Fifty Ways to Love You - Emily Prentiss x OC

40. garcia

I didn't know what was wrong with me. Maybe I was just getting bad again. It was definitely possible, and right on time. I'd been on a good streak, until recently. Since about two weeks before our anniversary.

In general, recently, I'd been doing fine. What I told Spencer wasn't a lie. But it almost always got really bad before it got better. It was starting to get bad again.

I was less talkative, which appeared to be the main thing Emily noticed that day. "Honey, are you alright? You seem quiet,"

"Tired," I replied. My head rested on my fist, connected to the car door by my elbow. Emily pursed her lips and shook her head.

"Nope. Sorry, that's not an answer, love. I can tell something's been up with you. I thought maybe it was the stress of moving, or having planned all you did for our anniversary, but...now I can see it's not that at all,"

"Emily," I sighed. I wanted to argue this, but I couldn't. "You're right. Yeah." What was I supposed to say?

"You've been taking your meds, right, love?"

"Yeah." I heard the blinker clicking as we were about to turn left.

"How can I make you feel better, love? Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, I'm okay, just having an off-day. Thank you, love. I love you,"

"Love you too, honey."

We went to work and I could feel Emily keep an eye on me. She called Luke, and Tara into her office — we realized them and Garcia were the only ones who didn't know — and she broke it to them.

"What do you need, Prentiss?" asked Tara.

"So, I'm not sure if you had an inkling, but...Galina and I have been together for a little more than a year at this point."

Tara raised her eyebrows, sitting there in slight shock, while Luke smiled. "Uh, who else knows?" he asked Emily.

"It wasn't intentional," Emily began, "but everyone except you two and Garcia. We didn't mean for that to happen, but now we want to see how long Garcia can keep it a secret." Luke and Tara both laughed.

Meanwhile, I was in Garcia's cave, spilling just enough to make it unbearable for her to keep this a secret. "Oh! My! Goodness! Karimova, how could you guys keep this from me? Spill. Everything. Now!" Garcia urged. I chuckled and sat in a chair beside her.

"Penelope, you can't tell anyone, alright? You have to be quiet!"

"Oh, Galina, you know I can't keep a secret! Who else knows?"

"Only you."

She groaned. "Ugh, really?" she whined. "Fine. I'll try to keep your secret. But oh my gosh, I'm so so happy for you guys!" She pulled me into the tightest hug.

I texted Emily once I left Penelope's office.

[from Galina Karimova] hey pretty girl. garcia bought it. start the timer haha

Everyone was doing their best to hide the fact that they knew. Garcia asked to see Emily in her office under the pretenses of work. With the blinds open, we could all see her freaking out, pulling Emily into excited hugs.

"Uh, Garcia..."

We couldn't hear them, but I could easily see the looks on their faces. Garcia seemed to gasp and turn around to profusely apologize to my girlfriend.

It didn't last as long as we'd though it would; Garcia blurted our 'secret' to JJ. JJ texted Emily and I about it, and I went up to Garcia. She tried to avoid me, but I caught up to her.

"Hey, Karimova, I didn't see you!" she faked.

"Hey, you didn't say anything to anyone about Em and I, did you?"

You didn't have to be a profiler to see that Garcia was caught off-guard and clearly lying. "Uh, no, of course not!"

"Really?" I pressed, raising my eyebrows.

"Oh, Galina, I'm really, really sorry! You know how bad I am at keeping secrets!"

I gave her a look before breaking and laughing. "It's okay, Garcia, JJ already knows. Everyone does. We just wanted to see how long you could keep it quiet," I chuckled.

"Oh..." she seethed, "you are evil!" Garcia walked past me and found the nearest person. "Tara! Tara Lewis, did you know about this?"

"Uh, about what?" asked Tara.

"About—about Galina and Emily! About them being together!"

"Oh, yeah, why?"

Garcia did eventually find it funny, which made me feel a bit better about everything. Emily and I were driving home when she asked me, "You wanna get Chinese for dinner, or something? I don't feel like cooking tonight, and you cook for yourself so much..."

"I don't mind, love, I'm happy to cook for you. I'm happy you're home tonight in time for me to make dinner for us. I'm also okay with ordering out, 'cause I am tired,"

"Then let's get some food, honey. You wanna call the takeout place? It'll be ready by the time we get there."