Emily Prentiss One Shots

Greenroom

This is a fever dream, but it was a Tumblr request and who am I to deny the people

You'd always thought the Bureau was your last act, the end of one dream and the beginning of something solid. 

After years of chasing roles that led nowhere, you packed away your playbills and traded late-night auditions for case files and evidence boards. Becoming an intern at the BAU felt like redemption, a way to matter, to help, to do something real.

And then Wicked happened.

It started with a favor. A casting director you'd met in college called, said they needed someone to fill in for a few read-throughs. "Just a table reading," she promised. "You don't even have to sing." You told her you'd try. You shouldn't have. You did anyway.

By the end of the week, they offered you Elphaba.

It was the kind of role that once lived in your dreams — the kind that made you paint your face green in the mirror when you were twelve. Now it was real, and all you could think about was how in the hell am I going to tell Hotch I'm leaving the BAU for Broadway?

You did. And to your surprise, he smiled — or, well, the closest thing Hotch ever got to smiling. "Go," he said simply. "But come back when you can."

Three months later, the team sat in the velvet-lined seats of the Gershwin Theatre.

Garcia had dressed up like she was attending the Tony Awards. "Do you think she knows we're here?" she whispered loudly, clutching a playbill to her chest.

"She better not," Emily murmured, crossing one leg over the other. "If she spots us, she'll psych herself out."

Rossi smirked. "You sound nervous, Prentiss."

Emily shot him a look. "She's one of ours. Of course I'm nervous."

The house lights dimmed. Garcia squeezed JJ's hand. And then music.

When you stepped into the light, something in Emily's chest gave way. She'd seen you chase unsubs through forests and question suspects until they broke, but she had never seen this. You moved like the stage had been waiting for you all along, voice soaring, eyes alive. The green paint didn't hide you; it revealed you.

By the time you hit the final note of Defying Gravity, Garcia was openly crying, JJ was wiping her cheeks, and even Rossi was on his feet. Emily couldn't move, not yet. She just sat there, heart pounding, watching you bow.

When you looked out at the crowd, scanning faces, your gaze snagged on the front row. Garcia's waving gave them away instantly. Your hand flew to your mouth. The tears came before you could stop them.

Backstage was chaos, glitter, flowers, hugs, noise, and then the curtain of sound parted when you heard her voice.

"Hey, Broadway."

Emily stood there in her black blazer and soft smile, holding a bouquet of white tulips. You froze for a moment before practically throwing yourself into her arms.

"You came," you breathed into her shoulder.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

The rest of the team filtered in — Garcia squealing, Derek giving you a proud half-hug, JJ snapping photos — but Emily lingered at the edge, watching you laugh with your castmates, watching the light that being here brought out of you.

When the crowd thinned, she finally stepped closer. "So... what happens now?"

You gave a small, sad laugh. "Now I figure out if I'm brave enough to stay."

"On stage?"

"Maybe," you said softly. "Or maybe I go back. The Bureau's... home."

Emily studied you for a moment, the space between you charged in that quiet, unspoken way it always was. "You don't have to choose tonight."

You looked up at her, the woman who'd trained you, believed in you, saw through you. "I know. But I think I want to choose for myself this time."

She smiled, eyes soft. "That's all any of us ever do."

The air between you shifted. Closer now, gentler. You reached out and brushed her hand with your fingers, testing the quiet.

"Emily," you said, almost a whisper.

She met your gaze. "Yeah?"

"This... whatever it is between us..."

Her thumb brushed against yours, a promise wrapped in restraint. "We'll figure it out. When the curtain's down and the lights are off — we'll figure it out."

You nodded, tears threatening again, but this time they were good ones.

And when she leaned in, not quite a kiss, but something like it, a breath away. You felt your heart settle somewhere between two worlds you suddenly realized could coexist.