The case is incredibly disturbing. A man, breaking into houses and forcing the families to act out his scenario of perfect life with him. Then they were slaughtered, children and parents alike. We'd discovered who our unsub was, a therapist who'd interacted with all of the families previously. Currently, we were speaking to the head psychiatrist of the practice, trying to figure out what family he was with. Morgan says a name from a file.

"They're going on vacation to the Adirondacks." The therapist we're speaking to says, looking immediately horrified.

"JJ, get us an address." We race to the cars, JJ getting us an address in record time. We approach quietly and Hotch sends Morgan and I around the back of the house. Through the dining room windows, we see our unsub sitting at the table with the Dunken family, minus the father. Morgan signals and Hotch follows us inside. Our unsub, Karl Arnold, takes off with the baby, down to the basement. Morgan and I follow. He convinces Arnold to put the baby down and it's a blur of lights and the family crying as Arnold is arrested.

"Creepy as hell." Elle mutters as we load back into the cars, hours after the arrest.

"No kidding." Morgan says, sliding in beside me. I let out a small grunt as he shoves me over, so I'm squashed in between them.

"Geez." I huff and Morgan rolls his eyes.

"Quit whining, Vandy." I roll my eyes, but feel a thrill go through me at Morgan's nickname for me. Most of the team seems to have gotten over the cold initial attitude towards me. We start driving and I feel Elle's finger hook through my belt loop. It's a tiny, discreet gesture that she seems to not even think about, but my cheeks heat up.

I pass out on the plane. Quantico is a mess of paperwork and then trudging home, falling into bed immediately. I don't see Elle until two days later, when she barges into my apartment, grinning

"Elle, hi." I say as she whirls into my kitchen. I lean against the counter and watch as she drops her bag on the floor, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she stands up.

"You're coming out with me."

"I-what?" My mind has, unfortunately, flown to my sexuality and the way that I haven't come out to any of my team members.

"That new club in Georgetown. We're going."

"Oh. Oh."

"The whole team is coming, it'll be fun. I promise."

"Elle."

"Come on, Sawyer."

"I'm not going, Elle." There is absolutely nothing I want less than to go to a club with the team. I've grown to like them, but a night of drinking with them isn't exactly my ideal evening. I shudder at the thought of sitting in a club with Hotch staring directly into my soul.

Elle steps right in front of me, putting her hands on the counter on either side of me so I'm trapped.

"Please, baby?" Elle asks and my breathing stops. My entire body heats up at her voice and the closeness between us, her hips inches away from mine. My cheeks heat up and I curse myself for being frustrated enough to let her affect me the way she does.

"Don't-don't call me that." I choke out and she frowns slightly.

"Sorry. I-are you okay?" She asks and I look to the side, willing my heartbeat to slow down. It's cliche, but I'm certain she can hear it.

"Look at me." She says in a low voice. I try to control my breathing as I turn my head, meeting her eyes.

"Sawyer." She says slowly.

"Elle." I manage to spit out and she raises an eyebrow.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah. I just don't want to go out." My excuse for being this flustered makes absolutely no sense, I'm aware. There's no way she doesn't see through it but I try to maintain some semblance of dignity and control.

"Pizza." She says suddenly.

"What?" She pushes off the counter and away from me, turning and scrambling for her phone.

"We're ordering pizza and watching shitty movies."

"Elle, don't you wanna go out?" My heart has slowed at the loss of contact and I feel like I can breathe.

"Not without you." She says, grinning as she dials a number. As she orders a pizza, it hits me. Me and Elle, alone in my apartment, with her likely to spend the night from the looks of the bag she brought, most likely going to end up sharing a bed. My self control is about to be tested like never before.

"Should be here in twenty." She says, dropping her phone back on the counter.

"Okay." I say, still frozen in my spot by the counter.

"What should we watch?" She asks, leaning against the island across from me.

"I don't know." I say.

"What's that one movie...?" She starts, trailing off.

"Oh, yep, love that one." I quip. She lights up, tilting her head back as she laughs. It's one of my favorite things about her, her real laugh. It's so authentically her, none of the hard and professional exterior she puts on at work.

"The one with Chevy Chase." She pauses. "Oh, oh! Christmas Vacation!"

"Elle, it's January."

"First of all, it's February. Second of all, I wanna watch it!" She says and I shake my head.

"Fine. We'll watch a Christmas movie. In January."

"Sawyer, it's February."

"What?"

"Today's February 4th."

"What?"

"How do you not know what month it is?"

"I didn't know my middle name until I was thirteen." I say, shrugging. "I don't know a lot of things."

"You didn't know-what?"

"Nobody told me and I just figured it didn't matter."

"I-Sawyer." She says disappointedly.

"Sorry." I shrug again, stepping over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"Well, what is it?" Comes from right behind me as I pull the drink out of the fridge.

"Jesus!" I whip around, finding Elle right behind me.

"What's your middle name?"

"Marianna." I say and she nods.

"Sawyer Marianna Vanderbilt. Pretty."

"Me or the name?" I immediately regret the joke as she smirks.

"Both." She says and I step away from her, closing the fridge door.

"My parents did this weird thing to make Rina's name and my name similar. Marina Sailor and Sawyer Marianna. It's, like, similar sounding names to the other one's for middle names."

"Oh, wow. Interesting."

"Yeah, now we just have unreasonably long names. Hell for filling out forms."

"I like it." Elle says and I grin at her before shuffling over to the couch to find the remote. My confidence is growing and I feel like giving up on trying to stay away from her. She follows me and I let her wrap her arms around my waist as I try to find the movie. I start it and then pause it to wait for the pizza. She leans her head on my shoulder, and then without any warning yanks me backwards.

I fall onto the couch with her and laugh, flipping over and grabbing her hips. I try to pin her down but she flips us over, straddling me. I huff and try to flip us back over but she's stronger than me. I settle for wrapping my arms around her back and pulling her down onto me.

"Sawyer!" She says as she lands on me and I let out a soft 'oof'. "You're gonna break a rib."

"You don't weigh that much." I say and she giggles, trying to free herself. I hold tight and she wiggles. There's a brief pause and then I feel her teeth scrape my shoulder and I immediately let go, completely shocked.

"Did you just bite me?" I shoot up from the couch as she walks into the kitchen.

"Yep." She says, winking.

"Hmmm. Do it again." I'm only half joking and it becomes very clear she can tell. She slides her arms back around my waist and pulls me flush to her body. I hold my breath, completely as her teeth scrape the skin of my neck, and suddenly her lips are on my pulse point.

"Elle." I breathe, my head falling back onto her shoulder. She nips at the soft skin of my neck and I gasp.

In a flash she's gone, walking towards the door as the doorbell rings. I stare at her as she pays for the pizza and thanks the man, closing the door.

"God, I'm hungry." She says, flipping open the box.

"Elle." I say in a low voice.

"Sawyer." She says back, sitting the box down on the island. She meets my eyes and smirks. The tension in the room is unbelievable as we stare at each other.

'Fine. If that's how she's going to play it.' I decide, breaking eye contact. I walk over slowly, knowing she's expecting me to do something, but instead I just grab a slice of pizza and walk back over to the counter, opening the cabinet with my plates in it. I drop my pizza on a plate and reach for another one.

"You want a plate?" I ask, not looking back. I sit it down and feel her hands on my hips, spinning me around. Her eyes meet mine for a brief second and then her lips are on mine and her hands are on my face. I grab her waist to pull her closer and kiss her back.

Once again, a cliche, but it's electric and my entire body feels like it's floating as she pulls away. She leans her forehead on mine and my hand snakes up to the back of her head, pulling her back to kiss me again. It's softer this time and her hands are warm against my cheek.

"Food's gonna get cold." She says, pressing one last kiss to my lips before spinning away from me and dropping a slice on her plate. I watch as she waltzes to the couch, flopping down and hitting play.

"You coming?" She asks.

"I-yeah." I shake my head and follow her to the couch, grinning like an idiot.

'Elle Greenaway just kissed me.' repeats in my brain as the intro to Christmas Vacation plays. So much for self-control.

heyyyyy! sorry i didn't update for a lil bit, my life has been a mess and a half...anyway, they finallyyyy made a move, thank god. i mean, i know it's my own story but i was getting real tired of this slow business (jk jk) hope you all enjoyed!! -sasha <3