Emily exhaled a soft groan as she settled into her seat on the plane, sitting across from JJ. The blonde nudged Emily's leg under the table and Emily lifted her head, looking over at JJ. "You good?" JJ asked quietly, knowing that Emily wouldn't want anyone else to know she was having a rough morning. Emily smiled back and said, "Better now. Thanks." JJ smiled back and rubbed her leg against Emily reassuringly before she dropped her focus down to her phone. The plane was extremely quiet on their flight: everyone nose deep in a book, tuned out with their music, or catching up on the sleep they missed the night before. JJ couldn't help but glance up at Emily every once in a while to make sure she was ok. After Emily had hung up her phone in the briefing room, JJ could tell Emily was trying to fight back tears. What could her mother possibly have said to her that would cause the seemingly fearless and strong Emily to cry? JJ was aware that Emily and her mother were not always on the same page. They had extremely different values and views on how one should go about living, but Emily still cared deeply for her mother. She made a constant effort to understand her mother, but whenever she tried to make her mother understand her own thoughts, that's when things went wrong. JJ stared at Emily, who was looking out the window of the jet, lost in deep thought. The one thing JJ wanted to do was make Emily feel better, but she didn't know how. This was a matter between Emily and her mother, she shouldn't step in. She only heard the conversation because she was in the right place at the wrong time. But yet, JJ was the only one Emily could talk to about what happened, about her feelings. It wasn't fair to deprive Emily of a friend because of her awkward position in the situation.
Emily finally brought her attention back to the interior of the plane, and as she did, she saw JJ looking at her. Emily smiled and chuckled softly before she asked, "... What?" JJ was forced out of her thoughts when she heard Emily speak. JJ blushed a light shade of pink, "Sorry. Just lost in thought." Emily smiled again, but this was her full Emily Prentiss smile, as she said, "Don't worry about it, Jayje." JJ sighed and shook her head, looking down at her hands. Emily tilted her head to the side when she realized something was on JJ's mind. JJ tucked her hair behind her ear and twiddled her thumbs, so Emily knew that her phone call from earlier was what JJ was thinking about. "Hey," this time Emily lifted her leg and rubbed JJ's gently, "It happens all the time, JJ. I don't want you to worry." JJ lifted her head and looked into Emily's eyes, "Okay. But if you need to talk about it..." Emily smirked, "Going to try and profile me, are ya?" JJ laughed and nodded her head, "Yea, that's it." JJ rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her phone as she picked out a song and plugged in her headphones; Emily smiled and copied JJ pulling out her phone and tuning out the rest of the plane.
As Emily sat and listened to Ashtrays and Heartbreaks, she thought about how much JJ had been worrying. Before joining the BAU, Emily didn't have friends. Throughout her entire life, she moved around and would only spend a short amount of time in one place, so she learned that it was easier to not get attached. But now, she was surrounded by amazing people who truly cared and wanted Emily to let them in. Emily had already sort of done that with her best friend Derek, but the rest of the team... It felt much harder. Derek was more of a brother than a friend, and connecting came easily. Emily smiled softly to herself as she realized that JJ cared about her as much as Derek did, and she chuckled giddily as she thought I've never had more than one friend before. JJ heard Emily's laugh over her music, and when she looked up, she caught Emily with a giant grin on her face. JJ took out her headphone and smiled, "What's got you so happy?" Emily shrugged and, with a smile, she told the truth, "You!" A confused look came over JJ's face before she shook her head, "Alright, Em." JJ chewed on her cheek for a moment before she said, "You make me happy too." The two women smiled at each other and went back to their music for the remainder of the flight.