I couldn’t think of a good title for this one. It’s not one of my favorites I’ve written— but I can’t find any other area of this mini fic to try to spruce up and make better. I hope you guys enjoy it! ;)
Emily is jealous of Beth; Aaron is oblivious.
She can't tell if the headache is from the hangover lingering in her skull, or from the glaring across the table at the brown-haired woman with the overpowering cheap perfume from the over bubbly smiling-to-early-in-the-fucking-morning smile and laugh making google eyes at her boss.
JJ passes her a Tylenol as the waiter sets down Emily’s order of a hamburger, no onion in front of her. The waiter sets a grilled chicken salad in front of that wanna-be brunette bimbo who has an arm wrapped around Aaron’s own arm. Emily pops the Tylenol with a gulp of her large water before springing up from the table, mumbling something about peeing and washing her hands before she eats.
She can feel the team's curious eyes burn into her back as she disappears down the hallway that contains the bathroom. It's not long before JJ and Garcia are both coming to the bathroom after her. They study her with curious eyes while Emily washes her hands and refuses to acknowledge the two that just walked in.
“Em, honey, are you ok?” JJ asks her tentatively, stepping forwards and placing a hand on Emily’s shoulder. Garcia stands back still, watching with curious eyes.
“No. I'm not ok, JJ, because I am crazy head over heels in love with that man out there and he has another brunette wrapped around his arm, and she's not even that pretty.” Emily responded in petty, eyes welling up with tears. Her hands wipe at her eyes, clearing them of her unshed tears.
“Oh, honey.” Garcia pouted to Emily as she wrapped her in a hug, squeezing her to her chest. “You are going to be just fine, do you want me to shut down all of her credit cards? Or maybe make her nose and forehead look bigger in all of her pictures?” She offers up, which is enough to have Emily letting out a little laugh.
“No, let's not incriminate you in the process. Besides, her looking bad in pictures won't change her looks in real life.” Emily responds, pulling back and wiping her eyes again. “I think I'm going to head home. I'm still tired, and I can't promise I won't say something I might regret come Monday.” She opens the door, not leaving any room for conversation.
Morgan, Reid, and Rossi watch her as she exits and asks the waiter for a box. Aaron twists his head around and looks for a minute before turning back to the woman next to him. Garcia and JJ rejoin the group, giving a simple ‘she-just-isn't-feeling-well’ as an explanation for her sudden departure.
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Several days pass by before Morgan begins questioning her about what happened. ‘You weren't actually sick Saturday, were you?’ he begins which makes her roll her eyes.
“Derek, I really don't want to talk about this.” She sighs, wishing they were trapped in this car for another hour with each other. “I was hungover. That’s it.”
“Oh, so it doesn’t have anything to do with Beth and the obvious eyes you’ve been making at Hotch since you got back?” He slings at her, which makes her anger begin to explode.
“Derek Morgan, I told you I did not want to talk about this. If you say one more word I will unleash hell onto you.” She seethes, teeth clenching and brows furrowing.
He remains quiet for the rest of the ride, but she knows her outburst was enough of the answer he needed. Derek Morgan knows that Emily Prentiss is in love with her boss, and said boss has no idea.
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The coffee is shit, and so is the weather outside in Seattle is much the same. It’s been stormy, raining constantly, who’s is to be expected of Seattle. She can only assume that Rossi has just come inside from the rain because he steps up next to her soaking wet and begins pouring coffee.
“He is truly oblivious, isn’t he?” He comments as he brings the coffee to his lips, turning and leaning against the counter. Emily follows his gaze from where she stands, letting it land on Aaron hovering above a table and reading a file with JJ and some rookie cop.
“I’m not sure what you're talking about.” Emily denies it, leaving it there. They both let her say it, and they both don’t mention it’s a lie. They let silent understanding settle between them before he gives a silent nod and leaves her in the room to be by herself again.
Emily plasters on an unbothered face once more and heads out to solve the case.
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“How did it go with Hotch?” JJ questions when Emily and the man in question arrive back from interviewing a family member. JJ sits down at the desk chair next to Emily in the conference room of whatever town they're in this weekend. Emily just glances up from where her head is bent down into a file, dark hair falling around in a curtain around her as she does.
“It went like it always does. We found things out and we left.” She snapped back to her friend before turning her head back into the file in front of her. JJ just gives a sigh, not budging. She’ll get more information from the brunette soon enough.
It takes two hours before Emily is pulling JJ into a bathroom with frustration plastered across her face. “Why is he so stupid? Am I not being obvious enough? I mean, I don't want him to be unfaithful to his...whatever they’re calling it-- because I know his fidelity means so much to him. Especially after that stunt that blonde bimbo he married pulled on him. I don't know what to do anymore, JJ.”
Emily is upset; that JJ can see. JJ also knows that Emily just needs someone to listen to her so she can get the frustration out. “Feel better?” Emily just glares up at the question, scoffing in amusement. “No, but thank you for listening.”
The two leave the bathroom with curious looks from deputies, and the rest of the team members. JJ brushes it off, but Emily sends glares to her colleagues of the FBI. Hotch returns her glare, face set sternly as it meets hers across the room. Reid glances down, seeming to wish he could disappear with the tension in the room. Morgan and JJ just watch the two, eager to see who’s going to break first. Rossi gives a little chuckle, shaking his head as the two brunettes continue to stare at each other head-on. Emily turns away first, choosing instead to return her mind to her file.
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Emily’s morning spent with Derek looking at houses and talking about foundations has her rethinking even buying a house. The case comes in while they’re still looking at homes. They arrive on the scene quickly, and Emily has to force her mind to focus. Why does he have to look so good in a plain t-shirt and some jeans?
When the bomb went off in the bank, the only thought in her head was how she was going to tell him how she felt, because she wasn't sure she would make it through the day if this is how it was going to go. Covered in soot, she worked her way into a room where she could hear a faint scream for help and found an older couple.
By the end of the day, she was disarming a bomb around her best friend's man while still covered in the soot from the first explosion. She clips the wire with the hope that she's got it right, and feels her body break into chills of relief when she does. She leans to the side, feeling her racing heart slow with her panting breaths as she leans back. Body weak with the crushing adrenaline high.
Morgan and Aaron come running up the stairs to where she’s now sitting next to an equally breathless Will. Morgan begins to clip the chains around Will while Aaron offers Emily a hand to pull her up. The slight contact has Emily’s heart rate picking up and her stomach clenching together as she remembers what she’d told herself earlier in the day.
A wedding is (secretly) planned for the next day and everyone is leaving in favor of a shower and sleep before she's got a chance to pull Aaron to the side by herself. She stands in the shower letting the scalding water run down her body, doing what she told Clyde she would do. The conversation plays over and over in her mind, keeping her awake through the night.
“...but um..If I had more help-- say, running the London Gateway Office. You’d get your answer a lot quicker.”
“Yeah, you should fix that.”
“Well, I'm trying.” A job. He’s offering her a job.
“You have always had bad timing.” She thinks of Aaron. Of his new love for this brunette. Of her infatuation with him that he can’t see.
“Oh, come on Emily, don't you miss this?” She does...somewhat.
“I--Yeah. I will.”
Emily zips her dress with the conversation on her mind still. A job running the London office. Even thinking about it has her head spinning so much she’s unsure of when she arrived at the party… wedding.
Emily’s conversation with Derek ends with a sad sigh and Penelope spewing something garbled into her drink as she leaves and Hotch, Jack, and her enter the room. Derek leads Jack and the other woman away to the fountain, leaving her with him. “How are you?” He questions with an easy smile that has her shaking her head with a deep sigh. “That bad, huh?” Easy conversation leads to an agreeable breakfast date where they can talk about it, but Emily knows deep down she won’t go to that date. She’ll say what she needs to say tonight, and that’ll be the end of it.
Easy dancing on the boxed-off yard with the team, being passed through their arms until she lands in Aaron’s arms has her laughter flowing freely. Being held here, in his arms, is what has her realizing that maybe she always knew they weren’t going to last. Maybe that part of her is what made her want to accept the job in London.
“We both know that I won’t be at breakfast in the morning. Clyde Easter offered me a job running the London Office. I've decided to take it. You and I both know that I was always going to leave again. I can't grab onto my life the way it was before Doyle.” Her words are whispered softly against his shoulder as she leans close to him. Soft hands trace to grab his face, turning his eyes to meet hers. “Aaron Hotchner, I love you. I have loved you since I first saw you all those years ago in my mother's home, and I continued to love you all this time. Until the next time.” With a sad smile and a chaste pressed kiss to his lips, she pulls back and leaves the yard.
The rest of the crowd stare in shock. Emily has just kissed Aaron in front of his date. “Aaron?” Emily hears Beth because that's her name, Beth, question in shock as she steps up to him and grabs his arm gently. “Beth, I’m-- I’m so sorry. I've got to go after her.” Aaron’s voice carries across the yard as he jogs after her, following her inside and catching her arm just inside the door.
“Emily, wait! How long? How long have I been blind?” The question has her giving a dry laugh but his hand tightens around her wrist in seriousness. “After your divorce. I knew before then you wouldn’t have gone for anything offered because you are too good of a man. After the divorce, I started flirting then, but it seemed that you were the only one who hadn’t noticed. Then Foyet and Doyle happened, and now here we are. You're with Beth and I’m flying across the Atlantic to take a job with Interpol.” There’s a slight pout to her mouth when she finishes talking.
Aaron feels the pulse speeding up in her wrist where he holds it. His other hand reaches up and cups her sharp jawline. He presses another kiss to her lips, pressing hard enough she feels her lips will bruise. Foreheads rest against each other when he pulls back. “I’m sorry I didn't see it earlier. Maybe we could've had something amazing.” He drops his hands from her, backing away from where she stands and he leaves. Walking back outside to inevitably explain everything to his girlfriend, who stares at the both of them in complete shock.
@florenceremingtonthethird - A tag as promised : )
