Okay this fic wasn't planned, but I've been rewatching the show and this idea was bugging me so I had to write it. It's the first time I write in this fandom, so they may be a bit OOC. I'm already done writing the whole thing, so I'll post along as I edit different chapters.
English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes (if someone wants to beta read the next chapters, please tell me !)

In the dark, dark night, 2 shots were fired before anyone had the time to react. The unsub would rather die than to be taken alive, and if he could take an agent with him, he was going to take his chance.

2 shots. Loud, violent.

The other agents didn't think twice before firing back and he collapsed on the ground only seconds later, several shots in his chest. But few steps before him, the dark-haired FBI agent fell without having the time to fire herself.

"We have a federal agent down" yelled her colleague. "Call me an ambulance, now!"

Around him, the uniform cops obeyed, calling 911 immediately.

"Come on, Prentiss, you know you still owe me 10 bucks on that bet, don't close your eyes, Princess."

"Morgan", squeaked the brunette. "I didn't have the time…"

"It's okay, we got him. You'll be okay…"

The ambulance got here in just a few minutes, and he knew his friend as going to be okay. Prentiss was a badass, a little gunshot wound wasn't going to stop her. But now he needed to warn his teammates that weren't here. And that was not a phone he was looking forward to.

"Where is she, Rossi? I want to see her."

"She's still in surgery, JJ. The doctor should come back soon to give us an update…"

The blonde clearly wanted to say something else, but she stood speechless in front of the older agent. She couldn't make sense of what she was feeling right now.

Morgan had called the precinct where she was with Reid to tell them what happened, and she had rushed here as fast as she could. She had to be with Em... Prentiss. She just needed to see her.

But Rossi and Hotch were looking at her and she didn't know what to say, how to make her point without sounding crazy, so she just sat down and put her head between her knees, trying to keep her thought from going in the wrong direction.

"Where is Morgan?"

After several minutes of silence, she had noticed the absence of the black agent. She wanted to rip off his head for letting Prentiss get hurt, but he was her friend and she couldn't help but worry about him.

"He's in an observation room. He took a bad hit running behind the unsub before they caught him and he shot Emily. Doctor say he will be fine, they just want to make him pass a few more exams, just to be sure.

Reid's voice behind her startled JJ, already lost again in her thoughts. She had forgotten Reid came here with her. The moment she had heard Prentiss was hurt, everything else had disappeared from her brain.

"You can go check on him if you want", offered the young Dr.

"No."

She answered way too quickly and her colleagues all turned to her, surprised by her lack of concern toward their friend.

"I just… You said he was fine, and I need to be here in case Emily comes out of surgery, or if we have an update. You go check on Morgan, but I will stay here, I… I have to stay here."

No one answered anything to her reasoning, even if Rossi looked at her curiously. He could see how worried she was and the fire in her eyes at the simple thought of leaving the waiting room told him everything he needed to know. He never would have thought the two women were so close, Prentiss always seemed to get along much better with Morgan, and JJ with Reid, but then being the only two women out in the field probably helped bonding.

After a few minutes, Hotch and Reid left to go check on Morgan, Rossi promising he would call them if there was any news about Emily.

JJ remained sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair. This was taking way too long. The doctor should have come back already, and Emily should be out of surgery, and they should be able to see her. This was not okay, something wrong was happening. Emily was not okay, and this was messing with her mind.

Unable to stay in the chair one more minute, she got up and began pacing in the waiting room. She needed to move, to evacuate the anger and the worry that was inside of her, and it's not like she could shoot the one who did that to…

She froze suddenly in her tracks, and turned to Rossi.

"You got him, right? The unsub who shot Emily, you got him?"

"Come on, JJ. I know you're the best shot of the team, but you really think we would miss him? He shot one of us. The guy was dead before Emily hit the ground."

"I'm sorry, Rossi", she sighed, "I know you wouldn't miss him. I just hate that I wasn't there and now Emily is hurt and I'm just…"

"Helpless? Powerless? Scared"

"Yes…" All of that and then some more, she thought but said nothing.

"She will be okay, JJ. This is Prentiss we're talking about, she's tougher than anyone else on this team. She will be fine, and in not even 24 hours we will be fighting with her to force her to stay in her hospital bed."

JJ smiled softly. Prentiss did hate to stay in the hospital, no matter how hurt she was.

"I know she's tough… But she should be out of surgery by now, Rossi…"

The older man stayed silent, knowing very well the young blonde was right. The surgery shouldn't be this long. It meant there were complications, and complications meant bad news.

The two agents sat side by side in the sad looking waiting room, JJ holding on desperately to the hopes that Emily was tough. She was strong and she would fight, she was going to be just fine…

"Emily Prentiss?"

She was up before the doctor was even done pronouncing her name.

"How is she? Will she be okay?"

She was not going to ask him if she was alive. Because she refused to consider that this question could somehow matter. Emily was alive, that was it, the alternative was not an option.

"Your friend will be okay," smiled the doctor. "There were some complications during the surgery, an artery ruptured, but we managed to contain the blood loss. You are federal agents, right?"

"Yes."

Rossi answered, because JJ was too speechless to do. The relief was overwhelming and she could almost hug that doctor here and now just for being the provider of good news.

"I'm guessing that will be your friend's first question then: yes, she will be able to come back to work. She should be up for desk duty in about 5 weeks. It will take longer to get back in the field, she might have to some physical therapy for her arm."

JJ and Rossi both smiled at that. He probably dealt with a lot of cop and federal agents in his service, because that was definitely going to be Emily's first question.

"Usually we only allow visitation for family but…"

"We're her family!" Reacted immediately JJ, fire dancing in her eyes, without waiting for the end of his sentence. There was no way she was going to stay here silently and leave Emily alone, they were her family, all of them.

"I realize that, Madam, I see a lot of officer here. As I was saying, we usually only allow family, but I'll let you guys go see her. Only two of at a time."

"Oh", she blushed when realizing her outburst had maybe been a little out of place. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's okay, I know you must be worried for your friend. She's still asleep but you can go see her already, room 316."

JJ whispered an embarrassed Thank you and all but ran to the room while Rossi behind was thanking the doctor and calling Reid and Hotch.

And there she was. Laying asleep in the hospital bed, Emily was there. She looked so much better than JJ had feared and the thought made her smile. Of course, even dying, Emily would still look like a model.

Her face had barely a few scratches, probably from her fall, and she just looked so pale, but other than that, she looked as flawless as usual.

JJ's smile disappeared as soon as her eyes fell on her shoulder. Two shot, only one bullet had said the others. The first one had been stopped by her bullet proof vest, and the second had hit right beside it. Just one inch and she would have been perfectly fine, they would already be in the plane to get back, sleeping or talking softly to avoid waking up the others. Morgan was grumpy if he didn't sleep.

But instead, she was in this hospital bed, and JJ slowly approached her, until she was standing right beside the bed, and she took her hand in hers.

"I… I need you to wake up, Emily. Do you understand, I need you to open your eyes and… and insults my caffeine addiction, or tease me or just… Just say something, Emily…"

A lonely tear began rolling down her cheek but JJ quickly made it disappear. She couldn't breakdown, not yet, and not here.

"She will be okay, Jayje. You know that."

Morgan's voice startled her and forced to pry her eyes away from the peaceful look on the brunette's face. At least she didn't seem to be in pain…

"Morgan? Are you okay, shouldn't you be…?"

"Still doing exams. Yeah. I might have threatened that poor nurse if she didn't let me see Emily. I needed to make sure she was okay, that she wasn't…"

"It's not your fault, Morgan."

As much as she would like to have someone to blame and to hit, she knew her friend had done nothing wrong tonight, the only fault was on the unsub now laying in the morgue downstairs.

"I know", he answered softly. "But I still needed to see her… I promised Hotch to go back to my bed after checking up on her… Are you going to be okay, Pennsylvania?"

A light chuckle escaped her throat while she smiled at him. This was so Morgan. Emily was in bad shape, he was hurt, but he was still worried about her.

"I will be fine. I just… I have to be with her right now, but you should go rest, Derek. We will call you if… when she wakes up, or if anything happens."

After one last smile, Morgan slowly retracted from the room and went back to his bed, supported by Reid. Immediately, Hotch took his place by the bed with JJ. Two at a time in the room, had said the doctor. Clearly, her colleague had decided it was easier to go one by one than to get her to come out of here anytime soon.

Now sitting in a chair by the bed, still holding Emily's hand in hers, JJ was ready for whatever Hotch was going to tell her, wondering if he would comment on her behavior these past hours or let it slide. She hoped it would be the later, because she was not ready to analyze her feelings right now. The storm of emotions and worry had crashed all of her defenses but she couldn't stop to wonder what all of this meant. Right now, she needed to be there for Emily, that was all that mattered. She could always think about herself later, but now, Emily needed her.

"Do you want me to ask Rossi to get you something to eat?"

"What?"

Hotch's voice had finally broken the silence but not with the type of question JJ had been expecting.

"You should eat JJ. You're going to be here for a long time, and you need to eat and drink."

He was giving her permission. He knew she was going to stay all night long right here, and he wasn't questioning it. Not right now, at least.

"I… could use a cup of coffee."

He nodded in silence and went back to the door.

"Hotch?" She called him before his hand touched the handle.

He turned around and looked at her quizzically, waiting for her to add something.

"Thank you."

It was all she needed to say. He knew what she meant, and they didn't need any more words. There would be time later to understand and explain herself, but now was not this time.

The rest of the team took turns all night long to stay with her in the room, to never leave her alone. At some point, Reid told her that they called Garcia to keep her updated and that she wanted her to call as soon as possible, but the information barely registered in her brain made foggy by worry and exhaustion.

A few times during the night her mind had started slipping toward dangerous roads. What if Emily never woke up? What if she woke up but had amnesia? What if her arm was dead? What if she woke up and JJ had to talk to her about… whatever this mess of emotions was?

Soon the sun started flowing the little room and she couldn't believe it was already the morning. She had been there for almost 12 hours, she could feel it in every and each one of her muscle and yet, she felt like it was only an hour since she had gotten that phone call.

Reid was beside her, giving her up another cup of coffee, one more.

"Eat this, JJ."

She moved her eyes to look at him, first time in hours she saw anything else than her friend in this hospital bed, and finally noticed he was holding out a bear claw, clearly supposed to be for her.

When was the last time she had had anything to eat? Did she even had time to eat something for dinner before the phone rang? She couldn't remember.

She didn't feel hungry, but she still took the pastry, not wanting to hurt her friend and aware that, even if she didn't feel it right now, her body needed some food to function. She couldn't function on coffee for 24 hours, and it wouldn't do any good to be passed out in a hospital bed in the next room when Emily was going to wake up.

Because she was going to wake up. JJ couldn't envision another way for this day to end than with her friend finally opening her eyes, she refused to consider another possibility.

And yet, hours kept passing by. Morgan was released by his doctor, for real this time, and came with her in the room for a moment. She knew he was a lot more affected than he was okay showing. Emily was his best friend, his wingman whenever they went to the bar. When she was with Morgan, she was just one of the boys, and probably the only person Morgan confided into.

"She will wake up."

She was surprised to hear her own voice sounding so confident, as she tried to reassure him. Surprised to even find it in her, to try and comfort him, but that let her focus on something else than the maelstrom of thoughts in her brain.

Just as surprised as her, Morgan just nodded. He knew she would wake up, and she would be okay. He was just as worried for Emily as for Jennifer. He had never seen the blonde woman react that way.

They all got hurt sometimes, it sucked but it was part of the job, and they all learned to live with it. Jennifer's reaction was nothing like her usual composed self. She may not be the one on the team with the toughest wall, but she was still guarded, like all of them. But this… This was raw, and hard, and new. He had no idea what was going between his two friends, but clearly something was happening. He just wondered if they were both aware of it.

Hours kept going by. The doctor visited the room in the afternoon, and told them she should wake up any minute now. The anesthesia should have worn off her system and she should be back soon. Which, to be completely honest, did not reassure Jennifer one bit.

If she was supposed to wake up by now, why wasn't it happening? What was keeping her from being back? Were there any complications? A problem? Why was no doctor checking up on her more often? Why was….

"H... Hey"

At first, she thought she was dreaming. She had been awake for so long, she was having hallucination, that was surely it.

But she lifted her head and she was there. Emily was there and her eyes were open, and the hand she was holding was suddenly holding hers back, and she was smiling. She was smiling, that damn smirk JJ thought she would never see again.

"Emily… You're awake… you're awake!"

Rossi, who had fallen asleep in the chair next to her, woke up suddenly, and called the nurse immediately.

Then it was a storm of actions and reactions, like Emily's awakening had pressed some kind of hyperactivity button on everyone but her. She still couldn't believe the brunette was awake. She would be okay. She was really going to be fine.

As fast as everyone had arrived, they all left and she was once more alone in the room with the older agent.

"JJ..."

She had retreated against the wall when the nurses came, and now she didn't dare to come closer again. Seeing the brunette awake pushed her one step closer to the breakdown she kept avoiding, and she knew she couldn't keep doing that much longer. At some point, she would need to take the time, to stop for a moment and analyze her feelings, but not yet, not here, and not right beside her. But she would she be able to keep the tears at bay if she talked to the brunette?

"JJ, come here…"

The blue-eyed agent slowly walked to the bed and sat back down on her chair. This time, it was Prentiss who reached out and took her hand.

"Look at me, JJ, I'm okay…"

"I... I know. I just… "

Her words said that, but she was still avoiding looking at her directly. Instead she was looking at their linked hands, and the contrast between their skin, and how close she came to never see this again.

"It's okay. I know how it is, JJ, you don't have to say anything."

But did she, couldn't help but think JJ. Did she really know how Jennifer felt? Cause Emily never lost her cool, never let these things get to her. And how could she know how JJ was feeling when JJ herself had no idea what to make of her feelings?

"I will be okay, Jennifer."

JJ nodded without adding another word. They stayed that way several minutes, in silence. JJ just basking in the knowledge that Emily would in fact, be okay, and in the wave of relief hitting her. And Emily, just looking at the blonde, hoping she would eventually look back at her.

The brunette had realized her feeling for the younger agent long ago, and had made peace with the fact that nothing would never happen between them, because JJ was… She was JJ. She was straight as an arrow, beautiful, and perfect, and she would never look at her the same way.

Finally, they were only interrupted when JJ looked up and saw Hotch behind the window of the room, in the corridor, motioning for her to come out.

She said goodbye to Emily, knowing she wouldn't stay alone for a long time anyway, the guys were already waiting by the door to come in.

She met Hotch in the hallway, and started talking before he had the time to say anything.

"I know, I'm going to go back to the hotel. I just needed to see her awake, to know… To make sure. I'll be going back to the hotel now. I need to sleep and to change, and to take a shower. Tell… Tell Emily I will pack her stuff, and bring her a change a clothing too, everything will be ready for when we can leave."

Hotch seemed relieved he didn't have to force her to leave the hospital.

"I will tell her. We will call you if anything happens, and when we're ready to leave. It probably won't be until tonight, so you can take a nap… Do you need one of us to drive you back to the hotel? You haven't slept in over 24 hours…"

"No, I will be okay. It's just a 5 minutes' drive, I'll be fine. Thanks for… Thanks."

She was grateful for the offer, but she needed to be alone right now. She didn't think she could do small talk, and she would definitely crumble if someone tried to talk to her.

"Don't forget to call Garcia, she wanted to talk to you."

She nodded but didn't answer, already getting her jacket and walking toward the doors. Now that Emily was awake and okay, she needed to get out here and she couldn't escape fast enough.

Just 10 minutes later and she was back in her hotel room, with Emily's key in her hand. The hostess downstairs had made a scene out of giving her that key and an exhausted JJ had finally chosen the easy way out, flashing her badge and gun to convince the teenager.

Her hotel room looked so comfy in comparison with the hospital room she had spent the last night. That bed seemed absolutely perfect right now and she slouched like a worm, tired to the bone. Her thoughts immediately started running wild again, taking her back to Prentiss's passed out body, her feeling that nothing would be okay.

Her phone rang, startling, and she smiled seeing the caller's ID. A real smile, the first in a long time.

"Hey Garcia."

"Hey, girlfriend!"

Penelope's cheery voice resonated through the phone and for one second JJ felt better. Garcia was like an antidepressant. A very powerful one.

"The guys told me you just left the hospital and our girl is awake!"

"Yeah, she woke up maybe an hour ago. I just got the hotel I was about to call you…"

"Yeah walking, sure you were, sugarplum. How have you been holding up?"

JJ briefly considered lying and pretending everything was okay, but she knew the rest of the team had probably already told her she was anything but fine.

"I will be okay, Penelope, this just… took a toll on me…"

"I know baby, but you know Emily will be fine, right? I'm sure she's already fighting with Hotch to get out of her hospital bed."

"That's probably true," laughed JJ. "I don't know why this was so hard on me… I'm probably just tired these days, and this case was hard, that's it…"

God, this didn't sound true, not even to her own ears.

Garcia just hummed, waiting for her to keep talking. She knew JJ was going to keep talking eventually because she needed to get all of this out of her chest, to open up, even if she didn't know exactly what this was about, and Garcia had some ideas about that.

"I just can't lose her you know? And when Morgan called in and said she was shot, he didn't say if it looked bad, or where she was shot, or even if she was wearing the damn vest, and my brain went to the worst-case scenario, of course, and I just… I can't lose her, Garcia…"

Crystal tears were now rolling freely down her cheeks, JJ doing nothing to stop them, too tired to even care at this point. She needed to get this out of her system, to evacuate, and she was alone in this hotel room, with no one to see.

"It's okay. Everything is going to be okay", comforted Garcia. She hated knowing her friend wasn't okay and she couldn't be there for her to pull her in a bear hug, only whisper comforting word in her phone. She loved technology but this was frustrating.

"I couldn't take it, she's… she's my best friend, Pen, she keeps me sane in the absolute madness we see every day, I don't know what I would do if she were to die, I don't know how I could go on. I don't think I could."

She stopped for a moment to catch a breath. Now that she started talking, it was impossible to shut up her train of thought, to stop these thoughts flooding her mind, she had to keep going.

"I got so scared, Pen. And I walked into that room and she was so pale and immobile, I couldn't leave until I was sure she was okay, I couldn't leave keeping that image of her in my mind , and if something happened and she… and she didn't wake up, this couldn't be the last time I saw her, I had to stay, for her. I couldn't leave, I just… I need her so much Garcia, I l…"

"I love her" That's what she almost said, and barely caught the words before they left her mouth. But this couldn't be real, right? But it made so much sense… her reaction, the way she worried, the way she was ready to jump at everyone's throat, her need to stay close to her…

"Oh my god."

The whispered words came out softly in the silence of the phone call, and Garcia smiled on the other side of the line.

"You just had a revelation, didn't you?"

"I… I need to go, Pen. I'll talk to you later."

She hung up on her friend without any more goodbye, knowing Garcia wouldn't hold it against her.

She was in love. She was in love with a woman. She was in love with her colleague. She was in love with her colleague, Emily Prentiss. This couldn't be okay. This was not okay. She wasn't even gay! She had never been attracted to a woman before. Well, until now apparently.

She always thought Emily was beautiful, but who wouldn't. She had beautiful brown eyes, that stared at you like they could see your soul, and these pitch-black hairs, creating such a beautiful contrast with her porcelain skin, and that smile that could light up a whole room when she let her guard down, and that little dimple on her left cheek. She was beautiful, but noticing her, didn't mean Jennifer was gay, right?

She couldn't be in love with her best friend, that would be such a mess in the office. How would she ever be able to get back in the field with her? How would she ever be able to look her in the eyes again? This would ruin everything. It would ruin their friendship, and this was the last thing JJ wanted to lose.

Emily would never feel the same way about her… She wasn't even a lesbian either, and there was not a chance she could ever fall for the naïve Pennsylvania girl…

Her mind was spiraling with the epiphany that just struck her, and she ended up not even moving from the bed.

She fell asleep right there, in the middle of the bed, her face covered in tears and her thoughts filled with fear.

Please tell me what you think of it, the next chapter should be up in a few days ! Also, go follow Paget on twitter cause she's hilarious