what lovers do - Hotchniss

surprisingly calm

Emily walked into the bullpen with surprisingly light feet that morning. She hadn't slept that well the night before, her thoughts had pretty much kept her awake for the most time. Thoughts about someone she should definitely not think about, especially since he was nothing more than a really good friend and her boss. However, the past few weeks had confused her immensely and when he had offered her to stay at his place last night, her stomach had simply dropped and she had panicked.

Nevertheless, she found herself rather happy to see him again that morning. As soon as this thought entered her head, she froze in her head. No, this was not going to happen. Never in a billion years, she told herself sternly. It was all just an act, right?

"Funny seeing you here", Garcia suddenly burst her bubble as she appeared next to her. "We still need to talk."

"I literally just got here", Emily sighed and continued to walk, but the technical analyst kept up.

"Did we have a long night?", she grinned.

"God, Pen, I'm really not in the mood for this", the brunette chuckled. "Fine, what is it?"

"Maybe we should head to my shiny office."

"I think here", Emily pointed at her desk. "Is just fine."

"Okay, well, I just thought that you wanted some privacy when I yell at you because you didn't tell me that you and bossman are...", Garcia wiggled her eyebrows.

"Your office it is", the other agent quickly stuttered before she could talk any further.

As if the whole situation wasn't tricky enough already, Emily thought. But how stupid had she been, believing that the ever-present eyes of Penelope Garcia wouldn't catch their act?

"Okay, what did you find?", Emily sighed as she closed the door to Garcia's office behind herself.

"Just this", Garcia grinned and showed her the photo of Aaron and her, which Arlene had taken at the barbecue. "You look so cute together! I can't believe that you didn't tell me, or JJ! Wait, she doesn't know, does she? Because I'd be really offended if she did!"

"God, no!", the brunette exclaimed. "Okay - well, first off: If you ever sneak through my messages again, I'll hurt you. Badly. Just for your information. And second of all, we're not together, in no kind of way."

Garcia's excited expression faltered. "What? Are you trying to fool me? I've been betting on the two of you for ages."

"That's... pretty weird, but no, I'm not fooling you", Emily sighed before telling Garcia the whole, rather embarrassing story. The embarrassment pained her, but she had to go with the truth in order to keep the whole thing safe.

"You two are so weird", the technical analyst grinned as soon as Emily finished. "I can't believe that you are doing this for him, I mean, being in a wedding as a bridesmaid is a huge deal!"

"I know, I know", Emily rolled her eyes. "I just don't let my friends down."

"Uh-uh", Penelope eyed her critically. "I see."

"I need you to promise me that you will never - ever - tell anyone. Not even JJ."

"But-"

"Penelope!"

"Okay", she sighed, lifting her hands in defeat. "This one stays with me. I promise."

"Thank you", Emily sighed, not exactly relieved. She loved Garcia, she was one of her closest friends, but when it came to secrets, she was never the safest choice. After she had practically fled out of her office and hurried to her desk, she let herself fall into her chair and closed her eyes for a brief second.

What the hell was she doing? Usually, Emily Prentiss would never let herself get into situations like this, especially since she had had so many options to back out again, Hotch himself had offered it multiple times. But for some irrational reason, she had decided to stay on board.

Maybe it was because she lonely. She had her team, her family, her cat - but somehow she was still lonely in her private life. Maybe she was just enjoying having something to commit to, even though it was only temporarily.

"You okay?"

She looked up, her eyes meeting Hotch's, which were surprisingly soft. His usual stern, cold look was gone, and he gave her a rather worried look.

"Yea, yea", Emily quickly assured. "Any news?"

"Oh, no", Hotch quickly cleared his throat and took a step back. "I just saw you sitting there from my office, and you looked kinda stressed, so..." He stopped as soon as he realized how stupid that must sound. It hit him once again that Emily and he weren't as close as they pretended to be, and that as long as no one of his family was around, she would keep the usual distance between them.

Internally face palming himself, he swallowed thickly, before adding: "And I wanted to go to get a coffee anyways."

Emily just nodded as she watched him walk past her, her eyes fixed on his back. Was it just her or were things getting a bit awkward lately? It was probably just her.

She then realized that she should definitely tell him about Garcia, so she quickly jogged after him and joined him in the small kitchen.

"Um, there is actually something we should talk about", she said in a quite voice. Immediately, Hotch's eyes shot up to meet hers, his eyebrows already furrowed.

"Garcia knows", Emily sighed. Before Hotch was able to say anything, she added: "But she won't tell anyone. She promised."

"Are you okay with this?", the Unit Chief asked after a short period of silence.

Emily raised her eyebrows in surprise: "Me? Yea, I guess. I thought you would freak out."

"Well, I keep surprising myself these days", he shrugged and Emily chuckled.

"Yea, me too."

Hotch couldn't exactly figure whether she meant that he was surprising her or that she was surprising herself, but when he looked her again as she chuckled softly, he couldn't help but smirk.

It was happening, and neither of them realized it. It progressed further and further with every word they exchanged and every moment they shared. Their long string of lies had started a game; a game involving their feelings. Neither of them knew how dangerous this game was, and how easily they could get burnt in it. But - as always - time would tell at some point.