Hey guys! So I'm leaving tomorrow (Friday) for a softball tournament over the weekend so this will be the last update until Monday. Sorry!

-A xx

Prentiss

Weeks, almost a month had passed since the team found out about us, and Hotch and I had been in the biggest fight I had ever been involved in over the past few days. Every little thing that happened, we found a way to scream at each other about it. I had left his place last night mid fight and I wouldn't pick up his calls or answer his furious texts. Last night, he had said that he wasn't sure that our relationship was what was best for Jack. He didn't want Jack to forget about Haley and think of me as his mother, like he was growing to every day over the past few weeks. I had even cried and it was a huge blow to my pride.

I walked into the precinct and sat down at my desk.

"…Hey," JJ said, "No greeting this morning?"

"Hi." I said to her quietly.

"And Morgan, Reid and Garcia." She motioned for me to spin my chair around.

I sighed and spun around, looking at the three of them, "Hi. Can I work now or do I need to have a full conversation that I don't want to have?" I asked JJ.

She looked at me questioningly, "Sorry…"

I spun my chair back around and rested my head in to my hand as I opened a file. My phone rang then. "Oh my god!" I said irritably as I picked it up, "What?"

"…Is this Emily Prentiss?"

I sighed, "Yes, I'm sorry; I didn't mean to say that at all."

"This is Sally from Visual Health; your glasses are ready to be picked up."

"Okay, thank you for letting me know. I'll come get them now." I stood up and grabbed my bag as I hung up.

"What are you getting?" Reid asked.

"I'll be back," I said as I picked up my coat and slipped it on as I walked back towards the glass doors, "Tell Hotch I won't be long!" I called to them as I walked out. I made my way down to the parking lot and drove to the optical clinic. I walked into the small place and waited at the desk until someone could assist me. I told them I had a very limited time to spend here so they got right to sizing the frames to my liking before they put the two pairs into the boxes you're supposed to keep them in and put them in the bag.

I made my way back to the precinct quickly and reached the sixth floor as fast as I could. I saw the team in the conference room as I walked through the glass doors. Reid waved me in and I nodded. I put the optometrist bag into my drawer and took out one of the pairs of glasses. The plain black ones that I much preferred over the dark marble patterned frames. I slipped them on as I walked up the stairs quickly and to the team. I sat down at my place at the round table where I always sat and they all looked at me, "What?"

"Nothing…four eyes." Morgan smirked.

I took them off quickly and dropped them on the table above the file that I was looking at, "Wow…twenty-twenty vision to…like…ten-twenty vision." I said quietly.

Hotch was sitting beside me and lifted them up, "Thanks for telling me you were getting them. Put them back on."

"Wouldn't want to get too close…" I mumbled as I took them from his hand and slipped them back on.

"You look adorable." Garcia smiled. I looked at her and pushed the glasses up onto the bridge of my nose properly with my middle finger. She laughed, "Can't wait to see that gesture every day."

"Case." I raised my eyebrows.


I was walking around the beach of Pensacola, Florida, with Hotch. The whole team was walking around the city in the unsub's comfort zone and asking locals questions. He had paired me with him so he could talk to me when we drove here, but I kept on the case and it was all I allowed myself to talk about or listen to.

"Agent, you say? FBI? You look too pretty to be an agent." A shirtless, rather attractive man said to me, looking me up at down, "It's hot out, and you are on a beach. You should dress down a bit."

Hotch pushed me a step backwards gently and stepped forwards towards the guy, "Back off, buddy."

"Ah…the boyfriend," He nodded. He laughed and looked at me again, "To answer your question, pretty lady…no, I haven't seen him around."

"Thank you for your time." I nodded. I grabbed Hotch's arm and pulled him backwards to walk away. We walked away and the man went back to the two friends he was here with. "That was not professional." I said quietly.

"He was hitting on you."

"Still not your place to intervene the way you did. Here, you're my boss. At home, I don't even know what you are." I shook my head and sped up my pace.

"Prentiss." He grabbed my arm and turned me back to face him. He shook his head, "What does that even mean?"

"We're not meant to fight this often." I said quietly.

"It's just a rough part of it. It happens. Granted, your stubbornness and mine mixed together make it a whole lot harder than other couples."

Unwelcome tears filled my eyes, "God, I wish I could believe that." I shook my head and turned around. I walked towards the car and saw Morgan and JJ pull up behind ours.

"Find anything?" JJ asked as they stepped out of the car.

I shook my head, "No."

"What's Hotch doing?" Morgan asked. I thought he was right behind me. I turned and saw him sitting on a chair with his head in his hands. I felt so guilty after seeing it. I knew it wasn't just the case stressing him out; it was me as well.

"Oh…uh…the case is just stressing him out a bit. He'll be fine." I nodded and forced a smile.

"You're fighting…and you have been for a while." Morgan called me out.

I sighed, "Is it that obvious?"

"Hotch doesn't react to cases like this," JJ motioned to him, "And you've been really irritable and the two of you both try to avoid being around the other or looking at each other."

"Except for today, apparently," Morgan added, "So why's he really doing that?"

I looked back towards him briefly, "He doesn't think that our relationship is best for Jack. That is just what we are currently fighting about, but it's everything over the past few weeks. If you can think of an argument of any topic, we've probably had it. He might be doing that right now because I might have said that here he was my boss, but I didn't know what he was at home…and I might have made a comment that might have indicated that I don't believe that our relationship will last much longer…"

"There were a lot of "might's" is there…" JJ said.

"Just…don't worry about it. He'll be fine," I turned around and looked at him, "Hotch! Let's go!" I called to him. He stood up and walked towards us.

"You okay, man?" Morgan asked him.

He nodded, "Yeah. We should get back to the station."

The two of them looked at me as Hotch got the keys out of his pocket and walked around the SUV. I shook my head to tell them not to say anything and they nodded. They went back to the car they were in and I walked to the passenger seat of the car Hotch was in.

"Belt." He said quietly when I got in the car.

I looked at him for a few seconds before reaching above my right shoulder and pulling the belt over me. "Can we please just not fight until this case is over?" I asked when he started driving once he heard the belt click

"I thought that was what we were planning on doing."

"Well you paired us together when we were already fighting and you did it to talk to me so this is—" I stopped myself from finishing but he finished the sentence for me.

"My fault. You're saying this is my fault." He nodded.

"Not everything; but yeah, this argument right now wouldn't have happened if you just sent me with Morgan like every other time."

"I feel better when you're with me." He said quietly.

"He's not even hunting brunette women; he's hunting men. I'm not even in danger…"

"Just—we're not fighting about it now." He shook his head.


The two hour flight back to Quantico felt too long. It was quiet and I sat across from Reid in the corner of the plane so that I didn't need to talk to Hotch. Hotch, Rossi and Morgan sat together on the set of four seats and JJ was lying on the couch, although she wasn't sleeping. She stared at the roof the whole time.

I walked into the precinct and sat down at my desk. Hotch and Rossi went to their offices, Garcia was talking to the other three like she always did when they got back, although I was usually involved in the conversation too.

"You want to come out for drinks, Em?" Garcia asked me as she walked to my side. The others stood beside her, "Rossi is coming. It's just down to you and your lover slash boss."

"Um…" I hesitated.

"Nah, she's busy tonight, baby girl." Morgan answered for me. I smiled appreciatively.

"Date?"

"Just the opposite…" I said under my breath. I shook my head, "No, but have fun."

"Hey, if you need a night out with us or just a girl's night, let us know." JJ smiled.

I nodded, "Thanks. You can ask Hotch if he wants to go with you."

"…I'll go ask him." Morgan said, giving me a questioning look before walking towards our boss's office.

"You're not together tonight?"

"We don't spend every waking moment together, Pen…" I said quietly, "Have fun tonight."

"Thanks." JJ smiled. Morgan, Rossi and Hotch came down and the six of them walked towards the glass doors.

"Why might she need a night out or a girl's night?" I heard Reid asked JJ.

"Because they're fighting, I'm assuming." Garcia answered for him.

I glanced up and saw Hotch looking at me before shaking his head and following them out. I sat staring at the FBI crest on the computer screen at my desk for a while before I sighed to myself and started on some paperwork. After finishing a few pages, I put my pen down and looked around behind me. There was no one there to see what I was doing. I opened the web browser and went to Google. I typed "relationship with boss" and looked at several different sites. The main things I looked for were the risks and what would happen if we broke up. From what I got, it would cause significant problems with both Hotch and I and within the team.

I did some more paperwork to try and distract myself but it didn't work at all. I stood up and slid my coat on before grabbing my bag. I texted JJ as I walked out of the precinct and I drove to the bar they were at.

It wasn't far and I got there with 15 minutes. I took a breath and neatened my hair before taking my handbag and locked the car. I walked inside and saw Morgan already on the dance floor.

"Hey Em." Will greeted me with a smile. He was on his way back towards the table of the team from the bar with several drinks.

I smiled, "Hey."

"JJ didn't tell me you were comin'. I'll put these down and get you a drink; this round's on me."

I nodded, "Thanks." I followed him towards the team and smiled when I heard the loud laughter from their table. They were all tipsy already. I looked at my watch and checked the time. They had been here just over two hours, so I assumed drunk, not tipsy.

"Hey!" Garcia and JJ both greeted me loudly.

"Ciao mio caro!" Rossi said to me, kissing my cheek as I sat down beside him.

"What?" I laughed.

"Uh, he said "hello, my dear"." Reid educated me on Rossi's Italian.

I nodded, "Ah…you're all drunk."

"Join us!" JJ said, pushing the drink that she hadn't drank yet towards me.

"I drove." I pushed her drink back to her.

"So you'll pick your car up tomorrow. Tonight, we party!" Garcia exclaimed. I laughed as Garcia pulled JJ up. She looked at me, "You're not drunk enough yet." They ran to the dance floor and I smiled to myself as I watched them dance. Will returned to the table and sat beside me, putting a beer and three shots there.

"Shots?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"You need to catch up," he shrugged his shoulders and slid them to me, "Bottoms up."

I bit my lip and looked at the alcohol. Did I want to get drunk tonight? What was the team thinking? Today was only Thursday; we still had work tomorrow.

"Prentiss!" I heard a drunken Morgan call happily. I looked up and laughed as he walked over with Garcia and JJ under his arms, "Ooo, shots." He smirked at me.

"Drinky drinky," Garcia motioned to them. I took a breath and shook my head, "Oh, come on. What better way to forget fighting with your boss lover than getting hella drunk?"

"You told them?" Hotch asked me.

"I told JJ and Morgan." I rolled my eyes.

"Nice to know we have some privacy." He shook his head and drank back the rest of his beer.

"Hey, you made a scene on the case."

"I didn't." He shook his head again.

I rolled my eyes and lifted the first shot.

"Quick, three in a row. Go!" JJ said excitedly.

I drank the first back and picked up the second, throwing the three of them back quickly. This would be a fun night.