(Ok, I found another error—in the last chapter Gibbs tells Abby to find McGee, but it should have been Rossi she was supposed to find.)
(Secondly, I have a major, major project for a client and won't be able to update all of my stories every day, but I will try—as best I can—to update at least one of my stories each day.)
(Thirdly, this is one of my favorite chapters so far—I think it gives insight into Hotchner that my other chapters just haven't. Please let me know if I've kept him—and Gibbs—in character..)
Enjoy…..
Chapter Eleven: Men, Attraction, and Guilt
Hotch watched Agent Gibbs out of his peripheral vision, wondering at his interrogation style—and his intentions toward Emily.
"Didn't mean to poach," Gibbs said, abruptly. He wasn't a profiler—didn't put much faith in it, no matter what he'd told Ducky. Still, he didn't have to be a profiler to know what Hotchner was thinking.
"Excuse me?"
"didn't mean to horn in on your girlfriend." Gibbs knew he was needling him, but was how Gibbs operated.
"Agent Prentiss is my colleague and my subordinate, not my girlfriend. We are here to a job and nothing more, understood?" Hotch's words were blunt, but Gibbs still heard the anger underlying his tone. "What makes you think differently?"
"The way you look at her as opposed to the way you look at any other beautiful woman." Gibbs said, slamming the elevator's stop button.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Hotch asked, voice rising slightly.
"Figured we got some things to work out before we interview Franks. Are you going in there as a Federal agent or as a pissed off lover?" Gibbs didn't sugar coat, and he made sure to look at the other man head on. He wanted to see every reaction on Hotchner's face.
"That is a completely necessary question, Agent Gibbs. Agent Prentiss and I have never had a personal relationship of that manner, so let's consider this discussion dropped."
"Maybe you haven't—yet—but you want to." Gibbs said, "Funny, you profilers can't see what's right in front of you."
"Maybe your just hallucinating." Hotch actually snarled the words, his handsome face twisting menacingly, as he slammed the elevator button to send the elevator back to service. "There is nothing sexual in the way I look at Prentiss."
"If you say so." Gibbs quipped.
EMILYEMILYEMILY
The stairs almost proved too much for Emily. They'd waited outside the elevator for several minutes but it showed no signs of movement. It was as if it had stopped between floors.
Ziva and Abby had shared a glance, before lab tech had said cryptically, "Gibbs must be discussing something with Sir Hot Hotchner."
"Excuse me? What did you call him?" Emily sputtered, not knowing whether to laugh or be appalled. Hot Hotchner? Seriously?
"Well, he is! There is just something about a man that buttoned up, you know. Makes you want to grab him and rip the buttons away!"
Garcia sputtered and bent over, laughing hysterically. Emily just stood there, outside the elevator, looking at the two techs in complete bewilderment.
"Come on, Em, don't tell me you've not noticed! Hotch is a very good-looking kind of kind—if you like that type."
"What's not to like?" Ziva asked candidly. "He is intelligent, successful, good-looking."
"But Hot Hotchner? I can just see his face if someone where to call him that in his hearing. Can't you, Pen?" Emily was finally struck by the hilarity and she too laughed until tears flowed. "But why is the elevator not moving?"
"Oh, Gibbs calls it his office. He has private conversations in there—mostly ass-chomping and head slaps. You can't escape once you're in there, you know."
"Ass-kicking, Zi." Abby said, snickering. "Gibbs has pulled you in there enough for you to know that by now."
"Whatever, Abby. I guess we are taking the stairs." Ziva shrugged before turning toward the stairs. Abby and Garcia stayed behind, watching the two dark headed agents slowly climb the steps. The pain was beginning to show in Emily, and they hoped she'd be smart enough to take the necessary break before Gibbs or Hotchner caught on.
HOTCHOTCHOTCH
Aaron's blood boiled. How dare Agent Gibbs imply that there was something inappropriate between him and Emily?
If Gibbs had spent any time with the woman—and Aaron knew he had—he should have known Emily Prentiss wasn't like that. She was far too intelligent, too dedicated, and too professional to jeopardize her position in the BAU by engaging in an affair with a colleague—especially a supervisor. And he would never expect her to make that kind of sacrifice, no matter how much he might have wanted her to.
At his last thought his mind went into an immediate panic. No matter how much he wanted it? Did he want it?
It wasn't something he'd ever allowed himself to think about. Yes, he'd long admitted that Emily was an attractive woman—just as he'd long thought the younger JJ was.
It was something he'd even taken advantage of during investigations. Attractive women tended to attract men; he'd effectively used them as bait during certain investigations. Just another weapon in his arsenal. Just as Reid's intellect or Morgan's charm. His team had strengths and weaknesses, and as leader it was his job to utilizes those strengths and prepare for those weaknesses.
Yet what of his own weakness—was Emily one of his weaknesses? Why hadn't he ever noticed before.
As he followed Gibbs down the hall to the NCIS interrogation room, he cataloged his feelings for Agent Prentiss.
One, he'd always found her mind to be fantastic. Two, she was clever and her droll sense of humor made it hard for him to always keep a straight face. Three, he had always infinitely trusted her as his backup. Four, when working an investigation he knew she almost always seemed to read his mind. And finally, when he was with Emily he always felt the most perfect sense of calm, as if the horrors that was their job were blunted, smoothed over—if only for a little while.
If he was brutally honest with himself, he'd admit that not even Hayley had ever managed to make him feel exactly like that.
The question was, what did it mean, and how did he feel about all that?