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CHAPTER
2

She smiled as her fingertips slid easily over the smooth fabric of JJ's dress to wrap around the beaming blonde's hips and pull her in closer as the music began to play softly in the background. The majority of their guests had already said their goodbyes and left, leaving them alone on the dance floor, clinging to each other, swaying to the music the five-piece band was playing for them. The day had been perfect, everything that they had hoped for and more, and now they were enjoying their last dance of the evening before they headed out to their private bungalow on the beach.

She brushed her lips against a rosy cheek en route to JJ's ear, holding the blonde tight as she whispered, "I love you so very much, Jennifer."

Her heart took flight in her chest as she felt JJ pull back so that the blonde's silky-soft lips ghosted over her own. "I love you too, Em."

She moaned softly as Jennifer's lips descended upon her own, her grip on the blonde's trim hips tightening as the kiss grew from soft and adoring to deep, hungry, and full of desire. The music filling the small hall disappeared as she became focused on the way JJ's lithe body molded to her own, as she lost awareness of everything beyond the taste and smell of her wife.

"How did I get so lucky?" she murmured, her voice full of awe, as JJ pulled back to look at her.

"Babe, trust me, you haven't gotten lucky yet," JJ husked, her twinkling blue eyes growing noticeably darker with desire.

She could not help but smile at her lover's words. "Yeah," she teased, running one hand down to grasp Jennifer's ass while she ran the other over the string of buttons running along the blonde's spine. "But how long is it going to take me to get all these buttons open? Couldn't even give me a break on our wedding day, huh Ms. Jareau?"

"Mmm," JJ hummed, smiling as she leaned in to lay a chaste kiss to her lips. "It's Mrs. Prentiss, thank you. And I did make it easy on you, love. The buttons are for show, there's a zipper hidden underneath the seam."

"God I love modern tailoring," she hummed as she immediately dipped a finger under the seam to check for herself. Sure enough, there was a zipper track hidden under the fabric. "I would hate to just tear this beautiful dress off of you."

She shivered as JJ's hands slipped down off her shoulders to palm her breasts through the material of her jacket. "I wouldn't mind," the blonde purred seductively.

She licked her lips as she studied the woman in her arms for a moment, savoring the feeling and the knowledge that JJ was hers forever before she leaned in and claimed the blonde's lips in a searing, soul deep kiss. One kiss turned into two, turned into twenty, and somehow, without either of them really knowing how, they found themselves in the moonlit bedroom of their bungalow.

She smiled lovingly into JJ's twinkling blue eyes as she flipped the tab of the zipper to the blonde's dress out of its hiding spot and began to pull it down slowly, tooth by tooth, reveling in the emotion she could see swirling in her wife's eyes. "I can't believe you're mine," she murmured as she dipped her head to claim JJ's lips in a slow, languorous kiss. The zipper she had been releasing hit its end and she took a small step back to allow the gown to puddle at her wife's feet. "My god you're beautiful Jennifer," she murmured as she drank in the sight of JJ, Jennifer, her wife, standing before her in a surprisingly seductive lingerie set complete with garter belt and thigh high stockings.

"You like?" JJ asked playfully as she looked down at herself as if she weren't too sure about the ensemble.

"I love," she corrected as she took that step back toward her wife and gathered the younger woman in her arms. "I love this," she ran her hands down the blonde's back, brushing her fingers over lacy lingerie indicatively. "I love you," she murmured as she allowed her eyes to drop to JJ's lips that were already swollen from their earlier kisses and parted, waiting in anticipation for her. "For the rest of my life, until my very last breath, I love you," she swore.

JJ's eyes fluttered closed for a moment, struck breathless, as she often was, by the brunette's eloquence.

"And longer than that, if the schematics for the regeneration capsule Reid and I are working on are successful," she joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Which it did perfectly.

"My god, Emily!" JJ laughed.

She wrapped her arms around her wife and held her close. "You are my life, Jennifer Jean Prentiss," she stated, smiling like a fool at the sound of her last name attached to JJ's. "Without you, I am nothing. Thank you for making me the happiest woman in the universe."

"Wow," JJ breathed, and she shivered slightly as the blonde's hot breath tickled her neck. "I love you too, Em."

She smiled and ran her hands over the delicious swell of her wife's ass, delighting in the juxtaposition of textured lace and silky smooth skin. She gathered the perfect globes in her hands and squeezed them gently. "Can I show you how much I love you?"

JJ looked up into her eyes and smiled. "You better."

She was helpless to contain the moan that tumbled from her lips as she leaned in and kissed her wife hungrily.

+++/+++\+++

"She's moaning again," JJ pointed out as she watched the Emergency room doctors transfer Emily from the paramedic's stretcher onto a rolling hospital bed.

One of the doctors surrounding Emily, a redheaded woman who introduced herself as Doctor Harrison, pulled a penlight from her pocket and quickly checked the agent's pupils. "Still dreaming. Hank said she was making some noise in the bus on the way here too?"

JJ nodded. "Yeah. I just hope she's not in too much pain."

"Well," the woman replied, "it sounded like a happy moan to me, so hopefully whatever she's dreaming about is a good thing," she offered, hoping to ease some of the blonde's obvious distress. "Jack, we all set for the MRI?"

"Yeah," a harried looking intern answered. "Just like you asked. We have the machine waiting on us."

"Great," Doctor Harrison replied. "Let's get her back there then. Agent Jareau, you'll have to wait out here. Do you have her MPA?"

JJ shook her head. "I'm having our team's technical analyst send it over now, but I'm her designated medical power of attorney. Where should I wait?"

"Good. As soon as it gets here, we'll add it to her file. Jackie can show you to the waiting area, the test we need to run will take at least an hour."

"Okay," JJ whispered. "Can I talk to her for a second?" she asked, tilting her head at Emily.

"Of course," the doctor nodded. "But you're going to have to walk with us. You have until we hit the swinging doors, after that it's hospital personnel only. I want to get her into the MRI as fast as possible to assess the damage."

"Thank you," JJ whispered as she moved between the doctors to whisper in Emily's ear. "You're strong, Em, you can beat this. There is so much I want to tell you, so much I should have told you. Come back to me," she murmured quietly, so quietly that her words were barely louder than a breath. She pressed a soft kiss to Emily's brow and backed away, wiping her tears away with a shaking hand as she watched them roll Emily down the hall.

+++/+++\+++

She spotted JJ the moment she entered the kitchen. The blonde was standing at the window, nursing her single cup of caffeinated coffee that she was allowed and looking out over the backyard, watching the day break over the eastern horizon. Even thirty-five weeks pregnant with twins, she was an image to behold.

"Good morning gorgeous," she murmured as she slid in behind her wife and wrapped her arms around and under the blonde's swollen belly. "How are my three favorite people doing this morning?"

"Thing One and Thing Two have finally stopped fighting with each other and gone back to sleep, I'd assume, by the peace and quiet in there; and, as for me, I'm tired."

"You're beautiful," she countered, smiling as JJ tilted her head back to look at her. "You are. I can't believe this isn't a dream."

"Mmm," JJ hummed, her eyes twinkling with mischief. "Trust me, not a dream. I was having a rather spectacular dream before these two," she rubbed her belly affectionately, "woke me up."

The look in her wife's eyes was unmistakable. "Who was in this rather spectacular dream?"

JJ smiled and kissed her softly. "You. And me."

She smiled and captured her wife's lips in a little bit deeper, definitely hungrier kiss. "Anybody else?"

"Nope."

"Well, then since it was just the two of us, if you tell me about it maybe I can make it happen," she suggested with a smile, knowing that Jennifer's pregnancy cravings tended to run toward more carnal activities than anything else.

She grinned as JJ spun in her arms, the blonde's pregnant belly forcing them far enough apart that she could really look at her wife. How in the world did I get so goddamn lucky?

"We were in bed," JJ husked softly, watching her closely, delighting in her reaction. "Naked."

"I see," she nodded. "Were we doing anything in particular?"

"Well, I was doing quite a bit of moaning," JJ husked. "And you were doing that thing with your tongue that you know I just love. Think you can recreate that?"

She literally whimpered at JJ's words and nodded. "Absolutely. Your wish, my command."

+++/+++\+++

"Did she say something?" the MRI tech asked, looking up at Doctor Harrison for confirmation as the second scan finished to show a clear image of the front of Emily's skull. Hank Thompson, the paramedic who treated her on scene, was correct when he guessed that she had a fracture to her inferior orbital rim, and his suspicions about her zygomatic arch proved to be correct as well. "Damn, how does he always know the breaks before we get the films?" he muttered

"She's been making some noises off and on since she got here," Doctor Harrison replied as she studied the picture and let out a small sigh of relief. So far, no major brain damage was visible. "The Agent who rode in with her said that she started doing it in the bus on the way here," she elaborated as she listened to the thwumping start back up as the next scan began. "And," she smiled, "I don't have a clue of how he always seems to know, especially on head injuries like this, but he's usually right. Eerie, isn't it?"

"Damn freaky, if you ask me," the tech responded. "Do you think she'll stay out while she's in there?" he asked, tilting his head toward the other room where the patient was now fully encased in the white plastic tube.

"We'll see. I would rather she woke up just because the longer she stays out the greater chance there is of her having some serious trauma," Doctor Harrison replied. "She'll wake up when she's ready. I just hope it's soon."

+++/+++\+++

"Emily!" JJ's slightly panicked voice echoed through the house.

She looked up from the sandwiches she was preparing and, noting the edge to her wife's tone, immediately dropped the knife she'd been using and hurried out to the living room where she'd left JJ on the couch. She wiped her hands off on her jeans as she half-walked, half-ran through the dining room until she was finally able to catch sight of her wife. "What's going on, baby?"

JJ grimaced and placed a hand over her belly. "The babies are happening. I think my water just broke."

"Oh." She nodded. "OH! CRAP! Okay, right, let's get to the hospital," she said as she turned toward the door.

"EMILY ELIZABETH PRENTISS!"

She spun around wildly at the frantic edge to JJ's voice. "What?"

"Help, please?" JJ asked with a teasing smile in spite of her pain. She always loved watching her normally cool and composed wife act anything but.

"Right, I'm an ass," she murmured as she ran back to take JJ's arm and help the blonde up off the couch. "Sorry, Jennifer," she murmured as she gently led her laboring wife through the house toward the garage.

"You're cute when you're flustered, Em," JJ laughed until a contraction hit and she doubled over in pain.

"Jennifer?" she squeaked, half in concern for her wife's well being, half because the blonde's fingernails were digging painfully deep into her arm.

"It's okay," JJ huffed as she straightened back up. "Wow, I knew they would hurt, but that… I think I want the drugs, Em."

"Whatever you want Sweetie," she agreed quickly. Anything to keep her wife from suffering. Maybe I can get some for me too.

Once she got JJ settled as comfortably as she could in the passenger's seat she hurried back into the house to grab their 'baby-go-bags' that they'd purchased and filled for just this occasion. She chucked them into the back of her Range Rover she could not help but grin, even though her heart was pounding so fast in her chest that she thought it might literally burst from her chest.

"We're going to be moms," she murmured to herself as she slammed the hatch closed.

+++/+++\+++

"Her heart rate is spiking," the tech announced worriedly as he studied the wounded Agent's vitals on the small screen beside the monitor showing the different views the MRI machine was gathering. "Breathing, blood pressure, all of it."

Doctor Harrison read through the numbers quickly before she leaned over the tech's shoulder to look out the window into the MRI chamber. She could see that the wounded agent was still unconscious. "She's not in the danger zone yet," she clipped. "This is the last scan, right?"

"Yes."

She nodded. "All right. How many minutes left on it?"

"Two."

"I want this picture," Doctor Harrison murmured, almost to herself as she let her gaze bounce back and forth from her patient to the woman's vitals and back again. "Let's see if we can finish this scan. If her numbers get too high I'll go in and pull her out, but for now she's doing okay."

"You got it," the tech muttered as he watched the last picture come into focus with every thwump of the machine in the other room.

"Just in case though," Doctor Harrison sighed and reached for the phone. "Yeah," she snapped into the handset once the nurse on the other end picked up. "No alarm necessary, but I want a crash cart brought to MRI."

+++/+++\+++

"Goddamn it," she seethed as she wove through the typical DC traffic. "Get out of the way!" she shouted at the car in front of her, as she literally had to fight the urge to lay on the horn.

"Em," JJ drawled. She was between contractions at the moment and torn between being amused with her wife's antics and wanting to reach over and smack the brunette upside the head. "We have time, Sweetheart. Just let the nice civilians live and we'll be at the hospital in a few minutes."

She ground her teeth together as she was forced to stop at a red light. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because you're so freaking cute," JJ answered. "Relax Prentiss, they're not coming right this minute. We'll be fine."

"You better be," she murmured as she reached across the center console to cradle her wife's face in her palm. "I love you," she swore softly as she stared deep into Jennifer's eyes.

"Love you too, babe," JJ whispered. "Now, go."

"What?"

JJ pointed at the traffic light. "Green means go."

"Oh, right!"

+++/+++\+++

"Done," the tech reported.

"Excellent. Get her out of there," Doctor Harrison ordered as she bolted from the control room to get a hands-on look at her patient.

She had her stethoscope in her ears before the table holding Agent Prentiss had even come to a full stop. She gave the woman a quick once-over just to double-check that she wasn't in any major distress, and as soon as she was convinced that the brunette was doing as well as could be expected she called for the tech to help her get the woman back onto the bed that they could wheel into a private room. So far there did not look to be any reason to send the agent to ICU, so for now they would place her in a private room and just monitor her closely.

+++/+++\+++

"Told you we'd make it in time." JJ smirked as she reclined back onto the bed after the anesthesiologist had finished administering her epidural.

She grinned a little self-consciously and nodded. "As always, you were correct."

"Are you sucking up to me because I'm in labor?"

"Absolutely."

"Smart woman," the anesthesiologist laughed as he made his way out of the room. "You'll feel the drugs start to work in a few minutes," he told JJ. "Good luck. The nurse will call me if there are any problems."

"Thank you," JJ answered. "We're going to be moms," the blonde thought aloud as she watched her dark haired wife move closer.

"We are," she murmured. "You ready for this?"

"I'm ready to meet them," JJ answered.

She smiled and leaned in to kiss her wife softly. "Me too. I love you so very much for doing this Mrs. Prentiss."

JJ smiled. "I love you too, Mrs. Prentiss."

+++/+++\+++

"She has two fractures. On her zygomatic arch and then on her inferior orbital rim," Doctor Harrison reported to JJ who stood silently beside Emily's bed, one hand wrapped around the brunette's and one hand lightly stroking the uninjured side of the woman's face. "Basically, a broken cheek," she simplified what she'd just said in case the Agent was not fluent in human skull anatomy. "Her scans look good though."

JJ took a deep breath and asked the one question that was weighing heaviest on her mind. "Why isn't she waking up?"

"She has a serious concussion," Doctor Harrison replied. "The swelling of her brain on her MRIs seems within safe limits though so I'm not too terribly concerned about that. As with any brain injury though, we won't know exactly what's going on until she wakes up. Which will be when she's ready," she continued, seeing that the agitated blonde was about to press for a more definite answer. "I don't know when that will be, but judging from her vitals it could be any time now. Just sit with her, talk to her, let her know that you're here for her, and when she does wake-up call the nurse and she'll page me immediately."

"Okay." JJ nodded. "Thank you, doctor."

"My pleasure," Doctor Harrison assured her. "Thank you two for coming up here to catch that guy. Now, I'll leave you two alone. Talk to her, remind her why she needs to wake up."

+++/+++\+++

"I hate you Emily Prentiss!" JJ screamed as she pushed through another contraction. She was halfway through delivering the first of the twins, and the drugs were not helping nearly as much as she had hoped they would.

She just gritted her teeth and took the pain as her wife's nails dug into her arm. "Breathe baby, come on Jen, you can do this," she replied evenly, knowing that her wife did not truly hate her.

"Don't patronize me, you did this to me and you damn well know it!"

The doctor looked up at her and smiled. "Really?"

"Goddamn syringe full of sperm," JJ grunted as she forced her body into another agonizing crunch.

"Head's out," the doctor reported, trying hard not to laugh at JJ's outburst. "Come on Jennifer…"

"Don't call me Jennifer," JJ snapped. "Only she calls me Jennifer and right now even she's not allowed to do it."

"Sorry," the doctor replied evenly, knowing better than to argue with a laboring mother. "JJ, the head is out. One more big push and we'll be able to welcome this little one into the world."

She leaned in close and brushed her lips across her wife's sweaty brow. "Come on Sweetie, I know you can do this. One more big push. On three?"

"Fine." JJ nodded. "One… two… three… AAAAAH FUCK!"

"Congratulations," the doctor smiled as he guided the baby out and cradled it in his hands. "It's a girl."

She looked up as a tiny scream filled the room. "A daughter," she murmured, a huge smile lighting her face as she turned to her obviously already exhausted wife. "We have a little girl."

"A girl," JJ smiled as she leaned back against her pillows to rest.

"Emily?" the doctor called her attention.

"Yes?"

"You want to cut the cord?"

She grinned. "Absolutely."

+++/+++\+++

"The doctor says I'm supposed to talk to you," JJ whispered as she hooked a leg of the rather uncomfortable visitor's chair with her foot and pulled it closer. "Like that's an easy thing to do," she chuckled as she lowered herself to a sitting position and looked up at her friend.

She twined her fingers with Emily's and studied the way they fit together, unable to keep from thinking that they fit just as perfectly as she'd imagined they would. She took a deep, shaky breath and lifted Emily's hand to her mouth so she could press a soft kiss to the brunette's knuckles.

"Please wake up Emily," she murmured as she set their hands back down on top of the thin hospital blanket. "I had promised myself that after this case I would try and find the courage to tell you how I feel and now you're lying here and I am so afraid that I may be too late. I need you to wake up, Em, so that I can embarrass myself properly, with your full attention. Come on Sweetie, open those beautiful brown eyes and look at me," she cajoled softly.

+++/+++\+++

"Here we go again!" JJ gasped as the contractions started up again. "Why the fuck couldn't I have had a c-section?"

"You didn't want one," she answered automatically, smiling hesitantly when JJ's flashing blue eyes focused on hers. "Love you."

"I love you too, but I am never doing this again," JJ grunted as she automatically curled around her stomach to begin pushing again.

"This little one's hopefully going to come a little easier for you," the doctor offered. "Do you have a name picked out for your daughter already?"

"Yes," she answered, looking down at JJ for the blonde's agreement that their earlier decision still stood. "Zoie Jean."

"Beautiful," the doctor smiled up at them. "Okeydokey JJ, I can see the top of the head, so give me two good pushes and we'll see if we can't get this one out to meet you two as well."

"You can do it Jennifer," she encouraged her wife gently. "Let's meet Zoie's brother or sister."

JJ nodded and bore down, giving the doctor the two solid pushes he said that it would take and before long there was a loud cry punctuating the second baby's arrival.

"Congratulations, it's a boy," the doctor reported as he clamped off the cord and handed her the scissors again.

"A boy," she murmured, her voice awed and her eyes teary as she looked at her son for the first time.

"Welcome to the world Sean Ryan," JJ murmured.

She cut the cord and handed the doctor back the scissors as she watched a nurse swoop in to take him away to be weighed, measured, and all the normal things babies have to endure when they first enter the world. Now that she was no longer needed at JJ's bedside she was torn between staying with her wife, and following their children. "What do I do?"

JJ laughed softly. "You come give me a kiss, and then you keep an eye on the kids."

She smiled and leaned in to capture her wife's lips in a deep, loving kiss that said better than words ever could exactly how happy she was, and how much she loved her. "You are an amazing woman Jennifer," she murmured before she reclaimed her wife's lips. "I love you."

"I love you too," JJ laughed. "Watch over the kids Em, I'll be here waiting for you once they get all cleaned up."