Shades of Red

Chapter 3

Emily's POV
It had been two weeks since my night out with Meredith. I was heading to Quantico. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about her. I got butterflies at the thought of seeing her every day. I had, not so obviously, been avoiding her for the last two weeks. My palms got sweaty on the way up to the BAU. Then, the elevator doors opened; and there she was. Her shoulder length, red hair sat in soft waves on her shoulders. Her red lips turned in an upward smile as she saw me. She stopped in front of me, and her emerald green eyes found mine. "Hey you. We haven't had a chance to talk since— well ya know. I feel like maybe you're avoiding me." My mind flashed back to our night out, and the kiss at the end. I still couldn't believe myself. Getting drunk, and kissing cute red heads I have only just met, was not something I made a habit out of. But there was just something about her. We sat there for several moments locked in each other's gaze. "Listen," we both said at the same time. Meredith tucked some hair behind her ear. "You first," she said. "I'm sorry about, you know, kissing you. I had way too much to drink and—, that's not even like me to do something like that." She bit the bottom of her lip, and smiled a half smile. "Emily, don't be sorry," she said with a seductive wink.
The rest of the day, I found myself stealing glances at Meredith. My mind was filled up with her. I wanted to know everything about her. It seemed like for the first time all day I was actually getting work done; when Meredith padded across the bullpen over to my desk. "Come have lunch with me," she said sounding more like a demand then a question. Without even answering, I grabbed my things and followed her to the elevators.
We walked down the block to a little cafe, and we sat outside, even though it was only 55 degrees. The fresh air was nice. "So, Emily Prentiss, the other night I feel like all we talked about was me. Tell me about yourself." I wasn't very good at opening up, letting people in. But there was something about Meredith, something that made me feel safe enough to. "Well there's not much to tell. I pretty much work, all of the time. I uh, have a cat, Sergio. I love wine, and long walks down by the White House." We both laughed. "How long have you been with the FBI?" Suddenly I felt self conscious. I was certainly older than her. I was about to turn forty, and Meredith was just twenty-nine. "I joined the FBI when I was twenty-eight, so twelve years. I started in small field offices throughout the Midwest, worked a little in Interpol, and then found myself here." Meredith was completely immersed in our conversation. She was hanging on to my every word.  We talked for what felt like hours more. Even keeping the conversation going through our meals. Two years at the BAU, and she probably knew more about me than anyone there. Meredith looked at her watch and back to me. "1:30," she said anxiously. I laughed casually. "I texted Hotch a while ago, and told him we were taking a long lunch. He doesn't care much when we're not on a case, but we should probably get back." We both got up at the same time, almost smacking our heads together. We both lingered for a moment. "I'm sorry," she said tucking hair behind her ear again. I found it endearing when she did that "Don't be," I said as we stood up. We walked back to quantico, close enough to one another that our hands were barely touching. I swear, it was like I felt electricity between us.
Later that night, I was at my apartment drinking wine on the sofa with Sergio. I had been going back and forth in my head about inviting Meredith over for a drink. Was it too soon? We had just spent the afternoon at lunch. I couldn't help it. I found myself wanting her around. I opened her contact information on my phone, and let my thumb hover over dial. "What do you think Sergio? Should we call her? Too soon? Come on man, what do you think?" Sergio let out a little "meow" like he even understood a word I said. "You know what, I'm just gonna do it. What's the worst that can happen? She says no." Before I could stop myself, my finger hit the dial button, and it was ringing. Too late now. After about 6 rings I was about to give up and hang up, but then she answered. "Hello," she said from the other end. Then all of the words left my brain, I physically could not speak. "Emily?" "Hey, there... Meredith." "Hey Emily," she chuckled out. Another brief moment of silence. "What are you doing right now?" I asked, the words finally finding my mouth. "Nothing really, just ordered takeout. Might read a book." Her voice sounded breathy, but gruff. I found myself mesmerized by it. Remembering I was on the phone, "come over," I blurted out. "I mean, would you like to come over, maybe have a drink?" She laughed a little under her breath. "Yeah, I think I could make that work, with my busy, busy schedule. Should I bring anything?" I could think of a few things she could bring, I thought to myself. "Jesus Emily, get it together." I said in my head. "Just yourself, and maybe that take out." I realized I hadn't eaten since our lunch. "Consider me on my way."
About thirty minutes later there was a knock at my door. I jumped up off of my couch eager to answer it. I checked myself out in the mirror by the door, fixing my hair. I opened the door to find Meredith with a very large box of pizza. "Thought maybe you could help me eat this." I moved to the side. "Come in," I said motioning her inside. I closed the door behind her, and led her to my kitchen. I poured her a glass of wine, and refilled mine. Meredith made her way around my kitchen like she had been in it a hundred times. She got out two plates, and loaded them with pepperoni pizza. "This is from that place, the one right down the block! This is my favorite pizza in D.C.," I said. "I don't live too far, soI walked here and grabbed it on the way." We sat and sipped wine and ate way too much pizza for the next hour. "How is it, that I've only known you for two weeks?" I asked feeling a little brave from the wine. "It feels like I've known you for years."
Meredith and I had been through almost three bottles of wine. We moved the party into the living room. I had put The Cure on my antique record player. Meredith stood up to admire it. "This thing is amazing," she commented running her finger over the edge of it. "You like record players? I would have have guessed these were before your time." I stood to join her as Pictures of You filled the room. "I have one, actually. And quite an impressive collection of records," she said. A subtle brag. "You'll have to come over, and check it out sometime." She downed the rest of the wine in her glass, then stuck her hand out to me, palm side up. "Dance with me," she said. I placed my hand into hers and she pulled me close. We swayed to the beat of the song, my chin was nestled into her neck. The song ended and we slowly started to pull apart from one another. We stopped once our faces we only inches apart. Our eyes locked on each others gazes. Meredith still had her hands in mine. Suddenly she started moving closer, moving her hands from mine, to my shoulders, to my neck. She cupped both sides of my face and covered my lips with hers. She kissed me soft at first, then faster and heavier. I let myself kiss her back. I ran my fingers through her hair. Her soft hair gliding through the gaps in my hands. She let out a soft moan that made me kiss her harder. We stumbled our way to the couch, when I sat her down, and straddled myself over her lap. She sat up and moved her soft hands up my neck, pulling me down to kiss me again. She started to unbutton my shirt when the memory of what Meredith said our first night out popped into my head. "I have a history of moving too fast," she had said. I pulled away a little. We both needed to catch our breath. "What's wrong?" She looked concerned, it made her face look pinched. "Nothing," I started to say. "It's just, I didn't get the idea that you wanted to move this quickly, and now we're... makin out on my couch." I moved off of her and sat in the spot on the couch next to her. "Yeah, I uh, guess I did say that huh?" We sat quietly for a few minutes. "Have you ever heard of the five date rule?" Asked Meredith. "Yeah, I guess, maybe. Five dates and then..." "Exactly, and by my count; we've already been on three dates." I bit the bottom my lip and smiled. "Okay, okay, so five dates." She moved a little closer to me, and placed her hand on mine. "I like you Emily. I really like you. So I do want to take my time with you, get to know you. I tend to rush into things, with women. I rush, and then I burn it all to the ground."
"What's you're comfort show," asked Meredith. We had been playing twenty questions. Soaking up as much about each other as possible, and still drinking wine. "What's a comfort show?" She laughed and put her palm on her forehead, jokingly exasperated. "You don't know what a comfort show is? You know, it's the show you watch over and over, no matter how many times you've already seen it." I thought for a minute. Television wasn't something I had ever really had time for. "I guess, I love Lucy. I watch it on late night tv to fall asleep when I'm home. I have since I was little. I've seen every episode, I don't even know how many times." She breathed out a "hmm" and slowly nodded her head up and down. I pushed her arm a little playfully, she laughed. "Oh come on. I love Lucy is a classic. What's yours?" "Easy, Charmed. You know, about the three sisters who are witches." I looked at the time, it was nearing three am. I yawned after realizing how late it was, my body's automatic response. "I better get going," said Meredith. Crestfallen at the thought of her leaving, I said, "Stay, it's late, and we've been drinking; and I just so happen to have a guest room. I felt disheartened at the thought of her sleeping in another room, but the five date rule said otherwise. "Yeah, sure. That's probably a good idea. With our line of work, I should know better than to walk home, alone and drunk at three in the morning. I led her to the guest room and gave her something to sleep in. "Well, goodnight," I said turning around and heading to the door. Meredith grabbed my hand and turned me around. She kissed me softly, barely touching her lips to mine. "Goodnight, pretty girl." I walked out of my guest room and shut the door behind me. My room was right next to where Meredith was. I changed for bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, and crawled into bed. Meredith's voice saying "goodnight pretty girl" played on a loop in my head as I drifted off to sleep.