Thanks for all the reviews/faves/follows, it means a lot. When I started writing this I didn't really think about what season it was set in and I've realised that there are a few continuity errors but if you could just ignore them that would be great. The main one is the fact that the team is the season 3-7 one, but JJ has Henry and Michael (so oops). Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and feedback is always great. Enjoy!
JJ watched the door of her hotel room slam, anger bubbling through her veins and the tension in her body keeping her rooted to the spot. She wasn't sure if she felt like yelling or crying or punching something or screaming but she needed to do something to stop herself exploding. After a few moments and some very deep breaths she resorted to collapsing on her bed and running her fingers through her hair as she tried to work out what the fuck had just happened.
They were on a case in Chicago and the unsub was targeting brunette females in their 30's to 40's. The team believed that the unsub was a white male, and probably in the same age range as his victims. He would take his victim and keep them tied up for about 5 days, depriving them of food, water and sunlight while he would cut intricate patterns into their skin. It was horrific to see and JJ could hardly begin to imagine how much pain they were in. If they didn't already bleed out the unsub would slit their necks when he was finished with them before dumping their bodies in quite busy areas, so people would be able to see his handiwork. There had been three victims so far, but while they had been in the city no one matching the unsub's victimology had been reported missing, meaning that their trail was going cold and everyone in the team was a bit more stressed than usual.
That's probably why things had gone as far as they did, they were both tired and they both overreacted but that didn't make JJ any less angry. Emily had been completely unreasonable! She had been the one to try and change things, not JJ. Emily had known from the start exactly what they were and what they were always going to be and she had still asked for more than JJ could give her.
"Do you ever think about what it would be like if we were...out? Like...a real couple?" Emily regretted the words as soon as they came out of her mouth. She had felt JJ tense up next to her and immediately knew she wasn't going to get the reaction she had hoped for, but it was too late now, she couldn't un-say it. She had gone to JJ's room when they got back to the hotel, like she usually did whenever they were on a case. They had just been laying next to each other, comfortable and happy and Emily had been stupid and let her mind wander, and then she'd been even more stupid and spoke.
"No," JJ's reply was short and snapped, "I don't. Everything is fine just how it is."
Emily knew she should have just left it there, should have just shut up and try and forget she even mentioned it but she couldn't, "I know you're lying, I can tell," She insisted, "I know you J, I can hear it in your voice."
JJ inhaled deeply, rolling over and standing up, glaring at Emily as the brunette mirrored her actions on the other side of the bed, "Don't try and profile me Em!" JJ responded, her voice low, quiet and full of anger.
"I wouldn't need to if you'd just be honest with me!" Emily fought to keep her voice quiet, knowing that members of her team were in the rooms either side of her and hotel walls weren't always that thick, "Why are you trying to pretend that you haven't even considered a future, our future!"
"This is our future! You know that! In the beginning we decided that we were and will always be a secret. No one else would ever know! Not the team, not Will - no one!" JJ spat, feeling anger begin to take over the rational part of her brain as her voice began to rise.
Emily took a deep breath, trying and failing to get herself to calm down, "Everyone's going to know about us if you keep yelling about it! And you decided J, not me. There is nothing I have ever wanted more than to be with you properly, and after that first night I knew I wouldn't be able to bear not having you at all so I just went along with it. I would do anything for you to love me!" Emily had been trying to sound strong but she could hear the shaking in her voice, and she knew JJ could hear it too.
"I do love you Em, I just - I've got the boys and -"
Emily interrupted JJ, her voice dangerously quiet, "You just don't love me enough, I'm not enough for you to give up the life you have. You're perfectly happy to keep up the pretence of your perfect life and perfect family and you don't care what it's doing to me. That's not love J, that's torture."
"That's not fair!" The words had cut JJ deeper than she wanted Emily to know, "I have children to think about! What would this do to them?"
Emily just took a deep breath, "Well maybe you should have thought about that before you started this." She turned away as her voice cracked, she knew she was about to cry and there was nothing that she hated more than crying in front of people. She wasn't about to let JJ see it, let JJ see her so weak and vulnerable, so she left. She got out of the room and back to her own as quickly as possible, managing to lock the door behind her before she finally let the first tear fall from her eye.
JJ didn't get much sleep that night. She didn't know what she was supposed to think. Had she and Emily just broken up? Had they even technically been together in the first place? She knew what Emily had said was true, but it didn't change the fact that she was the one trying to change everything. She was the one going against what they had agreed in the beginning. JJ just didn't know what to do anymore. She needed to stop thinking about it, needed to be able to focus on the case today. It was probably their last chance to find anything new unless the unsub decided to strike again.
She also didn't want the others to be able to pick up on the fact that something was wrong. She didn't want any awkward questions or uncomfortable moments, she just wanted the case to be over so she could try and work things out properly in her head but judging by the way things were going, that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
When JJ arrived at the police station Emily was already there, sitting at the table with a coffee cradled in her hands whilst she read over the case files. She didn't even look up as JJ walked in, just continued staring at the paper in front of her. After looking at the older woman for a moment JJ concluded that Emily also hadn't got much sleep the previous night. There were bags under her eyes, her skin seemed paler than usual and she just looked generally run down. JJ wanted to talk to her, say something that would make the aching feeling inside of her go away but she couldn't, not here at least, not in front of the others, they needed to be alone if they were going to have any chance of sorting this mess out.
The opportunity to be alone with Emily never came. The team spent hours in their room at the station, desperately looking for anything new they could pick up from the information they had been given but there was nothing. They had a basic profile, a geographical location and not much more. The more time that she spent sitting in the same room as her the more JJ felt like she needed to talk to Emily, but the older woman wouldn't even look in her direction. Whilst JJ was trying (but failing) to act relatively normal Emily was obviously not okay. She was hardly speaking, only nodding or giving answers as short as she possibly could if there was a situation in which she had to speak and the others were definitely picking up on it. She could see the concerned glances getting sent Emily's way and could feel the ones she was getting whenever her back was turned. They definitely knew that something had gone on between the two female profilers, but thankfully they also knew better than to ask about it.
The room had fallen into an uncomfortable silence by the time the detective in charge of the case rushed in. The whole team knew that if they didn't find something soon they would have to call it a day, return home and concentrate their efforts on a different case, which meant leaving whoever this monster was free to do whatever he wanted. The idea made JJ sick but sometimes they just didn't have a choice. The next words the detective spoke, however, gave her a bit of hope.
"We possibly have a lead."
The heads of every member of the BAU team shot up at that point, waiting for the detective to explain in more detail.
"Possibly?" Hotch questioned, picking up on the worrying word.
"Yeah, possibly," the detective replied, "We've received a call from a man claiming that he saw Melissa James the day she went missing, and that he thinks he has some useful information."
Melissa James was the third victim, and had disappeared just over a week ago.
"Why did he take so long to come forward?" Spencer asked, voicing JJ's thoughts.
"He says that he was out of town and didn't even know she'd gone missing until he got home this morning. However, he did seem very convinced that it was her that he saw and he's saying he saw her in almost the exact area we think she disappeared from." The detective explained, looking at Hotch as he waited to see what the team leader would do with the information.
Hotch looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "It could be nothing but we might as well look into it, anything new could help us. Morgan and Prentiss you go and talk to him, we'll stay here and see if we can find anything new."
JJ watched as Derek and Emily nodded, grabbing their things before heading out of the room, leaving the rest of the team to look over the files they had already read too many times.
Derek and Emily had been gone for almost 2 hours when Hotch's phone started ringing. JJ could tell from his facial expression that what he was hearing on the other end wasn't good. He looked...worried - scared almost. The call only lasted for about 30 seconds and Hotch's final words before he hung up were "Get to the hospital now and we'll meet you there."
"Was that Morgan and Prentiss?" Rossi asked, his dark eyes looking a mix of concerned and intrigued "What did they say? Are they hurt?"
Hotch took a deep breath before responding, "No. That was Morgan. It was a trap. The unsub has Emily."
