flourish
verb

grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment

They had a case.

They were both still smiling when they reached the conference room, the others filing in before and after them. Emily's palm felt pleasantly warm against the skin of JJ's elbow. Their moment from earlier energized them both more than caffeine ever could.

Upon reaching the round table, they drew apart, Emily making the first step to disengage. The warmth of their morning did not leave them, but JJ acutely felt the loss of warm touch, nonetheless. They took their places around the table — Emily nearest to the display, while JJ sat directly across from her — as did the rest. Just as Emily turned her head away to prompt Penelope to begin — the soft expression on her face that was a split second ago directed to JJ dropping to the professional mask that they were all familiar with — JJ felt her forearms touch the cold wooden surface of the table. She couldn't think of an analogy more fitting.

She had a morning like this not too long ago, where the gain and loss of touches were more pronounced, monopolizing more of her attention than they probably had any right to. And it was with Emily, again.

It had been more than a month since JJ spent the night at Emily's apartment. Thinking back, it felt surreal, almost like a false memory, almost dream-like. It felt like it really was a dream — for it was a moment out of time, a space of only lightness and comfort that they stole in between hours of savagery or mundanity. And it felt like it really was a false memory — for as more time passed by, the less real it felt.

It felt like a little secret, too, something that only the two of them shared. She never spoke of it to anyone, not even Will, not Penelope or Tara. Doing so, to her, felt like a betrayal. Of what, she didn't really know.

Something that only the two of them shared.

JJ felt a surge of pride at that. She had no idea of how intimate Emily's friendships were with the rest of the team, and she considered that perhaps Emily had other relationships that she wasn't privy to, but it thrilled her to know that they had something special just between the two of them.

Immediately, she realized how silly that was, feeling like a young girl again who just found out that she was the favorite friend of her favorite friend, but she couldn't help herself. It was a little harmless thing.

As soon as all of them were settled around the round table, Penelope placed what was formerly Emily's coffee down on the table, facing them with a wince. "Brace yourselves, my friends, this case is extra brutal."

And what's a little harmless thing in the midst of all this gruesomeness, right?

Their case took them to Cleveland. JJ was partnered with Emily this time. The two of them drove down to Cuyahoga River, where a body was found just a few hours before their arrival. JJ couldn't help but recall the last time they were in a car together, just the two of them, couldn't help noting the fact that, unlike the last two times, she was the one behind the wheel this time, while Emily was in the passenger seat.

But much like the last time, they didn't chatter, and for a good reason. They had a job to do.

JJ stole a glance at Emily for a second, taking note of how she was looking absently through the windshield. She was definitely looking better. The last time she had seen her friend, her nose was pink.

"I missed you, Em."

Emily turned her head to JJ with a small chuckle. "I wasn't gone for that long."

It was just one case, really. "Still." JJ shrugged.

"So," Emily began, "how was being unit chief?"

"Definitely much better than when Barnes was around."

JJ glanced at Emily again and couldn't help the laugh that rumbled out of her when she saw Emily make a face at Barnes's name. She laughed even harder when Emily dramatically rubbed her arms in a faux shiver.

And JJ couldn't help but notice: before they left for the crime scene, Emily had pulled her hair into a sleek ponytail. She was still wearing the same purple shirt that she had worn to work this morning — the dark tone contrasting nicely with the paleness of her décolletage — but she had changed her slacks into fatigues, and her heels into combat boots. It had been a while since the last time JJ had seen her in them. She didn't know why she was noticing these things now, but Emily looked good today. (She always did.) Maybe it was because she had missed her friend, even though she was only gone for one case.

"Do you like it?"

JJ caught herself almost saying Yes to a completely different thing.

They had arrived at the scene. JJ pulled over near two police cars. Emily was already unbuckling her seatbelt.

"I like you being here more."

The next morning, the team met up at a breakfast café on the first floor of their hotel. Dave, Spencer, and Tara were already there when JJ arrived. Dave was reading a newspaper. By the time Emily, Matt, and Luke joined them, the four of them were in the middle of a discussion about newspapers and how the internet contributed to the decline of the newspaper industry.

"See? Everyone is on their phones now," Tara said, glancing inconspicuously around their table to the other patrons in the room. "If you want to read the news, why spend money on a newspaper subscription when you can read it for free online?"

"It's not just about the news itself," Dave answered. "It's about seeing a newspaper bundle on your doorstep, taking it to your dining table, unfolding it, and smelling the scent of newly inked newsprint as you sip your morning coffee. Scrolling through the news on your phone just doesn't have the same romance." He raised his cup of coffee in emphasis before drinking from it.

"You had newspapers delivered to your mansion doorstep, Dave?" Emily quipped as she reached the table, earning a laugh from Tara and Spencer, but instead of joining Dave, she took the empty chair beside JJ at the other side of the table.

JJ smiled at Emily as the latter briefly squeezed her shoulder as a greeting. They rarely wore scents on the job — it wasn't advisable as it could contaminate the crime scene — but JJ was sure she detected a hint of lavender wafting towards her as Emily sat down, the tips of her dark hair tracing her clavicle.

JJ licked her lips expectantly.

"Coffee, Em?" she asked. When Emily turned to her, she declared, "It's my turn today."

Maybe it was the early morning, but JJ could see everything on Emily's face — her defenses were down. At first, there was confusion, a question in the narrowing of her eyes, and then a few seconds later, realization in the widening of them.

For a fleeting moment JJ wondered, if she had always been able to read Emily like this so easily, and that she just never noticed.

Emily nodded, almost uncharacteristically demure, and JJ felt a flash of exhilaration crawl up her spine.

Had Emily been this way to her before?

She had no time to ponder her question to herself as a waitress approached to take their orders. More coffee was brought in. JJ received Emily's cup and served it to her herself. She looked at Emily's face again and found that Emily was looking at her with wonder. It was an expression JJ realized she was becoming more and more familiar with lately.

Then Matt asked Emily a question. Emily blinked, and then she was gone. JJ was surprised at the disappointment she felt.

It didn't take very long until their food was brought in. There were plates of pancakes, bagels, eggs, bacon, ham, fruit, French toast, and quiche Lorraine. They had a big day ahead.

JJ pulled the plate of French toast to herself. There was no denying the reason she had ordered it in particular; she had developed a craving for it ever since that breakfast at Emily's home. Many mornings since that day she had had it. She even tried to emulate Emily's French toast, barely guessing the secret in her secret recipe, but it never tasted the same. When she ordered it earlier, she didn't think twice of it. But now, for some reason, she found herself a little self-conscious eating it in front of Emily. And there was no doubt that Emily could see what she was eating; they were sitting right beside each other.

It wasn't a quiet breakfast. It was eating interspersed with casual conversation. At a short lull, JJ glanced at Emily once again, but this time, she couldn't read anything, not even thoughtfulness.

Maybe it was just the earliness of the morning after all.

(To Emily, this entire breakfast was almost sinful.)

The case came to a close on their third day. Since it wasn't too long of a flight, the team had unanimously decided not to stay overnight.

It was already evening. They could barely see anything but darkness outside the windows of the jet, the tip of the wings disappearing into nothingness. JJ sat alone in one of the seats at the front; Emily had been pulled into a conversation with Tara a while ago. It was quiet now — the whirring of the jet engine barely audible.

"I thought you were napping."

JJ looked up and gave Emily a slight smile and a shake of the head. She looked around briefly and found that everybody else was already dozing, except Tara who had gone to the restroom. Emily took a seat across from JJ and drank from the water bottle in her hand. JJ watched as Emily wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before placing the bottle on the table between them.

A lone finger lazily pushed the bottle towards the center of the table, then withdrew, leaving the surface of the bottle alone, and now tapping the table, once, two times, softly.

When she looked up, Emily was already leaning back on her seat, head tilted to the side, half-closed eyes looking out of the window beside them. She'll be napping soon, JJ thought. And she was right to be confident about that, for it only took a minute before Emily closed her eyes.

In the distance, she could hear the footsteps of someone walking on the aisle of the jet. It was probably Tara. She looked out of the window again — there really was nothing to see but blackness. For a second time, her gaze went to the water bottle and found that the hand that was on the table had already fallen onto the lap under it.

She didn't know if it was because of boredom or of something else, but she suddenly felt a little restless. Then, the woman in front of her shifted in her seat, and despite the comfortable temperature, JJ, out of the blue, felt cold, too.

When she arrived home, the first thing she did was call Henry. Well, she called Will to be more exact. That was what she always did every time she left work — at least, when the time allowed it. They had set up a system. Between the two of them, Will had more forgiving hours, so they had agreed that Henry stay with him during weekdays, and then at hers during weekends and her days off. It may not have worked out for them both, but Will was an amazing father. JJ couldn't deny that.

She was perusing the contents of her refrigerator as her son talked about his day. He told her about school, talked to her rather animatedly about this new graphic novel that he had picked up in the library that day. Eventually, the conversation simmered down into See you this weekend, okay? and Good night and I love you, sweetie.

"I love you, too, mom!"

After they exchanged their goodbyes, a rustle could be heard in the background as the phone was passed to Will. JJ pulled out a vegetable salad that she had yet to finish and sat at the table.

"Hey, Jay."

"Will, thank you for that. I didn't realize it's already this late."

"Don't worry about it. Henry really wanted to tell you about the new book he was reading."

"Mm, I could tell." JJ couldn't help but smile at that. "He was really excited about it."

"He couldn't stop talking about it on the way home. Something about a walking coat?" She couldn't see him, but she could hear the laughter in his voice.

"He's picking up so many interests. Last week, he was talking about the Madagascar pochard…"

The conversation didn't go for very long. It was an unspoken truth that Henry was really the only thing they had in common now, but that was something that they both had come to terms with long ago.

She finished her salad quickly, and after a quick shower, she felt more refreshed. The feeling of restlessness that she had on the jet had curiously gone away. She still couldn't pinpoint what caused it. Perhaps the phone call with Henry and a warm shower were all she needed.

Still wrapped only in a towel, she sat on the bed to dry her hair. As she did, she caught sight of the go bag she had dropped near the door when she arrived earlier. She still needed to repack that.

With a sigh, she stood to pick it up and brought it closer to the bed. She took out the folded clothes — some of them were still from last week — until she reached the bottom of the bag. To her surprise, underneath all her clothes, she found a gray shirt on top of blue shorts that clearly weren't hers.

They were Emily's.

She had completely forgotten about them. She had meant to return them to Emily immediately after having washed them. That was more than a month ago now. Emily hadn't said anything about it; maybe she had forgotten about it, too…

For some reason, the idea of Emily forgetting that night irked JJ. She didn't want that. She didn't like that at all.

So maybe it was in defiance. Maybe it was that idea that provoked her into putting on the same clothes that had been in her go bag for more than a month.

Later, after placing fresh clothes in and putting the rest away in the hamper, she lay on her bed, arms and legs spread, staring blankly at the ceiling — or at least, what she could make of it in the darkness.

The scene was all wrong. Everything was. The room was too dark. The temperature of the room didn't feel right. The texture of the sheets… And her clothes… They didn't smell like Emily at all. If anything, it smelled like the detergent JJ used. That, and the inside of her go bag.

A strange feeling started to clamber in her chest, and then, again, came the familiar restlessness from earlier. Those two feelings followed JJ into slumber.

God, what was I thinking?

That was the first thing JJ thought of when she woke up this morning. Putting on Emily's clothes like that… and for no particular reason at all — no reason she could consciously come up with at least. When she had fully awakened and had seen herself in the mirror, she could not stop herself from flustering. And the memory of doing the exact same thing at Emily's apartment — looking at herself in Emily's mirror, wearing Emily's clothes, at Emily's apartment — flustered her even more.

And now she couldn't even give the clothes back to Emily without washing them again first. Wasn't that her concern last night to begin with?

I wasn't thinking at all.

Hurriedly, she took off her clothes — that were previously smoothly folded but were now rumpled in her sleep — and changed into jogging attire. She was going to run this embarrassment out of her system. Literally.

JJ had gotten to work feeling more like herself. She arrived a bit later than was typical for her, but that was only because she had taken her usual jogging route twice; just one lap didn't do it for her for this morning in particular.

Upon her arrival at the bullpen, her eyes immediately drifted to the unit chief's office as if by reflex. The door was closed, but the blinds were open. Emily was already there. Her back was towards the door — she must be using the computer, JJ thought.

She dropped her go bag under her desk and sat down on her chair, a faint aroma meeting her nostrils. When she looked down, she couldn't stop the tug at the corners of her mouth.

A cup of coffee had been placed on her desk. She opened the lid slightly, and the aroma grew stronger, permeating the air around her like a warm blanket.

She heard an exaggerated groan from behind her. "Ugh, that smells great."

JJ spun her swivel chair around and laughed quietly. "Morning, Tara."

"Prentiss left that for you," Luke piped in from his desk.

I know. JJ hid her reply behind her first sip of coffee. They didn't need to know that.

"Just you, JJ?" Tara teased. "I smell some favoritism going on here…"

JJ scoffed good-naturedly. "What you smell, is a great cup of coffee. Besides, Emily's just being nice."

She took another sip. The coffee was comfortably warm on her tongue; Emily must have come in early. She turned her chair back towards her desk and looked at Emily's direction again, as if the thought made her to. The woman was facing her desk this time; she was probably reading a file now. From JJ's view at her desk, she could trace Emily's profile — one smooth line from her forehead down the gentle slope of her nose to her chin. And then Emily stood, and JJ saw a color peek out inside the black blazer.

Emily was wearing red today. JJ swallowed another sip.

"Emily opened the door for me when we got in this morning," Luke said. "That was her being nice. This is special treatment."

"What is special treatment? Who? What?" The animated voice of Penelope Garcia preceded the blunted clack of her heels on the floors of the bullpen.

"We were just talking about our unit chief's favoritism towards Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer Jareau in the form of a great cup of coffee," Tara said with a wink at JJ.

JJ rolled her eyes half-heartedly. "Morning, Pen…"

"And JJ here is claiming it's just Emily being nice—"

Penelope gasped. "My gumdrop is the nicest, newbie. In fact, she brought me coffee, too, in that last case, FYI!"

JJ tried to stop the knowing smile from forming on her lips by pressing them together.

"I didn't say she—"

"Guys!"

The conversation ceased as their attention was directed to Emily standing on the catwalk and pointing a finger towards the conference room. Now that she was out of her office, JJ could see everything of her, and she felt the sudden urge to drink from her cup again.

Emily was wearing a skirt.

It was a bit of a long day, like most days.

JJ stood alone on the sidewalk of a small town thirty minutes outside of New Haven. It was already hours past sunset, the orange streaks in the sky long gone. A line of lamps illuminated the street, one shining its light directly over a vehicle parked in front of a quaint diner.

She heard the tinkle of a chime and the creak of a door behind her as she placed her phone in her pocket. It wasn't long before she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Henry?" Emily asked softly.

"Yeah." JJ smiled. The bite of the cool night air grew dull as she felt Emily move closer.

There was the tinkle again, and another, and another, and JJ knew even without looking that it was the team leaving the diner. Then she felt the warmth from her shoulder trace the length of her arm to the small of her back, and heard Emily ask, "You ready?" and not trusting her own voice, she just nodded. But instead of directing her as she expected, the warmth left her back, but JJ didn't walk alone, and she took a breath and decided that this was fine, too.

It was a short drive to their accommodations, an inn just a few blocks away from the police department. When they stayed in small towns, they tended to share rooms (JJ more than anyone else knew this; it used to be her job), so it wasn't a surprise when Emily told the team at the reception that they would have to double up. And, usually, JJ shared with Emily, but that didn't mean that they always would.

Right?

Luke and Matt partnered up, and JJ felt a panic rise inside of her. That left Tara, Spencer, and Rossi. Maybe Emily would partner with Tara. Or maybe she wouldn't with anyone. She was unit chief now, after all…

"Jayje?"

"Huh?" JJ jerked her head up.

"You were staring at the floor," Emily said, an amused yet worried look on her face. "You coming?"

Did that mean she was the only one who hadn't partnered up with anyone yet? She wasn't exactly paying attention.

"Come on. There's no way I'm sleeping with Dave."

JJ surprised herself with a discreet exhale of relief, before following Emily up the stairs.

The room was simply furnished, accented in blue and white — two single beds separated by a short distance, a long desk and a chair a few feet in front of them. The headboard encompassing the two beds was fitted to the wall, lamps on either side. Beyond the second bed stood a long window, the drawn curtains falling behind a wooden side table and an armchair.

Emily entered the room first, dropping her go bag near the bed, the right-hand bed, nearest to the door. She turned to JJ, who just got in and was closing the door, and smiled.

"I know you like to sleep on the left side."

JJ felt rather than heard her heartbeat get louder just for exactly one thump. She didn't know what to do, whether to laugh or cry, so instead, she cleared her throat pathetically.

Emily's smile dropped. "I'm not making you uncomfortable, am I?" Her brows furrowed. "Do you want to exchange with—"

No! I want to stay with you. "No, no, no, it's just—" I don't know. "I just… really need to go to the bathroom." Smooth, JJ.

"Oh." Emily relaxed and leaned back. "Okay." She stared intently at JJ for a few more seconds before nodding and giving her a final smile. "You go first. Take your time."

Emily turned away and started to unbutton her blazer, and JJ took that as her cue. She swiftly entered the bathroom, which was thankfully right next to where she was standing, then closed and locked the door. She let her go bag fall from her hand — there were red marks on her palm from clutching the straps so hard — and faced herself in the mirror for the second time that day, looking to the woman in it as if she had all the answers, confused as all hell.