She's All That! – Chapter 19

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"So, how do I look?" Emily asked Declan as she emerged from her bedroom and did a spin for him.

He smiled widely, sitting on the couch, Sergio lying above him on the back of the couch. "You look very pretty, Emily!"

She grinned, "Thanks son."

The door bell rang as she walked to the door, "That must be Sabrina." She opened the door after she'd checked through peephole, "Hello Sabrina, come in…Declan is waiting. And thanks so much for keeping him for the evening." She smiled at her young friend who kept her apartment and cat while she was away at work; the young college student/neighbor was eager to earn more extra money and Emily paid well.

"Oh, you're welcome, Emily!" She said as she was holding some board games.

Emily chuckled, "I see you came prepared."

"I've babysat Mrs. Thran's kids so I have a pretty good idea what he might like."

"Smart move. There's dinner in the 'fridge if you're hungry, Declan's eaten but if you want, there's plenty of snacks in the pantry. Help yourself. Declan's bedtime is at 9pm and you have my cell number."

Sabrina laughed as she placed the games on the table, "Will you relax Emily?" She waved at the young boy as she walked Emily to the door, "Have fun on your date."

"Thanks, Sabrina." Emily smiled. "I'm going Dec! I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nodded as he remained seated, glued to his new video game on the hand-held console. "Bye Emily."

She looked at him one more time before she let Sabrina closed the door on her.

With a sigh, she walked out of the building and to her car.

…

Hotch was sitting nervously at a restaurant.

It was not quite 8pm but he liked to be early.

He thought about Emily and smiled as he thought to himself; I shouldn't be nervous, after all, I see her practically every day. Why should tonight be different? He chuckled to himself as he continued, I should act normal, as if I'm meeting her in my office. He looked around him and saw the restaurant ambience and shook his head, definitely not my office.

"Hey!"

He looked up and smiled as he stood up, "Hi, you look beautiful."

Emily grinned as she thanked him while he held out a chair for her.

As they sat down together, the waiter came to take their order for drinks.

When he left, Hotch and Emily smiled together.

"Hotch…"

He shook his head, "How about Aaron? After all this is a date, not work."

Emily smiled again, "Aaron…feels weird to say it after calling Hotch for so long."

"I'm sure you'll get use to it." He smiled.

Emily's smile faltered she began to toy with her napkin.

"Emily, what's the matter?"

She shook her head, "Hotc…Aaron," She smiled a little. "I agreed to have dinner with you tonight because I want to set something straight.

"Emily, you're talking about the bet Morgan and made."

She looked slightly stunned, "Yeah…how did you…?

"…Know? Reid let it slipped on the jet on our way home." He revealed.

Looking relieved but slightly miffed, she began but Hotch held his hand up. "Hear me out, Em." He smiled again, his dimples deepening a bit. "I had planned on telling you about it and that Morgan and I had called it a truce…well, we un-bet the bet."

She laughed when she heard him use those choice of words. "Un-bet the bet?"

He nodded, "It's canceled; over; nixed. We're not doing it anymore, it's just not right."

She nodded slowly, "I'm glad you two saw the sense of it. I was going to tell you I wouldn't choose either of you."

"You wouldn't?" He frowned. "Why? I…look, I know you…er, like me. and I am beginning to have feelings other than friendly feeling for you…"

"Stop Hotch."

"Aaron."

"What?" She asked him.

"My name…remember? It's Aaron."

"I…okay, Aaron. I just want to say not to don't or say anything you might regret."

"I'm not regretting, Emily." He said seriously. "I've thought about it and I really think I'm in…"

"No!" She shook her head again. "No, Aaron, don't say it because you don't. Not the way you and I feel."

"How do you feel? About me?"

"Hotch, you're my best friend, as well as Morgan. You're my supervisor and I hold you in the highest regards."

"You do?" He asked her. "Why?"

"Because you're the bravest and smartest man I've ever met. I really enjoy working with you and if we were to become involved in a relationship, it will put us in a very awkward position."

"What do you mean?"

"Hotch, what if we're in a hot zone, will you let me go in if there's no other choice? Will you do it objectively?"

He thought about it, and nodded, "I see your point. But I hope we would not be…"

"We will, you know it. Every time we respond to a case, we put ourselves in danger, sometimes a much more direct and immediate threat. Will you send me in?"

"Probably not, I'll be worried about you constantly."

"You see, it'll not be fair to the team because your focal point is not on the job anymore."

He nodded, "Yes, you're right. It wouldn't have worked out eventually."

She smiled, "I'm glad you see it my way. But that doesn't mean it's the end of everything we've worked for, Hotch. We're still friends, right?"

He nodded, "Of course, we are. You understand me too well."

"And you understand me much more than anyone in the team."

He nodded as he raised his hand out and she put hers in his.

He held her hand tightly.

"Emily? Hotch?"

They looked up and saw Morgan standing by Emily.

"Hi!" Emily greeted him happily as she retracted her hand from Hotch.

"Am I interrupting something?" he looked at her and then at Hotch.

"No, not at all, in fact you're early." She said.

"He is?"

"I am?"

Emily laughed as she pointed at the empty chair, "Morgan, please sit."

He took the chair and sat down, "What's going on, Emily? I thought you and I are having a dinner?"

"We are." She pointed the restaurant.

"I mean, alone. You and I, no third wheel around." He turned to Hotch, "No offense, Hotch."

"None taken, Derek."

"Okay, I…" Emily began. "Well, originally I had planned on confronting you two about the bet and…"

"Did you tell her about it?" Morgan looked at Hotch.

"No, he didn't." Emily cut in. "I found out about it from Reid. He told me about it and now, Hotch just told me he had told you two that he told me."

"Yes, Emily, I…."

"Morgan, Hotch explained everything, that you guys had…er, un-bet the bet."

He nodded.

"I'm cool with it." She said. "Since you two have seen the error of your ways, all is forgiven."

"Thanks, Emily." Morgan nodded. "But I still…."

Morgan frowned as he faced her, "Emily, listen please. I am sorry for doing it, for making this stupid bet with Hotch, it's very wrong of us."

Hotch smiled, "It was stupid."

"Morgan, seriously I'm fine although I want us to be still good friends just like I told Hotch. I mean, we'll still go out for dinners and all but you must forget about telling me you love me, you're not in love with me…"

"Of course I still am, Emily!" Morgan said. "Now more than ever, and I won't give up until you tell me those three words."

Hotch leaned in, "You told her that you love her?"

"Yeah, I did. I told you I'm serious about her." Morgan leaned in as well.

Frowning, Hotch turned to Emily, "And did you?"

"Did I what?"She looked at Hotch. "You mean, did I return his sentiments?"

He nodded as he watched her expectantly.

"Of course I did, I love him." She turned to Morgan, "I told you I love you, didn't I?"

He nodded, "You did."

"And I told you I love Hotch."

"You do?" Hotch frowned deepened. "But…what about him?" He pointed at Morgan.

"I love you both. And I love Dave, Reid, JJ, and Garcia."

Morgan shook his head, "No." They turned to look at him.

Hotch's cell phone began to ring, he looked at it and said, "It's JJ." He frowned as he stood up, "I'll take it outside." And he left the table leaving Morgan alone with Emily.

Morgan ignored him and kept his gaze at Emily. "Emily…I am serious, I love you."

Emily replied, "Derek, I told you…"

"I know what you told me," He cut in. "But I'm serious when I said I love you and I want to ma…"

"Wait!"Emily cut him off. "Don't Morgan." She shook her head. "Look, I want you to listen to me."

He nodded.

"The reason I don't believe in interoffice romance is this; it creates an awkward environment around the office. We work together in such a close confinement that yes, it's natural some personal feelings will incur, and I'll be lying if I said I don't have feelings for you, I do. When I first joined the team six years ago, I was deeply attracted to you and I wanted so much for something to happen to us." She looked around before she turned back to him. "Do you remember when I gave you the Kurt Vonnegut book?"

"Yeah, you found out I was a Vonnegut fan and you had some lousy date. That's when you had just joined the team. Of course I remember."

"You didn't read the book." She pointed out.

"Should I? Emily, I didn't have the time to do so…I'm sorry." He apologized to her.

She shook her head, "It's okay. The reason I mentioned the book is because if you'd opened it, you'd find my phone number and address in it."

Realizing the implication he leaned forward as he placed both elbows on the table and buried his face in his hands.

"Hey," Emily reached over and touched his shoulder, "I'm not upset. Well, not anymore when I didn't get that phone call after waiting for a week."

"I am such an idiot." He shook his head, face still buried.

"Derek, it's in the past, let it go. I'm not sad or upset about it. I moved on."

He removed his hands and looked at her, "Don't I get another chance?"

She grinned, "No because I changed my mind later when I realized that it wouldn't have worked. We'll be miserable and we'll make this team a very uncomfortable environment to work together."

"How would you know if you didn't give me a chance?" He asked her.

"Okay, let me put it this way, imagine if we are in a relationship and we stayed in the team," He nodded as Emily continued, "Would you let me go into a hot situation without prejudice?"

He thought about it and said, "I probably wouldn't." He said and leaned back and saw her point. "No, I wouldn't. I'll be worried about you all the time."

"And you won't be focused on your job." Emily ended it for him. "And besides, what would Garcia say about all of it? I don't think I can handle you flirting with her and other women. You're too much of a player." She laughed.

He smiled as it turned into laughter.

Breathing deeply, "So we're cool?" She asked him. "We remain as friends and partner."

Morgan watched her intently for a while and finally he nodded, "Yes, Princess, we're cool."

Hotch came back looking serious, "Sorry to interrupt, we have a case and we need to leave." He began to look around for their waiter.

"A case?" Morgan and Emily uttered at the same time, "Now?"

They exchanged a smile.

Hotch nodded, "Four women found murdered, we're leaving for Tampa, Florida tonight."

Emily stood up and frowned, "I have to call Sabrina and let her know."

Hotch nodded to her, "If it's a problem, you can bring Declan to my place. Jessica doesn't mind. They two are becoming buddies."

"They are, Declan couldn't stop talking about having so much fun with Jack."

Hotch paid the bill as they left the restaurant together.

Stopping by her car, she turned to them, "You know, I'm kinda glad you two made that bet."

"Oh why?" Hotch asked her.

"Because it made you guys closer…like a bromance kind of a thing."

"A bromance?" Hotch and Morgan uttered together. "I don't think so, Emily."

"Oh yeah, l mean look how well the two of you worked together during Doyle."

They shrugged, "We work well because we've been a team for a long time but let's not use that term 'bromance' again, please." Hotch shook his head as he said.

"All right guys, I won't. But seriously, not just you two but we all work very well as a team. I don't want to break up a good thing. Besides, I now have two males in my life beside you two."

"Two?" Derek frowned at her. "Who is it?"

"Well, Declan…although he's still a kid but he's a male. And I'm sure I'm going to have my hands full with him. It's a new thing for me, being responsible for another human being and I loved him very much." She continued to smile…

"Who's the other one?" Derek frowned, that hint of jealousy was still there.

"Oh…" She smiled widely. "He's in his mid 30s and has…black hair."

"Emily…who is he?"

She began to laugh at them, "He has four legs, he's house-trained and such a handsome man, a bit … furry."

They began to laugh when they realized she was referring to her cat Sergio.

She held her hands out and gathered the two men into her embrace, "I love you two very much and I wouldn't want it any other way."

When they separated, Hotch nodded, "Okay…let's meet back at the BAU in half, will that give you enough time?" He looked at her.

"Make it an hour, you forget I lived further away from BAU than you two."

Hotch nodded, "One hour."

Emily climbed into her car and waved at them as she watched them walked to their individual vehicles. "Yeah, I do love them. They're all that!"

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THE END

Thank you everyone! Everyone! All of you who have reviewed every chapter! Thank you for staying with this story.

Lexis4MorganPrentiss, I hope you'd enjoyed this story! I did enjoy writing it.

Smileymore21, thank you for your reviews!

Ramona, Taylor, and SouthunLady, thank you.

Thanks to ; AlledDJ, Leila S. , Aaron 'Dimples', rmpcmfan, Lizzabet, and Guest Reviewers, thank you for reviewing every chapter of this story!

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