Emily was nervous as she parked her car and walked towards the door to the bar. This was the first social outing she had attended with the team since coming to the BAU.

She had been invited to the annual team Christmas party hosted by the Hotchners. From what Garcia had mentioned at lunch one day, Haley was very insistent everyone on the team attend. She would become annoyed at Hotch if anyone tried to refuse for any reason.

For Emily, the thought of attending had been unbearable. It had only been a few weeks since Aaron's unexpected reappearance in her life. Although it pained her to think about it, she had accepted that he had moved on with his life. Had married the pretty blonde woman in the photo Emily's eyes were drawn to every time she looked at his desk. But that didn't mean she was ready to socialize with Aaron. Or his wife.

Thankfully, the party happened to be scheduled the same evening as her parents' Christmas party. Though Emily had already sent regrets to her parents. As expected, her mother was being persistent, saying she had a few people that Emily 'just had to meet'. But Emily knew better. Her mother saying 'people to meet' was code for ambitious single men from approved families with whom her parents would welcome a matrimonial match.

After the long hours she was putting in at the BAU, the last thing she wanted to deal with was an entire evening of being introduced to overly eager eligible bachelors that her parents had chosen. There had never been a man at one of their parties that she wanted to spend more time with than what was considered polite. Their world didn't hold any interest for her. She had different priorities and a separate life path. There was no way in hell she was ever going to settle on being some rising politician's trophy wife.

The conversation with Hotch when she declined his invitation had gone surprisingly well, given what Garcia had told her. She had been shocked given how their other interactions had been around that time. But she got the strong feeling that he wasn't ready to socialize either. When she mentioned her parents' party the same night, he nodded and promised to pass on her regrets to Haley.

Before opening the door for the bar, she took a deep breath and blew it out. Yes tonight was going to suck but she could do this. It would only be a few hours and then she could go home.

####

Hotch looked over at the entrance of the bar noticing that Emily had just slipped inside. Though she had what he would describe as a polite smile on her face, he could see through it. She was nervous. And she wasn't the only one. A slip from either of them tonight could be disastrous.

Though he wished he could keep Emily and Haley from interacting, he knew it wasn't going to happen. Haley had been ecstatic when he mentioned in passing who the new agent on his team was.

One minute she was sitting on the couch listening to him vent about Strauss adding a new agent without consulting him then the next minute she had jumped up and was clapping her hands. He was baffled by her reaction initially. It turned out that Haley had recognized the name. Knew that Aaron had been assigned to the Ambassador in his early days with the Bureau. And she also knew who Emily's stepfather was by reputation.

Haley had been encouraging him since then to befriend this new agent. That connections gained could boost his career. With him being only months away from being eligible for promotion, Haley was pushing him to take advantage of anything or anyone who could help him onto the next step on the ladder.

The whole conversation had angered him. Previous relationship aside, he wasn't going to use one of his agent's personal connections to further his career.

So when he had arrived home and informed Haley that Emily sent regrets for their Christmas party, she was furious with him. Repeatedly, Haley demanded that he talk to Emily and change her mind. Ignoring that he had stated that he had already spoken to her and Emily had other plans for that evening.

Haley then blew up at him. Yelling that she was thinking about his career and advancement in the Bureau. That she was tired of the hours and travel that came with the BAU and was ready for him to move to a prestigious position with normal hours and little travel. That socializing with this agent may help his career reach the next step especially with his work history with her mother. Yet he seemed to be going out of his way to not socialize with her.

With that Haley turned her back on him and walked out of the kitchen. When he followed her, she turned and glared at him. Picking up her purse and keys, she stormed out of the house.

The following morning Hotch awoke at his normal time after a night of restless sleep. Rolling over and seeing that Haley hadn't come to bed, he put on his bathrobe and went in search of her. After looking through the entire house, he concluded that she hadn't come home. Returning to the kitchen, he started the coffee pot before hurrying upstairs, needing to shower before Jack woke up while not knowing when Haley would return.

Haley had slipped back into the house as he was feeding Jack. When she walked into the room, Hotch gave Jack a kiss before going upstairs to change out of the casual clothes he had put on after his shower and into his suit for the office.

Coming back downstairs, Hotch opened his briefcase to put in the files he had been working on the previous night after Haley left. As he put the files in, his eyes fell to the envelope with Emily's neat script. Taking the envelope out, he walked back into the kitchen to let Haley know he was leaving and to hand her the note.

He watched as she opened the envelope and read the note. He saw her sigh and nod before tearing the note in half and putting it in the trash. Taking Jack out of his high chair, she walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Intrigued, Hotch took the note out of the trash to see what the message was.

As he read, he couldn't help but smile. In addition to thanking Haley for the kind invitation and apologizing for the regrets, Emily had explained that her parents were having their Christmas party the same evening. She continued on to say that due to her previous position in Chicago and her parents' respective job responsibilities, it had been several years since they had all been in DC at this time of year.

When Emily had handed him the note, he had thought it was overkill. Hadn't planned on giving it to Haley especially since it was sealed and he couldn't read it beforehand. However, given Haley's reaction the previous evening, he was now certain that it was the only thing that was going to keep him from sleeping in the guest room for the foreseeable future.

He also then knew that Haley couldn't argue with Emily's reason for not coming given the importance Haley placed on her own family. Given her attitude toward his work, it would be hypocritical to expect Emily to miss a family event for what was essentially a work commitment.

When the invitation for the Super Bowl party had come up, Haley had been lukewarm about either of them attending. Instead she wanted them to stay home, maybe have her sister and parents over for Sunday dinner. She didn't really enjoy watching football and team gatherings weren't on her priority list unless it was on her terms. She resented the BAU for taking Aaron away so often. And, by extension, she resented the members of his team. Each member of the team at one point or another had experienced her wrath.

That was until he mentioned in passing that the rest of the team was planning to attend a couple of days ago. Then surprisingly she agreed that they should go. Hotch knew his wife and knew there was reason that she changed her mind so suddenly. It had not come to him until he walked into the BAU and saw Emily sitting at her desk.

####

The Super Bowl had ended and Haley was annoyed she had not had opportunity to talk to Emily yet. That was the whole reason that she had agreed to this outing.

Emily had been the last to arrive from the team. After greeting the group, she had taken the empty seat between Reid and Garcia instead of the one Haley had hoped she'd take right next to her.

As Emily took her seat, Haley had inwardly groaned. That meant that the last remaining open seat at the table would go to the member of the team who had yet to arrive. Gideon. Haley was in no rush to see Jason Gideon again. They had had a falling out at the team Christmas party in December. It wasn't until she overheard Reid mention that Gideon had said the day before that he had other plans for tonight that she let herself relax.

With the end of the game had brought some change in activities. JJ, Reid, and Morgan had each left after they were approached by other patrons of the bar. That left Emily and Garcia who were deep in conversation on the other side of the table. Haley then decided enough was enough and prepared to make her move to go and join their conversation. And hopefully scare off Garcia which she knew from experience how to do.

As she was getting out of her seat, a familiar song started to play. Haley dropped her glance to the table and then looked over at her husband. She noticed the look on his face but couldn't place it.

Since they had gotten back together after he moved back to Virginia when he join the BAU, he would look upset whenever this song played. She had no idea what it was about this particular song that affected him. When they were in high school she hadn't remembered him having a negative reaction to this particular song.

However, this was a different look. She thought she saw a flicker of fear in his eyes but that was absurd. Before Haley could process what she was seeing any further, she heard the scraping of a chair on the floor from the other side of the table.

"I'm going to go up to the bar for another drink. Can I get you anything?" said Emily as she stood next to the table all the sudden looking flustered.

"No Em, I'm good." Said Garcia holding up glass.

"OK. Can I get you 2 the same as you had earlier?" Emily said, looking across the table at Haley and Hotch.

"Sure."

"That would be great."

"Prentiss, let me give you…." Hotch started to say pulling out his wallet but Emily had already moved away from the table and was swallowed up into the crowd on her way to the bar when he looked back up.

"Aaron, what the hell?" Haley yelled at her husband. "I know you hate this song but do you have to make it obvious to everyone around you whenever it plays."

"What are you talking about? I don't hate this song." Hotch look back at his wife, taking in the angry look on her face.

"Yes you do Aaron. I saw your face just now. And apparently so did Emily. She couldn't get away from the table fast enough."

"Haley, she was just going to the bar and offered to get us a drink too. I think you are reading too much into it."

"That's bull and you know it, Aaron. Are you being nice to her? I know you can be ass especially around new people. And Jason can be worse than you."

"I'm her boss, Haley. I'm fair with her."

"That's not an answer. I'm going to ask her when she comes back. I better not hear that you are being mean to her."

"Haley, don't. That question will make her uncomfortable."

"I don't care, Aaron. I've been wanting to meet her for weeks. I was just about to talk to her you scared her off because of your irrational hatred for a particular song."

"Haley, we aren't doing this here. If you want to argue, we should just go."

"We're not leaving."

"Fine. But we are done with this conversation until we get home."

As Haley sat at the table waiting for her drink, she caught a glimpse of Emily at the bar deep in conversation with a man she didn't recognize. 'Hmm maybe she left the table because she saw someone she knew.' A few minutes later, she noticed Emily again but this time out on the dance floor with another guy. With that she began to feel guilty for what she had said to Aaron. It was beginning to look like Aaron's reaction to that song had nothing to do with Emily leaving the table.

It wasn't until about 10 minutes later that Emily came back into view carrying their drinks.

####

After the game ended, several members of the team were approached by others in the bar to do various activities. Disappointment set in when Reid was invited to do Star Trek trivia and a general invitation to the table wasn't extended. Star Trek had been one of the few shows Emily had watched during her childhood. She may not know more than Reid but she could hold her own in a trivia contest. But she hadn't been invited and didn't feel comfortable enough around Reid yet to ask to come along.

Before she knew it, Emily was at the table with only Garcia, Hotch and Haley remaining. This was not where she wanted to be.

Maybe this was the time to see where JJ had disappeared.

Or she could join Morgan on the dance floor.

Or maybe not as she followed Garcia's gaze over to where Morgan was surrounded by at least a dozen co-eds. Yeah that wasn't her idea of dancing.

All the sudden Emily heard a familiar song starting and her gut clenched up. Her and Aaron's song. Unlike the other times she had heard this song over the last dozen years, this time she is sitting across the table from him...and his wife.

She needed to get away from this table. Away from him.

Drinks.

She'll go to the bar and get a round of drinks.

As she is asking what everyone would like at the bar, Emily takes a quick glance at Aaron's face. She could see he was affected by the song as well.

With that she turned and walked away as quickly as possible. She heard him call her name but keep walking. She knew she would lose it if she needed to turn around and look at him right now.

At the bar, she stood up against the wall and waited. She was in no hurry to return to the table. Emily closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. 'Working with Aaron is going to be harder than I thought.' As she opened her eyes, a man with dark blond hair was standing in front of her smiling. "Hi beautiful, can I buy you a drink?" Emily generally didn't give a second look to guys using such lame pick up lines. But tonight, she needed a distraction. There was no way she was letting him buy her a drink but she could stay for few minutes and talk to him.

A few minutes later, Emily found herself on the dance floor with a different guy. The first guy had turned out to be a complete misogynistic ass. She bumped into this guy after she walked away after telling him off. He had asked her to dance and she quickly agreed hoping the blond man would be done at the bar by the time the song had finished.

From the dance floor, she could see the entire bar. As she looked back at the table, she could see that Garcia had turned her chair around away from the table and was watching Morgan dance. No surprise there. Aaron looked annoyed and Haley was looking over at the bar, probably looking for her drink.

It looked like staying at the table for long after she brought back the drinks was going to be uncomfortable. She needed to see if there was something else she could do.

Looking around the room, Emily could see JJ is play darts with a couple of guys. No that wouldn't work. Emily had never played darts. And she didn't know how JJ would react if she went over and asked to join them. So far in the office, JJ had been cool with her. Always professional but nothing beyond that.

Reid was close by with another small group playing what appeared to be a drinking game. So not just Star Trek trivia. Apparently the loser of the trivia question needed to take a shot. No that wouldn't work even if she was inclined to approach them. Getting drunk or even buzzed would be an extremely poor decision her first time out with the team. Not to mention her conflicted feelings about Aaron could result in her accidentally saying something that would hurt both of them.

Joining Morgan's posse was still out.

She sighed and decided to go back to the table after picking up the drinks. If things were too weird, she would just head out early. The game was over and she doubted that any of them would miss her.

But before she could do that, first things first. The asshole she was dancing with had been handsy since they started. After moving his hands several times, he was now trying to feel her up. 'Not a good move buddy,' she thought as she removed his hand before pushing him away and walking back over to the bar.

####

Penelope Garcia was watching Derek Morgan longingly as he danced. 'Man could he move.' She just wished he would look at her and dance with her the way he was with the horde that was currently surrounding him on the dance floor.

It had been just a few minutes earlier when Emily had suddenly jumped up and left the table like a bat out of Hell. Hearing Haley yell, 'What the hell, Aaron', Garcia had looked up and realized that it was just her and the Hotchners at the table. She did not want to be alone with them, especially if they were going to have an argument.

Arguing with his wife was something the team had learned would consistently put Hotch in a bad mood. And being in the line of fire of Hotch in a bad mood was not where anyone would want to be. 'Oh no.' Garcia thinks as she gets up and tries as inconspicuous as possible to turn her chair around, ignoring the argument behind her.

After she turned away from the table, Garcia spots Emily over at the bar talking to a guy. 'Must have been the guy she chased after.' Sighing Garcia wished that some guy... any guy... Derek Morgan would cross a crowded bar like that to talk to her. But from what she could tell right now as far as he was concerned, she didn't exist.

In what seemed like forever but was actually only about 15-20 minutes, Garcia could see Emily moving back towards the table carefully carrying 3 drinks. As she arrived at the table, disappointment set in as Emily did not sit back down next to her so they could continue their conversation. Instead she sat down in the chair next to Haley Hotchner.

In the next few minutes, Garcia could feel her annoyance turn to anger. It was enough that Emily had chosen to ignore her too. But now she was all of the sudden all buddy buddy with Haley Hotchner of all people. Hotch's wife was not one of Garcia's favorite people. Well she wasn't a popular person with anyone on the team. The team actively avoided Haley whenever possible. Well except Hotch. Or at least she would think that he didn't try to actively avoid her since they were married.

And except apparently Emily too. Who seemed to be playing suck-up-to-the-boss'-wife. And surprising the hell out of Garcia was that Haley was being pleasant with Emily. Generally Haley seemed to barely tolerate the presence of those on the team. What was the deal there?

And if that wasn't enough to irritate the normally bubbly tech genius, she heard the subject of their laughter. They were mocking her Chocolate God. Calling him a dog and then as alley cat.

Bossman took his wife out to dance just in time before Garcia's temper got the better of her.

Garcia quickly followed suit, leaving the table, saying she was visiting 'the loo'. She had to get away since it was just her and Emily left at the table. She didn't want to say something she would later regret to Ms Prentiss. It was time to go outside and get some air.

####

While out on the dance floor with Haley, Hotch notices out of the corner of his eye that JJ is trying to get his attention. And she had that look on her face. Damn. That not good.

He pulls away from Haley and nodded in JJ's direction. Haley turned and looked at JJ who started to look very nervous with the face her boss' wife was now making at her. Turning back to Aaron, Haley gave him a look of contempt and stalks off the dance floor in the direction of the table.

After talking to JJ, he agreed they need to brief on the case soon and fly out that night. As JJ walked away to inform the rest of the team, Hotch slowly walks back to the table to face his reckoning.

####

Emily found herself alone at the table. Hotch had taken Haley out on the dance floor a few minutes earlier. Garcia left the table shortly afterwards going in the opposite direction.

Just a few minutes earlier she had been worried that returning to the table would be uncomfortable given who was left sitting at it. Now it appeared that the joke was on her. She was sitting at a table in a bar, alone. This was worse. This screamed 'LOSER'. The cafeteria in high school quickly came to mind.

And she couldn't even leave because well, she promised Garcia she would save her seat. The last thing she wanted was to get on the wrong side of Penelope Garcia. And the team had all left belongings that couldn't be left unattended.

As the minutes ticked away, Emily became less interested in her beer. She slowly pushed the glass away from her towards the middle of the table. She had already decided that she was ready to call it a night. As soon as anyone from the team returned to the table to keep watch over the team's belongings, she was going to take off. Go home. Take a long bath with a book and glass of wine.

With her plans for escape and for the rest of her evening determined, Emily excitement grew when she saw Haley walking back towards the table. Excitement that lasted until Emily saw the angry look on her face.

When Haley reached the table and sat down, Emily was suddenly nervous. All the sudden she remembered the stories about Haley from Garcia. After debating internally if she should say anything, Emily turned towards Haley hoping that her question wasn't going to enrage the older woman.

"Haley, is something wrong?"

"Yes, Agent Jareau." Haley growls back at her, not taking her eyes off the spot on the table she had been staring at since she sat back down.

"I'm sorry. I don't understand." Emily said, wrinkling her brow. She had not missed the disdain in the voice of her boss' wife when she said the name of the media liaison.

Haley looked at Emily before saying. "She interrupted our dance. Needed to talk to Aaron. We can't even enjoy one dance without the BAU interfering." Emily nodded and looked down at the table.

If JJ needed to talk to Hotch while he was dancing, then that meant something urgent. Urgent on a Sunday night meant case. It's a good thing that she stopped drinking her beer when she did.

As they continued to sit awkwardly at the table, Emily takes a chance to ask something that will hopefully improve Haley's mood before Aaron gets back.

She did not want to be there when he needed to explain to the already anger woman next to her that the team needed to leave. If she was this upset over a dance cut short, she was going to blow up about the evening ending early.

"Haley, do you have pictures of your baby with you?" Emily asked quietly in almost a whisper.

A huge smile crossed Haley's face. "I do. Would you like to see them?"

Emily smiled before replying. "Please."

As Haley paged through her mini album, commenting on the various pictures, Emily could feel tears in her eyes. Jack was, without a doubt, adorable. He looked so much like Aaron, even at this early age. Emily had several times many years ago imagined what a hypothetical child of theirs would have looked like. Now seeing a real son of Aaron's drove home that he would never be hers. That those hypothetical children would never become actual children. And in that moment her heart broke just a little more because she still didn't understand why he left her.

As Haley was describing a particularly messy high chair photo, Emily couldn't help but laugh. As she did, she could sense Haley tense up.

"Aaron is walking this way. I need you to promise me something." Haley said quietly as she closed the album and placed it back in her purse.

"I can try. What is it?"

"Please don't tell him what we were looking at."

Emily raises her brow at the unusual request. What was the issue with Haley showing her pictures of Jack? Was it everyone on the team or just her? Regardless of the reason that couldn't affect what her answer was.

"I can't promise that. I'm sorry. He's my boss. We work in the field together and trust is a huge part of that. I can't lie to him. But I can promise you something."

"What's that?" Haley replied bitterly. Clearly annoyed with Emily's answer.

"I won't volunteer the information. But if he asks, I will need to be honest with him." Emily said calmly not missing the tone of the other woman's voice.

Before Haley could say anything else, Aaron reached the table. As Emily looked up at his face, all question about whether they had a case or not was gone. The answer was clear.

####

As he got within view of the table, he saw Haley sitting at the table deep in discussion with Emily. 'Oh no. This may be really really bad for him.' Haley had no idea about his previous relationship with Emily. He had not mentioned this oversight to Emily.

Walking toward the table he could see that they were looking and laughing at something that he could not see. He was surprised, not expecting to see a smile on his wife's face anytime soon after the look she had given him on the dance floor. From their moods, it was clear that his past with Emily was not the current topic of their conversation. But the table was obstructing from his view what they were looking at.

It was obvious when Haley noticed him walking back to table. He could see her say something to Emily as she put what they had been looking at into her purse before he reached the table.

When he reaches the table, an upset look had once again taken over his wife's face. He knew Haley was going to throw a fit to what he was about to say. A fit he didn't want a witness for, especially not Emily, so he looked at and addressed her first.

"Prentiss, we have a case. We are conferencing as soon as possible and going wheels up tonight."

"Yes, sir. Understood. I need to run then." Emily says as she stands up next to the table. Turning, she looks at Haley. "It was great meeting you." As Haley leans in to give her a hug, Emily whispers in her ear. "Thanks for sharing the pictures. He's adorable." With that, Emily grabbed her jacket and purse and headed for the door.

As Emily walked out the door, Hotch turned around to see the furious face of his wife. He stepped over in front of her and took her hand.

"I'm sorry, Haley. I need to go. The team has a case."

"Your team always has a case, Aaron. We had plans. My parents are watching Jack. Do you know how long it has been since we've gone out." Haley said angrily.

"I know. I'll make it up to you when I get back. Let me walk you out to the car." Hotch said calmly.

"No, I'm fine. Just go." Haley said shaking her head. She moved to the chair where she had draped her jacket when they arrived and picked it up.

Hotch walked over and held it for her while she put it on. "OK, if you're sure. I'll call you tomorrow."

"Just go, Aaron." Hotch leaned and kissed her cheek before turning. As he walked to the door, he motioned to Morgan to stop.

"Derek, can I get a ride with you? Haley needs the car to get home."

"Sure, man. Let's go."

####

Haley watched as her husband walked out of the door of the bar with Agent Morgan. A wave of jealousy overtook her. Once again, the BAU had pulled him back in, ruining their plans.

As she walked towards the door, Haley considered what to do now. It was still early enough that she could go pick up Jack and take him home. However, she knew her parents would be upset if she attempted to do that. They had been excited to babysit and spend time with him. She could go and just spend the night at her parents' house too. But going there now would result in sympathetic looks from her parents. Looks that she just didn't want to deal with tonight.

She was still incredibly irritated. She had just wanted to enjoy an evening out. Well, she could still have her evening out. Aaron had to leave but she could call Thomas. Thomas always had time for her. Pulling out her phone, she quickly texted him as she walked out to her car. Her phone dinged with a reply as she was starting the car. Haley smiled as she read his affirmative response. After quickly typing a reply with an ETA, Haley turned the car onto the main road.