AN./ Please note the rating change. If you're not keen to indulge your inner perv, I'd recommend skipping the end of this chapter! -Bec xx

Chapter 8: Emily's Perspective

JJ shook in my arms as she slept. I didn't know how to stop it. Spooning myself behind her, I tried running my hands up and down her arms, then holding her around the waist. I tried kissing her neck, her shoulders, and resting my head against her back. She didn't stop shaking, but at one point she awoke properly and turned to face me. Our eyes met and she placed a soft kiss on my lips.

"I don't know what to do," I admitted, stroking a hand through her fine hair. "Tell me how to help you."

JJ shook her head, unsure, and took a deep breath in, trying to calm her body down. Fisting her hands into my t-shirt, she pulled herself in closer and lay her head against my chest. I could feel my heart beating against her. She must have felt it too.

"You are helping me," she murmured. "Keep— Keep playing with my hair like that..."

I did as I was asked, dropping a kiss onto her hairline to let her know I'd heard.

"I swear to god, when I get my hands on the son of a bitch who killed that little boy..." She whispered.

Whatever the end of that sentence was meant to be, I was sure I'd help her get away with it.


At the precinct, JJ was completely professional. Will was there working, although on a different case, and she greeted him cordially as they passed each other. She didn't linger with anyone, running around like the perfect diplomat she was. Her ability to keep her anxiety in during the day was amazing. No wonder it leaked out of her in shivers through the night.

"None of the neighbours we spoke to last night had seen anything out of the ordinary," I was saying as she caught up with the rest of us. "People usually notice strange cars on their street or people lurking outside their neighbours' houses."

"We already knew it was likely to be someone the boy was familiar with," Morgan pointed out. "Maybe the neighbours are familiar with him too. He could live in the area."

Of course Reid could back this up with a statistic. "Only 5% of stranger abductions occur in the child's home or backyard. That leaves a 95% probability that Andy was abducted by someone he'd seen or met before."

"It may be a long shot," JJ said. "But I'd like to go back and talk to Amelia Peters in number 86."

I checked my notes. "No one answered the door there last night."

"She's elderly," JJ explained. "Apparently she had a soft spot for Andy. Mrs Müller said she barely left the house if it wasn't to buy the boy chocolate and he liked to visit her. Like I said, it's a long shot but he may have told her about someone who seemed strange or a little too interested in him."

"Little boys that age thrive on other people's interest," I pointed out. "They want to befriend the whole world."

It took me a moment to decipher the look JJ was giving me. ...Well, duh, Emily. Of course JJ already knew that.

"Still," she said. "Maybe he mentioned someone."

"It's worth asking," Hotch affirmed. "Take Morgan with you. Prentiss, Reid-I want you down at the school talking to the principal. Dave and I will talk to Andy's teacher and friends."

When JJ's path crossed mine again midway through the afternoon she looked worse for wear around the eyes. Her patchy sleep—like mine, I was sure—was beginning to show. We found her sitting with Morgan at the precinct once we returned from Andy's school.

"Did you learn anything from Mrs Peters?" I asked as Rossi, Reid, Hotch, and I drew up chairs. It had been my idea to stop for coffee on the way back and Reid handed one to Morgan as I passed a large cappuccino to JJ.

I watched her bite back a grateful sigh as she took the warm drink in both hands. "Andy came by her apartment a few times a week," she told us. "She heard the commotion last night but she didn't know he was missing until this morning when she heard he'd been killed. Andy was pretty much the only company she ever got. Her son's driving in from interstate and I had a chance to speak to him on the phone. Apparently she'd been resisting moving into a care facility but he thinks she'll give in now that Andy's gone."

"Turns out Andy had been mentioning someone new in his life but it wasn't an adult," Morgan said, taking over the narrative. "It was an older kid. Mrs Peters thought he went to Andy's school but she couldn't be sure."

"If it was a kid, that might explain why Andy went to the window," Reid suggested. "He may even have left the house willingly if an older boy told him it was cool."

"Did Mrs Peters say if he'd mentioned the older boy's name?" Hotch asked and JJ shook her head.

"But he has to be old enough to drive," Rossi pointed out. "The body was found off the highway."

"In Ohio you can get a learner's permit at 15.5 years old," Reid offered. "Although learners are supposed to be supervised if they're under the age of 18."

Morgan dialled Garcia and put her on speaker. "Baby girl, I need you to pull some names for me."

"I can definitely help you pull, hot stuff," came Garcia's chirpy reply. "Whaddaya need?"

"Can you get me a list of kids at Andy's school who hold either a learner's permit or a driver's license?"

"Doing it now…" Garcia replied. "Yep—got it! How may I cross check for you today?"

"This kid would have been in trouble before," Morgan answered. "Possibly with the police but definitely with the school."

"Sorry, sugar. 'Naughty kids' doesn't really narrow it down a lot. I'm gonna need something else."

"Garcia, Morgan and I met a boy at the school who was asking a lot about what we were doing there," I inserted. "I think his name was Luke or maybe Luca?"

A few taps and Garcia declared, "I've got three Lukes, one Luca. Evans, Fitzpatrick, O'Connor, and Jackson."

"Brown hair, caucasian," Morgan remembered.

"Yeah, that's two of the four. Freckles?"

Morgan glanced at me and I shook my head. "No. I think he was tanned."

"Luke Evans," Garcia concluded. "Boy number 1. He hasn't got a criminal record but he's not exactly a favourite amongst his teachers either. Says here he was suspended last year for bringing a knife to school. Teacher caught him using it to open a can. Figured he was just trying to impress his friends but the school has a strict policy about bringing weapons onto campus. Sounds like he was lucky he didn't get expelled. These are the times, my friends..."

"Can you find any connection between Luke Evans and Andy Müller?" Hotch asked, but Garcia wasn't hopeful.

"These are kids, they're not exactly leaving paper trails..." She sighed. But she reconsidered almost immediately. "I stand corrected. Ladies and germs, looks like it's this simple: they live on the same street. Luke Evans lives with dad Bill at 91 Rosenberg Drive, which is—"

"Right next door to Mrs Peters," Reid finished, glancing up from one of his omnipresent maps. "He probably saw Andy come and go all the time."

"Call Detective Barker," Hotch replied with a swift nod. "Tell him we're on our way over."


As it turned out, Luke Evans had left school without permission not long after we'd spoken to him and he hadn't returned home since as far as any of his neighbours were aware. His father Bill worked long hours and had barely crossed paths with his son in days.

By the time evening fell, we still had no idea where this kid had disappeared to and we were forced to return to the motel with nothing. I barely thought twice before crossing the hall to JJ's room—although I waited until I thought the others were unlikely to call on either of us. JJ didn't seem surprised to see me.

"I don't know how one kid does something like this to another," she admitted without looking at me. She was sitting at a small table in the corner of the room having a staring contest with an unopened mini bottle of scotch. I took the liberty of returning it to the bar fridge while she watched in resignation. "I want to see Henry, Em."

I glanced at the clock. It was 10:30 already. By the time we got to Will's, if we left now, it would be eleven and Henry had probably been in bed since nine. But as I pulled up a chair beside her I realised JJ wasn't really suggesting we go and visit her son.

"It's so hard to have to leave him," she confessed. "I explain it by saying we help little boys just like him, but when we can't save them... Em, how am I supposed to justify constantly leaving my son when I can't even protect the people I'm rejecting him for?"

I knew there'd be no use trying to tell her it wasn't a rejection. I'd seen the same guilt manifest in many of my colleagues with small children—not least of all, Hotch. Instead of trying to convince her, I raised a hand to stroke her back soothingly and pulled her closer to cry against my shoulder.

"I'm going to stay again tonight," I murmured into her hair. "Don't argue. I know you don't need me to, but I want to, okay?"

JJ nodded wordlessly, a muffled whimper escaping her lips in lieu of an answer.

"Henry loves you so much, JJ," I promised her. "And he knows you love him too. When you're home you're entirely focused on him and he can tell. I swear to you. There isn't a fleck of doubt in that little boy's mind that he has the best mom in the whole world."

"He loves both of us." She said it so quietly I barely heard her.

"Jayj?"

"He wants you to be his mom, Em," she reminded me. "Does that bother you?"

I couldn't keep the surprise from showing on my face. "Baby, it doesn't bother me at all. It actually amazes me. And I couldn't love Henry any more if he were my own son."

"Just don't leave us, Em," JJ sighed. "Henry's not the only one who has higher hopes than he's got a right to have…"

I stood up then and raised JJ to her feet too, pulling her into my chest. "Hey, you hope as high as you want to," I told her. "I'm not leaving unless you ask me to. Why on earth would I?"

JJ didn't answer but I knew she could think of a host of reasons. I was going to be rebutting them for a long time, but that didn't bother me. Plaintively, she laid a kiss against my lips and when I responded she fisted her hand in my shirt to drag me in closer. "Why do you have to be so fucking perfect?"

I wanted to protest, to tell her just how far from the truth that was, but more than that I wanted to show her just how much I loved and treasured her—how much I needed her. I stepped backwards toward the bed and as I sat I pulled her into my lap. She followed willingly and barely released my lips for a moment.

"This is the definition of what we shouldn't be doing while on a case together," I breathed as she immediately reached for the hem of my shirt, but I still didn't stop her from pulling it over my head.

"I honestly don't care," JJ answered. Her voice was regaining some of its strength and as I opened my mouth to speak again she silenced me with a kiss. "No. I really don't care, Em."

"I just want to make sure you remember Morgan is only two doors down and the rest of the team isn't far either," I felt compelled to say, but once she acknowledged that, I gave in easily. "Hmm… We'll have to be quiet…"

"I can be quiet," JJ promised, giving my bottom lip a teasing nip with her teeth. "Can you?"

Fuck. Could I? I guessed we were about to find out. Quiet wasn't usually a strong point with me. Already I was fighting back a moan as JJ flattened her hands against my stomach and pushed me down onto the bed. The look she shot me as she climbed over me was almost predatory. Without warning she dropped her head to my chest and closed her mouth over a nipple through the fabric of my bra. Her fingers stroked up my side and behind my back to unclasp it and I arched upwards to make it easier for her. When my bra was gone she resumed her activity with the opposite breast, giving it a hard suck, and I had to bite my lip to keep from crying out.

I tried to pull her up to my lips again, wanted to start undressing her, but she held my arms in place. Oh god, was she testing me or something? Whatever she wanted, I knew I'd do it. She just had to ask. My breath was coming out hard and the feeling of her holding me down while she kissed and sucked and nipped her way across my body was unexpected and so, so hot. If she needed to feel in control tonight, I was happy to let her. But I wanted to touch her too.

I tugged feebly at my hands, pinned tightly by my head, and stared down at JJ until she gave in and met my eyes. "Can I touch you?" I pleaded. My voice came out in a choked whine that brought a satisfied smirk to her lips.

"Not yet," she answered, but she did release my arms and pull back to remove her own shirt and bra. I reached for her instinctively and she shied away, shaking her head. Her silky blonde hair fell in soft wisps around her face and she was beautiful. God, she was so beautiful...

I tilted my head back in compliance as JJ shifted further down my body, peppering my stomach with light kisses while her hands dipped to unbutton my pants. I swallowed hard.

"Jayj, I need to touch you now…"

Her exposed breasts were hanging down toward me and when she leaned back up to kiss my lips, I took the chance to palm them roughly. Her nipples were firm, pressing into the back of my hands, and I relished the gasp that escaped from her mouth into mine. Her hands disappeared into my hair and I kissed her with everything I had, like we were the only two people in the world, let alone the motel. I enjoyed being able to tut disapprovingly as she let out too loud a moan.

JJ's skirt had already ridden all the way up her thighs as she straddled me but I wanted it gone completely. "Please…?" I begged, running my fingers around the waistband and thankfully JJ nodded. I helped her out of the skirt, while she renewed her attempts to rid me of my trousers. Her hot skin against mine was intoxicating and when she leaned close enough I sucked hard against her collarbone.

"No way," she gasped. "Em, you gave me the darkest hickey the other day..."

I only sucked harder and bit down as she groaned, her hips grinding helplessly into mine. "You're mine," I whispered as I released her and fuck, it was so satisfying. "Jennifer, I'm never letting you go. Believe me. You are Henry are everything to me."

JJ's gaze was dark and heavy and wanting, but there was love in there too. When she kissed me again it started slow but it was deep and intense and the heat built quickly from there. Before I could react her hand had slipped in between my legs to press against the damp fabric of my panties. Curiously she felt around with her fingers, finding the spot that made me gasp and raise my hips up toward her. Then she slid my panties down my legs and made the most impossibly arousing sound as she slipped two fingers through my wet slit.

"Emily!" she whined. "Oh god, you are so— hmmm…"

My pussy throbbed as she used her dampened fingers to circle my clit. Everything was white-hot heat and I pulled her mouth back down to me desperately, thrusting my tongue past her lips and kissing her as forcefully as I could. My hands swept down her back to squeeze her ass and pull her hips in tighter. Then I slipped inside her underwear and pulled them down just enough to press a finger inside. Brushing my thumb over her clit, I cried out as JJ redoubled her efforts and pressed inside me at the same time. My hips jerked up of their own accord and I stole JJ's lips, red and bruised, and kissed her hard.

I was so hot. My movements were becoming sloppy and the only way I could keep anything close to quiet was by muffling my cries against her lips or her shoulder. A trail of kisses turned into bites and bruises I knew she was going to have trouble hiding in the morning. Yet somehow that only made it sexier.

"JJ, I'm so close," I hissed and JJ couldn't even respond. I slipped another finger into her and pounded her until I could feel her start to shake along with me. "Baby, I've got you. You can let go now. Let go, Jayj."

With my lips pressed against her shoulder, I didn't have time to stop the scream that escaped JJ's lips as she came. And no matter how close the others may have been I was glad I hadn't. It was the purest, most incredible sound I'd ever heard and I came the moment I heard it. Her walls tightened around my fingers, constricting and releasing in a powerful rhythm, and I continued to move slowly, letting her ride through her orgasm as she shook above me. I fought to keep my eyes open. I gasped uncontrollably, still trying to keep quiet. But seeing her coming above me was too much.

Finally, she collapsed on top of me and I pulled my arms tight around her waist. Neither of us said a word but I could feel the wetness of her thighs sliding against mine and her skin was flushed and damp. I'd never seen anything more incredible in my life.

"I love you so much," she moaned, burying her face in my neck.

I stroked my fingers through her hair and smiled so widely I thought my cheeks would split. "And I love you," I answered sincerely. Then I pulled the sheets up around us. "Get some sleep, okay? We need to find this son of a bitch already so we can pick up Henry and go home."

JJ clutched me tighter and I revelled in the feeling of her slim body in my arms, so petite and yet so strong. She fit perfectly against me.

"Is it crazy that I already feel so much for you?" She whispered.

I pressed a kiss into her hair and shook my head. "No, Jayj. It's not. Not unless I'm crazy too."