"We really didn't have to go somewhere so nice," JJ said before taking a sip of her wine. "I would have been fine with anything."

Emily chuckled, looking JJ over. She looked amazing in a dark blue dress, her hair tied up in a simple bun. This was not a date, but Emily might have used the dinner as an excuse to dress up and show off for JJ. She had very few excuses to break out one of her little black dresses.

Milly had teased her about going on a date, but Emily knew that this wasn't a date. It was just two friends going out somewhere else. She wasn't pressuring JJ into anything and she wouldn't consider something a date unless both parties knew. Two friends, who enjoyed each other's company, could spend time together without it being romantic.

"I know," Emily replied, delicately snapping a crunchy breadstick in half. "That's why I brought you here. We're celebrating the end of your mandatory two week vacation. I figured we'd do something different."

JJ blushed, but she nodded and put her wine glass down. Emily could tell that she was a little nervous about going back to work. They'd talked briefly about her therapy sessions, but JJ would only tell her that it was going fine and that Dr. Lewis had decided to keep seeing her, instead of passing her off.

"So," Emily tried, setting her broken breadstick down and shifting her attention to her actual meal, "how's Dr. Lewis? Is she being nice to you?"

"Yes!" JJ laughed. She rolled her eyes at Emily's protective question. "She's very nice. I actually think you'd like her. She's got a good sense of humor."

Emily smirked. Of course JJ was making friends with her therapist. JJ could make friends with anybody. She was a little jealous.

"How'd you get so good at talking to people?" Emily joked, reaching for her wine. "Please teach me."

"These skills are natural!" JJ laughed smugly. She pretended to flip her hair over her shoulder. "I can't teach them. Besides, I can't just give my tricks away. They won't work anymore."

Pretty sure that JJ's tricks would always work on her, Emily took a sip of wine. It was expensive wine, and the food was expensive, too, but she could afford it. It was worth it to see the easy smile on JJ's face.

"Alright," she chuckled, "keep your secrets."

"Don't pretend like you don't have secrets of your own," JJ shot back playfully. She raised a knowing eyebrow. "I saw how thin your file is, and there's Milly, too."

Emily's stomach sank at the off-handed comment. She knew that JJ was just teasing her, but anyone looking into her was bad. Even just having someone recognize that there was information missing could lead to trouble. JJ seemed to recognize her mistake and reached across the table to rest a hand on Emily's.

"Hey," she said quietly, "I'm sorry. I would never say anything to anyone else. I know how these things go. I'm not looking into it."

"Okay," Emily replied stiffly, pulling her hand away. She couldn't stop herself from throwing up her walls. "It's fine."

An awkward silence spread over them as they focused on eating. Emily knew that she had to say something to fix it, but her social skills were limited to talking about work or making small talk. Maybe she could make small talk. She swallowed her food and smiled at the other woman.

"So," she tried, adopting a casual tone, "where are you from? A small town, right?"

"Pennsylvania," JJ answered. Her shoulders relaxed slightly. "I'm from East Allegheny. It's just outside Pittsburgh, so don't think I'm a total hick."

"I would never." Emily sipped her wine, eyes wrinkling as she smiled. "Are you one of those small town folks who have an accent that only comes out when they're tired or excited?"

JJ blushed, narrowing her eyes. "Perhaps."

"That means you do!" Emily laughed as the tension between them dissipated and she felt a lot better. "I look forward to getting you drunk and hearing it."

"What about you?" JJ asked defiantly, stabbing a poor brussel sprout with her fork. "I'm sure you're from a big city."

Her childhood wasn't Emily's favorite thing to talk about, but JJ was looking at her with interested eyes and she didn't want to disappoint. "I'm from DC, actually," she answered, shrugging. "You know that my mother is an ambassador, right? We moved around a lot, so I don't really feel like DC is my hometown."

"Was moving around fun?"

"Not really." Emily sighed, really wishing she could think of a polite way to change the subject. "I didn't have a lot of friends and we never really stayed anywhere longer than a year or two. Hence why I don't have your social skills."

JJ smiled tightly, eating again. Emily wasn't sure if she'd said something too maudlin, or if JJ was just trying to finish her dinner. Either way, the same tense silence as before settled over them. She wondered if JJ would talk about cases over dinner or if that would make things worse.

"What do you do for fun?" JJ asked her suddenly, picking up her glass of wine again. She finished it with a slight toss of her head. "Hobbies, guilty pleasures, etc. I saw that you have a lot of books in your room."

Picking up the bottle of wine, Emily refilled her glass. "I'm a big reader, definitely. I don't really watch television, but I love watching foreign films."

"You should mention that to Dr. Reid." JJ smirked, nodding in thanks to Emily and taking her glass back. "Well, mention it if you want to answer a barrage of questions and then have to watch every movie ever made with him."

"I'm not totally opposed," Emily said, refilling her own glass, too. "He and I have bonded a little bit, I think. He's kind of got a thing for you."

JJ rolled her eyes. "We went to a Redskins game once, and I even brought Penelope along. I don't even like the Redskins! I'm a Steelers girl. I mean, come on!"

Emily nodded along sympathetically, not really sure who the Steelers were. She assumed they were a sports team. Still, JJ was grinning and it was infectious. Emily smiled back.

"Yeah, I don't think he knows the difference," Emily said, shrugging. "Besides, I don't think you can blame him. I'm pretty sure everyone has a crush on you."

"Do you?"

The question was accompanied by a fluttering of lashes and Emily's breath caught in her throat. Of course, the answer was 'yes,' but was JJ just joking? The question reminded her of high school, and she wondered if JJ would laugh at her like all those pretty girls did.

"Perhaps," Emily answered enigmatically. "I did say 'everyone'."

"Good," JJ sighed, toasting her glass. "That means I can probably convince you to pay, right?"

A surprised laugh burst from Emily, and they got several dirty looks from the patrons around them. She couldn't bring herself to care. JJ was giggling, leaning in close. It made Emily lean forward, too, and the two of them shared a private moment, lost in their laughter and each other's eyes.

"That was good," Emily breathed, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "And yes, I am paying. Don't worry. I would never make a lady pay."

JJ's eyelashes fluttered again, but this time, she blushed, too. Apparently, she didn't expect Emily to flirt back. It was nice to know that Emily had some power here, too. She wasn't the only one affected by the wine, the mood lighting, and a woman in a nice dress.

"Anyway," JJ sighed happily, looking at Emily over the rim of her glass. "We were talking about hobbies. What's your favorite book? Or series?"

"I really like the Dragonriders of Pern series," Emily admitted, flushing. "I know that's nerdy."

"I haven't heard of it." JJ rested an elbow on the table and dropped her chin onto her hand. "What's it about?"

Spurred on by JJ's interest, Emily grinned. "Okay, so, it's set on the planet of Pern in the Rukbat system. Humans have colonized it. It's technically set in the future, because space travel, obviously, but we've lost a lot of our technology because of the Thread." Emily took a moment to take a breath and launched back into the explanation. "The Thread is like this poison rain that destroys everything and, since the Pernese are an agricultural society, you can imagine how bad that is. So, they have people who ride dragons - that's why it's called Dragonriders of Pern - and they have a telepathic connection and they work together to fight the Thread. It happens four times a year, so you can imagine how important that is. The whole series covers about 2500 years of Pernese history. It's amazing!"

She paused for breath and realized that she was rambling. JJ had a small smile on her face, but she looked lost in thought. Her flushed cheeks and dazed look made embarrassment flood Emily, turning her face a dark red and making her sit up straight.

Emily did it again. She'd gotten caught up in her excitement and just talked too much about something that no one else cared about. JJ was going to think she was a huge loser now. No woman as cool and beautiful as JJ cared about some science fiction series from the 1960s.

Weakly, Emily added, "The author is a woman."

"Wow," JJ said, smiling. "Sounds cool."

"Do you like reading?" Emily asked her, trying to deflect attention away from herself.

JJ sucked in a breath, straightening up and shaking her head. "Not really. I mean, I'll read, but I'm more of a movie person. I like playing sports, or exercising."

Great. Not only had Emily embarrassed herself by oversharing and getting too enthusiastic, but she did it in front of a woman who was ten times cooler than she was. JJ would never think of her romantically now. What could Emily possibly say that would help her recover.

"Oh, sports?" she repeated stupidly. "Like what?"

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Emily gasped as she spilled coffee on herself and the counter. After a restless night, she was exhausted and that made her clumsy. Trying to make herself a cup of coffee in the bullpen's kitchen had seemed like the right move, but now she was grabbing napkins to try and clean up her mess. To make matters worse, Derek showed up to refill his own cup, chuckling at her clumsiness.

"Good morning, Emily," he greeted, stopping beside her and grabbing the carafe. "Have a good weekend?"

She flashed him a tight smile and kept cleaning up. "Yeah." Thinking about it, she changed her answer. "No." Well, she didn't want him to ask about it, so she changed it again. "Yes."

He grinned. "Oh, I've been there."

"No, it wasn't…" Chuckling nervously as she cleaned up the last of the coffee, she decided to cut her losses. "Ugh, I don't want to get into it."

"No problem."

He said it easily and casually, but it made her feel guilty that she wasn't opening up to him. She opened up to JJ, didn't she? At least with one secret. She just didn't know Derek that well. She could tell him that at least.

"It just feels for me to talk about my personal life here. I don't really know you guys that well yet."

"I totally get that."

His casual dismissal made her feel even worse. He was a nice guy and he'd probably be happy to listen to her. She couldn't tell him about her crush on JJ, though. That was worse than saying nothing at all.

He started to walk away and she licked her lips, trying to choose one way or the other. She'd have to trust him eventually, right? Maybe something small like this could be a test? Without mentioning JJ, of course.

"I think I totally screwed up this date," she called after him, stopping him in his tracks. When he turned around, surprised, she smiled nervously. "I mean, it wasn't a date, but it… could have led to a date, you know?"

"Ok," he chuckled, coming back to her. "What happened?"

"You have to understand," she started, "I'm a nerd." He laughed, prompting her to chuckle. "Like, seriously! And I can fool people for days - weeks, even, but sooner or later, I blow my cover and I say something so geeky and then… They don't respond, and I lose all confidence."

He just shook his head at her rambling. "Well, what did you say?"

Even though she was sure that he wouldn't get it, she sighed and said, "Dragonriders."

"Of Pern?" he asked, nodding. "Anne McCaffrey. Classic."

Her mouth dropped open and she gasped, totally shocked that he'd know about Pern. "Are you for real? No way! You know Pern?"

He thought for a moment. "What was it? 'There's nothing wrong with doubting…'"

"'Sometimes it leads to greater faith'! Yes!" She just laughed and stared at him. "That's so crazy. Which book is your favorite?"

"Probably Dragonsong," he answered. "And you?"

"The same! Wow, I'm so surprised. This is great!"

Derek lifted his mug and Emily quickly tapped hers against it. They grinned at each other. It made Emily breathe a little bit easier to know that Derek was someone she could talk to, even if it was just surface level right now. He'd been willing to leave it alone, and willing to talk. That was a good quality in a teammate.

"Anyway," he said, giving her a pointed look, "if this person doesn't like listening to you talk about something you like, then they aren't worth it. Someone worth dating will take an interest in your interests."

Blushing, Emily nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. "Yeah. I appreciate that."

Hotch appeared beside them. "Conference room in 5 minutes, please."

"You got it."

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From her seat on the table, JJ waited for the team to come into the conference room. It was her first day back after two weeks and she was a little bit nervous. Before Hankel, she'd been working nonstop, ruthlessly pushing herself to keep going and never slow down. Now, she'd not only slowed down, but come to a full stop. She just hoped it wouldn't be hard to get going again.

JJ had always had trouble focusing on work and the brutal pace of the Media Liaison position was perfect for her. She had to focus on her work or everything would become too overwhelming. It was a constant series of phone calls, meetings, and endless paperwork. She didn't have time to get distracted if she just kept going.

It was harder than she'd like to pick up speed again. She'd spent the whole weekend reading cases and catching up on what she'd missed, but it had taken a lot of caffeine to get through it all. Her dinner with Emily had been a nice distraction, though.

Neatly stacking the files she was going to give to the team, JJ thought about their dinner together. Emily had taken her somewhere really nice, and probably very expensive. It was a good excuse to dress up and JJ had been glad to get out of her apartment. Henry was good company, but he wasn't Emily.

The dinner had been a lot of fun. Emily was a little bit awkward and JJ had been really nervous, but it was the first time they'd gone out together, so it was understandable. They didn't have to resort to work talk and that was a good sign in JJ's book. She'd even gotten to see Emily babble about a special interest. It had been adorable.

JJ was a little sad that she'd never heard of the book series. If she had, she would have been more than happy to talk to Emily about it. Maybe she could ask Spencer if he had the books, so she could borrow them.

Was that too much? That's the kind of thing she'd usually do for a guy she liked. She didn't like Emily like that, right? JJ still wasn't sure how she felt about her recovered memories and if those feelings were something she still felt. It was really confusing and the only thing she knew for sure was that she liked spending time with Emily.

Laughter drifted in through the open door and JJ looked up to see Emily and Derek coming into the room. She smiled instinctively, ready to be professional and polite. Emily hadn't mentioned whether they were going to tell the team how much time they'd spent together or not. She might want to keep that to themselves. Not that there was any real reason to hide.

"Welcome back," Derek greeted her with a grin. "I have missed you and your impeccable organization system. Hotch has nothing on you."

"No one does," JJ joked back, sliding off the table and holding her arms out. He caught her in a big bear hug and lifted her off her feet. "Oh, careful. I'm still healing."

He set her down quickly, looking her over. "My bad. Are you ok?"

"Yeah, it's fine. Just don't squeeze too hard."

She smiled at Emily, don't sure what to say. Emily just walked around the table and set her cup down. She dropped into a chair, grinning up at the both of them.

"I didn't put all that work into taking care of her for you to break her now," Emily told Derek. She crossed her arms on the table. "Sit down before you hurt someone."

He rolled his eyes, but he sat down beside her. Looking at Emily, JJ smiled softly. She wanted to thank her for not pretending like they hadn't gotten closer, but how do you say something like that without sounding over sentimental? Besides, it almost felt like if she said it outloud, she'd be giving it too much power. They were just friends. Emily was just helping out a teammate.

"JJ!" Spencer cheered, coming into the room. "Hello!"

JJ's stomach twisted at his voice, reminding her of the incident and filling her with emotion. She looked away from Emily before the other woman could see it in her eyes. With a smile, the same one she'd perfected years ago, she greeted Spencer.

"Hey, Reid," she chuckled, holding her arms out again. They hugged carefully. "Good to see you."

"How was your break?" he asked as he ducked under the strap of his messenger bag and set it on the table. "Restful, I hope."

She nodded, watching him sit. "It was. I just hung around, really. I'm excited to get back to work and launch into things again."

"I bet you were going stir crazy," Derek laughed. "I would if I was stuck at home for two weeks."

Emily punched his arm. "Are you trying to say I'm bad company? JJ, tell them we had a grand old time."

With a chuckle, she nodded, sitting on the table again. "We had a lot of fun, yes. Emily finally met Henry."

"Henry!" Spencer repeated with a gasp. "I miss him! We need to have a tortoise party soon."

"Um," Emily leaned forward, squinting at him across the table. "I'm sorry. Did you say a 'tortoise party'?"

"It's stupid," JJ told her, blushing. "I have a small circular playpen that we fill with greens and we watch movies and drink and Henry gets to watch, too."

A wide smile spread across Emily's face, and JJ couldn't stop herself from smiling back. It was so easy to feel happy when Emily was happy. JJ's blush deepened and she cleared her throat. The sound seemed to throw Emily off and suddenly, she was blushing, too. Emily tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away.

"Welcome back," Hotch said, entering the conference. Gideon trailed behind him. "Are you ready to give the briefing?"

"Yes!" JJ pulled herself together and began to pass out the files. "I'm ready."

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Settling back into her seat across from Derek, JJ put her headphones in. The flight back from Connecticut wasn't long, but it was late and everyone was tired. She searched through her ipod for what she wanted to listen to, but a book landed on the table in front of her.

"Oh, whoops."

Looking up, she saw Emily smile at Derek and gesture at the book. JJ leaned forward to look at it. The cover art was beautiful, with a red-headed woman playing a harp in front of the ocean. It was the series Emily had been talking about.

"You found it?" Derek asked, laughing.

"Yeah, the airport had it. Isn't that crazy?" Emily slid it to him. "Keep it. Dragonsong is a great place to start. I've got a copy in French at home."

JJ sighed heavily, pinching her nose. "Damn it."

Moving quickly, Emily sat in the chair beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ok? JJ, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." She took her headphones out and pouted at Emily. "I thought Dragonflight was the first book in the series. I should have bought Dragonsong."

"What?" Emily blinked at her. "You… bought Dragonflight? Why?"

JJ shrugged, suddenly finding herself caught in the spotlight of Emily's intense gaze. "Well, you really like it, so I thought I should give it a try. I mean, the way you told me about it made it seem really cool."

Emily's cheeks turned a dark red. Laughing, Derek snatched his book up and gave them both a mock salute before heading toward the back of the plane. JJ watched him go, frowning after him. Was he making fun of them? Why was Emily blushing?

"Um," Emily stuttered, tucking her hair behind her ear, "Dragonflight is a good place to start, too. The whole series is made up of smaller series, so as long as you do the first book in that set, you're fine. Dragonflight is first in the original trilogy."

"Oh, good," JJ sighed, smiling. "I was worried there for a second."

Emily started to leave, but hesitated and turned back to her. "You really got the book just because I like it?"

"Yes?" Suddenly, JJ wondered if she'd made a mistake. "Is that ok? I don't want to step on your toes."

"No! It's great!" Emily took a deep breath, looking away. "It's, uh… It's really nice. Of you. To do that. You don't have to read them."

Resting her hand on Emily's arm, JJ pulled her attention back. "I bought the audiobook, so technically I'm listening to them. Oh! Do you want to listen with me?" She took an earbud out and offered it to Emily. "I was just about to start."

"Yeah," Emily breathed, taking it and putting it into her ear. "Thanks."

JJ settled into the seat, leaning against the arm, so their shoulders were touching. She dropped her head onto Emily's shoulder. After a moment, an arm wrapped around her holding her close.