AN: Yes, here I am with another one, and I still have Scars of the Past to write. Well, I'm a little bit anxious, what can I do? *sigh*

I will alternate between the two of them so I can keep them updated ;)

Complete AU, Jemily as always and no, this is not named after the Katy Perry song. In fact, I've just realized that she has a song with this very same name. What can I do? I think this title fits to this story :D

Nope, I own nothing but my imagination. R&R

One

She drank the last remnants of the water and threw the bottle out the window into the hot summer day. Looking at her right, on the passenger seat of her old car, she realized that she ran out of water – and food. She sighed. That would be a problem, since it was 94°F according to the weather station, and at 1PM she was starving.

She looked out the window and furrowed her brow as the sun hit her blue eyes. On both sides of the road there was only grass and miles and miles of flat land. She thought she could see water at some point to her left, but it could be only the sun reflecting on the surface and fooling her eyes.

A sign on the side of the road said there was a restaurant a few miles away. She decided she would make a stop there and rest a little bit. She had been driving for the past two days and her back was already hurting.

A few minutes later, she saw the restaurant – which soon she realized it was more like a bar/cafeteria – and parked, getting out of her car to the burning heat of the day. She locked her car and then took a look around. The place was very… unique, if that was the best word to describe it. It had an illuminated sign – which she found highly annoying under the sun, to be honest - that was blinking the words 'The Oracle of Food'. She chuckled to herself. What kind of name was this?

As soon as she entered the place, the few people that were inside stopped their conversation and turned to look at her. There was an awkward silence, in which only the fans could be heard, until finally they resumed their conversations again, and then she heard someone say:

"Oh my God, a foreigner! That is so exciting!"

Feeling like an intruder disturbing the peacefulness of this place, she walked towards a table and sat down, taking a look at the menu. Soon, she saw an eccentric bubbly blonde walk towards her and she wondered if she was the owner of this place.

"Well, hello there. Welcome to The Oracle of Food, I'm at your services my humble client. How may I help you?"

She tried really hard not to laugh at this and answered.

"I'd like… uhm… a double cheese burger and fries. And chocolate milk shake. With mint, please"

"All noted down, anything else?" the blonde – Penelope Garcia, as the nametag said – asked.

"Just some water for now, please"

Garcia then went and got her the water and then walked back to the counter, where she resumed her conversation with other three people. She looked at them for a moment. There were two men and a woman sitting at the balcony, talking excitedly with the weird waitress. One of the men was tall and dark, with strong arms and a uniform and a gun on his hip. She couldn't read his name, so she didn't know if he was the sheriff or just some regular cop. The other one was a skinny man with a messy hair, and she thought he was fairly young compared to the rest of them.

Then, her eyes lingered on the woman. She had dark hair around her shoulders and a tanned skin. She was wearing a cowboy boot and a pair of jeans, along with a plaid shirt with her sleeves folded up above her elbows. She was beautiful.

Trying not to stare too much, she looked away, outside the window and pretended to be lost in her thoughts, but she could hear them talking. They didn't really know how to be discreet.

"You gotta know who she is mama, it isn't often that we have such good goods around here. Not that you aren't beautiful, Em, but you are… well, you" she heard a male voice say, and immediately she heard the sound of a slap.

"Oh, you are way better than this, Derek Morgan! You can't call people 'goods' that is so not cool! I'm so disappointed right now…" she heard the voice of the waitress reply and she smiled to herself. This woman was weird, but she liked her.

Then, the waitress continued.

"And you are gorgeous, Em, Derek here just has his macho ego wounded because you are way tougher than him and you never fell for his charm" she finished.

She heard laughter and assumed it was from the woman – Em.

"Oh yeah, I'm way tougher than you, Morgan. And those aren't my words!" she said mockingly. Then, Morgan replied:

"You do know that I'm the sheriff, right? I could get you arrested for contempt." He said, but she could realize even from her seat that he wasn't serious.

"This is not contempt, hot stuff; this is a dearly friend telling you some well-deserved truths." Garcia replied.

"Ouch, this way you wound me, mama" it was all he said.

Still looking out the window, she closed her eyes and smiled. She could tell that they were good friends and she was somewhat jealous of that. She couldn't remember the last time she spoke with a friend in such relaxed way…

Then, the voice of the waitress filled her ears again.

"But she is gorgeous, indeed. Her eyes were like, the bluest blue of all oceans; bluer than the sky itself. But, she ordered fries AND milk shake, who the hell eats that?" she asked, earning more laughter from them.

"Well, fries: good. Milk shake: good. What is wrong about that?" Morgan asked.

"Even if we gave you some rocks you would still eat them, so for you, there really is no problem at all" the brunette said, and there were more laughter at that.

She felt a little uncomfortable hearing they talk about her like that, but that was the thing with small towns. She sighed and then looked at the balcony when she heard the ding, meaning that her order was ready. Garcia handed her the food and:

"If you want anything else, you just ask, beauty"

For some reason, she didn't feel bothered by that.

"Thank you" she said, and then started eating. God, she was starving!

Then, she heard Garcia ask again, back with her group of friends.

"Why are you so quiet, boy wonder?" and she assumed she was talking to the skinny guy.

"Well, is just… I don't think is right to talk about her like that. I mean, she's not far from us, she might hear us"

"Well, Reid, don't you know the friends we have? They can't see anything new here and they get like children in a candy store." That woman, Em, said.

"Well, maybe is because nothing new ever happens here!" she heard Garcia reply, but then she was approached by a man that was obviously drunk.

"Hey there, blondie. Daya' need something?" he asked, slurring the words together.

"I'm fine, thanks" she replied politely, but at the same time using a tone that said 'leave me alone'.

But, of course, he didn't seem fazed by that.

"Well, yaknow, a beauty thing like you… shouldn't walk alone… let alone drive like this." The guy said and she was getting more and more nervous around him.

Then, she felt another presence next to her and looked up to find the man – Derek Morgan – standing and keeping himself between her and the drunken man.

"Leave her alone, Tony"

"Sheriff, ya don't have to get all macho on me. I'm just tryin' to be a gentleman, right honey?"

She closed her eyes and said:

"Don't call me that"

The man seemed hurt by her words and quickly anger possessed him.

"Well, but ain't you a bitchy woman?"

Then, Derek grabbed him by his arm and started to walk him out of there.

"That's enough. You talk to her again and you're gonna spend another night in jail, you hear me?"

Tony, then, walked out of there cursing profanities aloud and stumbling upon the tables.

"Sorry about that, lady. You can finish your meal in peace now" Derek said and sat at the balcony again.

But she wasn't hearing him anymore. She was grabbing onto the table so hard that her knuckles were white. The smell of beer and vodka were glued in her memory and suddenly she wasn't there anymore.

She was washing the dishes quickly and checking the oven every few seconds, hoping that for a miracle the food would get ready. It was almost 6 pm and 6 was a bad time. Things just had to be perfectly ready by 6.

They wouldn't today.

All because she wasn't feeling okay, so she decided to lie down for only a few minutes and when she woke up, it was already 5 pm. And things were nowhere near ready, and they needed to be ready by 6.

Because 6 was a bad time.

And today, it was going to be even worse.

Because there was not a chance that everything would be ready by 6.

Because it was already 6:02.

And she heard the door open.

And she felt the smell of alcohol invade her nostrils even before she heard the steps.

So she just stood in the kitchen, frozen, grabbing the sink with so much force that she couldn't feel her fingers anymore. She tried to control her breathing, but to no avail.

Because 6 pm was always a bad time.

And things weren't ready today.

She shook her head and finished her milk shake in just one long sip, not even bothered by the brain freeze that happened after that. Anything to get out of my mind, she thought.

She grabbed the bottle of water again and took a sip of it, focusing on the conversation between the four friends again.

"So, did Elle really leave without talking to anyone?" Garcia asked.

"Yes, she did" Em answered and sighed. "I woke up this day and just found a note saying that she was sorry."

"And now who's helping you at the farm?" Morgan asked.

"No one. It's just Reid and me now, and I am getting crazy because I don't know what to do, I can't handle things all by myself. But in this hole of a city, who am I going to find?" She asked in a frustrating tone.

"Well, sunshine, I could help you…" Garcia said, but the other woman just shook her head.

"No way, Pen. You have this place that you love to run, you can't leave here to go and help me there. Thanks for the offer, though" she answered and smiled at her.

Then, an idea struck her, while she heard their conversation. She didn't intend on staying here, somewhere in the middle of North Dakota, but she needed money. So, she grabbed her purse and walked to the balcony, counting the money to pay for the food, trying to act as nonchalant as possible.

"I could work for you"

They all looked at her like she had grown five heads.

"Wh- What?" the brunette asked.

"I could work for you" she said again, as if it were the most obvious thing to say.

"Well, I…" the brunette stuttered.

"I was raised in a small town" she started. "I always helped my mother with things in the garden and at the house, and I always went with my father while he worked on the horses. I also know the basics of crops, and you could teach me anything else you need."

Now, they looked at her like she had grown six heads.

"And I am not a thief, if that's what you are all thinking. Although, a thief would never admit that, so there's no point in me saying this…" she said and Garcia laughed at her.

But the brunette still wasn't convinced, so she tried again.

"Come on, where will you find another person here to do this? This is a small town, people just don't appear out of nowhere and accept a job like this…" she said, trying not to sound desperate.

The brunette sighed.

"I'm afraid I couldn't pay you a lot, and it is hard work. I could only offer you food and a place to stay in addition to the money…" she said, thinking about it.

"That's perfectly fine. And I love hard work" she said, smiling.

The brunette looked at her friends and shrugged.

"Well, then. I do need the help. You could stay for a few days and see how it goes, and then we can talk more properly later"

"Like a probation period" she said, smirking.

"Yes, like a probation period" the woman answered.

Garcia was looking at the interaction with delight and Reid was slightly confused. But Morgan was just observing with a serious face.

"For me, it's all good" she said and smiled.

"Well… I'm sorry, I never introduced myself. I'm Emily. Prentiss" she said and extended her hand.

She took it and shook it a little.

"And you can call me JJ"

She paid for the food and asked.

"Where is the bathroom?"

Emily rose quickly and said:

"I'll show you; this way we can talk a little bit more."

As soon as they both walked away, Garcia turned to Morgan and said:

"Spill it, hot stuff! What's going on in that pretty big head of yours?"

Derek shook his head and answered.

"She is right, you know? This is a small town and people just don't appear out of nowhere and accept a job like this…"

And the three of them just stayed looking at the direction of the bathroom, thinking about the interesting turn of events that had just happened.