(Someone said they wanted a little more of the other team members, so here are a couple more, and I will try to bring in some others—after all, poor Rossi hasn't yet made an appearance—in the next chapter.)

Enjoy…

Chapter thirteen:

Emily considered herself to be a strong woman—strong and resourceful. Hadn't she stood up to Hotch, winning her place on the team from that very first day. Hadn't she made her feelings abundantly clear when he'd pulled her into his office during the Nathan Harris case? Telling him quite clearly how she thought about politics and what they did to people?

No Emily Prentiss never backed down, from anything. But now she was just too tired to care.

It had been one hellish day. After Abby Scuito's revelation earlier she'd spent several hours on the telephone, trying in vain to get the three bases involved to fax the sixteen case files to NCIS. Jurisdictional bull-shit was rearing an ugly head, and she had had a devil of a time keeping her cool.

She hated politics, but at any other time she could have handled every one of the eight phone calls with the ease of the diplomat's daughter that she was.

By the time all the files had been gathered she was exhausted, irritable, and in considerable pain. She wanted to hold off on taking any of the pain pills she'd been prescribed, not wanting to muddle her thinking. Still, aspirin just wasn't working.

She finally swallowed half of a pill and laid her head down on the desk, intending to just rest there for a few moments.

Tony and Morgan found her there an hour later. They'd just finished watching Gibbs and Hotch with Franks and were headed back to the bull-pen to type up their observation notes while they were fresh in their minds.

The other desks were all empty, everyone else busy with some task for either Rossi or Abby. Morgan stood over his pretty colleague and watched her sleeping for a few moments. "She's so stubborn."

"Is she?" DiNozzo asked, sinking in to his chair. "I haven't had much time to get to know her. Are all the men around her that way?"

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked, "What way?"



"Well, Gibbs certainly seems to like her, and your Hotchner glares at any guy who goes near her. Is it like that all the time?"

"I don't know what you think is going on With Hotch but he and Emily don't have that kind of thing. They work together, and to tell you the truth, I'm not so sure they even like each other half the time. As for Agent Gibbs, why is it such a surprise that he's attracted to her? She's a funny, beautiful, smart, and compassionate woman. Gibbs is a single man, so what's the big freakin' deal?"

"Gibbs only likes redheads." Tony said, "It's kind of a given, like sour cream on tacos."

"Tastes can change." Morgan said. He pulled Emily's hair out of her collar, giving her a bit more freedom of movement in her sleep. "Maybe Gibbs sees something in Emily he hasn't seen in any of his redheads?"

"Yeah, like her resemblance to Cait." Tony said softly. "We lost an agent a while back, dark haired, dark eyed. Looked and acted, and was about the same age, as your Prentiss there."

"Sorry, man. It's hard to lose a team mate, especially when its one of the women." Morgan said, thinking of Elle's ordeal. "Does something to you, you know."

"Yeah." Tony paused a moment. "We can't leave her there—it's gonna get busy in here with everyone meeting to campfire."

"Campfire?"

"Brainstorming session. With the entire teams, it's gonna be loud. We might wanna move her."

"You got any suggestions? I don't want to wake her up."

Tony thought a minute before making a decision. "Abby's lab."

"Why?"

"I hid a cot behind some DNA analysis thingie. Blanket, too. Sometimes, I end up working too late to drive home." Tony said. "I'll carry her down there."

"I'll carry her down there. Lead the way." Morgan bent down and pulled an unresisting Prentiss into his arms, arranging her casted arm with the utmost care.

"What are your feelings for her? Geez, don't you Feebies have a Rule 12?" Tony asked, watching the play of emotions on the other man's face.

"Rule 12? As for my feelings, they're none of your business." Morgan said, not taking the other man seriously. He'd been stuck with the man all day, and while he didn't quite approve of the way he acted with the women they'd came into contact with, he couldn't deny that the other man was probably one hell of an agent.

That aside—he didn't really want DiNozzo anywhere near the women of the BAU.

"Yeah, Gibbs' rule number twelve—don't date a co-worker. Looks likes you freebies definitely need to come up with your own version."

The two men continued to talk quietly as they waited for the elevator to arrive from the bottom floor. It slid open, revealing the two team leaders. Hotch took one look at the woman asleep in Morgan's arms and felt panic take hold.

"Morgan, what's wrong? Is she ok?" He asked, his tone was calm, but Morgan could here an underlying layer of worry.

"Just tired, man. We're taking her down to a cot, then will meet you up in the bull-pen. I don't think it's necessary to wake her up." Morgan said, unconsciously trying to read every nuance of his boss's face.

He'd like to think he knew Hotch pretty well. Hadn't he been able to sense when he and Hayley were having problems? Wouldn't he have been able to tell if Hotch was physically attracted to a member of the team?

He remembered when Prentiss first joined the team, how Hotch had been so obviously suspicious of the woman's political connections. Connections he'd taken advantage of several times since then. He remembered how Prentiss had vented to him in the car after several episodes with Hotchner.

He'd been partnered with her on several neighborhood canvases. He and Emily were pretty close; he'd been her unofficial babysitter when she'd first arrived at the BAU, and had grown to like and respect her. Hell, he'd even admit it—if she wasn't the kind of woman you married he would have hit on her long ago. He'd never told her how Hotch had pulled him aside and asked him about the woman's capabilities.

He'd known Hotch hadn't trusted her—which he'd thought was ridiculous. Anyone who'd ever worked even one case with Emily knew how dedicated she was to her job and how competent she was at what she did. He'd also known she'd resented Hotch, was intimidated by his unwavering lack of emotion—and suspicion. He'd thought they'd both gotten past that, had learned to work as a team—trusted each other.

He'd just chalked up their attitudes to the natural suspicion of an outsider and a new team.

But was it more than that? Had their buried hostilities been a shield for something much more complex? Was suspicion and mistrust Hotch's ways of suppressing his attraction for a subordinate, especially since he was married when he'd met Prentiss?

Was Prentiss's dislike a reaction to Hotch's treatment of her, or did she perhaps sense that the man felt more than just a professional attitude toward her?

As he and Tony entered the elevator, Morgan watched Hotch's face covertly, looking for any signs of what the man was feeling. If he looked closely, he could almost imagine Hotch's gaze lingered on Emily just a little longer than it should have.

The door closed, and began its descent as Morgan had one thought kept reverberating through his head. If Hotch had feelings for Emily, life at the BAU was going to get downright tense.

He knew Hotch wouldn't know how to act on those feelings—but it would be interesting to see. If only the team managed to survive the storm without losing either Emily or Hotch.

It would be one hell of a bumpy ride. Morgan just hoped everyone would know to buckle their seatbelts.