Hotch knew he was in trouble the second he looked out into the bullpen and saw Emily walk through the glass doors with a goal in mind. He had seen that look before and nothing good happened when she wore that look. It was still early in the morning so aside from himself and Emily there was only one other person already down in the bullpen. Hotch watched as Emily tossed her bag on the floor by her desk and marched with purpose up the steps towards his office and barged in without knocking.

"What the hell is your problem?" she barked angrily.

As he watched her storm in and slam the door shut behind her Hotch noticed how red her face was and couldn't help but think how beautiful she looked. He chastised himself for thinking such a thing when she was yelling at him so he brought himself back to the moment at hand. "I don't appreciate you walking in here and yelling at me Agent Prentiss," he replied calmly.

"And I don't appreciate getting a phone call at 6 in the morning telling me that I'm being pulled from the undercover assignment because my boss doesn't think I can handle it!"

"I never said that," Hotch quickly defended himself.

"So I'm not pulled from the assignment?" she arched a perfect eyebrow.

"You are still pulled, but I didn't say you couldn't handle it," he clarified.

Emily crossed her arms across her chest. "This is such bullshit Hotch. I'm going undercover."

"No you aren't. I pulled you for a reason and it's an order."

More anger began to come over Emily. "And what is that reason Hotch? Because I'm a female? If that's the case I don't care what your order is I'm still going."

Hotch rose from his seat and placed his hands firmly against his desk. "What part of it's an order don't you understand? Don't make me write you up Prentiss," he hissed.

Emily took a step closer to his desk. "You can't stop me," she said with a small victorious smile as she headed towards the door to leave. She came and said what she needed to say. Regardless of what Hotch wanted she was doing this.

Her hand just wrapped around the knob when she was pushed against the door with such force that it knocked the breath out of her. Hotch pressed his body against hers and felt her squirm against him trying to get away.

"I'll make you a deal," he barked into her ear. "You get away from me and I'll let you go on the dangerous assignment because I know you'll be able to handle yourself against a man who is stronger than you."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she hissed as she tried again to get free.

"No. This man is very dangerous, and you want me to let you go in there and use yourself as bait and just pray that you'll come out of this in one piece? You have to prove to me that you can get out of a situation where someone is stronger than you." The two waited in silence until Hotch smiled against her ear. "And clearly I'm winning Agent Prentiss, it seems you won't be going."

Those words pissed Emily off; she braced herself against the door with her hands and pushed off, catching Hotch off guard, making them both stumble backwards. Emily headed for the door again, but Hotch wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back. The two fought for dominance and Hotch ended up dragging Emily onto the ground and pinned her underneath him.

Emily wrapped her legs around Hotch's waist and tried to flip them over. When the hell did he become Superman? She wondered to herself when she realized she couldn't flip them. Emily tried to slap him in the face, but Hotch quickly latched onto her hand and pinned them both down to the ground.

"Don't you dare smack me," he barked.

"You're such an asshole," Emily continued to squirm underneath him. "Just because you're physically stronger doesn't mean anything. You would let Morgan go if he was this guys type," she spit out.

"Morgan could go head to head with someone who is his size Emily. You can't." Hotch watched as Emily tried to get away from him some more. Her hair was fanned out underneath her, her skin was flushed, her chest was heaving and the v neck shirt she decided to wear was clinging to her and Hotch, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't look away. With every movement she made as she fought against him Hotch watched as she arched her back up towards him, bringing the one place he wanted his face, closer to him. Her long legs seemed to be wrapping around him tighter and tighter with each agitated twist.

Finally Emily stopped moving and laid perfectly still underneath him. She looked away and Hotch knew she was extremely mad at him but also at herself for not being able to prove him wrong. "I would have back up there Hotch. Nothing would happen to me," she informed him.

"You don't know that Emily, and you can't promise me that. I'm not putting you in unnecessary danger because of this."

"It is necessary," she yelled. "This guy needs to be stopped before he hurts anyone else and I'm his type. This couldn't be more perfect. I don't understand why you won't let me do this!"

"We will stop him Emily," Hotch told her as he released one of her hands and ran his through her hair causing Emily to eye him warily. "It just won't be with you. We'll find someone else who fits his type."

"This is such bullshit," she repeated her words again. "I don't understand why you don't trust me enough to be able to do this," she told him sadly.

"Of course I trust you Emily. Always. I don't trust him. What am I supposed to do if something happens to you? How am I supposed to feel? It would be my fault for letting you go in there! I can't take that chance, I'm sorry."

"I'll be fine Hotch," Emily said softly, relaxing some at his words.

"Emi—"

"You will be there. If something happens you could bust in and save the day. I want to do this Hotch."

"No!" he told her firmly. "I won't take that chance with you."

"Why? Why are you always so Goddamn protective?"

Hotch locked his eyes on hers. "Is that such a bad thing? To care about you? To want you to be safe? I didn't know that was a crime."

At that Emily finally understood, it wasn't about the fact that he didn't trust her enough to handle the situation, and it also wasn't the fact that she was a female. It was because he had feelings for her. He didn't want her going out to use herself as bait if he couldn't be by her side the entire time to make sure nothing happened to her. Emily bit her lip and looked up at Hotch and with the look she gave him, he knew that she figured it out.

Great, he thought to himself. Nothing will ever be the same between them now. Could he say that what she thought she knew she didn't? Could he lie to her about his feelings now that she knew how he felt? Would she feel the same way he did?

Emily reached up and placed her hand gently on his cheek and despite everything in his head telling him not to, he leaned into it. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered.

"Tell you what?" Hotch asked confused. What was she asking him?

"That you didn't want me to do the assignment because you have feelings for me? Because you don't want me to get hurt? Instead you let me argue with you."

Deciding to go the honest route he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "It doesn't matter Emily," he said softly.

"Of course it does," Emily blurted out quickly before she lifted her head and placed her lips gently on top of his. After a few seconds passed Emily pulled away and smiled up at the man who had a look of pure shock on his face. "If you don't want me to go undercover then I won't go this one time," she informed him, "but you have to do something for me."

Hotch's eyebrows flitted together in confusion. "What do I have to do?" he asked as he ran his hand through her hair.

"Go on a date with me," she told him shyly.

A rare smile ran across Hotch's face as he gazed down at her. "I would love to," he confessed as he leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips which caused a slight moan to escape her lips. "You're so beautiful," he admitted to her before kissing her quickly again and sat up, pulling Emily up with him. "I'll pick you up tonight around 8. Now get back to work Agent Prentiss," he smirked as he pushed Emily towards the door. If he didn't get rid of her now, he would spend the whole day with her in his office and absolutely nothing would get done. As Emily placed her hand on the door knob his voice stopped her in her tracks, "Oh and Emily," she turned to face him, "wear a dress." Emily blushed at his command and fought hard against the smile that took over her face as she headed back down to her desk to plan her night out when she should be doing paperwork.

As she sat at her desk she couldn't help but think of how much she wanted to kill Hotch this morning when she found out what he had done, but she would gladly give up going undercover this time to go on a date with Hotch, who she couldn't believe felt the same way about her as she felt about him. She knew there was no doubt that tonight would be magical.