so that Emily reports to Rossi."
"Agent Hotchner would still be her superior —"
" — Yeah, but she wouldn't report directly to him. If Rossi does her performance evaluations and stuff like that, what does it matter? That'd be the same as Hotch doing mine."
"I don't know if I can arrange that," Cruz said.
"Yes, you can!" Garcia said quickly. "Other departments are set up like that — counterterrorism, missing persons, child trafficking —"
"How do you know?" Hotch asked.
She glanced down at her laptop screen guiltily.
"Agent Cruz, Sir... If you give the approval, I can do it right now," Garcia said.
Their boss sighed. "Look, guys. I don't want this team to break up, either. But the higher-ups were already talking about splitting you up before you just told me that your unit chief is in a relationship with one of his agents. I managed to convince them to do an OPR investigation before making any hasty decisions."
He took a deep breath, and then continued.
"This is what's going to happen. I'm going to pretend I don't know about Agent Hotchner and Agent Prentiss. OPR is going to come some time within the next few days to observe you. They'll probably want to go on a case with you to see how you interact with each other. If you come out of it and they don't think you're being unprofessional, and they don't get even a whiff of your relationship, then I'll sign the papers and have Agent Prentiss transferred under Agent Rossi. But if they decide that the team can't work together anymore, I'm afraid it's out of my hands."
"Thank you, Sir," Hotch said, standing up to shake his hand. "That's very fair of you. Do you know when they'll be observing us?"
"Not exactly," he told them, looking worriedly from face to face. "But you'd all better be ready for them when they do come."
"We will be. Thank you."
Hotch moved to get up, but Cruz held up a hand.
"Not quite done yet, I'm afraid. Can I ask what happened to your nose?"
Emily froze. She'd forgotten about the bruise on her face — luckily her makeup still covered that one. But Hotch's nose was still bruised from when Morgan had punched him.
"Well, y'know... it's a dangerous job," Hotch put forth awkwardly.
"Really? So it had nothing to do with the fight that Mr. Kelm witnessed while he was cleaning the windows Monday morning?"
"Fucking snitch," JJ muttered under her breath.
Rossi shot her a dirty look, which she avidly ignored.
"That was a misunderstanding," Morgan cut in.
"Once again, agents, I trust you," Cruz emphasized. "But if I ever hear of anything like that happening again, I cannot let it go. I hope you understand."
"We do," Hotch said. "Don't worry. It won't happen again."
"I hope it doesn't. I'll let you all get back to your paperwork now," he said, and then he swiftly got up to leave.
They all stared at each other for a second, almost as though they were gauging how much they had to lose.
It was a damn lot, actually.
"They can't split us up," Garcia whined. "I don't know how we could..."
"They're not going to split us up, Baby Girl," Morgan said emphatically. "We won't let them."
"Morgan's right," Hotch agreed. "When OPR comes next week, we are going to show them how professional we can be. We have to ease off of each other, just for a week. No nicknames, no pranks, no joking around on the job..." he noticed the team looked crestfallen, and his lips tightened into a line. "Look, I know it'll be hard, but we need to do it. I will not allow them to divide us. None of us want that, so we need to be absolutely sure to do everything that we in our power to ensure that it doesn't happen. Understand?"
They all nodded. Emily bit her lip — she'd never tell him, but she loved when he got all alpha-male on them like that.
"Okay, good. I want everybody to head home for the weekend, then. The paperwork will be here on Monday," he added when they looked surprised. "And besides, the more we have to do next week, the less horsing around we'll have time for. Go get some sleep and have a good weekend."
...
Emily and Hotch had gone home separately that afternoon, thinking it'd be more appropriate giving the talking-to they'd just gotten, but somehow Emily was over at the Hotchners' condo within two hours anyways.
Her and Jack were sitting on the back porch in the sunshine and reading their books while Hotch mowed the lawn. It was finally getting warm in Virginia, about 70 degrees, which was just about perfect for sitting outside.
Emily was having a great time just sitting quietly next to Jack, while he read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and she worked her way through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for probably the seventh or eighth time, and they both sipped on some strawberry lemonade. Although, if she was being perfectly honest, she wasn't paying very close attention to the book - she was getting a little too distracted every time Hotch came around with the lawn mower.
Who knew the man could look so sexy doing yard work?
"Emily?" Jack said suddenly, pulling Emily from her thoughts.
"Yeah, baby?"
"How much longer until Bean is born?" he asked.
Emily's eyebrows went up in surprise. She wasn't sure what she'd expected him to ask, but it definitely wasn't that.
"Just a few more months," she told him, caressing her belly. "She should be here in the middle of August."
"Three months?"
"Something like that. Why are you asking?"
"I wanna make her something," he said, a little smile growing on his face. "I was wondering how much time I have."
Emily smiled back at him. "Oh, Jack, that's so sweet. What are you going to make for her?"
"I can't tell!" he exclaimed. "It's a secret!"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't realize," Emily laughed. "I'm sure she'll love it if it's from you."
Jack seemed to consider something for a minute. "What do you think her favorite color is?"
"Hmm... That's a good question. I don't know."
"What color is it inside your belly?"
Emily held back a laugh. "I think it's mostly just dark, Jack. I'm not sure if she can really see colors in there."
He frowned. "Well, what's your favorite color, then?"
"I like blue," she said after a second of thinking.
"Dad likes green the best," Jack told her. "I bet Bean likes turquoise."
Emily felt a little nudge. "Oh!" she exclaimed. "She just kicked, Jack."
"She did?" he asked excitedly.
"Yeah. I think she's saying, 'Jack, you're right, turquoise is my favorite!'" Emily told him with a smile.
"Can I feel it?"
"You can try," Emily invited. "I'm not sure if she'll do it again."
The next time Hotch came around with the lawn mower, he saw Jack with his hands pressed against Emily's swollen belly, and the two of them were beaming at one another.
There was no way in hell he was going to let Cruz break them up. Not him and Emily, not the team.
He would do everything in his power to make sure that their sweet little family was never broken again.
"Emily?" Jack asked again a few minutes after they'd gone back to reading.
"Yeah, baby?"
"You should try to convince Dad to let me get a dog," Jack said with a toothy, mischievous grin, eyeing up the dog that was walking down the road with its owner. "Can you? Please?"
"Okay," she said after a brief hesitation. She couldn't resist the dimples.
"Really?" he asked, surprised.
"Sure. I'm not making any promises that he'll actually agree, though. But I'll mention it to him."
"I'm super responsible," Jack said convincingly, getting excited. "I take really good care of my hermit crab, and Aunt Jessica says I was a big help with Ketshie last week! I can take care of a puppy, too. I promise."
"How much do you know about taking care of puppies?" Emily inquired.
"Um... not that much," Jack admitted. "But I can learn!"
"Why don't you do some research," Emily suggested. "Your dad will be more likely to listen to you if you can prove that you have some background knowledge. What kind of dog do you want?"
"I don't care! Any dog," he said exasperatedly. "And I want to name him Padfoot! Like Sirius Black, from Harry Potter."
"That's a good name," she told him.
"Did you ever have a dog, Emily?" he asked.
"Yeah, once," she told him, shifting in her seat. "Um, he was an Irish Wolfhound."
"Is that the kind that's part wolf?" Jack asked, his eyes widening.
"No," she said with a laugh. "It's a really big dog, though. Bigger than a Golden Retriever or a Lab, even."
"Is it bigger than a Great Dane?"
"Probably about the same. Maybe a little smaller, but not much."
"What was his name? Where did you get him? How old was he? Did he die?"
Jack's questions went on and on, and Emily folded her page over and shut her book. It certainly didn't seem like she was going to be getting much reading done for the rest of the day, but that was alright, because she didn't mind answering all of Jack's questions at all.
...
Emily and Hotch's second time together was even better than the first, and now, afterwards, Emily was lying in his bed, her bare body glistening with sweat pressed against Hotch's as he gently ghosted his fingers up and down her side.
"I can feel your ribs," he told her with a frown.
She groaned, and her fingers met his. He was right; her ribs were practically protruding.
"I've been losing weight," she told him, biting her lip.
"Emily..." he began, troubled. "How much have you lost?"
"Eight pounds," she said worriedly. "Last time I checked."
"Well, how much have you gained overall? I think sometimes women start losing it again during the third trimester -"
"I think I'm only like five pounds above where I started, which is... probably about what Bean weighs right now."
"Honey, you need to eat more -"
"I've been trying," she said. "But I think she's pressing on my stomach now - I'm never hungry, and I've been kind of nauseated again..."
"Did you talk to the doctor?"
"No. I have an appointment on Tuesday though," she added defensively when he looked like he was about to scold her.
"Maybe you should start eating things that have more protein. You'd get more calories that way, which could help..."
"It's not that I'm not eating, though," she argued. "My intestines are seriously fucked up. I was close to underweight beforehand because they don't work right since Ian, and now it's even harder for me to maintain any weight gain, and I don't know what else to do -"
"Well, don't worry," he said, tugging her tighter against him again and pressing a kiss on her temple. "I'm sure the doctor will know what to do. Tuesday, you said?"
"Yeah. Do you know if... Can you come with?"
He hesitated, which she hadn't expected, and her face fell.
"I'm sorry, I just don't know if that's a good idea with OPR coming to observe us," he apologized. "I know it's important to you that somebody goes with, but this time I don't know if anyone else will be able to get away..." She still looked sad, and he paused. "No, actually, you know what? Fuck them. I'll come with."
"No, Aaron," she protested, slightly surprised to hear him cussing - it was something he didn't do often. "I can go by myself. It's not that big of a deal, and besides, if OPR is going to be there I don't want to give them any extra reasons to think that we can't be professional or whatever - Cruz said they're not supposed to know about us, so -"
"You're right," he agreed regretfully. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. I really wish I could go, but I don't want you to move it back or anything."
"It's okay," she said, pleased to hear that she sounded braver than she felt. "I'll survive one appointment by myself. That's what I had to do in London, anyways. It's not like I've never done it before."
"That's true," he said softly, and she realized it made him a little sad that he hadn't been there with her for the entire duration of her pregnancy.
"Hey," she said, deciding to change the subject. "Jack really wants a puppy."
"Oh no," he groaned, looking down at her. "Not you, too. Trust me, I'm well aware that he wants a puppy."
"I figured, but he asked me to talk to you about it."
"And you agreed?"
"The dimples get me," she admitted. "I'm not telling you either way, trust me. I just told him I'd bring it up."
"I'm just not sure if it'd be a good idea. You know, with the baby on the way and now you just got Ketshie..."
"Well, it's not like we live together," she said with a little frown.
"We could, though," he said.
Emily tensed, surprised, and there was a silence for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry," Hotch apologized then. "I didn't mean to bring it up like that - I've just been thinking about it a little bit lately."
"Really?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yeah. Don't worry about it, though, sweetheart. It was just a thought."
"I'm not... I'm not opposed to it by any means," she told him, noting that for once, he was the one looking insecure. "I'm just not sure... do you think we're ready for that?"
"Maybe not yet, but in a few months, who knows? I think it's something we could think about. But, like I said. Not just yet. And only if you want to."
"I think... Maybe can we talk about it again next month?" she asked, absentmindedly running her fingers up and down his bare chest.
Neither of them were thinking about scars anymore.
"Sure," he agreed, giving her a little smile.
Then she frowned. "That's assuming no transfers or anything happen after OPR investigates us, though... Aaron, do you think they'll really split us up?"
"I don't know," he admitted.
"I'm worried."
"I am, too."
"I just... I can't even imagine breaking the team up," Emily said, biting one of her nails.
"I don't think it'll come to that," Hotch told her, attempting to reassure her even though he wasn't really certain himself.
"Why not?"
"Just a feeling, I guess."
"What are they even going to do? I've never been investigated before. Have you?"
"No," he said, thinking. "I guess they'll probably just stay at the police station or go to crime scenes with whoever and sit in and observe. And I'm sure they'll be in the Round Table Room discussion. They'll probably interview us separately, too."
"That doesn't worry me that much," Emily said cautiously. "We know we're all loyal to each other."
"We're a family," he confirmed. "We won't lose each other even if they do decide to split us up."
"But how can the team even go on if we're split? I don't know how we'd solve anything in time without Reid or Garcia... and imagining the team without you or Morgan is just sort of depressing..."
"I don't think any of them are going anywhere," he told her, still running his fingers up and down her arm. "Reid's the only one that isn't under investigation. And Morgan and Garcia aren't really even in a relationship, they just had a one-night stand."
"Yeah... so they're mostly coming after me and you. And Rossi and JJ."
"I think so."
"What if they did take you off? Would Rossi be the unit chief then?"
"No. We discussed it; he doesn't want the job. You're next in line."
"Me?" she asked, shocked. "What? Why? Not Morgan?"
"You're the most qualified," he explained, chuckling at how surprised she seemed.
Fuck, he's right. When the hell had that happened?
"After running an Interpol office in London for two years, you came back as just a regular supervisory special agent. People wondered why you even accepted the position. I don't think anyone would be surprised for you to be the next chief of the BAU. Except you, apparently," he added with a smile and another kiss to the top of her head.
"I don't want to be unit chief. That's your job," she told him earnestly.
"Well hopefully it won't come to that, alright? But if it did, I'm sure you'd do a wonderful job."
There was a few seconds of silence, and then she said, "You're right. I would be fucking awesome at that job. Best lady-boss in existence."
He laughed. "Definitely. I can see it now, up at the top of the stairs of the bullpen: a nice, fresh nameplate on the door. 'BAU Unit Chief SSA Emily Prentiss.'"
"That does have a ring to it," she said playfully. "Maybe I should take your job. That office is luxurious compared to my desk in the bullpen. It'd be like an upgrade from peasant to queen."
"Please. I thought you were already a queen."
"Oh, stop it," she said, swatting him with a laugh.
"You don't really want my office. You know you'd get way too bored if you were any more than ten feet away from JJ and Reid and Morgan."
"That's very true, actually. I don't know how you sit up there by yourself all day. I'd get distracted playing Farmville or something."
"I prefer Candy Crush, actually," he said, feigning seriousness.
"You know, that doesn't really surprise me," she replied, her tone matching his. "But online Scrabble is the best of all."
"You and JJ still have that ongoing game?"
"Yep," she replied smugly. "Coming up on three years now, actually."
"That's very impressive. Maybe you should consider getting a life."
"You know, I'd be offended, but you're not wrong," she retorted. Then she paused. "Hey, did you notice JJ acting weird today?"
"I did, actually," he replied, brow furrowing. "I thought I was just imagining things. You noticed it, too?"
"Yeah. She seemed really pissy all day, and then just kinda sad on the plane."
"Maybe we should keep an eye on her."
"I think I'll call her tomorrow," Emily said, snuggling in against him. "Maybe we can hang out and I'll try to see what's up."
"That sounds like a good idea. Hey, actually - speaking of tomorrow, do you think Declan would want to come hang out with me and Jack? We were thinking of going to the mall and maybe seeing that new Marvel movie."
"Oh - sure," Emily replied, surprised. "I can call him and ask in the morning, maybe. I'm sure he'd want to if he doesn't have too much homework or rehearsal or anything."
"Rehearsal?"
"Yeah, he's going to be in a musical - didn't I tell you? They're doing The Sound of Music. He's really excited, he gets to play Captain von Trapp." "
"You didn't tell me," he exclaimed. "That's very exciting. When is it?"
"Next month. You want to come see it with me? Tragically Julie Andrews won't be in it, so I understand if you don't want to," she teased.
"Well, normally I'd say it's pointless without Julie Andrews, but I guess if you're going to be there, I can make an exception."
"That's very sweet," she yawned.
"Getting sleepy?"
"Hmm, yeah. You tire me out, Agent Hotchner," she accused.
"Well then go to sleep, Agent Prentiss," he said, kissing her nose. "The door is still locked, right?" he asked, remembering that they were both still naked - he didn't need Jack walking in on that.
"Think so," mumbled Emily.
"Okay. Goodnight, sweetheart."
"Night. I love you."
"I love you, too."
Once again, they drifted peacefully to sleep in each other's arms.
