Hour 1

"Hey."

Emily smiled when she heard JJ's voice. "Hey back."

JJ slid into the booth next to her and Emily looked closely at her friend's face. "Are you ok?" She knew JJ wasn't ok. How could she be? But she still had to ask.

JJ smiled, and lifted her shoulders in a small shrug. "I will be."

Emily nodded. "You know how proud I am of you, right? How proud we all are."

JJ shook her head. "I was only doing what I was trained to do."

Emily gripped her friend's hand. "I've been in this business a long time, JJ. Trust me when I tell you that you're an exception."

Biting her lip, JJ looked up, her blue eyes clouded. "Thanks. But, I think...I think I'm going to need some help." Emily could barely hear her over the music and the hum of conversation around them. But she did.

"You'll get through this. I promise. I did. Hotch did." She glanced over at Hotch who was leaning against the bar, talking to Dave. She was doing a lot of that tonight. Looking at him. She didn't really know why. Or maybe she did.

As if sensing her gaze on him, he looked over, and their eyes met. Something intangible passed between them in that moment. She saw him frown. Then JJ's hand tightened on hers and Emily came to her senses enough to look back at her friend. "Call me, anytime. Night or day. I may not be here in person, but I will always be at the other end of the line."

"Thanks. That really means a lot to me." JJ tilted her head to the side. "How are you?"

It was Emily's turn to shrug. "I'm doing ok. The job's great. I love the excitement and the chase. It's really unbelievable the resources we have at our disposal. And my team is really great. London's pretty great too."

"Hmm..." JJ nodded. "So everything's great, huh?"

Emily made a face. "I said 'great' too many times, didn't I?"

JJ smiled. "Yep."

Pen plonked down three brightly coloured cocktails onto the table before sitting down with a sigh. She gave them a look. "Uh oh. You guys have been doing some heavy duty talking while I was gone," It was a rhetorical question. "That's totally fine, and I know you need to, but just for the next little while, can we pretend we're on our usual girls' night out that we used to have? You know, vastly exaggerating our sexual exploits and ogling cute guys' butts and pecs and the occasional impressive crotch?"

Emily and JJ looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

Their bespectacled friend grinned. "So, Em, what's going on with the bed traffic at No. 5 Pembridge Square in Notting Hill? Ps. I've watched Notting Hill no less than 8 times. 'I'm just a girl, standing before a boy, asking him to love her.' Oh Julia Roberts," Pen sighed, and the other two laughed again.

"Pen, you have no idea how much I've missed you. And, before you ask again, there has been no traffic of any kind in my bedroom." Emily took a sip of the neon green drink, grimacing at the sickly sweet taste and the harsh burn of alcohol. "Holy crap, what is this?"

"Don't ask, don't tell," said Pen. "Really? No sex? Of any kind?"

"Mm... there's my trusty B.O.B."

"That's kinda sad." This from JJ.

"You don't say," said Emily wryly. "I seem to be perpetually at work. And even when I'm at home, I'm still working." She felt a prickle at the back of her neck and looked around to find Hotch staring at her. She swallowed, trying to ease her suddenly dry throat.

"Wow, Hotch. Intense, much?" breathed Pen. "Why's he staring at you, Em?"

"He's not. I'm sure he's just checking to see JJ's all right."

"Um, yeah, he's not," said JJ. "Also, that's not the first time he's looked at you that way."

Suddenly breathless, Emily broke off her eye contact with Hotch, feeling slightly panicky as adrenaline surged through her. "What way?" She grabbed the cocktail glass.

"The one that says give me the slightest encouragement and you'll find yourself doing the two-backed beast before you can say Behavioural Analysis Unit," retorted Pen.

Emily choked on the next sip of her cocktail, coughing violently. "What the hell? Hotch is not looking at me that way," she finally gasped.

Pen and JJ looked at each other.

"Twenty bucks," said JJ, a light shining in her eyes for the first time that night.

"Coward. Fifty, plus the winner gets to crow about it for a week."

JJ's eyes narrowed. "Deal."

Emily groaned. "What are you guys talking about? Or should I even ask?"

"Fifty bucks says Hotch gets into your pants tonight. JJ thinks, what. First base?" Pen raised her eyebrows.

JJ nodded. "First base. Come on, Hotch is a gentleman."

Emily gaped at her friends. "You're both crazy. Like certifiably crazy."

"Takes one to know one," retorted Pen smugly.

Emily shook her head vigorously. "Hotch and I - totally professional relationship. There're boundaries that we don't cross." She chose to ignore the fact that she had had the biggest crush on him for the longest time. That didn't count because she didn't cross any lines back then. Sometimes, when she was lying in bed, she wished she had.

Her friends stared at her.

"For goodness sake, what?!" exclaimed Emily, frustrated at their silence.

"He's looking at you again," said JJ, casually picking up her drink as if she hadn't just dropped yet another bombshell.

Emily felt her heart leap into her throat. She turned her head ever so slightly. Oh God, so he was. His eyes were intent, totally focussed on her. As if she was the only person in the room.

"Oh, shit," she breathed.