Separated - Rated G

She had been hoping to get an early night – they had gotten back earlier to the hotel than usual, and it was an early start the next day – but by 11 she realized sleep was not going to happen.

At least not without some medication to help it along.

She had been at the hotel bar for about ten minutes when she felt him sit down next to her.

"Mind if I join you?"

Emily looked over and nodded at David Rossi. "Sure."

He sat down and ordered a drink. When it was served, he took a sip and then looked at his friend. "Can't sleep?"

Emily nodded again. "Yeah."

"You know, if I was profiling you, I'd say you only do this when you're in one place and JJ is back in DC."

Emily sent him a look. "Don't profile me."

"Wasn't going to." Rossi took another sip. "Just offering an ear, if you want."

Emily stared into her drink for a moment. "Our first night together…when we woke up in the morning, we both realized that we'd slept the entire night through." She took a sip of her drink. "Neither of us had done that in a long time. After a while – you kind of get used to it." She sighed. "I guess because we sleep apart so little, it gets harder, you know?"

"Maybe you should call her."

Emily shook her head. "Don't want to wake her in case she is asleep." She threw back the last of the drink. "I guess I'll go try to sleep again."

"Emily?"

The brunette looked back at her friend. "Yeah?"

"You and JJ – you're both very lucky."

Emily smiled at him. "I know."

As she walked up to her room, she felt her cell buzz with JJ's familiar ringtone.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mommy."

Emily smiled. "Hey, Henry. Is everything okay?"

"I think Momma misses you."

"Is she okay?"

"I think she had a nightmare."

Emily got back into her hotel room. "Is she still awake?"

"I can hear her moving around. And the baby was kicking – I got to feel."

"You did, huh?"

"It feels weird."

Emily almost laughed. "Okay, honey, can you take the phone into Momma? I bet I can get her to sleep."

"As long as you don't sing to her." The voice on the end of the phone was dead serious. He had heard his Mommy sing.

"Very funny buddy."

Emily listened as Henry walked into the bedroom she shared with her wife. She could hear JJ chastising their son for calling his mother, and then she heard JJ talk to her.

"Emily?"

"Hey honey. Listen, don't be angry with Henry. I'm glad he called me. You should have called me."

"I don't like to wake you up in case you're asleep."

Emily chuckled. "Yeah, that's what I told Rossi."

JJ settled on her side of the bed. "What else did you tell Rossi?"

Emily groaned and settled on the hotel bed. "He profiled me. Apparently it's blatantly obvious I don't sleep when you're not with me." She sighed. "Henry said the baby was kicking. And that you had a nightmare."

This time it was JJ's turn to groan. "I can't believe you two team up on me like this."

"Jennifer…"

"Don't call me Jennifer. And you can't tell me that you weren't down at the bar drinking to make you sleep without nightmares."

"Guilty. Come on, talk to me, honey. What was the nightmare about?"

"Just the usual. I miss you."

"I miss you too. And since I promised Henry I wouldn't sing to you…do you want a story? I could do Bedtime Baby Star."

JJ smiled and curled up next to Emily's vacant pillow. "Tell me the perfect star story."

Emily smiled. "Okay, here we go. So there was this young princess who wanted to win the heart of the fairest maiden in the land…."

FINIS