Chapter 2

"Welcome to New Orleans, once again." Detective Will LaMontagne Jr. welcomed the BAU team as they walked through the hallway of the local police station. "Thank you so much for coming, I really appreciate it. It's great to see you all." He said and looked at the agents, paying special attention to one Jennifer Jareau. She looked absolutely stunning in a navy blue suit and her blonde hair falling loosely on her shoulders. He was a little bit mad at her for not responding to his phone advances, but he was sure that she wasn't going to be able to resist him now that they finally met in person again.

"You're very welcome." David Rossi shook Will's hand. "We are happy to assist in any way. We want the same thing, which is to solve this case."

"That we do." Will responded, of course not mentioning the fact that he might want a little bit more than just to solve the case. "As you remember," he added as he lead them to a big room with a round table in the middle, "This is the conference room. Feel free to use it in any capacity. You remember where the coffee machine is, right?" He asked and looked at the BAU team for reassurance. They all nodded their heads. "Well, good." He continued. "Make yourselves comfortable."

"Thank you, detective." Hotch sent a small smile towards Will. "We appreciate the hospitality."

"So what's the game plan for today?" Emily asked, knowing that they couldn't afford to lose any time. Just like with every case, time was something very very precious and they all were fully aware of it.

"There are a couple of witnesses that we still haven't gotten round to questioning regarding the last murder." Will explained. "I was thinking we could split into groups and do that now. You can also visit the last two crime scenes if you want. They are still available to be investigated. Officer Evans, who is right outside, will be happy to assist you. Here is the list of the witnesses that still need to be questioned." Will handed the BAU members the list that he had compiled.

"OK then. David and Emily, you take the first two witnesses, Reid, if you don't mind, go with detective La Montagne to see the crime scenes and see what else you can come up with." The four of them nodded, accepting their assignments."I'll take officer Evans to question the other two witnesses. JJ, you stay here and work on the statement for the media. Don't give out too much information, though, so be sure to consult with the local officers regarding how much the media already know."

"Got it." JJ agreed.

"So, is everyone ready?" Hotch asked and looked around the group. Everyone seemed to be on the same page and knew exactly what they were supposed to do. And within five minutes, the conference room was empty, with only JJ sat at the table and going through the case files again to make sure she was well prepared for her task.

It was 5pm and JJ was just done making a statement and talking to some reporters. She had done that millions of times before, but somehow that case was especially difficult. She didn't quite understand why that was – maybe because the press seemed to know particularly much about the case and they kept asking really difficult questions. Or maybe it was because she hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Either way, she couldn't help but feel that her head was going to explode any moment now.

She took a deep breath and went to the conference room where she hoped she would be able to rest for a couple of minutes before everyone else got back from their assignments. She took a seat and rested her head on the table. She knew she couldn't afford to waste much time, but she felt like she really needed a moment to herself.

"Tough break, huh?" A voice behind her suddenly startled her and as she turned around she saw Will entering the conference room with two cups of coffee. "Here," he placed one of them on the table in front of JJ. "I thought you could use a refreshment." He smiled.

"Thanks." JJ wasn't crazy about Will being there with her, but she certainly wasn't going to turn down coffee.

"So how is it going?" He asked to somehow start up the conversation.

"Well, I just got done making a statement and now I need to go over some things here in the files." She explained.

Will started looking at her more carefully. She certainly did look exhausted, but she was still beautiful. He couldn't wait for her to finally succumb to his charm. She had no doubt that she eventually would. There was no way she would ever turn him down.

"You haven't returned any of my phone calls recently?" He finally decided to talk about what had been on his mind the entire day.

"Will…" She started to say something, but Will interrupted her.

"I get that." He said and JJ looked at him surprised. "I bet you were waiting until you were finally able to see me in person, right?" He asked with a smug look on his face and JJ couldn't help, but laugh inside at how clueless Will really was.

"Look, Will, I really thought that my ignoring your calls would send a clear message, but apparently it didn't… So please let me explain this to you one more time – I will not be going out with you. Not now, not ever."

"And just how do you know?" He smirked, still 100% sure that she would eventually give in. "You haven't even given me a chance." He added, hoping that he was on the way to getting JJ to agree to go out with him.

JJ felt helpless and had no idea what to say. She knew that even if she told Will that she was seeing another guy, he would never give up, so she came up with a reason she knew would make Will go away, "I can't go out with you, because you're night the right gender." She finally revealed and she saw that it took a while for Will to register what he had just heard.

"Are you saying that you're… gay?" He asked, as if it was the weirdest thing he had ever head. "You never said anything?" He was still totally baffled.

"I didn't feel like sharing this with you, Will. But now you know. I'm gay and I'm in a relationship," She said and immediately realized that she shouldn't have said that, but she decided to continue, "So please let's just let it go."

"You're in a relationship?" He apparently couldn't believe what he was hearing. "How in the world do you find time to have a relationship?"

For a moment JJ stood there frozen and finally spoke, "Let's just say that it's someone in the same line of work." She explained and a second later she noticed Emily walking into the conference room. "As a matter of fact, there she is." JJ smiled and quickly turned around to face the older agent. And before she knew it, she walked up to the brunette and her lips were on Emily's, leaving Will a little wide eyed and Emily totally shocked in an unexpected lip lock with her younger colleague.