Author's Note: Written for phoenixfalls in femslashex2013. This is either set in season 1, or some other time when JJ just decided not to go out in the field for whatever reason.

"Have you heard from them yet?"

JJ clasped the side of the door frame and surveyed Penelope's little computer haven. She knew that within these four walls, cases were broken wide open, all thanks to her super-smart girlfriend.

Penelope looked up from her computer. Her eyes were bloodshot, and it appeared as though she hadn't slept in days. Of course she hadn't. These had been tense days for both of them, with the waiting and watching, not knowing when they would see their team again - and at what cost. "No," she said, her voice cracking as she spoke. "No, I haven't."

The team was in a tense standoff with an unsub outside of Missoula. He was a murderer on the lam who had taken a small family hostage - the Youngs, with two parents, a daughter named Sophie and a golden retriever - and he hadn't backed down. They were trying to extricate the Youngs, and take the unsub into custody, without any casualties.

Which appeared as though it was going to be harder than it should have been. This was considering the guy was armed to the teeth, and had bomb-making knowledge, as Garcia had learned from analyzing his internet aliases. And he probably wouldn't mind taking down a few feds if he had to go in a blaze of glory.

"We'll hear from them soon, right?" JJ asked. She believed in her team, knew that they would be able to do it.

"Of course we will. They're our heroes," Penelope said, her voice wavering ever-so-slightly on the word "heroes."

"Hey, are you okay?" JJ stepped inside the room and set her coffee cup down on the table next to Garcia's cup.

"Yeah. I will be. When we hear from them." She steeled her resolve and turned back to the screen, typing in a long series of keystrokes that activated a command. Windows flew across the screen at the press of a key. "Until then, I have to do my job."

"Let me know if you hear anything," JJ said. "I'm going back to my desk to work on paperwork -"

"No," Penelope said, looking up at JJ with pools of tears in her eyes. "Stay. I don't want to be alone right now, and I know you're just out there at your desk, but I can't be alone. Not when they're out there, and I don't -" her voice caught, and she wiped at her eyes with the edge of her sleeve. "I don't want to be alone if I get the call and it's not good news, and I need you with me."

"Okay. Then I'll stay," JJ said, pulling up a chair and sitting behind Penelope. She rested her hand on the back of Penelope's chair, and quietly breathed as she watched her type.

She wasn't sure how many hours later it was, or how many cups of coffee they had consumed in those intervening hours. Time seemed to move differently when she was secluded away in here with Penelope.

The phone rang, breaking the silence.

Penelope hurriedly answered with shaking fingers, and put it on speaker so JJ could listen. It was Derek's voice on the other end of the line. "Hey, Baby Girl," he said.

"Oh my God, you're alive," were the first words out of Penelope's mouth. "I mean, of course you are, at least I was hoping that you still were, but, oh -"

He laughed, and cut off her rambling with a simple statement. "It's over, Penelope. We're coming home."

"Is he?" Both her and JJ breathed sighs of relief in near-unison at the thought of them coming home, at last.

"Yes. We got him. The Youngs are safe. Everyone's safe. I'll see you and JJ when we land, okay?"

"Okay." She hung up the call, and turned to JJ. Her face was nearly gleeful in its expression. "They got him. It's over."

"I could hear it just as well as you could," JJ said, laughing even as she said it. She knew that Penelope's enthusiasm was infectious, and she could feel the tension of the case drifting off them like tendrils of smoke and ash.

Penelope grinned. "I - they're alive. I have to keep telling myself that, because right now it feels like a dream. One that I never want to wake up from."

JJ leaned against Penelope and stroked her hair. "Want to relax?" she said, dropping her voice. It wasn't as if there was anyone to hear them, but there was still something to be said for a low, seductive voice. "They're alive, and they're going to stay alive, and there's the two of us, and -"

"You don't have to work that hard to convince me, you know." Penelope swiveled around her chair and took hold of JJ's face, cupping it reverently as she pulled her in for a long, languid kiss. Penelope's hand ran over JJ's blouse, along the swell of her breast, and JJ allowed her fingers to drift to the hem of Penelope's shirt. "Thank God you're alive," Penelope continued, staring at JJ with what appeared to be undiluted love in her eyes. "I don't know what I'd do if I lost any of them, but you -"

"Shh," JJ said, kissing her again, "Less talking. More of you kissing me."

"Right." They continued to kiss, and Penelope played with the delicate hairs on the back of JJ's neck as she nibbled at her bottom lip.

JJ's fingers slid from the hem of her shirt to slip under the waistband of Penelope's pants, while the other traced patterns and swirls on the inside of her thigh. She hooked her finger inside her panties and tried to push them down. Penelope began to move her hips into JJ's hand. "Please," she said, in that same quavering tone as earlier. The difference between then and now - then, she was quavering because she was a woman on the verge of crying, now, it was because she was on the verge of something much more divine.

JJ acquiesced to her request, her fingers dancing inward and downward to cup at her core. Penelope's tongue was firmly inside her mouth, and she slid one finger inside her. Penelope let out a little whimper, and JJ moved to tweak at her nub. She had once developed the skill to get someone off with their pants still on - which was a skill that came in handy for clandestine office sex, come to think of it, even though she had learned this before with Penelope. And Penelope was already wet, although not dripping; it was enough, however, that she was beginning to feel her finger be coated in it.

JJ let her lips draw down Penelope's throat as she slid a second finger inside, kissing a trail of blazing hot kisses. Penelope lolled her head back and rolled her neck around. "Oh, oh, oh," she said, on the breath of a moan, and JJ felt herself smiling at the hollow of her throat and planting tiny little kisses up and down the edges of her collarbone, where she could push the fabric aside with her lips. Every kiss was greedily accepted, and JJ pushed herself forward into Penelope's embrace, her free hand sliding to steady herself. She felt as though she could fall straight into her arms.

As she felt Penelope's orgasm rush over her in waves, she disentangled her hand from her hair, and gently slid it back up and out of her pants. On a whim, she popped her index finger into her mouth and gently sucked off the juices, tasting Penelope on her lips, before she leaned in for another, longer kiss.

"That was - wow -" Penelope said, as they broke apart, JJ's head leaning on her shoulder. "I mean, office sex with you is always fantastic, but that was - oh my God -"

"Life-affirming?" JJ offered.

"Yeah, that works." Garcia moved to pull JJ in closer. "That totally works."