A/N

This is a sequel to my story "On Misery And Company", but you do not have to have read that one to read this. The only thing you really need to know is that Blake and JJ are lovers. So it's obviously femslash. What the hell is the shipname for them anyway? JJake? BlaJJ? Whatever.

Now, I wasn't supposed to start this story at all until March, because I have promised myself to keep from having more than five works in progress at once, but when the muse is singing, you'd better drop everything and listen. Well, I have to work that way at least, or I'd never get anything done.

I can feel those smouldering get-to-the-point stares from here, so I will. (Garcia reference). Here we go!

Beep! Beep!

Alex Blake groaned, rolled over on her stomach, and tried to ignore her cell phone. It was Sunday morning, it was still dark for crying out loud, and she had been to the movies with JJ last night. What she wanted was to sleep in and just enjoy being in her own skin, for just one day. Was that too much to ask? Apparently, yes.

Beep! Beep!

Again?! She reached out a hand, knocked over the novel on her bedside table ("Catcher in the Rye", how's that for irony?), and somehow managed to catch the phone mid-air as it decided to go down with the book. Leaning back against the pillows, she glared at the screen and tried to make out the letters. She failed, rubbed her eyes and tried again. Maybe it's time to get reading glasses, she thought and immediately banished the thought.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty,"read the first text.

Followed by "Wanna go for a morning run?"

Blake rubbed her face. Sleeping beauty, huh? She felt more like a cave troll or possibly a zombie. And morning run? There were two things in life Blake usually avoided like the plague, and those were early mornings and running. As she considered whether to send a sweet reply, gently declining the offer, or to send her instinctive reaction "SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME SLEEP!" unedited, the phone began to ring. She pulled the covers up to her chin and wriggled into the heap of pillows as if to blend in before she tapped the screen to answer the call.

"Who are you?" she grunted. "It's 6.30 on a Sunday morning, why are you even awake?"

"Because I kept dreaming about you," JJ responded, not sounding a bit put off by her lover's harsh tone.

"And that was so bad you couldn't go back to sleep?" Blake retorted, but even so, she felt a reluctant smile tug at the corners of her mouth.

"On the contrary; it was so good I couldn't go back to sleep. I miss you, Alex. I woke up two hours ago but even I thought that would be too early to call."

"Very considerate of you," Blake said, yawning loudly. "Ugh." She fell silent, her breathing beginning to even out. JJ, who clearly had a sadistic streak in her, waited until Blake began to snore before speaking up again.

"So I take it a morning run is not what you had in mind at the moment?"

Her voice was dripping with playful mocking. Blake's body jerked as she woke up from the near-slumber. She resisted the urge to curse, and sighed instead.

"Tell you what, you go for your run - alone - and then come over and I'll make us breakfast."

"I love you, Alex," JJ purred in a tone that might have told Blake that this was exactly what JJ had in mind from the start, if she had been awake enough to notice any subtleties.

"Mhm. And there's no rush honey, take your time."

She was back to sleep already before JJ had hung up. She had never been much of an early riser.

Two hours later she had succeeded in dragging herself out of bed, having a quick shower - just in and out basically - and was just in the middle of making breakfast when JJ arrived.

"Hey," JJ said and gave her lover a quick kiss. "Mm, smells good."

"Are you referring to me, or the food?"

JJ laughed. "How about both?"

"I guess I have to make do with that," Blake replied and lead the way into the kitchen, returned to the stove and stirred the scrambled eggs. JJ put an arm around her waist and leaned her head against her shoulder.

"I ran into Strauss this morning. Literally."

Blake tensed. Erin Strauss was not a subject she appreciated to discuss any time of the day, but early morning was definitely the worst time.

"Really? I don't recall her being an early riser either," Blake said without thinking and nearly bit her tongue off when she heard her own words. Luckily JJ did not seem to notice, or more likely she didn't notice the full extent of their meaning. But why would she? What had been going on between Blake and Strauss was a long time ago, and it had ended in bitterness and revenge. She supposed JJ deserved to know, but discussing past mistakes wasn't something she wanted to start a relationship with.

"She was in the park, walking a dog."

"Wait, she has a dog?!"

"Well, I obviously can't say if it was her dog, but she was walking a dog. And I ran straight into her - look." JJ stroke her bangs aside and revealed a slight bruising on her temple.

Blake sucked in air through gritted teeth and gently ran her fingertips over the swelling. "Oh, does it hurt?"

"Well, a little, but you should see the other guy," JJ joked. Blake chuckled.

"Okay, I'll bite. Did you knock her unconscious?"

"Nope, but I gave her a nosebleed."

Blake threw her head back and laughed out loud.

"I'm glad I could brighten your morning," JJ said and Blake placed a swift kiss next to the bruise.

"You brighten everything," she whispered and turned back to the eggs, chuckling and shaking her head. She hoped she wasn't a bad person for feeling this way, but Erin Strauss had hurt her so deeply on so many levels, it was a miracle she had managed to heal at all, and she felt she was at least a little entitled to laughing about a harmless accident.

As they sat down to eat, JJ tilted her head to the side.

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?"

"What she did to you."

Blake swallowed a forkful of eggs and reached for the coffee. "I'm sure you've heard the story, only you've probably heard her version; the official one. Long story very short, she screwed up the Amerithrax case and blamed me. In front of the media, without even telling me what was about to unravel, she simply said that I had been mistaken, and left me alone to answer questions and take the blame."

"Why would she do such a thing?" JJ asked. "I mean, I've never had a liking for Strauss, but that seems unusually heartless even for her."

"Hah, tell me about it," Blake muttered and pierced a slice of bacon on her fork, then put it down. "She can be unusually heartless indeed."

JJ considered, almost decided to leave well alone, then spoke up anyway.

"Who broke it off?"

Blake stared back with carefully expressionless face. This alone convinced JJ she had been right in her assumption; Alex's face was never without an expression.

"I don't follow."

"You were lovers, weren't you?"

Blake averted her eyes. "That's history."

"And from history, the present and the future are built. What did she do?"

"Kept me," Blake clipped bitterly, but before JJ could ask what she meant, she continued; "I was young and helplessly infatuated with her; I would have done anything she asked me to. I worked so hard on that case because I wanted to impress her, you know, make her proud of me. I thought she loved me, but it was only her ego that loved the constant boosting."

Blake sighed. "Eventually I began to see the signs; how I was supposed to be on booty call anytime she wanted me to be, while she kept the right to brush me off if she wasn't up to it… she had no plans on leaving her husband in spite of all the things she said in bed. I finally had enough of being her cheap little plaything and so I told her I wanted to break up and keep our relationship strictly a working one."

"And she did not like that."

"Not one bit, and this was the perfect punishment. She knew that I had the wrong suspect, and instead of telling me before it went public, she just leaned back and let me take the fall. Hell, you could almost admire the ruthlessness of that kind of revenge."

She sniffed and was surprised to notice that she had started to cry. Well, cry was perhaps a bit too strong a word. She wiped at her eyes with one hand and sniffed again. "Don't worry, I'm not going to break down," she said. JJ forced a smile.

"Oh my God. It makes me wish I had knocked her out."

Blake laughed softly. "That makes two of us." She sipped her coffee. "It's quite the cliché though, isn't it? Being infatuated with your boss."

"I had a horrible crush on my teacher back at the academy. I didn't know I was into girls back then, so I chalked it up to hero worship, but oh my God. Can you say erotomania?" JJ rolled her eyes. "But at least she never encouraged me. What Strauss did…"

Blake held up a hand and shook her head a little.

"I don't want to talk about it. Please. Let's not ruin a free Sunday by talking about her."

"Sure, okay." JJ finished her last bite and leaned back.

"Care for some dessert?"

"Dessert after breakfast?"

Blake's eyes glittered as she got up from her seat.

"Well… we could eat it in bed?"

JJ laughed and walked into her embrace.

"That sounds delicious."

And so another Sunday was spent… and JJ had time to regret the unnecessary running she had had this morning. Blake certainly knew how to stay fit through much more entertaining exercises.