Emily smiled as she walked up to the bar excited for a fun night out with the team after a monotonous few days. Since the team had returned from their latest case in LA they had been stuck in the office working on paperwork. While it had given them time to clear the backlog and reduce the stacks on their desk they were all relieved that it was now Friday night. With no new cases still in sight they had decided at lunch on Thursday to all go out tonight. Once inside Emily looked around until she spotted Garcia and Derek in the back at their usual table.

As she moved closer to the table Emily could feel her nervousness increase about tonight. This marked the first time she and Aaron had gone out with the team since they had become closer after agreeing to try to rekindle their relationship. And as far as she was concerned, the rekindling was going very well.

They had been spending as much time as possible together in the evenings around Hotch's time with Jack, cases and paperwork. Being office bound for most of this week had given them most evenings after Hotch's dinners with Jack to spend time together. They were still taking things slow while working on getting to know each other better. But some evenings the sexual tension had been overwhelming between them and their make out sessions were only going so far to address that tension. At some point soon they would need to have a talk about moving on to the next step in their relationship.

That was unless she made a complete fool out of herself tonight. In addition to being out with the team tonight, Aaron had mentioned last night that he had received a message from his brother Sean. Aaron had mentioned that Sean had asked about coming to visit for a few days to see him and Jack.

As he talked about his brother Emily had heard the excitement in him at the request. From what she had been able to gather things had been tense between them when Sean turned down law school to move to New York with dreams of becoming a chef. While the brothers had spoken since Sean's move, this would be the first time Sean had shown interest in coming to visit. With the team already having plans to go out, Sean agreed to come along to join them. Hotch had been planning to go pick Sean up at the airport after his dinner with Jack before meeting the team at the bar.

Other than some brief introductions to Jack, Emily hadn't met anyone from Hotch's family. She couldn't help but feel nervous about this encounter even if it would be as a member of Hotch's team and not as Hotch's girlfriend. At least Emily didn't think Aaron had told Sean.

At least not yet.

It coming out accidentally wasn't how she wanted the team to find out and they weren't at a place in their relationship yet that she felt ready to tell them. Definitely at some point in the future but not right now.

As she reached the table Emily greeted both of them before Garcia explained that JJ and Reid were about five minutes out and that Rossi was up at the bar getting a first round of drinks.

####

The longer she sat at the table the more nervous Emily felt, the alcohol in her drink doing little to lessen it. However, with the need to keep her wits with her tonight, Emily had already decided to throw nonalcoholic options in for herself on a few of the rounds that the team would do.

Shortly after JJ and Reid arrived at the table, Rossi had returned with their drinks. They had then ordered food not wanting to get too many rounds in without eating.

But as everyone's drinks were almost out and the food was expected at any time, Emily stood up and stated, "does anyone want anything from the bar?"

At the question Emily mentally took note as she was bombarded with drink requests. After hearing from all but one person, Emily turned to JJ and asked, "do you want anything?"

JJ sighed before answering, "I can't have what I want so I'll just have another ginger ale."

Derek laughed and shook his head at her as he responded, "give it up JJ. You missed your turn as DD twice over the last year."

As happy as the team was for her and Will, when they had returned to Quantico after Miami, they had cornered her about keeping the relationship a secret. While they understood her reasons for wanting to keep it to herself they did call her out on the dishonest answers she had given them over the year about where she was going to be.

While they had suspected a connection with Will it had still worried them initially when she would just disappear given what they dealt with on the job. With that out, they had turned mock serious and called her out on what they considered the most grievous issue - that she had missed turns as designated driver for team nights that happened to occur when she had gone to see Will.

"Yeah when you were disappearing to go see your man candy." Garcia added as she cuddled up next to Morgan.

"Sorry Jayje." Reid answered when her gaze landed on him.

"I know. I know. Don't worry, I'll grumble over my ginger ale and make sure that all of your drunk asses get home later."

As much as she was grumbling, it was just for show as JJ was relieved to have an excuse to stick with ginger ale given how unsettled her stomach had been for the last few days. She was starting to worry about if it was a result from the hit she took to the head on their last case. While she hoped it was nothing to be worried about she had an appointment with her doctor the following week.

"There's the team spirit I was looking for. Just for that I'm going to ask them to include a cherry and an umbrella just for you." Emily exclaimed as she patted JJ on the shoulder before heading towards the bar.

####

Hotch pulled up outside the bar and was annoyed yet not surprised that there weren't any spaces in the parking lot. From many team nights here, he knew if he wanted a space, he would have needed to arrive at least an hour earlier. However that had just not been possible tonight with picking Sean up at the airport. Now he was going to need to go down to the municipal lot a couple of blocks down.

Pulling up in front of the door, Hotch stopped and turned to Sean, "the lot is full. I need to go to the lot a couple of blocks down. Go ahead inside. The team knows you are coming."

"Are you sure?" Sean asked. While he thought he might recognize the people on his brother's team, he had only really been introduced to Morgan and Rossi.

Hotch nodded as he answered, "yes, I'll be back in 10 minutes, 15 max. Order me a beer if you would."

"Sure thing. See you in a few." Sean responded before opening the door and stepped out of the SUV. As he walks into the bar, Hotch turns the vehicle out of the parking lot and down the road.

Sean walked slowly through the door into the packed bar. He looked around and didn't see Dave or Derek. Or any of the other people he recalled seeing at the BAU in the past or in the picture Aaron had kept in his office. It had been a couple of years since he had seen a picture but surely they hadn't all changed that much.

After walking around for a couple of minutes and still not seeing Dave or Derek, Sean went over to the bar. He would order drinks for himself and Aaron then wait until his brother arrived to find the team.

For now he would just take the opportunity to admire the view in this new environment. Be a patron instead of an employee for once.

As he looked at the other end of the bar he noticed a lovely brunette at the other end of the bar who appeared to be alone. As he walked up to her he heard her laugh in response to something the bartender had said in response to her order.

After walking up next to her he waited until she looked at him before smiling and saying, "hey, beautiful."

####

Derek looked over towards the bar wondering what was taking Prentiss so long with their drinks. He sat up straight to get a better look before chuckling as he stated, "well look at that. It seems that Princess may have caught someone's eye."

"Emily generally catches someone's eye when we are out. Problem is for the most part she isn't interested." Reid answered as he turned to look towards the bar.

"Well she's smiling at this one." Derek replied

"He must have at least one of the two things that she is attracted to then." JJ added.

"What would that be?" Derek asked as he was still trying to figure Emily out. Several times he had thought he had her figured out only to learn a new piece of information which had him needing to reevaluate what he thought he knew.

"I thought you were a profiler." Garcia sassily replied.

"Sweetness" Derek said seriously

JJ laughed at them before stating, "badge" just before Garcia replied, "sexy accent"

"Accent?" Dave questioned.

JJ nodded before explaining, "yeah. She generally keeps her distance from guys unless they piss her off or aren't listening to no, then she puts them in their place."

"But a couple of times we have walked up when she was in deep conversation with guys and both times they had accents." Garcia added

"You mean like you with Will?" Derek asked teasingly.

JJ glared at him before answering, "no, not like Will. That guy was Scottish."

"Oh you are forgetting the German guy that one time outside." Garcia interjected.

JJ nodded as she stated, "yes I'd forgotten about that. So yes, our team polyglot likes accents."

"I wonder what category this guy falls into." Dave wonders out loud.

"Hmm, can't see his face from here so not sure if it was one of those two." JJ replied as she was trying to get a look at the guy Emily was talking to over at the bar.

"Could be law enforcement." Garcia offered.

"Don't see a side arm." Reid answered.

"Could be wearing a shoulder holster." Morgan added noting the guy she was speaking to was wearing a jacket.

"Uh oh." JJ cautioned.

"What?" Morgan replied loudly.

"See that look. That is her annoyed look. Emily is not interested in this guy." JJ stated confidently.

"That's not her annoyed look. She looks at me like that all the time." Morgan answered.

"I think you are right. Morgan, when she gives you that look you are generally bothering her in the bullpen so she can't get her work done." Dave replied.

"Or being ridiculous." Reid added as he moved away from Morgan who was trying to smack at him.

"Agreed." JJ stated

"Well if he doesn't catch on soon, things could get interesting." Morgan stated as he sat back and watched.

He had heard stories of Emily's humiliating guys who bothered her while out yet hadn't observed one in person yet. Well tonight seemed like it was going to be night. As the team watched, Emily and the guy moved and suddenly Garcia moved slightly away from Morgan and sat straight up in her seat as she exclaimed, "he's not either of the sexy accent guys though. Wait, I recognize him. How do I recognize him?"

"Is that Sean?" Morgan asked as he stood up to get a better look at the two.

"You mean Hotch's brother Sean?" JJ questioned.

"Yes that's exactly who that is." Dave answered while shaking his head.

"Wait guys has Emily met Sean? The last time he was at the BAU was before Elle left." Reid asked.

"If Sean is here, where is Hotch?" JJ asked as she stood up looking around the bar.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him." Morgan answered.

"Oh no." Garcia sputtered, causing all of them to turn their attention back to the two at the bar.

As they watched JJ mumbled, "this is going to be bad very quickly. This is like Brad all over again."

"I don't think Hotch is going to be too happy if Emily humiliates his little brother in a bar." Reid remarked.

JJ shook her head before turning to the group and stating, "I'm going to go over there and introduce them." before quickly moving away from the table.

"I'll come with you." Morgan announced before following her.

As the rest of them watched, Dave looked to Garcia and Reid and asked confusedly, "wait who's Brad?" It was not a name he remembered the team mentioning before.

"Brad. Ah, Brad was a couple of years ago. Um. Uh. A real FBI agent." answered Garcia before she scurried across the bar after Morgan and JJ towards Emily and Sean with Reid a few steps behind.

As Dave stood at the table watching the scene in front of him unfold even more confused than he had been a couple of minutes earlier.

Still didn't know who Brad was.

What did she mean by 'a real FBI agent"?

Weren't they all supposed to be FBI agents?

Was the day ever going to come when these kids didn't perplex him?

####

Emily lightly tapped her fingers on the bar as she waited for the bartender to bring over her order so she could go back to the table with the team. Just after she had placed the order, to the amusement of the bartender about JJ's ginger ale with a cherry and an umbrella, a guy approached her. While he had reluctantly accepted her refusal to buy her a drink, he was still hanging out right next to her instead of moving onto someone else.

He had introduced himself as 'Drew' and mentioned that he used to be a bartender but now was training for his dream job in the northeast. While he seemed nice enough her interprofiler sense was buzzing. Something was off about him and she couldn't put a finger on what it was. He seemed familiar to her however she couldn't place where she would have known him from. And she was certain he was lying to her about what he shared about himself. As he continued to engage with her, she was working through how she wanted to get rid of this guy.

She was not interested in him. The last thing she wanted was for Aaron to arrive and get the wrong idea from seeing her hanging out at the bar with some random guy. And observing that was not the first impression that she wanted Sean to have of her as she hoped to have a long relationship with his brother. She really wanted tonight to go well and she wasn't going to let 'Drew' here compromise it for her.

As the bartender was finishing up with her order, Emily prepared herself to assure that this guy wasn't going to approach her again. She turned to him and started, "so Drew…" before jumping as JJ approached and called out to her and she placed an arm on Emily's shoulder and stated, "oh good the drinks are ready, I thought I would come and see if you needed a hand."

Emily looked at her confused as they both knew that Emily was more than capable of carrying a tray of drinks back to the table even after a few rounds in her. Before she could say anything Derek came up on her other side and said, "hey Sean good to see you again. I see you met Prentiss."

"Wait, you know each other?"

"Yeah, I thought you had met. This is Hotch's brother Sean."

"Brother?! You said your name was Drew."

"It is. Sean Andrew." Sean answered with a smile on his face.

"Why don't we head back to the table?" Reid stated as other patrons became more interested in what was going on with them.

"I'll get the tray." Emily nodded as Derek picked up the tray, still feeling embarrassed about what had almost happened. It was probably better that Derek carried the drinks as the way her evening was going she would drop the whole damn thing and need to get back in line for them all again. As she watched Derek pick up the tray she mumbled to herself, "could this day get any worse."

Just then they all turned as a voice asked, "is there a problem?" only to see Hotch standing there looking concerned about why his brother and most of the team was standing up at the bar instead of at their table, apparently answering her question.

####

Dave was walking back from the bathroom to find Morgan and Garcia alone at the table and appeared to be deep in conversation. Not something he wanted to walk into and be a third wheel.

Looking around he noticed that Reid was still playing trivia though Prentiss who had gone with him was no longer there. JJ and Sean were laughing at a pool table though Hotch who had been with them earlier was no longer there.

As he looked around he didn't see Hotch and Prentiss anywhere. It was possible Emily had left as she had been quiet most of the evening, embarrassed about what happened at the bar with Sean even after he apologized to her for lying about his name. However Hotch would still be around as after what happened earlier Dave didn't think that he would have left his brother alone in the bar again.

As he sat down on the far end of the bar, Dave caught sight of Hotch and Emily out of the corner of his eye on the far side of the dance floor. Interesting. Ever since the incident in the hallway in Pittsburgh, Dave had been genuinely curious if there was anything going on between them.

In the months since that case, he had not picked up on any romantic feelings between the two. For the most part all he could get from them is that they were professionals who worked well together in the field and had established a friendship which Hotch in particular had benefited from after his recent divorce. But he couldn't help at times to feel as if there was some deeper familiarity between them.

However as he sat there covertly observing them his thoughts returned to an uncharacteristic interaction between the two of them on the jet as the team returned from LA. It was brief and if Dave hadn't been sitting right there and talking to Hotch, he may have missed it. It appeared that the rest of the team had missed it.

Dave had jokingly mentioned Hotch's love of the Beatles White Album despite Manson's use of it. Hotch had defended it and in that moment there was something, a look, that passed between Hotch and Prentiss who had been sitting across from him. Neither had said anything but it was then that Dave was certain that there was a lot of context he was missing between the two. Not only on the Beatles but what was going on with them personally as well.

But even now, he wasn't getting much from watching them. They had chosen a discreet location within the bar but there was nothing overtly improper going on between them. They were dancing yet were still at what would be an appropriate distance from each other for colleagues. While he couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was as he watched them Dave could sense their connection. Enough so that even he started feeling guilty for watching them when they had sought out a private area.

Shaking his head, Dave stood up with his drink and walked over towards where the band was playing. He wanted to make a request. With that done he went back towards the table relieved to see that JJ and Sean were now there with Garcia.

As he went over to join them he prayed that Hotch and Emily knew what they were doing while promising himself that he would do everything he could to support two of his favorite people.

####

After they closed the door of Hotch's car, Sean laughed and said, "so that's Emily."

Hotch groaned though was relieved that his brother had had the sense to wait until it was just the two of them in the car before saying anything. When they had gotten back to the table, he had quickly caught on to what had happened at the bar. While the rest of the team had found the humor in it, he noticed that Emily was being uncharacteristically quiet.

Shortly after they ate, she had gone off with Reid for a trivia contest so he hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her and reassure her until later when he had taken her to a quiet spot on the dance floor. He hadn't wanted any misunderstanding to compromise what they were building together.

Glancing over at Sean, Hotch nodded and answered, "yeah. That's Emily. How did you figure out that that was the Emily I mentioned on the phone? It's a popular name." He had intentionally not clarified before going to the bar as he had been worried that Sean would accidentally say something that would have had the team asking questions they weren't ready for.

Sean chuckled, "well big bro, it was obvious when I ran into her at the bar that she was looking for someone. Someone who was not me if you can believe it. She turned down the opportunity of a lifetime of spending some time with yours truly. No, instead she danced with you. Twice. I've seen you dance. I'm much better."

Hotch laughed, enjoying the more outgoing and confident version of his brother since he moved to NYC and followed his dream of becoming a chef.

Then Sean turned serious as he said, "please tell me you both are being careful."

Hotch nodded as he replied, "we are taking things slow this time. I don't know what will happen with the Bureau but don't currently have plans to tell them. We haven't even told the team…"

Hotch pauses as Sean laughs before questioning, "what?"

Sean looks at his brother answering, "you may not have told the team but I'm fairly sure at least one of them knows."

Hotch sighs before asking, "what happened that made you say that?" He didn't have to ask who as he was almost positive who it was.

Sean looked at Hotch, taking in the worried expression that he had been happy to see had been absent most of the evening. He then smiled before stating, "who do you think had the band serenading the two of you? I saw him talking to the band just before it started playing." Hotch looked down. It was official. Dave Rossi was going to be the death of him.

Sean laughed as he saw Hotch drop his head before adding, "he does know that that isn't your song right."

Hotch's head shot up and turned to his brother, "you know we have a song?"

Sean laughed out loud at Hotch's reaction before answering, "well I knew you had a song with someone you had broken up with other than Haley. Didn't know it was Emily for sure until just now. I mean you love the Beatles particularly their White Album. Always had as far as I can remember. Then all the sudden you avoid one of the songs on it and get grumpier than usual if anyone else dares to mention it, let alone play it."

"Are you sure you want to be a chef and don't want a job as a profiler?" Hotch asked as he closely observed his brother amazed at the connections he had been making.

Sean waved him off as he stated, "no way man. I bartended when I was in college and to be a good bartender you need to be able to do some of what you call profiling. I prefer to deal with food and all of the people that go with that from drunks to perfectionist top chefs instead of all the literal psychos that your team catches. Besides, do you really think the world can handle two Agent Hotchners?"

Hotch laughed at him having heard Sean vent about some of these perfectionist top chefs on a couple of occasions. "Probably not. I'm glad you're happy Sean. I've never been so happy to have been wrong about something. I'm glad you pushed to follow your passion and I'm sorry again that I was pushing you to follow mom's dream of us both being lawyers instead of supporting you in what you wanted to do with your life."

Sean nodded and answered, "It's all good. You saw the light. Just make sure you are doing the same for yourself. You have a second chance with Emily. Let me know if you need anything big brother. I even promise not to hit on her again."

"Thanks Sean. I know Emily will appreciate that."

AN: Hope you enjoyed the chapter. In this story, Sean will be OOC. My plan is for him to be around more than in canon but won't be around too much, at least for a while.