Hotch sighed as he settled into the room he was sharing with Dave. The team had just finished a case in a small town in Arkansas however they were unable to fly back until the next morning. The local hotel had only had three rooms available forcing them to double up while on this case.

It had been a long ten days for the team. They had been back at Quantico for less than a day after finishing their case in Miami when they were called about this urgent case in Arkansas that they just closed earlier that day.

To Hotch it felt longer than ten days. He missed Jack having missed several dinners in a row while the team was away. As long as the team didn't get called back out again, he was looking forward to having dinner with him the next evening and hearing all of the new updates from preschool and the playground that he had missed.

Tomorrow after he returned Jack to Haley after dinner, Hotch was planning to meet up with Emily. Since they had had their talk and agreed to give them a chance, they had had very little time alone together. Their days had been spent focused on the case with the team. They had exchanged text messages each night after the team had retired to their respective rooms but unfortunately that had been the extent of their private interactions.

After these back to back cases and then being stuck for an extra night in Arkansas, Hotch had been happy to share with the team that earlier he had arranged for them to have a few days off that encompassed the following weekend. It had been a while since the team had had a few days and they could all use some time to decompress.

Hotch planned on spending as much time as he could with Jack. His weekend visitation would be then and he was already planning some fun activities for them.

After the announcement, he had exchanged messages with Emily about spending time together while they were off as well. He was rather confused when she suggested he come over and help her cook. He had spent more time than he was willing to admit wondering if she actually wanted his help cooking or if it was a euphemism for something else. His inter profiler told him that it was actually cooking but he had no idea what she would be cooking that late on a Thursday night. Whatever it was he was looking forward to spending some time with her.

But first they needed to get through this night. As he moved towards the TV to turn on the football game, Dave started grousing at him before mumbling about his editor and a chapter for his next book as he attempted to find a comfortable position on the bed with his laptop. The no frills rooms in this hotel had no other furniture other than the two beds and a TV stand.

Having seen Dave in this mood before Hotch decided to remove himself from the room after Dave questioned how was he supposed to be able to write without scotch. Unfortunately for them local laws prohibited the sale of alcohol.

Crossing the hall, Hotch knocked on the door of the room where Morgan and Reid were staying. A minute or two after he knocked, he heard rustling on the other side of the door just before it opened to an amused Morgan who greeted him, "hey Hotch, would you like to come in?"

Hotch was relieved that the tension between the two of them had dissipated. After they had returned to Quantico after Miami, Hotch had called him into his office to discuss the call he had made on that case.

It was then that Hotch discovered the whole story of why he had gone in with the local detective instead of waiting for the rest of the team. While concerned with the risks of the approach Morgan had taken, Hotch accepted with the detective's decision not to wait, it would have been riskier for the civilians and law enforcement who were there if he hadn't acted.

Hotch nodded and answered, "please. Rossi is working on his next book and is irritated about the lack of alcohol. I thought it best to get out of his line of fire. Are you watching the game?" as he stepped into the room. However he quickly noticed that Emily and Reid were lying on the beds in the room in the identical position on their stomach with the knees bent and ankles crossed up in the air. Their gaze remaining focused on the TV in front of them watching what was most definitely not a football game.

Even with that observation Hotch could feel himself smile as he saw them. It had been difficult to see the recent tension between the two close friends. While not as bad as it had been after Reid's kidnapping over a year earlier, he along with the others had been relieved when things had improved between them. Somewhere along the line, they had made peace and were now back to hanging out together.

Morgan nodded as he gestured to the other room, "Jayje and I are watching the game over there. The nerds are over here watching Star Wars."

The words had no sooner left his mouth when they heard in unison from the beds, "Star Trek." while neither Emily or Reid looked away from the TV.

Morgan chuckled, "I'm sorry Star Trek" as they walked through the doorway of the connecting room. Just before he went to the other room, Emily turned to face him and smiled. He smiled and nodded back to her before Morgan could be heard calling out to him.

As Hotch entered the room he saw JJ sitting up against the headboard on one of the beds. Morgan sat down on the floor, leaning up against the bottom of the same bed. After surveying the lack of other options, Hotch walked over and sat up against the headboard on the other bed.

####

Emily yawned as the credits for another episode rolled over the screen. She rolled over before standing up and stretching as Reid looked at her. Glancing back at him she said, "it was fun to hang out with you tonight Spencer but I need to get some sleep."

He stood up and stopped in front of her awkwardly answering, "yeah I've missed this. I think I'm going to go to bed as well." Watching their favorite sci-fi shows had been a regular occurrence when he had been staying with her as well as other times since.

Bidding him goodnight, she walked over to the door and into the room she was sharing with JJ. As she entered the room, she saw that the group was still engrossed in the game. At a break in between plays JJ glanced over at her before asking, "you done?"

Emily nodded as she yawned, "yes. I'm about ready for bed."

Morgan sprung up from his place on the floor before asking, "do you want us to leave?"

Emily shook her head, answering, "no go ahead and watch. I still need to take a shower and get ready for bed. There is only 20 minutes left in the game. I can wait that long" as she gestured to the screen. After grabbing her bag, she headed into the bathroom.

When she walked out 25 minutes later she was surprised to see everyone still in the room with only a eight minute difference on the game clock. When he saw her standing there looking confused at the screen, Morgan commented, "since you went in there they have had one play, an injury and two timeouts. Do you want us to go into the other room?"

Emily sighed as she noticed through the adjoining door that the light was now off and Reid was already in his bed. Shaking her head she walked across the room to her bed as she answered, "no no need as long as you don't mind me going to bed." As she reached the side of the bed, she dropped her bag on the floor before approaching the bed.

Hotch stopped as he shifted to get off the bed when she shook her head and stated quietly, "no need to move. I'm going to sleep on this side anyway." while exchanging a look as both resisted the urge to reach out to the other.

Hotch looked at her skeptically knowing from experience that that side was not the one where she preferred to sleep. But with the others in the room, he couldn't reveal that he was aware of that bit of information without it raising more questions than he knew either of them were ready for at this point.

As Emily settled into bed, curling up away from him on the bed facing the wall, Hotch tried to distract himself with the game. With how little time they had been able to spend together since their talk he was finding it difficult to be this close to her yet unable to touch her at all. His self control was further tested when the game went into overtime which had Hotch sitting on the bed next to Emily as she slept longer than expected.

As overtime progressed he felt the bed move. Glancing over, he observed Emily turning over in her sleep. It was only a couple minutes later that he could sense without looking over that she had moved closer to him.

It wasn't until he could feel that she was almost curled up against his leg that he looked over at her. Not wanting things to become uncomfortable, he went to move off the bed. That was until he looked at the peaceful look on her face as she sighed in her sleep. Peaceful in a way that he had not seen from her in a while.

And after this case, he was hesitant to upset any peace that she had found especially since he had needed to remain her boss throughout the case. Not wanting to draw attention, he reluctantly turned back to trying to pay attention to the game.

However, it didn't take long for the others to notice. As he moved from his spot on the floor to stretch Morgan stared over at them before saying, "that is the most relaxed I've seen her in weeks."

That observation drew JJ's attention from her spot on the other bed. She nodded as she replied, "yeah this last case was hard. I'm glad she is able to rest now that we caught them." Having shared a room during the case, JJ was more aware than the others of Emily's insomnia during the case as well as the limited sleep she had gotten had been restless.

While uneasy for the team to see them on her bed like this, their observations about Emily precluded him from moving, wanting to believe that it was his presence that was contributing to her calm sleep tonight. That their talk had a similar effect on her as it had on him.

Before he could consider it anymore, the game ended. It was time for him to get up and leave as JJ and Morgan commented about being ready to go to bed too. Leaving Emily for the night and going back to his room was unfortunate yet necessary. After looking over at her one more time, he sighed and stood before quietly saying goodnight to Morgan and JJ as well as reminding them when they were meeting to leave in the morning.

Sighing as he stepped out of the room to head back to his own room, Hotch hoped that Dave hadn't hit a productive stride with his writing or that he was still grumbling about the lack of alcohol as either would affect Hotch's ability to get to bed as well. He did want to try and get some sleep before the team flew back the next day with a guaranteed full inbox when he arrived that he wanted to make a dent in before it was time to see Jack and then Emily.

####

After Hotch left and Morgan went back through the adjoining door to the room he was sharing with Reid, JJ got ready for bed before sitting back on her bed with her cellphone. It had been little than two weeks since she and Will had agreed to become official. However it had also been almost two weeks since she had seen Will thanks to the team's back to back cases. While they had spoken even those conversations had been infrequent and short due not only to her responsibilities with the team but also Will's with his own job.

But now that their case was done, she and Will had been texting off and on most of the night as they made plans for JJ's visit to New Orleans during the team's time off coming up.

As she waited for a response back from Will, JJ noticed Emily becoming restless on the bed next to her. As she watched her friend attempt to settle, JJ wondered if her earlier peaceful sleep had just been a temporary reprieve.

It was then that JJ noticed that Emily stopped moving. When she looked over at the bed, the peaceful look was back on Emily's face. It was then that JJ noticed that Emily was now cuddled up with the pillow that Hotch had been using as he sat on the bed.

JJ cocked her head but before she could read too much into what she was seeing, her phone beeped with the response from Will. They talked for a few more minutes before JJ said goodnight after yawning five times in two minutes.

As she settled on her bed, JJ considered how thankful she was to Emily for that small final push in the Miami police station. The push that had JJ chase after Will suddenly realizing that she didn't want him to walk away from her forever.

It hadn't even bothered her too much to find out on the flight back to Quantico that Reid, Morgan and Emily had all known for a while that she had been seeing Will since shortly after their case in New Orleans. She had rolled her eyes when she learned that they had had bets on how long it would take her to admit the relationship.

Of course they had taken out bets. She found it somewhat annoying however given how many betting pools she had participated in since coming to the BAU, she couldn't be too upset with them.

Any annoyance she had felt quickly dissipated when an animated argument between Morgan and Emily started when it was revealed that Emily won the bet. According to Morgan she had cheated because she had made that push to JJ. Reid had interjected that none of them had any idea until they arrived that Will was even going to be there. The argument had ended when JJ had added that without Emily's push she would have let Will walk out of the station which most likely would have resulted in no relationship so as far as she was concerned, her and Will were the real winners.

When the time on the clock caught her eye, she groaned at the late hour knowing the early meet time the next morning. After putting down her phone, she turned over, trying to get some sleep.

AN: The next chapter is already started. It will be an evening of Hotch and Emily cooking together. I'll post as soon as it's ready.