Disclaimer: Still don't own them, I'm just playing.

A/N: Ok folks this is where I need your input…I can wrap this fic up here or keep going. Let me know what you want either by leaving me a review or PM.

As always massive thanks to those who reviewed…Especially rain1654; bdd4evr; egoofy34; nnnjtu; addicted-mb and igorellis…All your reviews have kept me writing when I hit a bit of a block. Also a big thanks to those who read but don't review…seeing the hits counter go up also makes me smile. :o)

Enjoy… :o)

Chapter 26:

It had taken a few hours for the police to finish taking their statements and collecting the evidence they required. Once they left, Rossi, Reid and Hotch had soon followed. Morgan, Garcia and Emily were left in the now quiet house as JJ went to collect Henry from next door.

"Morgan…Could you help me with something please?" Emily asked standing from the couch.

"Sure thing." He gave Garcia's hand a final squeeze before releasing his hold and standing to follow Emily up the stairs. They walked along the hall to what had become Henry's nursery.

As Emily reached the room, her eyes were instantly drawn to the large blood stain on the carpet. She stared at the mark for a moment before dragging her mind away from the memories flooding her consciousness. "Can you help me move Henry's crib into JJ's room please? He shouldn't come into this room again."

Morgan stepped into the room and helped Emily move the crib. He knew that JJ wouldn't want Henry coming back into the room and that Emily was right about moving it. He just didn't know if either of the women would want to spend any time in the room again or if it now held too many negative memories for the pair. He could tell that certain details had been left out of what the three women recounted as the events of that night. It didn't take a profiler to see that something had changed between the two agents in recent days. Morgan wasn't one to push anyone for information. He just hoped that his two friends would trust him enough to share what was going on soon.

As they finished moving the crib, they heard the front door close. "Thanks Derek." Emily then led the way back down to the lounge to find JJ and Garcia sitting with Henry between them. Emily looked at the scene in front of her and couldn't help but wonder how things could seem so normal after what they had all been through. There were subtle differences. Differences that might be missed by people who didn't know the others as well as they knew each other. Garcia had lost that flirty edge to her voice when chatting to Morgan. Her usual quick wit was less apparent. Morgan hadn't smiled his trademark Morgan grin since arriving. Then there was JJ…Her blue eyes were darker than normal, the smiles tighter and more forced. Emily knew that the blonde was carrying a lot of guilt about recent events and had made it her own mission to alleviate as much of that burden as she could.

JJ looked over to where Emily was standing and saw the intense look in her eyes. She wished that she could read Emily at times like this. JJ knew that whenever things got too much then the brunette threw up her walls and compartmentalised everything that was too hard to deal with all at once. It was a skill JJ had envied when they first met but as time went on, she saw the toll it took on the other woman. It was rare but there had been a couple of times that the compartmentalising didn't work and JJ had caught a glimpse of Emily's defences crumbling. It was a thought that always left the blonde with an uneasy feeling…Not being sure what would happen if all the defences the brunette had built up came crashing down at once. Right now, as she looked into those brown eyes she was met with walls. JJ decided at that moment that she would try to get Emily to let down those walls slightly and let her in. She didn't want the older woman to keep these feelings and thoughts locked up in her own mind as to JJ, that only signalled an unhappy ending.

Emily seemed to feel the blonde's gaze and brought her attention back to the room.

"JJ, would you mind if I took Henry up and told him a story?" Garcia asked gently. She was expecting her friend to turn down her request.

"I think he'd like that." JJ smiled at the analyst as she picked her son up. She gave him a kiss on his head and then passed him to the waiting blonde.

"Do you want to say goodnight to your auntie Em?" Garcia asked the little boy in her arms. He giggled in response. Garcia took him over to Emily.

As she approached, Emily reached out and took him into her own arms. She gazed into his big blue eyes for a moment, a smile playing on her lips. "Goodnight little man. Prenez soin de votre maman." She gave him a kiss on his head and then passed him back to Garcia.

Turning back to the other two agents Emily smiled. "How many bedtime stories do you think he will get her to tell him before he sleeps?"

Garcia settled Henry into his crib and sat down on the edge of the bed so she could still look at him.

"You know what Henry…Tonight you were a very lucky boy. We all were. One day when you are older, I'm going to tell you a new story. This story won't be a fairytale and I can't say for sure that there will be a happy ending. I hope there will be but right now, there's a long way to go before we get there. One day though, I'll tell you a story that will show you just how much your family love you. So you will never doubt that no matter what you might hear, you have people who love you and will do anything to protect you. As I said though little one, that is for when you are older as I want you to understand it. Tonight…I think tonight we should hear about Hansel and Gretel."

Henry was looking up at Garcia as if understanding every word.

"Once upon a time there were these two little children called Hansel and Gretel. They lived on the edge of a forest with their parents. This is obviously a story from many years ago as with all fairytales there are forests on every corner. These days, urban sprawl has led to the dramatic reduction in forests and the best we can hope for is the odd tree. Anyway, one day the two siblings were taken into the woods by their father. Now this was something that caused great joy to the children as all too often their dad was too busy at the office to spend time in the wilderness with them. As they got deeper into the woods, their dad turned to them and said he would be right back. Now what their dad didn't tell them was that as a result of the credit crunch he had lost his job several weeks prior and was fast running out of money. He had tried to sell the children at market but it seemed that nobody had the money to buy extra children that week. After a few hours of sitting in the woods, the children began to realise that their dad wasn't coming back. This of course led to some serious abandonment issues that would require several sessions with a therapist later in life. Luckily for the children, Hansel had the forethought to have left a trail of breadcrumbs as they walked. The bad news was that Hansel hadn't been paying attention in school when they were taught about animals and their survival instincts. Low and behold the breadcrumbs had been eaten by freeloading woodland creatures. The two children wandered the woods until they stumbled across a house. Now this was no ordinary house. This was a house made of gingerbread. Both children were so hungry that they considered eating the house but since neither could find an ingredients label they decided that since Gretel was gluten intolerant and Hansel had serious peanut allergies that it was best not to risk illness."

Garcia paused in her story to check on Henry. As she did she saw his little eyes were slowly drifting closed. She smiled and continued.

"The children were startled from their search for nut and gluten free foods when an old lady emerged from the house. Now their first thought was that the old lady was in fact a wicked witch. It was what all the children in the playground were saying anyway. Hansel turned to the old lady and asked 'Pardon my bluntness but are you a wicked witch?' The old lady looked at him in shock before replying, 'Not at all. I am a Wiccan and certainly not evil. I merely hold different beliefs to you.' The old lady was quite shocked that in this day and age there was still such obvious negativity towards people of different backgrounds and beliefs to their own."

Garcia stopped her story noticing that Henry had fallen asleep. She placed a kiss on her fingers before touching them lightly to his head.

"Goodnight Henry." She then left the room to return to the others.

"So what story did he get this time?" Emily asked upon seeing Garcia's return.

"Hansel and Gretel but he didn't get to the end. He was out like a light."

"The real Hansel and Gretel or the Garcia version?"

"My version of course." There was a hint of the old Garcia back in that moment. That spark that made the technical analyst herself seemed to be coming back. Garcia then stifled a yawn.

"Right princess, I think it's time I took you home." Morgan commented noticing the yawn.

"Well, there's an offer a girl can't refuse." She smiled at Morgan before turning her attention to her two friends. "Are you two going to be ok?"

Both women nodded at her. "We'll be fine Garcia." JJ stood and hugged her friend. Emily then moved over to give her a hug. "I'll look after her." She whispered to the older blonde. Garcia smiled as she made her way out of the house.

JJ and Emily returned to the couch. Emily turned to the blonde. "Are you ok Jayj?"

The blonde turned blue eyes to the other woman, regarding her carefully. "I don't know to be honest Em." She paused to think about how to explain what she was feeling. "Things could have been so different tonight."

"I know." Images of walking into the nursery and seeing JJ lying on the floor flashed into Emily's mind.

"Why did you do it Em?" The question was so quiet that the brunette would have missed it had she not been completely focused on the blonde.

"I couldn't let him hurt you." She smiled sadly. "It's how he did it you know. I understood when he asked me that question."

"What do you mean?" A slight frown creased the blonde's brow.

"That was how he got all those women to commit suicide. He used what they loved against them. Threatened someone he knew they would do anything to protect. Just like I was willing to do." Emily looked into blue eyes with her last sentence, wanting JJ to see the truth. Wanting her to see that she would have given anything for the blonde to walk out of that room unharmed. Just like she would do again if put in a situation that called for it.

"Why?"

Emily sighed deeply. "Because Jayj. I love you. Seeing him there with a gun to your head, I saw what my future would be like without you. And that just wasn't a future I could live with. I couldn't live without you." Emily dropped her gaze with her admission. Unsure whether the blonde wanted to know the depth of her feeling or whether she was going to end up scaring her away. She was afraid to look into those blue eyes. Afraid of seeing rejection or pity.

"Emily, look at me." JJ spoke quietly. Using the words that had brought her back from the confines of her mind twice when spoken by the woman sitting so close to her. When Emily didn't lift her head, JJ reached her hand out and gently placed two fingers under her chin, slowly lifting the brunettes head to meet her eyes. JJ saw a tear roll down the older woman's cheek and let her thumb wipe it away. She felt her own eyes prickle with the threat of tears at seeing the other woman so broken.

She let her thumb traced down the brunette's jaw line. Slowly she brushed her thumb along her bottom lip. She saw Emily's eyes drift closed of their own accord. JJ was still in awe of how soft Emily's lips were to touch. She saw Emily's lips part slightly in response to the touch. Leaning forwards she replaced her thumb with her lips. Needing to show the other woman what she felt for her and realising that words just couldn't do it justice. JJ pulled back slightly, her lips hovering over Emily's. Her voice had shifted lower. "I felt the same."

JJ felt Emily pull back to look at her. "I thought I had lost you and in that moment I didn't care anymore." Seeing Emily was about to speak, she placed a finger on her lips to silence her. "I can't imagine a future without you either. All I saw was darkness and I didn't care if he shot me then. And I felt like it was my fault. I might as well have pulled the trigger."

Emily placed her hand on JJ's wrist to move her finger away, allowing her to speak. "It was my choice Jayj. You are not to blame for any of this."

The two women looked at each other in silence. It was JJ who spoke first, "Promise me something Em?"

Emily couldn't stop the frown creasing her brow. She had only been asked to promise someone something once before. It had been a promise that the brunette hadn't expected to keep, until she met the blonde now asking her the same thing. She knew that she couldn't refuse the blonde any request. "Ok."

"Promise me that you won't leave me?" It was spoken with such innocence and barely restrained fear that Emily felt her heart lurch inside her chest.

"I promise. That is a promise that will be easy to keep Jay."

With that the two women closed the distance between them. Allowing themselves to get lost in each others kiss. All thoughts of what the future may bring pushed out of their minds. Each holding to a simple promise that they would always be together.

AN: Ok, so there it is. Want me to continue or end it here? Let me know.

Oh and my apologies for probably messing up the French. I only managed to scrape a C in my GCSEs all those years ago and I'm sure that was only by entertaining the examiner!!