The Zero Hour

Reid and Prentiss

February 2011

Note- This story contains scenes of a sexual nature but not graphic.

Chapter Thirteen

Emily was still running on adrenaline, after facing down Doyle, when the team came out of the apartment building. She pulled Reid aside, down the street so hopefully no one would hear them.

She knew she should wait till later to talk to him about this but she was too revved up at the moment. "What the hell was that?" she spat at him.

He simply stared at her.

"Reid! Don't play dumb! You know what I'm referring to."

He swallowed hard and stared at her some more. He reached out to touch her hand and she pulled it away.

It ticked her off that when they found the apartment Doyle was in Reid had acted like Emily shouldn't go in there.

Prentiss mocked his voice "Don't! Wait!" She poked him in the chest. "Get this straight, you will never stop me from doing my job! I can do this damn job! And if you don't know that then I don't want you having my back going through a door ever again!"

She stormed off.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

After a debriefing and doing their paperwork the team was free to leave the BAU for the night. They were given three days off.

A cold silence lingered between Emily and Reid. She left work without speaking to him and drove home feeling drained. She ate a frozen dinner standing over the sink and then tossed it into the trash violently, feeling unsatisfied with the way things went down today. She hadn't liked putting her life at risk but she knew what she had to do in order to save the hostage. She knew the team had her back.

It pissed her off that Spencer had treated her like a girl. The word echoed in her mind like a curse.

"UGH!" she cried, climbing her stairs and starting to undress as she did. She went to take a shower and then went to her bedroom to lay down. She checked her cell for messages and saw a text from JJ that said to call her if Emily wanted to talk.

She called JJ.

"Hi," JJ said

"Is it a bad time?"

"Its fine, Emily. I was hoping you'd call. I heard you had one hell of day, huh?"

Strong, never show weakness Emily Prentiss sniffled as relief hit her full force at the thought that she was no longer being stalked, hunted and marked for death, and also that she had yelled at Spencer and that maybe they proved today they can't work together and now she would have to give him up.

Emily started to tell JJ all about it.

XXXXXXXXXX

On the last day that they had off Spencer sent Emily a text saying that he had to talk to her that day and asking if he could come by her house. They agreed on a time and that evening he stopped by.

She opened the door to see him standing there with an unreadable look on his face. She peered at him, as she is prone to do, but his mood was best described as simply quiet.

She sighed and motioned for him to come inside. After spending countless hours thinking about them her mind was still no clearer. She knew she would hate to lose what they had started, and would feel empty and less for not having him to joke around with and make love to, but she also couldn't forget the way he had freaked out when they went to apprehend Doyle.

They sat on the couch. She had a bunch of take out menus on the coffee table, next to her cell phone. "I'm going to order some dinner. In the mood for anything?"

He looked at the menus and said "Definitely not this," in regards to the Chinese food before telling he how bad MSG is for a person.

"I thought that's a myth."

He gave her a strange, almost worried, look. "The studies aren't conclusive yet but there is much research under way."

"Come on, Reid," she tried to tease, to cut the tension, "live a little. Risk it. Eat the Moo Shoo Pork."

He rambled about Chinese food and China till she covered his mouth with her fingers. He kept talking. She laughed and he chuckled. She scooted closer to him and dropped her voice. "Dr. Reid...if only there was a switch to turn your brain off when its no longer needed."

"If I didn't have a brain," he leaned forward and blew on her neck, making her shiver, "I wouldn't have a memory to remember you like this." His hand went to her thigh and slowly stroked upwards before he lifted it off her. "Or anything else you like."

She gently grabbed his hand and teased "Where are you going? Get over here." Then she smiled widely at him.

He reached up and stroked her hair away from her face. "Emily..."

She titled her head to the side and gazed into his eyes.

His voice got choked up. "Emily," he repeated her name before swallowing hard "I'm sorry that I freaked out that day. I just...I...I'm just not used to caring so much." His voice was breaking "I truly am sorry that I made you feel like you're not competent because I know you are-"

She smashed her mouth against his, intertwined her arms around his neck and kissed him with all the passion she had hidden inside for too long. She finally completely let go. They started to frantically make love. When they went to move upstairs to her bedroom they only made it halfway up the stairs before they joined their bodies together. Each kiss was packed with emotions that neither had let out during their previous encounters.

Reid held her hips so tight that she wondered if they would be bruised in the morning, while she bit his shoulder and collarbone.

Afterwards they were both panting, with him laying over her, his head on her chest, half their clothes on and half off.

The first thing she said, after she came down from her high, was said with a sexy smile on her face. "Where do you get all that energy?"

"Sugar coffee," he answered, calling it what Rossi had dubbed Reid's concoction of sugar with a splash of coffee.

She chuckled. Soon they made it up to her room. They were both smiling and kissing, taking off the rest of their clothes, as they went into the room.

Emily asked "So what do you think?" as she reached out to stroke him.

"About your technique?" he asked, clearly confused.

She shook her head at that and laughed. "No. What do you think about this? Us? Do you want to keep this going for a while?"

He thought about it, closing his eyes as she caressed him. "No," he joked.

"Idiot!" she teased, pushing him back on the bed and crawling on all fours onto the bed herself. "For that you will pay."

He grinned at her. "Hmmm, you make me pay? Unlikely!"

She chuckled and eased up his body. "Oh, buddy, you are writing a check that your ass can't cash."

Their lips were almost touching, with both of them smiling. He asked "You think so?"

"I know so."

"Emily, I should warn you that taking on a genius is never a good idea."

"I'll risk it," and then her lips connected with his. He flipped her on her back and they effortlessly joined their bodies together again.

Emily Prentiss still had more of her life to live and she liked the idea of taking on dating a genius. It was better than she ever had imagined that it could be in all the fantasies she had about him. Fantasies he didn't even know about yet...well, they always had tomorrow to get to that.

THE END

Thank you all for reading and reviewing. Your reviews made this story a joy to post. I used to like this pairing but now I love them.