Where the Heart Is

Chapter 6

Ten minutes later, Emily and JJ joined Hotch, Garcia, Morgan, and Rossi in the hot tub.

"Where'd everyone go?" JJ inquired, quickly stepping into the hot tub. Emily, shivering in the frigid air, quickly followed.

"Blake declined our hot tub invitation," Rossi said, looking slightly disappointed, "And Seaver got called in. Reid had to drive her to headquarters."

"Is he coming back?" JJ asked, looking slightly upset. It was no secret that Reid was her favorite member of the team - and that included her best friends and fiance. She had a sort of maternal soft-spot for him.

"I doubt it," Morgan said, sliding over to make room for Emily to sit next to him, "You know how much he hates driving in the snow."

"Is it still supposed to storm tonight?" Garcia asked, looking towards the sky. No stars could be seen; clouds were rolling in.

"It sure looks like it," Rossi commented, taking a sip of his wine.

"Seaver?" Emily questioned. Why would Reid be driving her around?

"Yeah," Rossi answered, sending a knowing look to the rest of the team. Morgan wiggled his eyebrows. "Ashley's car broke down yesterday, and Reid has been awfully helpful. This is a relatively new development," he said, his voice just barely tinged with sarcasm, "So we're all not sure what to think yet. But some of us" - he sent a pointed look to Garcia - "Think Reid might have a little crush on our good friend Ashley."

Garcia nodded enthusiastically and said, "He totally thinks she's adorable, isn't it obvious? I thought it was, I mean, before. Wouldn't it be cute if they got together? Oh, they'd make the prettiest babies-"

"-Okay, baby girl," Morgan said, rolling his eyes, "I think you're getting a little bit ahead of yourself. We haven't even decided if there's anything there yet."

"Just saying, chocolate thunder," she replied nonchalantly, taking another sip of her wine.

The team fell silent for a moment, and Emily took the opportunity to look around the hot tub at her friends, just to make sure they were all content.

Or to profile them.

You know, same difference.

Morgan sat immediately to her right, looking sexy-as-ever with no shirt on. Damn, that man had a nice body. Muscular arms, rock hard abs-

Better look away before Garcia catches you looking, Emily warned herself.

But really, Morgan seemed completely relaxed. His arm was casually thrown behind Emily's back, resting on the side of the hot tub, and in his other hand he held his glass of wine. He was laughing and talking to Rossi, who sat to his right.

Rossi was talking loudly and with his hands, like always, his glass of wine sloshing around as he used it to gesture something. He, too, seemed completely at ease.

Hotch sat across from Rossi. He wasn't relaxed like the others, though, he was just slightly tense, always alert, constantly vigilant. He had been that way ever since Foyet killed Haley. Sure, it had gotten better when Beth was around, but that speck of tension was always there. It probably always would be. Hotch was listening to the conversation that Morgan and Rossi were having. It appeared that they were talking about the upcoming March-madness basketball tournament.

Hotch was the only one in the hot tub who, like Emily, wore a T-shirt. That was something that they had in common - he had his scars from Foyet, and she had hers from Doyle, and neither of them wanted anybody else to see those scars. That was something Emily understood, something she could easily respect.