The thing about not having custody of Jayde was that there was no reason for Emily not to go into work early...well, other than the fact that a strip club was a really depressing place to hang out. (Depression suited her just fine in that moment, though, because between losing custody of her daughter, her strained friendship with JJ, John trying to fuck her, and completely ruining her friendship with Derek, she wasn't exactly in the best mood...)

On that particular day, she arrived an entire hour before her shift – before the club even opened – expecting to be the first one to arrive. If nothing else, it meant she wouldn't have to jockey for place at the mirror to do her make up.

She was surprised then, to find JJ already sitting in front of the mirror, drawing on her eyeliner. "Oh. Hello," JJ said and it was almost a greeting, if it weren't for the layer of frost beneath. She didn't make eye contact, staring firmly at her own reflection as she drew a line of kohl around her eyes with a practised hand.

"Hey..." Emily said, wincing at the icy greeting as if she'd physically been struck. "I didn't know you were working tonight."

Rather bitterly, JJ replied, "Yes, well, I had some time...you know, since there were no children to look after." If words could have cut, those ones would have reached down to the bone.

Emily couldn't quite meet her gaze, feeling every wave of anger rolling off of JJ like a physical blow. "JJ, look, about that..." she tried to explain, but didn't have the opportunity to get any further words out before JJ cut her off.

"Save it, okay?"

She persisted though, working up her courage to try to repair things once again. Clearing her throat, she said, "So...that shoe store at the mall is having a big sale – I thought maybe we could go and pick up some new pairs of heels? If we wear them at work, it's a tax write-off..." She laughed nervously, unsure whether or not it was supposed to be a joke.

JJ rounded on her, glowering. "With everything that's happened between us, what makes you think I'd want to go anywhere with you?" she snapped. "Don't you have something better to do? Like, I don't know, get my fucking kid back to me!?"

"JJ, for fuck's sake, I'm trying, okay?" she burst out, tears starting to spill down her cheeks. "I'm fucking trying! I'm doing my best, but right now, there's nothing more I can possibly do...it's a waiting game." She shrugged emptily, helplessly.

JJ's mouth hung open for several moments, looking like she wanted to say something, but no sound would come out. Maybe, with all her pent up anger, she hadn't stopped to think that maybe Emily felt as bad about what had happened as JJ herself did...

"I know what it feels like to walk past the kids' room and see it empty. We're going through the same shit, the only difference is that guilt is eating me up inside! I'm asking you to please, just...stop hating me," Emily begged. "I'm sorry, okay? I really miss you – I miss my best friend." She was trembling slightly from a combination of sobs and frantic nerves.

JJ sighed. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I've been a bitch, okay?" She laughed softly through tears of her own.

She shook her head. "No, you were right. It's all my fault and..."

"No, Em, it's not," JJ insisted. "I've said things I didn't mean in anger. Things you didn't deserve. I know the last thing you wanted was to have Social Services come in." A beat. "I've missed you too, by the way." And with that, she opened her arms in a silent invitation for a hug that Emily readily gave.

After several moments of silence but for their quiet sobs, Emily spoke up again, "Besides, I think between the two of us we stand a better chance of getting them back if we work together."

JJ nodded, smudging away the mascara streaks running down her cheeks. "We do make a pretty good team."

Emily settled in front of the mirror and began applying her make up, relishing in the once again companionable silence that she'd missed of late. "Speaking of making a good team..." she said slowly after several minutes had passed. She didn't bother turning to look at JJ, didn't need to see her face to read her expression. She was too busy painting blush across her cheeks anyway.

JJ raised a brow, shot her a curious look. "Go on..." she prompted, albeit a little warily. She had a feeling she knew where this conversation was headed, even without hearing her say it.

"I was at the laundromat the other day and there was this guy there who couldn't stop staring at me," she described. "I was moving clothes from the washer into the dryer when one of my thongs fell to the floor. Well, this guy proceeds to ask whether I was wearing a thong or whether laundry day meant I was going commando..." She scoffed, rolled her eyes.

"Wow..." JJ said with a little laugh. She'd long ago stopped being surprised by just how obnoxious men could be...one of the perks of working as a stripper.

Emily nodded. "Well, I had Garcia do a little digging into Prince Charming... Turns out he just moved here from London – he's some kind of app developer and he recently sold his first app for over a million dollars to some private security outfit."

JJ let out a low whistle. Paused. Then heaved a sigh. "He's the next target, isn't he?"

"Any guy who asks a woman he's just met if she's going commando deserves to be brought down a peg," she said with a shrug as if the matter were outside her control.

Any further discussion they might've had on the matter was cut short by one of their coworkers bursting into the dressing room.