Hey people of Earth:) Got a long update of the last day at Rocky Heights, more at the bottom:)

Chapter 6

"Do you think she knows?" Emily murmured to Aaron as they sat together at breakfast. She had caught Rita staring at her a couple of times in the last few minutes and was pretty sure it had something to do with what her and Aaron had been up to the night before.

"You saw the looks too?" He asked and saw a slight nod from Emily so as to not broadcast their conversation to the team.

"I thought I was just being paranoid." Emily whispered back.

"It's not paranoia if it's true." Aaron raised an eyebrow at her. "Anyways, what does it matter if she does know? It's not likely she will tell anyone, but if she does what's the harm in that? The team would find out at some point anyway."

"The team would find out what anyway?" Morgan suddenly asked from across the table, and every set of eyes in the room turned towards them.

"Uh…" Emily stuttered, looking at her lap.

"That we're doing something special today." Rita interrupted, clapping her hands together. "I told these two not to tell anyone, but you might as well know now, right?" Emily and Aaron looked up quickly at each other in relief and amazement at the same time, before looking at Rita, who was trying hard to hide her smirk at the couple. Emily was lost for words, so smiled gratefully at the woman.

"So what is it we're doing?" JJ asked, looking around at the team who looked equally as interested.

"You four," She pointed at Rossi, Morgan, Reid and JJ, "Are going to be having a turn over our smaller cross country jumps and then a little competition course. It'll be a lot of fun and me and Ray both agree that you are experienced enough to give it a try, although you don't have to if you don't feel comfortable about it."

"What, and prove to Morgan that I can't handle it? No way!" Rossi spoke loudly, causing everyone in the room to chuckle.

"What are Hotch and Prentiss going to do?" Reid asked once it had calmed down.

"They will be taking part in a point-to-point race." Rita smiled, raising her eyebrows at the couple at the far end of the room.

"What's that?" It will be like the cross-country that you will be doing, except they will be doing it at the same time, the fences will be much higher and there'll be a lot more galloping on their part." Ray explained and then took a large mouthful of his coffee.

Morgan turned to Emily and Aaron.

"Nice! Don't kill each other." He advised playfully.

"Agent Hotchner." Emily said. "You're going down."

"Is that so, Agent Prentiss?" Hotch raised his eyebrows.

"Indeed it is."

"Hey. You okay?" Emily asked Aaron as she stood outside Midnight's stall.

"Yeah." Hotch said, dropping the brush he was using into a bucket at his feet. "I think they've betted on us again." Emily shook her head, smiling.

"I wouldn't have it any other way." She opened up the heavy, wooden stall door and stepped inside, shutting it carefully behind her. "I really enjoyed last night."

"So did I." He tugged on her elbow and pulled her around so they were standing behind the horse and couldn't be seen from the door. Aaron cupped her cheeks with his hands and pulled her into a tender kiss. It was slow and loving, not full of lust like before. When he pulled back Emily grinned.

"If I didn't know any better I would say you were trying to distract me." The corners of Aaron's eyes wrinkled as he smiled.

"Why would I need to? I've got this based on pure talent." Emily scowled playfully at him.

"You got a bucket?" She asked.

"Yeah… Why?" Hotch asked confused.

"For all of the crap coming out of your mouth." She grinned. "Rita put us in charge of two people each to help with the cross country before our competition. So if you don't mind, I've gotta competition to win." She patted his cheek and sauntered out of the stall, the grin never leaving her face.

"Hey JJ. Need any help?" Emily asked as she walked in her friend's horse's stall.

"Erm, yeah, if you don't mind. Scooby's tail is a mess and I can't sort it out." Emily walked forwards and chuckled.

"Got a hair tie?" She stretched her hand out.

"Yeah, sure. Just...one…second" She felt around in her pockets and suddenly held one out triumphantly. "Here"

"Right." Emily flicked it onto her wrist and picket up a brush from the dusty, red bucket at the door. Even though she brushed it out the hairs still stood up everywhere. The brunette picket up some hairs at the top of the tail and began braiding them, adding a piece from each side of the tail as she moved down.

"Nice." JJ sounded impressed. "God, that takes skill." Emily stopped adding hair to it about a third of the way down the tail and just braided the pieces she held, before finishing it off with the hair tie.

"Thanks." Emily patted JJ's arm and smiled.

"It's fine. Did you hear? You're on my team. We gotta make ourselves look good." Emily said mischievously and JJ saluted back.

"Aye-Aye captain." Emily giggled.

"Let me know if you need any more help, okay?" The brunette asked, turning around as she walked away.

"Yeah, thank you!" The blonde called after her retreating form.

"Well played, Prentiss. Well played." Aarons voice said slowly as she walked past. Emily's already obvious smile broadened as she came to a stop and looked at him.

"Thank you, Sir." She emphasized. "Go big or go home."

"I see you're playing dirty." He scowled mockingly at her and crossed his arms. "Two can play at this game."

"Yes, but only one can win." Emily walked off again before he could retort so he settled for shaking his head and smirking at her retreating form. Emily made her way into the tack room to find a two white saddle pads for JJ and Reid to use so their team colors matched. Just as she began skimming the quite extensive collection of saddle pads a voice behind her made her jump.

"You two are perfect for each other, you know." Emily jumped and spun around quickly with her hand on her heart.

"Oh, Rita, it's you. You gave me a fright." Emily sighed relieved for a second. "I guess you saw, huh?" Thanks for earlier." Rita smiled and stepped closer to Emily.

"Don't worry about it. I can see that you aren't ready for people to know yet – your secret's safe with me." Emily smiled gratefully, and then looked down at her hands that she was wringing in front of her.

"Did you really mean it… That we're perfect together?" Rita stepped forwards and brought an unsuspecting Emily into a comforting hug.

"If I'm honest with you… I've never seen two people more perfect." Emily drew back and looked the older woman in the eye.

"Really?" Her dark eyes lit up with excitement.

"Yes." Rita smiled. "You don't come across as an insecure woman, trust your gut."

"Thanks, Rita." Emily smiled shyly as she finally found two saddle pads.

"Anytime. Now get out there and help your team – I'm rooting for you." Emily turned back and grinned at the older woman in thanks before hurrying away quickly back to JJ and Reid.

"Well done guys." Emily spoke to her team as they led their horses back into the barn. JJ and Reid had both picked up on the jumping fairly quickly for people who had never done it before. Overall JJ had come first, Morgan second, Rossi third and Reid last.

"Don't lie to me Emily, I did terrible." Reid was only half joking at this statement.

"Are you serious?" Emily looked shocked. "It took me the best part of a year to start jumping, and then another to start cross country. Don't sell yourself out." Reid smiled gratefully, glad for the support.

"So, Em." JJ started as she began taking off Scooby's girth. "What kind of riding did you used to do?" Emily helped her undo the girth buckle that got stuck.

"Um, Eventing, same thing as Hotch." She spoke whilst lifting the saddle off of the horse's back.

"How much?" JJ looked up from where she was un-buckling the bridle.

"Only four star." Emily said quietly, walking away to the tack room.

"Em!" JJ almost yelled, but stopped herself so she didn't spook the horses. "That's one off of Olympic level. God, you must be good." Emily blushed scarlet.

"Used to be, JJ. Not anymore." Emily sighed. "Anyway, Hotch is the same so we'll be on equal turf for the point-to-point." JJ shrugged as she shouldered the bridle.

"I guess. Come one, lets get Ping ready." She led Emily back to the tack room to get the equipment for Emily's horse.

"Emily, Aaron, could you come here for a second?" Rita called out from the middle of the barn, resulting in Emily sticking her head out of Ping's stall.

"Yeah, sure. Just a second." She quickly turned around and tightened her girth one more hole so Ping wouldn't made his saddle slip. "Coming." Emily called back as she stepped out of the stall and dusted her hands on her jodhpurs.

"Right." Rita said once both of them were beside her. "We want to be able to see you on as much of the course as possible and be able to tell who from who – well, and for a bit of fun – so I got you these." She handed each of them a piece of colorful clothing and something on top.

"No way!" Emily all but yelled out, causing the other team members to look at her as she held up what she had been given. "Jockey Silks!"

"Nice, Prentiss." Morgan winked at her, and Aaron clenched his jaw.

"And matching hat covers." Rita reminded them, smiling at the couple in front of her as they held up their silks against themselves. Emily's were blue with a big white cross, and Aaron's were Green with a chunky yellow stripe. They quickly pulled them on and Ray signaled to Rita that he was all set for the competition.

"Are you guys ready?" Rita asked.

"Yeah, lets do this." Hotch said and the brunette beside him nodded.

"Okay, you guys hop on and warm up in the arena. Ray and me will be down in about ten minutes."

"All warmed up?" Ray yelled to the two agents in the arena.

"Yep!" They nodded back enthusiastically. Morgan and JJ opened the arena gates for them to come back outside so they could get ready at the start line.

"Come on, Em! I'm rooting for you." JJ whispered when Emily rode past on an overly excited Ping.

"JJ did you bet on me again?" She took her blonde friend's smirk as a yes. "I get a 50/50 cut." Emily told her and rode off before JJ had a chance to argue.

Hotch rolled his eyes at Emily as they both stood at the starting line. "They never learn, do they?"

"Nope." Emily grinned.

"In 3…2…1… Go!" Ray shouted and both teams of horse and rider galloped off simultaneously. The team cheered them off into the distance until they were sure they wouldn't be heard anymore. They could see most of the course from their viewpoint, but there was a combination a couple of fences from the finish that rode into the woods that they couldn't see. Ray had kindly marked off the course with colored tape so they wouldn't lose their way and become lost, so they followed it thankfully, glad that they didn't have a course to remember too.

The first fence was a large log that had fallen across the ground, similar to the one that they had jumped a couple of days ago, but this one was bigger. Both teams jumped it easily and set off quickly for the next one, with Ping edging a little more ahead than Midnight.

"Oh no you don't." Aaron hissed under his breath and managed to close the gap a little by the time they had reached the first combination of the course – Two corner fences in tight succession of one another. Because these fences were two thin to be jumped by two horses at once Midnight was pushed behind Ping again and was now behind.

The next couple of fences flew by until they came up to a water jump. Emily felt Ping hesitate slightly as he eyed up the water, but she gave him a lot of encouragement and kicked him on. Thankfully he perked up and they only lost a little of the horse-length distance between the two horses. Both of them splashed noisily into the water and easily popped over the fence leading out back onto dry land.

Because they needed to pace themselves if they wanted their horses to be able to finish the race they came up to the woods at a steady canter. The next jump was down into a ditch and then a jump straight back up again. Emily tried to steady Ping as he held his head up high as they came towards it. The last couple of strides towards the ditch he seemed as if he was ready to jump it, so Emily tried to encourage him as much as she could. Just as she was expecting to jump into the ditch Ping ducked out from beneath her and she was falling…falling… into the ditch on her own. As she was mid air she knew that Hotch was coming up fast behind her and wouldn't have time to stop, so she curled up into a ball and tucked herself into the jump as much as possible.

She squeezed her eyes shut when she felt the floor rumble as Midnights giant hooves struck the ground only a few feet from her body. Emily sat tight for a few seconds so she was sure the horse was past, then opened one eye and then the other. Hotch suddenly came into her line of sight, walking up to her and leading Midnight behind him when she landed heavily on the stony floor.

"Em! Are you okay?" He knelt down beside her on the floor.

"I think so…" She muttered, sitting up and stretching out her limbs. "Crap!" Emily suddenly said as pain exploded around her ankle.

"What? Where does it hurt!?" Aaron spoke quickly and sounded worried.

"My ankle… I don't think it's broken, though." She outstretched her arms to him. "Help me up?"

"Yeah, come here." He answered and pulled her up beside him, but wrapped his arm around her waist when she had to balance on one foot. "Lets get you to your horse – you can't walk all the way back." Aaron said calmly, and helped her along to a now much calmer Ping, who was happily eating grass not far from the fence. "Can you manage to get up on your own?" He asked because he didn't have enough hands to lift her and keep hold of Midnight with.

"Yeah, I use my other leg to mount." Emily told him and mounted easily almost as if to prove her point.

"Can you put your bad foot in the stirrup?" He looked down at her leg that was hanging limply down Ping's side.

"No, I'll just not use them." The brunette crossed both of her stirrups over her chestnut horse's neck so they wouldn't get in the way. Hotch nodded and mounted his horse.

"I can still do this." Emily told him matter-of-fact, and he raised his eyebrows in return.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Emily scoffed.

"Come on, I'll be fine." She assured him.

"Okay, only if-" He was interrupted.

"Let's go!" Emily shouted as she signaled Ping to canter, leaving Hotch behind looking baffled. He quickly came to his senses and followed her, but she had a bit of a lead.

Although Emily had never jumped a cross-country course without stirrups before she knew she was capable, because she'd jumped in the school without them before – and those fences were just as high.

"Come on, Em!" She mentally cheered herself on as they came to another fallen log. Hotch wasn't that far behind her and she didn't want another episode. She lost her balance a little over the log, but Emily soon caught the hang of it over the next two jumps. The last jump was a big hedge that had been shaped to look like a wave. Hotch was almost level with her as she jumped over it, so she encouraged Ping on as much as possible as soon as they landed. There was a long stretch of grass to gallop across to the finish line and she wasn't going to waste a second.

Her and Aaron were neck and neck now so they galloped on.

"Come on!" Hotch shouted at Midnight, though he knew that his horse was giving it his all. Less than a hundred yards to the finish line and he could see Ping inching his way forwards until…

"Yes!" JJ and Reid shouted as the pair galloped past the finish line. Although it was a very close race they knew that Prentiss had slipped in front of Hotch at the last second. Both of them pulled up their horses, panting heavily with huge grins on their faces.

"Great race!" Rita exclaimed to the exhausted pair. "But how come you took so long in the woods? We couldn't see you."

"Ah." Hotch said shortly. "Prentiss had a little fall." JJ gasped and they could all now see that she was covered in dust down one side.

"Are you okay?" Morgan asked seriously. Emily nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Aaron shot her a stern look.

"Emily." He turned to the others. "She hurt her ankle so she finished up without stirrups." The group looked impressed.

"You just did that without stirrups?" Rossi asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah." Emily blushed a little. Aaron could see she was getting uncomfortable so he hopped off of Midnight and quickly handed the reins to an unsuspecting Reid.

"Come here." Hotch said, lifting up his arms to Emily who was looking at the floor like at was a million miles away, "Let me help you down."

"Thanks." She said gratefully as she carefully swung her bad foot over. If she had jumped to the floor it would have been incredibly painful. Rita stepped forwards and took Ping's reins from Emily once she was safely on the floor, held in Aaron's steady grip so she wouldn't put too much weight on her ankle.

"Aaron, you help Emily down to the house and get her some ice for her foot and get yourself a drink – we'll take care of the horses." Emily smiled gratefully at the woman who had helped her no end in the last week.

"Thanks." Hotch said, wrapping Emily's arm around his shoulders and his around her waist. With the aid of the dark-haired profiler Emily hobbled along favoring her right foot until they were out of sight of the team.

"Come here." Aaron spoke softly and picked her up into his arms bridal style. Emily breathed a sigh of relief and grinned.

"Thank you." She wrapped her arms around his neck and tucked her head into his chest. Her breathing hitched as Aaron jolted her slightly in his grasp and her foot once again reminded her of what had happened.

"Sorry." He apologized, looking down into her dark eyes.

"It's not your fault." Emily shook her head briefly and half smiled. "God I'm going to have a hell of a bruise on my ass!" She exclaimed suddenly, causing Aaron to chuckle as he stepped into the dining area of the house.

"I have to say, it was a pretty magnificent fall." Emily shrugged as he set her down in one of the worn wooden chairs and set another one opposite her to rest her foot on.

"What can I say? Go big or go home, remember?" She laughed along with Aaron, but hissed in pain as he tried to ease her riding boot off.

"Sorry, but I've gotta get this off." He apologized again.

"It's fine, just do it quickly." Emily shook her head, gripping onto the edge of her seat with her hands as she winced so her knuckles turned white. Aaron walked off for a second into the kitchen and came back with some ice wrapped in a dishcloth.

"Oh god, that feels good." Emily sighed as he set it gently on her foot.

"Good." Aaron said, satisfied for the moment. "Let me go get some drinks." He said, standing from his kneeling position on the floor beside her and walking into the kitchen. Emily tried to relax while she heard the chinking of glasses from the room beside her until Aaron came back with some lemonade with ice for each of them.

"Thanks. I'm so hot!" Emily exclaimed, tipping her head back and sighing gratefully after she sipped her drink.

"Oh here," Aaron encouraged, stepping closer to her. "Let me help you get this off." He tugged her silks off over her head to reveal the navy polo shirt she had on underneath.

"Thanks. I thought I was about to melt all over the floor." She replied with a smile, taking another sip of her drink. Aaron raised his eyebrows and the corners of his mouth twitched.

"I'm not cleaning that up." He retorted, causing Emily to snort into her drink.

"Smartass." She mumbled into her drink.

"And don't you forget it." He patted her good leg and winked, causing Emily to roll her eyes.

"Ah…" Emily winced, shifting in her chair. "This ice is really cold now." Aaron turned to her and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, you know what I mean." She said, swatting him playfully.

"I'll take the ice off now." Aaron told her before doing just that. Then he stood and made his way back into the kitchen, only to return a couple of minutes later with a first aid kit.

"Lets see what they've got in here…" He trailed off, setting in on the table and sifting through it. "Here we are." He pulled out an elasticated bandage. He gently lifted Emily's foot off of the chair and kneeled in front of her, setting her foot on his lap.

"I hope you know what you're doing." Emily joked with a smile and Aaron scoffed.

"Of course I do." He said as he began wrapping the bandage around her foot and then took it up to her mid-calf. "Feel better?" He asked her once he was done. Emily nodded thankfully.

"Yeah, thanks Aaron." He bundled up the jockey silks and set them on the chair where Emily's foot previously rested, to make a cushion then placed her foot back on it again. Then he drew a chair up next to Emily and sat down, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"You really scared me today." He told her quietly.

"I'm sorry." She turned her head to look him in the eye.

"It wasn't your fault." Aaron shook his head, "But don't do it again." He scolded softly, tapping her nose with his forefinger earning a giggle.

"I'll do my best." She promised and he took that knowing that it was going to be the best they could get in their line of work.

"Face your past without regret, handle your present with confidence, prepare for your future without fear. Keep faith and drop the fear, don't believe your doubts and don't doubt your beliefs. Life is wonderful if you know how to live."

- Unknown

Should I stop it there and start on the sequel, or one more chapter? Better review and tell me or I will do whatever the majority says. I have to say that the sequel is going to be kickass even if I say so myself haha:)

It's going to be a creepy case fic and I pretty much have most of it planned out already, just got some minor details to go over. Anyone interested?

I just have to say that I'm surprised how much the snarky comments that Emily and Aaron sound just like me lol. So if you haven't PM'd me yet and found out for yourself, this is what the majority of my conversations sound like;)

Review and tell me what you want me to do and the quicker it'll be up!

Adios Amigos,

Lovelyja