"Shit," JJ cursed when she over-poured her coffee, causing it to splash out over the sides of her BAU coffee mug. She set the pot back down onto the counter angrily, before grabbing napkins out of the cupboard over her head to clean up the mess.
"Everything ok?" asked the young Dr. Spencer Reid when he saw JJ viciously scrubbing the coffee off of the counter.
"Hey Spence." She looked at the puddle of coffee, then to the wet napkins she held in her hand before she shrugged her shoulders, "Yea I'm fine. You know how I am when I haven't had my first cup of coffee." Spencer shoved his hands farther into his pockets and rolled up onto the balls of his feet, exposing his multicolored socks,
"Yea but you're not usually like this." JJ raised an eyebrow at the boy genius. He looked away nervously for a moment before continuing with an explanation, "Your hair is pulled back, which tends to mean that you're in a bad mood because you want it out of your face. You're wearing your favorite blue blazer but you have it buttoned up in the front in an attempt to hide how you're really feeling. Plus, when you're pissed of you clench your jaw and I can see the muscles tightening in your jaw and you temples." JJ stared at Spencer for a moment, until he flashed a quick nervous smile, then she sighed and exposed a small smile herself,
"How did you know this was my favorite blazer?"
"You wear it at least once a week. It's pretty obvious." Spencer waited for JJ to chuckle before he smiled himself, then proceeded to grab a clean mug from the only cupboard with a broken handle. JJ's hands shook as she grabbed several packets of sugar, doing her best to open them before she got frustrated,
"I just want coffee!" she growled.
"Then look no further, for I come bearing gifts!" JJ looked up to see her good friend, if not her best friend, Penelope Garcia, striding her way with the posture of a woman who has already consumed multiple cups of the caffeinated drink she so desperately desired. "Plain black coffee with plenty of sugar for my boy," she chimed as she handed a cup to Spencer. Spencer smiled widely and with a chuckle said,
"Wow! Thanks Garcia!"
"A white chocolate mocha with extra whip and extra chocolate drizzle for my lady with the beautiful blues," Garcia handed JJ her large drink from Starbucks Coffee Company.
"Garcia, you never fail to amaze," JJ said before she shot back her first sip, sighing as she took the cup away from her lips.
"Ha. Tell me something I don't know." Garcia trotted over to the other side of the bullpen, "A super plain, absolutely nothing, nada, zip, totally boring black coffee for Agent Rossi." Rossi didn't respond, but took the cup and raised it, giving a slight nod, as a quiet 'thank you'. "A caramel macchiato for Mr. Chocolate Thunder." Derek Morgan stood up from his desk and smiled, taking his cup while planting a small kiss on Garcia's cheek,
"Thanks, Babygirl." He continued to grab the mug of coffee he had poured himself already and walk directly to the sink, where he poured it down the drain.
"A caramel macchiato? Really?" JJ whispered. Derek looked up,
"And what is that supposed to mean?" JJ smirked,
"Oh just... big tough guy orders a sweet candy drink." Derek raised his eyebrows and said,
"My drink may be sweet, but I could still kick your fine ass any day, so you better watch it," he chuckled.
JJ threw her hands up defensively, "Alright alright!" JJ laughed.
"I don't have a drink for Hotch because he never tells us about things he enjoys, plus I don't think I've ever seen him even drink a coffee in front of me. Weird because I can tell you exactly what he orders for Chinese take-out." The team chuckled silently from their different spots around the room.
"Just for the record I drink a double-tall nonfat latte," Hotch said as he crossed the walkway from his office to the round-table room.
Garcia gave a thumbs up, "Good to know, boss man. Next time! And I do have a coffee for my beautiful brunette, but she is not present at roll call!" Garcia stomped over to the brunette's desk to set her coffee down, just before JJ said,
"Oh Garcia, look who's coming out of the elevator." Garcia swiveled in her spot and saw Emily Prentiss walking through the hallway towards the double-doors. Emily opened the doors and gave a weak smile at JJ,
"Hey," she said softly.
"You're in trouble," JJ whispered. Emily whined,
"Already?"
"That's right! I bought you coffee and you were not here on time!"
Emily smiled widely, "Aww thank you Garcia, that's just what I-"
"Wait!" Garcia pulled the coffee out of Emily's reach before the brunette could grab a hold of it, "If you had been here on time, this would still be hot, and you would've seen this beautiful presentation. Wasn't it beautiful?" she turned quickly to ask JJ, but turned back to Emily before she got an answer, "It was beautiful. Now, I am only going to give this to you because I love you, but don't think you'll be so lucky next time, girlfriend." Emily laughed,
"You know I love you, Garcia." Emily grabbed the coffee and joined JJ's side.
"Wow, you got off easy! That's saying something when it comes to PG." JJ chuckled.
"What can I say? I'm just so charming." Emily flashed a cheesy smile and winked at JJ. JJ rolled her eyes,
"Good lord." JJ grabbed her bag, coffee in hand, and walked to her office. Emily couldn't help but smile as she watched JJ walk away.
The team silently, efficiently and individually handled their paperwork at their desks for a majority of the morning, much like any other day in the office for the BAU team. However, routine was changed when JJ stood from her chair and stood in the doorway of her office. "Hey Emily," she called. Emily raised her head from the paperwork on her desk. JJ tilted her head, gesturing for her to come over and join her. Emily finished her sentence and quickly wrote her signature on the bottom of the page before she closed the file and left her desk, running up the ramp to meet JJ. "Will you help me pick a case?" JJ asked.
"Uhm yea sure, but why?" Emily asked. JJ had never asked anyone for help choosing a case before, so the sudden request was concerning.
"These cases are just very similar, and I don't want to make the wrong choice." JJ mumbled.
"Why don't you ask Hotch?"
JJ paused for a moment to think before she replied, "He's not you." Emily smiled warmly,
"Ok. Show me." JJ led Emily into her office, sitting in her chair and opening up the two files on her desk.
"Ok so we can either go to Tucson, Arizona, or Miami, Florida. Tucson has the bodies of three 15 year olds, male and female, each of which turned up in a river, but cause of death was suffocation. In Miami, they have four bodies of males ages 22 to 25, each of which were shot execution style from close range and their bodies were left on streets surrounding major cites in the city."
Emily raised her brows, "Wow. I can see why you had a hard time choosing. Tell me why you would fight to take either case."
"Well, they have four bodies instead of three in Miami, and being shot execution style means rage, but not enough rage to torture them. But in Tucson... I mean, they're kids, Em. This killer may choose a slow cause of death, but he shows remorse. He cares about these children enough to transport their bodies. In fact he cares about them so much that evidence of makeup was found on the body of the girl, and he didn't want to get them dirty by burying them, so he chose to dispose of the body by sending it down a river." JJ tucked a piece of loose hair behind her ear as she sighed, "I just don't want to make the wrong decision here, Em." Emily rested her hand on JJ's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly,
"There is no right or wrong choice, JJ. They both need our help, so whichever one you choose is fine." Emily leaned over JJ, flipping slowly through the pages of the files as she softly breathed hot air on JJ's neck. "I think," she started, speaking in a low, soft voice, "We should help out in Tucson before Miami. There's just something about unsubs killing kids. Homicide isn't right in itself, but when a poor defenseless child is killed?" Emily closed the Miami file and slid it across the desk and away from JJ. "Did I help?" JJ nodded but said nothing. "What's going on with you?" JJ sighed and slumped down into her chair.
"Choosing between these cases just really got to me yesterday. I couldn't sleep, if I did fall asleep, I had a nightmare. It was just a rough night. I'm fine." Emily reached her hands down to JJ's shoulders and softly began to rub the muscles in her neck. JJ closed her eyes and smiled softly at the kind gesture from Emily. As Emily worked her way down JJ's neck and to her back, JJ let out a soft hum of appreciation, making Emily smile.
"Good?" Emily asked softly.
"Mmm," JJ moaned. "Harder." Emily couldn't help but blush at JJ's words, but she obeyed, digging her thumbs deeper into the muscles of JJ's back. JJ leaned forward and crossed her arms on the desk, laying her head down on top of them, so Emily could reach more of her back. Emily worked her fingers down JJ's body, feeling her spine and ribs as she moved along. She followed the muscles and ran her thumbs to JJ's sides, where her hands gently brushed the sides of JJ's breasts. JJ didn't notice, but Emily was more than aware of the contact that, in any other situation, would be considered intimate. Emily stopped massaging, but ran her hands up and down JJ's back for a moment, reluctant to stop touching her, "Let's go deliver that profile, ok?" JJ groaned softly from her arms,
"Fine." JJ slowly stood up, stretching before she grabbed the original file, along with all the copies of the file to present to the team. She strode out of her office casually, announcing to the team that they had a case, followed shortly after by Emily.