Author's Note: Okay, so here's another chapter, short and fluffy but seems as I got a great response so quickly (did not expect that) I thought I'd put more up. I won't be updating every day guaranteed because I'm going to make the chapters longer I think, but I'll let you all know.

Real quick: Obviously Taylor is my own invention – you are about to learn a little more about her (stick with it and you'll get to know how they met, what she's like, what she does, etc...) – just to give you a setting; this takes place around series 3/4 so Rossi is there rather than Gideon, and the whole Strauss/Prentiss thing has ran its course. To give you fair warning; obviously this is a femslash and it will turn pretty dark after some fluffiness so be prepared! Also this is my first story up here so please be kind, and reviews or any comment/constructive criticism at all would be awesome.

Disclaimer: I don't own Emily or anything to do with Criminal Minds, but Taylor's allll mine :)

Never. Ending. That pretty much summed up the paperwork surrounding Emily as she sighed and looked up at the clock on the wall, taunting her until she could leave.

At around one o'clock JJ came bustling through the bullpen, dumped even more files on Reid, Morgan and Emily's desks and raised her eyebrows as the brunette's head connected with the surface.

'Rough day Em?' she chuckled.

'I'm bored out of my mind. Either we need a new case or Hotch needs to let us have a vacation. I can't stare at these four walls and these folders any longer.' As soon as she said it, she wished she hadn't. Whenever any member of the team asked for a case to appear, twenty did. And to be honest she could sit through another few hours of paperwork – begrudgingly – but quite easily when Taylor was the light at the end of the tunnel. Plus as Taylor was on the early shift for the foreseeable future, night times were definitely worth staying in town for.

'Well I'm here to answer your prayers Em' JJ snapped her out of her thoughts.

'Hm?'

'Case just in, we're heading to Phoenix. Briefing on the jet and in Hotch's words "wheels up in an hour"' she winked and retreated to inform Garcia of the details of the case.

Emily waited for her to leave before she groaned, allowing her forehead to drop onto the table top once more. A buzzing behind her head quickly caught her attention however. Smiling at the caller I.D, she answered, bringing the phone to her ear.

'Hello beautiful' she said, after checking that Reid and Morgan were still out getting lunch, and that the rest of the team were nowhere to be seen.

'Hey there she is. Sorry I couldn't stick around this morning'

Emily smiled warmly at her voice. 'It's okay I get it, I just keep forgetting you're up so early nowadays. Usually it's me sneaking around trying not to wake you up'

'Oh I didn't sneak around, you're just dead to the world when you're asleep' Taylor teased.

'Oh and like you're any different?' Emily countered, earning a laugh from Taylor which resonated deep within her, making her heart burst with pride that she had created the situation in which she could hear it.

'Anyways goofy what time will you be home tonight so I can make my sexy girlfriend dinner?'

'Your sexy girlfriend would love dinner with her even sexier girlfriend… but we just got a case. I'm sorry' Emily replied, feeling guilty before the words even left her mouth.

'Hey its okay, I get it. I can binge on a pizza and ice cream in front of the TV then. How bad is this one?'

'I'm not sure we're getting briefed on the plane. All I know is that it's in Phoenix'

'Okay well then I'll let you go. Text me when you land and I'll ring you before I go to bed, okay?'

'I will do. I love you Tay'

'Love you too Em, have a safe flight. And be careful'

'Always'

'Bye'

As she hung up the phone, Emily realised she missed her already. God you've fallen deep she thought again, for the millionth time that day.

It struck her how lucky she was to have a girlfriend so understanding of her job and her constant travel, so unaffected by the distance. To be fair, sometimes when Emily was home, Taylor wasn't. She was off working a double shift at the hospital, saving someone's life no doubt. Maybe that's why she got it so much, because Emily was off saving lives too, just not of people already hurt or in danger, just for the most part saving all of the potential victims of the monsters she dealt with everyday. People who were oblivious to the danger hiding right on their doorstep.

They had learnt their lesson. Sure, they didn't survive it; but a few sacrifices must be made to create a better world.

She had begged. Oh how she begged. And cried. And pleaded. He would have let her go… maybe. But she answered wrong.

One wrong answer; and BANG. Dead.

She didn't learn to enjoy it. She still resisted. Test failed. No three strikes you're out, its one and you're gone. And she was most definitely gone.

The next two? Well he needed more of a challenge, more of a fight. What he needed was someone who would get the attention of everyone. Someone with friends in such high places that the humiliation of those friends finding out alone would be enough for her to deny everything. And that would give him reason to make an example of her. And they'd all come running, trying to play the hero.

But they'd be too late.

They were always too late.