A/N: Hey, I'm back! Thank you all for your reviews and your support, I really appreciate it. Here is the 25th chapter and I can't believe it! We're reaching the end *pout* but we have some heavy emotions on the next chapters. I know I said this one would be angst, heavy and sad but I decided to extend their happiness a little bit and explain some things first. So, this one is still fluffy. But at the end you'll see that the next one will be hard so prepare your tissues! I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Don't own them.

Chapter 25

Emily and Hotch were in their bed later that night. She had her head resting on his shoulder and sighed happily while he was tracing his fingers on the length of her bare back. She raised her hand and looked at her ring in awe. "I still can't believe it… we're engaged!" She almost shouted and he chuckled.

"Yes, sweetheart… we're engaged…" He kissed her forehead and sighed. "I can't believe you said yes… I really hoped you would…"

"Of course I would say yes, you silly!" She poked him playfully. Suddenly, she remembered of the commotion on Tuesday at lunch. "Wait, that's why you were smiling on Tuesday, when you went to Dave's office?" She asked raising her head to look at him. "Did you go ask for his help?"

He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah well, I went to tell him what I was planning and ask for his help but not for what you're thinking… Jack was the one who helped me to choose the ring".

"So… Haley knows?" She asked carefully.

"She does. I had to tell her… she has the right to know that you'll be Jack's step-mother". He said nodding.

"Wow. Step-mother…" She said with wide eyes. "I'll be a step-mother…"

He chuckled at the terrified look on her face. "Yes babe, Jack and I are a package deal. Are you backing down?"

"No way!" She said quickly and kissed him. "I love you both. I guess it just sank everything, you know".

"I know sweetheart…" He said smiling at her.

"So, you were asking Dave's help for what?" She asked frowning.

He looked at her carefully, thinking about the best way to approach the subject. He sat with his back on the headboard and brought her to sit on his lap. "I asked him to help us to deal with the Bureau, like he said he could when we decided to reveal our relationship…" He saw her eyes wide. "I know you're still anxious about this but babe…" he said taking her hand and touching her ring "I really don't want to hide this. I'm so… I'm so happy, Emily. We're not doing anything wrong, why do we have to hide like we were?"

"And what can he do for us?" She asked after a while, sighing, and Hotch frowned at her.

"No Emily. I don't want you to do this because I want to. If you don't want people to know about us, okay. I won't force you. I want it but if we're doing just to do my wishes we're doing for all the wrong reasons…" He said looking at her hand.

She looked at his face and saw that even though he was saying it was okay, it really wasn't. Why she was trying to hide such happiness? Like he said, they weren't doing anything wrong. They were in love, they had the right to live that love. Smiling, she cupped his face and tilted up to look into his eyes. "I want to do it…" When he opened his mouth to say something she shushed him. "I want to tell everybody that you're mine, that you make me the happiest that I've ever been. I want to be able to go out with you on dates without having to worry if someone will see us. I want to be able to go out with the team and arrive with you and be with you all night, holding your hand and dancing with you, hearing all the jokes they'll do about us… I want to get married with you and build my life with you and I don't have to hide this from anyone. I love you. And I want that everyone knows that…"

He had tears in his eyes and he wasn't ashamed of that because she had just said everything he always wanted to hear from her. "I love you so much…" He whispered and caught her mouth on a deep kiss.

Pulling apart she moaned throatily, caressing his cheeks and his swollen mouth. "Okay… so, what did Dave say?"

"He said he knows the Director personally and he would give him a call to have a drink this weekend. According to him, he got involved with a subordinate too and married her. She retired two years ago but they spent some time still working together after they got married. So, he said he would talk to him and see if he could get his okay to us. If he does, Strauss can't do anything against us. He was very confident about it…" Hotch said smiling.

"That's great, babe! So he'll tell you how it went tomorrow?"

"Yes… and then, after that we can go report to Strauss…" He nodded.

She tilted her head to the side, thinking. "Okay, that's great. But before that I think we should tell the team… they will be pretty pissed with us already, I think we own them that…"

"I agree. What do you suggest?"

She smiled mischievously at him. "Well… I think we should have dinner here next Friday night. But obviously I won't spend the whole week without wearing my beautiful ring, so…"

"So, you'll torture everyone, especially Garcia, until next Friday to tell them who is you new fiancé…" He completed chuckling. "You're evil, Emily Prentis…"

"Nuh uh, Emily Soon-to-be-Hotchner, sweetie…" She said smugly and smiled at the total dumbstruck look on his face.

Finally he managed to open his mouth and choke a few words… "I love you… so damn much…"

Words after that weren't needed.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

"Holy shit!"

The team was gathered in the conference room to brief their new case when Garcia's squeal silenced the room. Emily was trying to stiff her laugh behind her cup of coffee and Hotch was wearing his usual stoic mask, waiting for the interrogatory.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! There's a diamond in your hand!" Garcia squealed even louder, running to the brunette agent and grasping her hand, showing the engagement ring to the team.

"Whoa, princess, are you engaged?" Morgan asked shocked.

"When did this happen?" JJ asked excitedly.

Emily laughed at them. "Yesterday… he asked when I came back from my trip…"

"I thought he had gone with you…" JJ said.

"No, no, I went with my dad. We went visit grandpa". She said smiling.

"So, sweet cheeks, now that you're engaged can we finally meet this mystery man of yours?" Garcia asked excitedly.

"Yeah, this Friday. Dinner at my place, everyone in, okay?" She chuckled and Garcia shrieked.

"Can I have a name, pretty please?" She asked but Emily shook her head.

"Nuh uh. You'll have to wait until Friday…" She said and chuckled when she pouted.

"Congratulations, belíssima!" Dave said smiling at her and taking her into a hug. "I'm very happy for both of you, sweetie". He whispered into her ear.

"Thank you Dave, for everything". She said quietly and tried to avoid the tears in her eyes.

"Anytime, cara. Anytime". He said winking.

"Yeah, congratulations princess! I hope this guy knows that he'll have to pass through the Derek Morgan's seal of approval". He said seriously at her.

"Of course, partner". She said fist-bumping him. She hugged Reid and JJ too, thanking their congratulations.

"Congratulations, Prentiss. He's a very lucky man". She heard Hotch saying and tried hard to hide the smirk on her lips.

"Thanks Hotch. But I'm the lucky one". She said eyeing him knowingly and smiled slightly when he blushed a little.

Hotch cleared his throat and caught everyone's attention to the case. "Okay JJ, what do we have?"

"We actually have two cases. One in New York and the other is local. First, three women went missing in New York, all blondes, on their mid-forties, all housewives. The husbands were always away on business trips and they went missing two days after their departure. The abductions have one week between them and no body was found so far. The NYPD doesn't have any clue to connect the abductions besides the victimology and this…" She said clicking the remote and showing a picture with messages wrote on blood saying 'If you were home this wouldn't have happened'.

"Apparently the unsub blames the husbands and their absence from home. It's clearly a message saying 'you weren't capable of protecting her' or 'it's all your fault'. The unsub probably had a father that was never home and maybe his mother was abducted or murdered". Reid suggested looking through the images.

"He has left more messages on alleys and public places saying that they have little time to save them, they were incapable of protecting them, that the women are his now, that they lost their right about them. They found some fingerprints in the messages but until now they haven't found a match…" JJ continued showing more pictures on the screen.

"What is the other case JJ?" Hotch asked.

"Oh… a French Ambassador received some letters on the past two weeks. They have death threats, copies of the entire his itinerary, suggesting that the unsub has knowledge about his routine and places where he has meetings. There are also pictures of the Ambassador at his bedroom, his office, having lunch at some restaurant and many others. Some of the letters are in English some of them are in French".

"Okay. Reid, Dave and I will go to NY first. Morgan, you're the specialist in obsessive cases so I want you here. Prentiss, due to your knowledge about diplomacy and because you're fluent in French you should stay here too. JJ, you still have contacts in NY, right?" At her nod he continued. "So I want you to deal with the press from here. I think you'll have more trouble with the Ambassador case so I think you should stay here too. It's not the ideal but we'll have to split up here. If one of the teams closes the case first they'll meet the other later. Morgan, you're responsible for this case but I want reports frequently, okay?"

"You got it, man". Morgan said grabbing his files.

"Dave, Reid, wheels up in twenty". He said grabbing his things and going to his office.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Hotch sighed heavily as he entered his hotel room. They were in NY since two pm and had looked at all three crime scenes and all the places were the messages were left. If the unsub followed the pattern another woman would go missing in two days. The fingerprints hadn't helped in anything but the geographical profile was able to reduce the unsub's acting area and with their preliminary profile they were starting to have more information to Garcia's research.

A knock on the door startled him and he went to look who it was. Opening the door he found a smiling Dave holding a bottle of whiskey and two glasses. "We weren't able to celebrate your engagement today…" He said and Hotch chuckled, allowing him in.

They sat on the armchairs and filled their glasses, taking a sip each. "I still can't believe she said yes…"

"You really thought she wouldn't?" Dave said smiling.

"I had hope, okay…" He answered and they both chuckled.

"So… anxious for Friday?"

"Not a bit. Emily was a little but we talked and she agreed with me that we don't have any reason to keep hiding our happiness from the others… Did you talk with the Director?" He asked nervously.

"I did…" Dave said mysteriously.

"And?" Hotch urged impatiently.

"And he doesn't have any problem with your relationship as long as it stays out of the office. I'll do her evaluations and in extreme situations you won't be able to make decisions towards her…"

"Really?" Hotch asked shocked.

"Really Aaron. When you two decide to talk with Strauss, if she put any problems just tell her that you have the Director's approval and if she has any problem she should call him…"

"Wow. Thank you Dave, I don't even know how to tell you how much this means…" Hotch said shaking his head. Before Dave could reply his phone rang and he smiled looking at the ID. "Hey sweetheart…"

"Hi babe! I just got home. I miss you!" Emily's voice came through the phone.

"Miss you too, sweetheart. We just got to the hotel too. Dave and I are drinking some whiskey to celebrate our engagement…" Hotch said.

"Oh… I want to celebrate too… but not with whiskey…" She said pouting playfully.

"Emily…" He said warningly.

"I know, we can't have phone sex with Dave there. Send him away…" She ordered and he burst out laughing.

"I can't expulse him, babe. We own him big. He got the Director's approval…"

"Really?! Oh my god, put me on speaker!"

"Wait…" he said and pressed the speaker's button "there you go…"

"Hello Bella…" Dave greeted her smiling.

"David Rossi, I love you!" She shouted through the phone. "I even forgive you for not letting me have phone sex with my fiancé…" She said and both men laughed.

"There are some things I don't need to know, Emily…" Dave said chuckling and looked at Hotch with a look that meant you're really one really lucky bastard.

HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP

Hotch, Dave and Reid were packing their things in the conference room of the NYPD's office. After two days they had found a suspect. Patrick Hill fit everything on their profile. He was a forty-five year old constructor, didn't have any close family or friends and his mother, a blonde, was murdered at home by a robber when his father was away for two weeks on a business trip. They had found his address and found the three women really shaken but not beaten. He had said that he had saved them from their husbands because they weren't capable of taking care of them properly.

"I think this was one of the quickest cases we've worked". Dave commented.

"That's true. I really thought the guys were going to finish before us. Do you have any news from them, by the way?" Reid asked Hotch, who shook his head.

"No, let me call Morgan". He said grabbing his phone at the same time it rang. "Oh, he's calling. Hey Morgan".

"We got him, man". Morgan said breathless through the phone.

"Good. We finished here too. But the weather is really bad, I don't think we'll be able to flight today".

"Oh…" Morgan said and Hotch frowned.

"What's the matter, Morgan?" Hotch asked and Morgan remained silent. "Morgan?" He demanded. He wasn't prepared for what the agent said, though.

"Emily was shot. It's not good, Hotch".

A/N: Tun dun dun dun! What will happen? Let a review and wait for the next one. Maybe I'll post it this week. If the reviews are good...