A/N: Hey everyone! I need to address some things really quickly.

1.) Yes, I am alive. I know I didn't post last week, and for that I am SO so sorry. We started in-person school last week, I had to pick up a lot of people's extra shifts at the library I work at, I had to babysit for an extra few hours on Monday, and I also got called in by one of the families I work for to come and watch their twin infants for a few hours without warning. Their grandma has covid and they had to go see her in the hospital. Basically, it's been a very stressful week. Not to mention that my anxiety has been absolutely skyrocketing lately haha.

2.) I really was trying to get this chapter written, even though I knew it would be late, because I really wanted to get an update out. But the damn thing just would not come out at all (so it's a bit shorter today). To anyone who asked- no, I am not putting this story on hiatus. I've gotten my schedule for the library and babysitting and clubs all figured out now, I'm getting in the groove of being back at school, so no. I am going to continue writing this story since I do really love to write it.

3.) To all the people who reached out to me to see if I was ok, on this site or my tumblr, OH MY GOD I OWE YOU GUYS MY WHOLE FUCKING HEART. When I saw your messages, my heart just instantly exploded. I do not deserve ANY of you. I want to hug all of you, because that was seriously the sweetest thing ever. It really means more than you realize, knowing that people actually care. So thank you so so so so so so so so so much!

Ok sorry, that was really long, so here's today's chapter!


We fell in love in October
That's why I love fall
Looking at the stars
Admiring from afar

-Girl in Red, We Fell in Love in October

Tara and Kate quickly became the couple in the small town. It wasn't even the scandalous of a lesbian couple in a small town that made for good gossip, people just thought they were genuinely cute together.

Alex and James had gone out to put out signs advertising the shop, like Gideon requested. The Mountain Bean was situated at the base of a mountain, hence its name. And because of this, it was quite far away from town. Penelope had designed the signs, an autumn theme with a painted picture of a coffee mug and scone. It didn't take much convincing, any convincing actually, for Gideon to let her put "LGBTQ+ friendly" on the sign with a pride flag, since Gideon's been out and proud for years now.

So James and Alex have been deployed out into town to advertise the shop. Well technically, James had been sent out, but Alex had volunteered to go with him to "keep him company."

"It's pretty rare to see Alex publicly pining. Like seeing her do the whole 'longing stares' is one thing, but it's like she isn't trying to hide it anymore," Elle said as she handed Emily her coffee. "Thanks," she said, taking a sip. "Did you put cinnamon in this?"

"Yeah, thought I'd make it a bit autumn-y for Halloween."

"It's good, thanks."

"No problem. Do you think James and Alex are finally gonna get together after all these years?"

"God, I hope so. I've been watching Alex pine over James for so damn long. I'm kinda sick of it," Emily said with a roll of her eyes.

"Yeah. It's kinda cute to see their different ways of pining, you know? Like Alex is a lot less obvious, most of the time anyways. Longing glances and writing in her diary about him-"

"Wait, she writes about him in her diary? This is news to me," Emily interrupted.

"You didn't know that? Surprised."

"Jesus, they really are two love struck idiots, aren't they?"

"Absolutely. Did you see James yesterday? I swear, the world could be on fire and he would still only be worried about her."

"They're my favorite love-struck idiots."

"Same," Elle laughed, taking a sip of her vanilla latte.

Oh, and another thing about Kate and Tara: they were big on PDA.

"Ughhhhhh," Derek groaned from his table. Tara and Kate were being all lovey-dovey behind the coffee shop counter. "I just want to write my paper, guys."

Tara and Kate didn't hear him, or at least chose not to acknowledge him.

"I'm gonna call Alex on you! Mom's gonna be mad," he called out again.

"Why on earth would Mom be mad, Der?" JJ asked, nose in a textbook.

"Why does Alex get to be Mom? I'm older than her," Elle complained.

"When have you ever been motherly to any of us?" JJ pointed out.

"She has a point," Hotch said, joining the conversation.

"Hey!" Elle exclaimed, offended.

"In Elle's defense, she is more of a big sister than a mom," Emily pointed out. Derek wasn't paying attention to them anymore, he was doing something on his phone. A moment later he held it up to his ear.

"Hey, it's Alex," a voice said over the phone.

"Hello, is this the FBI? Because I'd like to report Kate Callahan and Tara Lewis for being NASTY."

"Derek… this is Alex," she repeated, her obvious confusion clear over the phone line.

"Wow, really mature Derek," Emily drawled with annoyance.

"Dude they're out putting up signs, leave them alone," JJ said with a sigh, putting her textbook down.

"Derek, you really fucking called her? What the hell?" Tara yelled at him, but she wasn't really that mad. "Alex actually has to do shit today, not just babysit you."

"Hey, if Alex is babysitting anyone, it's Spencer."

"Hey!" Spencer said from his nook by the cashier desk.

"Yeah Der-bear, we all know that the Boy Genius is probably more of an adult than any of us."

"Ok I am so confused- please explain to me what's happening. Do I need to come back?"

"Bye Alex," Derek said.

"Wait, Spencer's ok, right?"

"I'm fine Alex," Spencer called out.

"Ok, good. Alright, I gotta go now. Bye guys."

"She really does only care about the kid, huh?"

"That's not true! But yeah, he is her favorite," Emily said.

"Says the second favorite," Elle said, elbowing Emily lightly in the ribs.

"Incorrect, the second favorite is James. But yes I am the third favorite."

"Does Alex just… tell you guys who she likes best?" Hotch asked, clearly confused. Emily scoffed.

"Uh, no. Alex really is a parent, down to the 'I love all of you equally' shit. It's just a fun little game. Hey Pen! Where does Hotch fall on the Alex Love Scale?"

"So this is just a thing?"

"Yes, Mr. Stoic and Serious, it is. It's been going on for… well you'd have to ask the dark one that."

"That's me!" Emily clarified.

"You're probably… number 9. You're still new, but you did help her get the gum out of her hair last week, so that definitely earned you a plus. Give her time, it isn't hard to win her over. If you show her basic human kindness, she'll love you. That's all you have to do."

"That's… kind of sad. But ok."

"When are they getting back anyways? We should have asked her when Derek the Idiot called her," Elle complained, poking Derek in the ribs.

"I dunno, soon probably. They've been out there putting up signs for a while now. They have to be getting back soon, right?" Tara asked.

"Well, since they're gone, we should really talk about how to push them together. It's so frustrating to see them both pine after each other and never doing shit about it," Kate said.

"Exactly, they just make heart eyes at each other all day but then swear up and down that 'there's no way they see me like that.' When people say 'disaster bisexuals,' they are talking about them," Tara said. "If they aren't going to get together, we'll just have to push them together. Any ideas?"

"I mean, there's always the fool-proof plan of locking them in a dark room together until they confess," Emily suggested.

"That might be worth trying, honestly. We could lock them in the back room."

"When they get back, we'll lock them in the back room and wait for them to confess, sound good?" Everyone nodded. "Elle and I will handle most of it," Emily said. The group went back to their activities, waiting in anticipation for the lovestruck dumbasses to get back to the shop. About a half hour later, Alex and James returned back to the shop.

"Hey Alex, can you come help me with something in the back?"

"Sure," Alex replied, following Emily into the back of the shop. Once they disappeared among the bookshelves, Elle emerged and started talking to James. "Hey giant, I need your help to reach something in the break room. Help me out?" James set down his boxes and followed Elle back through the shelves to the back room. Once both of them were in the back room, Elle ran out of the room and Emily locked the door behind her, trapping the two in the small room.

"What the fuck, Greenaway? Let us out."

"You both have something to tell each other, and when you do we'll let you out. It's not hard, guys. You'll be out in no time."

"Emily, Elle, let us out right now," Alex demanded.

"If you would just tell each other, we would. We'll be back when you two confess," Elle said, her smile heard through her voice. Alex groaned and sat down against the wall.

"They won't keep us in here forever. We just have to wait them out and pray that they don't accidentally burn the shop down," James said.

"Hold on, do you have a thin, flat tool? Like a pocket knife?" Alex asked him, pulling out 2 pins from her hair.

"Uh, yeah. Here you go," he said, handing her his pocket knife. She set to work trying to pick the lock. "Where on earth did you learn lock picking?" He asked in confusion.

"Elle taught Em and I how to do it when we were spending the night at my apartment and we locked ourselves out," she explained as if it were no big deal. "I haven't actually done it before, but I saw her do it. Come on," she said as she tried to get the lock to turn, but to no avail.

"Here, let me try," he said, taking the tools from her. He jiggled the lock a few times, but it didn't turn. They switched back and forth for what seemed like hours.

Alex was working on the lock, and it seemed like nothing was happening. "Alex, I… well, I was wondering if, maybe, you'd be interested in…" he couldn't get the words out. His palms were sweaty, and the world felt like it was spinning. Why is this so hard, he thought to himself as he tried to build up his nerve. "Alex, do you want to-"

"Aha! Got it! It's a good thing I paid attention to Elle, huh? What were you saying?"

"Never mind," he said softly. "It doesn't matter."

A/N: Poor James :( I WAS NOT KIDDING WHEN I SAID NO ONE IN THIS STORY IS STRAIGHT. They are all some shade of queer, and I love it. The more I write them, the more I fall in love with the idea of Tara and Kate. They never met in canon, but THAT WON'T STOP ME. It's quite a funny story on how the idea of them getting together came to be, a tired, strawberry filled night of rambles about wlw relationships that would be cute. OH speaking of strawberries, I got an AO3! It's thestrawberrygirl, same as my tumblr. Please leave a review, I love all of you!