A/N: Massive thanks to everyone who reviewed! Your comments are all deeply appreciated. Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it.

Chapter 3

(EMILY'S POV)

All agents had their share of cases that they found hard to deal with. This one was Emily's. While she prided herself in compartmentalization, she wondered if it was obvious to the other agents that she was struggling.

The nature of the cases, combined with her own personal issues, were like a tumble dryer in her head. Everything was one massive whirl. Her sudden revelation of her feelings towards JJ had completely flipped her upside down and she was now in the scary questioning phase, the phase where she was now uncertain of pretty much every aspect of herself.

Emily had always struggled with self-identity. Trying to dissociate herself from her blood heritage had left her confused as to who she really was as a person. When she'd joined the FBI and found a family within her team, she'd thought she'd finally found her niche, a place where she could be herself without inhibitions. The onset of her feelings towards JJ now caused her to wonder if she'd ever really been true to herself.

Seeing the victims' mothers mouthing off their daughters because they were lesbians served to remind Emily that if her own mother ever found out how she felt about JJ, her response would be exactly the same. Not only was Elizabeth Prentiss religious, but she was also a politician. Hence her entire life had been about public image, something to which having a lesbian daughter didn't do any favours.

Her mother was just one of Emily's worries - in fact it would, for a while, remain in the shadow a much more immediate crisis. Before she could even begin to consider her relatives, Emily firstly had to think about herself and how she felt about this. She had never been attracted to a woman before; had never even considered being attracted to a woman before.

She'd worked plenty of cases which involved gays and had never had a problem with it. She didn't know heaps about homosexuality but had always thought they had the same right to happiness as anyone else. However, when she tried to apply this to herself, she found herself feeling scared. She knew that if she was homosexual, it would change her life forever. She might believe in equality but she was only one person, and there were thousands that unfortunately didn't share her belief. She would be subject to cruelty and torment for the rest of her life, possibly even from the people she considered close friends.

Perhaps this is why she and JJ both knew nothing would ever come of the other night; because it was so much easier to live in denial than face a reality that would change them in God knows what way.

There was a new victim, Meredith Angell, to whose mother, Rebecca, she had just finished speaking. Rebecca had been much like the other mothers, which in Emily's opinion constituted ignorant, inhibited and half-hearted. Needless to say, by the time she left Rebecca Angell's home, she was more than pissed off and incredibly frustrated, and when she stormed into the police station and found JJ, she didn't stop to think about the awkwardness between them, instead choosing to vent out her anger on the only person available.

"All those mothers had to do was love their daughters! I mean it's really not so much to ask is it? Those poor girls just want to live their lives, just want to be accepted by their families, but no. Because they're gay, because they're different, because they want to be free and not constrained by stupid things like religion, apparently that makes them not good enough. I mean, even when they're killed it's not enough to make them open their eyes and check in with reality!"

Emily too had been different. She was talking about herself, really. If she died today what would her mother think? That she had had such a happy life and didn't deserve to go? Or that it was a shame she hadn't lived long enough to come to her senses and see things from the Ambassador's point of view?

It was scary to think that such a possibility of her mother thinking that even existed.

***
(JJ'S POV)

JJ had never known a more controlled woman than Emily, so to see Emily lose that control to the extent where she didn't even bother to compartmentalize her rage caused JJ's stomach to churn. Emily was extremely private but JJ knew just enough about her past to understand how frustrating this case must be for her. It was all about mother-daughter relationships, and Emily had never had the greatest relationship with her mother.

However, JJ knew this was not the only reason for her frustration. In fact, JJ herself was the other reason, and this made her feel extremely guilty. It was her fault for leading Emily on; for breaking an unspoken boundary in their friendship by kissing her, and she could see how that single gesture had thrown the older woman into turmoil: unnecessary turmoil at that, seeing as nothing was ever going to come of it.

Emily flopped into a chair, her rant apparently over, and fell into a more quiet, seething kind of rage. Her arms folded across her chest, she took to staring angrily out of the window, apparently not expecting JJ to respond. The sight of her only served to reinforce the guilt JJ was already feeling and she quickly averted her eyes.

As if she wasn't feeling bad enough already, her phone blipped. Flipping it open she saw it was a text from Will:I miss you and love you. Henry sends his love. X

The words caused JJ's heart to break and it took all of her strength not to put her head in her hands and moan. Instead she forced herself to type a stiff reply, each key feeling weightier and more difficult to press despite there being nothing physically demanding about writing a text.

I love you too. Give Henry a kiss from me.

She wasn't quite able to type a 'x' at the end.

"Who was that?" Emily asked in a quieter tone.

"Will checking up on me."

"Oh, that's nice of him," Emily replied.

If their mouths were speaking one conversation, their expressions were having an altogether different dialogue. Despite Emily's words, she wasn't quite able to hide that pained expression which stated that she wasn't happy with Will's involvement with JJ's life. JJ's eyes responded apologetically, confirming that this was her life and that there was no room for anything to change. However, there was also a hint of regret which Emily didn't fail to pick up on. Emily's features bore a reluctant acceptance, in that she knew she couldn't do anything about the situation, but silently asked JJ if her life with Will was the life she really wanted. JJ gave the tiniest nod as she once again denied the possibility of change.

All of this took place within the space of a second. Then they broke eye contact and resumed their work.

A/N: Please R&R like usual! Ideas/suggestions are also welcome. Thanks!