A/N: I am not quite sure where this story came from. Honestly, I sat down and it kind of flowed out of me. I'm not sure if it even makes sense. But here it is. There is one thing that people should know: Will will never be a good guy in my stories. I don't like the character. I don't like that the writers rushed his and JJ's relationship. I don't think he's a bad guy, I just don't like the character.

Once again, Criminal Minds does not belong to me. If it did, Emily would have never 'died' and I would have my JJ and Emily paring.

Sighing, you finish getting ready for the party with your mother. You wish that you didn't have to go, but you know that if you don't show up the Ambassador will never let you hear the end of it. So you play the dutiful daughter, showing up at these functions, pasting on a smile and never letting anyone see how much you wish you could be with your team at a bar.

Suddenly, your phone rings, and without looking at the caller ID, you say, "Mother, I'm almost ready."

"Emily?" the voice on the other end says.

"JJ?" you say incredulously, embarrassed that you answered the phone the way you did. "Sorry. I thought you were my….never mind, what's up?"

"Can you come over? I know you have a function to go with your mother, but I really need you. Will never showed up for his weekend with Henry and I have a very upset three year old here. You're the only one who can ever calm him down."

"I'll be right over," you say without hesitation.

"You sure?"

"For you and Henry, you can crash this party."

"Thanks Em," she says, the relief evident in her voice. "I wouldn't ask…" you cut her off before she can continue. "It's not a problem, really."

You hang up and change out of the stifling clothes and into your usual jeans and an oversized Yale sweatshirt, smiling with relief that you don't have to go to this party. Grabbing your keys, you head over to the house of your two favorite people in the world.

Arriving at JJ's house, you walk up to the door, hearing a very upset three year old crying through the door. You use the key JJ gave you months ago and let yourself. Upon hearing the door, Henry looks up and sees you standing there. He comes running across the room at you, flinging himself at you. Catching him, you pick him up and he buries his head in your shoulder. "Emmy!" he says against your shoulder, sniffling.

"What's wrong, buddy?"

"Daddy forgots about me." he sniffles against your shoulder some more and tightens his grip on you. You shift so he's more secure in your arms, your anger bubbling up inside at Will. This isn't the first time Will has pulled this, and you swear that if he was standing in front of you, you'd probably pull your gun on him.

Henry pulls back and looks at you. 'But you came. You came, but Daddy didn't."

Your heart pulls again and you look down at the three year old who has had your heart since the day he was born. "Remember what I promised you a long time ago?"

"Be good for Mommy?"

You laugh at that. "No, what else have I told you?"

"That you woulds be here." you nod and he goes on. "You pwomised."

You nod again, knowing you would move the earth never to break a promise to this child.

He buries his head in your shoulder again and you stroke his back, your gaze going to the corner where JJ is standing with a smile on her face. She walks up to you and says quietly, 'Thanks Em…this is the calmest he's been all night."

You nod and Henry pulls back, looking at his mother. "I sowwy I was bad, Mommy."

JJ holds out her arms and Henry and he goes to his mother, burying his head into her shoulder. "It's okay, baby. Mommy understands. You ready to go get a bath and go to bed?"

He shakes his head. "No bed. Wanna stay up with Emmy."

You look at him and say, "Hey, buddy, I'm not going anywhere. You go get ready for bed. I'll be here when your done."

"You pwomise?"

"I promise." You hold out your pinky and he hooks his with yours. "Pinky promise."

He goes upstairs with JJ and you let out a sigh, going over to the couch and sitting down, a million things going through your mind. You wish that this was your life, everyday. That you could come home to these two everyday, instead of your empty condo. You wish that this was your family. However, you know deep down that you will take these stolen moments.

Your startled out of your thoughts by a three year old climbing into your lap. "All done, Emmy." he says, curling up in your lap, laying his head on your chest. You smile and stroke the blonde hair, so much like his mother's. He looks up at you and you blink, emotion suddenly overcoming you. "Emmy?"

"Yeah buddy?"

"You stayed."

"I promised, didn't I?"

He nods and buries his head into your chest, mumbling something. You pull back and look and ask him to repeat what he said. He says, with the frankness of a three year old, "Daddy pwomised to be here. He not. But you are." You feel the anger again at Will and know that if you ever see him again, you might have to stop yourself from punching him.

"Henry, look at me." He looks up at you with the blue eyes so like his mother's. "I will never break a promise to you. No matter where I am, if you need me, I'll be here." He stares at you and buries his head back into your chest. You stroke his back and he sighs, relaxing into you. You feel the tears form and you think back to when you were fifteen, and wonder if after everything you've been through, if you can finally have the chance to make things right. Make up for what you did.

Your startled to see JJ standing by you. You didn't hear her come into the room. She smiles at you and says quietly, "Thank you."

"For what?"

She just smiles and nods towards Henry. "For being here. For being the one person that he can count on. I don't know why Will does this. He makes plans with him, and then he breaks them. He might only be three, but he understands more than what any of us give him credit for." Henry lets out a soft snore and JJ takes him from you. "Let me get him to bed, and then we can talk." You lean up and give him a kiss on the forehead.

She smiles and turns towards the stairs. "I'll be right back." As you watch her walk up the stairs, your thoughts turn to her. You know that your in love with her. You have been for years. The longing looks when her you think no one is looking, the way she can light up the room when she walks in. She takes your breath away, but you'd rather suffer in silence than ruin your friendship with this amazing woman.

Sighing, you lean further back into the couch, wondering if you could ever tell her what you were feeling. There have been times you've come close, but then you lose your nerve and leave things the way they have always been. You close your eyes, sighing again. You feel the weight of the couch shift and without opening your eyes, you say, "Is he asleep?"

"Out like a light." You smile and feel yourself relax for the first time all day. "Want something to drink?"

You shake your head and you feel her hand cover yours. Your heart races at the touch and you swallow, keeping your eyes closed. "Thanks for coming over Em. I know that you had that function with your mother."

"Trust me, calming a three year old down is preferable to spending time with my mother at one of her functions. Henry behaves better even when screaming than some of the adults who are drunk."

She chuckles at that. "Well, I appreciate what you did." You smile and she tightens her hold on your hand. You open your eyes and look at her. "What's wrong?"

She sighs and says quietly, "I hate when Will does this. He makes all these promises and plans with Henry, and then he never follows through. He's not the one here when Henry gets upset. I just…I want Will to have a relationship with Henry, but not if he's going to keep breaking promises to him."

You nod and she continues. "Part of me wishes when he does this, I could take my gun and shoot him." You chuckle at that and she looks at you. "I thought the same thing."

She smiles slightly at that. You look at her and say quietly, "Do you still love him?"

She thinks for a moment. "No. I thought for a while I did. However, his actions have shown that I don't want him in my life. He will always be the father of my child, but am I in love with him? No. I don't think I ever was. However, he gave me Henry, and I am grateful for that. I always will be."

You nod, what she's saying making perfect sense. You look at the clock and say quietly, "I should probably get going. It's getting late and we both have work in the morning."

She looks disappointed for a moment. "You sure? If your tired, you can stay here. I don't mind. And Henry would love if his "Emmy" was here in the morning."

You nod slightly and she looks at you and says quietly, "Plus, I….I get lonely at night. After Henry goes to bed, I'm alone. I don't usually mind it, but some nights, the night seems so long."

"Why don't you call me?"

"I don't want to bother you. I know that after work or a case you go out with Morgan and I don't want to intrude on your wind down time."

"Hey," you turn and look at her, putting one leg under the other. "If you need me, call me. You can wake me up in the middle of the night. The door's always unlocked if you need me." You cover her hand with yours. "If it's two in the morning, and your wondering what I'm doing….call me. You can always wake me up and I'll be here."

She looks at your hand on hers and smiles softly, tears filling her eyes. "Thanks." A lone tear falls down her cheek and you brush it away. "I love you, you know that right?"

You look at her, startled for a moment. it's the first time in a long time someone's told you that. She looks at you and says quietly, "I do. It's another reason things didn't work out with Will. I never loved him like I love you."

Your eyes fill with tears and you open your mouth to say something but she stops you. "You're my best friend, and one day, I woke up and realized that I wouldn't care if I lost everything. I wouldn't care if I was homeless, as long as I had you. There were so many times when I was with Will that I wished it was you. I just never said anything because I know how scared you are of letting people get close."

You lock your eyes onto hers, and she says quietly, "But, I can't help my feelings. I just don't want to lose you."

You look at her and say quietly, "Tonight, when I was holding Henry, I was wishing that I could walk into this everyday. Come home to you and Henry. Be the family I have always been wanting. I just never wanted to lose you by telling you how I felt."

She looks at you and runs her free hand down your cheek. "You could never lose me. I don't think Henry would allow that."

You smile slightly at that. "I love Henry like he's my own."

"I know you do. That was evident tonight when you came over for him without a second thought." She looks at you, "And I know you love me. But my question is: are you in love with me?"

You swallow hard, removing your hand from hers. She turns your face so your looking at her. "Emily….please." her voice breaks and another tear falls down her face. "Please tell me my feelings aren't one sided here."

You brush the tears away and say softly, "I love you with every fiber in me. It scares me. Every time I love someone, they go away. It's been that way my whole life. I just want something that will last. I never felt loved growing up. I was always expected to be perfect. I never lived up to the expectations."

Stepping closer to you, she says softly, looking up at you, "You don't have to be anything but you. I fell in love with you. Not with your money, not with who your family is. I fell in love with you. Who you are. You're an amazing woman, Emily Prentiss. I want to show you that."

You swallow again and this time, you don't bother to try and stop the tears. She reaches up and brushes them away. "You're the one I've been waiting for my whole life." She leans up and brushes her lips across yours hesitantly, not sure if your going to pull away or not.

You stand stock still for a moment, your brain processing what just happened. She pulls back and says against your lips, "I want this. I want you. I want all of you."

You lean down and kiss her, and she kisses you back. You know right then and there you will never get tired of kissing Jennifer Jareau. That there will never be anyone else you want to kiss. That there will never be anyone else in your life that you want. She pulls back and smiles softly, taking your hand into hers. "Stay the night?"

You nod and she leads you up the stairs to her bedroom. Once upstairs, you wonder what's going to happen. She sees the fear and the hesitation in your eyes and she kisses you again. "Nothing is going to happen that you don't want. I won't push. However, I would like if we could just hold each other tonight."

You nod. You know that if you give this time, it'll bring you closer to the love you've been searching for your whole life. Leaning down, you kiss her softly at first, until the kisses grow more and more heated. She pulls back and unzips your sweatshirt slowly, looking at you the whole time. She smiles at you and you feel yourself falling harder than before.

She leads you over to the bed pulls you down with her. She curls up into your side and you stroke her back, wondering if this can be real and you won't wake up like you have so many times before, only to find out it was all a dream. She turns over and buries her head into your chest, sighing softly. You continue stroking her back, wondering if you can really have it all for once.

She looks up at you and says quietly, "You can have it all. With me. With Henry. Let us be the ones to heal you." You blink and close your eyes, not wanting her to see the emotions that suddenly come over you. "Let us heal your past and give you the future you deserve." She leans up and kisses you again and you kiss her back, still sliding your hand up and down her back, pulling her closer.

She pulls back and lays her head on your chest again. You play with her hair and you wonder how you got this lucky for once. You feel your eyes getting heavy, but you don't want to sleep. She notices that your fighting sleep and chuckles softly. "Sleep. I'll be here when you wake up in the morning."
"Promise?" you cringe, thinking you sound like Henry, and not a profiler.

She chuckles and intertwines her hand into yours. "I promise."

You drift off to sleep, holding her close and wondering what tomorrow will bring.
************************************************** ************************************************** *****

The next day, the sun streams through the curtains and you wake up, disoriented and confused as to where you are. You feel someone shift in your arms and you notice a content and sleeping JJ in your arms. Suddenly, the night before comes rushing back to you and you wonder if it was all a dream. Suddenly, the bedroom door flies open, and Henry comes streaking into the bedroom. "Emmy! You stayed! You stayed! You pwomised you wouldn't leave and you didn't!" Jumping on the bed, he flings himself at you.

Leaving go of JJ, you catch the excited three year old. He buries himself into your chest and you smile at the sight. "Hey, little man. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh huh. But I's glad your still here. Does this mean your never going to leave? That you live wif mommy and I forever?"

You swallow at that and you notice that JJ has woken up, listening to the conversation. You look at her over Henry's head and she smiles softly. "What do you say?" Want to live with us?"

All thought leaves your head as you realize that this isn't a dream and that you could have the family you've always wanted. She kisses you over Henry's head and says quietly, "Stay Emily. Please."

"Yeah, Emmy. Stay. Stay wif us forever."

You nod slightly and say quietly, only so JJ can hear you, "Shouldn't I take you on a date first?"

She chuckles and kisses you again. In that moment, you realize that you have what you've always wanted.