Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't get this one up as quickly as I thought I would, but I WAS working on it. I wrote some of it during study hall and now I'm writing more. :) Anyways, thanks for all of the reviews! They are super great! I have some exciting (I think) news to tell you all, but I'll wait until the end of the chapter for that! And let the story continue….
I always forget this….DISCLAIMER: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of the characters. It is very sad.
Chapter 12
JJ stayed down in the lobby for a while after Emily left. She thought about how she was going to tell these people that were like her family that she had been keeping a huge secret from them. Garcia was who she was mostly worried about, though.
Emily was a very dear friend, but Penelope and JJ were closer than anyone on the team, besides Derek of course. He was close with both ladies in different ways. She would be very hurt and angry when she found out that neither her best friend, nor her "chocolate thunder" had told her the extent of their relationship. She knew about the little crush, but she did not know that it was love that now brought her two best friends together.
JJ gave a startled jump when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She whipped her head around only to see her soul mate standing there with a small smile gracing his perfect face.
"Hey," he said, still smiling.
He came around and sat next to her on the couch. JJ snuggled into his broad chest and he wrapped his arms around her small frame. She returned his greeting with a kiss and then went back to lying on his chest.
"How did you know I would still be down here?" JJ murmured, her words muffled by Morgan's shirt.
"Because I know you, and I know you're worried about tomorrow," he answered and kissed her forehead.
"Stupid profilers."
He chuckled. He was exhausted, but he knew that JJ needed him right now, and he would always be there for her when she needed him.
She angled her head so that she was looking into Derek's deep brown eyes.
"Everything is going to be different after tomorrow, isn't it?"
"Probably," he answered honestly.
"But it will all be okay, right?" she asked him. She was so tired as well. Her walls were like rubber now; she was slowly letting her guard down. When this happened, she vocalized all of her fears with a childlike innocence. It was why he loved her. She seemed so put together and in control, but underneath all of that she was so vulnerable.
He leaned back and held her shoulders in his hands.
"JJ, listen to me. These people are like our family. The ONLY reason any of them would be mad at us is because we waited so long to tell them. Garcia is the only person I can think of that will actually care one the initial shock is over." He cradled her face in his hands and brought it inches away from his own. "You know I love you, right?"
She looked straight into his eyes and nodded her head just once before his lips crushed into hers once again. JJ put her hands on his chest and found the will to push him away before they got too carried away in public.
"I know it will be fine. I guess I've always known deep down. I just work myself up too much. I'm not going to bed until we come up with a plan on telling them, though. You know I won't be able to sleep for a second without some sort of planning. I want to tell Garcia first. She deserves to know before the rest of the team. I want you to tell her with me. It won't be very long that she knows what they don't, but it'll be enough."
"You're right. She deserves to know before the others, but I don't know how we can get her alone; especially with Kevin here. We'll figure something out. It will just have to depend on what we are all going to do tomorrow. Listen though, I think that when we do tell everyone, we should just come right out and say it. Just be straight about it, don't beat around the bush. I'll do it if you want me to."
JJ thought about his suggestion. It made sense. It was like ripping of a band-aid. He can just tell them, wait for the reaction, and deal with it then. She had her assumptions about how they would react, but she didn't know for sure. They couldn't plan for something they didn't know about.
She nodded her head and he let that smile slip onto her face that she so dearly loved. She felt better now. He was right; they weren't going to be kicked off the team. They wouldn't be hated by everyone. The world wasn't going to end. Everything would be okay.
"Babe, you know I always want to be here for you when you need me, but I'm really tired. It's like two in the morning. Are you ready to go to bed now?" Derek asked trying to stifle a yawn.
"Yeah, I'm ready for bed too. It's been a long day, and we have another one ahead of us."
Morgan stood up and pulled his girlfriend up with him. He held her small hand as he walked her to her respective room. He leaned down and gave her a quick kiss before she entered her room and he walked back to his own.
The team had met up in the lobby around 11 the next morning. JJ and Morgan were both nervous, but ready to share their news. JJ had talked to Emily about a plan to get Garcia to themselves for a couple of minutes that morning while they were getting ready. The brunette had almost forgotten about what she had witnessed the previous night, but as soon as she saw the blonde liaison sleeping in the bed next to her, it all came flooding back into her memory bank.
She had wanted all of the juicy details right away, but JJ wasn't going to talk about it until she could get both female members of the team together. She didn't want to have to repeat the same story over and over again for each person they told.
The ladies walked downstairs and greeted each member with a still-sleepy smile. Emily got started on the plan right away and invited everyone to get some coffee in the lounge while JJ asked Garcia to accompany her to the "bathroom". The two blondes turned a corner and ran right into Derek Morgan. Penelope said a quick greeting and then proceeded to walk towards the bathroom, but Morgan caught her by the arm.
"Hold on, my chocolate prince. Jayje has to go to the bathroom," Garcia said as she pointed at a very nervous-looking JJ.
"Actually, baby girl, she was just tryin' to get you away from everyone else. We need to talk to you about something. You need to understand that we are telling you before the others because you mean a lot to both of us and we trust you."
He looked at JJ to continue with the explanation, but she merely nodded her head for Derek to keep going. Garcia looked between the two apprehensively.
"What is going on?" she demanded.
"Well…you see, uh, me and JJ, well we've been kind of…uh," Morgan searched for the right words. He thought they would just come to him, but standing in front of one of his best friends and admitting that he had been keeping a secret form her had a him a little flustered.
"Just spit it out, Derek!"
Penelope and Morgan both looked at the blonde who had remained silent throughout the whole conversation. JJ blushed. She wasn't expecting that to come out of her mouth, but the anticipation of what this conversation would bring had her over the edge. She just wanted her friend to know what this was all about. She decided to take the lead.
"Morgan and I have been seeing each other for the past couple of weeks, now. We are in love. We didn't, well I didn't, want to tell anyone, but Emily caught us in my room last night and there was no way to deny it. I explained everything to her, and now I'm explaining everything to you. Please don't be mad at us. We're sorry we didn't tell you sooner. It all just happened so fast and I was worried about my heart being broken and we didn't know what everyone would think and we didn't want to be under a microscope the whole trip and…I don't know."
JJ was finally at a loss for words. She hadn't taken a breath since she started talking, but she reminded herself to breathe in deep while she waited for her best friend to respond to the shocking revelation.
Garcia just stood there for a second trying to wrap her mind around the information she had just been given. She had had her suspicions, but having them confirmed like this, to this degree, was way more than she was expecting. Finally, she snapped out of her reverie and looked at both of her friends with a serious look on her face.
"Well…I can't say that I was expecting this, but I've never heard more exciting news in my entire life! Oh my God! Jayje! Honey! I can't believe you guys didn't tell me! I'll think about that later. Right now I'm just so excited! Ahhhh! Wait until I tell the rest of them! They will all be thrill-"
"Whoa whoa there, mama. You aren't going to tell the rest of the team. Don't get too excited about that. JJ and I are going to tell them in a little bit. We only told you before them because we are both close to you and we thought that you deserved to know first, besides Emily of course, but we didn't choose for that to happen," Derek explained.
"Okay, okay," Penelope said looking dejected. "But you are going to do it right now, Jennifer Jareau and Derek Morgan. These people, including myself, should have known about this forever ago. You hurry your little butts into the lounge and tell them all about your secret announcement!"
The three laughed as they walked back to the lobby, but JJ instantly stopped as soon as she caught sight of the round table that sat the people she called family. Derek could feel her apprehensiveness and gave her a reassuring smile. Garcia walked over and sat next to Kevin smiling, while her two best friends stood at the head of the table.
Morgan cleared his throat loudly and the table got quiet.
"Everyone, I, I mean we, have an announcement." He grabbed the small hand of the woman standing next to him as he found the courage to speak.
"JJ and I are in love," he said simply.
**Ahhhh! Sorry to leave it at that, but remember...Reviews make Chelsea update faster! (That's me!) Anyways, I hope you liked it. I know I said it would be longer, but I decided to have some suspense! Please REVIEW! I promise it makes me update faster.
*Also for that somewhat exciting news I mentioned earlier...I AM going to start that new story about JJ and Emily and Will soon. As in very soon. I don't know when I will actually post the first chapter, but I am ready to work on it and get the ball rolling! Please check it out! I'm not typically into femslash, but this storyline was jsut so great, I had to write it. Check out the trailer on YouTube! Search for "JJ Emily Will Letting Go". ANDDDDD I will be starting a Higher Ground and Criminal Minds crossover soon as well. I'm pretty excited about it because I have it pretty thoroughly planned out, which is new for me! haha! So check that one out as well...when i post it. This story will still be my first priority until it is finished though! Don't worry. Then I will focus on the other two some more, and then I plan to make a sequel :) So stay tuned! and please RRRREEEEVVVIIIEEEWWWWWW!
