Microgirl's Laboratory

Rossi/Prentiss Gift Exchange Fic for Mingsmommy

2009-12-29T06:30:17Z

Title: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Author: microgirl8225
Recipient:mingsmommy
Rating: FRC/G
Prompts: Since Mingmommy has previously stated she's not big spoiling surprises, I won't give away the prompt I used. I really hope you enjoy this!!
Author's Note: The fic trackled out of me for the longest time, and then it gushed out of me one night. Go figure.
A gigantic thank you to EllipsesBandit, for not laughing in my face at my stupid mistakes, but still fixing them. Thank you for playing Brain to my Pinky. And major props to LosingInTranslation for giving this an extra shine. Thank you so much! And finally, thank you to the mods at 1hour2write for hosting this exchange and putting up with all of my emails. Thank you very, very much ladies. Without your help, this would not have been possible.

Difference between law and in-laws is you can justify yourself before law but never before in-laws~Unknown

********

Dave had known many different women in his life. Those that didn’t like his unpredictable schedule with the FBI, some that were high maintenance, and those only interested in climbing the social ladder. Some were beautiful, but had little intellect. Others, while caring and sweet, couldn’t handle it when he came home with cuts or bruises after an encounter with an unsub.

But never had he known a woman like Emily Prentiss. Easily, she was the most gorgeous woman he had met with her long legs and big brown eyes. Tough and strong, she didn’t depend on anyone to take of her. She traded barbs with him on a regular basis, occasionally knocking him on his ass with her wit.

And she was the biggest bed hog.

Currently, he lay staring at the ceiling in his bed. Still sleeping, she had plastered herself against his body. Her head rested against his bare shoulder and she had an arm flung across his chest. She managed yet again to push him to the very edge of the mattress. Gently shifting her back to her side of the bed was not an option as Mudgie appropriated that space.

With his legs having slowly lost feeling from not being able to move, he realized he would not be getting more sleep. Blowing out a breath, he simply settled for going over his personal “best” list.

Best woman and best sex were easy enough; both belonged to the female snoring next to him. He had yet to see a movie that would replace his current best film, The Godfather. Despite the fact it was practically a novel, Dante’s Inferno still held the title of best poem.

Last time he’d named Frank Sinatra as best singer, but weighed the option of Dean Martin. Dino sang better love songs, but no one could croon Christmas carols like Old Blue Eyes. His thoughts were interrupted when a cramp started in his left calf. Carefully, he tried to stretch, but it was no use as he only had three inches of room left. The mattress shifted, and for the briefest of moments Dave felt a moment of victorious relief. But it was only Mudgie getting off of the bed. The dog walked around to his side to stretch before leaving the room.

“Show off,” Dave muttered.

He tried again, only this time he bumped her leg, waking up Emily.

Groaning, she raised enough to blink owlishly at the clock on the nightstand. “What are you doing? It’s still early.”

He looked at the clock too; the green digits read 9:30. “I’m sorry, dear. I was only trying to stretch.” Once she settled down again, he began to run his fingers through her tousled hair. “What did you want to do today?”

She closed her eyes. “Mmmmm…stay in bed.” Her words trailed off in an adorably drowsy way.

“All day?”

Nodding, her lips brushed against his skin.

His forehead wrinkling in thought, he knew he couldn’t stay in bed all day; he would never be able to walk again. Licking his lips, he suggested, “What if I make breakfast and bring it back here?”

“You don’t want to stay?” she sighed.

“I just thought you might like some pancakes.” Perfect, he mentally congratulated himself. He knew she’d never have a reason to turn down his blueberry pancakes.

“Are you sure?” she asked innocently. “I know it would be a lot better if you decided to stay.” Trailing her hand down his side, she slowly placed her leg between his.

One of the many reasons he’d asked her to marry him; she always had the best ideas. She slithered on top of him causing his breath to rush out of his mouth. Her warm, soft curves pressed against his chest through the material of his pajama top she wore. Framing his face with both of her hands, her brown eyes sparkled with happiness, making his stomach flip in the most wonderful way.

Clearing his throat, his voice still came out much lower. “I-I think I might be persuaded.”

“I thought so,” she grinned, bringing her face down to his to kiss him.

Wrapping his arms around her back, he teased the seam of lips and deepened the kiss. Morning breath be damned, Emily tasted like sweet, sugar cookies. He tried to slide his hand under her shirt, but the sheets had bunched around her, completely ruining his efforts. Growling, he tried to throw back the covers but was unsuccessful because he refused to break apart so he could see what he was doing. She provided no help as she just giggled against his mouth. Slowly pulling away, she touched her lips to his chin, and then planted warm kisses along his neck.

Finally, finally, Dave managed to wrestle away the bedding, and stroked the soft skin of her stomach. She gasped at his feather light touch. He worked his hand higher, but the distant sound of ringing infiltrated his brain. Dimly, he realized it belonged to her cell phone.

The ringing stopped, and she pulled at the drawstring of his sweatpants. She started to push them down, but the ringing started again.

Letting out a harsh breath, Emily leaned over and snatched the phone off of the table. “There should be a law against interrupting Saturday mornings,” she grumbled. “Agent Prentiss,” she answered rather testily.

A moment of silence went by, and then her eyes widened considerably. “Mother,” she squeaked.

********

She immediately regretted the manner in which she responded the moment she heard the terse greeting, “Hello, to you too, Emily.” It was the same tone she’d heard growing up.

“Mother,” she replied with great surprise. It was probably a bad idea to be straddling her future husband while talking to her mother so she slid back onto the mattress next to him. “How are you? Are you still in Croatia?”

“No. I returned from that assignment two days ago. I thought perhaps we might meet for brunch today.”

Quietly letting out a breath, Emily glanced over at Dave, who had propped himself up on his elbows. He stared at her, his brows knit together and she mouthed “Mom.” He rolled his eyes in an exaggerated expression, and she smacked his leg.

“That would be nice, Mom, but--” before she could finish, the Ambassador cut in.

“Then please come to your door,” she said in a courteous, yet sharp voice. “I’ve been standing outside of your condo for the last ten minutes.”

Her heart stopped, and Emily felt all of the blood leave her face. “You’re-you’re already at the condo?”

Hearing her mother sigh heavily into the speaker, she could picture the Ambassador standing there with her hand on her hip. “Yes. I’ve been knocking and knocking, but you haven’t answered. That’s why I called you.”

This was not good. She kept trying to make her mouth work, but no words would come out. There was no way to sugar coat the fact that she was not only not at home, but actually in bed with a thrice divorced co-worker on the other side of town.

Emily must have sat there imitating a fish for long time because she could hear her mother call out, “Emily? Emily? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here,” she finally managed.

“Well? Are you going to let me in?” the Ambassador demanded.

Swallowing heavily, Emily let out a nervous laugh. “I would, but uh,” she paused, “I’m not there. At…my…place.”

“Are you working out of town?”

“No,” she reluctantly admitted.

“Are you at your office?”

Closing her eyes, Emily bit her lip. “No.” Her stomach dropped somewhere in the vicinity of her knees, knowing, knowing, what was going to come next.

Obviously irritated, her mother sucked in a breath. “I loathe these guessing games, Emily. Where are you?”

“I-I’m with a friend.” Shaking her head in disgust, Emily rolled her eyes. She couldn’t believe she’d come up with such a lame answer. Apparently she’d lost her touch; when she was a teenager she could come up with more colorful versions of the truth.

The silence was so deafening, it almost seemed like the line went dead. Emily could swear her mother drew out these moments deliberately.

“You’re with a friend,” her mother emphasized the word with much incredulity. Emily hated when she acted as if she didn’t know what that meant; the Ambassador knew perfectly well what she said.

“Yes, Mom. I’m…with…a friend.”

“I see,” her mother paused. “I apologize for interrupting your morning,” her tone carried forced politeness. “I shall talk to you another time.”

“Wait, wait!” Everyone else already knew about her and Dave’s engagement from the team to his family. Her mother was probably the last person to be told. She always reasoned she hadn’t told the Ambassador because she thought it warranted more than an email or a rushed phone conversation. The truth was Emily knew her mother wouldn’t be happy for her. She couldn’t take anyone, even her own parent, trashing something that was so very precious to her.

Still, they were family. And she would have to invite her to the wedding…eventually. Might as well get it over with.

Heaving a breath of fortitude, Emily tried to mentally prepare herself for her next words. “We don’t have any plans today, and…I’d really…I’d like you to meet my, uh friend.” Turning back to Dave, he opened his hands in a gesture of grudging acceptance.

She smiled warmly at him, but that good feeling was short-lived as her mother’s voice came back through.

“So, you’re actually going to let me meet this one…before he never comes around again?”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Emily ground her teeth. “Oh he’ll be around for a while, I think.” She caught Dave smirking out of the corner of her eye. “Just give us a few, and we’ll call you when we’re ready to coordinate a place to meet for brunch.”

“That sounds lovely. I look forward to meeting your friend,” her mother spoke with little conviction. After they traded goodbyes, Emily tossed the phone back on the nightstand and fell back, resting the back of her head on Dave’s chest.

She groaned loudly. “Well, it’s a good thing we’re getting married, because I just performed my first wifely act.” She craned her head, and at his raised eyebrow, she clarified, “I just volunteered you to go out somewhere without asking you.”

Chuckling, he placed his arm across her shoulder. “I take it we will be informing the Ambassador about our upcoming nuptials.”

“Yes,” she sighed. “And I’m sure she will be oh so thrilled.” She stroked his fingers. “I guess I should warn you about her.”

“Actually, we’ve met before.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Once, a long time ago.” Waving his other hand absently, he continued, “My agent at the time had booked me for an appearance at some state dinner, and she was there. We spoke for maybe two minutes.”

Propping herself on her elbow, she asked, “And what did you think of the dear Ambassador?”

“She was…” to his credit, he only hesitated for a brief moment, “…a pleasant woman.”

Narrowing her eyes, Emily stared pointedly at him. “Please don’t get in the habit of lying to me.”

He barked a laugh. “She seemed very much dedicated to her career.”

“To say the least,” she huffed. “If something makes my mother look good, she’ll take it and run with it. If the Ambassador even thinks it’ll negatively impact her in some way…” Emily shook her head. “She’ll want it as far away as possible.”

Taking her left hand, Dave ran his thumb over the simple diamond stone of his grandmother’s ring. “Then she should be thrilled that her daughter is marrying a brilliant profiler and a decorated federal agent, all wrapped up as a successful author.”

She wanted to roll her eyes, but really how could she? He knew exactly what to say to make her feel better, even if it was a little arrogant. Instead of giving him the satisfaction of smiling at his joke, she just blew out a breath. “I guess I should take him to meet her instead of you.”

Pursing his lips, he waited a moment before looking at the clock. “We should probably get going soon.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. Her tone turned more tentative. “You’re okay with this, right?”

“Of course.”

Both hands on his cheeks, she kissed him soundly. “Thank you. I owe you for this.”

“Double my usual fee plus same day charges.” His eyes flashed with mischief. “Payable in three weeks time.”

She shook her head. “Just put it on my tab.”

********

Luckily Dave still had some contacts at one of the nicer restaurants, and was able to get a table on short notice. A dark green table cloth covered the dining table. Carefully polished silverware was placed inside folded bright white linen napkins. Tasteful oil paintings decorated the cream colored walls. The two of them arrived before her mother and were seated early.

Sipping his water, he watched Emily as they waited. Judging by her impassive expression, it might have seemed as if this was just another meal with her mother, but he knew better. Her fingers remained tightly clasped together, resting on the table. She occasionally worried her lower lip under her teeth. And he heard a soft repetitive thumping as she most likely tapped her foot on the carpet.

He knew very little about Elizabeth Prentiss other than what he remembered about meeting her a few years ago. He’d overheard a couple of the phone calls between Emily and Elizabeth, and their conversations always sounded stilted and formal more than a mother and daughter should be. And she rarely talked about her mother. When she did, it was always with an air of frustration and sadness before she would quickly changed the subject.

He did ascertain she hadn’t been able to depend on her mother growing up. Even now, the Ambassador didn’t seem particularly supportive of her daughter so he could understand Emily’s apprehension in telling her about the engagement.

Dave knew he had to be as polite as possible; he’d bite his tongue until it bled if he had to keep himself from saying anything remotely insulting to the Ambassador. Though he would make it very clear he was marrying Emily and giving Elizabeth Prentiss a proper scoundrel for a son-in-law.

The tapping sound from her foot got louder, and soon the patrons around them started to stare. Covering one of her hands, his thumb brushed across her tense knuckles. “You’re going to weaken the floor structure if you keep that up.”

She laughed nervously. “Sorry.” Then she began looking around the restaurant again.

“Hey,” he said in a firm, yet gentle tone. When she looked back at him, he fixed his eyes on hers with a reassuring smile. “It’ll be fine. I even promise to be on my best behavior.”

She huffed amusedly. “For once I’m not worried about your behavior. It’s my mom’s I’m more concerned with.”

The corner of his lips lifted. “I’m sure we can survive one meal with her.”

Pushing back her chair, she stood up. “We’re about to find out.”

He rose to his feet too as Ambassador Elizabeth Prentiss stiffly walked toward them. When she saw Dave, she tried to discreetly look him over, but he still caught her. Her mouth remained in a rigid line, and her eyebrow rose, no doubt noticing he was significantly older than her daughter. They hadn’t so much as spoken one word, and she’d already passed judgment on him; this should be fun.

Smiling tautly, Emily greeted her, “Mother, how are you?” They embraced in a non-affectionate sort of way.

“Just fine, dear.” Elizabeth turned to him. “I take it this is your friend,” she purposefully emphasized the last word.

Emily forced her smile even more. “Yes. Mom, I’d like you to meet David Rossi.”

“Ambassador.” He held out his hand, finding she grasped his palm strongly. “It’s nice to see you again.”

At her furrowed brow, he clarified, “I doubt if you remember, but we met once, a few years ago.”

She stared at him a moment. “No, I’m sorry, I don’t remember you.” She smoothed her perfectly pressed skirt as he pulled out her chair. After Emily sat down, he seated himself.

The waiter came by for their drink order. Dave decided to stick with just orange juice, because he knew Emily needed that mimosa. Putting on her glasses, Elizabeth began to peruse the menu. “So, Mr. Rossi, what is it that you do for a living?”

Outside of neurosurgeon or business CEO, he had a feeling there would be no right answer. But he wasn’t ashamed of his life, and he went for the simplest reply. “I’m a profiler with the FBI. Emily and I are on the same team.”

Looking up briefly, Elizabeth made a brief “hmm,” sound before returning her gaze to the menu.

Emily’s chest rose in a silent sigh. “He was one of the original team members, Mom. He created the Behavioral Analysis Unit.”

“I thought Jason Gideon was responsible for that.”

It was a comment he’d heard so many times over the years, usually made by people hoping to get a rise out of him. It didn’t bother him at all. “I’d originally presented the idea to the director and picked the agents for the team, but yes, Gideon helped,” he told her in a neutral tone.

Lips pursed, Elizabeth studied him. It probably wasn’t often someone stood up to the Ambassador after just meeting her. After several moments of silence, she finally said, “But you had retired from the BAU, didn’t you?”

So she did remember him. “For about ten years, yes.”

“And you’ve written several books on the subject of profiling in that time?”

Dave nodded again.

She tilted her head. “I thought your name sounded familiar. I apologize for not recalling it earlier, but I do remember reading an article about a case you solved a couple of years ago, in Indianapolis I believe.”

He genuinely smiled. No Pulitzer Prize for one of his books or being named a forefather in profiling would ever give him as much satisfaction as solving that case.

Elizabeth continued, “My assistant had passed it on to me because it mentioned Emily’s name as well.” Her mouth barely lifted into what one might believe was actually a tiny smile. “The team had caught the suspect in your case as I recall.”

Looking at Dave with bright eyes, Emily’s shoulders seemed to relax. “That’s right. It was a double murder case from about twenty years ago at the time.”

“That’s quite a long time to solve a case, Agent Rossi.” Elizabeth folded her hands on her lap.

Dave’s jaw clenched. “Excuse me?” He said slowly.

“Well, that just seems like an awfully long time to find a suspect. I mean, with all of this new technology in forensic science over the years and the databases your technical analyst has access to, I assumed solving cases would be much easier.”

White hot anger flashed inside of Dave, and he balled his hands into tight fists until they shook. Even if he bit his tongue (and he was certain he’d end up biting through it), he knew he couldn’t hold his mouth for long. Even though they’d found the Galens’ murderer, he still felt guilty it had taken him so many years to close the case. And he didn’t need anyone else pointing that out to him.

Emily started to open her mouth, but Dave already began speaking, the tightness very evident in his voice. “It isn’t like television where there’s DNA at every scene and unsubs leave their name on the wall for us. There is still a lot of work for us to do.”

Narrowing her eyes, Elizabeth sat up a little straighter. “I never presumed your team did any less.”

“We just had very little forensic evidence and a limited profile to go off of in that case,” Emily interjected.

Elizabeth dismissed the conversation with a terse, “Of course.”

The waiter came back with their drinks, and he seriously considered ordering a double scotch. However, he had a feeling it was going to take a great deal more alcohol than should ever be consumed to make it through this lunch still smiling. But he’d survived interviewing the worst of human kind and he could manage this. Staring balefully at the glass of juice in front of him, he sincerely hoped that was true.

After placing their order, the three discussed literature, current events, and even the weather. There was nothing remotely personal about Dave and very little about Emily. Their food arrived and the small talk continued; his urge to call the waiter for a full bottle of scotch faded. They had still yet to tell Elizabeth about their engagement. There was no clear plan as to when and how to tell the Ambassador, just an agreement that they’d have to do it today.

As they finished eating, Elizabeth mentioned she’d run into one of Emily’s high school classmates. “Charlotte Jensen. You remember her, don’t you?”

Clearing her throat, Emily absently nodded. “Sure. She was Senator Jensen’s daughter. You worked with him during my senior year of high school.” Her smile was strained. “How is she?” Emily asked with no apparent interest.

“Oh she is doing wonderful. She’s on the Virginia House of Delegates, and has proposed new public school policies that will be implemented in the coming school year.” Elizabeth smoothed the napkin in her lap. “She’s married to a bank accountant; they have three beautiful kids, and live in a large house in Alexandria.”

Emily’s grin became even more forced as her grip strengthened around her fork. “Wow, that’s really great.”

Nodding, Elizabeth went on, oblivious to her daughter’s biting tone. “Charlotte asked about you. I told her you were still working with the FBI, and that you hadn’t gotten married.” Dave noticed she didn’t add yet. “Of course she wanted to know if there were any prospects, but I said your line of work doesn’t allow you to be in town very often so you don’t date.”

Dropping her fork with a resounding clank against the plate, Emily sighed harshly. “Actually, Mother, there is a prospect.” She reconsidered her words. “He’s more than a prospect, really.”

The Ambassador seemed slightly taken aback. “Is that so?”

“Yeah,” Emily huffed. Taking a deep breath, she looked to Dave, and he put his hand on the table. “I’m…we’re engaged.” She covered his fingers with her left hand, the diamond sparkling in the light.

Elizabeth’s mouth formed a thin, tight line as she looked between them; first him, then Emily, and back to Dave. His gaze never wavered from her sharp eyes.

Wearily, Elizabeth closed her eyes. “You plan on marrying one of your colleagues.”

“Yes,” Emily answered simply.

“You plan on marrying a colleague, whom if I remember correctly, has been married several times already.” She shot him a harsh expression, as if to challenge him on the truth of his life.

“I’ve been married three times before,” he corrected politely. “But none of those marriages have anything to do with how I feel about Emily.”

The older woman rolled her eyes in that apparently genetic Prentiss way. “Of course not.” She turned back to her daughter. “Do you know how it will look to marry a colleague? What is implied by that, what people will say? Not only that, but marrying a man, who quite frankly, has issues with commitment. My goodness, Emily, have you thought this through?”

Huffing, his fiancée fell back in her chair. “You’re right; there will be people at the office who will probably say I’m marrying him to get his money or find a way to get in on his books. And then they’ll take bets on how long the marriage will last and how much alimony I’ll squeeze out of him.” She shrugged. “But I really don’t care what they think.”

Elizabeth frowned. “And does your supervisor approve of this? I can’t imagine fraternization is allowed.”

“He’s fine with it, and so is our unit director. Besides,” Emily inclined her head to Rossi. “Dave even offered to go another team when we’re married so there’s no conflict of interest.”

That seemed to placate Elizabeth, but only for a brief moment. She went to open her mouth again, surely to discuss why her daughter would want to marry someone with a sordid past. Before she could get a word out, he jumped in.

“Ambassador, I know you’re concerned with my personal history. Yes, I have been married three times, and I know that doesn’t make me the most…ideal husband.” Taking a deep breath, he curled his fingers with Emily’s, speaking in a clear, firm tone. “But I do care very deeply about her, and I’m not using her.”

Glancing at Emily gave him the determination for his next words. “And we’d both…really like it if you’d at least come to the wedding.” Emily appeared expressionless, but he could see the hopefulness in her eyes.

Her lips pursed, Elizabeth sat in silence with her brows drawn together. As the awkwardly tense quiet continued, Emily tightened her grip on his hand. After what felt like hours, the Ambassador finally, not so graciously, replied, “It will take much time to make the arrangements with my next assignment, but I will be here.”

Her shoulders sagging with quiet relief, a small, relieved smile lit Emily’s face. “Thank you.”

They finished their meal with little more conversation. While Elizabeth had proven she’d be a difficult mother-in-law, Dave took comfort in the fact he probably wouldn’t see her that often. And when she did come to town, he’d just keep a large quantity of alcohol on hand.

After their plates had been cleared, Emily excused herself to use the restroom. As she got up, she gave him a gentle, pointed look, silently asking him to behave himself.

Folding her napkin neatly, Elizabeth placed it on the table. “I’m glad we have this opportunity to speak alone, Agent Rossi.”

Staying silent, he quirked an eyebrow.

“Emily wanted to be a member of the Behavioral Analysis Unit for a long time,” she said. “She was excited once the transfer came through, and she very much enjoys working with the team.”

“I know.”

“And you’re just willing to transfer to another team?”

He nodded. “Yes, I am. The unit director will have no problem finding a place for me. Or I can teach some psychology classes at the Academy; I haven’t decided yet.”

She pressed on. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

“If you’re asking me if I will resent Emily for it, the answer is no.” Certainly he’d miss working with the team, but marrying Emily was worth more.

Inclining her head, she studied him thoughtfully. “You’re not intimidated by me, are you?”

He shrugged. “Not so much that I can’t breathe.” Placing his hands on the table, he decided to stop tip-toeing around the Ambassador…but in a nice, respectful way. “Look, I know you think I’m some sort of playboy that’s after younger women and will eventually end up hurting your daughter.”

Letting out an amused, but dignified noise, her lips turned up ever so slightly. “You should keep your eyes on your own paper.”

“Despite what you may think, I am very much in love with Emily. And I’m going to do everything in my power to take good care of her.” It had taken him a long time, but he’d finally learned to control his mouth in situations like this…”So you can just take a step back.” Mostly.

Now she smiled conspiratorially, leaning forward. “Agent Rossi, in case you have forgotten, I will be your mother-in-law soon. I will not be stepping back.”

It was his turn to grin slyly. “Then I look forward to more of your company in the future…Mom.”

It probably wasn’t often that someone knocked Elizabeth Prentiss speechless. It took every last bit of his self control not to laugh out loud at her fish imitation. Eyes wide, her mouth hung open, and he could see a vein start to throb at her temple. She might as well know what kind of son-in-law she would be getting.

He knew she had finally processed what he said because her mouth snapped shut. Emily came back at that moment, and Dave greeted her just a tad too brightly.

“Did you two find something to talk about?” Emily asked slowly.

It took a beat, but Elizabeth answered, “Yes, dear. I was just asking Agent Rossi about his new teammates.”

Both of his eyebrows climbed up his forehead. He was shocked when Elizabeth had chosen not to tell her what just happened. Maybe she planned to tell Emily later. He cursed himself not for the first (or hundredth time), for not being able to speak without thinking. But he’d just performed his first husbandly duty and said something stupid to Emily’s mother.

He paid the bill, and the three of them left the restaurant. Out front, they stood waiting for Elizabeth’s driver. When a black Lincoln Town Car pulled up, Elizabeth turned to Emily. “It was lovely to see you again.” She hugged her daughter. “We will have to get together one night for dinner at my house.”

“That sounds nice, Mom,” Emily replied, not sounding too horrified this time.

When Elizabeth faced Dave, he held out his hand. “Ambassador, it was a pleasure to meet you again.”

Shaking his hand, her mouth raised into a grin. “Call me Elizabeth.” With that she got in the car, and both Dave and Emily watched dumbfounded as it sped away.

Emily looked to him with her own bright, beautiful smile. “You certainly made a good impression.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She looped her arm through his. “She only asks people she really likes to call her Elizabeth. You must have said something while I was in the bathroom.”

Shrugging, he walked with her to his Audi. “I have no idea what.”

Stopping, she reached up to kiss him slowly and softly. When she pulled back, her brown eyes twinkled. “Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked when he remembered how to speak again.

She laughed, starting to walk again. “For being your incredibly charming self, but mostly for not drinking yourself into a stupor. I know spending time with her is incredibly trying.”

“You’re welcome,” he told her sincerely. They strolled in companionable silence before he said, “And now we can discuss the matter of my payment for this wonderful brunch.”

Rolling her eyes, she sighed. “Of course. Remind me again of your usual fees.”

“Three nights of blind passion. And don’t forget same day charges which are five nights.”

Her eyes appeared incredulous. “So with doubling your fees, and same day charges, I owe you eleven nights of blind passion?”

He nodded enthusiastically. “In three weeks time.”

Shaking her head, she snorted. “You are so whipped.”

He laughed. “Why’s that?”

“Because you wasted a perfectly good payment. I would’ve given those nights anyway.”

Bringing his arm around her shoulders, he tugged her closer. “I know.”

The End

</style>

2009: A Year in Review

2009-12-28T04:02:34Z

Tonight I had found myself with no projects to complete. Christmas is over and I have a fic off to be beta-ed. So I sat on the couch wondering what to do next. I have two fics I owe people so I was about to start those, but realized I wasn't exactly in a fluffy state of mind that the fics require. Instead I ended up thinking about the fact that a new year was upon us and had a reflection of 2009.

This past year wasn't one of my best; in fact it's pretty safe to say it sucked. Between fighting tooth and nail for my thesis revisions and trying to find a job, I spent the majority of the time being sad and depressed. Not a fun state of mind. It's hard sometimes to think of truly great moments of the year. There were some great times, but it seems like they only served to distract me from the bigger problems at hand.

Now that's not to say that I have pushed aside the fact I graduated. Not by a long shot. That is my greatest accomplishment to date. I studied my ass off in grad school, and worked harder than I hever had before on my thesis. Now I am the proud owner of a Master's degree, something I never thought would happen. I also lived on my own in a city on the other side of country; there were some hard parts, but I discovered I had a pretty strong sense of independence and could do many, many things on my own. It was a great experience.

But I can't lie. There have some moments where I have felt so desperate, that I had wished I never left my old job. I even expressed so to my Dad last week. Of course, this will be a great "I told you so" moment when I get a job in forensics ~~I hope~~.

I have also made other observations of the year, and one of the things I noticed this past year is that I spent more and more time living inside my head or through my computer. They were safe places to go where I could escape from my real life. I could forget about things for a while and live in a happier world, It's sad, but true. It has really became bad this year because I'm just...unhappy. I'm unhappy.

It's easier to dive into the fic world or an online game than to remember I'm in debt and living with my parents again. That stuff just sits hard and heavy in my chest, and hurts so much sometimes. So I end up on my computer. Not a particularly healthy way of dealing with things.

Not only that, I've also decided to eat my feelings. In the four months I've been home, I've gained twenty-pounds. I lost about thirty-five pounds after I graduated college four years ago and did a reasonable job of keeping it off through out grad school. But now I have found my self in that more than 50% of people who lose weight gain it back within five years ago.

So yeah. Not good things. Along within reflections comes resolutions and changes I NEED to make. This here will be a starter list; I'm sure I'll be adding more:

-Limit computer use. I need to start weaning myself off. Instead of reaching for the computer, reach for a book or spiral notebook (if I feel like writing).
-Get out of the house. I joined a gym, and I'm not sure how long I'll be able to afford it, but for the time being I need to go the gym. If I need to give it up, I need to take a walk or jog around the neighborhood. Just get some amount of exercise each day.
-Keep applying to jobs. As much as it sucks to not hear back from anyone, I need to keep going. I really need to make an effort to scrounge through all the state websites and career listing sites.
-If I find myself getting too sad, call a friend and take a trip out of my head for a while.

Like I said, there will probably be more to add. But for now, I bid a much needed farewell to 2009, and have high hopes for 2010.

Words, Words, Words

2009-12-26T19:53:37Z

From the intrepid ellipsesbandit ...

Respond to this post with the comment "WORDS" and I will give you five words that remind me of you (mayhaps from your 'interests' list if I don't know you that well). Then post them in your journal and explain what they mean to you.

Pinky & the Brain-Aaaaah, one of my most favorite cartoons from childhood, and it's still great for me now. Narf! Zort! Poit! and Troz! were the greatest words ever invented. And who didn't love Pinky's ponderings? "Well, I think so Brain, but me and Pippi Longstocking? What would the children look like?" I always watched this on Saturday mornings, and still can thanks to the magic of DVD.

Microbes-giantmicrobes.com was the greatest geek discovery I made during my last year of college. Tiny, tiny microbes come to life! We made these our mascots for our major. Our club's president's boyfriend built a case to keep the microbes in. I have Grissom the Neuron, but I plan on adding more at some point.

Erasers-What amuses two high school sophomores during an English class taught by a Valley girl? Erasers! Yeah, you know those long, pencil like erasers? We played with those and came up with the heroic Super Eraser Man. He had a song and everything. Yes, we had no lives.

Han Solo-I think I pretty much established Han is The Man. Skywalker was a pussy. I got to watch The Man in action on Christmas Eve in a Star Wars marathon on Spike. Han Solo is a timeless hero.

SuperBeta- EB was my first super beta, and still holds the title. The one who looked at my first fan fic and managed to find something readable under all of that passive voice stuff. She has come through with ideas and helping me through writer's block.; she is also my kung-fu ninja grammar warrior. Basically, I wouldn't be the writer I am with out EB; she rocks like granite.
I have lucked out having another great SuperBeta, Mingsmommy, who has been wonderful in pushing me to flesh out scenes.

I have two of the best red pen wielders.

Merry Christmas!!

2009-12-24T23:24:16Z

Fa la la la la la la la...NARF!!

microgirl8225 @ 2009-12-19T22:15:00

2009-12-20T05:15:27Z

Uuuuuuuuuuugh. I went out last night and had a fabulous dinner with my best friend. She was so sweet and treated me to a meal at Johnny Carino's. It was delicious. Anywho, I came back and felt a cold starting. Then I woke up to a sore throat and runny nose. And now my head feels like it's stuffed with cotton. Blech! I can barely think straight.

Now the good news has been I've gotten more hours st the BB. When I worked last Monday, I was the only there in the morning. BIG MISTAKE. They had to keep calling people from all of the other departments. They had to call more people in that day and the rest of the week. I ended up picking up three extra shifts this week. I'm not scheduled to work Christmas Eve, but we'll see how long that lasts. But, yeah, extra money! Whoot!

Have you read the Rossi/Prentiss Secret Santa fics at 1hour2write If not, drop what you're doing, and read them RIGHT NOW. All of them so far have been seriously wonderful. I cannot wait to read the rest of them. Man, oh, man, everyone is giving me a run for my money. I hope my fic can hold up.

Speaking of that, I have had trouble writing. I finally have some time to write and I can't function because my head feels like a bag of cotton. Hopefully I can finish it up tomorrow.

Thank you to snowydragon1776 for the lovely Christmas card. And a belated, but very big, big thank you to zamboni12 for the chocolatey advent calender. And finally, a massive thank you to marcasite for the card and gift card. You really didn't have to get the gift card, but thank you. I really appreciate it. I will put it to good use!

And now I share with you one of my favorite Christmas songs...

Brief CM Thoughts

2009-12-10T04:43:11Z

After watching tonight's episode, I now have an even bigger girl crush on Emily Prentiss. She kicked ass! Nailing the guy in the stomach and then the gun in the face? Whoot! You go, girl!

And I'm starting to think Emily has been in an abusive relationship before. Her reaction to the unsub at the end had me going, "Hmmmmm...this seems just like another kick ass female I know....Sara, anyone?"

Just some little things here and there have me wondering. Like that deleted scene in "Birthright," and her saying "I can take it" in "Minimal Loss." I dunno...it seems like there's something there. We shall see. If it proves to be true, Dave will have a guy's ass to kick. In the meantime though, I'm sure he'll have his hands full taking care of her after that car accident next week (OMG!)

I have to mention this. After that scene with Hotch and Jessica talking, my mom predicted that Hotch would get together with Emily. The shipper in me went, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" But then I remembered she predicted it would be Grissom and Sofia.

After my initial freakout, I relaxed. The force is strong with me; I always pick a winner ;)

There is No Such Thing as the Almighty Dollar

2009-12-07T23:27:19Z

So no recovery on the hours at the Best Buy. The last time I worked I had checked schedule for this week and was supposed to have 22 hours. By the time I clocked out, it's gotten reduced 13 hours. And that was last week. When I go back tomorrow, I won't have worked for a whole week.

On top of that, I had another job within grasp only to have it ripped away. I have a friend who works at an office supply retailer, and she told me she could get me a job at the company. Turns out they're strapped for hours too and can't hire anyone who works at a competing store.

That's great news because I wonder how many retailers have that same policy. Will my applications to places like Target and Wal-Mart be automatically rejected because I work at one of their competitors? I can see the logic in that, but in these times, they should throw those rules out the window.

Still no hours at LensCrafters. I still technically work there, but I haven't been there in two months. They barely have enough hours for the people with higher seniority. Another mall might be looking for people, but I have yet to hear back from my manager.

So where does that leave me? Brokety, broke, broke, broke.

My mom always tells me to hope for the best, and plan for the worst. Based on that and our tanking economy, I'm not counting on keeping my job at Best Buy. If they can't give decent hours to seasonal AND their regular people, I seriously doubt they can keep on any seasonal hires. I'm planning on not being able to work there beyond January. And that is the WORST time to be unemployed as no companies really hire in the first couple of months of the new year. And I have not heard back from any of the police agencies I have applied to.

I can claim harship forebarance on my student loans which would basically put them on hold until I got a full time job or at least something decent paying. But after that I'm screwed. I have enough in savings to barely squeak by for two months maybe. I have major credit card debt from moving and keeping my storage unit. And I have to pay everything out of pocket for health insurance.

I know I'm a long ways off from it, but I really do not want to have to declare bankruptcy. It's my biggest fear because if I have to declare bankruptcy my credit is screwed and that basically tanks my chances at getting a job. Many police departments check your credit. I know for the FBI they won't even look at your application if you've had to settle on credit cards.

It's even more frustrating because Christmas is my favorite time of year and I really have to pick and choose who to buy for. I love giving gifts and not being able to do it is killing me, I was really hoping to pay my friends back for everything they've done for me the last couple of months but I can't really do that.

And I feel even worse because I can't help the jealously I feel for the people I ring out who are buying a Wii or Xbox 360 with all the amenities for their family, meanwhile I cross a lot of names off my list just so I can pay some bills. I'm hoping at acknowledging those feelings will help me deal those feeling because I don't like being that type of person.

I can one thing though. When I was working full time, I can definitely appreciate how good I had it because I didn't worry too much about money. And now I at least pay more attention what and how I spend my money. Luxuries like coffee and lunch are expensive and I used to partake in them a lot. Not so much now.

But I'm cranking out as many applications as I can, applying to wherever, whenever. Hopefully something turns up soon.

Yet Another Christmas Card Post

2009-12-05T18:40:35Z

Yup, I'm doing one too. I shall be sending out Christmas cards. Please leave your name and address in the comments which will be screened. I have some your guys' addresses, but they might have gotten shuffled in the move and now are somewhere in the great beyond known as my storage unit, so go ahead and leave your address. Merry Christmas all!

Spread the love...

2009-12-02T19:03:40Z

Taken from marcasite

THE FANFICTION LOVE MEME

Kool Aid strikes again

2009-12-02T15:34:44Z

Heh. So one of my friend and I were lamenting one day over missing GSR. I told her I'd gotten into Criminal Minds, and the new awesomeness that is Rossi/Prentiss. Well, we made a deal that I would read her favorite author if she would watch Criminal Minds.

This is the message I get from her from Friday:

I spent the day on my couch, and in your honor, I watched a Criminal Minds marathon all day. And now I'm hooked. Thanks alot!! I had only seen Mandy Patinkin episodes before, but Friday's were all with Rossi and Prentiss, and me likey!

Heh heh heh...got one.

Because of my money plights, she asked me to write her a fic for Christmas. Now I was going to write her a GSR fic, but yesterday I made a slight...suggestion, and asked if she wanted a Rossi/Prentiss fic instead.

She squeed and said yes. She said she wanted a fic where they get assigned on a trip together and realize they have feelings for each other, and get together. I also get this: And I don't like the stories where they portray him as a "player." In my brain his feelings for her are nothing but true.

Whoot! Whoot! Because that means she has read more fic and I have a partner in Hopeless Romantics Anonymous.

So yeah. I got another fic to write. The idea came surprisingly easy to me.

We're slowly reeling them in...

The Black Friday Polarization

2009-11-30T05:15:58Z

It'd been a few years, but I was back working Black Friday in retail. Say what you will about Best Buy, but my store had it down to a science. Chalk lines were drawn outside for lines, merchandise was pulled from the shelves for easy access, and tickets handed out for our hot items.

I got to be there bright and early at 4:30am. Let me tell you it's an odd feeling to roll over, see the clock read 2:30am, and realize you have to get up in half an hour. So after a handful of hours of sleep, I was off to work.

There were no stampedes; everyone entered calmly and were directed to the areas where they wanted their TVs, cameras, etc. Now the registers are normally set up where you can pick a lane and head to a cashier. For Christmas, we blocked off the lanes to form one line and then direct people to the next free cashier. This system seemed to work rather well, and kept the line moving. I had a few people compliment us on that. They told me the Office Depot and Wal-Mart lines were extremely disorganized.

Now there were a few people who got pissy with the set up. They acted like it was so confusing. I don't know how you can get confused when our line queue person says, "They can help you on Number 5," and there is a big Yellow 5 over the register. In fact, one of my co-workers told me a customer had a fit yesterday over the line set up. The customer kept yelling about how this wasn't airport , and people weren't cattle. One hundred dollars says she would've bitched if we left the lines the way they normally are, and she got in a line that wasn't moving.

The whole purpose of having the one line is to keep things moving and to get people to the next available register ASAP. I understand it's a lot like airport security, and that's frustrating, but honestly this method really does make things go faster. But I digress.

Anywho, people were pretty nice, and in fairly good moods. A lot people who shop Black Friday do it yearly so they're used to the crowds and having to wait for the store to open. A few people complained about the crowds (do you live under a ROCK?), but it went smoothly.

Except for the fuckers who stole from me.

Yeah. I got this family with a huge cart load of stuff. DVDs, CDs, 2 Wii consoles, a PS3, Xbox controllers, video games, cables, controllers. Basically it came it to $2400 worth of stuff. I had a few people helping me ring and bag items. I started with the DVDs and CDs and moved on. When I finished, the woman wanted three gift cards, a $10, $20, and then she couldn't remember what she wanted for the last one so she went to ask her husband. Well, she left and I waited...and waited...and waited. Yeah, they took off with the bag full of DVDs and CDs, conveniently the stuff with their alarms deactivated.

I was so pissed off. I didn't get in trouble; they realize this kind of thing happens, especially around the holidays. But seriously? I know times are tough, but don't freakin' steal. If you have to steal, you don't need it. The only bump in an otherwise exhausting, but okay day

Speaking of stealing, my lunch got stolen yesterday. I had brought Thanksgiving leftovers for my lunch break yesterday only to find out we had lunch provided for us again so I ate what they set out. When I went to get my jacket and purse at the end of the night, I opened the 'fridge to get my stuff, only to not find my bag. I knew it hadn't been thrown away because the other lunch bags were still in there. But my stuff was gone. Ziploc container and all.

There was still food in there! What the hell? I don't get this. What compels someone to just take food that isn't their's? Yeesh!!

And then I show up at work this morning only to be told to go home. Hours got slashed big time, and my lofty 23 hours this week got knocked down to 7.

I hate saying something like this, but to those of you that have full-time jobs, please be grateful for what you have, even if you loathe getting out of bed every morning.

I can't tell you how stressful it is to worry about money, and making it through each month. Not that other people with full time jobs aren't worrying about the same thing; I'm not begrudging that at all. The last few months have been so damn frustrating. I finally thought I reached some stability, and with the hours getting slashed, it feels like the floor has been ripped out from under me. I went through a period the last few weeks where I could not sleep through the night. Part of it is sleeping on a pseudo-bed, but the other half is wondering if I'm going to go broke in the next few months. I don't even know if I'll have a job come January as I'm seasonal. And I still haven't heard back from the other police agencies I've been applying to in the meantime.

It's a very hard place to be in, meanwhile I've got a former friend's brother bragging that he makes more money than anyone he knows. I had never wanted to punch someone in the face so badly before.

But yeah. There's my kick-off to the holiday shopping season update. Stay tuned for more holiday madness!

Methods of Communication Part 2

2009-11-20T01:24:35Z

Title: Methods of Communication Part 2
Rating: FRM or R
Pairing: David Rossi/Emily Prentiss
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything or anyone in regards to Criminal Minds; the show and its characters belong to a bunch of people who aren’t me. I am merely borrowing the characters for my own amusement. Dance puppets, dance.
Summary: Emily worries it's over between her and Dave when they stop speaking with each other.
Author's Note: I’ve never written a smut fic before, and this idea sort of hit me and wouldn’t leave me alone. I decided to go for it, and this behemoth came out. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have time, please leave a review. They make me smile :) All constructive criticism is welcome.
I should pretty much dedicate this to Mingsmommy, who went above and beyond in helping me with this fic. She let me bug her at every turn, and pushed me to make this better. Thank you for being a fantastic beta and an even better friend.

When Emily arrived at her apartment that evening, the thick scent of cooked meat greeted her as she opened the door. She went to the kitchen, stirring the contents of the crock-pot. Sneaking a bite, she found the meat spicy and deliciously juicy. After turning on the oven to toast the rolls, she went upstairs to change out of her work clothes.

By the time she’d set the plates and silverware on the breakfast bar, Emily heard a knock at the door. She rubbed her suddenly sweating palms on a dish towel before going down the hallway. She’d done what Garcia had suggested and shut off her desktop, laptop, and disconnected her landline; she’d left her cell phone on in case she got called for an investigation.

Her pulse going well into the triple digits, Emily turned the knob with a trembling hand. Dave stood with his arms by his side, but she did notice his shoulders appeared stiff and tense.

“Hi, Emily,” he greeted in that gentle voice that never failed to make her stomach flip.

“Hi.” She stood aside so he could pass. “Did you get Mudgie back all right?”

“Oh, yeah. He acted as if he hadn’t seen me in a year, but then once we got back to the house and I gave him a chewy, he ignored me completely,” Dave answered wryly.

“Good.” She walked with him back to the kitchen. “I made Italian beef for dinner. The rolls should be ready in a few minutes.”

“I know.” The corner of his lips lifted. “I could smell it all down the hallway outside your door.” He took a breath. “It smells great.”

She thanked him, and they ended up staring at each other for a few moments. Emily’s heart dropped; their relationship was really just about sex. They had gone from passion to fighting to stiff conversation. Good thing she’d also picked up a half gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. She had a feeling she’d need it later.

Once she pulled the bread from the oven, they sat at the breakfast bar to eat. Their conversation was forced and awkward; it seemed as if they had to think of things to say to each other. Then there were pained silences, only filled by the scraping of silverware against the plates and the chink of glass against the tile surface as they placed their glasses down.

When they finished, Emily cleared the dishes, and then sat back down with him. Now there was nothing left to do, but talk. She just needed an opening. All those relationship articles she’d read in the past taught her never to open with, “Hey, we need to talk,” but for life of her, she couldn’t think of anything else.

Luckily Dave beat her to it. “So, uh, I know we haven’t seen each other in a while…” he trailed off as if he didn’t know what else to say.

Taking in a shaky breath, she closed her eyes tightly, trying her best not to cry. She’d had a boyfriend who ditched her after he found out she was pregnant, another who tried to tell her the woman she just caught him in bed with meant nothing, and a man who she overheard tell a buddy she was a freak after going on about Vonnegut. So, she could handle this. Really. She could be brave and tell him she understood, and let him be on his way.

Opening her eyes, she just decided to forget her carefully prepared speech, and go for the “rip the band-aid off” approach-painful, but at least it would be over relatively quickly. Then he would be gone, and she could sink into a puddle of tears and ice cream. “Rossi…just say it. You don’t have to do this. I’m a big girl; I can take it.”

As much as she considered herself to be courageous, there was no way she could look into his eyes to find the relief giving him an out. However, she couldn’t ignore the incredulity in his voice. “What?”

Trying to keep her voice from wobbling, she didn’t want to prolong this any further. Having him pretend to be kind about the whole thing just made it hurt more. “Look, just get it over with. Just say that you’re breaking up with me and we can both go on-”

“What?!”

She licked her lips. “It’s okay. I…I understand.” Swallowing heavily, she continued, “I won’t…we’ll still be able to work together. I mean, people break up all the time, right. Just because a relationship ends--”

Her brave speech was cut off by the feeling of his palm wrapped firmly around her wrist as he pulled her, just the slightest bit roughly, to him. “Like hell,” he growled, drawing her tightly in his arms. “I am not ending this, and if you think you’re getting rid of me, you’ve just signed up for one helluva fight, Prentiss.”

Pulling back, she blinked at him, and sputtered, “Dave—”

“Look, I have been biting my tongue for a month to keep from fucking this up because I have crap communication skills when it comes to relationships.”

Stepping back, he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. For all the time she’d known him, Dave had been cool and collected both at work and lectures. Now he just seemed lost for words.

Finally, he let out a frustrated breath through his nose. “There’s a reason why I’ve been married three times.” He grunted. “I never knew when to keep my mouth shut. Every time I had a fight with them it escalated because I never would let anything go.” Barking a dark laugh, he laid his hand on the breakfast bar. “It eventually reached the point where they decided to let me go.

“I didn’t want to do the same thing with you.. I wanted…I don’t want to drive you away.” Dave moved closer to her again, his dark eyes mirrored the worry she heard in his tone. “Then we started arguing and well, I’m still a bit of a hothead.”

Remembering some of their more heated battles where he went off about where to hang up clothes in his bedroom, she gave a watery chuckle. “I knew I was going down the same road, and I didn’t want it to get any worse with you. So I thought the best thing to do was…” Shrugging, his hands drop to his sides. “…shut up.” He made a depreciating noise. “And that just made things even worse; in more than one way.”

She stared at him until he clarified. “Don’t even think for a minute that I haven’t noticed that we haven’t…” he trailed off for a brief moment, and she could’ve sworn he blushed. “…been together for the last twenty-six days. I know; I’ve counted.”

Despite the laugh that threatened to bubble to the surface, she still remained somber. “I just thought…maybe we’d…reached the end of this.”

His face was that of honest sincerity. “I’m sorry you thought that.” The corner of his lip lifted into that endearing crooked smile. “I guess I should’ve warned you I get a little,” then he amended, “a lot cranky when I miss you.”

Her heart sped up at that admission; it’d been a long time since anyone had said that to her. “You missed me?”

He nodded. Looping a strand of hair behind her ear, he let his fingers linger on her cheek. “I wanted to stop the silent treatment between us; I just didn’t know how to talk to you.”

Letting a long, relieved breath, the pressure in Emily’s chest had finally dissipated. A few tears escaped, but for once they were happy tears. “And here I thought you wanted to get rid of me.”

His eyes reflected the same pain she felt at the thought of not falling asleep next to him again. “No,” he protested emphatically, pulling her to him. “Never.”

She sunk into his arms, relishing in his strong, yet gentle embrace. Sighing contently, she nuzzled her face into his neck.

Bringing his lips against her ear, his goatee tickled her sensitive skin there. “So are you planning on getting rid of me?” He tried to sound teasing, but she could also hear the tentativeness in his tone.

Rolling her eyes, she pressed her lips to his jaw. “No, I seem to have a thing for stubborn, hotheaded, cranky men.”

When she heard the smirk in his voice, she couldn’t resist her own smile. “What can I say? I’m one of a kind.”

They stayed in each other arms for what felt like hours, and that was just fine with Emily. As far as she was concerned, they had to make up for lost time. Besides, she wanted to savor the feeling of knowing she hadn’t lost Dave; that this was something real and precious.

He began to move them in a circle, singing softly in her ear, out of tune, but completely adorable. It didn’t take her long to figure out his song.

“You know, there is music beyond Dean Martin and The Rat Pack,” she teased.

Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he let his cheek rest there. “Don’t knock it. They don’t make music like that anymore.”

Her eyes closed, Emily concentrated on nothing but the sound of his voice as they danced slowly to the tune Dave sang. She’d missed these quiet moments, when it was just the two of them. These times where they could put aside all of the pressure and rules of their job, and just simply be with each other.

And she was fairly certain he missed her too, and not just because he admitted it earlier. Judging by the evidence pressed against her hip, he missed her a lot.

“You said you were bad at talking,” she started, her fingers running through the hair over his ear. “But have you considered non-verbal communication?” She kissed the spot right below his lips.

He chuckled. “I can give it a shot.” Dipping his head, he softly kissed her forehead before moving his lips to her eyelids. From there, his mouth touched the tip of her nose, making her smile shyly. Then he finally kissed her lips, slow and sweet.

They stopped moving, and she felt his hand move up her back to hold the back of her head. His other arm remained around her waist, bringing her closer. His tongue gently nudged against the seam of her lips, and she opened her mouth to him.

Not for the first time, she didn’t register anything but the sweet, cinnamon taste of his mouth. Humming in pleasure, she ran her hands up and down his back. Her knees turned to jelly, making it more difficult to stand, but there was no way she wanted to let him go.

But she had to as the need for oxygen became more and more pressing. They gently parted, standing with their foreheads together.

Blinking rapidly as if to clear his mind, his breath rushed out. “How was that?”

“Much better. Just stick with this the next time you want to keep from fighting,” she grinned.

“Done.” He cleared his throat. “You know, I know some other forms of nonverbal communication,” he told her innocently.

Raising an eyebrow at him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Really?”

He nodded. “I’d be more than happy to demonstrate.”

Without a word, she tugged on his hand to lead him quickly upstairs. Turning, she went to kiss him again, but she didn’t process that he’d been following close behind her. She bumped into him, and he lost some of his footing. If it wasn’t for the fact that she grabbed his arm, she would’ve sent him stumbling down the stairs.

She couldn’t help but laugh at her own clumsiness and their close call. He chuckled too, but only for a moment. When she finally stopped, she caught him staring at her.

Raising her brow, she cocked her head. “What?”

He smiled that little smile when he liked to keep a moment just for them. “I just really missed hearing you laugh.”

He leaned in, and she brought her face closer. Instead, she felt the briefest brush of his lips against hers before he nuzzled her neck, purposefully running his goatee there. His facial hair was surprisingly soft, prickling her skin. She continued to giggle in delight. Then he finally kissed her with lighthearted abandon.

They made it into her bedroom where he undressed her slowly. Resisting each of her attempts to speed things up, he simply brought her palm up to his mouth to touch his lips there. He laid warm kisses to each piece of newly exposed skin; the base of her throat, the valley between her breasts, the flesh just above her navel. Sighing softly, she shivered at the attention he bestowed upon her.

Once he unbuttoned her pants, and she stepped out of them, he bent down, planting wet kisses on the curve of her hip. Breathing raggedly, Emily gripped his shoulders tightly. He’d seen her naked many, many times before, but he always looked at her with the same reverence he had the first time he saw her.

When she finally got his shirt off, she traced the outline of his biceps lightly with her fingertips before caressing the soft, heated skin of chest and stomach, feeling him shudder in response. For a man of his age, his body still had a strong build. Tumbling onto the bed, they remained tangled around each other. Balancing on his forearms, he rose above her. She stroked his solid back again and again, loving the feel of his muscles tensing under her hands.

Framing her face tenderly with his hands, he brought his face down to brush his nose against hers. She held the gaze of his deep, mahogany eyes as he slowly slid into her. Her breathy gasp intermingled with his groan. Linking their fingers, he buried his face into her neck before he started to move.

This, this was all that mattered; the two of them together, wrapped tightly around each other. A rush of bliss washed over her. He was the one that wasn’t like any other man she’d ever been with. Their movements began deliberate, unhurried, but that impatience that had plagued Emily earlier bubbled to the surface. She shifted her hips, causing him to sink in deeper, and he started a faster pace. Arching her back, her insides continued to coil and tighten with need. Breathing in short, choppy pants, his neck was corded with effort, and she knew he was close. He rotated his hips a little with the next thrust, and that was all she needed. Falling apart, she dug her nails into his broad shoulders, as an intense wave of pleasure swept through her. Grunting her name, he followed her over, his eyes closed as she felt him pulse into her again and again.

Breathing hard, he collapsed on top of her, his body surrounding her as if she were under a soft blanket. She sighed contently as she stroked her hands over his skin that was covered with a fine sheen of sweat. Occasionally, he turned his head, pressing kisses to her jaw and her collar bone. She brushed her lips across his forehead.

Rubbing his rough foot on her shin, he asked, “Why did we stop doing this again?”

She smothered a laugh against the side of his face, holding him tighter.

Rolling over, he brought Emily with him before reaching forward to pull the covers around them. Before, her bedding had smelled of vanilla and lavender fabric softener as Dave’s scent had long since disappeared, leaving her nothing to cling to on those lonely nights. Now, as the blankets and comforter fell around them, that spicy, slightly woodsy scent of him rushed to her with the stream of air that had been created.

Sliding under the sheets cooled her skin considerably, but then she found herself cocooned against him. Dave settled on his back, and she rested her head on the soft skin of his shoulder. Draping her arm on his chest, she threw her leg over his thigh. He ran his fingers through her hair, then covered the hand she held over his heart with his palm. Sighing happily, Emily fell asleep to the sound of his even breathing.

********

The alarm blared loudly, startling Emily out of a deep sleep; a very deep and peaceful sleep. Currently she lay on her side, her back flush against Dave’s warm chest, with their hands entwined under her cheek. Rising slowly, she moved toward the alarm clock, but the sleep befuddled voice behind her groaned, “Snooze,” before he burrowed his head against her neck and resumed snoring. That was just fine with her. Hitting the “snooze” button, her eyes slipped shut again.

It had felt like she just dozed off when the alarm went off again. Moaning, she hit the off button, and elbowed Dave, telling him it was time to get up. He groaned and grumbled, but eventually gave in. She inhaled deeply before throwing the covers back, mustering up the strength to leave her cozy, warm bed. Hell, she would’ve stayed there all day if she could. The shock of cool air to her naked flesh caused her to shiver slightly as she stood up. Her eye lids drooped, but she forced them back open. Her muscles ached now in wonderful way as she dragged herself to the bathroom.

Once there, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. No dark circles under eyes, but there was a dark bruise on her neck and a bit of beard burn on her breasts. It didn’t surprise Emily, but it did mean she’d need to apply some good cover-up to her throat or plan on wearing a turtle neck. Putting on her thick, comfy terry cloth robe, she exited the bathroom, smiling as Dave stumbled in after her.

With light steps, she headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She filled the carafe with water and switched the machine on. The coffee maker coughed and sputtered and a single drop of dark liquid fell into the glass pot.

“Not again,” she growled, banging the side of the machine. “You know better than this, you stupid machine.” She slapped the plastic again. “I’ll beat you with a sledgehammer before sending you to the junkyard.”

She heard a chuckle from the bottom of the steps. Dave walked to the kitchen wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt hanging over them. His disheveled hair and twinkling eyes made him look particularly charming.

Standing in front of her, he appeared as if he fought from smiling. “Problems?”

“Nope,” she deadpanned as the coffee machine finally gurgled, giving a steady stream of coffee. He didn’t say anything as they moved around the kitchen, preparing breakfast, but he did have a small smile on his face the whole time. Filling two mugs, she sat down with him at the breakfast bar, trading sections of the newspapers and the occasional kiss, discussing the articles, his book release, and her upcoming presentation.

After they finished, they went back upstairs. While he showered, Emily made the bed, taking a little longer as she had to pull together both sides. Looking at the clean floor, she grinned; of course he’d already thrown their clothes in the hamper and hung his jacket in the closet. And now seeing as there was nothing left to do in the bedroom, she sauntered to the bathroom. After all, she needed to put her robe back, and conserving water was always a good thing. Quietly opening the door, she snuck inside the steamy room…

Half an hour later, they dressed quickly, and headed back downstairs. Feeling tired, she was grateful there were only two days left in the work week. She wanted nothing more than to finish the paperwork on her desk and get through consults so she could concentrate on spending the weekend with Dave.

He usually left a few minutes before her so they wouldn’t raise suspicion by coming to the office at the same time. Earlier, he decided to make a quick stop by his house to check on Mudgie and then head to work. Before he opened the door, he leaned forward, kissing her slowly, deeply and so very thoroughly. When he finally pulled back, she stared at him with half lidded eyes.

“See you in a bit,” he told her affectionately.

“Bye,” was all she could manage. She blinked a few times to regain composure. Keys in her hand, she turned and left.

By the time Emily pulled into the parking lot at the FBI building, she sported wide grin on her face. As much as she didn’t want to, she knew she needed to put those wonderful feelings away for the day. She didn’t see anyone from the team as she walked into the building and onto the elevators.

By the time she made it to the bullpen, there were only a few people at their desks. She went over to the little kitchenette area for another cup of coffee. Filling her mug, she added her usual two creamers and one packet of Splenda. She took a sip of hot liquid, surprised by the strong, delicious taste; usually they drank stuff that tasted slightly better than what was at the local gas station. Something this good meant Reid was around somewhere, and felt generous with the coffee that his friend from Las Vegas had suggested he get from Hawaii.

Sitting at her desk, she started organizing her notes and files for the day. She’d been so caught up in her work she didn’t hear two distinctive females clear their voices. Bringing her head up, she found JJ and Garcia standing by her desk, both sets of eyebrows raised in question.

“Well?” Garcia drawled the word slightly. “How did it go last night?”

Before Emily could answer, Dave entered the office, a slight bounce to his step. And she could’ve sworn she heard him humming another damn Sinatra song under his breath.

“Good morning, ladies,” he greeted, nicely. “JJ, Penelope, Emily.” He inclined his head to each of them.

JJ snorted, obviously fighting a smile. Garcia didn’t bother to hide anything; she smirked outright.

“Good morning, sir,” she replied sweetly. “Aren’t you just the picture of sunshine? Any particular reason?” Emily glared at the tech analyst, who just ignored her.

Dave just shrugged. “Just having a good day. You all do the same.” He started to the ramp up to his office.

“Thank you, Rossi,” JJ said.

Shaking her head, Emily rolled her eyes when both blondes turned back to her with knowing smiles and their eyes sparkling with mischief.

Tapping her fingers on the desk, Emily finally threw down her pen. “Oh ,for God’s sake, you two just say it.”

Garcia chuckled. “Sweetheart, your spicy Italian pretty much gave everything away. We don’t have to say anything.”

“But we will anyway. We can take it Rossi had a good night in addition to his good morning?” JJ gestured toward his office. After a beat she added, “As well as you?”

Emily sighed. “Yes,” she admitted, smirking, even as she blushed a little. “He had all three: a good night, a good morning and me.”

JJ slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing aloud and Penelope shook with silent laughter.

“So everything is okay between you guys?” Garcia asked when she could speak.

“Yeah,” Emily nodded. “We’re great.”

Their expressions shifted from teasing to genuine happiness for her. “Good. We’re really glad to hear that,” JJ told her sincerely.

“Thank you.” Emily sometimes couldn’t believe how she lucked out in finding good friends…even if they did drive her a little crazy sometimes.

“So,” JJ smilied. “Girl’s night next week? My house?”

“That sounds great!” Garcia enthused.

Emily quirked an eyebrow at the media liaison. “Oh, girl’s night, yes, your house, no. Not after what I know what goes on your furniture.”

The End

Methods of Communication Part 1

2009-11-20T01:17:48Z

Title: Methods of Communication Part 1
Rating: FRM or R
Pairing: David Rossi/Emily Prentiss
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything or anyone in regards to Criminal Minds; the show and its characters belong to a bunch of people who aren’t me. I am merely borrowing the characters for my own amusement. Dance puppets, dance.
Summary: Emily worries it's over between her and Dave when they stop speaking to each other.
Author's Note: I’ve never written a smut fic before, and this idea sort of hit me and wouldn’t leave me alone. I decided to go for it, and this behemoth came out. I hope you enjoy it, and if you have time, please leave a review. They make me smile :) All constructive criticism is welcome.
I should pretty much dedicate this to Mingsmommy, who went above and beyond in helping me with this fic. She let me bug her at every turn, and pushed me to make this better. Thank you for being a fantastic beta and an even better friend.

The alarm blared loudly, but Emily was already awake; exhausted, but awake. She’d been staring at the ceiling since before the sun rose. Rolling over slowly, she hit the “off” button. She inhaled deeply before throwing the covers back. Her eye lids drooped, but she forced them back open. Her muscles ached as she dragged herself to the bathroom. Once there, she stared at her reflection in the mirror. Large dark circles under her eyes and bloodshot whites greeted her. It didn’t surprise Emily; she’d been used to it for the last two weeks.

With heavy feet, she headed to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. She filled the carafe with water and switched the machine on. The coffee maker coughed and sputtered and a single drop of dark liquid fell into the glass pot.

“Not today,” she growled, banging the side of the machine. “Do not even mess with me today.” She slapped the plastic again. “I will send you to the junkyard.”

Finally, it gurgled, giving a steady stream of coffee. She sighed heavily, resting her head on the counter briefly. She stared at the pot until the last drop fell, and then moved to fill her mug. She sat at the counter with a bowl of oatmeal, trying desperately to ignore the infinite silence in her apartment.

After breakfast, she went back to her room to make her bed. It didn’t take very long as the other side had been empty. She picked up the clothes draped over the chair from the night before, but it’d only been one set of clothes. No blue jeans or tailored-suit jackets or soft button-up shirts.

Emily dressed quickly, and headed back downstairs with her messenger bag. As tired as she felt, she was grateful for another day at work. She had three huge piles of paperwork waiting on her desk, but she figured it would provide more distraction from the heavy ache in her chest.

Before locking up, she made one last quick glance around to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Keys clenched in her hand, she turned and left.

By the time Emily pulled into the parking lot at the FBI building, her mood had improved considerably. She’d been able to push all of her emotions into neat little boxes. However, some of those had gotten knocked over when she got to the entrance, and saw JJ and Will together.

Will, holding Henry, stood with JJ beside a car parked along the curb. The former detective said something to JJ, making her laugh, and caused the small child to giggle also. Walking past the threesome, Emily’s heart panged when Will kissed JJ on the cheek.

“Good morning,” JJ greeted brightly to the brunette agent. Will repeated the sentiment.

Emily forced a polite smile. “Hi guys.”

Prior to pulling the glass door open, Emily glanced back to see the media liaison walk away, waving to her family; both men waved back.

Quickly clearing her mind once more, Emily hurried to the elevators. She jogged to a set of doors just as they began to close.

“Hold the elevator!” She called, reaching a hand out to push them open, but another hand inside beat her to it. The doors pulled back, making a “ping” sound, and Emily was greeted by Kevin Lynch and Penelope Garcia.

“Sorry about that, Agent Prentiss,” Kevin apologized when she joined them. “I didn’t see you there.”

“It’s no problem,” she said. “Thank you.”

The ride up Emily stood in front the two tech analysts, and pretended not to listen as they whispered to each other. She did catch snippets of the conversation, words like “whipped cream,” “feather boa,” and “video camera.”

Another “ping” sounded as the elevator stopped two floors below the BAU office area. Kevin stepped out after murmuring something in Garcia’s ear that caused her to giggle. He kissed her, and waved politely to Emily.

When the doors closed again, Garcia sighed contently and turned to Emily. “And how are you this fine day, Lady Profiler?”

Giving a slight nod, Emily replied, “I’m doing okay.” She glanced at Garcia. “It sounds like you had a good night.”

The blonde computer expert sported a wide grin. “There is nothing like wearing your man out.” She lifted her eyebrow in a pointed gesture. “But you already know that.”

Thankfully they arrived on the BAU floor so Emily didn’t have to respond. The two women parted ways, and Emily headed straight to her desk. Turning on her computer, she dove right into work. She started the long, monotonous reports, detailing the procedures from recently closed cases. It was perfect as she kept her eyes on the screen for most of the day and not on the empty office on the left side of the bullpen. When she did break from the computer, it was only to answer a phone call. The sexual assault crime unit requested her help on a case, and she scheduled a meeting with them the following day, affording her another distraction.

Later, when Morgan and Reid told her goodbye, she looked up and was surprised to see bright city lights blinking against the deep blue darkness outside the large windows. After the two agents left, she went back to the computer; why not? It wasn’t as if she had anyone waiting for her tonight. She continued to punch at her keyboard for a while before the muscles in her neck cramped up again. Pushing away from her desk, she rolled her neck around several times, listening to the occasional snaps and pops. Just as she pulled another file out, JJ and Garcia approached her desk together.

Garcia peered over the partition. “You know, it is okay to go home. I promise your desk will still be here in the morning.”

Managing a tired smile, Emily rubbed her eye briefly. “I just didn’t realize the day was already over.”

JJ had her coat over her crossed arms. “Well, it is, and we wanted to see if you wanted to get dinner.”

Garcia’s eyes lit up. “I have the most fabulous Chinese food restaurant three blocks away from my apartment. Kevin has a World of Warcraft quest,” she inclined her head toward JJ, “Will is still fixing her car.” Her voice lowered. “And your spicy Italian is in New York getting ready to publish the next great American novel. It is time for a girls’ night; even if it is Tuesday.”

The two women were the only members of the team who knew about Emily and Dave’s relationship. JJ figured it out fairly quickly when she’d called Dave regarding a new case early one morning and gotten Emily’s groggy voice on his cell phone instead. When she tried to fib to the media liaison that she’d accidentally switched cell phones at the office one day, JJ simply replied that’d it once had happened to her and Will.

Garcia…well, Emily was never quite sure how she figured it out. All Garcia had told her was if Rossi mistreated her in any way, the hacker would erase every last bit of research for his new book, and, as an added bonus, bounce a little extra alimony to his ex-wives. Despite the initial shock, both women had been supportive of her relationship with Dave; they promised to not to tell anyone.

Emily let out a breath. “Thanks, but I think I’m going to-”

“Stay?” Garcia finished, shaking her head. “No, no, no, my dear.”

Leaning closer, JJ pursed her lips. “Yeah, you have barely left this desk all day. Your lunch was three cups of coffee.”

Cocking her head in confusion, Emily waved her pen between the pair. “What? Are you guys stalking me?”

Garcia huffed. “Please. Stalking gets pretty boring when your prey doesn’t move.” She moved around the desk and tugged on the back of Emily’s desk chair, successfully rolling her out of reach of the computer. Putting a hand on the agent’s back, she then pushed Emily forward so she could grab the black overcoat from the back of the chair and dropped it in the brunette’s lap. “So put on your coat, get your purse, stand up, and come with us.”

Emily tried to protest again, but Garcia beat her to the punch.

“You know the directions to my place, and before you say you’re too tired, you can ride with us if that’s the case.”

Looking between the two, Emily knew she wasn’t going to have much of a choice; JJ had raised a challenging eyebrow and Garcia gave her a very determined, very pointed look. The blondes had created a massive force field, unable to be penetrated by any excuse.

After a long stare down (she wasn’t going to give in that easily), Emily finally sighed. “Does your great Chinese food place have Kung Pao chicken?”

********

Forty-five minutes later, Emily found herself seated on the floor across from her co-workers in Garcia’s living room, with various cartons of Chinese take-out littering the coffee table. The scents of chicken, rice, and spring rolls combined for a delicious aroma. The smell was almost as good as the taste of the food itself. Garcia was right; she did have the most fabulous Chinese food restaurant. Emily considered moving closer to the Quantico area just so she could have this take-out.

The conversations had been light and airy; Emily laughed for what felt like the first time in weeks. But then JJ mentioned she and Will had bought a new recliner, and Garcia made a sly remark about “christening it.” Emily’s heart sank at the turn of the discussion.

JJ smiled conspiratorially. “I won’t say anything except that Lazy-Boy makes a very sturdy rocker.”

Huffing good naturedly, Garcia rolled her eyes. “Oh please, honey. I found that out the first night I stayed at Kevin’s house.”

Despite her conflicting emotions, Emily managed to interject herself into the conversation. “Why does that not surprise me?”

“Hey, now. I’m no cheap date.” Garcia protested. She then paused for a moment, for effect. “Kevin did take me to a nice steak restaurant before hand.” With her fork, the tech pointed between the two agents. “And at least your snookums are audacious. Kevin’s parents came into town and we had dinner at his place.” She shook her head. “He couldn’t form a sentence for almost ten minutes when his father sat in the chair.”

JJ nearly choked on the wine she’d been sipping. “And you think Will is unflappable?” She snorted. “Please. That good Southern boy nearly confessed our sins to his mom when she used our bathroom.”

The computer tech chuckled, raising her glass toward Emily. “Looks like you win.”

Emily gave a small nod of acknowledgement. “Thanks.” Her stomach had tightened and not because of the food. She and Dave had done their fair share of “christening” furniture; her couch, his shower, her stairs, and his kitchen counter. She just couldn’t remember the last time she had smirked when she looked at her couch.

“Well, as nice as it to not be able to move the day after,” JJ cleared her throat, “using the chair, there is something to be said for the bed.”

“You obviously had a good weekend then.” Garcia waggled her eyebrows.

Her forehead furrowed in confusion, JJ asked, “How does that comment automatically connect to what I did on the weekend?”

Garcia sighed haughtily. “I have powers beyond your imagination. Now spill.”

JJ relaxed against the cushions. “Will cooked dinner for the three of us on Saturday night and we ate on the deck. Then after Henry went down for the night, he brought me to our room where there were rose petals everywhere, candles, and a chilled bottle of champagne.” Sighing, her eyes softened at the memory. “It was really a beautiful night.”

An icy stab of jealousy crept in Emily’s veins, and she hated it. Hated it because she knew she should be happy for her friend, and she wasn’t. But mostly she hated it because the last time she and Dave had dinner together was at a hotel in Xenia, Ohio and they ate sandwiches from a brown paper bag with the rest of the team.

“Awww, that’s so sweet,” Garcia gushed. “No matter what anyone says, you can never go wrong with the classics.”

JJ blushed slightly. “Kevin seems like the romantic type.”

“Yeah, he can be.” Garcia smiled. “But do you know some of our best times have been when something stupid has happened and we just laughed over it? Like this one time I had bought this piece of lingerie with all of these laces…”

Emily drifted out of the conversation as her neatly packaged, labeled boxes all started falling out of their compartments. Her head started to pound in time with her heart. She clenched her hands until her knuckles almost turned white. Then she felt the hot burn of tears behind her eye lids, and she did everything she could to keep herself together.

It was then Garcia turned to her. “What about you, Emily? Does Rossi use that Italian accent...?” She trailed off, presumably because she saw a few tears slip down Emily’s cheek. “Hey, there. What’s going on? Are you okay?”

Sniffing, Emily furiously wiped at her cheeks. “Oh I’m fine. I just…its allergies.”

JJ shook her head slowly. “That’s not just allergies.” After a moment, she leaned forward and asked in a very gentle voice, “Has something happened between you and Dave?”

At his name, panic welled up inside Emily. Clearing her throat, she threw her napkin on the table. “I should probably get going.” She started to stand up, but Garcia stopped her.

“No, no, no. There’s obviously something bothering you that are not allergies.” She cocked her head to the side. “You can talk to us.”

But Emily remained tight-lipped, fighting the urge to flee the apartment. Silence filled the tiny living room for several long moments as Emily stared everywhere else but at the pair on the couch.

It was when JJ quietly said, “You don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to,” that Emily’s dread eased.

Taking a deep breath, she swallowed heavily. “Things…haven’t been going very well between me and Dave.”

Placing the carton she’d previously held on the table, JJ turned to give Emily all of her attention. “How so?”

Emily bit her lip to keep more tears from falling. “It’s just…the team has been busy with cases, and we never see each other.” She chuckled ruefully. “And when we do see each other we only fight.”

“Emily,” Licking her lips, JJ paused as if she were afraid to ask her next question. “Has it been a while since you two have…had sex?”

Shaking her head, Emily huffed. “I really hate people who work with profilers sometimes.”

The blondes shared a knowing look, and Garcia shrugged. “We kinda figured it out. Rossi hasn’t been a picture of sunshine lately.” Emily noticed that too; he walked around the bullpen with a scowl on his face. When Dave permitted people in his normally closed office, it was only to bark orders at them, before shutting the door.

“And you’ve been pulling a lot of late nights at the office,” she added.

Sarcasm was always Emily’s best defense. “Yeah, I’ve gotten pretty used to spending my nights alone. I might as well make good use of the time.”

She tried to face her two friends with what she hoped was a steady half-smile. But apparently she wasn’t as brave as she thought because Garcia got up from the couch. “Oh, sweetie.” The tech analyst got down next to her, and hugged Emily tightly.

The gesture surprised Emily; Garcia squeezed her hard enough to cause a few more tears to escape. “I’m okay,” she tried to protest, but Garcia didn’t let up. JJ had also moved to sit next to them on the floor. Emily felt stupid and grateful for their support at the same time.

When Garcia finally pulled back, a more genuine smile tugged at Emily’s lips. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

“You’re welcome.” Garcia bumped her shoulder. “So tell us; what’s going on?”

Playing with a piece of string on the rug, Emily’s shoulders sagged. “We were so busy at the beginning of the month with all of those cases.” Because they didn’t want to risk being caught by their co-workers and possible backlash from defense attorneys, she and Dave agreed to never have personal contact while working a case. Nearly two straight weeks on the road tested their limits, but they managed.

When they finally made it back to Quantico, the strangest thing happened. They didn’t make love that night. Sure, she followed Dave back to his place, but they were both so exhausted from living out of a suitcase, they fell asleep with their clothes on. But she’d woken up alone the next morning. And they didn’t make up for lost time that evening or the day after. Neither of them spoke about the problem, and it went on for the next several days.

“Then we just started coming up with reasons to not see each other. His publisher was pressing him for new chapters; I needed to do research for a presentation at Georgetown.” A shuddering breath escaped her. “Finally we managed an evening to ourselves, and within ten minutes we were fighting.” Emily’s mind flashed back to that night where a simple hello had somehow turned into a very loud, very heated argument about where shoes go by the front door.

She grunted. “We fought every time we just spoke to each other.” In a very small voice, she finished, “And now we don’t even speak.” Dave had left for New York on Sunday night, and she hadn’t gotten so much as an email from him. Usually he’d call her when he made it to his destination safely, but she had heard nothing. And she missed the low, soothing sound of his voice more than she could say.

JJ rubbed Emily’s shoulder. “It’s normal to get bogged down in work that you end up forgetting to check in with each other.”

Emily looked at her with an incredulous expression. “Is almost a month normal?”

“In our case, yeah.” Despite Emily’s biting tone, Garcia’s voice remained kind. “We work twenty-four/seven. Besides, men would rather cut off a limb than admit there’s any sort of problem in the bedroom.” She smiled reassuringly. “You can’t read too much into him shutting down.”

But Emily did. Sleepless nights in her bed had given her plenty of time to think and all of her profiling skills had led her to think that…maybe their relationship was solely based on sex. It had never been a problem for them in the past. Sex had always been great between them; fantastic even. But lately it seemed as if the passion had faded, and all that was left were two incredibly strong and volatile personalities that clashed all the time. Had she fooled herself into thinking she had found something real and precious? Was she another notch in his belt and he avoided her because he didn’t know how to get rid of her? The possibility of…this falling apart scared her more than anything ever had before.

JJ then asked, “When does Dave get back?”

“Tomorrow morning. He’s coming straight to the office.”

She followed with, “Can we offer you a little advice?”

Shrugging, Emily replied, “Sure.”

JJ rested her hands in her lap. “Talk to him. Tomorrow.”

Garcia nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes. Don’t let him tell you he needs to unpack or work on his book or take a nap.” She then looked straight at Emily. “And don’t you worry that it’s a school night or that you have twenty consults the next day. Get him over to your place and turn off every form of electronic communication technology you both have; cell phones, pagers, computers, landlines, the whole shebang. And have a quiet evening with him, just the two of you.

“Screw paper work, screw books, screw-” Pausing for a half a second, Garcia’s lips lifted into a grin. “Just screw him.”

Clearing her throat, JJ’s mouth turned up ever so slightly. “As Garcia so thoughtfully put it, yes, that’s the idea. Don’t let this eat you up any further.” Sensing the apprehension in Emily’s eyes, she continued, “Sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one.”

That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, Emily answered mentally. After a long moment, she finally let out a long breath. “Yeah.” She knew what the two of them said was right, but a part of her was scared of what she might find out. Yes, the most logical explanation was likely Dave didn’t know how to address this problem either, but she could also find out she’d wanted a relationship based on nothing.

Putting her arm around Emily’s shoulder, Garcia added, “And if on the off, off, off chance Rossi tells you he wants out, I’ll make sure he makes some very generous donations to ex-wives.”

“And I can make sure you have the perfect place to hide the body,” JJ smiled.

********

Emily thought saying the problem out loud would alleviate the constant ache she carried, but it only intensified the pain. So after she left Garcia’s, she stopped by the grocery store to pick up a few things. She planned on inviting Dave to her apartment for dinner the next night so they could talk. To ease the thoughts sprinting in her head, Emily decided to start preparing the meal that night so it would be ready by tomorrow. She picked up the ingredients for Italian beef with Italian white bean salad; his favorite.

As she got the meat and spices ready to go into the crock-pot, Emily mentally went over what she would say to him. She wanted them to have a calm and rational conversation. She tried to prepare herself for the possibility of their relationship ending. Her heart clenched in her chest. Had she known several weeks ago might be the last time she woke up with his skin surrounding her, she probably would have insisted they never leave the bed.

After only a handful full of hours of sleep, Emily headed back to the BAU the next morning with a black hole in her stomach. She didn’t see either JJ or Garcia when she sat down at her desk which strangely relieved her. Besides Dave, it’d been a very long since she’d bared her soul to anyone. She hated going to other people with her problems because they were either indifferent to her plights or they smothered her with pity.

Dave still hadn’t arrived by late morning, but she did see JJ and Garcia as they walked to Hotch’s office. It was everything Emily could to not to bury her face in a file. But she managed a small nod to the two of them, and they smiled in return.

By the time she made back in from the consult early afternoon, she found out Dave had returned. It didn’t appear so because his office door was shut as usual, but Morgan told her he’d been through, grouchy as ever before he shut himself away. She told herself it would look suspicious if she bolted up the ramp right away so she needed to wait. Apparently she needed to wait a couple of hours because she tried to build her courage. With all of her previous practice, she still didn’t know how to approach him.

Later, Emily had been engrossed in a casefile when she heard a low thumping at the side of her small cubicle. She found Garcia standing there her own file in hand.

Holding up the folder, Garcia told her, “I have some foster care numbers Rossi wanted. I knew you were going to see him about the Rollins case so I figured you can give him this as well.” She offered Emily the file. “Save an extra visitor for him.”

It didn’t take Emily long to get what she’d really meant, and she slowly took it from Garcia. Then the tech added, “He wanted those ASAP.” She then turned and left.

Emily smiled to herself. She should be upset she was still being watched, but warmth bloomed in her chest at knowing her friends keeping an eye on her.

She slowly made her way up the ramp to Dave’s office. Standing outside the door, she took a deep breath. She knew she couldn’t linger long because it would look strange to just be standing outside his office so she knocked on the wood.

A loud and terse greeting of, “Come in!” came from the inside.

She went in, immediately shutting the door behind her. Emily found him at his desk, writing furiously on a piece of paper, the pen scratching across the page.

He didn’t even bother to look up. “Those better be those statistics I asked for, Penelope.”

“Yeah, she asked me to bring them to you,” Emily replied.

Slowly looking up at her, his dark eyes softened slightly. Dave carefully set his pen down. “Emily. I didn’t know it was you.”

“Garcia just asked me to drop these off to you.” Crossing the room, she stood in front of his desk and gave him the folder. He thanked her, and they stared at each other for a long moment, a painful, awkward silence filling the room.

Ignoring her rapidly beating heart, she plowed ahead. “How did things go in New York?”

He rested his arms on the blotter. “Great. I met with my editor and we set date for me to send him my first draft.”

A genuine smile lit her face; she knew how hard he’d been working on his new book. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations.” Knowing she would lose her nerve if she waited any longer, she didn’t bother with any segue way. “I know you just got back, but I wanted to invite you over for dinner.” She paused. “We haven’t had a chance to catch up in a while.” She wanted her tone to be as neutral as possible so it didn’t sound like she blamed him for them not having seen each other.

His forehead wrinkled in thought, and it seemed as if he debated the proposal in his mind. Finally, he licked his lips. “I have to pick up Mudgie, so…” Her mind immediately started going to counter response, but he finished with, “…I won’t be at your place until later.”

“Seven o’ clock okay?”

“That works.”

“I’ll see you later, then.” She turned around, and headed back to the door. Just as her hand touched the knob, she heard him say, “Emily?”

Shifting back, she watched as he stood up. His fingers nervously tapped against the wood of his desk. “It’s…it’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too,” she murmured before leaving.

Part 2 Here

The Human Consumption of New War Video Games at Midnight Openings: A Study

2009-11-13T21:31:37Z

So I promised ellipsesbandit I would write about my lovely experience at the midnight opening for the latest blow 'em up video game.

This past Monday I scheduled till 1 am for the midnight release of Modern Warfare: Call of Duty 2. This apparently was a very big deal. I hadn't even heard of the game until I asked one of co-workers what was coming out that night.

This apparently is a very popular video game and is the 4th in the series. I'm not sure how that works, but it is technically the 4th game, so just do like me, and nod and smile. From the commercial I saw, this allows men to live out their action hero fantasies, and kill people with large gernades, machine guns, bombs, and any other weapon Arnold has used in his movies.

My brother told me there are typically three editions:

1.)Standard-Which is the game itself
2.) Premium-The two disc set
3.)Prestige-Which comes with all sorts of goodies including night vision goggles. And the night vision goggles have nothing to do with playing the game. You just get them. Only men.

Anywho, he warned me a big crowd would turn out for this. I'm kinda looking forward to this because it'll be a study in real nerds. Basement Boys. You know the ones, the dudes who rarely see the light of day. Their social interaction consists of playing online with other gamers.

The store closes at 10pm and then we set up the table for the game. And there's all sorts of stuff with the game: guide books, t-shirts, a Modern Warfare XBox 360, a version of the game for every console ever made. For those that preordered the game, they got a poster and a special energy drink ('cause you know when they get the game, they'll be go going home to play).

Now I'm the only girl at the registers up front (and the only trainee for that matter which I thought was interesting). I'm used to guys geeking over new and shiny video games, and the men I worked with that night did not disappoint. They flipped through the books, talking about which of the games so far was the best, what their high score was, who had the biggest weapon, etc. Typical male showboating. I stood an watched and tried not to laugh out loud.

Prestige editions of the games are typically only for pre-order and the store doesn't get that many to sell to those that didn't pre-order. Well we got three and some of the guys wanted to open the box so they could see if the night vision goggles really worked. They joked about asking someone who bought one to take out the glasses so they could play with them, though I'm not sure how much they were joking.

By midnight we had about 50 people lines up which was nothing because a Game Stop not too far from Best Buy had about 300.

And then they were let in. The crowd was mostly teenagers who apparently weren't going to school the next day. I had fun carding them all, because the video game is rated M and you have to be 18 and up to buy it. The managers there that night really emphasized carding because selling a M game to a minor is an offense and the store could get fined and I could lose my job, Most the licenses I looked at were of kids who were barely eighteen, your typical grungy teenage boy. Nothing like the smell of corn chips at midnight.

Captain Sweatpants didn't show up in my lane (BBT watchers will get the reference), but I got a few socially awkward college students and one Dad buying the game for his underage son (debate parental choices here). And it was over just as soon as it started. I was out of the store by 1am.

But I have to tell you this part. A guy came in, who works in the TV department, to pick up his pre-ordered Prestige edition. Well, the other guys working convinced TV Guy to open his box so they could play with the night vision goggles. They went to a small storage space in the front where all the food and drink is kept for the front lanes to try this out. Y'all, they formed a line for this. I am not even kidding. They were doing this after the big rush. And we were all wearing walkie talkies so I kept hearing, "This is so cool! This is the shit!" And other variations.

Oh! I have to tell you guys this part. After the crowd had left we were standing around waiting for the store to close. I was trying to make conversation with a dude who worked in the gaming department and asked if he was getting a copy tonight.

"No," he replied. "I'm not getting the game. If I want such and such realism, I'll play Halo. If I want better one-on-one combat, I'll play Rainbow 6."

This guy won the gold star for the night, because THAT right there is a geek answer. The absolute assumption that everyone knows what you're talking about when you say things like "RPG." Plus, it's pretty obvious this guy doesn't get out into the real world except to work and for late night Taco Bell runs.

So there you have it. A look into the world of gamer nerds.

Stay tuned for the terrifying tale of : THE AFTER THANKSGIVING.

BA BA BUUUUUUUUUUUUUM.

I almost forgot; I had some meme questions from the ever so lovely zamboni12

1. If you could spend a day with a celeb, who would you choose Billy Petersen or Joe Mantegna? (hehehe)
You know, I've been watching CSI longer, but I can honestly say, I'd choose Joe Mantegna. He's been in my favorite things: the Spenser movies, a voice on The Simpsons, and now Criminal Minds. Plus, I would try to get to talk Italian to me :)

2. Tell me three things you necessarily would take with you on an island? (Clothing, food and water are abound)
-Laptop
-Some sort of WiFi
-Books

3. Would you take a job offer in Europe for example Germany or Italy?
Heck yes! I think it would be cool to live in Europe for a while. And friends would definitely visit me.

4. Do you speak a second (or maybe third) language? Which one? If not which one would you prefer to learn?
No other languages here. I would love to learn to learn Italian, and since my friend wants me to visit her Japan, I'd like to learn some Japanese.

5. Do you have a phobia? If yes, which one?
I hate spiders. I can handle the small ones as long as they stay on the wall and don't ever, ever move. But as soon as they get big and hairy, that's when I pull out the bug spray and sledge hammer.

And a very Happy Birthday to Joe Mantegna :)

Family

2009-11-12T21:01:58Z

Living at home has certainly been a challenge. It's hard to go from living on your own to being with family again. I lost a great deal of my independence, but I am grateful my parents let me come home. I pretty much had no where else to go to.

Because of room limitations, I sleep on an air mattress in my middle sister's room. My dresser is on the landing and my clothes are stuffed under her bed. There's no space that's really "mine" so I feel a little displaced.

On top of that is the fact my two sisters and I don't get along. I'm pretty introverted, the geek, the bookworm. Both of them are girly girls, into clothes, shoes, jewelry. The two of them get a long great; add me to the mix and it can sometimes get volatile.

I guess I'm a little jealous because they're more friends. They hang out and talk and laugh. When I'm with one or the both of them, we get along for the time being and then go our separate ways or end up in fight; whichever comes first.

It's hard for us to relate to each other. Part of it has to do with me being at home. I know the middle sis is upset at having to give up a part of her space for me. And I'm sure they didn't like having me around on their days off when I didn't have a car or a job. It still gets to them now because I'm working 10 hours a week and sometimes less.

But the other part of it has been because that's the way things have always been. We just...are not friends. And that kinda sucks. I'm just not sure how to reach them.

I will say I've learned how to keep my mouth shut. When I was younger, I used to keep going and going and going with my sisters until we were all screaming at each other. Now we have our moments, and when we start our digging, I remember to pull back. I'm not proclaiming to be the perfect person in this situation. Heh. Far from it. I'm still constantly learning to keep my anger in check.

I'm sure me and the two sisters will probably remain polar opposites forever, and maybe we'll never really be friends. I'd just like things to be better than they are now. But that may have to wait until I move out.

As Calvin once said, "I'm related to people I don't relate to".

Please don't throw tomatoes!

2009-11-11T16:54:27Z

So I feel, really, really, really, really bad about this, but I won't be able to get the Secret Santa assignments out until later tonight.

I am so, so, so sorry everyone.

My work just called and they needed someone to come in and I said yes. For those that don't know, I was struggling for about a month and half with trying to find a job. What I have now is seasonal work so I'm not sure how long it will last and truth be told, I really need the extra cash.

Which unfortunately means I have shirk on my responsibility to you guys until later tonight. Again, I am so sorry.

I do PROMISE to get the assignments out as soon as I get home. You WILL have them tonight.

I owe the group one big fic for this.

Last Day for Sign-Ups

2009-11-10T16:16:27Z

Hey guys! It's the last day to sign-up for the Rossi/Prentiss Secret Santa Exchange. If you haven't signed up, you should!! It will better your karma :)

5 MORE Things You Wanted to Know About Me

2009-11-08T00:19:15Z

From snowydragon1776 ...

* Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."
* I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
* Update your journal with the answers to the questions
* Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

And here are her questions:

1. Would you be willing to move anywhere, if you got your dream job?
For the most part, yes, I'll be willing to work any where. There are certain parts of the country I won't move to like New York City and some parts of the south. But for the most part I am willing to get back in the UHaul.

2. Tell me about someone you really admire.
My good friend, ellipsesbandit . I really admire her for her ability to not care what others think. She doesn't herself because of what others do or say about her. I really wish I could be more like her in that regard.

3. Name your five favorite foods.
-Potatoes. In any way, shape, or form.
-Pizza
-Pumpkin Cheesecake
-Burritos
-Hamburgers

4. What is your middle name?
Marie. No embarrassing family names passed down

5. Something or someone you miss the most from childhood?
I miss after school snacks; Kool-Aid and Oreos or something of the like. I eat those things now and they lost some of their magic.

microgirl8225 @ 2009-11-05T16:01:00

2009-11-05T23:17:30Z

So I have a question for y'all.

Is it fair for me to participate in a fic challenge I'm organizing?

As many of you know, I'm organizing the Rossi/Prentiss Secret Santa Fic Exchange, and I was thinking about participating in the exchange myself, but I was just wondering if that seemed...I don't know, ethical?

I can already guarantee people that I will be handing out assignments the old fashioned way: picking names out of a hat. Well in this case hats. One hat will be for giver and one will be for recipient, just so it will be as fair as possible for everyone.

And I also realize I might end up writing more than one fic in case someone drops out and I'm okay with that. Everyone has really great prompts so there are plenty of ideas.

I don't know...maybe I'm overthinking things. But I have no problem stepping aside if that's the right thing to do. But I'm fairly confident I can handle a recipient and any other fics that need to be written.

Thoughts? Opinions?

Christmas already?

2009-11-03T22:52:20Z

Seasons greetings! Yes that time of year is fast approaching.

And what better way to ring in the holiday season than with a little fan fic.

The good folks at 1hour2write are hosting a challenge I'm organizing. It the first ever annual Criminal Minds, Rossi/Prentiss Secret Santa Fan Fic Exchange!

Rules are fairly simple. You write a fic for someone, and you get a fic in return. Pretty good deal, right?

Just sign up here with four prompts featuring the loverly Emily Prentiss/David Rossi pairing for your Santa-To-Be-Named; just a couple of things to feed the plot bunnies of your writer. And in return, you'll be responsible for writing a fic for another person. It's a no lose deal!

Than posting begins from December 17-31 and we'll all get to bask in the glory of some truly great stories.

Complete set of rules are found with the link above. If you're interested, please sign up. We'll have a lot of fun!!

All things Pumpkin

2009-10-30T21:04:31Z

Because I loveth the pumpkin...

You Are an Orange Pumpkin

You are a bit average and ordinary, but that's a good thing. People appreciate you for who you are.

You believe life's too short to not forgive and forget. You try to let the small stuff slide and focus on what's important.

You appreciate the ordinary things that most people ignore - good friends, a warm home, a tasty meal.

There's so much to be thankful for in your life that you would feel wrong to complain too much!

What Color Pumpkin Are You?

Blogthings: Waste Time at Work!

Just the head canon facts ma'am

2009-10-21T15:13:59Z

So there's this really interesting thread at criminalxminds on head canon facts; the little factoids on characters that are true in your head outside of stated canon. It spawned a HUGE response, and many people came up with some really great stuff.

I wanted to bring the idea over here and ask my f-list the head canon for their fandoms. Any and all, it doesn't even have CSI and CM. Tell me those little things you know about the character. Like what's Grissom's favorite breakfast food? Why did Rossi get divorced from his second wife? Even shippy head canon, like who does the laundry in the Grissom household? And like I said, tell me about some of your other fandoms. Inquiring minds want to know! I'll get the ball rolling...

CSI-General Characters
-Greg has every gaming system known to man from the original Nintendo to XBox 360. When he started out as a CSI, he invited Sara over to play video games, and got her hooked on Super Mario World. He gave her a Super NES for her birthday.

-Catherine splurges on expensive perfumes

-Brass is a chronic midnight snacker and puts frosting on EVERYTHING

-Once a week, Nick brings flowers to Warrick's grave

-David Phillips and his wife have been trying to have a baby for months with no luck. They are now in the process of filling out adoption papers.

CSI-Grissom/Sara
-Grissom does all of the laundry and irons his and Sara's clothes

-When they lived in Las Vegas, they has the MLB Sports Pass channels so Grissom could watch the Cubs and Sara could keep up with the Red Sox

-They came back to Las Vegas for three days just so the team could be there when they got married.

Criminal Minds-Gen Characters
-JJ loves to sing loud in the shower. Morgan found this out when he heard her sing "Hard to Handle" (Black Crowes) when his hotel room was next to her's.

-Reid will get postcards from time to time with no return address and no writing. He's pretty sure they're from Gideon.

-Garcia puts out a bowl of food for the stray cats in her neighborhood.

Criminal Minds-David/Emily
-It took Emily a while to make friends with Mudgie because the dog was wary of females. Now he sleeps on the floor near her side of the bed.

-Emily got Dave to make a Facebook account as a way to better promote his books.

-Dave parks his car on the sidewalk so Emily can park in the garage when she comes over and he knows it's going to snow.

I'm EMPLOYED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-10-20T00:49:42Z

It is official. I am part of the working force again.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have gained seasonal work at Best Buy. I just got word my background check and drug test cleared, so I start orientation tomorrow night,

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Of course everyone is asking me what kind of discount I get. I don't know yet, but I'm sure everyone will be getting DVDs and CDs for Christmas ;)

I can't tell you how happy I am. It'll be soooooooooooooo nice to work and get paid again.

WHOOT!

Job interview recap and other tales of life

2009-10-11T02:36:32Z

Some of you know I had a job interview this past week. I hope no one is offended I didn't say anything; I just a little superstitious.

Anywho, I was interviewing for a forensic biology position for the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in their Great Bend laboratory. Great Bend is smack dab in the middle of Kansas, about a six and a half hour drive from from my parents home. It was an expensive trip for me as I had to get a hotel room for two nights and had to rent a car. Sadly, none of my family members had a reliable vehicle to lend me. I cringed when I booked my hotel room and my car rental the same day. It was just more money on a credit card I'm hardly making a dent in.

The interview went okay. I answered some questions well and others not so well. I felt like an idiot when it took me forever to answer, "Define percentage." I can calculate it and use it in equations, but could I define it quickly? Noooooooooo. It felt like forever before I could come up with something. *head desk*

I didn't pee my pants, sweat like a pig, or cry so I guess that's good. I just didn't feel like I did a great job. It could've been a lot better.

Going back home, I was kinda depressed because I going back to being dependent on everyone again. For two days, I got to go where I wanted, when I wanted. I got to watch what I wanted on TV, and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Even for that short time, it was nice to feel like an adult again.

This whole unemployment thing just plain sucks. In the middle of talking to a friend that I have nothing interesting to tell people. My buddies have stories about what they did at work, something funny that happened on the weekend, actual plans for the weekend, etc. The highlight of my day is something funny one of the pets did. Other than that, its what did I find on TV to watch that day or how many calls from solicitors we got. And that just depressed the hell out of me.

Everyone keeps telling me to hang in there, and that my time will come, and I appreciate having so much support. But my question is, when? When is my time? For my whole life, I have always felt ten paces behind everyone. I have always been the person that needs a little extra help and a little extra time to get to where everyone else is. I'm not sitting around, waiting for a job to find me. Believe me, I am putting in applications everywhere every day. From Target to forensics, I having been putting my name out there. And I realize the condition of the economy isn't helping AT ALL, but it's just so frustrating. I just want to get back on my feet again, you know?

Anywho, I should hear back from KBI in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, it's back to the drawing board for me.

microgirl8225 @ 2009-10-02T16:05:00

2009-10-02T22:09:41Z

I found a piece of my childhood when I saw this on YouTube:

I also had a fan fic image of Grissom or Dave singing this to their kids, as having becoming a victim of having to listen kids songs all the time