Emily Prentiss One-Shots

Emily/Tara

Title: Now is The Start - w00tewan (Ao3)

Summary: Dr. Tara Lewis didn't believe in love at first sight anymore than she believed in the Loch Ness monster. Of course, all myths are based in some type of truth.

Takes place during 'Tribute' S11E19

[All works in my series take place in the same timeline but can each be read individually.]

Rating: General 

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Tara had been working on her research in Georgia, when Rossi called to tell her Hotch needed her to redirect to New York, instead of DC. The team had been asked to help with an Interpol case, headed up by none other than the mythical, Emily Prentiss. Well, she was mythical to Tara, at least. Ever since Tara Lewis joined the BAU, she had heard impossible stories about Emily. From the time Emily had completely embarrassed an MRA pick-up artist named Viper to the time Emily had a few too many cocktails in Las Vegas and very nearly got married to a person she had only just met. Stories of her heroic efforts with the BAU to stories of her quirky sense of humour, and everything in between. Tara felt like she knew Emily just as well as the team, and she had never actually even met the woman before.

Everyone talked about Emily, she had been a well loved member of the BAU family, just like Derek had been. Tara had worked briefly with Derek but not long enough to truly get to know him. The team, mostly Garcia, shared stories of Derek often. The difference in the stories she had heard about Emily and the stories she had heard about Derek really came down to who was telling them. Generally, the team regarding Emily and Derek in the same esteem but one team member's stories about Emily just seemed different. The first time Tara heard about Emily's staged death, the story had come from JJ.

There had been something in the way JJ took long pauses to skip over certain parts of the timeline of events, that had felt strange to Tara. It wasn't until Tara realised JJ had spent half of the re-telling looking down at her wedding ring, that she started to piece things together. Tara knew Emily was queer, but she hadn't been previously aware that JJ was as well. Technically, she wasn't 100% sure about JJ. She was simply connecting clues as a profiler and combining them with her own queer experiences to form her hypothesis.

Tara never asked JJ about it outright, because it wasn't her business to pry into. Still, she was slightly interested to see how Emily and JJ acted around each other on the new case, for no reason other than she was curious to find out if her hunch had been correct.

Her flight to New York was only a couple of hours but it was enough time for her to become overtly anxious. Tara had never felt nervous when flying, not with how often she spent on planes. Yet, around the half-way point to New York, Tara felt unmistakably anxious. She decided it was obviously because she was heading into an extremely high-profile international case and she wanted to prove herself to the team.

Tara's flight made good time and she ended up being the first of the team to arrive at the local station. She was shown to a conference room where she found a woman standing with her back to the door while she stared intently at an evidence board.

"Excuse me, I'm looking for an Agent Prentiss," Tara announced as she entered the room.

The woman turned around and Tara was instantly struck by her beauty. Raven black hair, chocolate-brown eyes, sharp features, and quite possibly, the most kissable looking lips Tara had ever seen. She quickly erased the last thought from her mind.

"You found her," Emily replied, smiling with those faultless lips.

Tara's breath hitched in her chest, hearing Emily's smooth voice for the first time. Emily Prentiss was captivating. Tara regained her composure after a moment, although she was sure Emily had noticed her initial reaction.