"Hotch! I found her! Send the paramedics! Now!" JJ yelled. "Don't worry Em, you're going to be ok! Help is coming." The blonde agent whispered to the unconscious brunette agent.
"JJ! They are here, Morgan shot the unsub while he was trying to escape." Agent Hotchnner said while the EMTs were helping Emily. JJ was with them every step of the way, if they moved she moved.
"She was shot on the left shoulder, her blood type is A positive." JJ informed the EMTs while getting in the ambulance with them. Hotch chose not to say a word already knowing that nothing would stop her from going with Emily.
When they arrived at the hospital the doctors informed agent Jareau that she had to wait while Prentiss went through a surgical procedure due to the GSW on her shoulder. A few hours later JJ was still waiting on the hallway with the rest of the team, her worries were clouding her thoughts, her mind wouldn't stop making her crazy, wondering about Emily, 'What if she's gone? Oh God she can't be gone! I know how much blood she lost, just look at my clothes.' She kept pacing around the hallway. 'I can't lose Emily, not now!' Those thoughts were interrupted.
"Excuse me, I'm doctor Kepner, are you here for Agent Prentiss?" A small redhead doctor asked.
"Yeah yeah, how's she?" Agent Morgan jumped out of his chair asking questions and JJ rushed to his side.
"As you know, Ms Prentiss arrived here with a gunshot wound on her left shoulder, we surgically removed the projectile, and there was no damage to the arteries, although she has a broken clavicle so she won't be able to be on the field any time soon, I can't tell how long before she wakes up. She also has two broken ribs and a concussion. She's out of the woods, so no need to worry. She's currently sleeping, so your team is not allowed in there right now but as soon as she wakes up I'll send a nurse to guide you to Agent Prentiss's room."
After the doctor finished they all let out a breath they didn't even know they were holding in. JJ walked away from the group of profilers, her legs were shaking, tears were rushing down her face but she wasn't making any noise. She knew her head was a mess at the moment and decided that maybe it would be nice to go outside for some fresh air.
JJ, Em and Garcia had become friends over the past few months since Prentiss joined the Bureau. Even though the three of them were close, JJ knew she had a special connection with Emily but she couldn't point a finger at what was different than her relation with Garcia. Well, she couldn't, but Garcia knew for sure what was going on between her best friends. The way they exchanged glances, looked at one another when one of them wasn't paying attention, the way they were always touching each other... Those were only the most obvious signs that her friends were in love.
JJ picked up her phone and called Garcia.
"Oh JJ, let it all out."
"I found her Pen! I was the one who found her, sh…she was bleeding so much, and she wasn't awake, I thought I'd lost her." The blonde agent told her best friend between sobs.
"Sweetie, Derek told me she's going to be ok, you don't have to worry about losing her, and you basically saved Em's life." Garcia kindly said. "And you know better than I do that if Emily wasn't asleep she would be more worried about you crying than worried about all of her broken bones." After she said that, Garcia heard JJ giggle softly and smiled.
"Thank you Pen, you always know what to say. I need to go back inside and see if she's awake."
"Ok honey, keep me posted, love you."
"Love you too." With that JJ hung up and went inside to meet the other members of the team.
Reid was asleep with his head on Morgan's shoulder, while Morgan himself was also sleeping, Rossi and Hotch were having a conversation about The Rat Pack. JJ told Hotch that they should go back to the hotel since the boys were tired, and that she would stay there and call them as soon as Emily was up. The guys said their goodbyes to the blonde agent and she found her way to the cafeteria. After drinking almost five cups of coffee she went back to the waiting room.
Time didn't seem to pass for JJ, but the sun was already rising and Emily wasn't awake yet. When she started falling asleep…
"Excuse me Agent …?" Dr. Kepner spoke and JJ jumped out of her seat.
"Jareau. How's Emily? Is she awake? Can I see her?"
"She's fine, awake, and yes you can see her, but there's something else. I informed you earlier that she had a concussion, since agent Prentiss was unconscious we couldn't know for sure how bad it was, apparently she lost her memory but our neurologists already analyzed the case and they are certain that her memory will be back soon, she just needs to be in a stress free environment." The redhead woman said.
"Wait… She lost her memory? How?" JJ questioned befuddled.
"Patients who suffered from a big head trauma tend present amnesia, Emily had trouble remembering even her name but we explained the situation, and she understood quite well."
"So she won't remember me?" the blonde agent asked with a heartbreaking face and ready to cry.
"No, she doesn't remember anything. I know this is a lot to take in, but you need to be there for her, can you imagine how hard it must be, to wake up and not even know who you are?"
"You're right doc… I just need to give my team a call to inform them that Em…"
"You don't have to call them, just go see agent Prentiss, I'll call agent Hotchnner and explain the situation once they get here." The doctor said with a small smile.
"Thank you, that's very nice of you." JJ thanked.
"No problem. Room 137. She's expecting you." With that, agent Jareau slowly walked to room 137 and stopped by the door.
After five minutes standing in front of it she decided to knock on the door. Once she did so, a quiet voice said:
"Come in." Feeling now brave after hearing the sound of Emily's voice she walked through the door, her eyes immediately met the brunette's and within two seconds she was already by the bed hugging Emily and feeling quite disappointed when realized that the brunette wasn't returning the hug like she expected. Noticing that the hug turned out to be awkward she let go.
"Hi, I'm sorry, it's just that… It's so good to see you alive, I was so worried about you Em." JJ stammered. "And I'm sorry again, because I just realized that you don't remember me, is that correct?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm trying really hard to remember things, but it's just not happening…" Emily mumbled while lying in the hospital bed with a bandage on her head to the woman who just hugged her and was now sitting on a chair by her bed.
"That ok honey, don't try too hard. Maybe it would be the best if I introduced myself to you right?" Jennifer said and the brunette nodded. "Ok, I'm Jennifer Jareau, but everybody calls me JJ, we are best friends and we also work together." The blonde agent finished with a smile to which Emily returned.
"So if you are my best friend that means you know a lot about me, am I correct?" Prentiss asked with hope in her eyes and sighed relieved when JJ nodded smiling. "Would it be ok if I asked you some questions about me? Since you know… my memory is screwed up…"
"Sure… what do you wanna know?" JJ was actually curious, she knew Emily like the back of her hand, her favorite meals, favorite movies, favorite bands, favorite TV shows. She even knew things that she would never admit if anyone asked. Like Emily had one type of smile that only showed up when they were alone. Emily's smile was her best feature according to JJ, because she would feel that warm and tingling feeling inside when she saw it. Jennifer only realized she was lost in her thoughts when she saw Emily waving her hand in front of the blonde's eyes. "Sorry, I spaced out."
"I was just asking what we do for living since you know… We work together and stuff" the brunette shyly said while using her left hand to put a strand of hair that was bothering her behind her ear.
"We work for the F.B.I."
"You're shitting me right?" Emily asked to the agent sitting by her bed.
"No" JJ stated with a chuckle. "I wish, that's how you got yourself here actually. You are a profiler for the Behavior Analysis Unit."
"Wow! I'm badass!" Prentiss said and JJ laughed.
"Yes Em, you are pretty badass."
"So, are you a profiler too?"
"No, I work as a communications liaison." JJ told the older agent.
"What else can you tell about me? I'm not sure about what to ask…" Emily said feeling a little awkward.
"Well, you love coffee, and I don't mean that you just like coffee, I mean that you could kill someone over a cup of coffee. You are such a nerd, you love comic books and dork TV shows like Doctor Who, when you start talking about it you can't seem to shut up, especially if you are talking to Reid or Garcia. Oh they are other friends from work. Your favorite band is Led Zeppelin, your favorite song is You shook me. You would never admit out loud but you love romantic comedies, you love to cuddle while watching tv, and you have this crazy, yet adorable things like, only eat chicken nuggets in even numbers, brush your teeth twice, scratch your hands when you're nervous…" JJ didn't realize the smile on Emily's lips while she was telling everything she knew about her friend. "Your favorite scar is the one you have on your knee because Garcia thought it would be nice for us to go roller skating , and you were too proud to tell us that you had never tried before, so we were holding hands and you fell, and I fell on top of you, Garcia was right behind us and didn't have time to stop her roller skate hit your knee and she fell on me." JJ told the story and lifted her sleeves to her elbow to show Emily her own scars.
"That sounds awfully painful Jennifer." The brunette said and JJ smiled. "What? Why you smiling?"
"It's just that I hate when people call me Jennifer bu"
"I'm so sorry" Emily quickly apologized.
"As I was saying before, I hate when people call me Jennifer but I like when you do it." JJ stated with a smile and put her hand on top of the brunette's that was resting on the bed. Emily responded by taking JJ's hand.
She didn't know why but she was being drawn to the blonde agent and somehow there was no way to stop that. Maybe there was something more between them, obviously someone who was just a friend couldn't possibly know all of those details, it wouldn't hurt to ask.
"Hey Em, I think I'm gonna go get some coffee"
"OK, you want me to go with you." Emily said smiling and JJ rolled her eyes knowing she was trying to make a joke.
"Yeap, not even a concussion can fix it. You're still not funny." JJ said while leaving the room making Emily laugh.
Emily couldn't get some questions out of her mind. What if her memory was never back, what would she do, how is she supposed to work if she can't even remember what's her middle name. Somewhere on that line of thought Jennifer crossed her mind, and suddenly she was ok.