A/N This is loosely inspired by the Doyle-Emily debacle. Some things you should know: no Will/Henry, slight Jemily, and JJ never left for the State Department.
Emily's heart pounded as JJ's words filtered through her.
Ian Doyle is no longer a threat. Come home.
Hanging up, she fell onto the sofa, unable to utter a single word as those words repeated inside her head. She had spent the past seven months moving from safe house to safe house in Europe, finally settling in an apartment in France when it became apparent that Doyle had no clue where she was.
From what Emily was told, which wasn't much, JJ was assigned to be her handler. Using her skills in Communication, F.B.I. training, and additional training she was tasked with knowing where Doyle was and where he was looking at all times. Using that information, JJ would let the team assigned to Emily that it was time to move.
This wasn't just a move for her protection, she could go home. Home, however, was somewhat of a mystery. Was her home with JJ who had been her rock for the past seven months and an almost-lover before the Doyle debacle. Was it the high rise apartment building with a view of the city that she had left behind? Or was it the apartment she was standing in now?
She could stay here and her team would be none the wiser. They must have moved on at least somewhat by now so why open fresh wounds? But Emily missed her team, she missed her city, and she missed JJ most of all. Emily wanted her life back and it wouldn't be fair to anyone to stay here.
Three days later, she had packed, shipped her boxes, and hopped on a plane to Virginia. Looking out into the seemingly endless sky and clouds, her thoughts traveled to JJ. The idea that someone who knew her and what was best for her, and cared for her safety more than anyone, made her feel safer than she would have with anyone else and helped keep her sane all those months.
Still, she knew that JJ, much like Hotch, had a tendency to throw herself into her work and forget to take care of herself. Emily could only hope that the team was reminding JJ to eat and go home at a reasonable hour like they all did before The Incident.
With that though in mind, Emily let herself doze for the remaining seven hours from France to Virginia.
Standing in front of JJ's apartment, Emily felt more nervous than she thought she would have. They hadn't exactly discussed where they stood in their relationship, but nonetheless, Emily was ready to see a familiar face and one she loved at that. Before her knuckles could make contact with the door, it was flung open and Emily's arms were holding a familiar body.
"Dieu Emily, je vous tellement manqué Ça va? L'avion a été conduite confortable? il arrivé quelque chose?" JJ said.
(God Emily, I missed you so much. Are you ok? Was the plane ride comfortable? Did anything happen?)
Emily could hear JJ speaking to her but her mind was on other things: how she felt in her arms, how her vanilla-citrus scent hadn't changed, how familiar it all was.
Wait.
"JJ, since when do you speak such fluent French? And yes I'm okay, beyond okay, believe me," Emily sighed into JJ's hair. It had been so long since she had felt safe and at home and she never would have expected to feel this way so soon.
Finally pulling away, but not ready to fully let go, JJ replied, "I took French in high school but I had to brush up on it when we moved you to France. Even picked up a little Dutch from Agent Nelson. indrukwekkend nee?"
All Emily could do was smile at the small blonde in front of her until she took in her appearance. JJ had purple bags under her eyes, only highlighted by the fact that her cheekbones were so gaunt. Looking down, she could see that JJ had lost weight in the seven months they had been apart. Guilt immediately flooded Emily, remembering that she had was the cause of all this pain and suffering.
She was so caught up in her thoughts, she didn't notice that JJ had pulled her into the apartment, set down her suitcase, and sat her down on the sofa. As she refocused, her eyes locked on JJ's worried blue eyes and moving lips.
"I-, sorry. I didn't mean to zone out like that," she muttered, "what were you saying?"
JJ settled onto the sofa next to her, "I was asking if you were okay. You just shut down?"
Emily couldn't help but crumple onto her lap and JJ only huddled her closer. The past few months had been nerve-wracking; JJ still working at the BAU full-time while leading the team assigned to Emily, keeping an eye on Doyle, making decisions to keep Emily safe, constantly watching her back to make sure she wasn't followed. Emily had spent the past seven months settling into one place before being forced to move to another, always looking over her shoulder, and most of all missing home.
All she wanted to do was stay by JJ forever but she also knew she had to make a reappearance and break the news to the team as soon as possible so she shifted, letting JJ know she was ready to get up, and readied herself to head to the BAU.
"JJ, there's nothing I want to do more than just lay here for the next 24 hours now that Doyle's out and I'm safe again. But I need to let the team now I'm still here," she said.
JJ's face shut down at those words. It wasn't that she wanted to keep the team in the dark but she knew they would be hurt, angry, dissapointed and that wasn't something she wanted to face. Still, Emily was right. They had to go in at some point and even though JJ had the day off, the sooner the better.
"I know, Em. We should go today but... I—, I should talk to Hotch first. You can hide in my office and I'll gather everyone in the war room. And I know you've been wondering but everyone is fine given the circumstances, though Reid still comes over a lot to cry. Penelope's been getting back to herself or at least trying, Morgan has been angry and obsessed with finding Doyle, Rossi's been getting on, and Hotch had some knowledge of what went on so he wasn't as affected. Seaver had said she missed you."
With that, JJ made her way to her car, knowing that this would probably break all the ties she had with the team— her family, not seeing the worried look Emily sent her way.