He was in deep. And quite honestly, when he met her, he didn't think he'd fall so soon. Too many failed dates, too many great opportunities with poor timing, too many people who just wouldn't make the time had passed through his life. Since the divorce, he'd been forced to reckon with solitude and singleness because he found the entire dating process degrading and emotionally draining.
In addition to this, as a working man in his early 50's, it was hard to come across someone who was willing to put up with the long hours and who understood the decisions he had to make as a leader— let alone someone who could make peace with his past. In this line of work, there were so many sacrifices that had to be made, and too often, those sacrifices were a personal life and consistent intimacy with people other than coworkers.
He'd been wanting to find somebody, damn near yearning to share with someone a kind of love that yet hadn't frosted over. But he wasn't going to force it. In fact, a couple years ago, he decided to actively stop searching. It didn't hurt that, at that point in his life, there wasn't a soul he was truly interested in. However, he had faith that the right person would come along at the right time. And finally, on the backs of machete killers, it felt like she was here.
Mendoza had been seeing Emily Prentiss for a little over a month, and he couldn't think of anything he was more thankful for. Her spirit, her laughter, her sarcasm— her everything was a truly a gift. After a stalled start, the two found time for each other between their different work schedules, and on a good week (with minimal case work), they would see each other nearly everyday. Unabashedly, he had grown accustomed to being with her, and he wouldn't soon give this up.
Needless to say, he liked where they were going with this, and he wanted it to continue. Yet, despite a full month of taking things steady, there was a lot left open. He realized when he woke up that very morning, that they had yet to put a label on their relationship. No matter how much flack people could give him about the high-schoolish nature of "titles", he was serious about her.
He wanted her. He wanted them, and although he suspected that she wanted the same thing, he didn't want there to be any confusion about what they were to each other. So he fixed himself to do something about it. Something formal. And as he stood in the shop, perusing the selection, he tried to decide which product he could bring to the discussion that would persuade, if not solidify her decision to his impending proposition.
"We just got these in." Said a short red-haired woman, wearing an apron with the store's name embroidered across the chest,"This arrangement is called Primrose Sunrise."
Mendoza tilted his head and observed. The flower shop attendant was gesturing to an arrangement with bursts of orange complemented by loud yellow flowers and coupled with rich pink buds. He thought it was interesting that every bouquet had a name, and this one was fitting. But while it was lovely on display, he couldn't see it sitting on Emily's desk or holding it in her arms.
"This is nice, but I don't know," He said, "I'm really looking for something a little more… subtle?"
"Absolutely!" The woman exclaimed, "You should definitely check these out."
He followed her over to the opposite side of the shop where there were a few baskets of roses with ribbons. Full and particular, the soft pinks and creamy whites of the petals were offset with delicate, fern-like leaves. Mendoza nodded. This one was agreeable and, more importantly, it had the potential to encapsulate his intention.
"What's this one called?" He asked.
"A Thousand Times Yes." The attendant said with a smile, "It's one of our popular wedding arrangements."
At the mention of a wedding, Mendoza's face blanched. There would be no way for Emily to know it, but he couldn't in his right mind purchase it for this occasion or confidently offer it to her whilst knowing it was a bridal bouquet. In the back of his mind, it would be over-presumptuous, if not entirely inappropriate for what he hoped to achieve. The man could acknowledge that he was in deep, but maybe not that deep. Not quite yet.
"Uh… Do you have something similar?" He questioned, "Perhaps one that doesn't have a history of being tossed to a group of bridesmaids?"
The red-haired woman giggled,"If you want, I can help you customize a bouquet. In my experience, personalizing the arrangement always helps make the presentation a little more special."
"Yea…" He breathed, almost in relief. In all honesty, it hadn't occurred to him that customization was an option, but as he picked up bundle of full, blush pink roses, he could finally see how the bouquet— Emily's bouquet would come to life,"Let's start with these…"
About half an hour later, after picking flowers and taking the attendant's advice and watching her arrange everything in a nice little vase, Mendoza left the shop with a simple, elegant bouquet of flowers. He felt proud, like he really accomplished something, and was now one step closer to (hopefully) achieving an even greater goal.
Fixing the arrangement in his backseat, the man hopped in his car and started on the highway to Quantico. He hadn't planned much in the ways of what he was going to say or how he was gonna say it, but he was incredibly eager to present his gift to her. He was also unbelievably nervous because he knew how Emily could be; a bit dodgy to protect herself, unadmittedly afraid to make personal commitments. As he prepared to do this, scaring her away is the last thing he would want to do.
Before long, Mendoza arrived at the FBI campus and, with her bouquet in hand, was on the elevator up to the sixth floor. The bell dinged, he took a deep breath and exited through the stainless steel doors. Upon entering the BAU, his eyes panned over the bullpen in search of her. She didn't seem to be in the hub of the unit, so he decided to pay a visit to her office. However, before he could even reach the stairs leading to her door, he ran into some members of her team.
The sporty blonde and a tall, brown-skinned woman arose from their desks and approached,"Hey! Mendoza, right?"
"Yea, yea, ah— agent Tara Lewis?" Mendoza reached out his free hand and gave her and JJ a cordial shake,"You can call me Andrew by the way."
"How've you been?" Tara asked,"We haven't see you since you took a machete to the abdomen all those weeks ago."
"I've been great. Work's been treating me well since that incident, and I've slowly been getting back into the field and uh…— I've got a good work/life balance going on." As he spoke, his eyes periodically drifted over their shoulders to Emily's office window. Seeing the blinds were shut, his investigation yelled no answer. It was impossible to tell whether she was in or not. "Forgive me for not asking. How have you two been?"
The two agents passed each other sneaky side-glances and smirks. It was clear that the Washington District Unit Chief wasn't here to chat it up with them. (The bundles of flowers tucked snuggly into his arm weren't that inconspicuous.) But they found it highly amusing, and an admirable quality of his character that he was taking the time to shoot the breeze.
"Oh, I've been great." Tara declared,"Single, independent Black womanhood is doing me well. What about you Jayge?"
"You know how it is, working for that government dollar." JJ responded,"I'm just lucky to have the boys and Will to keep me sane though it all."
At this moment, the women were having a bit of fun with him, dragging out the small talk to see if he would give up any extra information freely.
The fact of the matter was, they all — including the men of the team — suspected Emily was seeing someone, but respected her privacy enough not to ask about it until she felt comfortable to share. They had to keep Garcia from snooping into her phone records to find out exactly who this person was inorganically, but JJ definitely had her suspicions when her friend "couldn't make girls night" for the 2nd time in a row and skipped out for some personal time. Tara took notice that Emily just didn't seem as tense and as stressed as usual.
For the longest time, they all assumed it was therapy— after getting kidnapped and tortured a couple summers ago and handling the internal and external pressure of Reid's time in prison (in all love and respect) a couple counseling sessions wouldn't've have been a bad idea. However, after a couple of unusually late mornings in, and a few quick office make-up fixes right before the roundtable meetings, it wasn't hard to guess that she was boo'd up with somebody.
Either she was scandalously seeing her therapist, or, as it was now apparent, she was keeping her crush on the tall, dulcet speaking unit chief deep under wraps. It was exciting for Tara and JJ to find out the truth, and equally as thrilling since they hadn't had a case pop up all day today. Having their friend's mystery man bring an incredible bouquet to the office was something they were absolutely going to pause their workday for.
Mendoza smiled,"I'm glad you ladies have been doing well—"
"Those are beautiful, by the way." JJ cut to the chase, her palms openly gesturing to the flowers.
Tara stifled a snicker,"Are they for anyone in particular…. Or you just wanted to give the Serial Killer Unit a cheery bunch if roses to express your gratitude?"
"Aha, no actually, these are for Emily." Mendoza confessed, and on queue, the women tossed each other another a playful and mischievous glance. The man, however, was too focused on the door with Emily's name placard on it to notice,"Is she in her office?"
"She is." Tara assure him, "She's in a meeting with an agent right now, but she should be done shortly…"
"Is it something we can give her for you?" JJ offered.
Mendoza smiled but shook his head,"As much as I wouldn't hesitate to take you up on that, I also have a question I want to ask her."
"Oh?" Tara and JJ said nearly in unison.
"Yeah, I don't think it would go over too well if I asked her to be my girlfriend secondhand through someone else." He joked.
Their jaws dropped.
It came as a huge surprise to the two of them, as it probably would to the rest of the team, that Mendoza was gunning for position number one. They'd just confirmed that he was the mysterious love interest in Emily's life, and now, suddenly, he was treading in the waters of a legitimate relationship. For the two women, there was nothing to feel but shock and curiosity.
"So you two are getting serious serious?" Tara mused.
Mendoza shrugged, "I guess you could say that, but I don't want to presume anything."
JJ nodded. All too well, she was familiar with Emily's history of putting off suitors, and trading out their chances with her for work-related achievements. Perhaps it was for lack of interest, but in addition to that, this job demanded so much. And as their Unit Chief, Prentiss gave of herself endlessly. Where in an 80 hour work week was there truly time to focus on building personal relationships?
This was a huge reason why their team was so close, a huge factor in why many FBI agents eventually met their life partners within their very workspace. Hell, it was how she met Will. But having the BAU family for love and support was one thing; having one specific person to love and be loved by was quite another. Loneliness was easy to come by in this line of work, and she wouldn't wish a perpetual state of being alone on anyone. Especially not on one of her best friends.
"Well, this is — exciting!" JJ bubbled over.
"What's exciting?" The three agents heard the voice of the Unit Chief from behind them.
Whipping around, they watched as a desk-working agent routinely made his way down the stairs from her office. Emily stood at the edge of the catwalk, and peered over into the bullpen with a questioning expression across her face. Tara and JJ immediately zipped their lips, as their gaze darted to Mendoza who was now smiling ear to ear upon seeing Prentiss for the first time that day.
Emily had a case file in hand, which it seemed she had intended to continue reviewing, but when she realized who the additional person among her BAU agents was, both the case file and her quizzical expression, dropped. Shock encouraged her face to grow paler than ever.
"Hey." Andrew greeted her from across the bullpen, but didn't move towards her until she invited him.
"Unit Chief Mendoza—" She managed awkwardly as she kneeled over to pick up her fallen file folders,"Can you— come to my office. Now, please."
Emily turned, and immediately entered back into her office, but left the door open so that he could also enter. Before leaving their presence, Mendoza briefly returned his attention to Tara and JJ who seemed to be fielding the energy of secondhand embarrassment. He offered them a farewell nod, to which Tara popped a thumbs up while JJ mouthed a "Good luck!". Then, he carried himself and the flowers away.
When he arrived, Emily was directly behind the door and promptly pushed it closed, as soon as he landed inside. She leaned against the wall, and trailed her fingers through her hair. For some reason, she was finding it hard to gather her thoughts on this. Had it been so slow a day that his sudden appearance managed to catch her off guard? Perhaps. And certainly, she wasn't one for surprises or pageantry, but it seemed that both had arrived at her doorstep.
"What are you doing here?" She asked in a hushed tone.
"I came to say hello." Mendoza said. Meeting her in the corner of the room, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Emily received it, and his touch seemed to warm her up to his presence, and helped to shatter the uncharacteristic ice in her greeting, "Hello…" He whispered as he looked in her eyes.
"Hello." She repeated gently with a smile. A pressing question was soon to follow,"Didn't we agree not to show up at each other's workplace unannounced?"
"We did." Mendoza replied, "And then I decided that I absolutely had to bring you these flowers."
Emily blinked, her gaze shifting to the roses and assorted petals he held in his arm. Although it was very obviously a huge bouquet of flowers, she had been so embarrassed that her friends had finally found out her secret, that she hadn't paid much attention to it nearly as much as she'd paid attention to the look across everyone's faces.
He handed them to her, and instant she was filled with appreciation— and also suspicion. The flowers were really beautiful, and Emily knew she didn't have anything negative to worry about. However, seeing as Andrew hadn't done anything like it since they'd been together, the gesture did raise some alarms. Of course, it was too early in their courtship— and certainly too charming of a gift to label any of this as a red flag, so she quelled her intuition until he revealed his reasoning a little bit more.
"Thank you…" She said. Taking the arrangement from his hands, she walked over to her desk and placed the vase down on to the cherrywood,"They look lovely right next to this pile of crime scene photos."
He chuckled, "I'm glad you like them."
"You know you could've just had these delivered." said Emily.
"And skip out on the opportunity to see the look of fear and surprise in your eyes when you received them? I think not." Mendoza joked.
Emily shook her head. As he came up behind her at her desk, snaked his arms around her waist and kissed her neck gently, it was clear that he wasn't here to play delivery man. In the middle of this tedious day, it felt good to be wrapped in his arms, the warmth of his body enveloping her. But even though her blinds were closed, Emily couldn't help but felt self-conscious about receiving this sort of affection in the workplace— flowers, kisses and all.
"You're gonna get me in trouble." She attempted to resist his embrace.
Mendoza placed another kiss on her jawline,"With who? You're the boss."
"The longer you're up here…" She spoke, suppressing winces of pleasure,"The longer my team has to think that we're doing something unprofessional…"
Handling her with care, he turned her around in his arms to face him, "Hey," He said softly, "Would you stop thinking about your team for two seconds? I have something I want to tell you."
"Then tell me." Her shoulders raised in impatience.
Looking into her big brown eyes, Mendoza saw they were filled with more than curiosity and wonder. He saw all the moments they shared so far, reflected back to him. The mornings breakfasts, the walks in the park, conversations that spun late into the night, the finally-have-a-moment-to-see-you dinners. He wanted it all and more. She balanced him. She made him happy. Deep down, he felt she belonged with him.
And maybe this was a little fast, but if he didn't take this risk, he'd never know if it could go anywhere else. He brought his hand to her cheek and she cocked her head, to lean into it. It gave him the confidence to say what he wanted to say, ensuring him that the space was there in her heart to accept it.
"Emily, I like who I am with you. And, I want to be with you." He spoke, and gave proper pause for her to process every word he was saying,"I want you to know where I'm at, because I don't think I'm anywhere close to being ready to give this up. So… I wanted to ask you, formally, if you would accept my offer to be your boyfriend."
Prentiss was fighting to keep her cheeks from blushing, but her chest was emblazoned with heat and no matter how hard she tried, she could feel the color slowly rising to her face. She couldn't panic because she was still in his arms and ultimately, he made her feel calm, but what he was saying was so— heavy.
Having not been in a relationship for so long, it seemed strange that someone would want to do this— to ask her to be with them, with the intention of actually staying for a while. Hook ups and short term relationships had become her norm, her vice. But with him… it was different. It had the potential to be something serious, and at this point in time, quite earnestly— she did want to pursue it. Even if this meant pushing down her old habits and hesitations.
Looking at the bouquet once more, Emily knew it would be so foolish to decline— if not completely and utterly stupid to back out of everything she'd been enjoying with him lately all because he wanted to put a title on it. This was someone for her, someone whom she'd grown fond of over the past few weeks. And he was not asking her to be his, but unconventionally asking permission for him to be her's.
"Okay…" She said lowly, a twinkle in her eyes.
"Okay?" Mendoza parroted her response in astonishment.
"Yes, Andrew," She grinned,"I accept your offer."
Without wasting another second, Mendoza smiled, then pecked a loving kiss against her lips. He felt elated and relieved. No more guesswork, they were officially in this. Together. And while they didn't yet know everything that being exclusive would hold for them, he was overly content to at least know that this meant they had more time. Time to share, explore and experience with one another.
Leaning away only in the slightest, he observed the vase, still situated on top of her desk,"So, I guess you're supposed to name flower arrangements…"
Emily raised her eyebrows,"And why do I feel like you have something corny in mind for this one already?"
"I mean…" Mendoza said with shrug, "I was thinking 'Unit Chief Agreement'."
Tickled by how awful and on the nose his first suggestion was, Emily burst into laughter, "That sounds like the title of a confidential document. Try again."
"Okay, what about 'Bloom-doza and Petal-ly Prentiss?' "
She scrunched her nose,"Ugh, Somehow I think you could do worse."
"Challenge accepted." He said, "What about "FB-I love you's'?"
At his third attempt at a floral nomenclature, Mendoza and Prenitss both shared a chuckle which evolved into full laughter. In a way, this was their consensus, officially deciding that this would be title for her particular bouquet.
After spending a few more moments, and going over when they would see each other next, Mendoza exited her office. He passed by the two women from earlier, who's group had added a third in Penelope Garcia. They all pretended to be occupied, doing work and shuffling files around, but Mendoza was hard to fool. Given Emily's concerns and their critical interest in him many minutes ago, he fully expected that they were watching and waiting on the results.
Tara was the first to glance up, and shoot him a look of questioning. Mendoza simply nodded and winked, and was confident it conveyed the success of his meeting with the curious agent. Unbeknownst to him, as soon as he was outside of the glass doors, all three women would eagerly scramble their way up the stairs to hear about the juicy details from their professional superior and friend.
Yet, even if word spread quickly— even if it weren't by his mouth, he would be proud to have anyone know. Especially, those close to each of them. Emily and Andrew could officially call themselves a couple, and, to him, it only seemed right that good news like that got passed around.
A/N: okayy! writing these chapters has been really fun because i find that i'm discovering more of who Mendoza is as a character... and idk, that's really nice because he didn't have a chance to get fleshed out enough in the series. definitely, hoping to really dig deeper into his divorce and his "past" at some point in this collection. that and more prendoza fluff cause uWu THEY uWu. alright. until next time! xoxo