Chapter Text
It'd been a long day at the BAU when Emily was leaving. She was one of the last to exit, Spencer having left only a few minutes prior. As she stepped out of the building, she caught sight of Spencer talking to a woman she didn't quite recognise.
Of course, Emily was never one to mind her own business, so she made her way over to them.
"Hey Spence! I didn't know you had a girlfriend." She teased, smirking as his face flushed bright red. The woman beside him was trying to hold back a laugh.
"I- She's not- We aren't-" He tried to form a coherent response.
"I'm joking, Spence. Calm down." She ruffled his hair, and turned to the mystery woman.
She was only a little shorter than Emily, with curled brown hair that fell just below her shoulders. Emily noticed her dimples – they were cute, and Emily would admit the woman was attractive.
“Well, maybe in another life.” She joked, glancing at Spencer. Emily could've sworn there was something in the way she looked at him. Like there had been something between them at one point in time.
Somehow Spencer’s face managed to go a darker shade of red. “Elle!”
That’s when it clicked for Emily. Elle Greenaway. The woman who'd been there before her. She’d heard things around – people liked to gossip and she loved to listen.
“Elle Greenaway?” Emily asked, and Elle nodded. “It’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot.”
“I don’t know if I should be worried about that.” She laughed, but she was clearly uncomfortable with the thought of the BAU, or anyone in the Bureau, talking about her.
Emily knew why, and it was reasonable, but she didn’t want Elle to think she thought any less of her.
“Don’t be. Spencer’s told me plenty of good things.” It was true. “Well, it was nice to meet you, Elle. I should probably head home and make sure Sergio hasn’t wrecked the place. See you tomorrow Spence.”
Spencer managed a goodbye after composing himself, and Elle watched as Emily walked away, waiting until she was out of sight before she turned back to Spencer.
“Sergio?”
“Oh, Emily has a cat named Sergio.”
“Huh, cool.”
Later, when Emily had gotten back to her apartment, she found that Elle was still on her mind.
She knew why Elle had left the BAU. It was something that'd been mentioned a few times when she’d first joined.
She knew small things Spencer had mentioned about Elle. Although it was usually about how he’d enjoyed working with her, he didn't say much else.
Now, whilst laying awake, unable to sleep, Emily found herself wanting to know more.
* * *
Over the next few weeks, Emily had forgotten about her interaction with Spencer and Elle. All the cases, and her own personal life proved to be enough to think about on good days. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been many good days recently.
It hadn’t been long since her and Spencer had been held captive by Cyrus and the religious cult he ran. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the face of that vile man just before he’d beat her.
That’s how Emily found herself alone at a bar, already on her second glass of wine.
“Emily?” Her head turned when she heard the voice. Standing there was none other than Elle Greenaway.
“Oh, Elle. Hi.” Emily forced a smile. It was nice to see Elle, but that didn’t magically make her feel better.
“Oh, I know that look.” Elle sat beside her. “Rough case?”
“You could say that.” She nodded. “This job takes a lot, doesn't it?”
“You're telling me. But you've got the team. I've heard from Spence that they're more of a family now than they ever had been. Don't take that for granted.”
“Were they there for you when…you know?” Emily was hesitant to ask the question but she wanted to know.
It felt wrong to admit, but sometimes she felt like she wasn’t truly part of the team.
Her and Spencer were close, but he had his own things to worry about, all the team did. Hotch was in the midst of a divorce, JJ was pregnant, Derek had also had a rough time in a separate case, Penelope was a little preoccupied with Kevin Lynch, and Rossi was, well, Rossi.
Elle sighed, and was silent for a second. “I’ll talk about it, but only if we go back to either my place, or yours.”
Emily understood why.
“Sure.” Emily nodded. “Whatever you’d prefer.”
The brunette was silent for another moment.
“Yours?”
Two two of them got a taxi back to Emily’s. They’d both drank a little, and whilst they were barely tipsy, they weren’t risking anything. Elle didn’t seem too uncomfortable once inside Emily’s apartment. The moment she stepped indoors, Sergio wandered up to them, and brushed up against Elle’s leg.
She crouched down to pet him. “This is Sergio?”
“Yeah.” Emily smiled. This time it was more genuine. “He’s never usually this welcoming to new people.”
“He’s cute. You know that thing people say about pets looking like their owners? That’s totally true for you.”
“Does that mean you think I’m cute?”
“Well, I won’t say you’re not.” Elle smirked as she looked up.
“Uh-” Emily cleared her throat, her cheeks pink. “Do you want anything to drink?”
“Just water will be fine. Thank you.”
Eventually they ended up on Emily’s couch, and after avoiding the subject for a few minutes, Elle finally began to talk.
“They weren’t really there for me when I got shot.” She admitted. “I was…stubborn about it, I guess, so I can’t completely blame them. But even then Spencer still tried. It was just, by the time he did it was too late.”
“How did you deal with it?”
“Truthfully? I didn’t at first. I avoided going to any therapy. I felt like if I couldn’t handle it there was no point in me staying in that job. I know that isn’t true now. Eventually, talking to people helped.” Elle looked up to meet Emily’s eyes. “Emily, I know you're hesitant to talk, pero I know you’ll feel better if you do.”
Emily was silent, and looked away, so Elle shifted closer and placed her hand on Emily’s thigh. She sighed.
“If you won't talk to the team, at least let me listen? Or just be here?”
Emily met her gaze again. She hadn't realised how close they were.
“Okay. Thank you, Elle.”
“Of course.” Elle smiled. She brushed a strand of hair out of Emily’s face. “I know what it’s like to go through that alone, and I don’t want you to have to experience that too.”
Emily wasn’t sure what it was, but something was drawing her closer to Elle. Maybe it was the buzz from the alcohol she’d drank. Maybe that was just the lie she was telling herself.
She hadn’t realised what she was doing until her lips were on Elle's. The thing she found even more confusing, was that Elle was kissing her back.
When she pulled away to catch her breath, she didn't dare say anything.
Neither did Elle.
This time Emily knew it was her who initiated the kiss. Once again, Elle kissed back. This time she kissed back harder.
Neither of them dared utter a word when Emily began trailing kisses across Elle's jaw, and then her neck. Or when Elle slipped a hand under Emily's shirt.
Emily was the one to break this silence.
“Take it off.” She muttered as Elle's hand slid higher up her torso.
First it was the shirts that got thrown to the floor.
Elle pushed Emily down onto the couch.
Then it was their bras thrown carelessly to the side.
Emily ran her hands through Elle's curls as the brunette slipped a hand under her waistband.
The fact that they were practically strangers didn't seem to stop them. The sense of familiarity within experiences was enough.
Soon, all of their clothes were forgotten as they lost themselves within each other.
Hours passed without them realising, taking turns over and over until they were completely spent, panting and collapsed in each other's arms.
Even then they barely spoke. Just relaxing into the embrace, tracing patterns over bare skin.
By the morning, when the sun spilled into the room, Emily couldn't help but notice the lack of weight against her chest.
A blanket had been draped over her, still she couldn't help but miss the feeling of someone's skin against hers.
One thing she didn't fail to notice was the post-it note on the coffee table.
On it was a phone number, and beneath that it read:
‘Call me whenever you need. Xx’