A/N

Ratings and disclaimer from the first chapter apply.

Chapter 3

Emily watched her go and just couldn't stop smiling. Within a minute the blonde returned with a bottle of wine.

"That was fast!" Emily said.

"Refill?"

"Please." Emily lifted her glass and JJ filled up her glass then her own before putting the bottle down on the lawn and resumed her position in the swing.

"So, what do you do?"

"I thought maybe you would've forgotten about that question by the time I returned." JJ said.

"What? You were gone for like 30 seconds. Come on already, just tell me." Emily pushed.

"Fine, I work for an insurance company. It's not the most glamorous job in the world but it pays well and I have every weekend off so...I have great colleagues and overall, I like it there. " JJ said.

Emily nodded as she took a sip of her wine.

"That's great Jennifer, the main thing is that you like your job then it doesn't really matter what you do. And I'd say working for a insurance company is impressive." Emily said.

"Please, interesting maybe but definitely not impressive." JJ countered.

"I think you're interesting..." Emily half whispered. The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself.

That was so not what I'd planned to say... dammit!

Thankfully Jennifer rescued the situation before it would get awkward.

"Well I think you're interesting too, agent Prentiss." JJ said back with a smile and Emily thanked God Jennifer didn't read anything more into that sentence.

"Tell me more about yourself." JJ put her legs up on the swing and turned so she was facing the brunette.

"What do you wanna know?" Emily asked and put her elbow up on the backrest and put her hand behind her neck and rubbed it slowly as she turned towards Jennifer.

"I don't know." JJ pondered for a while.

Do I go there? No. Yes, why not? She said she was out...

"When did you realize you were gay?" JJ said softly, hoping that she wasn't too blunt.

"Wow, you just jump straight to it don't you?" Emily said playfully and JJ was relieved she hadn't overstepped any boundary.

"Yep, I'm pretty straightforward." JJ said and winked.

Emily laughed.

"Indeed you are. But okay. I think somewhere deep down inside I always knew I was gay but it wasn't until my first year in college that I actually admitted it to myself. When I finally realized who I was it actually wasn't a hard thing for me to accept. I just felt so relieved that there wasn't anymore confusion, it was like all the pieces of the puzzle finally fitted together. I called my mother the morning after the new realization had hit me. My mom and I have always been close, I'm an only child and for as long as I can remember I've turned to her first with my problems and she's always helped me solve them. So calling her to tell her I was gay wasn't something I dreaded. I knew she'd be okay with it and the first thing she said to me when I told her was that she'd always love me no matter what and that she'd thought I would've called her sooner to tell her this news." Emily chuckled.

"She already knew?" JJ wondered.

"Yes, she'd known for years and the second thing she said was that a woman she worked with had a gay daughter and that she would arrange for us to meet. It took me a while to get out of that one."

JJ laughed, amazed by this woman. You'd think coming out to your parent would be the hardest thing you'd ever do but luckily there were stories that showed the complete opposite.

"I'm so looking forward to getting to know your mother more, she sounds like quite a remarkable woman." JJ said sincerely.

"That she is." Emily said with a smile starting to really feel the effect of the wine now.

"So, what happened that made you come to the realization that you were actually gay?" JJ wondered.

"I had always found women attractive but never thought anything more about it, I had boyfriends in high school but it never felt right being with them. It wasn't until I got a roommate that first semester in college that it hit me. Her name was Jill and the moment I saw her she literally took my breath away, she was ridiculously beautiful and so nice. Anyway, she became my roommate and we got along great. We hung out everyday after our classes had finished and went out to clubs together. It was after a night out with maybe a few too many tequila shots that we ended up kissing when we got back to our room. We'd been touching and flirting the entire evening but I was still a bit shocked when she kissed me, then as I kissed her back everything just fell into place and I realized I liked women."

Jennifer listened intently.

"She was my first with, well everything regarding dating a girl. We dated for a year then she got a scholarship and had to transfer to another college. We tried the whole long distance thing for a while but eventually it just sorta ended."

JJ nodded and looked at the brunette. She really was beautiful, there was no denying that and she was taken by surprise by how easy it was to like her. She felt completely comfortable in Emily's presence and she'd only met her just a couple of hours ago. That wasn't something that happened often in JJ's life, usually she was pretty reserved and it took a while for her to let somebody in. With Emily though she felt like she'd already done that and it actually felt okay, more than okay actually.

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They continued talking and completely forgot about time as they slowly got to know each other. JJ told Emily about her mother and how she passed away while Emily listened intently. There was just something about this woman, she still couldn't pinpoint it but she found her intriguing and was drawn to her in a way that scared her a little.
They'd been interrupted again by Nathan who'd become pretty intoxicated and again requested a dance from his fiancee. Jennifer had declined again telling him he was too drunk, if he'd sobered up she'd consider dancing with him later. The truth was she had no intention of leaving the swing and Emily, she was enjoying talking to the other woman far too much. Emily was glad Jennifer choose to stay outside with her, she was having a great time in her company. She only left her briefly to go to the bathroom and get them some more wine.

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"So you have a brother? But he's not here right?" Emily asked.

"Yes I have a brother, Michael, and no he's not here. He's a year younger than me and he's currently in Paris. His girlfriend lives there and he's been there for about a month now. They will be here for the wedding though" JJ explained.

"I see, well I'm looking forward to meet him. If he's anything like you I'm sure I'll like him." Emily said and put her hand on JJ's arm. The effect of the wine really started to make her say and do things that she'd normally wouldn't, especially not after only knowing the person in question for a couple of hours.

Jennifer got a warm feeling inside her chest when she heard Emily say that and for some reason her whole arm started to tingle from Emily's touch. She looked up and met Emily's eyes and suddenly it was like everything else around them disappeared. She no longer heard the sound of music and people talking from inside the house. All she heard was the sound of her own heart beating and it was beating a hell of a lot faster than it used to. All she could see was Emily's deep brown eyes that were looking intensely at her and all she could feel was the featherlight touches coming from Emily's thumb as it slowly, excruciatingly slowly, moved back and forth over her arm.

Emily had no idea what she was doing, her brain screamed at her to remove her hand from Jennifer's arm but she just couldn't do it. It was as if her hand suddenly had turned into lead and it was physically impossible to remove it and why...oh my God WHY were her thumb moving over that incredibly soft skin?

"Girls?"

A voice calling from the back porch brought them back to reality and Emily carefully withdrew her hand. She dared to cast another glance at Jennifer who met her eyes before they both turned their attention towards the back porch where Emily's mother was standing.

"Yes mother?" Emily called back.

Elizabeth left the porch and walked down to the girls on the swing.

"There you are, are you two planning on coming back inside anymore tonight or?" she asked jokingly.

Emily quickly got up from the swing.

"Yes, as a matter of fact we were just on our way back inside. I believe Jennifer has promised to dance with her fiance." Emily said not looking at the blonde.

Actually she really didn't want to go back inside but after the 'moment' she just had with Jennifer she really needed to distance herself from the blonde a little before she would do something she definitely would regret.

"Well, sorry to disappoint sweetie but your fiance has gone to bed, well he was carried to bed to be precise." Elizabeth explained and looked at Jennifer.

"Great..." JJ muttered as she got up as well.

"Most of the guests has started to leave. I've prepared some snacks in the kitchen if you two are hungry, you've been out here quite a while." Elizabeth said.

Emily checked her watch and was surprised to see what time it was. They'd spent five hours outside in the garden swing, just talking. It sure hadn't felt like five hours.

"Wow, is it this late?" Jennifer said surprised when she checked her phone for the time.

Emily looked at her.

"Yeah, I totally lost track of time." she said.

"You and me both." JJ said and smiled.

"I'm so glad you two are getting along so well." Elizabeth said brightly.

Emily and JJ glanced at each other but didn't say anything.

"Come on then, let's go inside and get something to eat shall we?"

Both women nodded and followed Elizabeth back into the house.

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Emily drank a large glass of water in the kitchen, she felt like maybe she'd had just a little too much wine for one evening and she should really start sobering up. Not that she was that drunk but enough intoxicated for her own liking.
As she put the glass down on the counter Jennifer and Elizabeth walked into the kitchen and headed straight to the little snack buffet. Emily joined them.

"This looks really good mom, I'm actually really hungry."

All three women took a seat by the kitchen table. Though it had been a wonderful party, Elizabeth was quite relieved that the party was over. She was really tired and her feet hurt from all the dancing, she couldn't wait to go to bed.

"Do you need any help cleaning up Elizabeth?" Jennifer asked.

"Thanks for asking Jennifer but it's really late so we'll deal with the cleaning up tomorrow. The last guests have left so let's just go to bed and then we'll handle the cleaning up in the morning." Elizabeth said and stifled a yawn.

"Sounds like a good idea. Why don't you head up to bed? Emily and I can put the food away before we go to bed and lock up." Jennifer suggested.

"I think I might take you up on that offer Jennifer. Jack's already gone to bed, his knee started to hurt after all the dancing so I sent him upstairs about an hour ago." Elizabeth said and smiled.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she continued.

"Go to bed mom, we'll handle the rest." Emily said and got up from her seat to give her mom a goodnight kiss on the cheek.

"Alright alright. See you tomorrow girls. Goodnight." Elizabeth said and hugged both women goodnight before she headed upstairs.

Emily and JJ started to put the food away in silence. Emily couldn't help but think back to the moment they had in the swing. She glanced over at Jennifer who was cleaning the counter and remembered how soft her skin was, all she wanted was to touch that skin again. She shook her head to get those thoughts out of her mind.

"Emily, do you mind locking up?" JJ asked.

"No, I'm on it." Emily answered and left the kitchen.

The moment the door closed JJ dropped the washcloth and put both hands on the counter and leaned on her arms as her head dropped. She took a deep breath, she had no idea what was happening and why she felt like there was a wave of new emotions going through her body. She sighed and picked up the washcloth and threw it in the sink before she decided to walk out to the dining-room to see if Emily needed help with anything.

At the same time JJ was about to open the door Emily was coming back to the kitchen and when JJ opened the door it took Emily completely by surprise and she stumbled through the doorway straight into an equally surprised Jennifer who managed to catch the tripping woman in her arms.

Emily had grasped JJ's upper arms while JJ held on to the taller woman's waist. When the initial shock subsided and they looked up they realized their proximity. Their faces were mere inches apart and they could easily feel each others ragged breaths on their faces.

A/N

I know I'm a bit of a tease for leaving you there but the next chapter will be up some time this weekend so you wont have to wait too long ;)

Thank you for all reviews and alerts, I'm so glad you're liking this, I have to say I'm having a really fun time writing it.

I really like to reply personally to everyone who sign in to leave a review so TotallyMe1994: I couldn't reply to your reviews cause your PM is disabled so I just wanted to say I'm glad you're liking this and I will definitely keep writing. I have so many ideas for this.

Also a huge thanks to everyone who reviews anonymously, I appreciate all of you and I'm really happy you're enjoying this story.