CHAPTER 103
YOU ARE WORTH FIGHTING FOR
"Woah, hello sexy Mamacita…you and your nice shaped butt, oh yes!" Luke licked his lips, seeing a female figure that looked more than appealing.
He only saw her from the back, but she was dressed like a total bad ass and she walked like one, too. The woman was heading to the check in desk at the airport and he saw her freshly blown out hair sway left and right as she struts her way to the desk.
It wasn't until he saw the younger girl, walking next to her, that he realized his mistake.
"Dude, you did not just cat-call Prentiss!" JJ laughed, sure that she'd be bribing him until the day either he or she died. This was too good to be true.
"Shit…" Luke gulped, watching this woman slowly turn around and confirm his worst nightmare – it really was Emily.
In his mind all he wanted was to feel like a player once again, to check out some lady and to make a dumb ass comment about whichever part of her body. That surely backfired in this very instance.
"I can't wait to tell her about that!" Reid smirked at him, already taking a step forward to where Emily and Angela were, now weirdly laughing about something.
"Woah, man. Nobody is telling her that. Ain't my fault she decided to come back, looking like a snack…" Luke shrugged, feeling so uncomfortable, now that the eyes of all of his colleagues were set on him.
"You're making it worse. Please, stop talking." Matt, as his only true friend, decided to take his side, while everyone else was already whispering.
"What's up with Prentiss? That hair…wow!" Rossi eyed his boss up and down, with a much more innocent appreciation of this woman's newly found glow.
"And the girls are out to play…" JJ could not help but notice that the V-neck laid a little lower than what SSA Emily Prentiss would usually allow herself to wear. The dress was new. The shoes were new. The hair was new. That smile on her face - it was new too.
"Wait, woaaaah!" JJ kept on noticing more changes.
"Are those…nails?" She gasped. "On Prentiss? Are you kidding me?"
Everyone laughed. They knew that Emily never cared about her nails looking good. Each time JJ and the girls had tried to convince Emily to get gel extensions, she had shut them down, saying it would be useless to waste money as she'd bite them back into their horrible state, right away.
"Heyy'yall!" Emily greeted them as soon as she and Angela were done checking in for the flight and they walked, or rather – wobbled their way to their colleagues.
"Ohh, yup…" JJ winced, feeling Emily's vodka breath a little too close.
"Yup, this place has corrupted Prentiss." JJ added.
She loved New York, but she had always felt like if she had to ever live there, she'd go insane after the first couple of months. Apparently, her boss had started doing crazy things after just a few days in the City.
"Not this place…" Emily argued. "Her!" She added, pointing an accusing finger at Angela.
"Ha, seriously? You want us to believe this innocent-looking Angel-face baby-doll has forced you to go…well, 'Bad Ass Prentiss'?" Luke suppressed a smirk as he spoke, using air quotes.
Angela gave them her best tiny smile. She could fool people for days. Months even. Sweet little innocent Angela…
"What? Her? Innocent?" Emily started laughing, because as intoxicated as she was, she did not care how weird that looked.
"Some profilers you guys are…" She added to her statement, rolling her eyes.
One and a half eye-roll. And a dramatic sigh. Rossi did not fail to catch that detail, yet one more time.
"It is time to board the plane and go home." Rossi said, checking his watch.
"Wheeeeels uuuuuuup!" Emily dragged out her words, making plane gestures with one hand while clutching onto her handbag with the other.
Everyone tried hard not to laugh at the irony of their Unit Chief, rolling up to the airport, drunk beyond belief, before the sun would even fall.
Emily, JJ and Tara started walking first. Behind them, there was Reid, with a map in one hand, and then behind him Matt was teasing the crap out of Luke. Rossi stayed back, making sure he'd be the last in line, so he'd keep an eye on Emily and on the entire team, now that Emily was a bit less capable of doing so, herself.
"Ready to go home, Angela Hunter?" Emily whispered, once she saw everyone else was walking further away from where she and Angela stood, trying their best to look normal.
"With you?" Angie asked for reassurance.
In her mind, there was no place she could call 'home'. However, the thought of going somewhere with this Prentiss woman and calling that place 'home' sounded somewhat nice, to her. But only if Emily was right there, next to her. She needed to hear it one more time, she needed reassurance, once…twice…all the time. And Emily was well aware of that.
"With me!" Emily stated. "With all of us!" She added, because it wasn't just Emily who wanted Angela around. It was the whole team whose hearts this girl had managed to touch.
Rossi sighed, realizing that Angela - sweet little innocent BabyDoll face Angela, was hammered, as well. She was doing a better job at concealing it than Emily, but then again, she already acted drunk on a daily basis, even if she was sober, so it was now hard to tell the difference.
They walked over to the Lounge and, crossing it without stopping, and got sent off to the plane right away.
"Window seat!" Angie said, pushing JJ out of her way, as she ran to where there were only two seats, facing each other, both by the window. It was secluded and private, in the back of the plane. No wonder Angela chose that spot.
Little that she knew, JJ loved her window seat a bit too much. She had once tackled Luke to the floor, when he had tried to take her favorite seat away from her.
And yet, she couldn't find it in her, to go snatch that window seat from Angela.
Emily made her way to the seat, opposite Angela's, as if she belonged there, right in front of that girl – now and always.
Everyone else just sat wherever they could get to as quickly as possible, impatient to go back home.
Angie, for the first time, felt impatient to go back home, too.
She felt happy to even have a place to want to call 'home' again.
"This is good, JJ…" Rossi muttered after half an hour in the air. Thirty minutes, in which JJ had not taken her eyes off of Emily, who was now talking with Angela and laughing about God-know-what dumb thing.
"She's sad…" JJ pointed out.
Emily had been acting different ever since Angela had come around and she looked genuinely happy, but then deep down inside there was a certain sadness that only the people who really knew her, knew how to detect.
Rossi was not dumb. He saw the same sadness behind Emily's eyes, behind her smile. And yet, it was progress, he knew Emily needed this. After years of holding her emotions hostage, she needed to let it all out, in whatever way she wanted – be it a drunken ramble, be it a written note. Emily needed to confess her feelings, to say certain things out loud.
"Let it all play out, JJ. Let her feel those emotions. Let her figure it all out." Rossi continued.
"But she's all alone in this…"
"No, JJ…" Rossi smiled, his eyes now darting off to Angela, whose face was bright, smiling and somewhat just as sad as Emily's.
"She's not." Those were his last words to JJ before he fastened his belt and tried not to think of how the plane just wobbled in the air.
"Any news on your Wild Cards?" Ben asked Dan at lunch time, that same day.
They were taking their usual coffee break after lunch, at their favorite Quantico coffee shop. It was a break during which Dan knew he'd be grilled with questions, by his Superior.
Dan sighed. Both Angela and Bryan were off, traveling with a different Unit, working on a case for the past few days. Bryan had just gotten back, but he had managed to miss one of the two obligatory classes that week.
The Trainees had been given the chance to work, as real Agents, given they'd sit both obligatory classes, and as many optional classes as they could go to, during Big-Little Week.
Angela had missed every single class and she could not be any happier about it.
"I have a feeling you're about to punish them…" Ben smirked when Dan failed to give him a quick answer.
"No, I'm not going to punish them. I've received Bryan's feedback and he was brilliant, on the job. Who cares if he missed class? I personally signed their permissions to leave the Academy, for as long as their host Unit needed them." Dan said before taking a sip of his coffee.
"Then what is bothering you?" Ben motioned for Dan to sit down.
They had gone out for their afternoon coffee, much like Ben sometimes did with Emily Prentiss. He liked to stay close to the people he worked with, regardless if he was their Superior or not
"Ben, I know the feedback the BAU is going to give me, on Angela…" Dan started off.
Ben was a smart man, he knew exactly what Dan's endgame was. But he's still let him sweat and beg for it.
"And I know it's going to be exceptional. Just like her. Man, I'm telling you, this girl belongs here. More so, she belongs with them…" Dan looked away for a second.
He had been the Academy Mentor for years. He had seen rough potential, he had seen people lose their shit and go home, cracking under the pressure of everything they had to endure. He had seen people come out of their shell and blossom into amazing Agents. He had only ever watched it all happen before his eyes, like a movie. He had never acted on it. Never, not even once, had he ever stood up for someone. That was what made him a good Mentor, a fair one. He watched from the sidelines, judging and evaluating each Trainee. But he never offered a helping hand to someone, if he wasn't willing to give the same offer, the same helping hand, to anyone else in the class. 'No special treatment' – this was his motto.
"Bryan is good enough to get into the division he wants. He's also smart enough to not limit his options." Ben spoke, even though Bryan was not who Dan was talking about.
"But Angela does not have any options. Okay yes, she is stubborn, I give you that. But is it really an option, if the one thing you've worked so hard for, is not even an option?" Dan's words would be confusing to a random person, but Ben knew exactly what Dan was talking about.
"Well, I can't do anything about her options, if the only Unit she put on her Internship and future Job Placement papers is not accepting candidates for either of those positions." Ben came out and said it.
"Wait. What papers? They're supposed to start filling those in two, maybe three weeks from now." Dan was surprised. Maybe Ben was just not explaining himself well.
"Dan, she handed those papers, along with her application form for the FBI Academy, months ago. Her choice has been made. She had the liberty of only listing multiple fields of interest and Divisions, but she listed one single thing – three letters, that's all. It is now up to the Bureau to decide where she'd fit in, based on our vacancies and our needs. And, unfortunately for her, what she wants is not an option at all." Ben was aware of the fact that this was somewhat classified information, but since Dan wanted to discuss it, he figured it wouldn't hurt anyone if some truth about this girl finally came out.
"But she really deserves it, Ben. She deserves to at least have a shot at that Unit. She belongs there. Come on, man, at least give her the decency of opening a spot, during assignments. She needs to believe she has a shot at this. And then let it up to the Unit to decide whether they want her or not." Dan's voice was usually stern and loud, but at that very moment, he was quiet, pleading even.
"I know they do want her already." Ben stated.
"Then what's the problem? You'll be placing an amazing Trainee into an amazing Unit, with amazing people who want her! It's a win-win!" Dan continued to put his pride aside, as he bargained for Angela's future.
"Hmm, well Agent Prentiss has never wanted to participate in Big-Little Week before…" Ben said, as if realization had just hit him.
Up to this point, their conversations had been vague. None of them mentioned the Unit name, nor the Agents' names, as they spoke about Angela's future. And there he was, Ben dropping the name that could change Angela's life forever.
"And she gladly took part in it, this year. All because of this girl." Ben continued his thought.
"And you, my friend, have never stood up for a Trainee before…and yet, here you are." Ben's words and that slow motion in which he pronounced them, made Dan almost pass out with anticipation.
Was he, finally, getting through to his Superior?
"Unfortunately, it does not depend on me. The BAU has made its choice, loud and clear. I am your Superior, but it is up to my Superior to authorize a request, like yours. And he would not do so." Ben then shot Dan's hopes down, leaving him upset and confused.
"Ugh…" Dan groaned in annoyance.
Suddenly his coffee tasted much more sour. Or was that taste due to the words he had just heard?
"I'm really sorry. I have to be the bad guy here. I know she's working extremely hard for this, but not getting her first choice does not mean that she won't fit in somewhere else and be one of the best Agents we've ever recruited." Ben tried to soften the blow, but Dan simply stood up and put his coffee on the bench before he spoke.
"No, Ben. It would simply mean that she had worked her ass off, without getting a damn thing in return. She knows what she wants and if she doesn't get it, she'd be broken. And she won't be staying with the Bureau." Dan left in a hurry, letting his words echo in Ben's mind.
"She won't be staying with the Bureau…"
Ben raised an eyebrow. Dan sounded sure of his statement. Had she told him she was willing to leave if she didn't get the Unit of her choice? Was she really only interested in that Unit and nothing else? Was that why she had limited her options? Were they really going to train her, only to lose her right after that?
Was Ben willing to gamble with an amazing future Agent?
"Nope, that's Karma!" Angie shook her head, laughing at something Emily had just shared, about her past.
"No, but…come on. I really didn't mean to…" Emily was laughing as well, with her feet up on the seat, her hands hugging her knees while trying not to flash anyone with the dress she was wearing.
Angie threw a blanket at Emily, to cover up with.
"How about your most embarrassing moment?" Emily asked curiously.
She had just poured her heart out, sharing something especially good, and she only wished she'd get the same in return.
"Oh, wow. Everything I do is embarrassing. I don't even know where to start…" Angela spoke softly, letting a couple of drunken hiccups interrupt her phrase.
"Well, it won't be with a guy, that's for sure." She chuckled. She was not a man-eater, like Emily Prentiss.
Or, was she?
"Wait, hold up. Yup, it is with a guy…" She remembered. "Well, it's not my most embarrassing moment, but it's one of the many,"
"Oh, this is going to be good!" Emily sunk back into her seat, preparing for helpless giggles.
"Trust me, this is going to be beyond embarrassing." Angie smirked, as nobody yet knew what she was about to share.
"Also, I like how happy and eager you are to hear my mischiefs, Agent Hotness!" Angie added, faking a frown, noticing how interested Emily was in the topic. She had also just called her with the nickname Bryan and her had for Emily and as drunk as she was she didn't even notice it.
"Okay, so this one time…" Angie raised her voice just a tiny little bit, being the dramatic attention seeker that she was.
So far, she had been whispering to Emily, especially since the things they spoke about made absolutely no sense, but in their drunk minds they were awesome topics that needed to be explored.
"Right, so I met this guy and, mind you, he's kind of cute…" Angie chuckled once again and Emily could not help but see a splash of color, appearing on Angie's cheeks.
"I dragged him out, under false pretenses, and before he knew it, he was chained to a wall, blindfolded and looking way out of his element…" Angie kept her voice a bit higher than before, as if she didn't care if anyone else heard that.
Luke was in the middle of a conversation with Matt and Tara, when he overheard the beginning of Angela's story. He tensed up immediately, praying to the Lord that he would not have been the only guy she had ever chained and blindfolded, as weird as that prayer sounded.
"He freaked out to the point where he requested a damn code word…" Angie almost choked on her words. She was slurring a little bit, as she spoke and giggled, finding her story to be absolutely hilarious.
"Oh, gotta love it when they chicken out like that." Emily smirked. "Some guys just don't know how to let lose and have some naughty fun. I mean, just shut up and bend over, right?" She came out and said the words, against her better judgment.
Emily loved alcohol. She wasn't abusing it on a regular basis, but every now and then she'd drink a glass too much and she'd enjoy not giving a damn about what she said, who she said it to, how she acted, whether she was sitting down properly or whether she was simply not acting properly in public. She would be free to be herself and being with Angela already gave her the sense of this kind of freedom, but being with Angela drunk, made everything this much more exciting for Emily.
"Speaking from experience, Agent Hotness?" Angie teased.
"Hey, what do you think a Sin-To-Win weekend really is? Come on…" Emily had once been asked, by Morgan, about that thing. She had laughed and brushed his question off. She had then lived her life in denial about it, in complete silence until that very moment.
Morgan was extremely close to Emily, but somehow this new girl Angela now had the power of making Emily share all those private things with her, just with a smile, while Morgan hadn't managed to make Emily talk about these things, no matter what he had tried to bribe her with.
"I didn't think 'too much information' was a thing, until two seconds ago. Eww…" Angie cringed before continuing her story.
"Okay, so when I took his blindfold off, he realized we were in an escape room and I just wanted to have some innocent nerdy fun." She didn't feel like saying more about it, so she ended the tale quickly.
"No way! Talk about a tease. Ugh! I wish I could have seen this idiot's face when it hit him. Ha, you wanted some of that, didn't you?" She directed her last question to the imaginary, unnamed man that Angela was talking about.
Little that she knew, that man was sitting right behind her, with a sucked in breath, face pale as a canvass, now praying that Angela would not drop his name, in a random drunken downpour of information.
"I know, right? So lame!" Angela could not stop laughing.
She had bent the rules. Emily had actually told her about a situation where she had been embarrassed, but Angie only spoke about embarrassing someone else. Even drunk out of her mind, Emily caught on that, but she did not dare challenge Angela. With that girl, there were certain boundaries that Emily was just finding out about and she was not willing to cross them.
"Alright now, what's the weirdest thing you've ever done, to get something for free?" Emily asked another question, eager to know more about Angela.
Luke let out a content sigh, feeling like Emily's topic change meant that he was now off the hot seat, at least for the moment being. Somehow he knew that with Angela around, nothing was safe for him anymore. It felt like this girl was out there to get him and she'd tease the crap out of him, at any given time. He both liked and despised that fact, but he could not deny he was intrigued to find out more about the Tease Master, as he liked to refer to her in his mind. And then he realized he'd been thinking about her quite a lot, for the past few days. She was kind of hard to forget and impossible to ignore – she was everywhere, ranting like Garcia, smart like Reid, opinionated like Prentiss, mercilessly teasing like Luke himself. It was only natural he'd find her interesting, everyone else did, too.
"Barely weird, keeping in mind it's me we're talking about…" Angie rolled her eyes in reply to Emily's new question. Nothing about her was normal. "But I once did a hand stand on top of an ice-cream truck, just to get people to notice the truck and go buy ice-cream there. The guy who worked there gave me a huge cone of all the flavors he was selling, as a thank you for all the new clients I got him while acting like a monkey."
"Monkey…" Emily whispered, thinking about that word.
It sounded funny and somewhat way out of context and yet for whatever reason it caught her attention.
"What's the most romantic thing someone has ever done for you?" Angie instantly jumped to another question, wanting to avoid any further association with the word 'monkey'.
"Nothing." Emily smiled.
"Come ooooon!" Angie whined, finding it hard to believe that no one had ever done anything romantic for this woman.
"No, that's my answer. He did absolutely nothing." Emily smiled, thinking of what Richard had done for her.
She could not put it into words. All they did was walk around, eat and then walk around some more. This was not a thing, it was not an action that she could describe. It really was literally nothing, but it was the most romantic 'nothing' she had ever experienced.
"Oh, I get it. He liked it when you did all the things, all those naughty things to him and-…mhhh." As soon as Emily sensed what Angela was about to say, she jumped up from her seat and put her hand on Angie's mouth, forcing her to shut up until she could only let out a muffled groan.
"Please tell me she's not discussing her sex life with a complete stranger?" Tara whispered to JJ at some point during the flight.
Apparently, both Angie and Emily had no idea just how loudly they spoke, when drunk. What they believed to be a private conversation, was being easily overheard by just about everyone on the plane, except for the pilot.
"Uh-huh…" JJ clenched her jaw.
"Oh, my God. If you could only see just how jealous you look right about now…" Tara nudged her.
She had sensed that JJ was dropping hints about Emily's sudden interest in this new girl, throughout this whole trip. And it didn't help that Angela had ignored JJ the entire time, so it was quite easy for JJ now to dislike her, on a subconscious level. It was childish, but she couldn't help it.
"Shut up, Lewis!" JJ hissed at her, grabbing a blanket and pretending to be interested in a quick nap.
What she was really interested in was who the Hell this Angela Hunter girl was and why the Hell did it seem like she was taking Emily away from her.
"Please, fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for landing." The pilot said on the loudspeaker and Angie frowned.
"Oh, no. I'm going to miss this sweet private jet, oh-so-much, even if it smells like freaking Cheetos!" She stated, looking around and trying to remember as many details as possible, while blocking out the smell that came from JJ's seat, as she was now opening a second mini pack of her favorite snack.
"Drinks, anyone?" Emily stood up and wobbled to the mini bar, just as everyone was securing their seat belts.
She grabbed the whiskey and made her way back, pouring some for each team member.
"To another case, successfully closed." Emily suggested, raising her glass.
"Hey, what about me!?" Angie crossed her hands in front of her chest and the innocent, almost childlike way she begged for appreciation, made everyone laugh.
"I was getting there…" Emily said calmly, shooting this impatient young thing a glance.
"And to Trainee Angela Hunter – the best damn future profiler I have ever seen!" Emily raised her glass and everyone cheered for Angela.
Everyone, but a very grumpy JJ and a now very worried Rossi.
He was glad that Emily made a toast to this girl, but her words gave Angela hope for something that she was surely not going to get, in the future – a chance. With them. A chance at what she did best.
Rossi shook his head, silently judging Emily's poor choice of words, as he clinked glasses with the others.
"Thank you for being such a great sport." Tara smiled at Angie.
She had teased the girl on so many occasions for the past couple of days and not even once had Angie taken offence. She was actually quite good at taking the piss out of herself and letting others do the same, too.
"Yeah, you really know how to light up a room." Matt added.
After being the responsible dad of four kids, he could honestly say that it was a relief to have someone as fun and energetic, light and easy to talk to, as Angela.
"The turn up is reaaallllll!" Angie swirled the bourbon in her glass and she bust a move in her chair before she noticed how Emily was giving her a sign to act calm, as if she didn't want them to be busted about being drunk.
Little that she knew, they had been busted a long ago. Everything about them screamed intoxication – from those naughty few strands of hair that were sticking up from Emily's head and just wouldn't stay slicked back, to Angela's unusually loud giggles, to both of their alcohol breaths and the fact that Emily Prentiss had once again mentioned her Sin-To-Win weekends, inside the jet.
"Thank you for being an exception from today's youth." Reid said a bit nerdily, adding to the appreciation that everyone had started to share.
"You know, being smart and wanting to learn, to grow. You seem like a great girl. I'm really sad that I won't be seeing you on this team anymore." Reid elaborated on it and then also let something slip. Something that made Angie frown.
She wouldn't be involved with the team anymore. It was Saturday now and the week was almost over. Monday morning she'd turn back into a pumpkin, dressed in khaki pants and a baby blue polo shirt, like everyone else in the Academy.
Emily was still on her feet and she knew she'd better take a seat, too. She walked over to her seat from earlier, but did not occupy it before letting her hand brush against Angie's first. This time, Angie did not shriek away. She looked up and when her eyes met with Emily's – she smiled, with sorrow in her eyes. Both knew what the source of that sorrow was.
"You are worth fighting for…" Looking at Angela, Emily whispered to herself the words that she had told her just recently.
With sorrow in her own eyes, she let her body relax during the landing, which was less than smooth.
Nothing seemed to go smoothly for Emily anymore.
REVIEW REPLIES:
"Guest" Hello :) Thank you for leavig a review, very sweet of you. I love hearing my readers' theories and yours is spectacular! How do you feel about it AFTER reading the chapter? Angela having anything to do with Ambassador Prentiss would surely explain her weird obsession with Emily. It might also all be under false pretenses, maybe? What if Angela secretly despises Emily, but has to act the opposite way, for whatever reason? What if the Ambassador has something to do with this whole thing? Clearly, I'm just speculating and I'm NOT confirming or denying your suspicions. No spoilers :P! Just rambling here, hehe. I may be just trying to confuse you :D Have a beautiful day!
"rmpcmfan" Thanks, I wanted to make it sweet and fun, but also very intense during selected scenes. I like playing with the emotion range and mood swings of my characters (I also like to torture them, lol!). Emily definitely has a lot of regrets in life, but not having a child - specifically a DAUGHTER, is her biggest. She definitely sees in Angela something she could have had in the past...and Angela sees in Emily someone she wished she could have had all along. Also LOL about the fringe! Angela just came out and said it, so Ems had to get rid of it hahaha! I love me an updated, rejuvenated, happy, sexier new version of Em! Moreso, drunk! She isn't afraid to show her TRUE self to Angela and the girl appreciates it, already knowing how extremely hard it is for Emily to connect to someone, to open up and to let them in...to trust them! LOL someone from the team had something to say about Em's new look hahahaha! Also - Emily sure does look and sound like she is NEVER going to let go of this young girl!
