Jennifer Jareau sat in the conference room of the local San Francisco police station staring at the case board absentmindedly. Her and the rest of the team were trying to catch a serial killer who had already killed 6 people, and I they didn't work fast many more people were going to die. She pinched the bridge of her nose, she could feel her headache intensifying more and more by the second.
"Jayje?" Emily said as she walked into the room, causing the blonde to nearly get whiplash as she turned to look at her. "Sorry I didn't mean to scare you but we may have a lead on the kill-" the brown-haired agent began before she really caught a good look at her fellow colleague.
"Jennifer, are you okay? I have never seen you look so pale!" Emily said in total disbelief.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, Em. Just have a little cold that's all." JJ lied. The truth was she probably caught the stomach bug from her young son, but she didn't want to let her team down and stay behind from the case.
Emily walked over to JJ and placed a hand on the blonde's forehead, which was burning up by the minute.
"A little cold?!" Emily exclaimed, "You're burning up! Here sit down." She continued before helping the blonde into a chair.
"Everything alright in here?" Hotch said from the doorway, with Morgan and Reid by his side.
"Yes." JJ said, burying her head in her hands in an attempt to get rid of her headache.
"Actually, no it's not." Emily said, "JJ is sick, she's burning up and she's as white as a sheet of paper."
Hotch raised an eyebrow at the blonde, "You do look pale, JJ. If you're sick you can go back to the hotel and get some rest. We can handle this." He said.
JJ couldn't stand being babied like this, "Guys. I'm fine, please I just want to solve this case." She said, lifting herself up from the chair. But, she only made herself incredibly dizzy and ended up nearly falling onto the floor. If Emily hadn't had caught her, she surely would've busted her head open on something.
"Jayje, you can't work like this." Emily said, carefully helping the blonde regain her footing.
"She's right, JJ. Go rest, we go this." Morgan said, with Reid nodding his head in agreement.
"Are you guys sure you can handle this?" JJ asked, weakly.
"Yes." Hotch said, "Emily will drive you back to the hotel, you shouldn't be driving like this."
JJ knew there was no point of arguing, so she just agreed. After all, a nap sounded more than perfect right now.
Emily grabbed JJ's bag and together they walked to the black SUV. JJ fell asleep almost immediately after putting her seatbelt on and Emily couldn't help but smile, JJ was so determined to solve the case not even five minutes ago and now here she was sleeping in an SUV.
In the hotel parking lot, Emily stared at the blonde agent for a minute, who was still sleeping like a rock in the passenger seat.
How can one person just be so...so beautiful? Emily thought to herself. Ever since Emily joined the team, she couldn't get her mind off of JJ. When Hotch told Emily to bring her to the hotel, she felt over the moon. She loved just being in the blonde's presence more than anything.
Snap out of it! She's not into you! Emily said, quickly shaking her head. She can't keep doing this to herself.
"Jayje." Emily said, gently shaking the blonde. "Jennifer." Emily said, shaking her a bit harder this time.
The blonde's bright blue eyes fluttered open and met Emily's deep brown eyes. They looked at each other for a minute in silence, the light smell of JJ's perfume was so comforting to Emily. It felt like home, JJ just felt so right for Emily.
"Are-are we at the hotel?" JJ asked, breaking the silence between the two.
"Oh-uh...yeah." Emily said, fumbling for her things. She was slightly embarrassed at the fact that she was practically drooling over the blonde, why was she like this? "C'mon let's get you to the room so you can finish your nap in the comfort of an actual bed instead of a car seat." Emily laughed.
The two agents headed inside and JJ had never been happier to seen a hotel bed in her life. Whatever sickness that had taken over her body was really taking a toll on her, she had never felt more exhausted in her life.
"I'll let you sleep." Emily began, "I'm gonna see if I can find you some medicine."
"Em. You really don't have to do that, you don't need to baby me I don't want to be a bother." JJ said, as she snuggled deeper under the hotel sheets.
"Jayje, please. You're sick, let me get you some medicine so you won't feel so miserable." Emily said, it wasn't much of a beg or up for question, it was an order. JJ really didn't feel like arguing with her, so she just let her exhaustion take over and fell asleep.
Emily smirked, "That's what I thought." She said, turning off the lights and quietly closing the door. Once in the hallway, she dialed Garcia's number.
"Speak and shall be heard!" Garcia yelled through the phone, causing Emily to chuckle a bit.
"Garcia, it's Emily. JJ's sick, I'm at the hotel now. I was wondering if you can tell me where the closest pharmacy is from here?" Emily said.
"Playing doctor, are we now Prentiss?" Garcia chuckled, "Not exactly how I would confess MY love for someone but, to each their own."
"Garcia, not now!" Emily said, half laughing. Penelope Garcia had Emily figured out from the beginning, nobody else on the team even knew Emily was into girls, nevermind being hopelessly in love with her fellow agent.
"You know, one day you're just gonna have to tell her." Garcia said, while at the same time trying to find a pharmacy close to the hotel.
"Yeah, not sure the right time to have that conversation is when she's so sick she can barely stand." Emily said, truthfully she wanted to tell Jennifer how she felt but she was just afraid of getting hurt.
"Well then you better get to the pharmacy! Just sent the address to your phone." Garcia said.
"Thank you, Penelope." Emily said, smiling before hanging up the phone and getting in the hotel elevator.
Emily got into the SUV and headed towards the pharmacy. She made up a mental list of things she could get JJ, other than the medicine of course. She told herself she was doing this because JJ is her friend. She wasn't doing this to maybe win over the blonde, like Garcia had said earlier.
She pulled into the parking lot and parked her car.
"JJ is your friend." Emily said out loud to herself, "You are doing this because she is your friend, and nothing more."
Emily let out a huge sigh, she wasn't that good at convincing herself. She climbed out of the SUV and made her way into the pharmacy. The first thing she grabbed was some medicine along with some vitamin C tablets. When Emily was younger, her mother always made her take them when she got sick. It worked for her, so maybe it would work for JJ too.
Emily then walked over to the small food section of the pharmacy, specifically the soup section.
"Why does there have to be so many types of soup?" Emily whispered to herself in disbelief. She wanted to make sure she got JJ something she liked, so she did what she had to do and dialed Garcia yet again.
"Her favorite soup is chicken noodle." Garcia said without even skipping a beat.
"How-how did you know I was going to ask you that?" Emily stuttered as she grabbed two cans of chicken noodle soup and put it in her basket.
"Because I know you and I knew you would want everything to be perfect for the woman you think is absolutely perfect." Garcia said, laughing. "When will you just tell her, you can't just play doctor and expect her to marry you right then and there."
"Garcia!" Emily said, blushing. "I'm never going to tell her, she's probably still getting over Will. It hasn't been that long since they broke up." she continued making her way towards the front of the store.
"But are you forgetting that SHE broke up with HIM?!" Garcia said, "Just because they had a child together doesn't mean she'll never love again!"
"Look I gotta go, I have to-" Emily began.
"You have to pay so you can head back to the woman of your dreams. I know, toodles!" Garcia said before quickly hanging up before Emily could make any snappy comments.
Emily rolled her eyes and stood in line at the checkout counter, when something caught her eye. There was a display of small, stuffed animal keychains and one of them was a pink and white butterfly with sparkly purple eyes. Emily thought for a moment, she knew how much JJ loved butterflies and she knew that this would make her smile. And god, did Emily love seeing her smile.
She grabbed the small keychain, she's just your friend and friends do nice things like get each other small things that remind them of one another. She thought to herself, still not very convincing.
She paid for her items and left the pharmacy. As she made her way back to the hotel, she couldn't help but feel nervous. She didn't want JJ to feel like she was coming onto her while she was sick as a dog, or did she? No, no her and JJ are friends she had to stop overthinking everything.
When Emily arrived at the hotel, she sneakily took some paper bowls and cups from the mediocre all-day breakfast bar the hotel had and got into the elevator before anyone could notice.
As she approached the hotel room, she could hear JJ talking on the phone with someone.
"Yeah Emily went to grab me some medicine. I tried to get her to stop but, Garcia if I'm being honest, I'd rather be babied by her than anyone else." JJ laughed into the phone. Emily smiled from ear to ear, she knew she shouldn't be listening to her phone call but she couldn't help it. Hearing that gave her a small sense of hope, but she wasn't holding her breath.
She couldn't let JJ know that she heard that, so she waited another minute or so and then opened the door and was greeted by JJ's ever so beautiful smile.
"She just got back, I'm gonna let you go Garcia. I'll call you later." The blonde said, before hanging up the phone.
"You feeling any better?" Emily asked, setting down her bags on the floor by the bed.
"A little, yeah. I think the nap really helped." JJ said, smiling. "What's in the bags? I thought you were just going to get me medicine?" the blonde said, motioning to the bags.
Emily laughed, "Well, I did get the medicine. But..." The older agent said, allowing a blush to spread across her cheeks.
"But what?" JJ asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I may have picked up a few extra things." Emily finally admitted, as she reached into the bags.
"First of all, medicine. This should bring down your fever a bit and it shouldn't make you drowsy." Emily said, while handing JJ the bottle.
"Good. I'm already sleepy enough, any more exhaustion and I'll practically be in a coma." JJ laughed, as she opened the bottle and took some medicine.
"And then I found these." Emily said, handing JJ the vitamin C tablets she had bought.
Sensing the blonde's confusion she began to explain, "When I got sick when I was younger, my mother always made me take those. They're supposed to boost your energy a bit and just make you feel less sick overall. They worked for me, so I figured you could give them a try."
"Ahh, okay. Well, I'm sure they'll work. I'll try anything at this point." JJ said, before peeking in to the bag to see what else Emily had for her "Is that chicken noodle soup?!" the blonde exclaimed, as she pulled out the two cans of soup.
Emily laughed at JJ's excitement, "Yes, I heard it's your favorite." She said.
"I absolutely LOVE chicken noodle soup, you are an angel sent from above Emily Prentiss!" JJ swooned.
"Well, I wouldn't say that. I did steal some paper bowls and plastic spoons from the lobby downstairs so you could enjoy it." Emily teased.
JJ smirked at the older agent, "Would you look at that, an FBI agent turning to the dark side and stealing paper bowls and plastic spoons. You better be careful you don't get caught." She said, before trying to get out of bed to make her soup but Emily quickly stopped her.
"No. You stay there and I'll make your soup." Emily said, taking the soup and bowl and heading towards the microwave. She put the soup in and started the timer when she heard JJ gasp, causing Emily to turn her head back to the blonde in not even half a second.
"Emily! What's this?! Is it for me?!" JJ asked with a huge smile, she was holding the stuffed animal butterfly keychain Emily had picked out for her.
Emily walked over and sat at the foot of the hotel bed, "Yeah, I know being sick and not being able to be out in the field can make you feel down, and I remembered how you said you used to collect butterflies as a little girl." She said, while picking at the comforter. Whenever she was nervous, she would fidget with anything she could find.
JJ reached out and grabbed Emily's hand to get her to stop fidgeting with the comforter, sending electricity throughout both their bodies, "I love it, Em. Thank you." JJ said. They stared at each other for a moment, Emily found herself searching in JJ's bright blue eyes for some sort of answer.
Do you know how much I really love you, Jennifer?
Emily and JJ snapped out of their thoughts at the sound of the microwave timer going off, "Your soup is done, let me get it." Emily said while getting up, wishing she could just hold JJ's hand forever.
JJ looked down at the keychain and smiled, thinking of the conversation her and Garcia had earlier...
"JJ, I'm telling you Emily is head over heels for you!" Garica yelled into the phone.
"Garcia, I'm telling you Emily is most certainly NOT head over heels for me! She's just being nice to me because we're friends and I'm sick." JJ commented back, growing annoyed at her friend's theories about her and Emily
"Mhmm, friends that are TOTALLY meant for each other! Have you SEEN the way she looks at you? My god you give blondes a bad name!" Garcia fought back.
"Careful it's hot." Emily said, standing over JJ handing her the soup.
"Thanks." JJ said, taking the soup from Emily. "Thank you for taking care of me, Emily. You really didn't have to."
Emily sat next to JJ on the bed, "It's my pleasure, Jayje." She said, smiling. "How bout a movie?" She suggested, grabbing the remote.
"I'd like that." JJ said, before eating a spoonful of soup.
The rest of the day consisted of back-to-back romantic comedies and tons of laughs. Although JJ was sick, it was one of the best days she had. She got to spend the whole day watching movies with Emily, something she could get used to.
Later that night, Hotch came to check on the two women. They had caught the killer and were heading back to Quantico in the morning. He gently knocked on the door and waited for a response. When he didn't get one he gently pushed open the door to find the two women sleeping soundly in the bed, with a movie still playing. So as not to disturb them, he quietly turned off the tv, but was unsuccessful as Emily stirred and woke up.
"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you." Hotch whispered. "How is she feeling?" He motioned to the still sleeping blonde.
"She's improved, I think her fever is starting to go down." Emily said, rubbing her eyes.
"Well, I just wanted to tell you we caught the killer and we're flying back in the morning." Hotch said.
"Sounds good." Emily said, "We'll see you in the morning."
"Goodnight." Hotch said, as he walked out the door.
The next day, JJ was feeling much better than yesterday and was more ready than ever to go home. The team had a rather uneventful flight home, JJ spent most of it sleeping and Emily spent most of it admiring the blonde from a far. She really does look so beautiful when she sleeps she thought to herself.
Once the team arrived back at headquarters, Garcia immediately went up to JJ.
"My beautiful gumdrop!" She yelled before pulling her into a tight hug, "How are you feeling? Are you okay?" She asked quickly.
"Garcia, I'm fine." The blonde said, laughing as she pulled away from her friend's tight grip.
Garcia looked around the bullpen before speaking again, "How was having Emily Prentiss as your doctor?" she said with a wink.
JJ looked at the floor smiling, "Between me and you, amazing." she said.
Garcia squealed with delight, "For the love of all things good in the world you two have to get together. What's that on your keys?" She asked motioning to the keychain Emily had bought for her.
"Oh, Emily got this for me when she went to get me medicine. She said it reminded me of her since I used to collect butterflies as a little girl." JJ said, smiling bigger than ever.
Garcia tilted her head at the blonde, "And you think she's not into you? You give blondes a bad rep sometimes." She said. JJ stood there frozen, unsure of what to say.
"You know I'm right." Garcia said, nudging her friend's shoulder. "Just ask her to do something as a thank you for taking care of you. You don't have to SAY the word date." She said, before walking away leaving JJ alone with her thoughts.
JJ thought to herself for a minute, was Garcia right? Was THE Emily Prentiss into her?
"Penelope Garcia, you better not be steering me wrong." JJ whispered to herself, as she made her way over to Emily's desk.
"Hey, Em." JJ said, "I just wanted to say thank you again for taking care of me. I know I keep saying it but I really do appreciate it."
Emily smiled back at the blonde, "It was really nothing, Jayje."
"Well still, I want to pay you back for it," JJ said, biting her lip. "How about some coffee?"
"JJ, you really don't have to-" Emily began, before the younger agent cut her off.
"But I want to, Emily." JJ said, hoping the dark-haired woman would just accept the offer.
Emily laughed, "If you insist, it's a date." Emily said, before walking toward Hotch's office with a stack of paperwork in her hand.
Once Emily was far enough away, JJ smiled to herself and said, "Yeah, a date."
In the distance, Morgan and Garcia had been watching the two agents the entire time.
"Mama, how are you always so right about everything." Morgan said before slipping Garcia a ten dollar bill, they had placed a bet on whether JJ would really ask Emily out on a "date" and he had lost.
Garcia took the money from his hand, "Oh sugar. I'll never reveal my secrets." she said with a wink, before walking back towards her office.