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Emily’s voice is slow and stern as she says, “My office, now.”
Tara had overstepped her boundaries, undoubtedly, and Emily was pissed. JJ gave her an apologetic look as Tara made her way up the stairs, letting her know it was JJ who confirmed Tara’s transgressions to Emily. She would be angry if she wasn’t perfectly aware of how convincing their unit chief was.
When she enters the office, Emily is leaning against her desk.
“Close the door.”
She obliges.
“Prentiss-”
“No, sit down and listen,” She snaps, “Good. Now, care to explain what the fuck was all of that?”
Lewis winces at the fiery anger in Emily’s voice, “Em-”
“Don’t,” She leans forward, face so close Tara can almost smell her breath. The doctor’s heart beats a little faster at this, “You not only risked your own life, but you risked the life of your team members. And for what? For the small glory of a take-down?”
Tara winces at Emily’s tone. When she said it like that, it sounded arrogant. That’s not what she’d felt at the time - she’d saw the UnSub running and just reacted. Yes, she should have waited for Alvez but… The adrenaline was too powerful.
“I-”
“Did you think about following protocol at all?” Emily’s voice is so loud Tara knows the entire bullpen can hear, “You didn’t even have your god-damned vest on!”
“I know,” Tara says appealingly, escaping Emily’s clutches to close the blind for a little more privacy. She doesn’t need all their colleagues knowing what was happening, “I wasn’t thinking, it won’t happen again.”
“Damned right it won’t. I’m putting you on desk duty,” Emily reveals as she moves to sit at her desk. The anger present in the air giving way to an air of collectedness that Tara almost chokes on.
“What?”
“Desk duty for at least two weeks,” Emily continues, not looking up from her files. No, no, no - Tara had really fucked up this time.
“Em,” She starts, moving around the desk. Emily ignores her, “Baby?”
Emily’s gaze flickers at the pet name and she says through gritted teeth, “Do not call me that.”
“I’m sorry,” She pushes herself in between the desk and Emily, forcing the brunette to look at her. It wasn’t anger at all, that thing in Emily’s eyes, it was fear.
Even though whatever this was between them had only been going on for a couple of months… it was clear it had affected Emily deeply. Oh, God.
“Em, look at me. Please,” She doesn’t so Tara grabs her face in her heads, holding steady eye contact, “I’m sorry.”
Her boss shakes her head, “That’s not good enough, Lewis.”
“Stop, just stop,” Emily looks at her quizzically, “Stop putting distance between us.”
“Why shouldn’t I? Why shouldn’t I when being close to you makes me bristle with rage and fear at the thought of you putting yourself in danger, hm?”
“I-”
“I know you didn’t mean it,” Prentiss’ voice softens a little but her eyes are still hard, “This isn’t just about us, Tara. You could’ve gotten our team hurt.”
Tara’s chest pangs with guilt.
“I know,” She whispers, tilting her body to the left to alleviate the pressure she was placing on her ribs, bruised from the takedown. Emily notices and stands up, allowing Tara to sit on the desk, “I’m sorry.”
Emily runs a finger through her hair, stepping away from Tara and sighs, thinking that maybe she was being too harsh, “I’ll let this pass,” she stares at the ground, biting her lip hard, then she locks eyes with Tara, “But if this ever happens again…”
“It won’t,” Tara grabs Emily’s shirt and pulls her close. The delicious smell of her filling Tara’s nostrils. Truth be told, all she wanted was a hug from her, “It won’t.”
Emily sucks on her bottom lip, the sight so sensual, and nods, clearly torn, “You can return to work now.”
Tara frowns, “Are you going to keep punishing me?”
“What do you mean?” Emily says too casually.
“Emily, you haven’t looked at me, and I mean really look, since it happened. You haven’t even touched me.”
Her gaze softens, “I’m your boss. I can’t be involving myself with you any more, Tara.”
The doctor is taken back, “Are you breaking up with me?”
“We were never together,” Emily’s gaze is steely, steady, “I trust this will not impose any problems in the workplace?”
Tara’s nostrils flares in offence, “To hell with the workplace! You can’t just kick me to the curb like that.”
“Tara-”
“Don’t Tara me,” She presses up against Emily knowing that the brunette is bullshitting, aware that their physical contact would show her just how much she’s risking, “I’ve apologised, I’ve accepted your conditions. You can’t turn a work mistake into a reason for a break-up. Well, not a break-up, since you said we aren’t dating.”
The fact Emily doesn’t flinch at the clear blow almost makes Tara well up, “As I said, I’m your boss.”
“That didn’t seem to be a problem when I was in between your legs,” The doctor says dangerously low, unable to hold her emotions back, “Or when you climaxed calling out my name.”
Before she knows it, Emily’s grabbing her by the hips and sitting her down on the desk, again, fingers digging into her skin.
“Don’t talk to me like that,” Emily hisses, lacking bite. She seems distracted now.
“Or what?” Tara raises her chin, “You’ll fire me?”
Emily scoffs.
Tara just kisses her, hard, no longer struggling with the instinct to touch her. If Emily’s gonna fight her, let her, but she’ll be damned if she doesn’t push back. Emily’s body yields under her touch and she slips her tongue into her boss’ mouth, snakes her hand under her shirt, kisses her neck. She’s angry that Emily thinks so little of them and the kiss just makes it hurt a little less.
“Tara-” Her name is a strangled sound, “Tara.”
“Hmm,” The doctor says, finding her way back to Emily’s mouth. Except, when they kiss again, it’s softer, slower, less angry. Emily raises her hand to her face, slowly caressing her chin, making love to her mouth. She stands between Tara’s legs, the doctor’s arms wrapped around her waist as they kiss. The height difference makes Tara tilt her head up, allowing Emily to go deeper into her mouth. Her ribs protest but she doesn’t care.
When Tara feels something wet on her cheek, she realises why the kiss had slowed down: Emily was crying.
“Darling,” She whispers as they break apart, breathless and reluctantly hopeful. Emily’s eyes are closed and her lips are trembling a little, “Talk to me.”
“I could’ve lost you,” She sighs so quietly Tara can’t figure out if it’s actually a sob. She presses a light kiss to Tara’s cheek, “You could’ve been seriously hurt.”
It hits her.
“Emily, what are we?” She risks, “To you.”
“I don’t know!” She says a little exasperatedly, “I just know that I can’t stand being in your bed but not in your heart.”
“That’s poetic,” Tara muses.
“Stop,” The smile fades as Emily caresses Tara’s face, “We have to stop this for my sanity.”
“I’ll lose mine if we do.”
“God,” Emily mutters as she cups Tara’s face like she’s expensive porcelain, “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know,” Tara brings her closer, brushing their lips together, relishing in their newfound emotional intimacy, “But I want to do it with you.”
“Okay,” Emily says after a while, “Just don’t make me regret it.”
“Deal.”
——
JJ tilts her head, “Tara’s been in there for a long time.”
“Yeah,” Reid squints at the window, “Emily never closes her blinds.”
“What was that?” Alvez’s head snaps up from his documents, “It sounded like…”
“A moan?” Garcia adds as she walks in, frowning and trying to hone in on the elusive sound. It’s far too loud in here to be sure.
Rossi notices the team staring at Emily’s office through his window.
“God, Emily…” He hears, not for the first time.
“Hey!” Rossi calls out from his door, drawing their attention, “Back to work!”
They do, reluctantly.
Rossi wishes he had headphones. Still, he’s glad they’re getting some.