Hello all! Loved the hits on the first part of this sequel! Thank you to all who have read. To Tiana-P, I couldn't reply to your review, so thank you for reviewing here! And I hoped you get your question answered here, even though it's a teeny portion but there will be more.

And again, thank you HGRHfan35 for your beta help! It looked better!

Enjoy!

…

The Long and Winding Road

Part 2

"Looks like he is still stewing." Dave said as he leaned against the door frame to Hotch's office, a steaming mug of coffee in one hand.

Hotch shook his head, "I just don't understand his reaction."

Dave straightened and walked in and sat on one of the guest chairs. "I'm surprised as well. I thought he had seen much and understood where Emily had been. I think it was his ego."

Hotch looked at him in askance.

Dave continued, "He and Emily had been partners for the past five years. They had developed a closeness as friends, mind you."

Hotch nodded. He was not feeling jealous at all.

"I presumed they must have had talks about their personal lives. And when in the field, they relied on each other. They came to understand and trust each other. And then she disappeared. We closed in on the UnSub who turned out to be Doyle, and more than that, Emily's involvement, as well as not providing crucial information. She became his suspect more than a victim and as much as he tried to deny it, he couldn't help but see her in that light. Her sleeping with the enemy was something he simply could not grasped. He always sees her as golden. As the real thing but she fell short of that expectation."

"Yeah. I agree with you. So, how do we repair this?"

Dave shook his head, "It's not for us to do so. It's something between Derek and Emily to solve this issue."

Hotch nodded his head and said, "Well, that'll have to wait. He's taking some time off."

"I thought as much." Dave stood up and walked to the door but at the last moment, he turned around to Hotch and said, "Just don't let this fester. Let Emily know about this as soon as you see her this afternoon."

"What…"

Dave grinned, "Come on Aaron, we're profilers. I know we have a long standing rule of not profiling each other but it's pretty obvious about you two."

"Pretty obvious?" Hotch blushed slightly.

"That's putting it lightly. And frankly, no one is objecting. You will be good for her, and she to you."

"Thanks Dave." Hotch said.

"Don't thank me. Just take good care of her. Therapy and psych evals are nothing to her. She knows that shit inside out and she can bullshit to the therapists here who are nothing but a bunch of jokers. Clowns wearing suits."

Hotch chuckled; he couldn't agree more. He himself had spent some time with the therapists when the fiasco with Foyet ended with the death of Haley and Foyet himself.

The BAU team revised the psychological evaluations every year.

The FBI had not figured out a solution on how to evaluate the BAU team outside of the perimeter of the evaluations they wrote.

"I will, Dave."

Dave walked out of his office.

Hotch stared after him.

At least most of his team was fine with his new-found relationship with Emily.

Even Reid.

It seemed that he was not getting his work done that morning as Reid was knocking on his door.

"Hotch, do you have a moment?" Reid was standing awkwardly, his satchel slung across his shoulder.

"Sure Reid. Come on in." Hotch nodded and indicated a chair with a jerk of his chin.

Reid quickly walked to the chair and sat down and began shaking his leg.

"Reid?"

"I…I just needed to talk about this whole thing. About Emily, about Morgan."

"I'm listening."

Not looking at Hotch, he began, "I knew…I mean I should have known about this secret Emily was keeping. I heard her conversations and she lied to me when I asked her. I can read deception and that's Emily. I thought if I could tell her about my…"

"Your headaches?" Hotch asked quietly.

Reid snapped his head up and looked at Hotch, "Did she tell you?" He sounded disappointed as he had asked her not to tell anyone at that time.

Hotch shook his head, "No she didn't. You have been showing signs; wincing at bright lights, your preference to stay in dim areas and you've not been reading as much than you did before because you couldn't concentrate, right?"

Reid was certainly surprised by his boss' intuition and glad about it. "Yes. I…"

"Reid, it's okay. Just tell me, what's the diagnosis?" Hotch asked.

"Nothing. They said it was some psycho babble they tried to sell me. I told them that I don't believe in it and walked out."

"Look, it's not related with Schizophrenia. You must be thinking too much about many things, starting with your mother's condition. We're here for you. If you need to take some time off," Hotch offered even though he knew it would be difficult to do so as Morgan was out.

"Thanks Hotch. But I am managing them."

"But you'll inform me if it gets out of hand, right?"

Reid nodded. "Yes. I will."

"Now, how about the other questions you wanted to ask."

"I'm worried about Derek, and Emily."

Hotch began to explain to the young man what he and Dave had discussed moments ago. That Morgan and Emily had to hash it out themselves.

Reid nodded, "Yeah, I gather as much. I…I'm not being judgmental and don't want to be but we, I mean they need to get it out. We cannot function without trusting each other on the field. They have worked so close together…"

"Reid," Hotch interrupted him. "They will."

Reid looked at Hotch for a moment and finally nodded when he read his boss' assured and confident expression.

Then he stood up, "Thanks Hotch. I think that's about it."

Hotch nodded and watched the young man leave his office.

His team was still in doubts.

Bad as it was, he wished they had a case at this moment; it might keep them focused on something else besides this.

His cell phone buzzed; it was Emily.

Hotch smiled; a text message from E. Hotchner. She had not changed it and for some unknown reason, he didn't want her to change it.

Who knew? He might want to make it official…okay, maybe that was rushing things too fast. She might not want to either.

And what if things didn't turn out …no, Hotch shook his head, this was it.

She was so right for him. And in his own opinion, he was right for her.

He read the text – Gads! This stuff is major boring! And I have four more hours of this. But in an hour it's lunch time, how about a lunch date? Please say yes or these jerks would not leave me alone. They thought they found their future wife!

Hotch chuckled; she was taking her weapons requalification. Hotch then replied to her desperate plea. Of course he would love to have lunch with her.

After he sent his text, he sighed hard as he looked at the in-tray and wondered if he would ever get around to them.

Well, he had an hour to kill before his lunch date, he could get at least three reports done.

His phone buzzed again, he picked it up thinking it was Emily again but realized it was JJ.

Ah yes, another 'prodigal' returning to his unit. At the end of the month, six more days, she would be officially back with the FBI BAU but not as media liaison but as a profiler.

As he was interim Section Chief, and the Department of Defense had no qualms because of budget constraints, he was authorized to reassign Special Agent Jennifer Jareau.

…

"How was weapons requal?" Hotch asked Emily when they were seated at the local bistro.

Emily rolled her eyes in exaggeration, "Seriously, this requal is so redundant, Aaron. I can shoot with my eyes closed."

Hotch arched an eyebrow, "I don't think I wanted to see that happening and if you do, I'd rather be a few hundred paces away."

Emily laughed, "Okay, that's exaggerating a bit."

"A bit?"

Emily laughed more but quickly sobered and changed the subject, "What's going on in the bureau?"

She meant Derek Morgan, Hotch could see.

"He is in Chicago."

Emily looked down, her hands were clasped together, "Guess he's still pissed at me."

Hotch didn't answer.

Emily continued, "I'm leaving for Illinois after my weapons certification tomorrow. I hoped he'll talk to me."

"He has no choice. Go to his family, with them around he has to listen to you."

Emily nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I was thinking of that; women empathized with each other. They might convince him."

"That's what I'm hoping for." Hotch replied as he reached over and covered her hands.

Emily smiled at his gesture and held on to his hand for strength and support.

…

Emily had been to his mother's house a couple of years ago when Derek was a suspect in the murder of a teenage boy. The team later found out that Carl Buford, Derek's mentor, was found guilty of that teenager and several others dated back five years. And along with the case, they found out about Derek's past. He had also abused by Buford.

She stood before the house and pressed the buzzer; she hoped to be able to speak to his mother and maybe sisters before confronting him.

Emily had an idea of why he was mad at her but she wanted to know it all, so Derek could trust her again, be able to work with her again which was crucial in their field.

Derek's mother Fran was the only one home, his sisters were at work and Derek was at the youth center now ran by former Detective Stan Gordinski, the detective who had arrested Derek for the murder of the teenager.

Emily was surprised by the change. Fran explained to her that much had changed since that incident.

Since Carl Buford had been found guilty of several murders, his sentence was life in prison.

The youth center needed a new mentor and since Gordinski grew up playing sports, he decided to retire from the force and offer his leadership at the youth center. At first, the kids were apprehensive about a former cop being a leader at their center but Gordinski proved to them that he was up to the challenge and brought back these youths with the help of the community.

Fran was smiling as she told Emily that Derek's sister Desiree was a tremendous influence and now she worked there as a volunteer.

His other sister was encouraged by Desiree's dedication; it was for the good of the youths. They are these kids' mentors and they should lead by example. She helped occasionally when her job permitted.

Derek and Gordinski had made peace the year after Buford's sentencing and Derek visited the center as much as he could when he was here visiting.

Fran looked at Emily and knew that whatever happened to Derek had something to do with this pretty brunette.

She knew that they had a great partnership and report at work but something that happened not too long ago had triggered Derek's moods. Fran could tell Derek was bothered by something from their regular phone calls but had not wanted to push him. She rather he opened the subject first but a mother couldn't help but worry.

As she prepared dinner, Emily sat on a bar stool, a glass of iced tea in front of her.

She found that she liked this domesticated scene; Fran was very comfortable in her kitchen as she moved about the room.

The two talked about food, their likes and dislikes. Then it threaded to places they had been; Emily beat Fran by over twenty.

Fran was fascinated by this young woman who seemed so young yet had seen much more than she had. She wished Emily and Derek were an item but she could sense that Emily had someone already. She knew that Derek and Emily were more brother and sister than anything else. She knew her son had a particular taste in women at this point and Emily was too good for her son's current want for bachelorhood.

She liked Emily.

As Fran was refreshing Emily's drink, they turned towards the living room; someone was coming in.

"Mmm! Momma, I am smelling fried chicken and Turnip Greens! Lady, you sure know your way to my heart!" It was Derek.

Fran glanced at Emily and saw her nervousness. Something bad really did happen.

Derek was starving; playing more than a handful of basketball, a couple of flag football had whetted his appetite. And he had heard his mother mentioned his favorite; fried chicken.

As he approached the kitchen, he saw that his mother was not alone. His sisters were still at the center when he left.

Then who was it?

The mystery answered when he saw her standing by the high stool.

"What the hell are you doing here?" He growled at Emily.

…End of Part 2…

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