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Thunder was one of her things. It intrigued her, scared her, and fascinated her. She wanted to hide from it and chase it. She loved to lie in bed in the dark and hear it above her head.
Sometimes it could be so loud it shook the walls. Other times it was nothing more than an ominous rumble that signaled things to come. It couldn’t be controlled, defined, or quantified. It was a force of nature…a force to be reckoned with. And while nothing about it was inherently dangerous, so many people were in awe and fear of it.
When Emily woke she heard the thunder above her. She could hear the rain hitting the large bedroom windows. The room was still dark but that was no indication of what time it was. She was still with him, still in his arms, but strange beds weren't her thing anymore. That was hard since her job required ridiculous amounts of travel.
Emily almost cried tears of happiness the first night she was back home cuddled in bed with her cat. It had been so long and even seven months in Paris didn’t make that place her own. There was a big difference between going there for vacation or a getaway and feeling trapped there. She missed home. Now she was back but never for longer than a few days at a time.
Emily was happy to return to the BAU. It had been her dream job since she joined the FBI. She knew she wasn’t the only one struggling to balance hectic work schedule with having any kind of life. Simple things like trips to the grocery store, taking a dance class, or sleeping in on a rainy morning were pleasures not often indulged in. But she couldn’t run forever, none of them could. This morning in his arms maybe she wanted to pretend this was home.
“It’s too early to be thinking.” He whispered, kissing her bare shoulder.
“You're awake.” She countered.
“That’s because you're moving.”
“Well turn over; go back to sleep Stephen.”
“Forgive me but I have no intention of letting you go until I have to.”
She smiled, turning from her side to her back. Damn he was really cute first thing in the morning. It had been quite a while since Stephen Thorne was a little boy but first thing in the morning he always had the sweetest, most adorable look on his face. Emily took his face in her hands and kissed his nose.
“I have to go to work.” Emily said. “I know you have to go to work.”
“I'm back out of the country next week.”
He was never around for long. It made him desirable and nothing of the sort. It was also the story of Emily Prentiss’ life. Maybe she liked it better that way because she wouldn’t have to commit. She couldn’t get hurt if she didn’t give in.
Of course that meant she wasn’t feeling the good things that came along with falling madly in love. When you felt that you didn’t give a good goddamn that the feelings might be temporary, or even fleeting. That moment was everything. Surprisingly, she felt pretty good right now.
“Can you say where?” she asked.
“Can you?”
She smiled, shaking her head. Emily slipped her arms around his neck and held on tight.
“We’re both so damn secretive. How do we even know we’re really doing this?”
“Oh this is real, Emily. I can describe, in alarming detail, how you feel. I can describe how you smell. I can draw the sweat on your collarbone from memory.”
“You can't draw.” She replied.
“Yes I can…you don’t know everything about me.”
Emily pouted and he kissed her pout. Then he kissed her neck, her throat, and her shoulder. She loved the way the bed shifted as he moved his body over hers. Her thighs opened naturally for him, the primal instinct of a woman wanting a man. His hands stroked the inside of her thighs as her back arched and her hips thrust.
“Tell me something I don’t know about you, Mr. Thorne.”
“Mmm,” he kissed her again. “I'm taking a demotion.”
“What?” that got her attention. “Stephen, what are you talking about?”
“I'm tired of airplanes, hotels, meetings, bullshit, and rhetoric. You name it and I'm tired of it. Thorsch is out at the Foreign Service Institute and they want someone experienced to take his place.”
“I didn’t know James was leaving.”
“It hasn’t gone public yet. Apparently he got a lucrative private sector offer he couldn’t refuse. I jumped at the chance to take his place.”
“Why?”
“So I won't have to live in a hotel suite anymore.” He replied.
“It’s the best hotel suite in the city.”
“Yes,” he nodded. “And it’s a bit sexy for a man to have pretty women coming and going from a luxury hotel all hours of the day and night. But the same can be said about a luxury condo. I have my eye on one in Alexandria.”
“You're really coming home?” Emily asked.
He’d never been home as far as she knew. She’d known Stephen since she returned from getting her Masters at Harvard and went straight into the FBI Academy. He was an acquaintance of her father and stepmother…he was old school State. It wasn’t that he was old, fifty-five wasn’t ancient, but he was raised on a different kind of diplomacy than the U.S. had been practicing for the past decade and a half. Guys like him, like Emily’s father, were rapidly retiring or dying off.
New pups coming up didn’t know anything about gentleman’s agreements. That’s why men like Stephen were being sent all over the world to smooth over cracks in diplomatic relations. They were just as comfortable with the good guys as the not so good guys. Emily was sure that he was no angel and people may have died because of his work.
She also knew that diplomacy came first for him. There weren't a lot of people she could say that she knew. She knew Stephen Thorne to his core. He knew her as well.
“First of the year I'm back for good. The President is trying to talk me out of it. He actually wants me training people at The Hague in war crimes procedure…you didn’t hear that from me. But believe me, this decade will be the decade of the war crime. Not all of them are going to make CNN.”
“I'm sure.” she nodded.
“This is lousy pillow talk.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I'm just as fascinated by everything you do and say as I've always been.”
“I'm pretty fascinated on this end as well. Don’t go to work today.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Emily replied.
“C'mon, tell your boss it was a matter of national security.”
“I think I've caused enough national security problems to last a lifetime.”
“That whole thing was quintessential Emily.” Stephen laughed. “I'm glad you got the bastard.”
“Yeah.” she nodded. “Let’s change the subject.”
“Will you tell me that story one day?”
“I promise. Right now though I don’t want to talk.”
“Well what do you want?”
Emily just rolled her eyes and bit her lip. She wanted to say she wanted to make love. She just didn’t want it to sound scripted. She wasn’t being fake with Stephen; she never had been. But sometimes everything felt fake.
She wanted to make love; she wanted the full room service breakfast. She wanted a hot shower and then maybe a massage. Being late for work wasn’t the same as not showing up at all. A morning of undivided attention, from him and the staff of The Fairfax on Embassy Row…a girl found that hard to turn down.
“Undivided attention.” She said.
“I graduated a while back but most people don’t realize my college major was undivided attention.”
“What did you minor in?”
“Why don’t I show you.” Stephen said.
Emily held her arms over her head as Stephen moved under the covers. He definitely knew what she liked and knew how to make her happy. It wasn’t just between the expensive sheets, which were nice, it was anywhere. And as she closed her eyes and moaned her pleasure, Emily went to that happy place.
She went to that place of birthday parties, bag lunches, and late nights that had nothing to do with Unsubs. It was somewhere between Quantico and euphoria; a place Emily Prentiss wanted to stay even for just a little while. One day off work wouldn’t get her too much trouble. What she was staying in for was another story altogether.
***