Caution to the Wind

Chapter 14

Chapter Summary: Dating your boss isn't without its complications and challenges, but Tara and Emily have never been happier. Follows S13E3-S13E8.

Their next case took them to Detroit, where affluent, professional men were being killed and sexually mutilated, and all of their victims were connected to the same online dating site—if you believed the site's PR; escort service if you didn't. They'd all struck up relationships with the same woman: a pretty young girl in her early twenties who called herself Dasha but was really named Kimberly Desmond. She might have been a suspect, if they didn't already know their unsub was male. Instead, they were looking for a man who was targeting the men in Kimberly's life, and taking out an enormous amount of rage on them. Emily and Matt went to talk to her, but she didn't know of anyone who would want to hurt her or the men she dated. It was possible he'd eventually come for Kimberly, too, so as long as he was out there, she wasn't safe.

Kimberly would have a 24/7 protective detail, and Matt was on first shift. While he stayed behind on bodyguard duty, Emily returned to the police station to join the rest of her team, who were doing their best to dig into Kimberly's life and the lives of all the men she knew. Tara, Rossi, and Luke were gathered around a table, puzzling over victimology. Emily watched them from across the room, until she heard JJ's voice behind her.

"You know, if you want to keep your relationship quiet out in the field, you should really consider not staring at her ass." She smirked as Emily turned to her with an exaggerated eyeroll. "Background on Kimberly's mom, Janel Desmond," she said, handing Emily a file.

"Great, thanks," Emily said, "And just so you know, I wasn't—"

"You absolutely were."

Emily rolled her eyes again. "Why don't you and Luke go talk to Janel?"

"Sure thing," JJ nodded. She started off to grab Luke, but then turned back to Emily. "Oh, and for the record? You two seem really good together. I'm happy for you."

Emily smiled. "Thanks, JJ," she said, "That means a lot."

She joined her team around the table, but made sure to keep her eyes on the case. She'd been called out once; she wasn't going to let it happen again, and in the field, she needed the team—the whole team—to see her as the unit chief, and she couldn't let the local law enforcement agencies and field offices they worked with on their cases see any hint of favoritism or impropriety in such an elite FBI unit.

When they weren't on the clock, though, she made no effort to hide her admiring. She loved everything about Tara, and she still couldn't believe she got to call this gorgeous woman her girlfriend. As soon as they got back from Detroit, Emily couldn't wait any longer to get her hands on Tara. She had a mountain of paperwork on her desk, but it could wait until the morning. Besides, she wouldn't be able to get any of it done tonight, anyway—not when the only thing she could think about was how badly she wanted to be with Tara tonight. Tara, too, had been getting impatient waiting until she and Emily could be alone together, and was planning to coax Emily out of her office for the night, only to find Emily didn't need any coaxing at all. She was standing by Tara's desk with her go bag over her shoulder and her car keys in her hand, and she didn't even wait until they were all the way out of the building to wrap an arm around Tara's waist.

They'd settled into a nice routine with their relationship. The brass had made a fuss, but ultimately knew that the BAU couldn't afford to lose either Emily or Tara, and as long as they and everyone else on the team were still doing their jobs well and closing their cases, they wouldn't stand in the way of the happy couple. And they were a happy couple; they both made each other happier than they ever thought possible. Tara not only broke down the walls that Emily put up; she made her feel like she no longer needed those walls to protect herself. She was safe and happy with Tara, and she felt like she had more support and stability than she'd ever had before in her life. Emily made Tara a little more spontaneous and helped her take herself a little less seriously. Losing her mother at eighteen had forced Tara to grow up a bit too fast and spend her entire adult life always having to be the stable, organized, responsible one. So much of her life had been spent caring for broken men—her father, her brother, her husband—but with Emily, she could relax a little and let someone else take care of her sometimes. Their relationship may have started from a point of grief and pain, but it had blossomed into a thing of warmth and laughter and peaceful, quiet contentment. The fear of losing each other had brought them together, but it soon gave way to the joy of having each other.