Deception - Hotchniss

Chapter 6

Hotch watched as Emily entered the BAU the following Monday. Per the usual, she brought Morgan his coffee order and made small talk with JJ.

He thought back to his conversation with Sean as he watched. Surely, she would agree to come with him. Right? It made sense that she would. She owed him a favor anyway, for agreeing to go with her to the wedding. It was somewhat of a mutual agreement.

He watched as she grinned and pushed Morgan's shoulder when he made a snarky remark about something. He liked seeing her smile. Every time she grinned, she lit up the entire room with her bright smile. It was the kind of smile that was contagious, and made him want to do the same.

He glanced down at his watch. He had a meeting with Strauss and the board in ten minutes, and he wasn't the slightest bit prepared. The only thing he could think about was how he was going to ask Emily to be his 'date' for lunch with Sean. This had completely taken over his thoughts.

Later that day, while Emily was focused on the file in front of her, she happened to look up to see a very concerned Penelope staring back at her near the coffee counter.

Emily furrowed her eyebrows and the woman immediately turned away, sipping on her coffee from within her unicorn mug. That was all the confirmation she needed to know that something was wrong.

She stood up and made her way over to the woman.

"Garcia," Emily said as she got closer. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong! What would be wrong? Nothing, that's what!"

She lifted an eyebrow before reaching forward and grabbing the coffee mug from the woman's hands. "Tell me what's up or no more coffee."

The colorful woman crossed her arms in front of her chest. "That's not fair. You can't do that. I plead the fifth!"

"You can't plead the fifth with me, PG. Tell me what's going on."

The woman sighed heavily and shifted uncomfortably. "Are you and. . . um. . . are you and boss man seeing each other?" she asked cautiously.

Emily gasped and nearly dropped the coffee on the floor. "What- why would you think that?" she asked defensively.

Penelope rocked back and forth on her heels. "Well, I, um, I may have seen you two together at Mickey's Diner on Friday. . ."

"Garcia!"

"I'm sorry! I had to ask! It was nagging me all weekend. I couldn't sleep, Emily! Now answer my question, because I had a feeling it would happen."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Emily asked, holding the coffee further away from the woman.

"Nothing! It's just. . . I saw you bringing him coffee last week, and I just thought it was kinda cute how you two are always looking out for one another, that's all. Now answer my question!"

Emily bit her lip. There was no escaping this one. "We're not dating-"

"Don't lie to me, Emily, I know when you're lying. The way you were looking at each other said otherwise."

Emily put her hand in the air. "Let me finish," she said. "Him and I aren't dating. We're, um, pretending to date."

"What?"

"It's weird, I know, but I needed a date for my cousin's wedding, and I couldn't find anyone who knew me well enough to go through with this. His name just popped into my head."

The woman sighed heavily. She was in utter shock as she took her coffee back from Emily. "I can't believe this. You two were really selling it with how close you were."

Emily bit the inside of her cheek. "Yeah, about that. . . we were just playing a friendly game of, um, flirting chicken." When she saw the astounded expression on Penelope's face, she continued. "It was strictly to see how well we could act under pressure!"

"I can't believe my ears right now. You're serious?"

"Yes, but Garcia, you can't tell anyone."

The woman made a zipping motion over her lips. "My lips are sealed. But you better keep me updated about this!"

Emily smiled down at her. "Yeah, I will."

The colorful woman grinned as she turned around to go back to her office before Hotch caught her not doing her work again.

"Wait, Garcia!" Emily said as she sped away. She spun around when she heard her name being called. "What did you mean when you said you had a feeling it would happen?"

Penelope stared at her for a moment and tilted her head to the side slightly. "Nothing," she said, turning back around and practically running to her office, leaving Emily behind, puzzled.

Later in the day, Emily, Morgan, and Reid had just finished her files up for the day.

"You doing anything later, princess?" Morgan asked as he closed the file in front of him.

"Nothing important. How about you?"

"Actually, I've got a date."

"Really? I thought the only thing that was attracted to you was mosquitos," Emily teased, causing Reid to grin.

"Ha, ha," Morgan remarked sarcastically.

"Where did you meet?" Reid asked, placing his glasses down on the desk.

"At a coffee shop. She just so happens to have the same order as me, so I accidently picked hers up. Really, it's no big deal."

Emily scoffed. "Accidently?"

Morgan laughed and shook his head, just when Hotch began to walk back into his office after finishing up in a meeting. All three of them watched as he went in and closed the door behind him, then they all looked back at each other.

"So, who's giving our work load to Hotch?" Reid asked, beginning to spin in his chair.

"I think it's your turn, pretty boy," Morgan said rather than suggested.

"No it's not! Emily hasn't done it in eight days," Reid stated.

Emily dipped her head down as she felt Morgan's eyes on her. Eventually she looked up at him and saw the smirk on his face.

"Fine, I'll do it," she agreed, grabbing the files from their hands.

She stood up and walked up to Hotch's office. Her heart began to race, but she wasn't exactly sure why she was nervous to talk to him.

Although, she had to admit, it had been a little awkward in the office ever since their conversation on Friday. Well, it had been awkward since they started whatever this was.

She knocked softly on the door before entering. "Hey, Hotch," she said softer than she intended.

"Hey," he said, dropping his pen to the file in front of him when she entered. "Your turn to bring up the files?" he asked with a small smile.

"I should have known that I couldn't gaslight Reid into thinking it was their turn every day," she smiled, handing him the stack of files.

Hotch looked up at her as he took them, debating whether or not he should just ask her to be his date right now. Would it be so unprofessional to ask her at work? Surely he couldn't wait until Friday. That would be too short of notice.

He glanced out his window to see that everyone was beginning to pack up their things for the day and leave.

"Emily," he began as she turned to leave, "Can I ask a favor of you?"

She spun around. "Yeah, of course. What kind of favor?"

Hotch went on to explain all about how Sean wanted him to meet his girlfriend, and about how Hotch felt guilty for lying, but he couldn't go back on it now.

"Why didn't you just tell him the truth?" Emily teased rather than said to him after he explained himself.

"Well-" Hotch was at a loss of words.

"There's no shame in being single," she mocked the phrase that he had originally told her.

After seeing the look on his face, Emily laughed and reached out to touch his arm softly. "Yes, i'll do it."