A/N: Just a quick note, I mention Henry's father briefly-ish in this chapter. It will be explained more thoroughly later. I promise!
A/N: Thanks again to my Beta Melissa! You are a life-saver. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
-IF-
"Honestly Garcia, I have no idea how you handle staying here during cases. I'm going crazy not being in the field with everyone and its only 11:30," JJ said in an annoyed voice. The two women, having just gotten back from getting coffee number four, settled back into their seats in the computer lab. With the rest of the team gone, JJ didn't know what to do. She had already finished as much as she could on the press release with the miniscule amount of information she had. Not being able to sit idly in her office alone, the blonde agent had ventured out in search of her blonde friend. The computer genius was found in her lab finishing up on the map that she and Reid had discussed earlier.
Garcia gazed over the rim of her coffee mug towards the other blonde. "It gets better with time I guess. I think it also has to do with the fact that even if I do go on location, everything you guys really need me for can be accomplished from a chair behind my computer. I haven't really gotten a taste for the big action in the field, so it doesn't bother me so much. Perk up, Buttercup, you'll be back out there in no time!" Garcia's never ending supply of nicknames for everyone never ceased to amaze JJ. Buttercup was a new one. After watching JJ sit despondently for a few silent moments, Garcia decided to change the subject to one she knew they would both enjoy. "So tell me Blondie, how is my favorite four year old?"
At the mentioning of her charismatic son, JJ's mouth formed into a soft smile. "He's doing great. I miss him terribly though. Since it was so late last night when we all got in, I decided to let him stay at my parents. I figured that I would have been able to pick him up today since we were supposed to be off. But then we got called in, so I haven't seen him since before our last case. I honestly can't wait until tonight when I can go pick him up," JJ responded. Just thinking about holding Henry in her arms again brought a full smile to her face.
Garcia also smiled at the thought of the little boy. He was a ball of energy that had every single person in the BAU wrapped around his pinky finger. However, she knew, along with everyone else in the office, that Emily was wrapped quite a bit tighter than the others. After reminiscing for a moment, Garcia focused on JJ again. She could tell that her blonde friend was missing her son more than she was letting on. Leaning forward, Garcia wrapped JJ's small hand into both of her own and responded, "I know he misses you like crazy too, JJ. That kid is the biggest 'Mama's Boy' I have ever met." Wanting to climb out of the somber mood that had unfortunately settled comfortably over the lab, Garcia brought up a subject that always made JJ happy, even if she would never admit it, "Not to mention, he has a certain brunette profiler available at his beck and call. The kid's got it made I tell you!" Garcia attempted to look innocently into JJ's blue eyes, but she couldn't completely hide the mischievous glint that twinkled in her own brown ones.
JJ narrowed her eyes at her blonde friend. Garcia was the only person in the BAU who knew of JJ's sexual orientation. She was also the only person who knew of the blonde's feelings towards Emily. Normally, a casual conversation that happened to include Emily wouldn't be a big deal. However, JJ knew that this was anything but a casual conversation. Neither one had anything to work on at the current moment, so she knew what was about to happen. She was so not in the mood for this. After a moment of silence, JJ responded, "And what, pray tell, does my son's obsession with Emily have to do with anything?" JJ was well aware that her son cared for Emily almost as much as he cared for her. There was some kind of special bond between the two that none of the other BAU members had formed with the child.
"I was merely bringing up that I bet Henry misses Emily, too. They haven't seen each other in, gosh, going on a month now isn't it? I was simply making an observation," Garcia attempted to respond dismissively.
Not quite sure where this conversation was going, but having a decent idea, JJ decided to play along for now. "Yeah, it's been close to a month. But you know she's been helping her mother with some event she's throwing next weekend. Apparently a lot goes into those things. But she did mention us taking Henry to the zoo soon. Emily was surprisingly very open with the fact that she misses Henry."
Hearing the admission about the zoo, Garcia perked up immensely. She knew that JJ had feelings for Emily. She was pretty sure that Emily reciprocated said feelings, but she wasn't sure. All she knew for sure was that JJ kept her time with Emily very quiet. Emily was already a closed off person, so Garcia knew she was never going to find anything out from her. However, JJ could only stay silent for so long. Garcia was sure that she would be able to wear her down in a matter of minutes. "The zoo? Really now? Like, a little happy family, huh?"
JJ immediately noticed the twinkle in Garcia's eyes as she mentioned 'little happy family'. Usually, this kind of conversation would send the blonde woman running in the other direction because she was simply too afraid to confront her feelings for the brunette. She was too afraid to lose her friendship with Emily. A friendship she valued more than all others. But something about this last case with the little boys and the way JJ had seen Emily acting earlier about Henry had awoken her deeply buried desire to be with the profiler. "What are you getting at Garcia? You know it is nothing like that. Emily wants to spend time with Henry. There are no underlying motives there."
Garcia was quick to retaliate, "Well Buttercup, I beg to differ. You allow Emily to take Henry by herself, correct?"
A short pause was followed by a soft, "Yes," from the blonde.
"Well, she knows that you would allow her to take Henry to the zoo by herself. Why, then, if she only wanted to spend time with him, did she ask you to go, too?"
"Because we're friends and she wants to spend time with me, too. It's really that simple Garcia. You're trying to read way more into this than there actually is," JJ responded. However, JJ asked herself the same thing. Emily knew that JJ would allow her to take Henry out alone. The two had been on many a day trip to various locations. Henry had even spent the night with Emily on occasion. But JJ, usually ever the optimist, just couldn't risk getting her hopes up when the subject of those hopes was Emily Prentiss.
Garcia was determined not to lose this battle with her the blonde agent. Usually, she would let JJ hide behind her emotions and not face reality. But reality was sitting right in front of her and all she had to do was open her eyes and grab it. "But you two see each other all the time at work, so it's not like she has much opportunity to miss you. Look, JJ, we've had this conversation before. You're going to have to be the one to make the first move. I'm 98% sure that Emily has feelings for you, too. We both know how guarded she is though, so you're just going to have to take a risk."
JJ sighed heavily before responding. She was trying her hardest not to allow hope to capture her heart, but with Garcia urging her forward, it was hard to resist. Especially when her own feelings where screaming at her to reach for the brunette and never let go. With a last ditch effort, JJ attempt to convince herself that it was all a bad idea, "But what if we're wrong Garcia? What if Emily doesn't have feelings for me? I mean, how do we even know she has an interest in other women? She could be completely straight for all we know."
Garcia was ready and waiting for this question. She didn't miss a beat before responding, "Let's look at the facts JJ. Although Emily is extremely cautious about divulging information when it pertains to her personal life, we still know a few things about her. Except for her past relationships. I have never, not once, heard her mention a past relationship, or even a past date. She seems to keep this information closest to her chest. Now what reason would she have other than she most likely isn't your traditional thirty-something year old woman? I've seen her wear a skirt or dress all of never into this place. She drives an extremely manly, and expensive I might add, Range Rover SUV. She wears minimal amounts of make-up. Need I really go on?"
Although Garcia had made a lot of valid points, JJ still wasn't fully satisfied. "First of all Garcia, those are all gross stereotypes. I mean, I don't fall into any of those and you know it. Second of all, how do we even know she has feelings for me? How do we even know that I am her type, assuming she is into women of course?"
This was the part Garcia was most excited about. This was the question she wanted to answer the most. "JJ, honey, I've seen the way she looks at you when she doesn't believe anyone is paying attention to her. She has such a look of barely restrained longing clouding her eyes. I'm surprised she can keep that locked into one of her little compartments all of the time. But during those few briefs moments when she believes she is not being watched, I've seen the look. You just have to trust me on this JJ. She feels the same way, I know it. But you're going to have to take the first step. Not only is she more emotionally blocked off than anyone I have ever met, but I'm pretty sure she doesn't think you are gay. As you said earlier, you don't fit the normal stereotypes, so she probably has no clue. Not to mention, you have a son."
JJ smiled briefly at Garcia's statement. She really didn't fit into the typical lesbian role. And then there was the fact she did have a child. Granted, Henry was the result of a crazy night out with her old soccer girlfriends gone badly. Needless to say, one too many tequila shots, a sloppy one night stand with a man she couldn't even remember the name of, and nine months later, here comes Henry. Serves her right for wanting to see what it was like to sleep with a man.
Deciding that she needed time to think about everything she and Garcia had gone over before making any decisions on her future, JJ began to speak up. But before she could even get a word out, the two women heard a booming laugh coming from the bull pen. Knowing that laugh anywhere, Garcia jumped out of her seat and quickly made her way to the door. She ran into the bull pen to see Morgan sitting at his desk, barely able to contain himself. He was hunched over and holding his stomach with both arms. Emily was sitting in her desk glowering at Morgan and a slight blush creeping up her neck. Wanting to let her presence be known, Garcia spoke up, "What's so funny, my chocolate god?"
As the handsome profiler sat up in his seat, he noticed Garcia and JJ standing at the entrance to the bull pen from Garcia's lab. Before he could answer however, Emily cut in, "Nothing is funny. Don't worry about it, Garcia. How have things been here?" Wanting to deflect any and all attention from herself, Emily attempted to change the subject quickly as she looked Garcia's way. She immediately noticed, quite regretfully, that JJ was standing beside the blonde computer tech. Usually Emily looked forward to the times when JJ would be in the bullpen, but not at this moment, with Morgan about to ruin her day. Quickly breaking eye contact with the blonde media liaison, Emily returned her stare to Morgan in a last effort to warn him against what he was about to do.
JJ, loving the blush that was starting to ebb its way up Emily's neck, wasn't about to let this go. Seeing Emily so out of her element and so clearly upset or embarrassed about something made JJ need to know what was causing the usually reserved profiler to react in such a way. "Oh, no you don't Prentiss. I think something must be pretty funny if it has Morgan barely able to contain himself and you starting to blush uncontrollably. I want to know what happened," JJ stated as she took in Emily's appearance. The blush was suiting on the brunette. JJ thought she could get used to seeing Emily flustered. JJ slightly shook her head to clear her mind before it turned to less than friendly thoughts, she then turned her head towards the male profiler and spoke up again, "Morgan, care to enlighten us?"
Morgan looked between the two groups of women. On one hand, he had his best friend glaring at him and looking as though she could rip his head off. On the other hand, he had JJ and Garcia; both wanting nothing more than anything to find out what was going on. Knowing how determined and unrelenting Garcia was when it came to anything gossip related, and knowing how good of a shot JJ had, he decided to take his chances with Emily. "Okay, so you two know we went to visit the first two victim's families. I'll spare you the details since we'll go over them later, but the first family was a bust.
"Well, the second victim's family was a bit more…interesting we'll say. The second family was Gina William's family. When we went to interview them we found out she only has one living relative, a younger sister named Karis. Well, the two weren't close. They apparently haven't even spoken in over four years. But we'll get to that later with Hotch and Rossi. Anyway, what is relevant to the story is that Karis was breathtakingly beautiful! She had long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, legs that went on for miles and…"
Before Morgan could continue on his rant about Karis's good looks, JJ forcefully interrupted him, "All right Morgan we get it. The girl was hot. Spare us the details and get on with the story."
"Alright, alright. But patience is a virtue, you know," Morgan shot back. He hated to be interrupted.
JJ sighed heavily before answering, "Yes, in most cases. However, I have little patience to listen as you drool over some smoking hot bimbo."
"I'd be careful with what you say JJ. The girl bore a striking resemblance to you," Morgan chuckled softly. See how she responds to that he thought cheekily to himself.
"Flattery gets you nowhere with me Morgan and you know it. Not continue with the damn story!" JJ shot back. Usually she enjoyed the playful banter she experienced with the team. It relieved some of the stress brought on by their heavy case load. But not right now. Right now Emily was shifting uncomfortably in her desk chair. The blush that was barely noticeable before was now much more pronounced and seemed to be growing deeper, especially on her cheeks. JJ was dying to know why the normally unreadable profiler was squirming in her seat.
"Okay fine. Anyway, as I was saying, Karis is hot. Needless to say, since she was obviously not affected by the death of her sister, I may have been getting my flirt on with her. Well, I guess I should say I was trying to get my flirt on. Imagine my shock when I found out I wasn't her type. Not only was I not her type, I was completely the wrong gender," Morgan paused for dramatic effect. He looked quickly to his side to see how Emily was doing. She had her head in her hands with her elbows resting on each knee. Her dark brunette hair fell conveniently in a way that blocked his view of her for the moment. He did notice, however, that JJ had an unobstructed view of Emily's no doubt reddened face. Looking back at JJ, Morgan continued, "But apparently, Prentiss over here, is exactly her type. Karis couldn't take those blue eyes off of her. When we were leaving, Karis made it a point to make her intentions known. She walked over to Prentiss, grabbed her hand, and wrote her number down on it. Then, she leaned in very seductively and whispered in Emily's ear, in a voice loud enough for me to hear mind you, 'If you need anything Agent Prentiss, and I mean anything at all, don't hesitate to call.' I don't think I have ever seen Prentiss so embarrassed ever. I have never seen anyone blush more than she did in that moment!" Except for right now thought Morgan to himself as he finished retelling the story.
Morgan couldn't contain his laughter anymore. He had been doing well since the incident occurred. Neither he nor Emily had spoken a word to each other the whole way back to the BAU. But the moment they had gotten to the bull pen, he couldn't resist any longer. Morgan looked towards Emily after his account of what had transpired with Karis to gauge the reaction he was getting from her. It was nothing short of what he expected. The brunette profiler had raised her head and was now burning deep red and glaring daggers at him. If looks could kill, he would surely be dead at least ten times over. The small woman was silently clenching and unclenching her jaw in an attempt to quell some of her rage. She had a white-knuckled grip on the arms of her chair. Quite frankly, Morgan was slightly scared of her. Perhaps he had made the wrong decision in telling the story after all.
Turning his attention away from Prentiss for a moment, Morgan wanted to see if Garcia and JJ found the story as funny as he did. But when he glanced towards the duo, what he saw slightly surprised him. Garcia had a smug look of satisfaction on her smiling face. He made a mental note to ask her about that later.
The reaction Morgan saw from JJ completely took him by surprise. JJ had an obvious look of pure jealousy gracing her delicate features. Usually, while the blonde was at work, she wore her media liaison face which was similar to, albeit not as efficient as, Emily's compartmentalization skills. But right now, Morgan could read every emotion that flashed in the blonde's blue eyes. While he was reading JJ, the blonde was ignoring him and looking towards the brunette profiler sitting behind her desk. Before he knew what was happening, JJ spoke up, "Well Emily, are you going to call her? Are you going to call this Karis girl?" The venom with which the name Karis came out of JJ's mouth was not lost on anyone present in the room.
Emily tore her glare away from Morgan and turned her head slightly to take in JJ's presence. She had initially been trying to ignore her and Garcia, knowing that the retelling of her encounter was going to be painful enough. It wasn't like she had never been hit on before, especially while on a case. It actually happened more often than she would ever let on. Granted, she never followed through with any of the offers, but that didn't mean it never happened. It just usually happened when no one was around and could bear witness to the exchanges. But this time had been different. As Morgan had pointed out, Karis looked remarkably similar to JJ. They could have even been sisters meaning that Karis was almost exactly Emily's type. So when Karis had been so bold, Emily couldn't help but shudder involuntarily as the blonde had grabbed her hand and whispered in her ear. The only thoughts Emily had at the time, however, were wishing that it was actually JJ behind those actions. While Morgan had noticed Emily's reaction to Karis, he had graciously left that part of the story out of his retelling. At least that much she was grateful for.
Although she had been doing a good job ignoring the two blondes standing in the room, Emily couldn't keep her eyes away when JJ's jealously-laced voice penetrated her closed off mind. The sight that awaited her startled her somewhat. JJ stood beside Garcia with her arms crossed tightly in front of her chest. Her right foot was lightly tapping the ground in a quick and even tempo. Her blue eyes shone with a vibrant intensity the brunette could not tear her brown gaze from. JJ's lips were set into a thin, straight line as her jaw muscles visibly flexed beneath her flushed porcelain skin. All in all, JJ had never looked more attractive to Emily than in that moment. Jealous JJ was someone Emily could very easily get used to. Thrown off a little by JJ's obvious, if not uncalled for, dislike for Karis, Emily struggled to respond, "I don't know. I mean, no, I can't because she is involved with the case. Not that I would, mind you, since I don't even know her. I tried to wipe her number off my hand actually, but she used sharpie so it won't even smear. I have every intention on forgetting this whole thing ever occurred," Emily finished weakly while still staring at an upset JJ. She was still slightly confused as to what was happening. She felt at a loss, which is something that never happened to her. She was always in control of every situation.
Garcia noticed that the normally reserved and put together Emily Prentiss was clearly flustered because she was uncharacteristically rambling. The blonde computer tech saw her opportunity to gather information from the normally private profiler. "Yeah, but she's got blonde hair and blue eyes though, so she's obviously your type right, Sugarbear?"
Not used to being in compromising situations, Emily remained flustered and so she responded to Garcia's casual statement without giving it a second thought, "Well yeah, of course she's my type." However, as soon as the words left her mouth, Emily realized a moment too late, her fatal mistake. She began mentally cursing Garcia and her cunning ways. Emily squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples with her fingers. After a moment, or ten, of shocked silence, Emily, still with her eyes tightly shut, spoke up, "How did you even know Garcia?"
The computer genius didn't respond immediately. She just smiled softly to herself before answering in a sing song-ish voice, "I didn't know. But I do now." With those parting words, Garcia left the room to retreat back to her lab. Her job was done. From here on in, it was up to JJ.
After hearing the soft click of Garcia's door shutting, Emily finally called upon enough inner courage to open her eyes. She looked up and made eye contact with JJ. The blue eyes of the blonde media liaison were now distant and seemed to be looking at something not entirely in the room. Before Emily could say anything, JJ quickly turned on her heel and retreated to her office. After staring at the spot that JJ had just occupied, Emily turned to Morgan and gave him a look that could make a hardened serial killer cringe. "I blame you for all of this, you know?" Emily seethed.
Morgan threw his hands in the air and shrugged his broad shoulders as he responded. "Hey, I'm not the one who let the cat out of the bag. That one is all on you. I was simply retelling a funny story. I never once mentioned that you were into blonde hair, blue eyed women that look exactly like JJ."
"Yeah, but if it wasn't for your raucous laughter, they wouldn't have come in here asking questions. Then I wouldn't have gotten flustered and the rhetorical cat would still be sitting pretty in her closed bag," Emily ground out, doing her best to keep her temper in check.
"If you ask me, this is a good thing," Morgan attempted. At this point, he was anxious to get the spotlight off of him and his part in basically outing Emily.
"And how would you gather that Morgan?" This should be interesting, thought Emily to herself.
"Well, I couldn't have been the only one to notice the way JJ went all 'jealous girlfriend' on Karis. I'm just saying, you might have your chance yet, Prentiss."
Sighing slightly at Morgan's admission, Emily had to admit that the man had a point. She was also trying to convince herself that it was just her overactive imagination trying to convince her of something her heart wanted. She had learned long ago to dismiss anything pertaining to her imagination and especially her heart. "I don't care what you think Morgan, but this is not how I wanted them to find out about me being gay."
Morgan looked incredulously at Emily for a moment before responding, "Find out? You're kidding me right? You and I both know that if it was totally up to you, neither of them would have ever found out. Hell, you would have never told me if you hadn't been drunk and lonely. So don't try to pull that shit with me." Only getting an undecipherable reply from Emily, Morgan continued, "That's what I thought."
Emily turned back toward her desk after deciding that her conversation with Morgan was over for now. She personally didn't want to think about what had just happened. She had a lot of paperwork to do from the last case, and then she had to compile all the information she and Morgan had gotten from the interviews today to present to Hotch and Rossi at 3:30 this afternoon. Emily wanted nothing more than to go talk to Garcia and then JJ. She wanted to go explain herself, as best she could without revealing her true feelings, to JJ. But instead, doing what she always did best, Emily filed the exchange into one of her many compartments, and began on her work. Those conversations would have to wait until another day.
-IF-
JJ wasn't sure how long she sat in her office chair behind her desk. She was astonished. She found it uncanny that she had just had a conversation with Garcia about Emily and their theories about the brunette being attracted to women or not. JJ was needless to say shocked at what had transpired since then.
It had all started with Morgan and his outrageous story. Initially, JJ was inclined to believe that the profiler was lying. However, while she watched Emily grow a deeper shade of red with each passing moment, she knew that Morgan was telling the truth, word for word. By the end of the story, JJ was beside herself with jealousy. Normally, the blonde would have been able to keep those emotions under wraps. However, after being pulled from the field, having just had a deep, heartfelt conversation with Garcia and missing her son, JJ's emotions were a little out of balance. She had been unable to hide her jealousy under her normal media liaison mask. And then, when she had seen Emily's blush, she just lost it and couldn't restrain herself from asking about Emily's intentions with the girl. The blonde had interpreted the blushing as a sign that Emily was interested in Karis. JJ assumed that by blushing, Emily was admitting her attraction to the victim's sister.
What scared JJ the most though, was the amount of jealous rage that had coursed through her body and then her inability to rein it in. Not only that, but she had lost control of herself in front of everyone. That was simply unacceptable. She had never been the jealous type before. But then, she had also never been so completely infatuated with anyone the way she was with Emily. How was she going to explain this away? Sure, Garcia knew that JJ had been attracted to Emily the moment the brunette profiler had joined the team. But Morgan and Emily didn't know. They didn't even know she was gay.
Groaning slightly and dropping her head onto her folded arms on top of her desk, JJ began thinking of ways to dig herself out of this hole which was starting to feel more and more like a grave. Perhaps she could pretend she was angry because she thought Emily was breaking the rules about fraternizing with the people involved in an ongoing investigation. Truth be told though, she wouldn't even by that herself. She could always say that she was just upset because she had just found out that her best friend was gay. That was logical. No one wants to find that kind of information out by accident.
After creating a believable excuse, JJ began thinking about Emily's unintentional confession. After Emily's pathetic and babbling response to her own inquires, JJ was shocked when Garcia asked about the brunette's type. JJ thought for sure that Emily wouldn't reply so easily to the obviously baited question. But when Emily had responded that Karis had been her type, JJ was stunned into silence. Not only had Emily just admitted, out loud, that she was into women, she had also concurrently admitted what her type was. The fact that Emily's type just so happened to fit JJ to a tee, was not lost on the blonde agent.
JJ wasn't sure what to feel or think. If she really evaluated it though, she knew that she was happy and relieved. There was almost nothing holding her back now. Except for the small fact that Emily had no clue that JJ was gay. And not to mention that Emily's emotional barriers were almost impenetrable. The only time the blonde had ever seen the brunette as close to unguarded as she supposed the profiler ever got, was when the she was around Henry. JJ knew then that she was going to do everything in her power to break every wall surrounding Emily's heart. She wanted to experience the free and unguarded Emily the way Henry got to. She just had to overcome her owns fears of rejection.
Before she could really think much more on the matter, JJ's desk phone rang. Without looking at the caller id, JJ answered, "Jareau."
"It's Hotch. Everyone is back early, so meet in the conference room in five minutes." With nothing further, Hotch didn't wait for an answer and hung up.
JJ sighed as she stood from behind her large mahogany desk. She glanced at the clock and read 2:45pm meaning she had been in a daze for much longer than she thought. Making her way through her messy office, she realized she would have to wait a little while before thinking about how to proceed with Emily. Garcia was right about one thing though, she was going to have to make the first move.
-IF-
A/N: Please review guys. I put a lot of time and effort into this chapter and I want to know what you all think! Besides, the reviews let me know if I'm doing things right or what I need to work on or change. I hope you enjoyed this though. Any suggestions so far? Let me know!