10 things I love about you - Hotchniss

the team

"Hotch?"

Emily looked up as she heard someone calling out for him. Her heart sank a little - after all, she used to call him Hotch, too. But that was in the past, she had to keep that in mind.

A tall man appeared in the doorframe. His body seemed very well trained and his eyes kept searching for Hotch, until they met Emily's.

"Oh, excuse me", he said. "Have you seen Agent Hotchner?"

"He left some minutes ago, I'm actually waiting for him to return", the brunette sighed and got up from the couch. "I'm Agent Emily Prentiss."

"Derek Morgan", he smiled and shook her hand. "What brings you here, Agent Prentiss?"

Emily smiled. He seemed very kind, and after the events that had already taken place that morning, she could really use some kindness. "Actually, I've been transferred to your unit, but Agent Hotchner claims that he didn't approve a transfer, so I'm kind of stuck here."

"He probably went to talk to Strauss about this", Morgan shrugged. "Well, come on, I'll show you around. The others are all in the bullpen."

"I don't know whether I have the permission to-", Emily started, but he quickly cut her off.

"I'm not a fan of asking for Hotch's permission", he laughed. "And don't worry, he's going to be okay with that. I know, he seems like total pain in the ass sometimes, but he is actually really cool."

"Oh, really", the brunette gave her best to sound surprised. Oh, if Morgan only knew how well she already knew their Unit Chief.

He led her down the stairs into the bullpen, where a few desks stood. He walked up to a young man, whose nose was hidden in the book in front of him. Emily immediately noticed his interesting choice of clothes for a man in his age.

"This is our genius, Dr. Spencer Reid", Morgan said and Reid quickly looked up. "Reid, meet Emily Prentiss. She's most likely to become a new member of our team."

"Hi", Emily shook Spencer's hand.

"Why most likely to?", he immediately asked.

"Just stupid paperwork", Morgan shrugged.

"Talking about paperwork", a blonde woman suddenly appeared behind them. "Have you finished the report Hotch needed about the last case?"

Morgan let out a groan, before turning back to Emily: "This is Jennifer Jareau, she's our communications liaison. Nothing would work here without her."

"Don't you dare believe that these nice words are going to save you from your report", she laughed and looked at Emily: "Please call me JJ. I heard Hotch talking to Gideon about your transfer. Don't worry, we'll figure something out."

"Thank you", Emily smiled.

In that moment, she felt a lot better. The team seemed very welcoming and nice towards her, which made her former insecurities a bit better. Her thoughts went back to Aaron - what if he didn't want her on his team because of their past? What if they would not get along at all, just like when they first met?

And what if her feelings for him came back?

She would not tell anyone, but ever since they had broken up, she hadn't been in any serious relationships at all. There had been some random hook-ups during the FBI academy or some one-night-stands after a night out, but there hadn't been anyone serious. She had no idea whether it had just been bad luck or whether she had just pushed everyone away, scared of being hurt again.

"Oh, look who's here", Morgan said and Emily was forcefully pulled out of her thoughts. "Babygirl, meet-"

"Oh, I already know everything about her, my dear chocolate thunder", the woman walking towards Emily smiled widely. She wore very, very colorful clothes and Emily had problems counting all the clips in her hair. "I am Penelope Garcia, the best Technical Analyst they have around here."

"Nice to meet you", Emily replied, a bit stunned.

"After I saw you talking to Strauss this morning, I had to look you up", Garcia smiled excitedly. "And there is one thing I'm dying to know!"

"Yo Babygirl, go easy on her", Morgan laughed.

"It's fine", Emily chuckled. "Go ahead!"

"Was Hotch hot when he was younger?", Garcia grinned.

Emily's jaw dropped. Whatever she had expected, it had not been close to the question she had just been asked. Of course he was, she thought. Hell, he had been really hot.

"E-Excuse me?", she stammered. She recognized the confused looks the others also shot at Penelope. Great, now they knew that she had known their Unit Chief since she had been 17.

"I quickly figured out that you are Ambassadress Prentiss' daughter, and I saw that Hotch was on your mother's security team about nearly 20 years ago, which led me to the conclusion that the two of you already know each other", Penelope cheered.

"Wait, you already knew Bossman before coming here?", Morgan asked.

"I - er - well, I knew his name", Emily lied. "But we have never met. I've been away for school at that time."

Internally, she was hoping that this would at least cover a bit with the things Penelope Garcia had already found out about her. This was so embarrassing.

"Oh", Garcia sighed, a bit disappointed. "Too bad. Well, I'll be back in my shiny office. Welcome on board, Emily!"

"Thank you", Emily smiled.

"You alright?", Morgan asked her.

"Sure", she nodded. "I'm just hoping that everything is going to be figured out by the end of the day. I really don't look forward to flying back to Chicago and unpack my stuff again."

"It's gonna be alright", JJ joined the conversation. "We already have an empty desk for you, where you can unpack. And Morgan, if you don't finish this report in the next hour, we are going to have a big problem."

The two women chuckled as they watched Morgan running over to his desk. After JJ had showed Emily her potential desk, Emily put her box aside and sat down with a little sigh. A lot had happened in the past hour and she was really hoping that everything would turn out okay.
On the one hand, she really wanted to get away from Aaron. She didn't know whether she as able to control her emotions around him and how things would be between them if she was allowed to stay.
On the other hand, she was really hoping to be able to stay, since she already liked the team a lot and working at the BAU had always been her main goal in life.

As she looked up, she discovered Hotch standing at the staircase railing to his office, observing her. Their eyes met and both of them were pulled into a flashback from many years ago.