Disclaimer: All these characters belong to CBS and whoever else holds rights to Criminal Minds.

Pairing: JJ/Emily Criminal Minds
Summary: A companion piece for Champagne Mistakes. JJ and Emily shared a steamy, alcohol fueled night together that has led them to something more. This chapter, the teams reaction.

Rating: M
Timeline: Second season, not long after Emily has joined the team. Not related to any specific episode.
Authors Note: What started out as a basic, plot? what plot? piece of fluff has turned itself into an actual story

Emily was pulled awake by a shrill, insistant ringing in her ear. Without even opening her eyes she stretched an arm out, found the offending cell phone and brought it to her ear.

"Hello?"

A long pause on the other end and then, "Emily?"

"Garcia?" It took a moment for her brain to recognize the voice, but once it had she was immediately awake. She sat up carefully, leaning away from a still sleeping JJ so as not to wake the other woman unless it was absolutely neccessary. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything is fine," Garcia reassured her.

"Then, why are you calling me at...8:30 on a Sunday morning?"

There was another pause and the faint clearing of a throat and then a faint reply. "Actually, I was calling JJ."

Emily pulled the phone away from her ear and glanced at it, confirming that it was in fact JJ's cellphone. Shit.

"You guys left so suddenly Friday night, I was worried. I just wanted to check in and make sure everything was okay."

Emily let out a low, throaty chuckle. "Nice try, Garcia. If you were really worried about JJ, you would have called her Friday night. You figured she'd be home by now. You want details."

"Busted," Garcia agreed readily. She waited a moment and then said, "So?"

"Nu-uh."

"Ah, come on Em. Not even a little something?"

"All I will say is this...wow," she pronounced the word slowly and clearly then hung up before Garcia could say anything else.

With a quiet sigh she put the cell phone back onto the table and lay back down. JJ stirred beside her and she turned to watch a pair of blue eyes blink open.

"What's up?" she murmured. "Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine. That was Garcia. I accidently answered your cell phone," Emily admitted sheepishly.

JJ's eyes widened. "Garcia knows?" she asked, sitting up in bed. The the panic in her voice was unmistakeable.

Emily tried not to react to it, but she couldn't help the twist of her heart.

Carefully,she sat up and faced JJ.

"She suspected and I think I just confirmed it for her."

JJ let out a groan and rubbed a hand across her face. "This is bad, Emily."

Emily let out a soft sigh and cut her gaze away, needing a moment to control the sting of tears that burned at her lids before turning her attention back to JJ.

She knew that JJ's words yesterday morning had been too good to be true. It was easy to say they could face the future together in the comfort and privacy of her condo but actually facing the real world was a whole other matter.

"That's not what I mean, Em," JJ said quietly, reaching over and putting one hand over hers. "I'm not ashamed. I'm just worried about what this is going to mean at work tomorrow. You know that there are rules against this."

"I know." As members of the same team, they were not supposed to be dating. And, they hadn't exactly been discreet at the bar on Friday. Emily was fairly certain none of their teammates saw them making out on the dance floor but the fact that they'd left together, without a word of goodbye or explaination to anybody had obviously tipped off Garcia, at least, and most likely the others as well.

"So, what are we going to do?" she asked, hearing the way her voice shook even as she tried to keep it steady.

"What can we do? If anybody calls us out, I'm not going to lie. If I did that, it would be like denying you. Denying us."

Emily looked over at JJ in surprise.

"I told you, Em, I'm not ashamed."

Even though Emily was relieved to hear the words she couldn't help but wonder at the veracity of them. It couldn't be possible for someone to go from being straight and dating men to dating (and having sex with) a woman overnight and not have some reservations or doubts. Could it?

"Your kiss Friday night, I was suprised at how it made me feel. Being with you, it just felt right. Sure, we could write the first time off as alcohol and hormones, but neither of us were drunk when you woke me up in the middle of the night and still, it just felt right. I'm not going to deny the way you make me feel when you kiss me, when you touch me, even just laying next to me, just because you are a woman and I've never been with one before."

JJ met Emily's eye, holding her gaze as she tried to convey the truth of her feelings with words that didn't seem adequet. She knew that Emily had fears about whether this was real or just some passing whim and she knew that it was going to take some effort on her part to alleviate them.

Emily allowed herself a small smile in recognition of the words. "As romantic as that sounds, it doesn't solve our problem of what to do tomorrow if we get called on this."

JJ was silent for a moment. "If that happens, then I'll switch to another unit."

"JJ, no."

" I love the BAU, but I can do my job on any team. You can only be a profiler on one."

"You can't sacrifice your career-"

"I wouldn't be, Emily. I'd be balancing my career and my personal life."

Emily stared at her in stunned silence for a moment. She knew that she should argue. That she should fight JJ over this. And if it came down to it, she would but in this moment she was simply incredibly moved and all she could do was lean in for a slow, deep kiss.

"Mmm," JJ murmured as they pulled apart, her eyes fluttering faintly.

Emily agreed with a soft noise in the back of her throat as she gently pushed JJ onto her back and moved to straddle over her.

"I love you, so much" she whispered against the other woman's lips before capturing them in another slow kiss.

The moment of truth. Emily paused outside the doors and took a deep, fortifying breath. Beside her, she felt JJ doing the same thing. It was Monday morning and they were about to face their colleagues for the first time since Friday night. They didn't know how much the others knew, or what their reactions were going to be.

JJ had gone home late Sunday night but they had met up this morning to be each others moral support when they walked into the office. It was just now that Emily realized it would look like they'd arrived together. It was too late to really do anything about it now.

"Ready?" JJ asked.

"As I'll ever be."

With a visible squaring of her shoulders, JJ put on her Agent Jareau persona and pushed open the door. Emily followed a half step behind, her Agent Prentiss mask fully in place.

The first person they came across was Gideon. He was coming up the stairs from the bullpen as they reached the top. He glanced up from the file he was reading over.

"JJ. Prentiss," he acknowledged them with barely a glance and a nod and then was past them, moving away.

"Well, that was painless," JJ muttured. "Do you think he doesn't know?"

"It's Gideon," Emily reminded her. "He knows."

JJ nodded silently and led the way down the stairs.

Reid and Morgan looked up as they approached.

"Morning, JJ. Emily." He looked like he might have said something else, but Morgan cut him off with a long, low wolf whistle.

"Hot, damn," he exclaimed, breaking into a huge grin.

Emily and JJ exhanged glances, and grins. So far, so good.

Just then, Hotch appeared at the top of the stairs. "Prentiss, JJ, a word?" He dissapeared into his office without waiting for a response.

"Good luck, you guys," Reid said softly before turning his attention back to his desk.

Emily squeezed his shoulder in thanks and headed for the stairs, JJ close behind.

"Hotch?" she rapped on his door, which was open, then stepped into his office.

"Come in. Sit down."

The two women exchanged a look then sat down in the chairs opposite his desk.

"You know the bureau has rules against this," Hotch said, getting right to the point.

Both women nodded. Emily gripped her arm rest tightly. She really wanted to reach out and take JJ's hand but restrained herself. From JJ's white knuckle grip on her own chair, she sensed the feeling was mutual.

"I don't think that anyone on the team has any objections to the two of you. And if they did, I'd like to think that we could settle it internally. That being said, there are a lot of other agents who would object. And would try to use this against you, to bring you down or in an attempt to earn themselves a place in the BAU."

Emily and JJ both nodded.

"Just, please, keep that in mind when we're in the office or out in the field."

"You mean, you're okay with it, sir?" Emily asked, wanting to clarify.

Hotch nodded. "Of course. Personally, I don't believe the bureau has any place in people's bedrooms. An agents service record should speak for itself. And I know you both to be capable agents."

Emily let out a breath of relief, and she knew JJ well enough to know that she was having a similar reaction.

'I'm sorry that I even had to bring you in here to discuss it at all. Please believe that I didn't do it out of any lack of faith in your ability to do your jobs. It's just, I'd hate to lose you to beaurocricy."

"It's okay, Hotch. We get it," JJ assured him. Emily echoed her words.

He nodded, his eyes drifting down to the paperwork in front of him. A subtle, but clear dismissal.

Emily rose, her eyes meeting Hotch's one last time before she turned to leave. He met her gaze squarely and offered a small smile. She gave him a faint one in return before turning and following JJ out of the room.

You know what to do.