A/N 1: So, I broke two fingers on my right hand shortly after my last update. It's been almost three weeks since and I took the splints off my fingers so typing won't suck as much. I wrote this at work during a meeting and it's not been proofread...
Now, on with the show.
Some five hours after admitting her relationship with JJ to her mother, Emily stood in front of the blonde media liaison's closed office door. Extending her hand to knock, she heard a quiet voice penetrate her ears before her knuckles met the hardened, pseudo-wooden surface.
JJ announced professionally, "Come on in, Emily."
Emily opened the door and smiled as she entered casually.
"Hey, I was wondering if you wanted to get some lunch. I'm famished. You wouldn't believe this girlfriend of mine; she never feeds me. It's unreal." Emily proposed expectantly.
Glancing toward the bullpen through the internal windows of her office, JJ noticed Morgan close his brown folder, place his pen atop, and reach into his desk drawer. Probably getting his car keys, she thought.
"Honestly?" JJ asked, catching the raised brow of Emily in response to her rhetorical question. "I think you should go ask Morgan to lunch and perhaps you could inform him of our relationship. He's a good friend of ours and you owe it to him. We owe it to him actually. But this one is on you, Love, because your girlfriend enjoys torturing you."
"You," Emily said in mock accusation, "are the meanest girlfriend, ever." Casting her eyes into the bullpen, she caught sight of Derek taking his first steps away from his desk. "You're right, though. I'll pick you up something. See you in an hour or so."
Emily exited the office and rushed toward the elevator where Morgan was waiting patiently. He flashed his perfectly brilliant, white smile as she strode up next to him.
"Going to lunch?" She queried shyly; her words beginning to fail her.
"Yeah. You too?" He asked politely.
Pulling down the front of her already straightened suit jacket, Emily closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. "Do you want to get lunch together? I have something I want to talk to you about."
"Certainly, Em. Are you okay?" He continued to speak before she could even begin to respond. "I'll drive. You look like you might need a break."
"Are you profiling me?" Emily asked incredulously.
Jaw dropping slightly, Derek defended, "Um, no. It doesn't take a profiler to have heard your deep breath and see you close your eyes longer than normal. If you want to drive, then drive. And you can stop pulling on the bottom of your jacket, it looks fine. Keep it up and you'll wrinkle it."
Realizing that she was just trying to keep her hands busy, she opened her mouth to speak, but the elevator dinged at their floor and stopped her words. Emily entered and reached forward to press the '1' to take them to the lobby. Noticing the permanent marker on her palm visible to Morgan if he were looking, she jerked her hand back to her side.
Derek noticed her rigidness and took two steps toward the keypad and pressed the '1' himself. He placed his hands on either of Emily's shoulders firmly before speaking, "whatever it is, Em. I'm here."
Emily closed her eyes and took several steadying breaths before raising her hand for him to read.
"Property of Jay. Yeah, I know about him. Is that what this is all about? That he wrote on your hands? I agree, it's kind of childish but it's romantic, in a way." Derek offered, quite unsure what the problem was.
"I'm sorry, wrong hand." Emily raised her other for him to read.
"Property of JJ. Okay, so he wrote on both of your hands. The guy is persistent; I'll give him that. Some of us are like that when we find the right one. Look at it this way, atleast it's not on the top, or that he didn't write on your forehead. If he did that then maybe you'd have a reason to look so glum."
Emily chuckled at his choice of words and his ability to diffuse the tension. She opted to wait until they had reached the lobby before speaking again, thinking it would be easier if his intense eyes weren't boring straight into her.
When the door dinged open, Derek placed his right hand protectively on the small of Emily's back and led her out. He angled his body slightly and walked a quarter-step in front of her in an attempt to maintain some eye contact.
He questioned, "Where are you parked?"
Emily responded matter-of-factly, "It doesn't matter. You're driving. Lead the way."
Derek led her to his vehicle and glanced at her once they were both seated and buckled in. He placed a reassuring hand atop hers in an attempt to steady her shaking fingers."Whatever it is. You can tell me, Em. I'm here, okay. Just let me have it."
"I'm gay," Emily blurted before tossing her right hand over her lips and staring at Derek with wide, brown eyes.
Derek investigated cautiously, "Wow, you're good at this just hit me with it stuff. Gay as in 'I only have sex with women' gay?"
"Yeah. That kind of gay," Emily responded.
"Please don't take this the wrong way, but this Jay guy, does he know? Or was he just an experiment? Or what is…?" Derek trailed his question off, unsure what he really wanted to ask.
Taking another deep breath, Emily spoke quiet but affectionately, "I guess if I wanted to answer all of your questions at once then: Jay equals JJ, who equals our very own Jennifer Jareau, who just happens to also equal my girlfriend." Emily paused momentarily, "I nearly slipped and told you a few weeks back, but I hadn't talked with JJ about when we were going to tell everyone. I'm sorry for not telling you sooner, Derek."
Derek simply squeezed Emily's left hand with his right before plastering a wicked grin on his face, "Wow, nice catch. JJ, I mean. So, I take it she's the one responsible for you bailing on my drink nights, huh? I suppose I can forgive the both of you for waiting so long. I'm really happy for you. You know what this means, though, right?"
Emily looked at him, unsure what he was getting at, "Um, I assume you're going to tell me."
"It means you owe me lunch and some of the finer details."
"No way. I'll buy you lunch if I get to pick where we go, but you are not allowed to perv on my relationship, Morgan."
Morgan clenched his hand over his heart in mock hurt, "I'm saddened that you'd say such things about me." He grinned cheekily, "But really, Em, I'm happy for you and I understand it's not easy to admit that you're gay. Thank you for sharing this and your secret is safe with me. I really hadn't intended to 'perv' on you as you call it. I just wanted to know when it happened, how, who approached who, and so forth."
Emily pondered for dramatic effect, "Start heading toward Potbelly's and I think I can divulge that sort of information to you."
The two sat comfortably for several minutes; the only sounds present between them were coming from the speakers before Derek started laughing unprovoked.
"Spill it," Emily demanded.
Morgan continued to laugh, "I don't know if you want me to."
Emily furrowed her brow, "Oh, now I have to hear it. Out with it."
Morgan stated playfully, "I just realized that our little JJ has some vicious fangs on her. And I find it particularly funny that she'd bite you, repeatedly might I add, knowing the kind of work that you do."
Emily's face turned several shades of red, "You're right, I didn't want to know. Besides, you said you weren't going to do that."
"What did I do other than state what any person with one working eye could have seen? I didn't perv on anything, so don't be a hater, Prentiss."
A/N 2: Read and review because you missed me oh-so-much. Chapter 26 is halfway completed, I promise not to take 3 weeks to post it this time. :)