The Zero Hour
Reid and Prentiss
February 2011
Note- I thought the guy Emily met in the bar at the end of The Thirteenth Step was named "John" but I guess I misheard and his name is Sean McAllister. That is the character that is focused on in the second half of this chapter.
Chapter Nine
Emily was restless in her apartment. Hotch had gotten two agents to stand guard at her door every night the team was in town. The fear she had about Doyle was now starting to morph into real anger. She felt trapped because of him.
Too restless to watch TV, read or go online she had decided to work out and maybe after a few hours of that she'd be so exhausted she could actually sleep. After her work out she took a shower and dressed for bed.
Checking her phone, she saw she had missed a call from Reid. Emily smiled slyly. He hadn't ever called her before when they weren't working.
She sat down on her bed and called him back.
"Emily," he said, when he answered. "How are you doing?"
"I wish Hotch wouldn't have forced these guards on me. I know he meant well but it just sucks. If Doyle is really gonna come after me then I wish he would just do it so this can get over with, you know? It feels like a game of cat and mouse at this point and I don't like it one bit."
"Those letters he wrote to you suggest he's devolving at a rapid pace. From the first one to the third his speech became more garbled and his threats more sadistic. This isn't something he can stop on his own. He'll have to be stopped."
"I know that." She sighed. "I'm sick of thinking about it. I'll never sleep tonight at this rate."
After a pause he said "I'm sorry I brought it up then."
"No, Reid, its fine. Its actually," she smiled slightly "nice that you called."
In a surprised tone, he asked "It is?"
She smiled more and dragged out the word as she said "Yes."
Acting as if he couldn't believe it he asked "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
She rolled her eyes. "Will you stop?"
"Stop what?"
"There is a lot about you that works my nerves," she teased, knowing he had been playing her- trying to get her to admit she enjoyed knowing that he wanted to check in on her. It took her the longest time to start to tell when Reid was truly clueless and when he was just faking it. Sometimes she still couldn't.
"Its called jealousy," he joked back.
"Ohhhhhh," she laughed "is that right?"
"You're not the only one."
She laughed again. Emily laid down on her side as she relaxed and kept chatting with Reid. "Okay then. I'm so jealous of your big brain and your skills and your ability to do magic. Sure. You believe that if you need to."
"Just remember that my skills actually help you improve your skills."
"Ohhhhh, really? I'll have you know that my skills were honed to perfection years and years ago."
"If that was true then you would be able to best me when we play chess. You might need to look up the word perfection."
She laughed. "Why bother? I'm sure you have it memorized."
"I memorized the whole dictionary when I was five. But you'll never learn if I just go ahead and tell you everything."
"Such a jerk! How do you ever get laid?"
He laughed. "I don't know. You tell me."
"Oh, finally something you don't know. I like you better when you're stumped."
"Don't get used to it."
She smiled, as warmth spread through her. "Mmm, do you know where I'd like to be tonight?"
"Where?"
"Take a guess," she flirted. "I know a genius such as yourself should be able to figure it out pretty easily."
"Oh," he answered, as she could just imagine his cheeks reddening some, and his pupils dilating while he wore a sexy smirk on his lips.
"We got a pretty good thing going, Dr. Reid."
"We do?"
She tensed a little. "Don't we?" Just then her phone indicated she had another call coming in. "Crap. Another call coming in. Hold on, okay?" She took the other call. "Hey."
"Prentiss, I'm sorry to bother you at this hour," Hotch said. "I hope I didn't wake you but we have another body."
"Doyle?"
"It appears that way."
"Who? Who did he get to?"
"I'll explain on scene. Meet the team at," he gave her the address in Washington DC of a restaurant.
Prentiss clicked back over and told Reid before rushing to get dressed to leave.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
The team stood in a darkened parking lot, looking over a body that had been stabbed many times.
As her co-workers spoke about what it meant that Doyle now struck in public, instead of at the victim's home, Emily stayed quiet, with her eyes locked on the body of her former colleague. Hotch dispatched them all to different jobs- Reid to go make a geographical profile and Emily to the morgue with Rossi.
She stared at Sean's body on the slab.
Rossi gently told her "You don't have to work this case if its too personal."
She startled back to the moment, knocked out of her thoughts. "I have to do this."
"I know."
They shared a look before getting down to work. Hours later they were all gathered at the BAU again, in the round table room, trying to go over the things they had learned. When the meeting broke up Hotch ordered them all home to get some sleep. They had been working through the night.
As they left the room Hotch said to Emily "By the time you get back to your apartment your security detail will be in place again."
"You know what, that's a waste of resources."
"That's my call."
"I'd rather just stay with someone on the team. Its not like Doyle can get the drop on both of us."
Hotch raised his eyebrow and stared sternly at her. "I'll speak to Morgan, then."
"I was thinking Reid." She quickly started to walk away. "I'll ask him."
"He can barely pass his firearms test."
"Ha, ha," Emily said, dryly, still walking away.
"I'll order four gaurds for his door."
She just shook her head at Hotch. Only he would joke at the strangest times, while usually barely cracking a smile.
As soon as Emily reached Reid's desk, she sat on the edge of it and looked down at him. "Hotch says I gotta stay at your place. Strauss is really kicking up a fuss about wasting resources on agents guarding mine. Is that cool with you?"
He sat back in his chair, raised both eyebrows, gave her what was supposed to be an unfazed look but she could tell his brain was working a mile a minute at the ramifications.
"Sure," he said.
"You sure? I don't want to impose on your bachelor lifestyle, Dr. Reid."
"Me? I haven't had a date in months."
She chuckled softly.
His tender brown eyes held hers, soothing her frayed nerves. Even when she was miserable, scared and grieving the loss of her colleague Reid was able to give her some kind of comfort, and for Emily that meant more than she could say.