A/N:I don't own criminal Minds. Never have, never will. To anyone waiting on my other story, I haven't forgotten about it, I'm just trying write it and its proving to be vvery difficult. I'll try to have it by next friday, no promises.
Here it is:
H.P.O.V., 5:26
I stopped walking when I heard Reid speak in the coffee room.
"Emily, can I talk to you?"
I knew instantly that I should leave before anything else was said, but I couldn't. I hadn't heard Reid this scared in a long time.
"Of course."Emily sounded like she knew what this was about. The urge to leave was still there, but the need to know what happened to Reid won out. I tensed up and waited for him to continue.
"You didn't.....tell anyone, did you?"His voice was raw with emotion.
Tell anyone? He wasn't......oh God no. He wsan't hooked again, was he?
"Of course not Reid."
I waited for them to say something else, but they swung around the corner swiftly. Where was I standing? Right next to the door.
"Hotch!"Theyy exclaimed in unison. Panic spread across their faces, confirming my suspicion. Reid was using again. The question now was if Prentiss was too.
"Hotch, I can explain!"Prentiss said urgently before I could even open my mouth. There was a desperation in her eyes that I had never seen before. Against my better judgement, I let her continue. Reid tried to talk at the same time though.
They continued until they tried to yell over each ther.
"Stop!"I attempted to speak over them. They continued with their efforts, neither of them heard.
"Whats going on here?"Rossi's voice rose above everyone else's. Prentiss and Reid turned quickly to face him.
They both tried to talk again, but I finally yelled over them.
"Reid, you first."
Reid was so nervous and scared that he couldn't speak. I waited in vain for him to form words, but they never came.
"Prentiss."I gestured for er to start talking. Rossi took the cue and left.
"I WASN"T USING AGAIN!"Reid wailed desperately. he rolled up his sleeves as fast as possible. Thankfully, there wasn't anything there. I looked at Prentiss and knew I had made the wrong assumption.
"I'm sorry."I apologized awkwardly,"I thought-"
"I know Hotch."Reid cut me off.
I was about to continue when I saw something unbelievable.
Prentiss had shifted positions so that she was in between me and Reid, like she was protecting him. Thats when I saw the spark in her eyes.
This could not end well, at least not if I said something.
"Sorry."I repeated and took off to my office to process my discovery. Prentiss and Reid? Absolutely unbelievable. As far as I knew, Reid still had that silent crush in JJ that no one knew about. But as I played it back in my head, it became all the more confusing.
Re.P.O.V., 6:59, Chili's
"Hey Hotch."I greeted as I sat down with the rest of the time. He needed to know things were okay between us.
"Hey Reid."He replied apolegitcally.
Emily and I meet eyes and we awkwardly looked away. The same thing happened with Hocth and Emily second later. No one wanted to think about what happened in the bullpen.
5 Hours Later(11:59)
I didn't know what to say. It was just me and Emily now.
JJ and Hotch had left after an hour or two, Morgan had disappeared with some girl, Kevin had picked up Garcia minutes ago, and Rossi was chatting pleasantly with the bartender.
So it was just me and her.
"Who were you talking about?"I found myself hopeful at her answer.
"When?"I knew now that she was avoiding the question. Was it someone at work?
Whoever it was, I felt something. I couldn't figure out what it was. It wasn't joy, or sorrow, or rage. Jealousy? No. There was no reason to be jealous. My heart whispered,'Shes anice beautiful woman. Whats not to like?'
I froze in place as I thought it through again. I could not love Emily. I loved JJ. But now that I thought about JJ, I knew it had been a stupid crush all along. This, whatever ot was between Emily and I, was different.
"Are you okay?"She asked hesitantly. I blushed nervously and nodded. For a second, I thought I saw a glimpse of hope in her eyes. Then I told myself to stop day-dreaming.
Please let me know if I get someone out of character. Its much appreciated.