A/N: Hey guys! Still don't own Criminal Minds! If I did, Remi would be a character.

Chapter 4

"It was good, okay?" Emily reiterated as Derek, Penelope, and JJ followed her around the bullpen. "Stop following me around!"

"But we need more details that it 'being good,'" Garcia replied in a fake voice, trying to copy Emily's unenthusiasm.

After Emily glared at the tech analyst, Morgan asked, "Can't you just tell us what you guys did? We just want to make sure you are being well taken care of."

"Believe me, I was taken care of fine. We had ice cream and dinner. And then we went to her place. Not a big deal."

Garcia and Morgan squealed in excitement. Emily couldn't help but see JJ's eyes darken. She tried to ignore the blonde for the rest of the conversation. She didn't even want JJ to feel jealous anymore.

"Ooh, Prentiss got laid. So, how was it?" Derek question, raising his eyebrow playfully.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Emily winked at him, smirked, and walked away. She saw Reid and darted toward him. "Ah, Spencer! How was your weekend? Good, I assume?"

Reid barely looked at her when he replied, "It was fine. I was able to read eight books this weekend. I also got to finally watch the new season of Doctor Who again! Okay, I only watched a few of my favorites, but still. I-"

"Pretty boy, please don't continue. Prentiss only asked you so that she could stop talking about her date," Morgan grinned at his partner.

"Oh," Reid replied, looking bummed. "Well, how was it?"

Emily sighed deeply and walked away to find Hotch. She thought he would stop this. She entered his office and sat down across from him.

Hotch raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are you okay?"

"The team keeps following me around. Asking me about my date. I needed to get away from them. And I thought maybe you could tell them to quit it."

"Of course," Hotch replied as he looked through files. "I presume the date went well?"

Emily rolled her eyes. "Yes. It was great. Can we move on? Anyway, isn't there a case we should be working on?"

Before he could reply, Rossi knocked on the door and Emily and Hotch turned to look at the senior agent.

"Sorry to interrupt, but- ooh, Emily. How was the date?"

Emily harrumphed and jumped up to leave. She couldn't escape the questioning from anyone.

But before she could leave the room, Hotch said, "Wait, we're going to Roanoke. Tell the team."

"Roanoke?" Emily asked him slowly. "What's in Roanoke? What happened?"

"A case we solved four years ago. The UnSub woke up. From a coma. And he apparently doesn't have his memory."

"I can't believe that this hotel doesn't have enough rooms for each of us. We went through hell today," JJ murmured as she flopped on the queen size bed that she and Emily were supposed to share. She dug into the covers, her sporty pajamas already on her body.

Emily frowned, trying to not pick apart the blonde's words and infer what she thought it meant. She began to brush her teeth. She spit the toothpaste out of her mouth. She checked her clothes. All she had packed was her Edgar Allan Poe pajama set. She usually slept in a room by herself. She walked to the bed to find JJ reading a book. Emily sat on the bed awkwardly and checked her phone. Three messages.

Ramirez: Hey, Em. How's the case going? Know when you're gonna be back?

Ramirez: You doing okay? I miss you.

Ramirez: You're probably busy. I'm sorry. I'm going to bed. Talk later? 3

Emily groaned. She somehow made a mistake without even doing anything. Maybe that was the problem. She immediately typed a message back.

Prentiss: I'm so sorry for not replying sooner. Tough case. But we already solved it. Staying at a hotel for the night. Coming back tomorrow. I missed you, too.

She put her phone down, thinking she wouldn't reply if she had already gone to bed. Emily went under the covers and found the blonde staring at her.

"You okay, Em?" JJ asked her carefully.

"I'm fine. Just tired. And annoyed about the room, I guess."

JJ nodded slowly. "Is something wrong with your… girlfriend?"

Emily didn't understand why JJ was being so awkward. "No. I just missed a bunch of texts. Her name is Remi, by the way. Just don't tell Garcia. She'll turn into stalker mode."

"Are you kidding? Penelope already knows her name. Remi Ramirez? Yeah. She found out days ago. She very much approves. And apparently, she has no record, if you were wondering."

Emily couldn't help but be interested in her words. She was glad to hear that Garcia seemed to like her on paper, even though she didn't need any approval. "That's good. She's a good person, JJ. You'd really like her."

JJ tried to smile, though Emily could tell the difference between a fake smile and a real one. This one was definitely fake. "Yeah. I'm sure I would."

"JJ, are you okay with everything? I mean you've been acting a bit strange ever since… you know. When I told you that I'm gay."

The blonde sighed and put her book down. "It's not you, I promise. It's just that… a while ago, Garcia said something to me that I can't get out of my head. A couple of months ago, she asked me if we were… you know. Sleeping together. I told her she was crazy. But she really thought that we were together. Apparently, you look at me intensely. Whatever that means. And now that I do know that you're gay…"

"You're afraid that I do have feelings for you," Emily finished for her through inference. "Look, there may have been some feelings a while ago. But I'm with Remi. So there is nothing you need to worry about."

"Oh," JJ replied, looking a little stunned that Emily had admitted that. "Okay. Er… good."

Emily frowned, wishing she could take back everything she had just said. "I probably shouldn't have said that. I just made things weird, didn't I?"

"No, no, no. It's fine. You were being honest with me, and I appreciate that. Now I don't have to wonder and I have an answer. That's good." JJ put her bookmark in her book. "Does she know about your old feelings for me?" At Emily's reluctant nod, she added. "Oh. That'll suck meeting her. Does she hate me?"

"No!" Emily exclaimed simply. "She knows that the feelings aren't there. We're good."

"Are you going to invite her out to drinks with the team tomorrow night?" JJ asked her, trying to not sound like she was still startled by the revelations.

Emily shrugged. "I'm not sure. I don't know if we're ready for that. Do you think it's too early?"

"You all met Will before I even decided that we were dating. So, I think it's fine. Especially if she's up for it."

Emily nodded. "Yeah, you're right. So, early start tomorrow. Wanna catch some sleep?"

"Sure," JJ said as she turned the light off on the lamp.

They both tried to stay on their own side of the bed. It was like an invisible wall stayed in between them. It was as thick as the tension that remained with them.

"Agh, Em. I'm nervous to meet them," Remi admitted as Emily parked the car in the parking lot. "They are so important to you and what if they hate me?"

Emily grinned at her pouting and took her hand. "They aren't going to hate you, Remi. They are going to love you." She kissed her girlfriend's hand.

"Are they going to interrogate me?"

The profiler chuckled. "Yep. But you can take it. You've been able to handle me for this long." When she noticed that she wasn't reassuring the professor, she added, "If you get uncomfortable, just let me know and we can leave."

"Can we come up with a codeword?"

Emily raised an eyebrow. "Okay, dork. What word would you like to be the codeword?"

"I can ask the waiter if they have mac n cheese," Remi suggested.

Emily laughed and ran her hand through her hair. "Alright. Mac n cheese. Got it. Are you ready now?"

Remi nodded and opened the car door. Emily took her hand and they walked to the bar. Upon entering, they were greeted by Garcia, who was already too excited.

"Ah! You're here!" Penelope cheered and wrapped her arm around Prentiss. She then turned to Remi and squealed. "I'm Penelope Garcia! I'm the tech analyst and the most wonderful and beautiful member of the team."

"I'm Remi Ramirez. It's a pleasure to meet you." Remi stuck out her hand for Garcia to shake, but instead of taking her hand, the tech analyst hugged the foreign woman.

"I'm a hugger. But you'll get used to it. I've been waiting to meet you since Emily first mentioned you. Though, it was Derek who told me about you in the first place."

Emily gasped playfully. "I hadn't even gotten to the office yet! It's not my fault that you and Morgan are inseparable to an odd extent."

"Odd extent?" Morgan asked as he came up to the small group. "You just wish you were as close to me as baby girl is."

"You know that's right," Penelope agreed as she winked at him.

"Whatever. Besides, Remi, this is Derek Morgan, the bane of my existence. Derek, this is my girlfriend, Remi Ramirez."

Remi and Derek shook hands and Derek commented, "I'm glad to have finally met someone that she's interested in. I guessed she was gay when she didn't further any of my advances." Emily hit his chest. He groaned. "I'm kidding, of course. Come on. Follow me. Rossi told me to bring you all to us. We have a huge booth."

The small group of people followed the profiler to a table where Rossi, Hotch, and Spencer were sitting. Emily tried to ignore the fact that a certain blonde wasn't there.

Emily began introductions. "Everyone, this is Remi Ramirez. Remi, this is my boss, Aaron Hotchner."

"Please, just call me Hotch," He replied as he shook hands with his colleague's girlfriend.

"Nice to meet you, Hotch," Remi said with a smile.

"I'm David Rossi. Call me David or Dave. Whatever feels right," Rossi told the professor warmly as he shook hands with her.

Remi nodded and then turned to Reid, who looked awkward. Following Emily's advice, she waved at the young doctor. "Hi, Spencer. Emily's told me so much about you. I've been told that you like Russian Lit more than Em. Who knew that was even possible?"

Reid grinned at her, surprised that she could be so much like Emily and himself. "War and Peace takes me less than two hours to read. It's not Emily's fault that I can read so much faster."

"Yes, Reid won't let me forget this fact," Emily murmured as she took a seat next to the nerd. Remi sat down next to her. Morgan and Garcia took seats across from them.

Rossi asked Remi a question but Emily's attention was dragged away when she saw JJ enter the bar. The blonde looked around to find where the team was when she saw Emily and the others in the corner. She smiled and waved at Emily. It wasn't until she got closer when Emily realized that the liaison's eyes were red like she had been crying. Emily wanted to ask her what was wrong, but she knew it wasn't the right time.

She walked up to the table and sat down next to Derek. "Sorry, I'm late everyone. I lost track of time." She turned to Remi. "Hey, I'm Jennifer Jareau. But my friends call me JJ."

Remi shook her hand and put on a good smile. "Hi, JJ. It's so wonderful to finally have met you."

"Same here. So what's going on, guys? What was I interrupting?" JJ quickly asked, turning the attention away from her.

Emily immediately knew something was wrong with her. She just didn't know what it was that made her so upset.

Her focus on JJ was interrupted when she heard Remi say, "Right, Em?"

Emily nodded and tried to focus on her girlfriend and her team, but she couldn't help but continuously glance at the blonde.

"That was a successful night I think," Remi announced as they entered Remi's apartment. "I really liked your friends. You're right. I haven't met someone quite like Spencer Reid. But he's lovely. Truly." She noticed Emily wasn't listening and was staring off into space. "Em? You okay, darling? You haven't said much since we have gotten to the bar. Is everything alright?"

The brunette's attention refocused on her girlfriend when Remi's hand met her waist. "Yeah. Sorry, Remi. I'm just so tired. I was actually wondering if we could skip our nightly show watching and go to sleep?"

Remi knew something was off. "Right. Okay. Let's go to bed."

Emily moved away from Remi's touch and walked to her bedroom. She tossed her shoes away pulled her shirt and pants off. She flopped on the bed, wishing for once that she was alone since she had met Remi. She did all that she could to not flinch when Remi's warm arms embraced her.

The foreign women traced Emily's body. It took her awhile for her to realize she was tracing her scars.

"What are all these from?" Remi asked her in a whisper.

It wasn't a difficult question. In fact, it would be a normal question for a normal couple. But Emily wasn't normal. And her past definitely was the opposite of normal.

"This and that," Emily replied vaguely. She rolled over to her side, physically moving away from Remi. She couldn't see her girlfriend's frown.

"I'm going to pretend like that wasn't a sketchy answer. Hear, I'll tell you about mine. If you looked at me, you would see a scar from my stomach. I got it in a knife fight in Istanbul when I was sixteen." When Emily turned around with an incredulous look, Remi glared. "I'm kidding. I was in Germany and I ran into a door while riding my bike. I broke through the glass. I fell on a shard or something."

She sighed and grabbed Emily's hand. Remi brought her fingers to her chest. "This is the only other scar I have. I was mugged when I was thirteen. I was living in Greece. I didn't even tell my parents. I only had fifty or so American dollars on me." She waited for Emily's reaction. When Emily looked concerned, Remi added, "It's not hard, Emily. To share. I'm not proud of that scar. But it's apart of me. That's why I want to know about yours, Em. I just want to know what makes you, you."

Emily didn't have a chance to reply. Remi turned off the lights and rolled to her side. Emily definitely felt guilty. She forgot that keeping secrets is the easiest way to end relationships. She wanted to be better than this. She just didn't know if she had the ability to be better.

Oh, Emily. She's so cute and oblivious. She needs a little help, don't you think? Thank you all for reading! Reviews are welcome and appreciated! XX