Emily threw on an outfit from the clothes she had in Aaron's closet. She took in her appearance in the mirror and reminded herself to compartmentalize her emotions. Now was certainly not the time to start breaking down her relationship with Aaron, what she wanted and what they needed. Vulnerability was too present this morning. He was a typical man who had no clue what his actions do to women. She made up their bed and sat looking a photo of the two of them he kept in his drawer. It was after a case and she had convinced him to go out for drinks with the rest of the team. One beer turned into two and soon there was no way any of them were driving. She had given Garcia her camera earlier in the night and had "wanted evidence that Hotch could relax and have fun" with normal people. They were holding onto each other and leaning against the bar for support. When the team turned away he gave her a quick yet mind blowing kiss. It was the moment when things had changed.
Moving to put the photo away, she noticed an old frame looking up at her. Curiosity got the best of her and she looked at the photo. In the frame was an image of Aaron, Haley and Jack when Jack was a new born. Aaron was looking down on his family with pride and love and Haley looked at the camera with a million dollar smile. Emily's heart stopped when she realized that she was never going to be taking Haley's place in Aaron's life. Haley was his first love. Emily is here to play whatever role Aaron needs her to be, but as she stated at the photo, she realized that she wasn't going to be Aaron's forever. He had that already.
She heard him telling Jack goodbye and he walking toward the bedroom. She quickly shut the drawer with the photo inside and stared down at her bare feet. Aaron had walked in as she was shuffling near his side of the bed. He heard her quietly cry in the shower when he knew Emily believed that the hot water would be loud enough to silence her. When he stepped toward her, she jumped up off the bed and started making her way toward the living room. When he reached for her arm, she pulled away as if she had been burned. "Please, not now Aaron," she pleaded softly, pain evident in her voice.
He looked at her as he made his way backwards toward the night stand. Keeping eye contact with her, he pulled out the old photo from his past and sighed heavily when he realized she had seen the photo. He watched her movements as stone bricks of strength towered over her appearance. Emily grew rigid with tension and her eyes were glassy with distance. She moved away from him slowly, keeping eye contact but praying that she could breathe in the next room. Aaron threw the photo down on the bed and moved toward her. "Em..."
"Please," she asked, closing her eyes not wanting to deal with this.
He stepped closer to her, deciding if it would be safe to touch her, if that would be enough. He lowered his head in an attempt to catch her gaze when the door bell rang out throughout the apartment.
"Saved by the bell, eh?" Emily said looking up into his eyes with professionalism and a guarded gaze.
"Emily..."
"Not now. I need to get the muffins from the back of my car. I forgot them when I arrived here this morning, remember?" She asked setting up the scene for their co-workers.
With a disappointed nod, he stepped away from her and went to open the door and watched as she put on her jacket to get the muffins from her car. He just wondered if that was a sign that she was debating leaving their new relationship behind over a drawer of memories.
Hotch opened the door to find Rossi and JJ smiling at him. Surprised, he asked them, "What is there to smile about this morning?"
Letting them in the house as Emily exited through the fire escape, Rossi explained to him, "Apparently our Doctor Spencer Reid is going to be late for our briefing this morning."
Surprised, his eyebrows arched and gave JJ as questioning gaze. She added instantly, "I went to pick up Spencer this morning because I knew he would be taking what happened to Pen hard. However he didn't answer. I assumed he was still asleep, so I dialed his number..."
"And a woman answered his phone!" Rossi said excitedly.
"A woman answered whose phone?" Emily said entering the apartment with muffins in tow.
"Reids!" Emily said laughing. "I heard her moan when she answered and ask "Where is is shirt?" He seemed quite relaxed when I talked to him this morning."
Taking in the information, Aaron looked at his co-workers and asked, "How should we play this? Angry or teasing?"
"I would guess he is expecting angry. I think we should play dumb for a bit," Rossi said looking at his friends who were hungry for muffins.
Laughing, Prentiss looked at JJ and said, "If there are hickeys we should offer him a comb or make up."
JJ smirked and said, "We should only talk to him with sultry voices and call him Doc or Spence! That's what the woman called him over the line."
Taking a seat at the dining room table, Hotch motioned to the team to sit down and discuss their thoughts for who could be the source of these problems. "Now, this morning I was listening to the interrogation again and Tymes mentioned something unusual." Playing back the audio recorder they listened as he described how the children shall always finish the work of their fathers. "Now, have we looked at the children of Tymes or the other leaders?"
"No, we only assumed the leaders were the actors," JJ replied.
"Rossi, I want you and Prentiss to go the local police station and do some investigating on the children of those in charge. I also want you to analyze the new hires into the Quantico Branch of the BAU in the past six months to a year. From what I have seen from the damages, this appears to be an inside job or at least gained assistance from people on the inside."
"What about..." JJ began but everyone looked up as Spencer entered the apartment.
Clad in an older college sweatshirt and sweats with grey Converse, Spencer Reid was a complete mess in comparison to how he usually dresses. Reid nervously looked up at the clock that read 9:23 and looked awkwardly at this team mates, "Morning... I brought bagels."
Everyone was in a minor shock at Reid's disheveled appearance. His hair was every direction however he looked more refreshed than he had in years. The clothes made him look young in comparison to the group and that he should be studying math instead of chasing killers.
"Thank you," Hotch said looking back at JJ's direction. "About?"
"About Penelope, Sir," she asked.
"Prentiss has developed a visiting schedule for her time at the hospital. Reid, I want you and I to try and convince Morgan to go home and shower at some point today. He needs to be at his best to not only help us catch this unsub, but encourage Garcia's recovery. Prentiss." He motioned to her and she took over the conversation.
"Thank you, from what I could tell the visitation hours in the hospital are from 10 AM to 10 PM. Our FBI status does not give us clearance at this time for Garcia's surveillance. From what I understand, the only reason Derek has 24 hours privileges is that the staff is under the impression that Derek is her husband."
"That and the nursing staff is terrified yet incredibly attracted to him," Reid added, smacking his lips together which were still burning after leaving Rebecca.
JJ noticed her best friend's movements and looked at Emily with questioning eyes, "Emily, do you smell coconut?"
Tilting her head to the side, she took a deep breath and smiled toward JJ's direction. "Yes, I smell coconut, but I also smell pineapple and... is that lavender and vanilla? JJ, where did you get your new body wash?"
"Oh it isn't me!" JJ said lifting her hands in defense, "I am all about Dove." They ladies turned their attention to Dr. Spencer Reid who was blushing furiously.
Rossi, deciding to take a stab at the situation looked at Reid and asked him, "Did you shower this morning or does your natural body oil produce glitter?" He motioned toward Spencer's neck and Spencer immediately covered the evidence.
"You have been smacking and licking your lips nervously so you are either thirsty or are trying to remove something from your lips. I am leaning toward the second option because you have a cup of coffee and a glass of water directly in front of you," Hotch added staring at the young man.
Standing up, Reid looked at his co-workers who were staring at him curiously with humor and knowledge behind their eyes. "Her name is Rebecca, and ladies my lips are killing me! I know I am not allergic to chocolate chips or cream cheese so what is wrong with me?" He asked.
JJ and Emily moved toward him and moved his sweatshirt to the side, seeing lip shaped marks upon his neck. The area around each kiss was swollen and irritated. Knowingly, the ladies looked at the young man with smiles on their faces. "Tingler!" they said at the same time.
"Tingler?" Rossi asked and Aaron moved closer to look at the young man more closely.
"Women use lip venom, otherwise known as tingler, to plump their lips and sometimes use it warm more sensitive part of their body before a sexual encounter," Emily informed the team. Aaron looked at her closely to look for any chance of a lie and didn't find one.
"It seems that Miss Rebecca used some tingler on Spence and he has had a lasting reaction."
"When will this go away?" he asked moving to it his head.
"Well, Mr. Tropical Rainforest, after a shower you should be fine. But unless you plan on staying in doors for a few days, don't use tingler on your fair sensitive skin," JJ said smacking him playfully in the chest.
Catching his flustered gaze, Hotch spoke sternly, "Now that we know about Dr. Reid's nightly activities, let's focus on Penelope's visiting schdule."
"Yes," Emily said gathering her notes. "JJ, I want you to go first from 10 till 1230. Reid, you are next shift from 1230 to 3. Knowing Morgan he won't be leaving Garcia's side so please bring lunch. This will also give you time to shower. Dave, I want you at the hospital from 3 to 530. I will come to the hospital from 530 to 8 and Hotch maybe you can convince Morgan to get some dinner or something on his stomach from 8-10 while you watch Pen. I know he trusts us all but he may have a better chance of leaving you are with her."
"Good work Prentiss. When members of our team are with Penelope, the others are going to be investigating. I still want Rossi and Prentiss to look into that information at the police station. Strauss informed me this morning that the Quantico police department is well aware of our situation and will help us until we have a new work space. Normally Spencer I would ask you to help me look at the crime scene, but you really need to change and shower."
The team laughed as Spencer drank water hoping to ease the burning upon his lips. " JJ, I want you to talk to Derek to see if he knows anything from the small talk he had with Garcia that could lead us to a new direction. We need to catch these guys soon. If they follow their pattern, there will be another attack tomorrow and my guess there will be more people involved. I want you all to call me if you have any new leads. Now, time to work."
Morgan had woken up at 8:53 holding his baby girl's hand. Her head was leaning toward his direction as she slept and he studied her features, memorizing every eyelash and every curve to her gorgeous self. She seemed so vulnerable yet beautiful in her sleep and he couldn't help but wish that he had done things differently, that he wasn't lying about being her husband.
He turned the TV on in the room and was laughing when he found Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman playing on TBS. Looking at his baby girl, he remembered when she brought that to his apartment after a case and he laughed at the cover. What man goes around pretending to be a woman unless you are a delusional serial killer? he asked himself when looked at the case.
They laid on his couch, his arm around her shoulders and her head upon his chest. His hand was playing with her curls and he laughed every time this damn Orlando guy came upon the screen. His baby girl would moan and writhe on top of him dramatically staring at the braided man on screen.
"Hot stuff, God, where is my Orlando?" she asked staring at the screen.
Laughing he gave her a kiss on the top of her head and said, "One day he'll come around Goddess. I don't think he's ready for your confidence and beauty woman."
Smirking into his chest she stared at the screen with open lust in her eyes, "Oh the bad things I would do with that man... ah, Im sure I'd be arrested!"
"Woman..." he said, holding her closer hoping she'd get the hint and shut up.
"Ah, kissing those lips, being held with that body, it would be the second best feeling in the world." She said sighing happily into his chest.
Surprised, he looked down at his Goddess who seemed to have closed her eyes and began resting upon him. "Now what is the best feeling in the world, Baby?"
"That is for me to know my love and for you to maybe one day figure out." She said smirking up at him.
"You tease," he said putting his attention back on the film right as Madea began arguing with the Ol' Joe.
"Woman, I love you, but you would need to do some convincing if we name one of our children Orlando." Derek said with a laugh. Kissing her hand slowly, he watched as this Orlando fellow seemed to be playing all of his cards right. He said I love you with the stars, candles and wine. He remembered when Penelope told him men in real life aren't that creative. He tried to defend himself and the male population but came up short to her poor experiences with men. Men were shallow or only looking for a quick lay in her eyes. Placing a soft kiss upon her lips, he fixed her hair and tightened his grip on her hand. "When you wake up, Penelope, I promise I am going to show you what it is like to be loved by a real man. A man who loves you for every beautiful quality and for every imperfection. We'll take a visit to all of my properties and decide which one we like best for our family. I will give the world baby girl. I just need you to wake up for our fairy tale."
