Aaron Hotchner packed up his belongings to leave for the day, before heading out of his office and down into the bullpen.

As he dropped down off the bottom step, his gaze fell upon his female subordinate. His brows furrowed as he witnessed her sat with her head lowered staring at the papers on her desk.

It wasn't unusual at times for her to stay at work as late as him. No, that wasn't strange. What was different about her behaviour however, was that she hadn't looked up or said anything to him as he had come to a halt in the bullpen. He hadn't exactly been quiet upon making his departure from his office. If there was ever anybody who liked to have a chat with him at the end of the day, when he wasn't in 'Stoic Agent Mode' anymore, as she liked to call it, then it was Emily Prentiss.

A small wave of concern washed over him as he stepped closer to her work space and he caught a better look at her appearance. "You've been crying." The thought escaped him before he'd even realised he had said it out loud.

"I know, I was there when I started." She spat sarcastically, keeping her eyes fixed on the desk in front of her.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked, cautiously.

"Nope."

"Emily, if…"

"I said I didn't want to talk about it." She cut him off angrily. "Especially not with you."

That had hurt him a little more than he would like to admit. He and Emily had become very close over the past few years. They always came to each other when they needed to talk and Hotch considered her his best friend. He let out a long sigh before turning and beginning to pace away from the teary eyed brunette. "Fine. Goodnight, Emily."

Without much thought the female agent shot up from her desk and called after him. "He cheated."

Her words stopped him in his tracks and he spun to face her again. "Em, I…"

"Go on!" She cut him off again. "You can say 'I told you so' if you like. You did try to warn me after all, didn't you?"

"I wasn't going to say that." He could see the next wave of tears building in her eyes, threatening to escape at any moment. With little thought, he strode over to her and pulled her into his embrace. He clutched her tightly to his chest, as she wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry. He didn't deserve you."

"Didn't deserve me?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow, as she leaned back slightly from the hug, but remained in his arms. "He had the looks, the money, the brains… I mean it makes sense really, doesn't it? What was he doing with me? You could see it. I mean, why wouldn't he cheat?"

"He's an arrogant, egotistical, idiot, who doesn't know a good thing when he's got it and that's why I knew that he would cheat on you. He had the most beautiful girl in the room at his side, that night we all went out together, yet still his eyes were wandering. That's why I tried to warn you away from him, Emily. Not because I didn't think you were good enough for him, but completely the other way round."

"You thought that I was too good for him?" She questioned incredulously. "Seriously?"

"Without a doubt in my mind." Hotch shook his head at her lack of self-confidence. Did this woman really not realise just how amazing she was? "Is he a good looking man? I'm probably not the best judge of that, but yeah, I guess he is. He has a lot of money… so what? There's more important things. And I'm sorry but he certainly doesn't seem all that smart to me."

She rolled her eyes at her friend's attempt to cheer her up. "Hotch, his intellect almost matches Reid's. He's a genius."

The male profiler scoffed. "No he's not. What kind of genius would let you go?"

Emily chuckled as she lay a playful slap on his back. "You need to watch yourself, Hotchner." She warned, with a small smile. "If you keep saying things like that, I might just have to jump you."

He smirked at her comment. "Well you know, with the dry spell I'm on at the moment, I'd probably let you."

The pair laughed loudly still standing in the embrace of each other's arms, before the Unit Chief reluctantly released his hold on his friend and gestured to her purse.

"Come on, let go out for a drink."

It was more of an order than a request, but Emily answered him anyway. "Okay."

Hotch offered to chauffeur Emily to the bar, promising that they would arrange to pick up her vehicle over the weekend.

Emily made no effort to argue with her friend's proposal, knowing full well that she wanted more than one drink and she wouldn't be able to do that it she had to drive.

Taking full advantage of the fact that she didn't have to drive, she was on her third drink before Aaron had even finished his one beer.

Hotch noted how, after she had polished off her second beverage, the woman sat next to him had perked up a lot more and was beginning to resemble her usual self.

The conversation had been flowing well between them, and he liked to think that he seemed to be doing a stand up job of cheering her up.

"What are you doing?" He questioned the female beside him, who was curiously glancing around the room, while taking sips from her third drink.

"Just taking a look at my options." She stated matter of factly, as her eyes carried on with their search.

The male profiler huffed out a short laugh, before shaking his head. "Are you seriously going to go home with one of these guys tonight?"

"Probably." She answered honestly, continuing to gaze around the room, before her stare came around to meet Hotch's incredulous look. "What? Don't judge me."

"I'm not." He held his hands up in defence. "No judging, I promise."

"Then what's with that look?" She asked, playfully narrowing her glare at the man before her.

Aaron in return offered her a warm smile. "I worry about you, that's all. This look is only because I care."

Emily scoffed, before a gleeful smirk fell across her features. "If you care so much, how about you help out a girl in need?"

"What do you mean?" The man raised an inquiring brow.

The raven haired woman dragged her bottom lip between her teeth and threw her boss her best seductive look, which she planned to use later on whichever lucky man won her attention, before asking. "Want to have hot, steamy, meaningless rebound sex with me?"

Aaron Hotchner's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly at her question, before forcing on his famous serious expression and answering her. "Yes."

"What?" Emily's eyes widened to the size of saucers and her jaw noticeably dropped.

"I said, yes." He replied simply.

"Are you winding me up?" She managed to ask after scooping her jaw back up from the floor, her wide eyes searching his for any indication of what was going on in his head.

Aaron's features softened and he offered her a smile as his dark stare continued to pierce into her. "No, I'm being serious."

"But… why?" She stuttered out, completely taken by surprise. Somehow in an effort to turn her friend into a stammering mess, she had ended up having the role reversed onto herself.

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to have sex with me?" She blurted out, in shock that this conversation was happening and still not completely convinced that he wasn't playing with her.

At that question, along with the utter look of confusion on her face, Hotch couldn't help but chuckle. "You're the one who suggested it."

"I know, but I didn't think you'd say yes."

"I told you, I would, earlier." He informed her, in a tone as if this sort of thing was a normal topic of discussion for them.

If possible the female's eyes widened further. "I thought you were joking."

"Well, I wasn't. It makes perfect sense, when you think about it." He said, keeping his gaze fixed on hers as he took a swig of his beer.

"In what possible way does you and I having sex make perfect sense?" She frowned, trying to make sense of his logic. "You're my best friend."

"Exactly." The male agent reached out and placed his hand on top of hers, squeezing gently. "Emily, you're clearly planning on having a one night stand tonight. Why risk putting yourself in a dangerous situation with a random stranger, when you have a single and willing participant right here. Someone you know and can trust."

"You're really serious about this aren't you?" She asked, as her stare fell to where his palm was burning against her fingers.

"Yes."

Emily's expression turned into one of someone in deep thought for a moment, before she shifted her gaze back to his. "Okay, let's pretend for a minute that I'm even considering this. You've just explained what I would get out of the… arrangement. But what about you? What's in it for you?"

"Well, apart from knowing that my best friend is safe…" He paused, wanting to be careful about what he said next. "Emily, I haven't been with a woman in a long time. What I get out of the arrangement is what I am sure will be a very enjoyable night with a beautiful lady that I greatly trust and respect."

She huffed out, trying to ignore the way her heart fluttered slightly at the fact he had called her beautiful again. "Aren't you worried about it affecting our friendship?"

"No, why would it?" His brows creased at the thought.

"I don't know."

Aaron squeezed her hand a second time, before releasing his hold on her. "Look, if you want to forget this conversation ever happened, we can. But the offer is out there, if you want it."

Emily seemed to ponder the idea over and over again in her head for a long time, her eyes flickering from side to side, while Hotch watched her with an amused expression. Eventually she locked her gaze onto his again and raised a questioning eyebrow. "Can I try something first?"

"What?"

"This." Before she could talk herself out of it, Emily grabbed hold of Hotch's tie, near the top, and pulled harshly, forcing the male agent to lean forward, before she crashed their lips together.

This wasn't the first time that Hotch had been kissed by his best friend. To begin with, she had often pressed a light kiss to his cheek as a goodbye whenever they had been out together. Over time her actions had changed into a chaste kiss on the lips. He knew she only meant it in a friendly way, and he had never made any more of it.

The only time they had ever come close to sharing a kiss like the one they were now, was at the office Christmas party two years back. Emily had had far too much to drink and when she had stumbled into him under some mistletoe, her tongue was in his mouth before he'd even registered what was happening. As it was tradition and being the gentleman that he was, of course he had kissed her back. He didn't want to embarrass her. But that kiss had been quick and messy and in front of a room full of their tipsy co-workers.

This one was different.

There was a fever behind this kiss, a heated passion that had the male moaning the second her tongue made contact with his. Of their own accord, his hands made their way to the back of her neck. One rested against her pale flesh, while the other tangled into her raven hair.

Their tongues battled desperately against one another's, as Emily's grip on Hotch's tie tightened, her other hand coming to rest dangerously high on his thigh.

The female profiler let out groan of appreciation as his hand clenched gently around a fist full of her hair, pulling lightly at her scalp.

She had just known that he was going to be a good kisser. Of course she'd thought about it before. It wasn't that she had romantic feelings for him, no, of course not. But there was zero denying that he was an attractive man. She imagined that had been her logic when she had thrown herself at him at the Christmas party, but she couldn't really count that kiss in her mind. She'd barely had the feeling in her legs to keep herself standing, let alone pay attention to the way his tongue felt against hers.

But this kiss was amazing. She couldn't remember a time she had felt such a high level of arousal from simply kissing a man. If his kiss already had her this turned on, she had to wonder what it would feel like if they did take it further.

With that thought in mind, the raven haired woman pulled back, sucking his bottom lip between her teeth and nipping lightly, before releasing the swollen flesh. Aaron groaned out in both pleasure and frustration at her actions.

His intense, darkened stare locked onto hers and Emily felt the wetness between her legs increase. At the feeling of her own arousal building, she risked a glance down at his lap, unable to fight off a smirk at his slightly tented pants. It took her an insane amount of willpower to stop herself from straddling him where he sat. She could sense that people were watching them. That wasn't to be surprised, given the way they had just been making out like a couple of teenagers about to lose their virginity.

Realising that she was going to be in serious danger of getting them arrested for indecent exposure if they didn't leave soon, she tilted her head around his and tugged at his earlobe gently with her teeth, before huskily whispering. "Let's go."

Aaron's insides dropped, similarly to the feeling of thrill you get going down a drop on a roller-coaster, at the thought that this was really happening. "Your place or mine?" He asked, standing and taking her hand in one of his while pulling his keys out of his pocket with the other. The man inwardly cursed himself for sounding so cliché.

A small chuckle escaped the woman, as he practically dragged her towards the exit, before she replied with an equally cliché sounding. "Yours is closer."