Emily Prentiss x Reader Oneshots

If/Then Part 2-- Love While You Can*

The restaurant you found was quaint and you ordered in broken French. Emily had only been able to teach you so much but you knew enough to get by. Across the street was a cafe that had a tolerable line and you quickly walked across lanes and got in line behind a woman who was taller than you. After a few minutes of the line creeping closer to the register, you noticed her cellphone fall from the pocket of her pants.

You reached out to grab the phone that had slipped and tapped her on the shoulder. As she spun around to address you, your breath caught in your throat mid-greeting and tears pricked at your eyes and your entire world started to spin.

"Hi... Emily?"

No one could have prepared you for what it felt like to be flung from the world as it came skidding to a stop. Standing in this small French cafe, your ears began to ring as your blood pressure spiked, feeling as though someone had punched you in the stomach and knocked the breath from your lungs. As your eyes began to water, you noticed dark hair devoid of its signature bangs, the slope of a pointy nose, and unmistakable umber eyes widened in surprise. It felt like someone had caught your head between a pair of cymbals as they crashed together, shaking your body to the core.

Taking some small steps backward, your entire body trembled as you brought a hand to your mouth, the forgotten cellphone clattering to the floor. This couldn't be her. You buried your wife seven months ago. You turned away from the woman and ran, feeling suffocated and desperate for fresh air. Your lungs began to heave as you fled the cafe, fingers clawing at your chest while you ran. Down the block you found a park and slid to the ground against a tree, pushing your head between your knees and pulling gently at your hair as you cried. A mantra looped in your head, Emily is dead, you're okay. Emily is dead, you're okay.

As your breathing slowed, you sat up a little straighter, watching as some kids ran after a frisbee on the lawn. It was then you felt someone sit down next to you on the ground so you turned away, furiously swiping at your cheeks so that the stranger wouldn't see that you had been crying. You heard the stranger clear their voice and with a final swipe at your cheeks, you turned to face them.

What you saw next to you was the woman from whom you had just fled and you felt the tears well up in your eyes. You moved to stand but the woman stopped you with a hand on your arm, adorned with the rings you had placed on them exactly one year ago. You once again began to tremble, tears falling furiously down your cheeks.

"No," you cried into the air. "No, no, this isn't happening."

Your name slipped from her lips, reverent and pleading. With that one word, you collapsed into her arms, burying your head in her neck.

"Emily."

You didn't know how many days had passed since you sat in the cold waiting room of a hospital in a city you didn't know and your whole world was ripped away from you. Penelope and Morgan had taken you home and tucked you into your bed where you laid awake, catatonic until the sun rose again. Sergio came to lay on your chest and that was where he had stayed, day in and day out as you barely managed to breathe.

The boys all took their spots, one strong hand gripped on the metal bars lining your wife's casket, the other swinging gently at their sides. You walked close behind, Penelope and JJ flanking you on either side. The fabric of your black dress scratched against your knees and your shoes sunk into the grass as you followed along the path set before you. The sun was shining bright and you couldn't help but think to yourself, of course there isn't a cloud in the sky on the day I lose my wife forever.

The funeral itself had been a long affair. Elizabeth Prentiss had insisted that Emily be laid to rest with a full Catholic service and you couldn't find the motivation to tell her that Emily would rather be given a lap dance by a sweaty, smelly man than have anything to do with the Catholic church. Dozens and dozens of people you didn't know shook your hand and offered their condolences. You couldn't really understand why someone who didn't know you or your wife would come and grieve her loss just to uphold their stature as politicians. Your best friend never left your side through the whole thing and ushered you away from the crowds when everything became too much.