Hey guys. Here's a new chapter! I know. I know. It's so soon. Look at that title though. Are you prepared?

Enjoy.


First Fight

Emily stares out the plane window at the sun trying to break through the horizon. She had boarded the plane first and couldn't wait for it to take off. This case would be over as soon as the wheels were up.

She barely notices JJ coming her way. JJ touches her knee before sitting in the seat across from her.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah." She knows JJ doesn't believe her. "I'll be fine, really."

Everyone settles in the plane and Emily avoids their gazes as they try to give her space after what happened. They are back in Virginia two hours later.

Emily sits in her car in the parking garage at Quantico. Hotch has given them the day and she has no idea what to do with it. She knows what she wants to do—crawl Into bed and forget the ending of that case. It turned out fine in the end but she didn't want to think about the kid she was supposed to be rescuing pushing her out of the path of a bullet for it to hit him instead.

And though she really didn't want to admit it, at least out loud, shooting the UnSub's kneecaps out as he tried to advance on his wounded victim did feel quite good.

But Emily didn't want to dwell on that whole situation. She wanted to get her mind off the particulars and be glad Joshua Hollister was alive. And what better way to do that than spend time with her girlfriend. Well, they hadn't really formally discussed it—they'd only been dating for a total of three weeks in between Emily's work schedule—but Emily kinda hoped they'd get there.

Emily starts her car and navigates out of the parking garage toward Rachel's apartment. Emily was all smiles when she got to Rachel's building. There was just something about Rachel. And apparently, anything that had to do with her turned Emily into a smiling fool that she's sure Derek would tease her about. Hopefully she'd be able to keep her cool about Rachel (and Rachel-related subjects) by the time she told the team about the author.

Luckily, Emily's surprise visit was helped by the young family exiting the apartment building. The father held the door for her. The brunette made her way up the short two flights of stairs. She was about to knock when a thought hit her. Should she have brought something? Flowers? Donuts? Too late now. She knocks.

Rachel pulls the door open confused as she leans against it. She crosses her arms over her chest, pulling her robe tighter around her as she feels a bit self conscious. She did not expect Emily to be here, and she definitely didn't expect to be in front of this amazing, beautiful, and even classy woman in a cotton robe, which she, of course, spilled coffee on not even twenty minutes ago.

"Emily, what are you doing here?" Rachel asks a bit frazzled.

"Hi. I have the day off. I thought we could go to Dean's, maybe, or do something else. Anything's in play."

"Oh, I'm sorry. But I can't."

"Are you sure? We can get an extra stack of your favorite pancakes," Emily tries to entice.

"I really can't. Not right now."

"You have to eat. Come on. I have the day off," Emily pleads.

"Emily, I'm sorry; I really can't. I really have to write today."

Emily gives a short sigh. "You can do that any day. I don't know when my next day off is gonna be."

"No. I can't," Rachel bristles. "I need to do it today."

"So you can't even have breakfast?" Emily challenges with an edge.

"I've already had breakfast. And even if I hadn't, I don't think I'd want to go with you right now," Rachel counters. "What's your problem?"

"My problem is that I want to spend time with you and you don't seem to want to."

"My day's planned, Emily. I can't just drop everything."

"Yes, you can. You can write when you come back. I don't know when my next day off will be."

"So I should just drop everything for you? My plans mean nothing because you're back?"

"I just got off a plane and came straight here."

"And I need to keep to my routine. I need to get this done."

"I was just shot at while trying to stop some scumbag from abducting, torturing and eventually killing a teenager. And you can't have breakfast with me because you have to write?"

"Well, we all can't be FBI agents," Rachel says. Her fingers clutch the sides of her robe tightly under her crossed arms. "And writing? That's my job. I need to get back."

Emily's jaw tightens as she looks at the woman in front of her. Rachel stares back. Not backing down.

"Fine," Emily says. She couldn't even tell if she was bluffing or not. This had gone terribly, but she did want to spend time with Rachel and —

"Okay."

— Apparently that wouldn't be happening now.

"Goodbye, Emily."

Emily barely registers the door shutting in her face.


Emily lounges on her couch. She was vaguely aware of Miles Davis' "So What" flowing through her speakers from the music station she had set. What she was more focused on—and what she had been thinking about for what seemed like forever—was her conversation with Rachel.

Their conversation kept replaying in her head. Or was it an argument? Would it be their first or last? Emily had insulted Rachel's profession. And she didn't mean any of it. She respected the author's writing. How could she not? That first book was amazing. And she could only imagine all that went into everything creating it. But she seemed to let her frustration about the case get the best of her. She should have just come home to wind down and get her bearings before seeing Rachel.

A knock at her door causes Emily to sit up with a low groan. She wasn't expecting anyone. She debates whether or not to exert the energy needed to answer the door for someone who probably had the wrong apartment. Another knock sounds.

Emily decides to just answer the door. At least it was a temporary distraction from her thoughts that had been going on for—she glances at her microwave clock as she passes the kitchen—two hours. This day sucked.

She looked through the peephole and was surprised by the person on the other side of the door. Emily pulled the door open quickly.

"Rachel, what—"

"I'm sorry," Rachel interrupts. "I shouldn't have gotten upset with you, even if you were being kind of a jerk. I should have realized that you needed to talk or decompress and relax and such." Rachel's hands were everywhere as she spoke. Emily was finding it adorable as the shorter woman spewed words. "And while my job may not be as high profile as yours, it is still very important and I take pride in it, and I won't let you belittle it the way you did. But I've just spent two hours trying to get my head into writing and I couldn't stop thinking about you, so I guess what I'm saying is," Rachel wrings her hands, "I'm sorry…you know if you are."

Emily has to reign in the smile that threatens to eagerly reveal itself as she just looks at Rachel. Just as a nervous look comes over the writer, Emily gives in.

"I'm sorry, too," Emily says with a smile. "You're work is important. Your writing is amazing. I mean, I've only fully read one so far, but I'm kinda hooked."

"Really?" Rachel beams. Emily nods. "Thanks."

The two stand at the door taking in the other for a moment before Rachel shakes her head and comes back to get back to the matter at hand.

"So, is our first fight over?" Rachel says. "Because I didn't come over to tell you all that. Well, I did, but I also came to see if you wanted to talk. About the case. Sounded like it was intense." Emily frowns. "Or we don't have to," Rachel backtracks. "I can just go and you call me later?"

"Come in," Emily says as she steps back from the door.

"Are you sure? We don't have to talk about it if you don't want."

"Rachel, come in," Emily repeats and she grasps the other woman's hand and pulls her into the apartment.

The door clicks closed.


Okay guys. You've reached the end of this. I've wanted to write their first fight for a long time. I know you guys wanted to Rachel to fight for their relationship a bit and this kinda has that. But don't worry I've got you covered. I know what I'm going to do, but I can't say you guys are gonna like it or that that chapter will be soon. We'll see.

So anyway. I'm kinda dividing my writing time between this story and my Pitch Perfect/Rizzoli & Isles crossover. So I'm gonna try to do my best with being active on both for you guys.

Let me know what you think. You guys know I love responding to your reviews and getting a conversation going!

TVCrazed. :)