AN: Sorry it has taken me so long to post this chapter. I struggled with this chapter. I'm not completely happy with it but I've rewritten it about 6 times. Good news is while I was taking breaks from this chapter, I was working on chapters 13 and 14 and starting to outline 15 and 16. I hope to have chapter 13 up in the next few days.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

CHAPTER 12

It was 45 minutes later when Hotch finished explaining what he and Emily had agreed to share with the team about what they had learned . As he looked up at group in front of him, he didn't miss the look of stunned shock on everyone's face. There had been several interruptions during his explanation for questions and clarifications. The team had expressed a range of emotions from anger to worry to sadness.

With the silence in the room, a noise could be heard at the front of the house. Exchanging looks, all of them stood up and moved towards where they heard the sound, suspecting that it was Emily.

Shortly after they reached the foyer, they watched as she slowly and carefully opened the front door and quietly entered the house before closing the door looking more like a teen sneaking in after curfew than a married 31 yo FBI agent with 2 kids of her own.

When she turned around she had a deer-in-headlights look to see all of them looking at her intently. Emily took in the sight in front of her until her eyes stopped at her husband. He gave her a small nod before she sighed and looked down. Seconds later, she could see movement off to her side before being enveloped in a hug that she immediately could tell was JJ from the scent of her lotion.

All of the emotion that she felt as she was walking came bubbling to the surface and she choked out between sobs, "I'm so sorry, JJ. Sorry for what I said. I know you would never do that. You are nothing like her."

Having reached out to take Emily's hand, JJ exclaimed, "My god, Em you're freezing. Let's go get you some tea," as she wrapped her arm around her best friend and guided her towards the kitchen. The rest of the team could see Emily turned into her friend's embrace as they walked. Garcia walked away from the group, reentering the family room and grabbed a blanket from the back of one of the couches before following JJ and Emily into the kitchen.

As much as he wanted to be the one to comfort his wife, Hotch could see that the members of the team needed to be there for her too. From their talks the last couple of weeks, he knew that having people around her who she trusted and who wanted to support her was essential in helping her move forward.

He was relieved to see that Emily and JJ were already working out the conflict that had happened earlier. He wasn't surprised by either Emily apology as soon as she saw JJ or JJ's compassion having heard the context of the comment and realized that it wasn't personal.

As he was standing in the foyer watching the kitchen door wondering how long to wait before going in, Morgan came over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hotch, is it OK if I leave my car here tonight. I'm going to call a cab." Morgan asked, glancing down at the phone he was holding in his hand.

"Of course." Hotch answered without looking away from the door.

"Can you stay with the kids tomorrow morning?" Morgan asked hesitantly.

Hotch turned to look at him before saying, "sure, why?"

"I want to take Emily to the gym."

"The gym?" Hotch said as he narrowed his gaze at Derek.

Morgan took in the protective look Hotch was shooting at him before continuing, "she's been off for a few weeks now. After tonight we all know why and it's understandable after everything she has learned."

"How will the gym help?" Hotch said, looking at Derek intently.

Derek shook his head before answering, "I'll get her out of her head. She needs to get out of her head. You know she does, Hotch." He stopped and took a deep breath before grinning at his boss and saying, "I'll challenge her and she won't be able to resist."

It wasn't a secret to anyone on the team that Derek and Emily had a sibling like dynamic almost since she joined the team. While they were complete professionals in the field and had partnered together frequently when she was on their team, at other times their bickering and banter had caused Hotch headaches on more than one occasion.

One aspect of their banter was to challenge the other in various pursuits. It was something that the rest of the team had just accepted about their friendship and when they got started just rolled their eyes at them. That, however, did not stop the rest of the team from trying to observe the actual challenge and track who won. It had also not been uncommon for them to take bets on the challenges. That was until the last challenge 8 months earlier.

When Emily and JJ had come over to the bullpen to bring the team's assigned consults, Morgan started teasing Emily about her increasing waddle. Emily had quickly retorted that it wasn't a waddle but walking so her back pain didn't get worse.

The banter continued and as a challenge was starting to be discussed, the team covertly paid attention seeing what they were going to decide so they could plan their bets. The friendly banter had ended when Morgan blurted out without thinking that he could drink her under the table.

The next 60 seconds had Morgan stunned silent when he realized what he said, Emily bursting into tears and Dave getting between Hotch and Morgan after seeing the murderous glare on Hotch's face. Morgan had come out of his stupor when JJ had hit him upside the head.

As he looked around at the disgusted looks from the team, Morgan couldn't help but be angry with himself. He immediately went over and kneeled down in front of the seat Emily was sitting in and took her hands. He then apologized to her saying he didn't want her to do anything that would jeopardize the health of her baby. He had then gone on to tell her that it wasn't a fair challenge and because it was his fault he was giving the win to her. Emily accepted his apology and the win before heading back to her office.

Hotch, on the other hand, was still pissed a couple days later when they were training in the gym together.

Hotch took a deep breath. From her early days on the team, Hotch had found that when Emily was having to work through a tough case, she would frequently go to the gym to work out. And as far as he knew she hadn't been there since she had learned of the Ambassador's death.

As long as Emily didn't object, it was worth a try to accept Morgan's suggestion. And he could see that Morgan just wanted to help her in the best way he knew how. Despite the questionable decision that led to the last challenge, Hotch knew Emily would be in good hands because he knew that Morgan would support her. 'As long as he doesn't make anymore outrageous challenges,' Hotch grumbled to himself.

Hotch nodded as he warned knowing that Morgan liked to push Emily's buttons, "I'd be careful about poking the bear Derek. She has had some aggression building up as she's been working through everything."

Derek chuckled before answered, "I'll be fine. Princess can't hurt me." Hotch rolled his eyes hoping that Morgan didn't end up regretting those words.

Hearing laughing coming from the kitchen, they walked into the kitchen to see Emily wrapped in a blanket sitting at one of the barstools at the counter with a cup of tea sitting in front of her. JJ was sitting down next to her while Reid was standing at the end of counter. They were all watching Garcia as she was excitedly telling a story while gesturing wildly to the group in front of her. She stopped as she noticed the new arrivals to the room.

"Don't stop on our account." Dave said smiling.

Garcia shook her head before answering, "No, we're finished. Heh, Hot Stuff, can I get a ride with you?" she said as she looked at Derek.

He nodded his head as he said, "we can share a cab if you want. I just requested one and they will be here in about 5 minutes."

"OK good." Garcia said as she started to give everyone hugs, stopping to give an extra long one to Emily. Then she walked back into the family room to grab her coat and bag.

As Derek walked up and gave her a hug goodnight he said, "Hey, Em. Tomorrow morning. You and me at the gym."

Emily sighed and answered, "what are you talking about? I don't need to do my competencies yet."

Morgan rolled his eyes at her as he answered, "I need a workout partner. I want to see if I can still kick your ass now that you are done with your 'I'm pregnant' and 'I just had a baby' excuses." making air quotes and used a mocking voice as he said it.

As he said it, JJ angrily started to walk towards them to until Hotch caught her arm and shook his head. She looked at him questioningly and Hotch leaned over and whispered, "he's helping," in her ear. Seconds later a look of understanding passed over her face and JJ visibly relaxed.

Emily stood up straight as she answered, "yeah I can still kick your ass. You better bring it Morgan."

Morgan laughed at her and he rustled her hair before pulling her into a tight hug, "oh don't you worry your pretty little head about me Princess. Tomorrow. Bureau gym at 7:30." He knew the 'pretty little head' comment would annoy her.

"Can't wait." Emily groused at him.

Morgan and Garcia walked out of the kitchen to go catch their cab that had just arrived. JJ invited Spencer to come home with them which he accepted. JJ hadn't been drinking with the rest of them as Hotch had been talking earlier and she was going to drive them back to her house.

When Hotch and Reid went with JJ and Will to gather their things and get the kids ready to go, Emily was left alone in the kitchen with Dave.

As she noticed the room suddenly clearing out, the confidence she had just a couple of minutes earlier was dissipating. She stood up and walked over towards the sink to put her cup into sink. Feeling Dave's eyes still on her, she said quietly, "so he told you everything?"

"Aaron said it was everything. I will say that 'complicated' was a gross understatement based on what we heard tonight." Dave replied calmly remembering what each of them had told him when he had spoke to them individually a couple of weeks earlier. However, he was anything but calm inside. He was unsettled by everything that Aaron had told them that evening.

Emily nodded and looked down as she said, "good. I'm glad all of you know."

Dave could see her withdrawing and starting to curl in on herself again. He walked over and placed his hand on her shoulder and waited for her to look at him before he said, "you know it doesn't change how any of us feel about you. Except that I now think even more about the wonderful person you are and everything that you have accomplished growing up surrounded by those toxic influences."

Dave wasn't one who gave out compliments easily or frequently however tonight he felt it was important for Emily to hear these words.

She nodded before answering with tears in her eyes, "thanks Dave.

"No thanks needed. I'm completely serious." Dave said before he leaned in to give her a much needed hug.

"It means a lot especially coming from you. You are one of the handful of people that knows not just the good and the bad of my life but also the ugly."

"Yes that's true but Emily you haven't allowed the bad or the ugly to define you. You should be proud of what you have accomplished and continue to accomplish. I'm honored to call you my friend and colleague. Just remember you have people around you that love you and are here for you. You aren't the only one who has had ugly in their past." Dave said.

Emily looked at him intently and could see pain in his eyes. It was clear that his words weren't only for her. It was rare that Dave opened up this much that Emily asked, mirroring the words that he had said to her 2 weeks earlier, "Do you want to talk about it? It may make you feel better."

Dave could see the sparkle in her eyes as she asking and gave a sad chuckle when he realized that she was repeating his own words. With his hand on her shoulder, he said, "maybe another time, kiddo. I haven't had nearly enough alcohol to tell anyone that story."

Emily tilted her head and looked at him concerned. She wanted to help him as he had helped her many times but understood not wanted to talk about a painful topic. "OK. Well I'm here if you ever want to talk."

"I know. I'm going to take off. My cab should be here in a couple minutes. Give your kids a kiss for me and get some sleep. It sounds like you are going to need to be well rested tomorrow." Dave said, chuckling as he mentioned about tomorrow.

Emily smiled as she thought about sparring with Morgan the next day, "Yeah, it will be worth it to see that smirk come off of Morgan's face."

All of the sudden a look flitted over her eyes and she dropped her shoulders and looked down before mumbling, "he played me again, didn't he?"

Dave laughed at her reaction to the realization about her earlier conversation with Morgan. If Emily had been 100%, he knew that she would have picked up immediately on what Morgan was trying to do. However, if she was 100%, her and Morgan probably wouldn't be going to the gym at 7:30 on a Sunday in the first place.

He shook his head and smiled at her as he said, "nope. He just knew how to get you to agree. Good night Emily." He gave her another hug before they started to walk towards the front door.

"Goodnight Dave." Emily said as he walked out the door towards his waiting cab.