Allergies Onboard (Criminal Minds, Emily Prentiss, for crazygirl22)

[Chanel_no5]

***Note***

This is for crazygirl22, my part of our trade. I’m sorry it took so long; I’ve been quite busy for the past couple of weeks. I really, really hope you’ll like this piece of allergic Emily Prentiss! There is no actual plot, just allergy misery, but I hope you'll like it anyway.

***


As Emily Prentiss left her apartment that morning she realised two things at the same time. First of all, spring had arrived in D.C, in all its pollen-spewing, allergy-inducing glory. Second, she had forgotten to load up on allergy pills. She briefly pondered if she would have the time to find a pharmacy, but dismissed the idea; they didn’t even have the time for roundtable before leaving, which meant, as Hotch usually put it, that “time was of the essence.”

It probably wasn’t too bad. It rarely was the first days of allergy season. She would be a bit sniffly and itchy, but that was about it. At least that was how it had always been, but what she didn’t plan for was the fact that sometimes allergies get worse over the years. Sometimes they even get worse overnight. And Emily was one of those unfortunate allergy sufferers whose allergies kept getting worse, which she would soon find out.

***

She arrived at Quantico right on time; the others were just boarding the jet. Her nose had started to itch and she rubbed her knuckles under her nostrils, hoping that would be what it took to relieve it. But to her surprise it only made matters worse, and she suddenly realised that she was about to sneeze.

Oh man, not now! Not here!

She pinched her nose and turned away, making a lot of effort to stifle her sneeze. She usually couldn’t stifle at all; her sneezes were simply too big to hold back, but the thought of sneezing in front of the rest of the team was mortifying.

“Eh-GNXTH!”

Ow, that hurt!

She sniffed wetly and rubbed her nose again.

“Bless you,” JJ said. She was the only one who noticed, and she looked surprised, probably because it was unheard of that Emily Prentiss would stifle. Ever.

“Thanks,” Emily replied without explaining herself and sat down on an empty seat. She wondered if she had made a terrible mistake not picking up medicine before going in to work… but since she got here only minutes before takeoff she wouldn’t have had the time anyway.

Her eyes burned and she blinked hard to keep tears from spilling over and messing up her mascara. Yes, this was definitely going to be much worse than she had expected. Her poor nose already felt like she had snorted sneezing powder. She struggled not to sneeze again, but she knew only too well that this was a war she wouldn’t win. Her allergies always had the upper hand.

Garcia had started briefing them on the case, but Emily had a hard time focusing on anything beyond her itchy, tingling nose. Being allergic was a fulltime job as it was.

Oh God, no, I can’t hold it back any longer…

Her breathing began to hitch helplessly, fuelling the burning, desperate need to sneeze until she reached the point of no return. She cupped both hands in front of her face and jerked forward with a loud, tortured double:

“HAESSCHHO! AAH-ERSSSCHOO!”

Her throat felt raw after these two monstrous sneezes had ripped through it like an unapologetic, violent hurricane, and she coughed lightly.

“I’m sorry,” she sniffled and blushed as she saw the rest of the team - including Garcia from the computer screen - stared in shocked silence.

“Wow,” Morgan said. “That must’ve hurt. Bless you.”

“Are you alright Prentiss?” Hotch asked, and his frown was even deeper than usual. God, she hated to lie to Hotch. It was like he could see right through every untruthful remark like they were completely transparent. But she wasn’t very keen on admitting her weakness. Pollen. How was it even possible that something as innocent as microscopic plant seeds could wreck a tough FBI agent so completely?

“I’m fine,” she replied. “Just a tickle.”

Hotch glanced at her nose and Emily knew it was most likely tinged with pink already. She let out a wet sniffle and barely had time to get her hands up and cover when the irritation once more grew into a desperate urge to sneeze.

“ERRSSCHHUH! Hah-aIISSHHah! HaaKSSCHOO! Eh… hehhh… heeAISSCHUH!”

“Forgive me Emily but I think that looks and sounds like an outburst of your famous allergies,” Garcia said.

“Allergies?” Emily tried to laugh it off. “What are you talking about, I don’t have any ahh… ahhh… AH-ESSCHHuh! Allergies.”

Her statement probably would have sounded a bit more convincing if that itchy, very clearly allergic, sneeze hadn’t snuck into that sentence, but even if it hadn’t, Emily knew she was screwed. When the sneezing fits started, there was no way she would be able to hold back and hide her misery from the rest of the world. And it would do no good to duck back to the bathroom and try to sneeze in solitude. Not on the plane. Everyone would still hear her sneeze, and she had no way of escaping.

“Oh, really?” Rossi said, chuckling a little. “If I didn’t know better I’d say you do, and pretty bad ones at that.”

Emily tried to give him a glare, but couldn’t quite manage it as another sneeze was already building, in spite of her furious attempts to fight it back.

“Hahhh… ahhhh… hah-AH! AH-ERRSHUH! Hah-aERSSCHHO! Heh-aeRSSCHOO! Ahhh-IESCHHAH! Oh my God…!”

Her nose was streaming now, and of course she didn’t even think of bringing tissues. This was going to be even more embarrassing than she thought.

Hotch watched her in silence for a moment, then took pity on her and handed over his handkerchief, which she gratefully accepted. She knew she was a complete mess; eyes watering, nose leaking, everything swollen and itching like crazy.

“Bless you Prentiss. I think it’s safe to say your secret is out.”

“I’m fine, okay? It’s just…”

“Let me guess, you either ran out of medicine or you forgot to even buy any?” Rossi said from his seat, still grinning. They had been over this before; he was the only one on the team that Emily had confided in on this topic, unlike Garcia who only guessed. Emily always forgot her meds, and Rossi was always her backup.

“I forgot,” she muttered and wiped her reddening, irritated nostrils with Hotch’s soft handkerchief. She felt her cheeks heat with a blush and thought they probably matched the redness around her nose.

“Well, lucky for you, I read the pollen report this morning, and I guessed that you would miss it. So I picked up some Claritin on my way here,” he said and took out the blessed pills from his jacket pocket and tossed them in her direction. She caught them and heaved a big sigh of grateful relief.

“Oh thank you Rossi, you’re a godsend!”

Before she could take her antihistamines her nose began to prickle and burn again, and she had to succumb to yet another heavy sneezing fit. Only this time she didn’t mind too much, at least she knew relief was close at hand. And that her allergy secret was safe with the team.

[crazygirl22]

OMG , this is sooooo great. Really, I love it! Thank you very very much. And it´s no problem it took you a bit longer. It was worth waiting for it!

[Chanel_no5]

Thank you!! I'm so glad you liked it!!