Note- I was thrilled to see MGG haircut! I think I may be in the minority though. Anyway this fic starts after season five episode 22 which was called The Internet is Forever.

The Long Way Home

Emily and Spencer

Part One

"Why did you cut your hair?"

"Someone told me it would look better."

"What's her name?"

"Heather."

"I don't know. I think Heather might have been mistaken."

"You do?"

"Your hair looked, I don't know, sort of dashing longer. But what do I know?"

Often she sat across from him on the jet when they were going home. Today she sat next to him. It was always her that would seek out him- never the other way around.

He knew she believed he had no idea of her feelings for him. But he wasn't as clueless as she assumed. For a very long time he had suspected- almost two years ago was his first inkling that she cared for him as more than a simple co-worker- but he cast off those suspicions and theories time and time again until one day just last week when she on the phone, at her desk, speaking to SSA Mick Rawson.

One moment where Dr. Spencer Reid could no longer blow off what had been running around the back of his mind for years now.

Letting out a heavy sigh she finally gave in to Mick's flirting and agreed to a date. It was what she did next that cemented her crush on Spencer in his mind. Her eyes moved to him and he happened to look up at the same time. The longing and sadness in her eyes was unmasked because she thought he was deep in his paperwork and not about to notice one fleeting look from her.

Seeing her raw pain made him feel guilty and cowardly. There were many reasons he never made a move on her but now they all seemed ridiculous and childish. His old feelings for other women, his fears of rejection, his belief he could never make someone like her happy and she didn't know what she really wanted if she thought she wanted him. All of it now-and all the wasted days with women who only broke his fragile heart apart time after time- seemed to him like a travesty. What he would give to have done it all different.

But now she had a date with another guy. And Spencer didn't think this would be the brightest time to say "It might have taken me a couple years but....me too."

Knowing he had made a mess out of whatever chances he ever had with Emily Prentiss did not stop his growing want of her. He might have started falling for her way after she first saw something worthy in him- worthy of friendship first, of caring, or trying to connect- but there was no doubt that now, in this last week especially, his feelings were growing at a staggering pace.

Just to see her now was almost painful. That is how much he ached to reach out and run his knuckles tenderly over her cheek.

That is just what he wanted to do now, in fact. But Derek was sitting across from them, with his head phones off, watching their every move: observing body language and smirking. Besides there was Mick now. It seemed there was always a reason to not make a move on Emily.

But only lately did he find more and more reasons to make a move. For instance, one very good reason was that she was lingering in his mind even when they were away from each other. And that had never happened before last week.

It made her presence in his life, his head, his heart, his soul, and his whole world seem larger than it ever was before. It made what they might have if he did make even the smallest of moves seem real in a way it never was before.

Suddenly the idea of being her lover, something he always blew off as not what he wanted or what he could have even if he did break down and admit he wanted it, felt like it was just an inch outside of his grasp. Not miles and miles anymore.

The memory of her brown eyes etched with pain and her shoulders slumped in defeat after she accepted the date of another man saddened Spencer but it also gave him courage. He hadn't imagined her behavior toward him over the years. And whereas he could shrug it off before he couldn't now or ever again.

"Maybe I'll let my hair grow out again."

"Oh, I don't know if that would be such a good idea," she teased. "Heather might object."

"She works at my dry cleaners."

Emily chuckled. "Well with our work schedules I guess you gotta meet dates where you can!"

"Yes, that's true. But I don't think her girlfriend would let me take her out on a date."

Emily gave him big eyes. "No, I suppose not. Tough break. Maybe you'll have better luck next time. Hang in there."

"Yeah.....I'm going to do that."

Emily smoothed a strand of hair behind her ear and looked away. Morgan kept smirking. Reid kept longing to touch his new found heart's desire.

And the BAU jet kept carrying all the crime fighters home.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, how was your date?" Reid asked, when Emily had just came into work after the next weekend.

She still had her coat on. "Well, good morning to you too. And does everyone know about my date?"

Morgan chimed in "Pretty much. So did you get lucky?"

Emily gave him a disgusted look.

Morgan laughed and said "I'll take that as a no. Well I'm gonna go get some coffee before the briefing. Whatever you manage to get out of her, Reid, tell me later."

Emily shook her head at Morgan's silliness and then slipped out of her coat. "Ugh, please God no new case today."

"You didn't sleep well?"

"How can you tell? Do I have bags under my eyes. God, I do, right? Great! My cat kept me up all night. I didn't even know a cat could do that. My mother was never an animal lover. Can you believe this is the first time I've ever been a pet owner?"

"I had no idea you own a cat."

"A kitten. Aristotle. Ari for short. I've decided it's the way to go, considering."

"Considering what?"

"Oh you know....our work schedules. I don't have time for more in my life but a cat so on Sunday I bought one and, I have to tell you, I'm glad I did it. Even if I couldn't get much sleep for it crying. I think it misses the pet store. Huh. What does that say about me as cat mommy?" She then started in on her paperwork.

Reid went back to his, working very fast as usual, but now a small smile was on his lips. It seemed that things hadn't gone well with Mick.

And so the small gap that was keeping Reid from being Emily's lover lessened just a little bit more on that morning in the BAU.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Would you like to join me for lunch?" he asked her.

An eyebrow raised. "Me and you? Who else?"

"No one else."

"Uh, okay!"

A small smile. "Okay."

"So should we go now?"

"It is lunch time so, yeah, now."

"All right. Lets go then."

"All right then."

As they were heading for the elevator they came across Derek. "Prentiss, you going out for lunch? Could you bring me back my usual?"

"Nope. Not today. You're out of luck. Ask Garcia."

"Huh."

But Emily had already walked past him. Reid looked back. "Sorry. We're not going to the diner."

Just the look in Reid's eye-so dark, confident and masculine- was all the indication Derek needed to suspect what was going on between his co-workers, who never had a lunch date before just by themselves. Reid was more likely to spend his lunch hour with JJ, if any woman.

It looked like today was the day when what the young doctor used to do went flying out the window in favor of what he wanted to do from now on.

After Emily and Spencer were on the elevator a big grin came onto Derek's lips. He chuckled. "Go get her, kid," he said to himself before heading off to track down Penelope to see if she would please bring him back some lunch because he had a meeting and he couldn't leave the office that afternoon.