Prentiss
Another week had passed and I spent the whole time discussing with Hotch what I would be doing if I accepted his offer and came back to the BAU. It was a hard decision, leaving my baby girl again every day and having to leave Sarah to take care of her. Sure, it was what I paid her for, but she just got a job at a bar in town and she liked to have her own life too. Granted, she didn't do much while Reid was at work and she said that the bar was kid friendly. They had a room in the back for children of the employees with a camera behind the bar. I asked if it mattered that it wasn't really her child and she said that she explained the situation to them and they were in full support of Ainsley being there with them. Of course, she'd be going into kindergarten by the end of September, so it really wouldn't be that long anyway. There was only a few more months.
I had found a three bedroom apartment with a reasonable leasing price and Sarah and I agreed on it. It was in D.C, close to the others of the team. About an hour from Quantico and about 10 minutes from Sarah's work. We were cutting very low on money after shopping for furniture and everything we had to do. We both had a car each, both second hand but mine was better kept than hers because I have more money than her after selling everything. I went shopping for food and spent more than I would have liked. We went shopping for new clothes, too. I had to get new suits, pencil skirts, pants and blouses for work. It added up very fast and now we were just waiting on buying anything else for a few more months. I did have an ultrasound to go to next week to see that my baby was developing properly, to determine the gender and to check for any abnormalities. The whole team had helped us move the furniture inside and around and we were all pretty tired by the end of the week. They insisted on helping so after long days at work, they would be working more before finally going home.
Today was my first morning back at the BAU after four years and I didn't know why I felt so nervous. They hadn't been called to a case in two weeks and I just knew that it would happen today of all days. I kissed Ainsley's forehead softly as she slept peacefully in her new bed. I walked towards the living room as Sarah walked out of the combined kitchen and dining in the next room. She had a cup of coffee and an oversized sweater on that closely resembled one of Reid's. I raised my eyebrows, "Stealing his clothes now, are you?"
"It smells like him." She smiled.
"Okay, no," I made a disturbed face, "I work with him. He's like a little brother to me. I don't want to hear that," I sat down, "So have you slept with him yet?"
She laughed, "How sisterly of you. No, not yet. I don't want to make the first move and I don't know if he'll ever make it."
"Honey, Reid isn't exactly the kind of guy who gets with or even knows a lot of women…"
"He's not a virgin." She shook her head.
"…He's not?" I sat up, kind of surprised. Why did that surprise me so much?
"No." She shook her head with an amused smile, "We talk about it sometimes. He told me the whole story and he wouldn't lie about it, right?"
"No, he wouldn't," I shook my head, "I saw he was holding your hand the other day. He never does stuff like that, Sar. He doesn't even shake anyone's hand on the job. He awkwardly waves when we introduce him and the other cops think it's weird."
"…Do you think he's weird?"
"I think he's Reid. The kid does confuse me sometimes. I mean, he wears his watch over his long sleeve, but I love Reid, you know that."
She took a deep breath, "Yeah, I think I do too, just not quite the same way as you…"
My eyes widened and I grinned, "Really? Oh, I'm so happy for you!" I looked at my watch, "Ah shoot, I have to go. I have to meet a half hour earlier than when I actually start." I stood up and picked up my bag.
"Why?" She asked as she stood too.
"Hotch wants to talk to me. Catch me up and everything I've missed, fill me in on changes around the place etcetera. I don't know how there's more; he's been talking to me about it all week. I think that he is actually excited. Hotch is excited. It's weird," I shook my head, "But you will tell me all about this tonight, assuming there isn't a case. I'll call you if there is." I had told her everything she would possibly need to know if we were on a case and she knew that Ainsley was in her hands completely while Morgan and I were away.
"Okay, wait," She adjusted my collar beneath my jacket of my suit, "Look at my girl, all grown up."
We both laughed and I kissed her cheek, "Bye."
"Have a good first day, sweetie!" She laughed again.
"Get out of Reid's sweater, honey!" I teased with a laugh as I closed the door. As I walked to my new, second hand but still well-kept car, I noticed the slight happy bounce in my walk. I was excited about today. I was finally returning to the BAU to work with my team, best friends and family. This was the best thing to happen to me since Ainsley's birth. I should be excited.
I walked into the bullpen and saw my desk completely decorated with new things. I smiled to myself as I looked over the small objects and frames with pictures of the team, Ainsley and me, Sarah and Ainsley, Sarah, Ainsley and me, Ainsley and Morgan, Ainsley, Morgan and me. It was so colourful, though. The different colours all in such a small space gave me a headache but I appreciated it all the same. I put my bag down beside it and picked up the frame of Morgan, Ainsley and I. I viewed it, paying attention to the picture as a whole and then the small details that made it. This was my favourite one of us; had I told her that before or did she just pick one? So this was what she wanted my phone for the other day.
I shook my head, put the frame back where I had gotten it from and turned around. Garcia walked out from her lair and put whatever she was holding behind her back as soon as she saw me, "Oh, hi honeybun."
I gave her a suspicious look, "Hi…"
"Welcome back!" She said excitedly, walking over and kissing my cheek.
"What are you hiding?" I asked, referring to the thing behind her.
She looked up towards Hotch's office, "Boss-man's waiting for you. He's getting impatient."
"I'm early…what is it?"
"It's nothing." She shook her head. I looked towards Hotch's office. He stood at his window with a hint of a smile. I motioned to the desk and smiled at him. His smile grew and he shook his head. He walked to his right and disappeared behind the wall before opening the door. He motioned for me to go up and I looked back at Garcia.
"Thanks for the desk, Pen." I smirked as I walked passed her. She moved around so her back was always out of my view. I walked into his office and he looked out the window for half a second before closing the blinds over. "…Okay…what is going on?"
"Nothing, I just thought you might like some privacy."
"Did you see my desk? She got all of those photos from my phone. There is no privacy around here."
He smiled and looked down, "It looks…nice."
"The amount of different colours in the small space hurts my eyes." I laughed. He laughed too and nodded.
"I'm sure she doesn't expect you to keep it all on there. I saw her putting an empty box in the bottom drawer, so she probably expects you to put everything in there. I wouldn't move the frames, though. She seemed very attached to those."
I laughed again, "Noted. Thanks."
"So how are you feeling about returning to all of this?"
"I'm actually kind of excited," I nodded, "Apparently Garcia is too."
"Garcia had been convinced that you would be coming back to occupy that desk since you first appeared in that doorway again…" He continued to make conversation for a while before his phone buzzed on his desk beside him. He looked at the message and stood up, "Round table room."
"A case?" I asked as I stood up.
"No, just something the team needs to know."
"…Okay." I walked out but he stopped.
"Give me a 15 second head start." He said, holding a smile back. I had never seen him smile so much in this amount of time.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes," He nodded and he walked backwards, "Start now." He said as he turned and walked around the catwalk. The blinds of the round table room where down and I was left standing awkwardly in front of his office door, counting. I reached 15 seconds and made my way around slowly. What the hell was going on? As I walked to the door, I saw the decorations everywhere. The big banner that read "Welcome back!" the coffee cups from a coffee shop down the road decorated with colourful, happy images that I'm assuming Garcia had drawn and my team standing around with big smiles.
"Oh my god…" I breathed with a large smile, looking around. I felt tears fill my eyes and they dripped onto my cheeks. I would blame it on the hormones but I was almost certain that they had nothing to do with it. It was so nice to feel loved. I shook my head and looked at the six people in front of me. "You've outdone yourselves."
"This was all Penelope. I voted we just gave you some real coffee instead of decaf…maybe we wouldn't have had to be here this early." Morgan said.
I smiled and shook my head at him. Garcia approached me and I hugged her, "Thanks Pen." I whispered, more tears spilling over. I pulled away, "Ah! I hate being pregnant." I blamed as I wiped the tears, careful not to smudge my makeup.
"Don't pretend those are because of hormones," JJ smirked as she hugged me, "Welcome back, Em."
"Thanks." I said to her quietly. I hugged Morgan, Rossi and Hotch, receiving the same "welcome back" from each. I hugged Reid last and he kissed my cheek. Once I pulled away, I was met with a cup of coffee from Garcia I took it and sipped it, "Oh, sweet mother of Jesus, real coffee."
"Only this once though," Garcia smiled, "And Sarah's down with it too so you won't be able to get away with it at home."
"But she has a job now," I nodded, "She won't always be around."
"…You'll find a certain someone soon enough who'll keep the same rules and will be around you all the time…" JJ said, glancing at Morgan without realising that everyone saw it.
"Oh!" I turned and looked at Reid at my side, "Are you missing a dark green sweater?"
"…Yeah. How'd you know?" His eyebrows furrowed.
I nodded, "Sarah has it. She was wearing it this morning."
"She stole my sweater!?"
I laughed, "That's what we do, Reid. And then you'll buy another one and she'll steal that one too because the other one is slightly losing the scent of you and the new one has it all freshened up."
"It's true. Emily stole one of my shirts…" Morgan said.
"I did?"
"Yeah, when you ran out 5 months ago."
I cleared my throat, "Yeah…let's not recall that; it wasn't my proudest moment…"
Garcia's phone vibrated and she looked at it, "Oh no! Why today?" She complained as she walked out. Hotch followed her and I knew it was a case.
"Party's over early…" JJ said, smiling apologetically.
"Good, I can drink this without Rossi staring at me with so much disapproval…" I smirked at him as he looked at me. He walked out with a small smirk and went to his office. Morgan and Reid walked out and JJ looked at me.
"What was that?"
"What? Did you see Rossi's face every time I sipped it?"
"No, not the Rossi comment. The "let's not recall that; it wasn't my proudest moment". Emily, he loves you and you just keep breaking his heart again and again. Did you see him shift when you said that? It bothered him."
I shook my head, "JJ, he doesn't love me. He probably shifted because he was uncomfortable or something. Besides, I meant that running out wasn't my proudest moment."
She shook her head, "You are one of the smartest people I know but you're also the dumbest. I don't understand why you can't see it." She said as she stood on a chair to take the banner down and I retrieved the streamers. I think Garcia went a little overboard, but it was all appreciated greatly.
"I can't see it because it doesn't exist," I denied, "And I'm over talking about it. I have juicy gossip."
"Do tell." She said, deciding against arguing over the topic change.
"Reid isn't a virgin."
"What? But the three of us were so sure he was. Remember that night when he tried to talk to that girl but she wasn't interested after he kept talking about facts and statistics and then he started babbling about Star Trek and Garcia? We were so sure after that night."
"I know, I was so surprised when Sarah told me. She said that they hadn't slept together yet, but they talk about it sometimes and he isn't a virgin," I shrugged my shoulders, "He told her all about it and everything."
"Just once? What's the story?"
"I don't know; I had to leave. I told her she had to tell me everything tonight but I think it'll be delayed a few nights."
"I can't believe that he isn't a virgin." She shook her head as she stepped down from the chair. I bit my lip. The team had walked back in just as she said that. "I mean, he isn't—"
"JJ," I cut her off, "Turn around." She turned and her eyes widened.
"Well that was quick…"
"Who isn't a virgin?" Morgan asked as he sat down.
"Uh…um…Hotch." JJ blurted out, caught on the spot.
"Well he has a kid…so I'd assume he wasn't…" Morgan smirked.
"Really?" I asked her as we sat down, "You couldn't make up a name?"
"But then we'd have to make up a backstory of who he was and how we knew him and we just didn't have that kind of time." She shook her head.
"So who were you really about? I'm guessing Reid, because Hotch has a kid, Rossi's been married three times and you're pregnant with your second child with Morgan…and you said he…" Garcia said.
"This is not a work appropriate conversation…" I said, using that as a rather good excuse, "And I'll tell you later." I added quietly. I opened the file that Hotch had put in front of me and JJ and I glanced at each other, smirking.
Reid cleared his throat awkwardly before he started talking about some fact involving something in the file.