If Not for You

Part 8

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Mac Taylor was nervous. He tried not to think of his feelings into this 'date'. It was a function; his late wife's function.

But for nine years, he attended the gala alone. Not this time. This time, he had a date. Granted, Emily Prentiss was a substitute key speaker and therefore had an invitation to the gala but nonetheless, they would be attending together. He would be seen with her.

Those who knew Claire and him would be critical. But at this moment, he didn't care; it would do them good to stop feeling pity for him when he attended this function.

He knocked on the door to Flack's apartment and fussed with the collar of his shirt. The tie tab felt as if it was choking him.

He hoped Flack was not there; he could stand without any teasing from the smart-mouthed Don Flack.

The door opened and he had his wish; it was Emily who opened the door.

"Oh Mac! You look so handsome!" Emily's eyes were sparkling as she looked at him from head to toe.

Mac was stunned; Emily was wearing a strapless red dress that fitted her to perfection. The dress was revealing curves he didn't know she had and he couldn't stop staring.

Emily noticed his stare and that he had not replied to her compliment which was in earnest; Mac's tuxedo was a perfect tailored fit and he looked very dashing and handsome in it. Emily was all the more attracted to him.

"Mac? Is something wrong?" She was beginning to feel very self-conscious.

At that, Mac snapped out of his stupor, "Yes…I mean…no. Nothing is wrong. In fact everything about you looks right. You look very beautiful."

Emily smiled, "Aw, thank you Mac." She blushed prettily. "Let me get my purse and I'm ready."

Again, no response from him.

Emily had turned back into the apartment when she turned to face him again, "Mac? Are you okay? I mean, if you don't feel good or if you changed your mind, I'll understand."

But in her heart, she hoped that was not the case; she wanted very much to get to know more about him, especially personal-Mac, not work-Mac.

Mac began to smile, "I'm very sorry Emily, but I am in a bit of a shock and trying to recover."

Emily frowned, "Shock? I don't understand?"

He unconsciously tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her right ear, "I'm just not used to a woman being ready when I arrive. I thought I would be waiting for at least a half hour or so."

Emily shook her head, "I abhor tardiness so I don't like to be a hypocrite by being one. And besides, how long should one take to get ready? If your date says he'll pick you up by a certain time, it is really inconsiderate to make him wait."

"Wow, you're incredible."

Emily blushed as she shook her head again, "That's how I was brought up."

"Yeah, I'm glad. And I'm sure you're every man's perfect date."

She laughed, "Not going to tell you. Are we ready to go?"

He answered her by hold up his elbow and she took it happily and walked down the hallway to the elevators.

..

The gala was a success, thanks to the speech she read on her mother's behalf. It was a very heartfelt speech. Emily was near tears herself as she read it; it talked about her Aunt Michelle's daughter who was diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when she was one year old but sadly, she passed away on her second birthday. That was two years ago.

After the speech, many people contributed to the charity.

"You make a good spokesperson," Mac complimented her. He was in awed by her speech, well, her mother's speech.

"Mia was such a bubbly kid. I remembered when I visited Aunt Michelle and Mia. She took me to her playroom; it was like a Barbie doll fantasy land. Aunt Michelle had been collecting Barbie dolls since she was little and she passed it on to Mia. She was such a happy kid. I bought many Barbie dolls and sent it to her when I was overseas."

Mac watched emotions flowed around Emily's face; sadness, happy, mourning for a loss of a family member beloved by all. He realized he wanted to make her to be happy all the time.

"When she was in the hospital, her room was pink as well. Aunt Michelle tried to make her feel comfortable by surrounding her with familiarity. She even had a picture of me and her in the Barbie room, surrounded by all the dolls I had sent her. She was so precious, so loved and so full of loving." Uncaringly, she let her tears fall down her cheeks.

"She was a very lucky child and you know she is at peace and that she knew she was loved by all who knew her."

Mac pulled out a handkerchief and gently wiped her tears. Then he pulled her into him.

Emily felt pampered, he was very tender with her and she felt mushy all over. And the memories of Mia were full of love, right till the end when her body became too weak to fight anymore.

After a while, he began to stroke her back softly and she felt his lips on the top of her head.

Her heart picked up pace; he was simply the most understanding and most compassionate man she had ever known.

Unconsciously, she thought of Hotch; he would never do this. Hold her and comfort her.

And she realized that she did not feel anything for Hotch anymore. He was just her supervisor.

She pressed her cheek against his left chest, to listen to his heart and it buzzed.

Wait. His heart is buzzing? Whatever happened to the thump-thump beatings?

She realized, with a giggle, that it was his cell phone buzzing.

She pulled away from him slightly and smiled, "Your cell is buzzing."

Mac shook his head, "Can't get a free and undisturbed moment without that damn thing buzzing." He pulled his phone from the pocket inside his jacket.

Emily took the handkerchief from his other hand and wiped the remaining tears that he had missed.

When he snapped the phone shut, he was wearing a frown.

Emily inquired.

"Another electronic shop was robbed and this time, the owner was shot. This case has turn into a homicide case."

"Guess we had better get going." Emily said.

"Emily, I…you don't have to go. I'll order a cab for you but stay as long as you like."

"No. I'd told you earlier, this is my mother's scenario. All I did was deliver the speech, as a representative of the Prentiss name. And I was not required to stay till the end. I don't like politics and this is exactly it. Besides, I can give an outside opinion if you want. Just invite me." She grinned.

Mac looked at her; what woman would give up this glamour gig? Not many that he knew of. It made her all the more special.

And at the slow rate with no firm lead on the case, he would certainly welcome her profiling skill.

"After you," he spread his hand out towards the exit.

"You are such an awesome date! Sure knows how to show a gal a good ol' time!" She laughed as she walked with him towards the door and out of the ballroom of the hotel.

…

With surprising ease, they were able to catch a cab and soon they arrived at the crime scene.

Their outfit garnered a lot of attention, both from onlookers and the LEOs.

Flack came out of the store and grinned at them, "Well, if it weren't the royal couple…of law enforcement. Your Highness, you are looking mighty fine in your get-up. And Mac…"

Mac cut in, "Skip it, Don. Emily is here as a consultant. What have you got for us?"

Flack raised his eye brows - 'us'?

Mac matched Flack's eyebrows with his.

Flack shook his head and began to brief them; apparently the robber or robbers were not aware the owner was still inside. Owner, Steve Beason, 56 years old, put up a fight; there were items being knocked down surrounding the victim. Same things were stolen; routers and laptops and this time, cell phones as well.

The back door was broken and that was where the confrontation broke out; the victim was found near the back door.

"Wow Mac, don't you look fancy and so out of place here!" They turned and Emily saw a salt and pepper haired man with reading glasses hung around his neck, although Emily frowned; the glasses looked broken, right in the middle of the frame.

"And you brought a date here! Are you trying to drive her away?"

Mac grinned, "Sid, this is Emily Prentiss. Actually, she's Don's best friend and I was escorting her to the Children's Cancer Foundation gala."

Sin nodded in understanding, "Ah! The gala! How was it? Who's the guest speaker? I hoped it wasn't that same man they used for the last two years. He sent everyone to sleep!" The last sentence was directed at Emily.

Pointing at her, Mac replied, "She was. Well, her mother is one of the key contributors and the speaker but she was unavailable, so Emily stepped in and did a hell of a job."

Sid looked at her, "Prentiss…name sounds familiar…"

Emily had heard before all the time about the name sounding so familiar.

"My mother is Elizabeth Prentiss, Ambassador, um right now, to Helsinki."

Sid shook his head, "No…that name don't ring a bell…oh wait, you're not related to Leonard Prentiss, are you?"

Emily looked pleasantly surprised, "That's my father. So yes, I'm related to him." She giggled.

"Leonard Prentiss is such a profound politician for the…"

"Sid, now is not the time. The body?" Mac cut in.

Sid looked embarrassed, "I'm sorry Mac. The victim had three bullet wounds, one of them pierced into his heart. As soon as I have him on the table, I'll know which order. Time of death is three hours ago."

Flack spoke up, "It's cut and dry but with a body this time. So, really there's no point for you two to remain."

"Oh wow! Don't you look dashing, Detective Taylor!" Emily turned to the speaker and saw that it was Det. Michelle Greene who was staring at her. "Aren't you a FBI BAU agent that worked in San Antonio a couple of years ago?"

Emily nodded as she held her hand out to shake, "Emily Prentiss, Special Agent with the BAU."

Michelle shook Emily's hand before quickly retracted hers. Emily thought it was a rude gesture; had she pissed off this detective? If so, when and how?

"Oh yeah, so how is Agent Hotchner? Is he still the Unit Chief or has he moved on up?"

This time, Emily thought the line of questioning was really out of line and Flack saw Emily's eyes sparked with annoyance; uh oh!

"Um, Michelle, why don't you get with Jo Danville? I think she needed help with the mess of electronic equipments that was knocked down."

Michelle pouted slightly as she stared openly at Mac before turning to look at Flack and nodded as she moved away.

"What was that all about, Em?" Flack asked.

Emily shrugged her shoulders, "I'm not sure myself."

Mac shook his head, "I think I do."

Emily and Flack turned to face him directly.

Mac explained, "On her second day here, she spent most of her time at the crime lab instead of getting acquainted with the bullpen. She spent quite a lot asking me questions on the robbery case. And she invited me to lunch on the pretense of more questioning. She began asking me about my job and then very personal questions."

"Uh oh!" Flack grinned.

Mac looked at him, "Yeah, you know I'm not a sharer, especially my personal life. It kinda ticked me off about her brashness so I told her to keep her line of questions to work. She wasn't too happy about it but she did stop with the personal stuff."

Emily put her hand on Mac's shoulder and told the two men about Det. Greene trying to hit on Hotch as well.

"That woman is a climber. Hotch put her in her place that time, I thought she had changed but obviously I was wrong."

"Damn, we were going to a bar after this case." Flack said.

Mac shook his head, "Go. And try to figure out her agenda."

"What do you mean, Mac?" Emily asked.

"She came at a coincidental time as these robbery cases; she was given this case when she arrived. It may be nothing but I don't believe in coincidence."

Flack smiled tightly, "I hear you. You and I worked way too hard for some chick, no offence to you Em, to take it out of my hand just like that."

They discussed quickly how Flack should 'handle' this new detective and once they were through, Mac and Emily left. As Flack had mentioned, it was Mac's night off and there were enough lab techs to work on the scenes.

As they waited for a cab, Emily turned to Mac, "Is it possible to go to your lab? I would like to see the other files."

"Sure. I thought you might want to call it a night or something."

Emily smiled, "Something? Do you have this something in mind already?"

Mac shook his head, "No. It just came out. I don't have any idea where that came from." He blushed slightly. "But we'll go to my lab."

Emily grinned wider, "Okay, thanks. I appreciated it. And after we'd gone through the files, how about a late night supper? The dinner at the gala wasn't really filling at all."

Mac laughed, "No problem. I've never met a woman who loves food, usually it's the opposite."

Emily blushed, "I do love good food and New York City is known for their international blend of cuisines around here."

"Are you saying you intend to try every ethnic food while you're here?"

"Well, close. But I'm not that piggish!"

"Piggish…is that a legal word?" Mac pondered as a cab pulled up in front of them.

Emily laughed, "Just get in and take me to your lair!"

Mac turned to her, "Now, that sounds really suggestive!"

"Just get in, Mac!" She almost pushed him in as he opened the back door.

...End of Part 8…