"You must be exhausted..." Emily said with a sympathetic smile and a kiss on the back of Dawn's neck as she wrapped her arms around her waist from behind. "Your first week as Chief of Surgery and there's a city-wide terror alert..." She rested her chin on Dawn's shoulder, feeling unusually affectionate, possibly from the adrenaline still coursing through her system.

"The ER was an absolute nightmare," she remarked wearily. She turned in Emily's arms, leaned in for a gentle kiss. "Do you ever worry?" she asked after a moment of comfortable silence, almost apropos of nothing.

She raised a brow. "Could you be more specific?"

"You could have died today," Dawn said pointedly. She released Emily from her embrace so that she could pace. "Doesn't that bother you?" This wasn't exactly new information – she'd known Emily's job was dangerous from the moment they'd first met – but the reality of it was hard to ignore in that moment after having seen the undeniable proof of it with her own eyes.

Emily shrugged, almost lackadaisical on the matter (afterall, this was hardly the closest call she'd ever had...). "It's part of the job." She crouched down beside Dawn's desk so that she could push a piece of arugula through the bars of the guinea pig's cage. "You could get hepatitis or HIV at any moment, that's part of your job...it's the same."

"It's not the same, Emily," Dawn said, struggling to keep her voice level, finding Emily's lack of concern particularly irritating in that moment. "And you know it's not. I mean, when you walked into work this morning, you had to take a dose of Cipro for God's sake!"

"It was preventative."

Dawn scoffed. "Don't give me that bullshit – one of your teammates is in my ICU after being exposed to Anthrax for fuck's sake! That could have been you!"

Emily gave her a pointed look over her shoulder as she ruffled the guinea pig's fur with one finger pushed through the bars of the cage. "He was in the UNSUB's lab, that's a completely different..."

Dawn did not appear amused, her glare enough to stop Emily's verbal tangent in its silent sternness.

"What do you want from me, Dawn!?" Emily demanded, standing suddenly and rounding on her. "You want me to tell you I'm leaving my job because you're scared? Is that what you want?"

"Of course not!" she insisted, acting as if Emily were being overly dramatic. "I just want you to, I don't know...take things seriously."

With a quirked brow, Emily repeated, "Seriously? What wold you like me to take seriously?"

She huffed. "Anything! Us, for starters!"

She scoffed. "Don't give me that – I've sacrificed plenty for our relationship!" She whirled around on her heel. "In fact, I don't know what more you could want me to do..."

"Emily..."

"Do you want me to get down on one knee and propose to you?" she demanded. "Is that what you want?"

Dawn gave her a pointed look. "Emily..."

Throwing her hands in the air, Emily demanded, "What!?"

"You're being histrionic," she said flatly.

She heaved a sigh. "Tell me how I can make you happy, Dawn," she whispered as if all the fight had suddenly bled out of her. "I'm trying here, but it seems like nothing I do is good enough."

Dawn cocked her head, saying nothing for a long time. "Em, you're enough." She grabbed Emily's hand, tugged her to sit on the nearby couch. "Emily, I promise you are enough. I just... I think I love you too much to just sit back and watch you run head first into danger every day."

"Dawn..."

"I can't do it, Em. I can't wait for a news report with your picture and the words 'Fallen Hero'. I won't..."

Emily squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry, Dawn." A beat. "Move in with me."

Dawn gave a stunned little laugh. "Are... Are you serious?"

"Like a heart attack."

She raised a brow. "Was that a cardiac joke?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders up near her ears. "Maybe?"

Shaking her head and laughing, Dawn murmured, "Are you sure about this? I mean...we already tried living together once before and..."

"Dawn, I loved living with you. You made me happier than I've ever been. And knowing that I got to come home to you at the end of every day..." She trailed off, smiling softly. "I know it's not going to be easy because we're both stubborn and hot-headed and..."

"Em..."

She shook her head. "Right. Sorry. Not the right way to apologize. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is: I love you enough to fight, okay? Granted, I don't want to have this fight, but..."

Dawn pulled her in for a kiss to stave off her mind's wandering. "You are very stubborn..."

"Your point?"

She nodded. "Yes, I'll move all my shit back into your apartment."

"Good." A smirk. "Shall we go home and celebrate?"

"Actually, I've got a better idea..." Emily raised a brow. Dawn bit her lip with faux coyness. "The previous Chief has sort of demanded his couch back and I was thinking that before I return it, we could..." She trailed off, waggling her brows.

Laughing, Emily replied, "Why, Dr. Bell, you little vixen..."

Dawn pushed her to lie back, moving to straddler her hips. Leaning down, she affixed her lips to Emily's clavicle, sucking a bright purple bruise to the surface.

Emily tugged Dawn's blouse from where it was tucked into her skirt so that she could reach her skin.

Dawn, though, wasn't nearly so patient, choosing instead to tear open Emily's blouse, making her gasp. "I'll buy you a new one," Dawn husked as buttons went flying.

Emily gave a breathless laugh. Her hand wandered up Dawn's skirt to reach between her legs, stroking her through her panties, easily getting her wet.

Reaching down to wrap her fingers around Emily's wrist to halt her movements, she warned, "Em..."

"Needy little slut," Emily scolded.

She tightened her grip on Emily's wrist. "This is my office and I'm in charge..."

Emily tossed her head back with a low eager moan.