Disclaimer: I do not own anything!
AN Hey readers I want to thank you guys so much for the amazing response to this story, thank you so so so so much! I can't put into words how much it means to me to have your support. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Love forever and always.
Engaged, the word ran through Emily's head over and over again as she sat at her desk. JJ had just told her she was engaged and went into Garcia's office, Emily knew better than to follow her.
I've lost her forever, what the hell was I thinking when I left her?
"Conference room" Hotch called to the team. "Reid, can you please get JJ and Garcia?" The young profiler nodded and headed off.
Morgan, Emily, and Rossi followed Hotch into the conference room, they took a seat as JJ, Garcia, and Reid walked in. JJ chose to stand by the door, not wanting to be any closer to Emily than she had to be.
"As you guys know, Blake resigned a month ago" Hotch began. "We needed another profiler so I called Prentiss"
"And I wanted to come back more than anything" Emily said with a laugh, Morgan laughed as well and clapped a hand on her shoulder.
"Why?" All eyes turned to JJ, silence took over the room.
"JJ" Hotch warned, though JJ chose to ignore.
"I mean you were so quick to leave, why did you want to come back?" JJ raised an eyebrow.
"I missed you guys" Emily turned her eyes away from JJ and looked around the table. "I missed this job, you guys mean everything to me-"JJ cut her off.
"Took you two years to realize how much we mean to you?" Once again, silence.
"JJ, my office now" JJ tore her eyes away from Emily and walked out of the conference room, heading to Hotch's office; Hotch right behind her.
"She's hurt Emily" Emily looked at Garcia and nodded.
"Just give her some time to heal, she'll get over it" Morgan added.
"I don't expect her to get over it" Emily said with a shrug. "I wouldn't"
-
Hotch followed JJ into his office and closed the door, JJ turned to face him.
"Want to explain what that was?" Hotch asked.
"She left the team without even blinking and now she can just walk back in here like what she did wasn't wrong?" JJ's voice was a harsh whisper, trying her best not to yell.
"Is this about her leaving the team or leaving you?" JJ looked away from Hotch, knowing he would know the answer if he looked into her eyes. "Because it seems to me that the entire team is fine with her being back, except for you" JJ remained silent. "JJ?" She finally looked at Hotch.
"I can't forgive her for what she did" Hotch crossed his arms and nodded. "I haven't seen her for two years, I never thought she was coming back and I'm just shocked. She just left Hotch, one day we hand and amazing thing and then next day it was gone, and she comes back here thinking that everything can go back to the way it was? I am not okay with that"
"You once told me that if anything happened between you and Emily, that you would find a way to work with her" JJ nodded.
"I know and I will, I will" JJ took a breath before continuing. "Her being here just caught me off guard"
"I need Emily on this team, she is one of the best profilers I know" JJ nodded. "I need you on this team too" She threw him a small smile.
"I'm sorry Hotch" He nodded with a small smile. "I need some help with this" He frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?" JJ cleared her throat before answering.
"I need a couple of weeks to get used to her being back, so maybe for the first couple of weeks you don't pair me up with her?" Hotch took a breath and JJ could tell he was thinking it over.
"Only for a couple of weeks JJ" JJ nodded with small smile and began to walk past him, but he stopped her from leaving. "But only for a couple of weeks, because this is a team JJ and I need you two to be able to work together"
"I understand sir" He nodded and JJ left the office.
-
Later that evening everyone was getting ready to go home, JJ had spent most of her time in Garcia's office. JJ would only come to her desk to grab some paper work and head back to Garcia's, Emily tried her best to connect her eyes to JJ's but would only end up gazing at the engagement ring.
The team worked on cases, while Emily spent most of her day singing papers the solidified her return. Emily stood up and began to put her blazer on; she looked in front of her when JJ came into her view. She watched as JJ began to pack her bag, Emily opened her mouth to say something when she heard a voice that made her smile bigger than she had in the last two years.
"Uncle Spencer!" Emily turned and saw Henry running towards Reid.
"Henry!" Reid bent down and opened his arms, Henry jumped into them and Reid hugged him tightly.
"Hey little man" JJ said from her desk.
"Hi mama" Henry ran to her and she scoped him up, JJ gave him a quick kiss before smoothing down his hair.
"Did you get here all by yourself?" Henry shook his head with a frown.
"No, Claire brought me" Henry said as if it was the most obvious thing.
"She did?" JJ played along.
"I did" Emily turned her head towards the new voice, she a woman about JJ's age with medium length black hair and bright blue eyes, Emily found herself thinking that JJ's were brighter, she was about as tall as Emily and it was clear that she kept in shape.
"Hi babe" JJ said as she walked over to her fiancé.
"Hi" Claire placed a soft kiss on JJ's cheek.
"Aunt Em?" JJ looked at her son and saw him cranking his neck over her shoulder to look at Emily.
"Yeah baby, that's Emily" Henry began to struggle in JJ's arms and she put him down.
As soon as his little feet hit the floor he ran as fast as he could to Emily, Emily bent down and hugged him as tight as she could. Having him in her arms made her heat burst with joy, she never wanted to let go.
"Hi Henry" Emily whispered into his ear, she tried her best not to let the tears in her eyes fall.
"Are you back?" Henry asked her once he pulled back, but kept his arms around her.
"Yeah honey, I'm back" She gave him a smile, but he didn't return it and it broke Emily's already torn heart.
"You missed my birthday" He frowned, and Emily couldn't help thinking that it made him look even more like JJ.
"I know I did and I am so sorry" Still no smile. "But, hey, now that I'm back I'm never going to miss another one"
"Do you promise?" Emily nodded and ran a hand over his hair.
"Yeah sweetheart, I promise" Finally a smile broke out on his face and he hugged Emily again.
Emily stood up and held out her hand for him to take, he took it and she began walking him back to JJ and Claire. Once he was close enough JJ took his freehand and Emily discreetly let go.
"Emily, this is Claire Hastings, my fiancée" The words cut into Emily's soul. "Claire, this is Emily Prentiss" Emily saw the realization creep onto Claire's face.
"It's nice to meet you Emily" Claire stuck her hand out with a smile.
"Same to you" Emily shook Claire's hand, a small smile of her own.
"Alright guys" Morgan put his bag over his shoulder and made his way over to them. "I've gotta take off, I've got a date" Morgan stuck his arm out towards Henry. "My main man" Henry held onto Morgan's forearm with all his might, Morgan moved back to get some more space. Suddenly he lifted his arm and Henry as high as he could, Henry laughed hard and Emily found herself doing it too. Morgan put him down with a smile. "See yea" Morgan ruffled Henry's hair.
"Morgan, I'll walk out with you" Emily told him before he could leave. "Can I get a hug Henry?" Henry was quick to hug her waist and Emily smiled as she hugged him back.
JJ and Claire watched Emily and Morgan leave, before the couple shared a look.
"PG, you're still doing dinner with us right?" JJ asked her best friend.
"Yeah of course" Garcia answered with a smile.
"Awesome" JJ turned her attention to Reid. "Spence, you want to join us?"
"Yeah sure" He said with a shrug.
"Alright, give me 5 minutes guys" Garcia said before rushing off to her office.
-
JJ and Claire walked into their house, Claire carrying a sleeping Henry, JJ closed the door and they made their way upstairs. JJ stopped at their bedroom and smiled at her son and fiancée, JJ leaned over and kissed him on his head.
"I'll tuck him in and then I'll be back" Claire whispered, JJ nodded before heading in to the bedroom.
JJ took off her blazer and tossed it on the armchair that was on the far side of the room; she sat down on the bed and ran her hands through her hair. What a day it had been, Emily was back and it was toying with JJ's heart. The pain that was left in her heart the day Emily left came back in full force, a lump formed in JJ's throat when she thought about that day. She buried her face in her hands, she remembered being in this exact position when she heard Emily walk out the door and out of her life.
"Hey" JJ looked up and smiled at Claire.
"Hey" JJ tried to keep the tears out of her voice, to hide the lump in her throat.
"How come you never told me that she was back?" Claire asked as she walked over to JJ, taking her hands into her own.
"I never knew until today" JJ ran her thumbs over Claire's knuckles, her eyes locked on their hands.
"Really?" JJ nodded. "When you walked into work you found out?"
"Garcia told me" Claire nodded, even though JJ couldn't see it.
"How are holding up?" Claire squeezed JJ's hands as she asked the question.
JJ finally looked up and connected her eyes with Claire's, she gave Claire a tight smile before she started to shake her head and her smile fell. Tears began to pour out of JJ's eyes and a sob broke out for her chest, Claire dropped to her knees and hugged JJ. JJ wrapped her arms around Claire and broke down.
"It hurt so much to see her" Claire flinched at the pain in JJ's voice. "It was like the scar that she left behind was ripped open when I saw her, the pain came rushing back" Claire held her tighter. "Why does it hurt so much, why does it still hurt so much?"
"I don't know baby, I don't know" JJ's body shook with sobs and all Claire could do was hold her and love her.
-
Emily sat on her couch, glass of whiskey in her hand, and eyes focused on a picture on her mantle that was taken three years ago. Emily leaned forward and placed her drink down on the coffee table and picked up her pack of cigarettes, it has been years since she smoked, she lit up and leaned back on her couch. She didn't bother to stop the fresh set of tears roll down her face.
After finishing two more drinks and three more cigarettes, Emily stood up and made her way over to the picture, slightly unsteady. She picked it up and ran her fingers over it; it was a picture of JJ, Henry, and Emily on Henry's first birthday. Emily took this picture everywhere with her, but after finding out about JJ and Claire, it felt wrong to have it.
Emily took the picture and sat down on her couch; she undid the back and pulled the picture out. Emily stared at it for a moment more before standing up and walking to her book case, she pulled out a book and placed the picture in the middle of the book. Emily placed it back on the shelf and let her fingers linger on the spine of the book, the book that held the picture of her heart.