When Emily emerged, she was greeted by a carcophony of wistles. The dress looked perfect on her, flowing seamlessly along her body. It hugged her closely and accentuated her curves, the sparkling stones reflecting in her dark eyes. It somehow looked incredibly feminie and sexy, while still beeing classy.

"Damn Princess", Morgan breathed. Hotch and Reid nodding in agreement.

She just stood there in the doorway, taking in the look of her friends, her family, admiring her. She thouht back to the long months in Paris when she thouht she would never see them again and then to the much shorter time after her return when she thought she had irrevokably broken their trust and would never be worthy of their friendship again. But now she was here. And they were here, celebrating her birthday with her. She looked at each of them, deeply grateful for each smile she revieved, from Reids crooked grin to Hotch's reserved but honest smile and Garica who was beaming at her. But when her eyes found Rossis, something happed that never happened to her before. She could no longer contain her emotions and she started crying, tears of happiness silently running down her cheeks.

Everything went silent at the unexpected change in atmosphere. Nearly ten seconds passed, with everyone just standing still in shook. They had never seen Emily's guard that far down, exept for JJ and Dave.

"You know Prentiss", Morgan offered up half-hearted. "This is a happy occasion. Nowbody should be crying."

She nooded, but the tears kept coming. Her head dropped and she faced the ground, suddenly becoming aware of how embarrassing the situation was. There she was, Emily Prentiss, master of compartmentalization, wearing a gorgeous dress and crying her eyes out in front of all her friends. She was ashamed when she peeked up again, afraid of what the others would think of her, afraid of the looks on their face. Her eyes found Dave again and she saw his soft smile and the look of fatherly love in his eyes. The look he gave her gifted her the energy to move again.

Before she knew what she was doing, she closed the distance between them and threw herself in his arms. He closed her arms gently around her, as she buried her face in his chest. Her arms found their way around his waist and she held him as hard as she physically could. He stroked her hair gently, giving her time to compose herself.

"Thank you", she finally whispered in his chest. "That is the best gift I ever received."

He bowed down and kissed the top of her head, before whispering into her ear. "For you little one, it is just good enough. Don't ever forget that you are worth it." He could feel her quiver and he held her just a little bit tighter.

Gentle music now filled their ears. Everybody except Emily turned to Hotch who was standing next to the record player. "I think it's time for some dancing", he announced and Emily silently thanked Hotch for taking the spotlight off of her.

"Yessssss!", Garcia exclaimed, drawing a laughing Morgan behind her into the middle of the room. Reid on the other hand was much more gallantly in his approach. His left behind his back and his right extended, he turned to JJ and bowed slightly, offering her his hand.

"Spence", she smiled. "You are full of surprises. I thought I had to drag you just like Penelope". He just shrugged at her, slightly unsure of himself. She beamed at him, giving him confidence, as she accepted his hand and let him lead her over to Morgan and Garcia, where she took firm hold of him.

Rossi smiled at them when they passed him. He was amazed how effortlessly JJ managed to pull her best friend out of his comfort zone. He focused back to Emily and pushed her back, lifting her head to wipe away the remains of her tears. She relaxed against his hands. "Now Emily, would you grant me the honor of being the first to dance with the birthday girl?", he asked her.

The smile she gave him said everything. "I would love to." Permission received, he spun her around in a swift motion and she laughed as they joined the other two pairs.

From his place at the record player, Hotch observed his team, allowing a big smile to break his normally stoic facade. Morgan and Garcia were dancing exuberantly, whirling around each other. JJ and Reid danced more temperate, as Reid was not as confident in his nevertheless impressive dancing abilities. Hotch watched for a while, how JJ managed to reassure Reid step by step, turn by turn until he loosened up and relaxed in her arms. His gaze now fell on Emily and Dave. They danced closest, not moving that much, with Emily's hands around his neck, her head rested on his chest. Dave held her by the waist and Hotch thought that if Dave would be 20 years younger, he would go mad with keeping him away from their female colleagues. The thought made him smile even more.

Emily slowly swayed to the music, keeping close to Dave and breathing in his scent. "I'm so glad that I can call you my friend".

"You bet bella, I always had a thing for beautiful women you know", he replied with a chuckle.