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The shrill ringing of her cellphone causes Emily to stir slightly. She carefully rolls over as to not wake her sleeping girlfriend and reaches for the buzzing device.
“Prentiss,” Emily grumbles tiredly. They had gotten back from a week long case in San Diego just earlier that day; to say she was exhausted would be an understatement.
“It’s Hotch,” his gruff voice crackles through the speaker. “We’ve gotten called in on an urgent case. Serial killer loose in Fort Lauderdale, already four dead and one missing.”
“Great,” she sighs, as she moves to fully sit up, leaning against the headboard.
“I assume I don’t need to call Elle,” Hotch says, and Emily can practically hear his eyebrows rising.
Irritated by the lack of sleep and her boss’s slight invasion on her personal life, Emily rolls her eyes. “You would assume correctly. See you in thirty.”
She hangs up quickly before Hotch can say anything further.
“Elle,” Emily nudges the other woman, “we gotta get up. Hotch just called.”
“No,” Elle protests, mumbling some more incoherent complaints, as she buries her face deeper into her pillow.
“I’m sorry,” Emily chuckles and pulls the covers down, leaving Elle exposed to the brisk morning air.
“Didn’t we just have a case?” Elle whines, rolling onto her back and looking up at the other woman. “It’s so so early.”
“Yeah, well unfortunately for us, serial killers don’t take a day off,” Emily kisses Elle’s forehead before sliding out of bed. “Get up and get dressed. I’ll make some coffee.”
Elle contently closes her eyes at the feeling of Emily’s lips on her skin before sighing and following her girlfriend out of bed.
—
The two women enter the round table room after having dropped their go bags at their desks, sighing with relief when they see they’re not the last to arrive.
“Sorry to call you guys in so soon after the last one,” Hotch enters, JJ following behind him with files in her hands.
“Especially with a case like this,” the liaison grimaces, as she hands out the papers. “It does not look good.”
The rest of the team internally groans as JJ presents the details of the case.
“Four women have been killed in Fort Lauderdale,” she turns on the TV, displaying the images from the local ME, “same MO, same signature. And now another woman is missing. Based on the previous victims, she has only thirty-six hours left until her body shows up.”
“Jeez,” Derek huffs, raising his eyebrows, “ four women already? Why weren’t we called in sooner?”
“They didn’t notice the pattern until now,” JJ scoffs and rolls her eyes.
“They really need to start training these Florida cops,” Emily snorts incredulously.
“Tell me about it,” Elle mutters under her breath, earning a playful smirk from her girlfriend.
Spencer pulls their attention back to briefing the case by spewing out some statistics, and they start throwing out initial theories in an attempt to get a head start on the profile.
“Alright,” Hotch gathers his papers and briefcase as he stands up, “wheels up in twenty.”
As soon as they’re all settled in on the jet, JJ receives word from the local precinct that the fifth woman’s body had been found.
“He’s escalating,” Spencer points out, looking up from his book.
“And devolving,” Derek adds. “He’s probably getting sloppy.”
“Well we won’t know anything until we see the crime scene,” Hotch flips through his file. “Morgan, Prentiss, when we land, you two head over to there. Reid and Elle, I want you to check in with the ME. JJ, Gideon, and I will head to the precinct and set up.”
After the unit chief gives out the directions, the team all decides to get some shut eye, considering the sun is just now rising and the fact that the next couple of days are going to be exhausting.
A little over two and a half laters, the BAU touches down in Fort Lauderdale, all heading in their separate directions.
Sighing, Emily lethargically climbs into the SUV, earning a chuckle from Derek.
“Late night last night?” he asks with his trademark smirk.
Emily scoffs, rolling her eyes. “You really wanna go down that road?”
“Oh, so no celebrating?”
“What?” Emily furrows her brows and whips her head towards Derek. “What are you talking about?”
“Elle’s birthday,” he says flippantly, pulling up to the crime scene, “it’s today.”
“It is? How come I didn’t know that?”
Morgan shrugs, as he hops out of the car. “You know Elle. She doesn’t like to make a big deal out of that kind of stuff.”
“But I’m her girlfriend,” Emily shuts the passenger door and walks around the SUV to follow Derek, “I should know when her birthday is.”
“So just pick up a cupcake from a local bakery and talk to her tonight,” Derek suggests before nodding his head towards the group of officers. “Come on. They’re waiting for us.”
“Right,” Emily nods, shaking herself out of her stupor.
—
Seeing Elle so focused and invested on the case, Emily decides not to bring up the whole birthday thing, especially knowing her girlfriend does not like to make a big deal out of it.
But on her way back from grabbing lunch, she takes Derek’s suggestion and stops off at a small corner bakery to buy a chocolate caramel cupcake.
As Emily’s putting the treat away in the precinct fridge, she feels two arms snake around her midsection.
“Hey,” Elle whispers, resting her chin on Emily’s shoulder.
“Hi,” Emily shuts the fridge, as she spins around.
“Whatcha doing?”
“Just putting the guys’s lunch in the fridge till they get back,” she makes up an easy lie before noticing the distress written across Elle’s face. Smoothing out the wrinkles on her girlfriend’s forehead, Emily asks, “what’s the matter?”
“It’s just this case,” Elle sighs, burying her face into Emily’s neck. “We can’t seem to find a clear motive; these women are all innocent.”
“I know,” Emily coos, as she cradles the distressed woman’s head.
The two women stand in each other’s embrace, savoring the few moments of peace and quiet that they’ve managed to steal.
“Guys,” Spencer quietly knocks on the open door, “sorry to interrupt, but we found something.”
“Thanks, Spence,” Emily responds for the both of them. “We’ll be right there.”
The young genius nods before leaving Emily and Elle alone again.
“Come on,” Emily smiles softly, cupping Elle’s cheeks, “let’s go catch this guy.”
—
That night, after having come to a dead end in the case, the team headed back to the hotel, frustrated and tired.
Luckily for Emily, JJ had to switch keys with her, allowing the brunette agent to room with her girlfriend.
“Can I get in the shower or…?” Elle trails off, as Emily walks out of the bathroom drying her hair with a towel.
“It’s all yours, cariño.”
Elle mumbles out a ‘thanks’ and presses a kiss to the other woman’s cheek before sliding by her and shutting the door.
When Emily hears the water turn on, she pulls out the cupcake and sticks a little twisted candle she’d bought with the dessert. Ten minutes later and the water shuts off, causing Emily to light the flame.
“You think Hotch will ever actually let us room together or…,” Elle pauses when she sees Emily sitting on the edge of the bed holding a chocolate cupcake with pink-lit candle.
“Happy birthday,” Emily smiles sheepishly, holding out the small cake.
“What?” Elle gasps quietly, her eyes widening. “How did you know?”
“Derek told me,” Emily stands up and steps towards her girlfriend. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I dunno,” Elle mumbles, looking down at her fidgeting hands. “I guess I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal.”
Emily takes Elle’s hand in hers and gently squeezes it. “A whole day celebrating you? I think that’s a pretty big deal.”
Elle bashfully smiles, as she lifts her head to meet Emily’s eyes.
“Here,” Emily places the cupcake in Elle’s hands. “Make a wish.”
Looking down at the cupcake and back at Emily, Elle smirks cheekily, “I’ve got all I’ve ever wished for in you.”
Emily lightheartedly rolls her eyes in an attempt to hide the blush that’s creeping up her face. “First, that was cheesy. And second, just humor me.”
“Fine,” Elle takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, pausing a moment before blowing out the candle. “There? Happy?”
“Very,” Emily grins.
“Thank you,” Elle says sincerely, as she sets the cupcake down and wraps her arms around Emily’s waist, pulling their bodies closer.
“Of course, princesa,” Emily leans in, connecting their lips for a short but passionate kiss.
“Now, come on, let’s celebrate,” she wiggles her eyebrows, as she pulls Elle back towards the bed.
“What about my cupcake?” Elle asks with a faux pout.
“I think you’ll like this dessert much better.”
As Elle climbs onto the bed, straddling her girlfriend, she can’t help but think to herself:
Best birthday ever.