A/N: I can't beeline ever it's been almost 3 years since I wrote the last chapter. For the longest time, I couldn't remember my login information and didn't have access to the email account I had used to set it up. But beyond that, my life has also changed quite a bit. I've been married for 2 years, I graduated with my BA in psychology last year and I am about to finish my masters in crisis counseling this spring, and I start my doctorate degree in the fall. None of it is a good excuse, and I'm sorry to those of you that have read my story and have been left wanting more. I promise that from here, I will either continue it promptly or wrap things up. So welcome back to those of you still with me! As always, please review! It was your fantastic reviews that made me come back in the first place. :) (This first chapter is mostly fluff to address the cliffhanger and get things going again. As always, suggestions are appreciated!)
It had been four days since the surgery and things were beginning to return to normal. Emily, of course, could hardly sit still in her bed and was driving the nurses mad with requests to leave prematurely, but her vision was finally beginning to be more than a grainy, unfocused television reception. With a few more days of rest, Dr. Isom expected it to fully return to its almost 20-20 state. An expectation that revived the strength of both agents lying in that bed.
Emily kissed the blonde's forehead, her right arm wrapped loosely over JJ's shoulders. She struggled to shift her own weight into a sitting position without waking her female counterpart. God knows how long it had been since JJ had gotten any real sleep. The clock on the bedside table flashed 5:04pm, which meant that Garcia and Reid would be by sometime soon to whisk the blonde away to a David Morgan's tornado of a house to spend some time with their son. Emily buried her nose in JJ's hair, taking a moment to memorize the scent of her wife's shampoo. God, how she loved this woman.
The alarm began its annoying series of beeps, making JJ begin to stir against Emily's warm chest. "Don't tell me it's already morning." The blonde mumbled, savoring the feel of Emily's bare skin as she stretched her hand across the brunette's stomach. The nurses had finally let Emily ditch the hospital gown for her own set of pajamas, which made the ordeal feel a little less dire.
Emily smiled into JJ's hair. "Not quite morning, no. But time to get up, nonetheless." Through the hospital window, she could see that the sun was just beginning to set. The view wasn't clear, quite yet, but Emily could at least tell the fading colors of the day from the nightfall setting in.
JJ kissed Emily softly on the lips before pulling herself out of the brunette's grasp. With her legs swung out from the edge of the bed, she cracked her neck and stretched her shoulders. Her left arm was still incredibly sore from where she had been shot several months prior, but JJ wasn't about to let Emily know that. Her wife had enough to handle.
"Tell Matty that I'll be home soon, okay?" Emily sighed, eying the bag JJ was packing. JJ was hurriedly straightening the room, shoving all of hers and Emily's worn clothes into the duffel bag so that they could be refreshed. "Make sure he knows that I'm okay." She said this last part as more of a question than a statement.
JJ smiled softly, "Of course, my love. And you know that he can't wait to see you." JJ sat the bag on the floor. "Neither of us can wait to have you home." It had been less than five days, but it felt like an eternity. All in all, JJ was sure that the couple had spent more time in a hospital room over the last year than they had together outside hospital walls. She glanced at the clock, knowing that Garcia and Reid would be there within the next few minutes. "And I'll be back tonight, okay?"
Shaking her head, Emily frowned, "You need sleep, Jen. I'll probably get released tomorrow or Tuesday, anyway, so you're not missing much by skipping a night here. Get a good night's sleep for once." The lines beneath JJ's eyes had tripled over the last few days. To the brunette, JJ looked worse than she had on any extended case they had ever worked on.
"Well, then I won't have to wait much longer for a good night's sleep, then, will I?" Jen smirked. "There's no way you're keeping me away from here."
With a quick knock on the door, the room erupted in Garcia's voice. "Emily! Can you see me yet?" Realizing how loud she was being, Garcia hushed herself. In a much lower voice, she said, "Oh, I'm so sorry! You could have been sleeping! I'm so stupid sometimes!" Quickly, she hugged JJ. Reid popped in the door behind her.
"Speaking of sleeping, tell JJ that she should stay home tonight, would you?" Emily begged. "She needs the sleep more than I do, and that's saying something. Plus, I know Matt would love some time with his mom tonight."
Garcia nodded. "JJ, I'll stay here with Emily tonight. You go home and get some sleep!"
"Oh, Penelope, I didn't mean that you had to-" Emily tried to interject.
Relief flooded JJ's face. "Seriously, Garcia? You don't mind?"
"Of course not! We can have a girl's night!" Penelope beamed.
Emily tried once more, "No, seriously, you don't have to stay- I'll be fine-"
Garcia turned towards the brunette and glared, "Normally, I'd smack you. But with your luck, your lung would burst or someone would come in and shoot us both. So lay there and hush your mouth. I'm staying."
JJ laughed, recognizing the defeat in her wife's eyes. "Babe, are you sure you don't mind? I'll just spend some extra time with Matty and then come right back. I won't stay gone the entire night- just longer than I planned originally."
"Jen, if I'm going to be stuck watching chick-flicks with Garcia for any amount of time, you'd better take that gorgeous ass home to our bed and get some sleep for once in your life. Capiche?"
JJ turned towards Reid for support, who was standing in the background watching the banter being exchanged by the women. He looked utterly helpless. She hung her head in defeat. She reasoned silently, however, that Emily couldn't necessarily stop her from coming back later once she got things under control at the house and had spent some time with their son. "Capiche."
Garcia's smile widened. "Good. That's settled then. Spencer, get JJ out of here before she changes that pretty little mind of her's!"
The blonde rolled her eyes and bent over Emily's bed to kiss her goodbye before being ushered out the door.
A/N: I know that was mostly filler, but what do you think so far? Any suggestions or predictions? Stay tuned (and I promise, it'll be more like a day than 3 years this time).
