Chapter 1
Emily Prentiss, the Unit Chief of the BAU, looks up from the file she's working on when she hears the slight buzz of her phone against the wood of her desk. She briefly narrows her eyes at the device before making the decision to turn her attention back to the gruesome case currently spread out before of her. She only has this one and a couple others left to get through before she can go home.
An hour – tops – and then she's out of here, she just has to make it –
Her phone lights up again, and this time she catches JJ's name on the screen. Gently biting her lip, she reaches forward to grab it, her pen still poised between her fingers as she quickly scans over the message.
A small, involuntary, smile appears on her face as she reads the message. JJ's telling her that better get her ass home soon or else their sons were going to eat all of the food that she spent the last three hours of her evening cooking.
She starts to type out a response when her wife's incoming call stops her efforts, answering, "I was about to respond, you know."
"Were you?" JJ responds mischievously, and Emily can imagine the smirk on her wife's face.
"Yes," Emily stretches out the 's' briefly, "I only have two more cases to get through and then I'm all yours."
"Well," JJ sighs, "since the text wasn't enough incentive, I guess I'll just have to bring in reinforcements."
"Jen, wha –"
"Emily!" A voice screams unexpectedly into the phone, she startles at the volume pulling the phone away from her ear, "Mom won't let us eat anything until you get here and I'm starving."
Emily scoffs in amusement, "Well, can't have that now can we?"
"Nope!" Michael says with all the enthusiasm of a five-year-old.
"She's declaring that tonight is a family night," says another, older, voice, "she's holding us hostage downstairs."
Emily lets out a quiet laugh at Henry's dramatic remark, she scans over the top of her desk, throwing her pen on to her desk as she sits back in her chair, "Alright, I guess that means I'm coming home sooner than I thought."
"Thank God," Henry groans in relief.
She hears Michael's whoop of excitement and the muffling of the phone being handed back to JJ, "That was cruel."
"Did it work?" JJ says, her voice lilting in a way that almost gives away just how much she desired it to.
"Yeah," Emily chuckles, "You know I can't say no to those boys."
"Have I finally cracked Emily Prentiss' weakness?"
"Oh, honey," Emily sardonically whispers, pushing her chair back and standing. "That's not news."
"Maybe not, but it still makes me proud." The blonde laughs, "I'll see you soon."
"For sure," Emily says, closing the case file. Taking a moment, "I love you."
"Love you too. And remember the starving children!"
Emily smiles, shaking her head as she ends the call.
In a matter of minutes, she has all her files in a stack and safely packed in her briefcase. As she exits the BAU, she clicks the power button on her phone to check the time. It's just closing in on seven and Emily can't help but be surprised that she's leaving the office so early. She knows it's all thanks to the three crazy blondes that she has the honor of calling her family.
Emily pulls into the parking spot of her house's garage, she barely has the keys out of the ignition before she's grabbing her belongings out of the passenger seat of her SUV. She lets herself into the house and closes the door behind her. She drops her keys into the ceramic bowl to her right and un-holsters her gun as she squats down in front of the cabinets. Opening the door to the left, she places her bag on the bottom shelf. On the shelf right above it, there is a joint gun safe, typing in the code, it reliably grants her access and she places her government-issued gun besides JJ's.
Standing, she follows the sound of the distant chatter coming from the kitchen, and the smell of spaghetti simmering on the stove. She hears her wife's voice, a smile involuntarily pulling at the corner of her lips as she rounds the corner to see her family. Michael let's out a childish squeal when he sees her, screaming her name as he jumps off the stool that he had been sitting on at the island and barrels into her legs.
JJ warns him to be careful but Emily simply waves her off as she picks up her youngest son and puts him on her hip. She groans dramatically at his weight, telling the young boy that he's getting a little too big for these antics. The bleach blonde five-year-old finds this hilarious, and it sends him into another fit of giggles, making Emily smile.
After a minute, she brushes Michael's hair off his forehead and gives him a kiss. She places him down on the ground so he can go back to drawing in his coloring book. Her eyes follow him, making sure he gets safely back into his chair. Henry is sitting in the stool right beside him, and he gives her a goofy wave and a grin that's all Reid, before he goes back to his homework assignment.
Her eyes linger on him until she notices JJ's adoring grin.
JJ is wearing a simple, white v-neck t-shirt, and a pair of black leggings. Emily can't help but take in how Jen seems to look beautiful in just about anything. She rounds the island, lifting an eyebrow at JJ's expression.
When she's close enough she presses a chaste, but no less sweet kiss against Jennifer's lips.
"You made spaghetti," Emily says, between them when she pulls back.
"I did."
"And you know it's my favorite."
"I do."
Tilting her head in amusement at JJ's coyness, Emily shifts her attention back to the boys, "How long do you think it's going to take you to finish up all your homework, Henry?"
"Hold on," he says holding up a finger, scrambling, he finishes writing something at the bottom of the page. "There!" He says triumphantly, "I'm done."
JJ leans against the counter and winks at Henry, "Thanks bud, why don't you and Michael go pick out a movie? We'll watch it after we finish dinner."
They both watch the boys walk across the expanse of the room, well Henry walks, his brother flat out sprints to get to the movie box first.
Once they're both out of earshot, Emily turns towards JJ, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," JJ says, her voice a little higher than normal, with a shake of her head, "of course."
"JJ," Emily sighs.
"I'm fine, really," the blonde reassures, "That last case was just a little too close to home."
"Hence, family night."
"Yes." JJ says with a small smile, "I think a night with you and the boys is the perfect fix."
"We can talk about it if you – "
"Emily," JJ chuckles, her hands coming up to her mouth briefly, "I love you. And I love that you worry but I really just want to have a night with my family."
The brunette seems skeptical a moment until JJ gives her a look that she knows means drop it.
"Okay," she says, with a nod in agreement.
"Good," JJ leans in to press another kiss against Emily's lips, "Now go change, we all deserve to be comfortable on family night."
"Yes ma'am," Emily coyly replies, passing a little too close to JJ as she makes her way to their room.
Emily grins when she hears JJ's sharp intake a breath, she ducks her head to hide it as she jogs up the stairs.
Later that night, it's closing in on four in the morning and the entire household seems to be in a deep sleep. After dinner, they had all settled down on the couch, blankets and popcorn were spread out between the four as they enjoyed the movie that Henry and Michael picked. It wasn't long after it ended that they had decided to call it a night, each retreating to their rooms.
It the darkness of the master bedroom, Emily had an arm thrown over the small of JJ's back, her face buried in the back of the blonde's shoulder, and JJ is sprawled out on her stomach.
The blonde shifts, fighting to stay in her dream but a noise drawls her out.
JJ blinks blearily, slowly waking up to the realization of her phone buzzing on her nightstand. It takes all of her willpower to pull herself onto her elbows and out of the comfort of the warmth surrounding her. With a sigh, she reaches for the vibrating object. A look of confusion crosses her features as she reads the caller id: it's her father.
Stealing a glance at Emily, JJ swings her legs out and sits on the edge of the bed. All she can do is stare at the still buzzing object cradled in her hands, letting it fall silent.
For the first time in seconds, she feels her heart kick start into a rhythm that she hadn't known she lost.
And that's when it rings again.
Fear pulses through her as she quickly swipes her finger across the screen, "Hello?"
"Jennifer," says the gruff voice on the other line, it sounds so familiar. She has to close her eyes against the rush of memories. "Are you there?"
"Yeah," JJ says without thinking, swallowing, "yes, sorry, is everything okay?"
She has not spoken to her parents in the last two to three years. The wounds of their words against her and her family still stung, and she decided then that she did not want to expose her sons to the hatred they harbored for her marriage. The boys saw Emily as a mother figure, and she'd be damned to let that be tainted by the words of a people who would never fully understand the extent of who she was.
It hurt to let them go, but she had never regretted her decision. No words were going to explain away their beliefs, and none were going to change hers, so, in the end, it came to a stalemate, and she chose to walk away.
JJ hears the sound of a muffled sob through the phone and her stomach seems to drop out of her. Her heart pounds loudly in her ear, and she distantly notices the shifting form of Emily behind her.
She cannot keep her voice from shaking when she speaks again, "Dad?"
She hears him breathe in through his nose, and can imagine a hand roughly dragging down his face as he attempts to pull himself together. She's still not prepared when he finally speaks.
"Your mother, she passed away this morning." He speaks through another sob, "I'm so sorry. Jennifer."
"What?" She gasps.
She feels a hand on her bicep, her name a question on Emily's lips.
JJ ignores all of it as she pushes herself out of bed, "I - I don't understand."
Time seems to suspend itself and her father starts to speak.
It's only then that she feels like she's about to reach her breaking point. He continues, oblivious to JJ's spiral, as he speaks monotonously telling her that her mother had been sick for the last year and a half, that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. That the doctors had done everything in their power to get her mother healthy again, but her body had been too weak from the chemo.
When he finally stops talking, JJ is standing in the corner of her and Emily's room, her back against the wall and her arm wrapped tightly around her stomach. Her head tilts back against the wall, tears streaming down her face, with the phone still pressed against her ear.
JJ suppresses a sob between closed lips, meeting Emily's worried eyes for the first time. She shakily breathes in, "When's the funeral?"
Her father says something along the lines of it not being arranged yet but that it would be sometime in the next week. She closes her eyes, momentarily stemming the stream of tears, licking her lips, she tells him that she'll be there for the funeral and ends the call.
She brings both of her hands up to her face, closing them into fists and inhaling deeply. Her body fights to succumb to its anger. When feels Emily's presence move towards her, she holds her hand out to stop her, knowing that she will not be able to tell her if she's in her wife's arms.
"JJ?" Emily touches her elbow, bending at her knees a little bit to catch JJ's gaze.
JJ breathes in, "My mother – she's dead," shaking her head, a huff of a laugh escapes her before her features quickly morphs into grief. "My mom's dead, and I didn't even get to say goodbye to her," she cries.
Emily opens her mouth in shock, exhaling, she whispers JJ's name and closes the distance between them. As soon as she's close, JJ steps into her and winds her arms around the brunette's neck. She buries her head into Emily's shoulder, and when Emily's arms snake around her back and pull her closer she crumbles within the safety of her wife's arm. Her heart shatters as she fully embraces the extent of her emotions.
The last sensible thought to cross JJ's mind is that, despite the distance that has been between her and her parents, they should have told her about her mother's illness. Ever since her sister's death, Sandy and JJ had not been on the best of terms, and JJ recognized that, but she was still her mom. And nothing was ever going to change that, so to not have her father give her a chance to say a proper goodbye, it hurt.
Everything hurt.
JJ is barely aware when Emily moves out of the hug and laces their fingers together. She feels like she's in a dream as the brunette slowly walks them back to bed, laying down first, Emily pulls JJ into her side. With her head on Emily's chest, JJ slowly succumbs to her emotional exhaustion. The last thing she remembers before falling in unconsciousness is a tremor that runs down her spine and the press of Emily's lips against her forehead.