Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.

Emily braced herself before she knocked on Riley's door. They had only been home for an hour, but she decided it was the perfect time to try and chat. It took all she had, but she eventually pounded on the closed, locked door.

"Yeah?" Riley yelled over the music coming from her laptop, through her door. Emily took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Hello Riley." She said cheerfully. She instantly realized that Riley was listening to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen, and thought this may be a good icebreaker.

"Hi." Riley said quietly.

"So...You like Queen?" Emily asked.

"Who doesn't?" Riley asked. Emily nodded in agreement. Riley was quite surprised. She did not expect Emily to like anything good.

"What else do you like?" Emily asked. Rather than listing all of the many, many songs she liked, Riley tossed Emily her iPod. As she looked through, Emily noticed many songs she liked. Riley's iPod contained almost the same songs as her own. She tossed Riley her iPod, and it was clear that Riley was just as surprised as she was.

"You like some good things." Riley said, nodding with approval.

"So what are you doing today?"

"Whatever my dad lets us do. I don't really have any friends around here." Riley said with a shrug.

"Why is that?"

"We're never her." Riley pointed out and Emily nodded.

"How do you like school? You're in tenth grade, right?" Emily asked, taking Garcia's advice.

"Yeah."

"What classes do you have this year?"

"First semester I had English, drama, Italian and math. Now I have dance, history, science and music."

"Your school has a dance class?" Emily asked. She had never heard of a school offering dance. Riley then excitedly explained the dance curriculum. Apparently Riley had been taking dance classes since she was a little kid. This was the first time that Emily had heard Riley talk so excitedly about anything. After some more probing from Emily, Riley was telling her about her whole school life. From what Emily could gather, she was quite popular. She had many friends, but prefered to just hang out with her close knit group. She hated history and was better in English than in math. Her music teacher was "the most evil woman of all time" but her Italian teacher was "the sweetest thing." They even spoke some Italian to each other for a while. Emily couldn't believe how well Garcia's advice worked.

"Speaking of school, Garcia told me that you were kicked out of Catholic high school. Is that true?" Emily asked. Riley began to laugh.

"No, it's not! I wasn't "kicked out." My mother pulled me out." Riley laughed.

"Why would she do that? Weren't you in Catholic school most of your life?"

"Yeah, but the teachers didn't like me at the high school." Riley shrugged.

"They didn't like you? Did you give them reason to not like you?" Emily asked knowingly.

"Maybe a bit." Riley said with fake innocence in her voice.

"What did you do?" Emily asked.

"It wasn't just one thing. I just made comments about the religion as a whole." Riley shrugged.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I just really didn't like the nuns at my school. I met the other nuns at other shcools and they were nice, and great teachers. Just, the ones at my school were condesending and nasty." Riley said. "Long story short, in religion class I wrote "Chuck Norris" for every answer on the exam. I also wrote an opinion essay about gay marrage. It didn't go over so well, and it ended in a little in school protest that I ran." Riley laughed.

"Wow. You lead a protest in school. That's crazy." Emily lauged.

"I know. I really have no problem with religion, but I hate when people are nasty about it. I was supposed to go to a different Catholic school for grade ten. I actually liked the nuns. Sister Mary Catherine, my mom's friend who teaches at the other Catholic high school in my neighbourhood, said I was very brave for defending my essay. She said that it didn't mater what the nuns said, and that it was a well written essay. Sadly, my mother won't let me near a Catholic school ever again." Riley laughed.

"Hey Riley?" Emily began.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Thanks for talking to me." Emily said with a smile.

"Thanks for listening. You know, you're really not as bad as I thought." Riley said and Emily laughed.

"I'm glad." She said as she exited Riley's room.

**

Later that night, Emily filled Hotch in on her conversations with Riley.

"I can't believe she was so good to you." Hotch said, shaking his head.

"Riley's not a bad kid. She's rough around the edges, but she's not too bad." Emily said.

"You know her opinion may not have totally changed. She may turn around and be nasty again."

"I know it. She's a teenager Hotch, they're all imbalanced!" She laughed. Hotch looked at Emily in disbelief. He could not believe how much she had done. She stuck her neck out. She crossed enemy lines, unarmed.

"Why did you do it all?" Hotch said.

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you spend the whole day trying to make her like you? That was almost...brave!" Hotch joked.

"Aaron," she said in a serious tone. "I did it for you."

"For me?!" He said, surprised.

"Yes. I want your kids to like me. I want them to like me becaue I like you." She said, jokingly pinching his cheek.

"Em?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks." He said while kissing her head.

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