Wow! Okay! Thank you everyone for putting this on their alert/fav! And your reviews! Hope I don't disappoint!

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Acceptable Risk -

.Chapter 2.

Back in London:

Emily breathed a sigh of relief.

Hotch was coming. Granted, he would be here to help, nonetheless, he would be here. She would be seeing him again. Her heart skipped a beat. She still carried a torch for him.

There, she admitted it.

It was a blow to her ego when she saw him with her. Beth Clemmons.

She had always thought she had a chance with him once he was over Haley.

Yeah, it hurt when she watched him hugged her. It was then she decided that as long as she was working under him, there would be no chance for her, for them. He dashed her hopes when he went out with Beth. Nice, sweet Beth.

Oh, she was not holding a grudge against this Beth; at least she made him happy. She had seen him happy. He had begun to smile again at the office again. And the team was happy for him, Emily included. But damn it! It hurt like hell that it was not her that was making him smile!

And she couldn't go on seeing him mooning over Beth everyday at the BAU. And when he was on the phone with her, it hurt to see that smile was for Beth. The knife dug deeper into her chest.

Yup, she had to make a decision.

And bless Clyde's heart and his offer for an out. No question about it. It was now or the opportunity would slipped by and it would be too late.

And then came JJ's wedding.

Boy that was the humdinger of humdingers!

It was pure torture to dance with Hotch. Okay, sweet but torture. To be in his arms but that was it: Bittersweet.

The electricity she felt within his arms the entire time! She was glad and then again, regretful, when the dance was over; part of her had wanted it to be over so she could be put as much distance from the two of them, the other part didn't want to leave his side. She wanted the music, the dance to go on forever.

That evening, when she was back in her apartment alone, she could still feel his touch.

She remembered he whispered her name quietly during the dance. He didn't think she heard him but she did. Her skin goosed immediately when she heard it. Her heart palpitated but she didn't respond, she didn't know if he wanted her to respond. She felt it was one of those moments that he was feeling sentimental and whispered her name.

But then again, Hotch did not get sentimental. So that didn't make any sense.

So, why did he whisper her name unless he had some feelings for her which was impossible. He was with Beth. He came with Beth. It was as if he was being unfaithful to her.

Ha! That was totally dumb. They were not married, how could that be construed as being unfaithful?

Emily shook her head as she mumbled to herself, "So ridiculous."

"Excuse me, ma'am?" A young man with a shocking head full of red hair stood by the door of her office queried.

Emily, startled out of her reverie, looked up to see her secretary staring back at her strangely, "What? Oh! What do you need, Mr. Weaver?"

Looking slightly confused, he shrugged as he held out a sheet of paper, "Um, here's the flight confirmation you needed for the two Yanks agents coming down here tomorrow, ma'am."

Emily nodded and told him to fax the information to the BAU in Quantico, VA. Then she told him to finish for the night.

He nodded and bade her a good night but as he left he looked at her strangely before he went through the connecting door leading to his office mumbling, "These bloody Yanks are bunch of crazy lots, if ya ask me. Never figure 'em out. I'd soon work with me own kind but it's a job."

"I can hear you, Mr. Weaver." Emily said out loud from her office as she was looking at the manifesto, interpreting the foreign language.

Her secretary smiled as he ran through the paper through the fax machine while he packed up his paperwork. "You need to go out, Agent Prentiss. Me old lady says it's not healthy for a single woman to be cooped up in an office every night working."

Emily smiled and said, "Your wife thinks everyone should be married before the age of 20, Mr. Weaver. I'm very happy with my single life. Did you tell her that?"

He sighed as he slung his satchel over his head and left shoulder and made to leave but he walked to the door of their office and peeked into hers, "I've told her every night, Agent Prentiss but she insisted on introducing you to her cousins, my cousins, cousins' cousins, and every known relations of hers. Believe me, ma'am, stay away from me ol' lady when she invites you to supper."

Emily laughed, "I'll keep that in mind, Mr. Weaver. Good night, give my regards to your Mrs."

He shook his head, "Will do, Agent Prentiss. Good night." He waved at her before turning to leave.

Twenty minutes later, her cell phone buzzed; without looking she knew it was Hotch.

"Hey, Hotch." She answered.

"Hey," he greeted back. "That was fast." He was reading the flight information. "It's going to be a long flight. And with Reid." His tone was one of dread.

Emily laughed, "Pack plenty of music. And a really thick book."

He chuckled through the line. "Somehow I don't think that is going to work. He'll still talk. Then again, he might not."

Frowning, she asked, "Hotch, what's going on with Reid? What happen? Is this the return favor you're talking about?"

"Yes, I'm hoping it might work." For the next half an hour, Hotch told her about Maeve.

"As you can see, I'm hoping that if he's away from here, it might take his mind off her for the moment and hopefully, he'll come around and talk it out while he's there." He finished with his theory.

Emily was quiet for a moment before she spoke, "let's hope he'll open up."

"I'll see you tomorrow?" He asked her softly.

Emily smiled, "Yeah Hotch, tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it."

"Me too. Goodnight, Emily."

"Goodnight, Hotch."

As she ended the phone call she bit her lips and thought, I'm such a schmuck.

She tried to tell herself to move on. That was the whole purpose of her transfer to London. Separate herself completely from him.

In fact, she went on a couple of dates since her arrival here. Of course they didn't pan out.

The first one, she found out the guy was all about himself and he was still living with his mother, for heaven's sake, and he was in his 40s!

The second was a divorcé who was actually looking for a step-mother for his four kids. Yeah, in your dreams, buster!

The third fella was fellow law enforcement. Actually he was an agent working for MI-5. His working hours was worst than hers. He stood her up three times too many due to being called up for cases.

She decided that it was not worth the wait. He was very good looking though. He looked very much like Hotch; dark haired, brooding. The only difference was he had piercing blue eyes compared to Hotch's warm brown ones. It might have worked but they couldn't coordinate their time to get together; pity.

It was then she decided that enough was enough. She was here to work, not get into the dating pool. There was time for it. She needed to get her head into work. Apparently, the unit here needed work; it was a mess. The agents were incompetent. It took a lot of work but she finally managed to put together a group of men and women she felt they could work well together and get the job done in accordance to INTERPOL mission statement.

That was how she met Lucas North, the MI-5 agent. She had worked a few cases with said agency and found them quite difficult to get along at first but she managed to thaw them.

She could have like him a lot if not for another man's image in her mind.

Damn Hotch! Why couldn't I shake him off! Maybe I needed a priest to exorcist him out of me!

Slamming the file shut, she knew she was not able to concentrate on it at all. Hotch had occupied her mind completely. She put the files in a briefcase and called it a night.

…

When she arrived home, she was instantly greeted by her cat, Sergio and another, an orange orphan she found in an alley one evening on her way home whom she named Thelonious. Emily bent down and began patting both adorable felines as they clamored for affections, rubbing themselves against her pants..

"Is that you, Ms Emily?" A loud female voice shouted from within.

"Yes, Mrs. Johnson. It's me." Emily replied as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

Mrs. Johnson was 60 years old; Emily had employed her as housekeeper as well as cook.

The kitchen, along with the house was old. But it was cozy and big. Mrs. Johnson was finishing up on supper.

Emily peeked into the hot pot the elderly woman was stirring, "Mmm…beef stew, this smells delicious. Is it ready?" She was hungry. Lunch was about 7 hours ago.

"Yes, Ms Emily. Just a moment. Let me ladle it into a bowl and put a few slices of bread." She nodded.

Emily smiled, "I'm going to go change. By the way Mrs. Johnson, I'm having two guests staying for a couple of days. They will be arriving tomorrow afternoon."

Mrs. Johnson nodded; she was used to Emily's guests popping up. "I'll have the guests' bedrooms ready."

"Thank you, Mrs. Johnson. You're a gem!" Emily quickly gave her a hug before she dashed out of the kitchen yelling about changing out of her work clothes, her two cats running after her.

Ten minutes later she was back, she had changed into plain dark blue Tee and sweats.

Mrs. Johnson nodded at her before setting Emily's dinner on the dining table.

Since they had moved to the house, Emily preferred to eat in the kitchen when it was only she and the housekeeper.

"Have you eaten?"She asked Mrs. Johnson.

"Nay but I'm heading home, my son and grandson are expecting me for dinner." She said.

Emily nodded, "Then you better go ahead. I'll take care of the dishes." Mrs. Johnson had just become a grandmother, this was her first grandson.

The elderly lady smiled, "Thank you, Ms Emily. Most kind of you." She nodded as she went to the cabinet and put grabbed her belongings and putting on her coat and hat.

"Oh, dessert is in the cooler, if you want some. I'll see you in the morning. Good night."

"Good night, Mrs. Johnson. And thank you for the delicious stew." She said with her mouth still full of food, grinning as she waved her housekeeper off.

Full from dinner, Emily quickly washed the dishes and dried them. After she had put them away, Emily wandered into the living room. It was a big room.

She picked up her briefcase and settled down in the sofa and opening it, she began to read the manifesto.

Grabbing a notebook and pencil, she began to write down the translation.

Interesting. She read through her translation and tried to figure out the meaning and purpose.

Hotch would definitely be interested in this.

Al Qaeda had been active all this time. The elimination of their leader, Osama bin Laden, had made no impact to the group. In fact it had strengthened them. Their need for revenge for their dead leader was uppermost in their mind as well as punishment to the nonbelievers or the infidels. But where were the targets? That was what Emily needed to know. INTERPOL, NSA, FBI, heck every acronyms in the government agencies known would be interested in these five cells and their whereabouts. She hoped they were not too late, she hoped they were able to get to them before they went active.

As she yawned for the fifth time or was it the sixth, no matter, she looked at the clock across from her on the wall and saw that it had gone past midnight; bedtime.

She looked about her and smiled; her two cats were cuddled together on the other sofa fast asleep, they had kept her company as they had done every night.

Sergio, her steadfast cat, came all the way from Virginia with Emily. She recalled his trip to the vet and the shots he had to endure for his overseas trip. The pitiful caterwauling he made almost broke her heart but she couldn't bear to part with him. Then when they arrived at their first apartment, he hid in a cabinet for days. Emily thought he was going to die of fright and hunger but eventually, drawn by his favorite raw fish, he finally came out of hiding and ate. He even let her pat him and even purred for her, albeit begrudgingly.

It took him a few days later to settle down, to get used to the new smell.

But of course, not long after, came the intrusion in a shape of a small fur ball; Thelonious.

Emily was on her way home one evening when she decided to stop by a pub for a beer with a new agent. Down an alleyway, they heard a loud commotion; dogs barking and cats hissing.

Always curious, Emily decided to investigate.

"Agent Prentiss, I wouldn't go in there, not with vicious dogs there. They could mistake you for another dog and take up a fight with ya." The agent urged her.

Emily shook her head as she stubbornly rushed in, grabbing a trash lid and began banging on it trying to frighten the dogs.

It worked as the dogs ran away fast.

Throwing down the lid, she moved forward and looked on to where the dogs had gathered and saw that they were trying to attack a kitten!

It was bloodied and one of its ears was torn up.

As Emily bent down to pick it up, the kitten hissed at her in defense.

By this time, her companion had joined her, "Gads Emily! That was foolish to try to take on those dogs! They could have attacked you! Damn foolish!"

Emily turned to him, "Quiet Tomas, I got rid of them, didn't I. But look, this kitten is injured."

He peeked over her shoulder and shook his head, "It's just a wee one. It's not gonna make it. Best shoot and end its misery; you'll be doing him a favor."

Emily shot him an angry look, "Don't be an idiot. It's frightened and hurt. I'll take him to the vet and get him cleaned up. It's a cute little fellow." She smiled at the kitten.

It hissed at her again as she tried to pick him up.

Tomas laughed, "Ho, ho, looks like little fella don't want anything to do with ya, a little ungrateful, if ya want my opinion."

Emily removed her jacket and placed it over the hissing kitten before she picked him up, "Tomas, if I want your opinion, which so far is a bunch of shit, I'll ask but in the meantime, keep it to yourself." She walked away from him.

Tomas laughed at her as he followed her.

Then she stopped suddenly and turned around, he almost bumped into her and the squirming bundle, "You are taking us to the vet."

Tomas, his eyes widened, mouth open and shut a few times, before he finally said, "But…but Agent Prentiss…Emily! The vet is all the way across town! Me ol' lady is expectin' me home soon!"

Emily smiled, "Serves you right for being inhumane. Come on, less talk. I'll explain to Josie that you're being humanitarian. And when we're done, she'll be putty in your hands."

His face brightened, "You really think so, Agent Prentiss? I mean she'll be wonderful to me?"

Emily nodded. "Woman loves it when a man shows some compassion for animals. Trust me, I'm a woman."

He looked at her and nodded, trustingly. After all, she was his new boss. And he liked her a lot; she was cool.

At first, when he found out that their supervisor was a female, a young female, the men in the unit was skeptical. They were old school. They figured she had worked her way up lying down on the bed or a couch.

But when they met her, Emily was not whom they thought she was. Pretty soon, she won a lot of respect from the unit, even from the older men. They knew she was a worthy leader when they saw it, and she was one. She was not afraid of being in the field and she had seen battle. In short, she was one of the guys.

Even the men's wives liked her. They did not see her as a threat to their men. She was not that type of women. She had been to their homes, and ate with them, listened to their woes, and sympathized with the wives.

She treated their children as if they were her nieces and nephews, lots of nieces and nephews.

Christmas was a riotous occasion. She loved the family atmosphere they fostered in the unit. And they made her part of them.

"A kitten." Tomas shook his head as he drove.

Emily grinned as she peeked at the bundled. She had been stroking it through her jacket trying to calm it down; it was trembling the entire time.

"Come on, big guy. What is wrong with rescuing a kitten? Doing a good deed, it'll come back at you tenfold."

He snorted. "Tenfold." He mumbled. "If you ask me, I'd rather have a hundred fold in pounds."

Emily chuckled.

On the way to the vet, they talked about his interests and why he had decided to join the INTERPOL. A friendship was struck between the two not long and soon, Emily usually asked him to partner with her on occasionally cases when she had to go on the field.

At the vet, the kitten was cleaned up and except for the bitten off left ear and couple of bite marks, courtesies of the vicious dogs, he was in perfect health.

Emily and Tomas were about to leave when the vet stopped them. He wanted to know if they were coming back to pick him up the next day. Emily, confused, shook her head. She told him to put the kitten up for adoption.

The vet shook his head; he told her that they had plenty of cats and kittens as it was already. And that every day, they had to euthanized cats and kittens that had been in the shelter for more than two weeks. They simply didn't have the resources to feed them.

Emily turned to Tomas who shook his head, "Oh no, Josie is allergic to cats. Severely allergic"

Sighing, Emily's shoulders sagged, "All right. Put him in a carrier. I'll take him home. I hope Sergio likes him."

"Who's Sergio?"Tomas asked.

Emily glared at him, "My boyfriend."

Tomas, eyes widened, "I didn't know you have a boyfriend. I thought you…uh…you…"

Emily squinted at him, "I what?"

Face flushed bright red, he shook his head, "Oh no, nothing…j...just nothing."

Something clicked in her head as she stared at him hard, "Oh no you don't, Tomas Wilkinson! You thought I was a lesbian!" She punched him hard on his shoulder.

He doubled down on the ground of the vet's office.

"Oh my god, that hurts like the devil." He winced hard.

"Serves you right for thinking that!" She glared at him. "Is that what the others at work think so too?"

Tomas, trying to get up, "I don't know about the rest. I'm sorry Emily."

As soon as the vet came back with a carrier, the calmed down kitten tucked inside, the two agents left. Tomas still rubbing his sore arm followed a little slower behind her.

The drive back to Tomas' house was quiet, well almost quiet. He tried to apologize to her but she ignored him.

When they got to the door, Josie came outside. Tomas' wife was short and plump and friendly, and five months' pregnant.

"Well, I was getting worried about you, Tomas!" She tiptoed to peck him on his cheek and began to sneeze a few times.

Frowning, Emily saw that Tomas was telling the truth about her allergies. "Hey Josie, I'm sorry for keeping your husband late, we had a slight situation." Emily quickly gave Josie a quick concise story of the kitten rescue, editing a little bit and giving Tomas most of the credit.

Josie stared at her husband in almost a hero-worship look; they had been married for about two years.

"Oh, Tomas you really helped out that poor little kitty? Oh, my hero!" She hugged him around the waist, smiling.

Tomas closed his eyes as he hugged her back. His late night work shifts, her being confined at home because of her high risk pregnancy state. It had put the young couple in much stress.

She sneezed again.

Emily laughed, "I think Tomas should go in and change before you break out into a huge sneezing fits"

Josie pulled away from her husband and nodded scratching her itchy nose, giggling. "Yes, husband. Go on, get on inside and change."

He nodded and left.

Emily made to leave when Josie stopped her, "Emily, hold on. May I see the kitten?"

Emily hesitated, "I thought you're allergic?"

"I am but I love cats…at a distance. Please?"

Emily smiled and went to the car and brought out the carrier. Josie walked as close as she could before she sneezed again.

"Oh, isn't he a cutie, reminded me of Thelonious my Granny's cat. They had to give him away when I was born. Poor Thelonious. Granny was so upset but she loved me more and made a choice."

Emily didn't know what to say but knew there and then that the name Thelonious should be an apt name for this little spitfire.

"Josie, would you mind if I name this little one Thelonious? I haven't thought of a name yet and I really think Thelonious would be perfect for him if you would permit it?"

Josie teared slightly as she nodded, "Yes, Emily, yes, please. I love it. That would be lovely. Thank you."

"No, thank you. Good night Josie."

Josie nodded as she sniffled. "Good night to you, Emily." She turned to return to her home, smiling widely and sniffling.

End of Chapter 2