Distance

Disclaimer: CBS is the sole owner of Criminal Minds...

Summary: After overhearing something Emily decides its best to move on from her crush with Hotch...

Timeline: Alternate Universe, Present Day

Special Thanks To: rubygem102 for giving me the prompt. I hope you enjoy it.

A/N: I have no idea where this idea came from, but I thought it'd be best to get it out of my system. Also expect a cameo from a Law and Order character.

Thanks for reading, don't forget to leave a review.

"In true love the smallest distance is too great, and the greatest distance can be bridged." Hans Nouwens

Emily walked through the bullpen towards the break room pausing when her stomach silently grumbled as the scent of fresh coffee hit her.

Silently cursing her rumbling stomach for betraying her, she walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottled water when she heard footsteps entering the break room.

"Em?" Garcia said, "Conference room in ten."

"Ok" Emily said, turning and following the blonde through the bullpen and up the catwalk when Garcia stopped at Hotch's office.

"Let me just tell the bossman" Garcia said, knocking on the door, while the brunette beside her cursed herself for not checking her appearance for perfection.

As the quirky blonde tapped on the office door, she heard his voice. That voice of distinction could be heard.

"Come in" Hotch said, with his cell phone attached to his ear, looking up at the two women, "Hold on."

"Conference room, ten" Garcia said, seeing the nod of approval before the blonde turned and walked out.

Emily's mind went blank when his dark eyes gazed at her, but she took a deep breath before flashing him a small smile as she closed the office door.

"I love you too" she heard him say into his cell phone before hanging up and she walked over to the conference room with her heart breaking.

Taking a seat at the round table she decided it was just best to play it cool with Hotch, after all she'd been dealing with this crush for years and she needed to focus on the case instead of her own pain.

"All right, what do we got?" Hotch asked, followed by Morgan and Dave as the three men enter the room.

"We've got something icky going on in New York..." Garcia started in on the case while Emily noticed Hotch taking a seat beside her.

Choosing to keep her mind off of him proved to be harder then she had anticipated when his hand brushed against hers when she reached over for one of the case notes she needed.

"Sorry" she muttered, missing the puzzled look Hotch shot her.

"No problem" he replied back, focusing on the case, "Ok, JJ and Reid, you two work the geographical profile, Morgan, I want you and Dave to re-interview the Porter and the Wilson family. Prentiss and I will talk to the Executive Assistant District Attorney Cutter."

"Mike Cutter?" Emily asked looking up, surprised to hear that name.

"Yes, you know him?" Hotch asked.

"Yeah" Emily said biting her lip, "We went to the same college for a short time before he transferred out."

"Ooh" Garcia teased, "An old boy toy?"

Morgan chuckled, but Emily just cleared her throat, "We were friends, that's all I have to say."

"Then we can interview your friend together, Prentiss" Hotch said, deflating the teasing moment making the brunette stiffen her spine.

She vowed to herself that she was going to get over this one-sided crush if it killed her.

"Mr. Cutter will see you now." a female assistant said, hanging up the phone motioning for the two dark haired agents to precede.

Knocking on the door, Hotch quickly opened when he heard the male voice said, "Come in."

"Michael Cutter?" Hotch said, allowing him and Emily entrance, "I'm Agent Hotchner and this is Agent Prentiss of the FBI."

"Emily Prentiss?" Mike Cutter said, standing up with a smile on his face, before returning to professional mode, "How may I help you?"

Hotch pulled out the pictures from his coat pocket, "We're investigating the disappearance of three women and one of whom is the sister of a case you had prosecuted."

"Which case?" Mike asked, going over to his file cabinet, "I'm in the middle of a few open cases."

"The Harper case" Emily said, walking over to the desk and helping herself to his open files, "Wow, seems nothings changed since college."

As Mike pulled the file out of the cabinet he smirked, "You mean you still think I'm a slob?"

Emily chuckled, "Oh I know for a fact that you are."

"Can I see the file?" Hotch asked breaking the camaraderie between the two old friends, making Mike look up at him in puzzlement.

"Agent Hotchner do you have written authorization from your Section Chief?" Mike asked, "Because your ongoing investigation could affect this past case."

"Mr. Cutter, I know the law, I was a prosecutor for several years and I'm not infringing on your case but..." Hotch started only for Emily to sigh at the Alpha male testosterone.

"Mike" Emily said, placing a hand on her friend, "We just need to look at your information, I promise we won't mess up the hard work you did..."

A knock pulled the three from the conversation, "Mike?"

A tall, beautiful hispanic woman walked in, "Oh, sorry to interrupt. You're Agents Hotchner and Prentiss?"

"Yes, may I help you miss?" Hotch asked.

"Rubirosa" Connie said, "There was a call left for you from an Agent Rossi, he said that your unsub was spotted at a warehouse by the marina and they'll need you to be there asap and to have you get the files sent to a Garcia?"

"Thank you" Hotch said, looking over at Mike, "Can you have those files faxed to this woman?"

Emily wrote down Garcia's fax number, "It'd really help us out, Mike."

He gave her a smile, "Sure, Em. Good luck with your case."

"Come along, Prentiss" Hotch clipped out walking pass Connie, who shot Mike an amused look.

"See you around Cutter" Emily said, before closing the door, "Clean up your desk."

"Hotchner" Hotch said, while driving fast down to the marina, "Garcia?"

"I'm here" Garcia said, "FYI, that D.A. guy is a fast one. Even before I could take the info from the fax machine, I got a personal call from him telling me to make my Gumdrop proud."

"Mike said that?" Emily asked with a chuckle, "He's just thorough, PG."

"And he's got one sexy phone voice" Garcia said, "I was half tempted to call him up just to talk dirty to him."

Hotch rolled his eyes, "Bye."

"But I..." Garcia started only to be hanged up on.

Emily watched as Hotch drove the SUV into the marina dock, "Well talk about rude" she murmured to herself.

Hotch just snorted as he parked the car next to the other Bureau issued SUV, and got out walking towards his team.

"The unsub is barricaded inside" Morgan said, "SWAT is backed up in some crash downtown, so we're trying to find a suitable replacement."

"Didn't you work SWAT?" Emily asked the dark profiler.

"She's right" Dave told Hotch, "Morgan can do this."

Hotch looked over at his younger, "Can you do this?"

Morgan nodded, "I'll do it."

Before anyone had time to react, the sound of gunfire went off, causing the agents to take cover behind the SUVs and pull out their weapons.

"Call in for back up" Morgan yelled, as he rushed off towards the building leaving the remaining agents to scamper off to their work.

As Dave radioed in for assistance, Emily felt that nagging feeling in her gut. One that told her that this was going to end up bad for one of them.

Noticing an opening, Emily rushed off to the warehouse ignoring her superiors orders to stay behind.

"Where the hell did Prentiss go?" Dave shouted, only for both men to hear multiple gunshots go off.

Both men rushed forward only to duck when another shot went off and the warehouse open with Morgan carrying a yelling and obviously angry Emily out.

"I don't need a doctor, it's just a graze" Emily said, being lightly pushed back onto the hospital bed by three very angry looking men. Her team.

"Where the hell was your brain?" Dave asked, "You never ever go into an open fire situation without assessing the situation, back up or protection. You could've been killed."

"I know that" Emily told him, seeing the pain in the three men's face.

"Do you?" Morgan barked out, "Because it seems like you're trying to get killed."

"I said I was sorry" Emily said, looking down at the white bandage on her arm, "It's just a graze, not even a flesh wound."

Hotch looked over at the two angry men and the stubborn brunette, "Can you both give me a minute with Emily?"

Her eyes shot up at that, ever since he started dating Beth, she had been relegated back to being called Prentiss and now if he's calling her Emily...

Well she just knows that can't be good, and that pissed her off more then anything. That he could make her feel these feelings she's trying to push down only for him to do something idiotic like care about her.

"We'll tell everyone that Em's fine." Morgan said, following Dave out into the hallway.

"What?" Emily asked, "You're going to yell at me now?"

Hotch's eyes scanned her worn down demeanor, even without physically seeing it, he could tell she was beyond tired.

Her eyes didn't have that hint of teasing that they usually did, and apparently whatever happened in the warehouse had affected her. He just hoped it didn't cause another bad day.

"Are you all right, Emily?" he asked genuinely concerned, "I mean the last time you and Morgan were alone in a warehouse...?"

A small flash of hurt hit her eyes, but then she quickly masked it and cleared her throat, "I'm fine Hotch."

She could see the disbelief in his eyes but continued, "I'd be more concern about Morgan, if I were you. After he was the one nearly shot before I shot at the unsub."

Hotch knew all this, since Morgan told him while they waited on her, but said, "This isn't going to be repeated, right?"

Letting out a sigh, "No."

She didn't want to be here, with him being concerned and caring, not while she was dealing with her own one sided feelings.

"Whether you believe it or not, Emily" Hotch told her, "I do care about you."

"I know" she told him, "Its not like I don't appreciate it Hotch, I just don't need it. I'm a big girl and I have to live with my own choices, even if they are fucked up ones."

Her casual attitude stunned him, he was seeing her change in front of his eyes and that frightened him.

He didn't want her to change, he liked her the way she was, but the last few weeks or so something had seemed off about her. And he couldn't figure out what it was.

"Knock knock" a male voice called out, making both dark haired agents look up, "Emily?"

"Mike?" Emily said, with a smile, seeing the prosecutor coming in with a small batch of daisies, "Are those flowers for me?"

"I don't know" Mike teased, "Were you injured today?"

A chuckle escaped her lips, making Hotch feel unsettled by the situation.

"I'm guessing by the bandage on your arm that you were. So here you go." Mike said, holding out the flowers for her.

"Thanks" she said, reaching for the flowers and wincing when she felt the pain in her arm. Seeing the concern on both men's faces. "I'm fine. I think the pain medication wore off. I'm ok."

"I'll go see what's taking the doctor so long" Hotch murmured out, "Cutter."

"Agent Hotchner" Mike greeted the departing man before taking Hotch's place by the bed.

Hotch walked towards the door, closing it and standing their listening to the two old friends talk. He was stunned by this wave of jealousy he never expected to feel.

"So Emily, anymore planned heroics? Because believe me it wasn't so much fun finding out you've been shot from the news." Mike told her.

Emily rolled her eyes, "Don't yell at me, I've been shot."

Mike sat down, "And let me guess, you ran head first into the action right? Emily you've got to be smarter then that."

"I know, I know" Emily sighed, "I've already been lectured three times, I don't need a fourth. It was stupid idea but I did it to save my friend."

"I know that" Mike told her, "You were always the one with the biggest heart out of everyone I know, but don't you think it would hurt everyone if you just died?"

"Yeah, that would suck" Emily said, "Twice within a year?"

Mike raised an eyebrow at that, but shook it off, "So how long are you in town for?"

"Probably for the night" Emily said then teased, "Why? Are you asking me out?"

"Well, I do know you like to eat" Mike said, slowly, "And I hate to eat alone. So what do you think?"

Licking her lower lip, she gave him a smile. Mike grinned back at her, "Good."

Hotch pulled his cell phone away from his ear, alerting the pilot the change in plans when he overheard Emily laughing.

He shook his head, knowing it was silly to be jealous over something as mundane as a dinner. But he couldn't help it and when he saw Emily's doctor coming over he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Both Hotch and the doctor walked into see the two in a close setting.

"Good news Emily" the doctor said, "it was just a small graze. Make sure to change the bandages and clean out the wound to avoid infection and you can check out in about another half hour."

"Oh thank God" Emily said, "Sorry, just not a fan of hospital."

The doctor checked the brunette agent over while both men stood by watching, protectively.

"I told you I've got my bag" Emily grunted stepping onto the jet, "I'm fine."

"So we've heard" Morgan said, "Repeatedly."

"Hey" Emily said taking a deep breath as she took the window seat, "I promise, there won't be a next time."

Morgan smiled as he took the seat across from her while Hotch took the long couch with Dave, watching as JJ plopped down next to the brunette.

"Here, don't forget to take your pain medication." JJ said, "And no arguing or I'll make Garcia show up at your home."

"Fine" Emily said, "You know you're a pushy little blonde, right?"

"Just part of my charm" JJ said handing over a bottled water.

Morgan snickered and the brunette shot him a look, but he grabbed his head phones and turned it up while Reid opened a book.

"So" JJ said casually, "How did your date go with the D.A.?"

"E.A.D.A" Emily corrected, shrugging, "I had a great time."

JJ raised an eyebrow, "It was that bad?"

Emily shook her head, "No, it was great."

JJ turned to her friend, not noticing that Hotch hadn't turned a page in the file that was in his hands, "Then why the glum face? If you and Mike, had a great time then why do you seem, sad?"

"Because we live in Virginia and he's in New York" Emily said, "Long distance never really works out."

JJ snorted at that, "Um, hello? Remember me and Will?"

"That's different" Emily said, "You two were already a couple and besides I don't think Mike would want to give up a successful career at the District Attorney's office for me."

"Don't sell yourself short, Em" JJ told her, "You never know what the future holds. Things could change, I don't think you should read too much into it yet. What about when he walked you back to the hotel?"

Emily bit her lip to hold in the smile, "He kissed me, we exchanged numbers and he said and I quote 'I'll see you soon'."

"See?" JJ said, "From what you told me, he's a stand up guy. Obviously successful and career minded, isn't that the type of guy you've always wanted?"

Emily's eyes shot over to Hotch who was bent over deep in files, "Yeah, it is."

"You're going to call him, right?" JJ asked with a twinge of excitement, "You do like him?"

Hotch tried to appear busy, and when he slightly glanced up to the brunette who was lightly tracing the white bandage on her arm, he saw her nod in agreement.

"I think it's a good idea" JJ said offhandedly, "For you to date someone."

"I think so too" Emily said, "It's been awhile and it's not like I've got any other suitors beating down my door."

Morgan lifted his head phone, "You know, Princess I would love to be your Prince."

Both women snorted at that and JJ added, "She's already been shot at once, Morgan, if she went after you, lets just say Garcia's probably a great shot."

Hotch kept his eyes, trained on the paper, ignoring the laughter of his team, and the regret he felt sweep over him when he heard Emily whisper to JJ.

"Look, he sent me a text message." Emily said, and he could hear the excitement in her voice, and he felt lost.

"Aw, that's sweet" JJ said, passing the phone back to the brunette who eagerly returned a message, "He's a keeper, Em."

Emily quickly glanced back at Hotch who seemed in his own head and she realized if she ever wanted to get over him, she needed to embrace her own future because it appears he has.

"Together forever, never apart. Maybe in distance but never at heart." Author Unknown

THE END

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