A/N: So this chapter takes place right before the episode of 3x14. You'll notice that Paget Brewster's hairstyle changes slightly in the episode, so I incorporated that into the chapter. For those wondering, this is the chapter where Devon and Hotch meet. Hope you all enjoy and please review if you get a chance. I'd love to know what you think. :)
Late March 2008
As Emily strolled hand in hand with Devon through the carpark, a broad smile emerged, revealing the tiny dimples at the corners of her mouth. "You're gonna get smashed you know… I'm the best bowler in my family," she bragged. Without fail, her mother always lost her temper within the first 5 minutes of the game, and her father had the worst aim Emily had ever witnessed.
"Is that so?" Devon asked whilst pulling the brunette into his side and kissing the top of her curly hair, "what about the rest of your team? You sure you can beat them?"
What a great question… As she thought more about it, Emily realised her team were the most competitive people she knew.
Spencer, she'd beat no problem. It was a given fact the poor kid had terrible coordination when it came to sport, but in saying that, the dude could potentially win just by calculating some probabilities. If Emily had to pick, Derek and Penelope were definitely the most competitive out of the entire team. JJ had an incredibly wild streak to her as well; Emily had seen the blonde win dart games at night clubs time and time again, so a game of bowling should be a piece of cake for her. And if she had to hazard a guess, Hotch would have some sort of experience under his belt. And Rossi, well… Emily didn't have a clue about.
"I'm most definitely going to try. I like a good challenge. Just a heads up..." She brushed a piece of her long hair away that had blown in her face, "they are all competitive."
Devon held the door open, and Emily practically sprinted over to JJ to give her the biggest bear hug, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JJ!"
Though short of breath, the blonde couldn't help but beam in delight, "thanks, Emily! Oh wow…" She glanced at the brunette's new hairdo. Even JJ had to admit, bangs suited Emily. "I love the hair!"
Emily self-consciously smoothed a hand through her new locks. When the hairdresser first suggested bangs, Emily immediately scoffed and flashed back to her turbulent adolescence. In the end, after contemplating between a pixie cut or hair dye, Emily opted for a simplistic change. She didn't think she rocked the bangs, but people's reactions were saying otherwise.
She passed JJ a small gift bag, "Oh Emily, you didn't have to…"
"JJ, your turning 30! It's a big occasion, so of course, I brought you a gift." The blonde pulled the woman in for another long hug, before turning her attention to the bag. Her mouth almost dropped open as her hand traced over a gold necklace with a tiny glass pendant attached.
"It's beautiful…" She stuttered. "I really wasn't expecting you to buy me something as extravagant as this."
Emily smiled, locking hands with Devon who finally caught up to her, "it really isn't a problem. You deserve it…"
JJ glanced up to see Emily's boyfriend and her mouth erupted into an even wider smile. "You must be Devon." The blonde held out a hand, "it's so good to finally meet you. Emily has told us great things."
"I've heard a lot about you guys too," Devon said, shaking JJ's hand. "Thanks for inviting me here tonight."
"How could I say no? Emily is practically miserable without you around," JJ joked to which the brunette simply rolled her eyes.
"OH… that's an exaggeration. I don't weep and hide under the table whenever you're not in earshot." Before JJ made some other awkward comment about her or Devon, Emily gently squeezed his hand, "come with me, I'll introduce you to the rest of my team…"
The brunette spotted everyone else hanging out near the gaming area. Derek and Penelope were over by one of the toy machines, attempting to grab a stuffed animal -presumably for the tech analyst. Hotch and Rossi looked busy having a conversation while Spencer tried explaining to Derek the unlikely probabilities of retrieving one of the toys.
"Devon, this is David Rossi and Aaron Hotchner."
Hotch paused mid-speech when Prentiss approached himself and Rossi from what seemed out of nowhere. The first thing that struck him was her new bangs; they really made her face look more rounded. He liked her appearance before the big change, but now he could have sworn she looked even more stunning. Adding to her curled hair for the evening, she also had the perfect amount of make-up to go along with a tight pair of denim jeans and a black long-sleeved shirt.
Hotch quickly peeled his eyes from the brunette after a few seconds to acknowledge the man standing next to her. Black blouse, shiny polished shoes, loose pair of grey jeans, and hair nicely combed for the occasion. From his appearance, he seemed like a nice guy and a good fit for Prentiss. But like everybody Hotch met, trust would have to be gained. Even though Hotch had heard good stories about Devon from the brunette, you never knew one's true nature until you spent some time with them.
After forcing a friendly smile to Devon, he held out his hand. "Nice to meet you, Devon."
"Likewise."
Hotch couldn't remember when it started, but he noticed his stomach tumbled a little more every time he saw Prentiss. Yes, he'd always found the woman attractive, and Hotch wasn't about to deny that. How could any man deny that? But he never thought it would get to the point where he had occasional thoughts and feelings towards her. It had been challenging to push everything to the back of his mind because there was no way in hell he could act upon them. Not when he was in the midst of a divorce and Prentiss was in a relationship. And not to mention him as her boss…
He could only imagine the harsh scrutiny from everyone.
After a brief conversation on sport with Rossi, Emily guided Devon to Penelope, Derek, and Spencer in the gaming corner. Hotch let his eyes hang on the brunette for a little moment longer, before turning back to his partner. Unfortunately, his gaze didn't go unnoticed by Rossi, who had secretly been observing Hotch's every expression. The Italian shot him a daring look.
"She's looking good tonight…"
Aaron felt heat rising to his cheeks. The last thing the team needed to know was his guilty secret- let alone Rossi, who would never let him live it down. He knew how wrong it was to have those sorts of thoughts about Prentiss, especially with her boyfriend present. And Aaron felt awful about it. Then there was also Haley to consider. They hadn't even divorced yet, and he was already thinking about another woman.
Hotch cleared his dry throat, wanting to get off the romance subject before it became too awkward. "So, when was the last time that you played a game of bowling?"
Rossi squinted his eyes at the man for a moment longer, slightly chuckling to himself. It was darn obvious the guy felt something for the brunette, and Rossi never would have noticed if it weren't for the subtle ogling Hotch sent in her direction. With marriage to three women, a career as a highly successful profiler and knowing Aaron for years… Rossi knew that look.
As curious as he was learning about Hotch's little 'infatuation' with Emily, Rossi decided to not push the subject any further. There would be plenty of opportunity in the future to inquire more. "Ah… Let me see… Not for a long time."
Hotch raised an eyebrow, "come on, not even in semi-retirement? People your age like to bowl, don't they?"
Rossi looked at Hotch in disbelief, "Aaron, how old do you think I am?" He asked, pointing to his chest, "my grandmother played lawn bowls… But uh-uh, not I." A smirk crept up onto Hotch's face, it always amused him seeing the older Italian get pissed off. "I am a modern man…"
"You think you'll win?"
The older of the two squinted one eye, "It's been a while, but I've got a few tricks up my sleeve, Aaron, just wait and see."
After Derek finally retrieved a plush little red teddy bear for Penelope, everybody stuck on their bowling shoes and travelled over to their assigned lanes. Morgan, Reid, Penelope, and JJ were assigned to one lane while Emily, Rossi, Devon and Hotch banded together at the other one. Hotch and Morgan were the first up to bowl. "Come on, my chocolate sculpted thunder, you can do this! I believe in you!" Penelope shouted towards Morgan, busy choosing a suitable ball.
"You know I've got your back, baby girl…"
Prentiss raised a brow, eavesdropping, "so we're teaming up now?"
JJ shrugged a shoulder, "I guess so, no pressure."
Hotch scowled when his first bowl rolled into the gutter while Morgan managed to knock down 5 out of the 10 pins. "Unlucky Aaron, guess you're a bit out of practice," Rossi stated as Hotch returned to collect a second ball.
"It's been a while…" he muttered back. Fortunately for Hotch, the second try was much more successful, managing to knock down around 8 pins. It wasn't a strike, but Hotch would take it. Morgan's second ball, on the other hand, completely missed all the remaining pins standing.
Derek threw his head back in frustration and closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. "Baby…" Penelope said grief-stricken, "where's that strike I asked for?" Derek turned around, letting his hands rest on the woman's shoulders.
"I'm just warming up… Don't go pitying my parade just yet."
Next up was Devon and JJ. Emily's mouth nearly dropped open in awe as her boyfriend managed to down 9 out of the 10 pins. "Oh, honey… You were so close!" Emily glanced over to JJ, who had rolled the ball straight into the gutter. "Better luck next time JJ!"
Devon scored the first spare of the game, while JJ managed to collect 4 points. Emily hi-fived him before planting a short kiss to his lips. "You're up Prentiss…" Hotch stated, trying not to stare at his subordinate snogging her boyfriend for any longer than he already had.
She looked over to the other lane to see she was up against Reid. Emily felt terrible for laughing, but it was so amusing watching the guy fling his arms back and forth to get the perfect aim. The woman swung her arm around and released when she found the ideal pathway, scowling when she got a split. There was nothing worse than having two pins left on either side of the lane.
"Hard luck, Reid," Emily sympathised as his first ball flew into the gutter. Morgan, as kind as he was, lectured Reid on how to bowl correctly. It was funny, you'd think that coming from Vegas meant Reid had every opportunity to get good at 10 pin bowling, but obviously that had not been the case.
"You got it, pretty boy?"
"Yeah, I got it!" Reid muttered back in a high pitch, slightly embarrassed. Morgan held his hands up in defence and stood back as Reid threw his second ball, this time managing to score 2 points.
Last to go up against each other were Rossi and Penelope. Penelope managed to score a strike on the first go to everybody's surprise, causing everybody to cheer for the tech analyst. JJ and Emily ran full speed into the woman, hugging her tightly. "OMG PG, THAT WAS AMAZING!" the brunette shouted over the loud music.
Morgan strolled past, hi-fiving his baby girl. "Shot Penelope! When did you get so good?"
"I um… I used to play quite often growing up with friends." She stated with a smile, "I guess you could say that I've had some practice."
Emily muttered under her breath, "damn I wish you were on our team…" She turned to Rossi, noticing that he had knocked down 7 pins. Nobody had really seen his small victory as all eyes and ears had swarmed to the tech analyst.
A few more bowls into the game, a waitress strolled past the two lanes, taking orders for drinks. JJ chose champagne as her birthday drink, and naturally, everyone else did too. Apart from Rossi and Hotch, who decided that beer would be more their taste.
By the end of the game, the final points started revealing themselves on the screens. Penelope cheered in happiness, scoring a total of 128 points, followed closely by Devon with 116. A frown made itself known on the brunette, angry at herself for only managing to score a total of 90. "And you said that you were better than me, huh?" Devon bragged, causing Emily to jab him in the ribs with an elbow.
Even Hotch had scored better than her, with a delicate value of 103 points. "Even I must admit, my aim tonight was terrible. You'd wonder why they selected me for the job." She muttered in Hotch's direction.
He looked up from taking off his bowling shoes and let out a smirk, "I'd be concerned too, if I were you, Prentiss." In saying that, the woman hadn't done as poorly as she thought she did. Emily had scored a few spares and came extremely close to a couple of strikes. And if it weren't for a few gutter balls here and there, she probably would have gotten a higher score.
Emily chuckled at her boss' joke and rolled her eyes. She turned her attention back to Devon, letting him peck a kiss on the tip of her nose, "you did well tonight, honey. I should have known that you'd beat me… After all, bowling is quite popular in England, am I wrong?"
The man cocked his head from side to side, "Not entirely… There is a tradition in my family, though. Whoever loses has to pay for dinner."
Emily scowled, dropping her mouth to the ground. "What? We never agreed to that."
A/N: What did you guys think? Let me know in a review. Thanks for reading!