Author's Note: Hey there! So someone tried to steal my identity and we had to shut off the internet, which is why I haven't been able to update. I'm uploading this from my friend's computer right now! I don't know when my internet will be back up, buuuuut since Word doesn't need internet I can still write! Anyways, I really appreciate the reviews I'm getting, but I only got three the last chapter! I guess it was just a filler, but don't be shy to tell me how AWESOME this story is…or isn't. I hope this chapter is juicy! We'll see :)
Chapter 8
JJ and Morgan didn't say more than a few sentences to each other throughout the entire case. The job still came first for Derek, but JJ was making her way to the top of his priorities. He didn't know why she did this to him. She could hit him in the balls and spit in his face and he would still be head over heels in love with her. He hoped she felt the same way. She had seemed a little cold on the plane. He understood why she didn't want anyone to know about them yet, but he thought that if he said he wanted them to know, then she would agree, but she didn't.
They had had a good few days before they came on this case. They would sneak around and meet up, but she seemed to regret doing those things. She was different now. She barely looked at him. She avoided being alone with him. She just avoided him in general. Derek was a good profiler, but he had never been able to figure her out. She said she loved him, but as soon as they came on this case she started to pull away from him. He didn't understand.
Derek wanted to get his JJ back. He NEEDED to get her back. He was glad that they had another two days in California. He was going to do things right this time. He would treat her like a princess. He would take her on dates and court her, just as any man should court the woman they loved. He had two days to do what a normal boyfriend would be able to do in two months, but they didn't have a job that allowed a normal lifestyle, so Derek had to make the most of the time they still had in Cali.
The members of the BAU could have been mistaken for zombies when they got back to their hotel after the case. Hotch, Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, JJ, and Rossi all walked into the hotel silently and went straight to their respective rooms. Morgan even fell asleep with his clothes on, and Prentiss almost fell asleep in the elevator. Usually the team would be better about handling their tiredness, but as soon as the case was closed up the whole team felt the pressure of the day, and the lack of sleep they had gotten the night before.
Each team member was sound asleep as soon as their head hit the pillow. Before Hotch fell asleep, he was grateful that he hadn't told the team a specific time to meet in the morning. He could see that his agents needed sleep. He was sure that they would all end up meeting around the hotel at ten or eleven, after everyone had caught up on their sleep.
The next morning Hotch, Prentiss, and JJ were all in the hotel lobby by 10 am. The three had never really been able to sleep in too late, and even though they were practically sleepwalking the previous night, this morning would be no exception. Emily and JJ had met in the hallway on their way down, and Hotch was already sipping his coffee in the lounge. The ladies plopped in to the two chairs next to him with their own cups of coffee.
"So when are we going to head out to LA?" Emily asked, not hiding her excitement at all.
"Well I'm going to assume that everyone will be down here by eleven or so, so I was thinking we would leave shortly after that. Are your bags packed? I don't see them down here," Hotch questioned.
Emily assured him that they were, but JJ sighed sheepishly.
"I knew there was something I was going to do before I came down here."
JJ giggled a bit and then made her way back up to her room to pack up her belongings and get ready to leave. She hadn't even brushed her teeth before she came down. She realized that she really should have slept in a little longer.
Just as JJ got onto one elevator, Morgan and Rossi stepped out of the other. Both men looked exceptionally tired, but they both went straight for the coffee, hoping that it would help wake them up.
"Yo, is my baby girl comin' up here Hotch? It's not very fair to make her stay in Quantico while we are all here having a good time," Morgan said as he sat down where JJ had been sitting just moments before.
"The jet will go pick up Penelope after it drops us off in LA. She and Kevin should be here by tonight. I've actually talked to Strauss and convinced her to let us stay in Los Angeles for a couple extra days as long as there are no urgent cases. But considering the people that evaluate and choose the cases are here, I don't think that will be a problem," Hotch explained.
"Jesus Hotch, how long have you been down here?" Morgan asked, and incredulous tone in his voice.
"What he means to say is thank you for working that out with Strauss for us. We all need a break," Rossi said. He raised his eyebrows at Derek as if scolding him with a look.
"Yeah, that's what I was saying…"Morgan chuckled.
"Well, to answer your question, Derek, I've been down here since 9:30. It wasn't too long before JJ and Emily got here, and you guys didn't show up too long after them."
"Wait…JJ was already down here?" Morgan asked.
Emily looked at Derek questioningly.
"Yeah, we came down here together, but she forgot to pack up her bags and stuff, so she went back to her room to pack and get ready for LA."
Morgan seemed irritated, but tried to shrug it off so as to not make the team suspicious. He didn't even know why he was irritated. He just expected her to come to his room in the morning to wake him before she came down.
After a few minutes of mindless chatter, and still no sign of JJ, Morgan excused himself and made his way to her room. The only reason he knew where it was was because he saw her going into his room last night, but she didn't even see him because she was so tired.
JJ was startled by three loud knocks on her door. She rushed to the door and looked through the peephole. It was Derek. She opened the door slowly and immediately felt bad for practically avoiding him the entire time they had been here. His shoulders were slumped and his mouth was turned down in an uncharacteristic pout. JJ could tell that something was wrong, and she knew it could have something to do with the stress of the last case, but deep down she knew it was because of her attitude towards him.
She loved him. There was no doubt about it, but she was afraid that things were moving too fast. She was afraid that once he really got to know her he wouldn't like her as much. JJ didn't want to get hurt. It had happened enough in her lifetime. It seemed like the people closest to her always left and her sister left in the most permanent way possible, and after that JJ's parents started to shut her out. She had lost her family, and after that she couldn't let people get too close to her.
She had never loved anyone the way she loved Derek, and the thought of losing him was too much. Not only was she afraid of him leaving her, but this case made her think of how easily a stranger could just walk up behind him and shoot him in the head, and he would be gone forever. Of course, if that happened to anyone on the team, JJ would be devastated, but if it happened to Derek, she didn't know if she could move on. Those thoughts are the reason she had been pushing him away since they got to California. That is the reason she didn't want to tell the team. She was in too deep already. To care about someone so much when she barely knew him, and then to think about letting it go on and eventually losing him, she couldn't even fathom how that would feel. She didn't want to.
Once they told people it would become real, and if it didn't work out then she would get hurt. She couldn't handle getting hurt anymore.
"Why didn't you come get me this morning before you went downstairs?" Morgan asked. It shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but that minor move had sent him over the edge. She had brushed him off throughout the whole case, and he thought maybe it was just because she was stressed about all the deaths, but the case was over now, and she was still avoiding him. He was just plain confused.
JJ looked down at her feet.
"I didn't know where your room was. Sorry," It was the truth, but she knew that she could have figured it out if she really wanted to.
"JJ, what's wrong? Talk to me."
Derek lifted his hand up to her face and brushed her blonde hair behind her ear. She tried to look down at her feet again but he put his finger under her chin and lifted it so that she was looking into his eyes.
JJ didn't know what to say. As she looked into his big, brown eyes, she could see so much concern, so much love. She knew he was serious about her, but she was still scared.
"I'm scared, Derek. I'm scared that I'm not really the girl that you love, and once you find that out you'll leave me. I'm scared that I'll let you in, and then you'll shut me out. I'm scared that once we tell the team, this whole thing between us will be real, and then I'll get hurt. I'm scared that this is all a dream, and one day I'll wake up and realize that I was stupid to put myself out there so much, because all it did was get me hurt…"
Derek stepped into JJ's room and closed the door behind him. He led her over the bed and they both sat down.
Tears were slowly crawling down JJ's cheek now. She tried to wipe them away, but Morgan grabbed her hand before it reached her face. He brought it back and opened her palm onto his chest right over his heart.
"JJ this is real. It's not a dream. I don't know why I fell so hard or fast for you, but I did. I may not know everything about you, but there is one thing that I do know, and that is that you love me too. You feel my heartbeat? The only reason it's beating is because of you now."
JJ felt the weight of his words on her heart. She knew he was being completely honest. If he was being honest, then she needed to be honest with and him and herself. She loved him, and no amount of fear could pull her away from him anymore.
Derek moved her hand from his chest up to his face so that she was cupping his cheek. Then he put both hands on either side of her face and gently placed his lips on top of hers. The two had never kissed like this before. It was slow and genuine. Morgan threaded his fingers through her hair while JJ brought her hand back to his chest. She felt his heart beating.
He pulled back to see JJ's eyes still closed and a smile playing on her lips. He was so happy that she told him what was wrong, and had given him the chance to tell her otherwise.
He stood up and pulled her up with him. He grabbed her suitcase and the two FBI agents walked out of her room holding hands and smiling at their opportunity to spend the next couple of days together in LA.
*Alright alright. I know it's cheesy, but hey, I personally enjoy cheesy romance stories! I'm sorry this chapter took so long. I had writer's block, and then like I said, our computer was hacked into. So if anyone knows how to do that….DON'T DO IT! It is a pain in the butt for the people you're hacking! Arg. Anyways…Please review! I like reviews a whole bunch! And if I get lots of reviews…I'll sing you all a song! Haha alright I'm done rambling!
****NEXT STOP…LOS ANGELESSSSSSSS****
***Oh wait! One more thing. So I know I enjoy a good JJ/Morgan sex scene, but how do you guys feel about it? I'm trying to decide if I want any smut in this. It won't be very graphic AT ALL, but I think it should maybe still happen. What do you think? Let me know when you REVIEW! :)
