Hello all! Thank you so much for the reviews! And to all who visited and read this story! Thank you!

And an awesome, thank you to my beta, HGRHfan35! The best!

Enjoy!

…

If Not for You

Part 4

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The report did not take long to write, yet they were at the precinct for over two hours.

Everyone Flack knew was glad to see him what they termed, 'his ol' self'; full of vigor and friendly sarcasm that was uniquely Flack. They hoped he had finally found peace within himself and that he had finally let Jessica Angell go in peace.

And they, especially the male population of the PD, were entranced with Emily. They all agreed, privately, that she was beautiful and a knock-out, wonderful personality and very sociable and the crux, she was an FBI agent that worked with the elite BAU team. They had heard of their reputation from their rival precinct; back a couple of years when they were hit by homeland terrorists, this team had solved it and kept the city from turning into another tragedy. If the hospital was to explode, so many more lives lost and they, indirectly, prevented an international conflict. The United States had convinced a mysterious but powerful dignitary from a foreign Mideast country to received medical help here and had promised full security and to keep the media from discovering the visit.

The men at the precinct made several excuses to meet her, asking her several questions about analyzing behavior.

Emily was happy to oblige; the more LEOs wanting to know how to take down the baddies, the better.

Of course, being a profiler in reading body language, she knew the men wanted to flirt. Harmless flirtations were fun for her. Besides, her 'bodyguard' was right beside her the entire 'session'.

It had amused Emily vastly to see Flack's dark looks towards his co-workers even though they ignored him.

Emily ended the 'session' about an hour later when she spotted someone she knew from the bureau.

Jo Danville.

Emily remembered the scandal with Jo's supervisor and his cover-up. That man was 'forced' to retire after she had left.

Walking at a fast pace, Emily called to her.

"Jo!"

Jo turned around and after a second's hesitation; she recognized Emily and smiled widely.

The two women hugged and began catching up.

"I didn't know you work here now!" Emily smiled.

"Me too!" Jo laughed. "But I heard about the reputation of the crime lab here and applied. I loved it since."

"Not missing the bureau?"

Jo sobered, "Honestly? No. This is great here. And Ellie is making friends here."

"How is she? And Tyler?" Emily asked.

Quickly, Jo gave her a quick story of her family and who had ended where.

"And it's working out great." Jo said further.

"Looks like it. And you look great."

Jo beamed, "That's because I'm accepted here, and I'm really happy here."

"I'm glad for you, Jo."

"And you," Jo asked. "What brings you here? A consult?"

"No, I'm taking some time off from work and here as a needed friend capacity."

Jo frowned slightly, "Who's the needy?"

Emily pointed Flack who was talking to another detective, trying to discourage him to ask Emily out. That detective was a three times divorcee.

Jo studied Flack. "Him. Yeah, he has been looking morose. I heard about a rumor that he was involved with another detective but she was killed on duty while playing babysitter to a witness."

"It's not a rumor, Jo. They were…serious." Emily said quietly.

Jo looked at Emily, "Wow. And he had taken it pretty hard since then. I mean, it's been three years. How's he doing now?"

"A lot better. As witnessed, he would not have been able to step foot in here…"

"He was still seeing her and especially here?" Jo added, quick to catch on.

Emily nodded.

"So, how are you two…I mean, I know I'm being nosy but you and he…" Jo was embarrassed to ask but her curiosity got the better of her.

Emily laughed; it had always been like that. When they were together, everyone assumed they were a couple.

"We are very good friends. Actually, he's my best bud. Knew him since we were little. We went our separate ways because of my mother's postings but we managed to keep in touch. He's so much more my brother than friend."

"Ah! He's a very nice-looking man." Jo smiled.

Emily laughed, "Yes. Hmmm, you're not…?"

Jo looked horrified, "Oh no! I'm…god Emily! I'm so much older than he! I think he's more Tyler's age than mine. And I don't want to be labeled a Cougar."

They both laughed hard. Flack glanced at them in query and decided to go up to them.

"You two are not talking about me, are you?"

Emily and Jo looked at each other and laughed more. "Oh, Jo wanted to know…"

"Oh!" Jo cut her off again. "Look at the time! I have to get back to the lab or Mac is going to deduct my hours. Emily, we must do lunch while you're here! If you have some free time, call the lab or come to the lab. Flack knows the way." She winked at him and hurried off towards the exit.

"Is she okay?" Flack frowned as he watched her almost running outside.

Emily chuckled, "Oh yeah. I guess she needed to get back to her lab."

Flack didn't answer; he knew they were discussing about him and somehow the conversation led to Jo being embarrassed about something…something that had to do with him, especially when she winked at him. What was all that about?

Admittedly, Jo was pretty, smart and vivacious but again, he compared her with Jess. Every woman who crossed his path was compared to Jess.

So far, none had come up to snuff.

But then, Jo Danville. Even though she was a few years older than him, she still looked very pretty.

"Don, are you ready to head out?" Emily asked; she saw his lingering looks towards the exit.

He nodded absent-mindedly, "Yeah. Heading out." Then he realized he didn't know what Emily was talking about. "Head where?"

"Don, didn't we agree to go for a beer?" She wanted to laugh aloud; he was being pretty transparent. And it was a good thing; it showed he was ready to move on.

"That's right. Are you ready? Because I want to leave before your adoring fans find out about where we're going to and decided to tag along."

Emily laughed, "Well, let's get out of here!"

…

Two hours later, several bottles of beer between them, they were still at the bar. They had moved from the bar counter to a table.

All evening they had been reminiscing about their youths and the indiscretions they had committed but all in the name of fun and challenges. Throughout their childhood, they had always challenge each other for shock value; 'I dare you to…'

The tally was no longer in use as they had lost count of who had the better score and that in itself was bantered and challenge.

They were drunk but had slowed their alcohol consumption; always conscience of limitations.

Looking out the bar through the windows, each deep in thoughts when Flack began to study Emily.

"So Em, you have not answered my question from earlier at Giana's."

Emily turned her head from the windows and looked at Flack, "What question?"

He gave her a wry look, "Come on Em, it's me you're talking to."

Emily sighed, "Okay, I guess you're not gonna stop badgering me until I talk?"

Flack grinned, his teeth gleaming.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Promised me that this is between you and me."

Flack stopped grinning, "I promised."

Taking a deep breath, she said, "I kissed my boss."

…End of Part 4…

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Let me know what you think…this is a short one, will post 5 hopefully tomorrow!

Thanks!

Lizzie