A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. I'm working right now on establishing their relationship before we throw in some more drama for them.
CHAPTER 9
JJ roused to the sunlight coming through her bedroom window the following morning. She reached over for Emily and realized she was alone in the bed.
She sighed and rolled over on her back.
Again. Emily Prentiss left her again.
JJ got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. She was angry. She was angry at Emily for coming over last night, for giving her hope for them, promising even not to run away. Most of all, though, she was angry at herself for allowing Emily to do this to her again. As she walked down the hallway, she decided she was done with Emily; she couldn't keep doing this and JJ was going to call her and tell her as soon as she had her morning coffee.
"Ugh," was the noise JJ made as she stomped into the kitchen.
"Fuck you, Emily Prentiss," JJ said out loud, talking to herself.
"Excuse me?" JJ heard a surprised voice coming from the living room, and she froze.
Emily walked into the kitchen behind JJ.
"Emily! I...Oh, god, I'm so sorry. I just thought..." JJ was stumbling through her words. The usually well composed and well-spoken media liaison didn't know what to say for once.
"You thought I left," Emily finished the sentence for JJ.
"I"m sorry, Em. You weren't in the bed, and I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions."
"It's okay, Jay. It's not like I haven't given you reasons to doubt me," Emily leaned in and kissed JJ on the lips. "I'm sorry for scaring you."
The two women settled down on the couch with their mugs of coffee.
"So, I was thinking JJ, since we're going to make a go at this that maybe I should take you out; like on a real date."
"Oh, well, that sounds nice. What did you have in mind?"
"Oh, no, Jareau. You don't get to know that information just yet."
"Emily! Come on!" JJ pleaded, and she moved over into Emily's lap.
Emily shook her head.
"That's not going to work, JJ. I'm immune to you trying to seduce me," Emily pushed JJ back to her spot on the couch.
"You could have fooled me. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's not what you told me last night."
"JJ," Emily warned. "If you don't stop now, I'm never going to leave, and you certainly won't get that date tonight."
"Fine, but you better make this good, Prentiss."
"You can count on it. I'll be back at 4 o'clock to pick you up."
#
Emily was good to her word. She had picked JJ up and drove them into DC to the Tidal Basin. She had packed a picnic complete with dinner, strawberries, and sparkling cider. They put down a blanket across the park from the Jefferson Memorial and sat talking and eating until it was well after dark before taking a walk around the reservoir hand-in-hand.
It wasn't a grand overture, but for JJ, it had been perfect. She couldn't remember a better date.
"Tonight was wonderful, Emily. Thank you," JJ said as they were walking to her apartment door.
They stopped at the door as JJ pulled out her keys and leaned in to kiss Emily.
"Do you want to come in?" JJ opened the door and looked back at Emily.
"Oh, JJ, I don't know, I mean, it's a work night," Emily protested.
"You're right." JJ reached out and tugged the bottom of Emily's shirt. "But we're not working now."
"You're going to be the end of me, Jennifer Jareau." Emily walked all the way inside JJ's apartment and closed the door behind her.
#
Emily woke up before the sun the next morning, and JJ was still sleeping. She knew she needed to get back to her own place to shower and change into clean clothes, and contemplated sneaking out and leaving a note for JJ, but decided against it.
"JJ," Emily whispered as she gently brushed her arm.
"Mmm, again Emily?" JJ mumbled, still mostly asleep. Emily smiled and laughed to herself. JJ thought she was waking her up for sex.
"That's sweet, but no. I'm leaving, JJ."
JJ's eyes snapped open at the word "leaving."
"What?" she snapped and raised up off the bed, her head hitting the bottom of Emily's chin.
"It's morning, JJ. I'm just going home to shower and get clean clothes for work. That's all I meant. I just didn't want to leave without telling you again."
"Oh. Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sorry."
"Don't be," Emily leaned down and kissed JJ. "I'll see you in a few hours at work."
#
Emily was already at work when JJ arrived. The two exchanged a glance as JJ came through the door, before heading to her office.
After finishing her coffee, Emily got up and went back over for a refill. JJ saw Emily get up and walked down to join her at the coffee pot.
"Prentiss." JJ grabbed the coffee pot as Emily was stirring her creamer.
"Jareau." Emily nodded. They hadn't made eye contact yet. Emily's voice got much quieter. "I'm sorry for waking you this morning."
"No, I'm glad you did." JJ tilted her head slightly toward Emily and the two of them finally made eye contact out of the corner of their eyes. Both had a knowing smirk on their face.
JJ broke the eye contact before saying, "Hotch needs us in the conference room in 10 minutes."
JJ smirked and brushed Emily as she walked past her back to her office.
The team was gathered in the conference room when Hotch walked in.
"JJ, cancel the presentation. We need to be wheels up for Reno as soon as possible. There's another body. We'll brief on the jet." Hotch turned and walked out while everyone else got up to grab their bags.
The first night in Reno, the BAU hit a stall looking for their unsub, and the team was extremely frustrated, especially Emily. They all headed back to the hotel after their long day. Shortly after they all got settled in, Emily headed down the hall and knocked on JJ's door.
"Emily, what are you doing here?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I guess I just needed company. But, I can go if you're tired." Emily turned to leave before JJ grabbed her arm.
"Emily, stay. I'm never too tired. Come in and talk to me."
Emily relaxed and followed JJ further into the room, taking a seat in the chair across the from the bed.
"What's going on, Em? We do this all the time. Why is this case different for you?"
"It's not the case; it's the last victim."
"I'm sorry? You knew the victim?"
"No, no. She just looks, looked, a lot like someone I used to know. I mean, they could be twins."
"Someone important to you?"
Emily sighed. "Yeah. Stacey. She is a ..."
JJ nodded. "An old girlfriend."
Emily blushed and nodded yes.
"Tell me about her."
"It's a long story, JJ. She was my first girlfriend. I didn't even know I liked women back then. It ended badly."
"Have you seen her since?"
"Only a few times. Weddings of mutual friends, things like that. I'm kind of embarrassed actually. I mean, it's been so long ago, so I don't know why seeing a vic that looked like her affect me so much."
"Sometimes we get triggered by things. We can't control how we feel, Emily." JJ leaned forward and put her hands on Emily's knees, looking her in the eyes.
At JJ's touch, a jolt went through Emily's body, and she lunged forward and pressed her lips to JJ's pushing her tongue through JJ's lips. She pushed JJ back on the bed, crashing down on top of her.
"Emily..." JJ breathed. "Should we be doing this, here, now?"
Emily didn't stop kissing JJ to answer her. If anything, she increased her assault on JJ's lips before moving on to her neck. JJ hesitated for a moment before finally giving in and pulling Emily even closer to her.
An hour later, the two women were lying naked in bed, both on their backs, eyes staring at the ceiling.
"Emily," JJ broke the silence. "We probably need to set some ground rules for work and when we're away."
"I know. Tonight was too risky. I should have known better and stopped it; I'm sorry."
"Emily, I was a more than willing participant. You can't always put this on yourself," JJ rolled on her side and so did Emily so that they were facing each other. "But, you are right. This, hooking up on a case, is too risky."
"So, we keep it professional while we're at the BAU or on overnight trips," Emily stated. "No sleepovers. No sex. If one of us needs support or to talk, we'll do it in a public space."
"Agreed."
"So, Agent Jareau," Emily said, before sitting up on the bed. "Based on our set of rules, I should probably be going."
JJ sighed. "Boundaries suck, sometimes."
Emily laughed as she finished getting dressed. "Goodnight, JJ." She walked to the hotel room door.
"Goodnight, Emily."
