Friday night dinner had been stiff and awkward.
Where Will and Jack Jareau usually chatted amiably about the latest hunting riffles, or car widgets, they now looked tensely down at their forks. While usually Karen would be all a flutter with making sure everyone had anything, and JJ would be fussing with Henry, the ladies simply sat quietly, picking at their salads.
With Henry back home in New Orleans at Grandma Charlene's house, not even the toddler was there to distract them. The silence was deafaning, as they all struggled to find the worlds. Finally, Jack looked up from his meal, holding eye contact with his daughter.
"Jenny, can you pass the gravy?"
The table released a collective sigh of dissapointment, and JJ handed over the crystal boat, careful not to disrupt any other dishes along the way. The spell however, had been broken for a moment, and Karen shifted from her seat, collecting a few empty plates.
"Can I get anyone anything from the kitchen?" Will looked up to her with a lopsided smile, holding his empty beer bottle.
"I wouldn't mind another cold one, please, ma'am?" Karen nodded, and took the bottle from him before dissapearing into the kitchen, completely ignoring the glare in her daughters eye. Will however, was buzzed enough to not want to keep his mouth shut any longer.
"Come on, JayJay. I'm not driving, and we'll probably jus' go up to bed after this anyway. Don't be such a spoil sport."
"Excuse me," She ignored him, standing from her chair and grabbing her wine glass.
"I think I'll go see if Mom needs any help in the kitchen." Having to put up with the passive-aggressive mess that was her mother sounded a lot more bearable than having Will look at her with those droopy eyes, while her father sat watching on.
"Yo, Prentiss. You coming or what?" Her head swivvled in the direction of Morgan, who was leaning over her desk grinning, eye brows raised in expectation. Before she could even open her mouth to give some lame excuse, he cut her off.
"We've got nothing working right now, and I know for a fact that you need to get out there and have some fun." She huffed at him, but didn't protest as he pulled the pen and file she'd been clutching from her hands.
"One drink!" Penelope chimed in, popping up from no where in her usual magical manner. She peered at Emily from behind technicolor glasses, giving her best resolve face.
Looking back and forth between her friends, Emily knew that resistance would be futile. Slumping her shoulders in defeat she brushed some long brown hair back behind her shoulder.
"Fine, one drink." She ignored their shared look of success. "And no dancing!"
"Oh, we'll see about that." What sounded like a threat came from Morgan, and Emily already found herself simply wanting to go home, crawl into bed, and fall into a good book. It was how she spent most of her nights over the last few years, losing herself in other worlds.
After JJ left, she'd broken down to bare bones and blood, spilling herself with every faltering step she'd attempt to take. It was all she could do to drag herself into the office every day, and not snear at the over eager face of Jordan Todd. To pull her boots on in the morning and secure her gun in the holster, without simply hitting the road and driving until she reached ocean. Which ocean, she didn't much care.
She'd started drinking, heavily at first and then a little less after a week long stint with Penelope buzzing around her apartment like some far-out fairy godmother. Pen and Derek had worked together to get Emily back on her feet, even if that only meant sober and functioning.
Binge drinking transformed into a thirst for knowledge, and while she was already certifiably genius, she began absorbing anything she could at a phenominal rate. Novels, non-fiction, documentaries, podcasts. Anything and everything that could distract her from the fact that half her heart had walked away and she'd just let it happen.
Again. Still, Derek and Penelope worried. Spencer, Rossi, even Hotch had picked up on the fact that Jennifer Jareau was not the only woman who had left their team that night. She'd taken the best parts of Emily Prentiss along with her.
"Let's go."
"So do you want to talk about it?" Karen Jareau asked casually, her back turned to her daughter as she worked diligently at the sink, scrubbing and soaking the dishes as she'd done a million times before. From where she was leaning against the counter, JJ watched her mother. She noted the wrinkles forming at the corners of her eyes, and the tired posture of her back and shoulders. She watched the strong hands covered in again skin dip in and out of the steamy water, just as she had as a child, and felt the comfort of her mother wash over her.
Taking a deep breath, JJ tried to figure where she would even begin.
"I'm not in love with him." She finally settled on, saying it simply and quietly, knowing full and well that the winds of this house had the power to carry statements from room to room when you're hoping they won't.
Karen did not pause her actions, simply made an "Mmmm" sound and kept washing. JJ moved to her side, grabbing a dry rag and beginning to wipe off the plates as her mother moved them from one basin to the other.
"I mean, I love him. I think. Or at least I did, before." She had never really spoken these things allowed before, except for that fateful night in Garcia's office, when she said them all wrong and twisted.
"He provides for me and Henry, and tries to be a good father. I respect him for those things. For wanting to be the man he'd seen his father be as a boy. I just," She sighed and they continued cleaning in silence for another moment.
"I'm not in love with him." She murmered again, lamely. So involved as they were in their task, neither woman had noticed when William, still waiting for that next beer, had meandered into the kitchen.
"'Scuse me?"
JJ's gasp was punctuated by the sound of a glass plate breaking on the floor.
Due to interest in a sequel/continuation of the first story, here is some more! Hopefully it will be enjoyable, and people will continue to leave awesome feedback. Hint, hint. Thanks everyone for reading!