Emily Prentiss One-Shots

Emily/Tara

Title: Protocol - soleil01 (Ao3)

Summary: Tara fucks up out on the field. Emily is beyond pissed.

Rating: Teens and Up Audience

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Emily's voice is slow and stern as she says, "My office, now."

Tara had overstepped her boundaries, undoubtedly, and Emily was pissed. JJ gave her an apologetic look as Tara made her way up the stairs, letting her know it was JJ who confirmed Tara's transgressions to Emily. She would be angry if she wasn't perfectly aware of how convincing their unit chief was.

When she enters the office, Emily is leaning against her desk.

"Close the door."

She obliges.

"Prentiss-"

"No, sit down and listen," She snaps, "Good. Now, care to explain what the fuck was all of that?"

Lewis winces at the fiery anger in Emily's voice, "Em-"

"Don't," She leans forward, face so close Tara can almost smell her breath. The doctor's heart beats a little faster at this, "You not only risked your own life, but you risked the life of your team members. And for what? For the small glory of a take-down?"

Tara winces at Emily's tone. When she said it like that, it sounded arrogant. That's not what she'd felt at the time - she'd saw the UnSub running and just reacted. Yes, she should have waited for Alvez but... The adrenaline was too powerful.

"I-"

"Did you think about following protocol at all?" Emily's voice is so loud Tara knows the entire bullpen can hear, "You didn't even have your god-damned vest on!"

"I know," Tara says appealingly, escaping Emily's clutches to close the blind for a little more privacy. She doesn't need all their colleagues knowing what was happening, "I wasn't thinking, it won't happen again."

"Damned right it won't. I'm putting you on desk duty," Emily reveals as she moves to sit at her desk. The anger present in the air giving way to an air of collectedness that Tara almost chokes on.

"What?"

"Desk duty for at least two weeks," Emily continues, not looking up from her files. No, no, no - Tara had really fucked up this time.

"Em," She starts, moving around the desk. Emily ignores her, "Baby?"

Emily's gaze flickers at the pet name and she says through gritted teeth, "Do not call me that."

"I'm sorry," She pushes herself in between the desk and Emily, forcing the brunette to look at her. It wasn't anger at all, that thing in Emily's eyes, it was fear.

Even though whatever this was between them had only been going on for a couple of months... it was clear it had affected Emily deeply. Oh, God.

"Em, look at me. Please," She doesn't so Tara grabs her face in her heads, holding steady eye contact, "I'm sorry."

Her boss shakes her head, "That's not good enough, Lewis."

"Stop, just stop," Emily looks at her quizzically, "Stop putting distance between us."

"Why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I when being close to you makes me bristle with rage and fear at the thought of you putting yourself in danger, hm?"

"I-"

"I know you didn't mean it," Prentiss' voice softens a little but her eyes are still hard, "This isn't just about us, Tara. You could've gotten our team hurt."