Deception - Hotchniss

Chapter 11

T/W: Language

The morning following her outing with Anna at the bridal shop was, needless to say, not the best. Emily woke up to find herself with a splintering headache and a hatred towards the world and just about everybody in it.

"Morning, princess," Derek greeted her as she began to walk towards the kitchen immediately after entering the bull pen. She was noticeably absent from reality, her hair pulled up and dark makeup on her face. Of course, it didn't take Derek being a profiler to see that she was hungover, either. "Long night?"

She reached for the coffee pot and exhaled softly. "Something like that."

Derek smiled down at the woman who took a large swig of coffee. "Hey, how was lunch with your cousin? Wasn't that yesterday?"

"Yeah," Emily smiled softly. "Lunch turned into my 21st birthday party all over again in a matter of hours."

"Ah, I see," Derek laughed as Penelope approached the two of them, dressed in bright clothing and colorful glasses. "Hey, girl."

"Hey gorgeous," Garcia said shortly, her attention diverted to Emily. "My, my, my, Em, you looked like you haven't gotten a wink of sleep in the past week. Is it a guy? Is there a guy I should know about? Because If it is, I will find him, and I will crush him. Just say the word," she spat out quickly as Derek only grinned wider.

Emily shook her head and emitted another long sigh. Derek looked back at Penelope and held his hand up to his face in a fist shaped like a bottle to mock Emily.

"Oh dear," Penelope struggled to hide a smirk. "You're totally hungover right now, aren't you?"

Emily raised her eyebrows in the woman's direction. "Wow, Pen, what an incredible observation. I never would have thought of that myself-"

"Hey, hey, is everyone playing nice over here?" JJ asked, walking into the kitchen with a bright smile on her face, in complete contrast to Emily's appearance.

"Well, actually," Derek smirked in the raven haired woman's direction. "Emily has had a little bit of an attitude prob-"

"Oh, shut up," Emily muttered and elbowed him in the chest, making him laugh. "Good morning, JJ."

The blonde smiled as Garcia poured herself a mug of coffee. "Well, I hate to interrupt the team bonding, but we had a case come in. Maryland. Triple homicide," she said with a tinge of disappointment in her voice as she handed them each a manila colored file.

Derek and Penelope groaned synchronously and followed one another up the round table room, flirting playfully as usual as Hotch exited his office.

"Long night?" JJ asked Emily as she sipped her black coffee.

However, Emily's attention was focused on Aaron as he made his way towards Rossi's office. Wearing a navy button up, he looked far more casual than usual, and she was enjoying the new look. JJ followed Emily's gaze and found him walking out of Rossi's office. She watched as Hotch locked eyes with Emily and smiled, if only for a split second. Emily turned away quickly.

Well, this was interesting.

"Earth to Emily?" JJ tried again, tempted to wave a hand in front of her eyes like she was an alien or something. As if coming back to reality, Emily pulled her attention away from the man and blinked a few times before looking back at JJ. "Hey there," JJ said, hiding a laugh.

"Sorry, Jayje. . . It was a long night. I had drinks with my cousin yesterday. One thing led to another, and. . ." she trailed, leaving the rest up to her friend's imagination. Emily quickly glanced back up in Hotch's direction to see him enter the round table room.