When they finally arrived back at Emily's place, JJ was just so exhausted that she couldn't even make it all the way down the hallway to her bedroom. She got as far as Emily's room before giving up and changing into pajamas. She was asleep the second her head hit her pillow.
Emily didn't mind; it was their bed now.
JJ slept through the night, and when she woke, she registered two things and remembered one: she was in Emily's bed, she had the energy of a Golden Retriever puppy, and last but not least, they were going to the big mall in Alexandria to find proper-fitting maternity clothes for themselves, as well as Christmas presents for their parents. Day One of Christmas vacation was already starting out pretty nicely.
The babies realized that JJ was awake and reminded her of their presence not by making her ill, but by putting their weight on her bladder, forcing her to get out of bed and hit the facilities in a timely fashion.
Once she was freshened up, she went back into the bedroom and saw that Emily was fast asleep yet, and that according to the time on the clock, she'd be waking up within the next few minutes.
All of a sudden, JJ was hit with a brilliant idea for a wake-up call.
It took a few minutes, but Emily started stirring, and when she woke, she propped herself up on her elbows to see that JJ was pressing delicate kisses all over her body.
When JJ realized Emily was awake, she abandoned all delicacy and replaced those kisses with hot ones that were a few steps short of lustful. The first sound out of Emily's mouth, instead of, "Good morning, JJ," was instead a very sensual moan because it had been a very long time since she'd been touched liked that by another person. JJ was really turning her on.
"Oh, JJ," Emily sighed, arching her back when she felt the kisses on her bump. "Do you have any idea what you do to me?"
"Judging by your body's response," JJ purred, caressing Emily's hip and thighs in one continuous motion with her good hand. "I think yes."
Emily's only response was to let out her lustiest moan yet when JJ worked her way down from her bump to her thighs, leaving behind a trail of kisses and licks. JJ was playing with her in every sense of the word.
"If you keep that up, then..."
Very daring and extremely horny, JJ began to eat Emily out. The brunette orgasmed quickly, making enough noise to wake the neighbors as she did, and by the time it was over, her underwear was completely soaked.
Proud of herself, JJ wiped her mouth off and smiled sweetly at Emily, caressing her hair and wiping off the fine sheen off sweat off Emily's body with one of the blankets until she stopped seeing stars.
"Then something like that will happen?" she cooed.
Emily nodded and looked at her. "You're a minx, you know that?"
JJ took that as a compliment. "I'm a minx, but I'm your minx."
Still trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened, all Emily could get out was, "Uh-huh..."
JJ straddled Emily so that they looking each other in directly in the eyes; she still had one thing that she needed to get out before they could get on with their day.
"I still hurt from what I went through, but I promise you, Emily, that there will be a day that I'll be able to completely be able to give myself completely to you." she told her seriously. "Do you understand?"
Emily sat up and put her hands on JJ's hips, just to hold her, and nodded. "I do."
JJ had to fight hard to not turn immediately to mush. "I love you, and I don't ever want to live without you, but I still need time to heal. I trust you, completely, but I still need time."
"I'll wait for you, Jennifer, for as long as it takes. I love you."
Strong though she was, JJ came undone by Emily's response and she dissolved into tears.
Emily immediately took her into her lap and made soothing noises as she kissed her and rocked her. Everything that had happened a few moments ago went right out the window, because JJ was a strong person, in heart, love, and even physical strength, but she he still needed time to recover.
But Emily would wait. She had known the second she saw JJ for the first time and fell for her that she was the one—the one she wanted to marry. JJ was completely worth it.
"I don't understand." JJ said after a few minutes, when she was calm again. "How can you love me, even when I'm such a mess? Baylor said that tears are a sign of weakness."
"First of all, it's perfectly okay to be a mess, because even the best and most beautiful things can come from messes, JJ." Emily kissed JJ's brow and sslipped her hand under JJ's shirt, lovingly rubbing the blond's baby bump. "And second, Baylor was wrong, do you hear me? Tears are a way to show that you're afraid, or that something is wrong, or even that you're happy."
"That's along the lines of what my mom would tell me after my sister died; I was the only kid left in the house because Archer was already a few years older than Rosaline and living in Tokyo with Cho when it happened."
"So that means that it was just you and your mom left, huh?"
JJ nodded. "Uh-huh, and there was a quote that she recited to comfort herself… 'There is a sacredness in tears: they are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They are messengers of overwhelming grief, and of unspeakable love.' I don't remember who said it anymore, though."
"But the words are correct—tears are a sign of strength and love." Emily said. "No matter what anyone says, that's the truth. Don't you forget."
"I won't."
"Good." Emily kissed JJ again and gave her a pat on the thigh. "Now how about you go see if we have any food in the fridge? I need a shower."
JJ did as Emily suggested, although they both knew that brunette was still feeling hot and bothered from their sexual encounter and that she was really going to shower because she needed to finish herself off. (Personally, JJ couldn't wait for the day that she'd be able to be fully confident that she'd be able to help Emily with that) Both women also knew that they had a hold a hold on each other in every way possible.
Unsurprisingly, there was no real food in Emily's fridge, and they ended up going out for breakfast before hitting the road to Alexandria.
They went clothes shopping first because it was JJ's least favorite thing, and when it came time to shop for Emily's parents, they had plenty of time and could enjoy it. They found a few things for them, although at the last minute, they decided that they also wanted to get "Guess what? You're going to be grandparents!" presents for them, as well. That required a visit to the ornament store.
As it was relatively early on a Monday morning, even during the holiday season, the store was empty, except for the salesgirl behind the counter. She had fair skin and brown eyes to go with her long brown hair, along with a splash of brown freckles across the bridge of her nose, and didn't stand too much taller than JJ. She was also dressed in holiday-themed clothes, although the apron with the company logo she wore over her clothes was decorated with holiday pins. Both JJ and Emily would be remiss to say that the teenager didn't remind them of Penelope.
"Hello!" the girl chirped. "My name is Hanna; how may I help you two this morning?"
Emily did the introductions. "I'm Emily, and this is my girlfriend, JJ. We're going to be spending the holidays with my parents, and we already have a few things for them, but we're also looking for some keepsake-type things because this Christmas is going to be very special for them."
Hanna was a very excitable person in general, but her favorite part about her job was helping out couples like the one that had just entered her shop, so of course, she was immediately interested.
"How special is special?"
JJ set her bags down and framed off her middle through the fabric of her jacket so Hanna could see. "Emily and I are both expecting, and we're looking for something to tell her parents that they're going to be grandparents."
Hanna lit up when an idea immediately popped into her head. "I know exactly what can help!"
After letting her customers put their bags behind the register for safekeeping, Hanna led JJ and Emily over to a certain section of the back wall and waved a hand over the area in indication.
"Everything over here is for grandparents, and I know that there are some really awesome things that have 'grandparents-to-be' messages on them, like… this!"
Hanna had been surverying the display for a particular item, and when they followed her gaze, she plucked a sculpture of a brightly-colored ceramic glass house and yard with 'Papa's and Nana's House' painted on its roof in a fancy gold script off its display stand and put it Emily's hands.
"This is my favorite."
"It's very cute." Emily remarked as JJ nodded in agreement. "We will keep this one in mind."
Pleased that she'd been such a big help, Hanna left her customers to their own devices and and went back to the register to start prepping the gift-wrap.
JJ and Emily left Hanna's shop not only with the ceramic house, but also a pair of nice coffee mugs bearing the titles 'Papa' and 'Nana' on them; Emily felt that though her parents would be over the moon to find out about their new titles, traditional names like 'Grandpa' and 'Grandma' were not their style. The babies were going to know them as Papa Max and Nana Lizzie. JJ hadn't been sure at first, but when Emily explained that to her, she felt a lot better about their gift choices. They also picked up a present for her mom and added it to the rest of the grandparent pile because they didn't want her to be left out in the gift-giving as they told her about their news.
The agents were still at the mall around lunchtime, so after they rented a cart to put all of their shopping bags and packages in, they got lunch at the food court and sat down to eat in one of the room's many high-backed booths.
They weren't too far into their meals when they heard a familiar voice call out their names.
"JJ? Emily?"
The duo looked up from their food and saw Haley Hotchner standing at their table, with a tray of her own food.
"Hi, Haley!" JJ greeted her.
"Come sit with us." Emily said, moving over to make room for her.
Happy and excited by the invitation, Haley sat next to Emily, setting her food on the table and her jacket and purse in the corner of the booth with her friends' things.
"Shopping for presents?" JJ asked curiously.
"I already have Aaron's and Jack's presents all squared away, thank the Lord." Haley breathed a sigh of relief. "No, I came out here for a trip to the Disney Store."
Emily raised her eyebrows. "All the way out here for the Disney Store?"
"Jack is a sucker all things Disney, and he really loves Mickey Mouse." explained Haley. "I was hoping to find something that he doesn't already have that we can give to him when we tell him that he's going to be a big brother."
"Oh, that's right." Emily remembered, giving Haley a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Aaron told us; congratulations."
JJ also conveyed her congratulations and Haley thanked her friends, but furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Aaron told you two? I know he's always thought of you two like little sisters, but when did he tell you?"
"New York." Emily elaborated. "You called and told him, and then JJ, Penelope, and I were the first people he saw after he hung up."
"And in Aaron's defense," JJ tacked on quickly. "It was an accident because he was in a daze, that's how happy he was."
"But nobody else knows?" Haley inquired. "Just you guys and Penelope?"
"Uh-huh."
"Good…"
Haley leaned back against the booth and absently raked her nails over her middle, which, now that she wasn't wearing her winter coat, JJ and Emily could see had a distinctive bulge to it, where inside, the littlest Hotchner was growing happily away.
Back when JJ had started at the Academy, she had been one of Hotch's pupils, and at her first gala, Haley had been there, accompanying her husband. Seeing the lone, dateless underling in the corner, Haley took it upon herself to make friends with her, and they bonded immediately because Haley reminded JJ of Rosaline, back in her happier days. That was years and years and years ago.
As for Emily, it was two weeks after joining the BAU that she befriended Haley, and that had been when Haley tagged along during one of the team's 'morale boosters' at a local bar. The two hit it off right away and they had been good friends ever since.
Either way, both JJ and Emily knew their boss' wife well enough to know that the wheels in her head were turning very fast in her head.
"Haley?" JJ asked.
She smiled reassuringly at her friends. "I'm fine, you guys, I promise. I was just thinking…"
"About…?" prompted Emily.
"Well, I ran into Penelope a few days before you all went to New York, and I don't think she noticed, but she kept touching her hand to her middle, the way a pregnant mother does, and she was doing it on and off the entire time we were talking. She's pregnant, isn't she? I won't tell, but if you know, just say yes or no."
"Yes." JJ and Emily said in unison.
Haley's happy expression broadened and then she looked between her friends, the wheels in her head began spinning their fastest yet.
"Aaron said there was something different about you two…"
"We're both pregnant!" Emily blurted.
"Emily Magdalene! Really?" JJ cried with exasperation. "If you can't be chill with Haley, then how fast are you going to crumble when we get to your parents' house and tell them that they're going to be grandparents and that we're a couple?"
In response, Emily just raised an eyebrow in amusement and when JJ realized her gaffe, she let out a filthy swear and stuffed her face full of her salad to avoid putting her foot in her mouth even further than it already was.
Even more amused than Emily, Haley just chuckled. "Aaron owes me me eighty bucks."
"Pardon?" Emily asked when she finished her mouthful of salad.
"He couldn't put his finger on what was different about you two, other than pregnancy, and I said eighty bucks would say that you two are together."
"And what did Aaron say to that?"
"He said, 'You're on, and if that's the case, tell them congratulations.' I still would have gotten it eventually, but running into you two today was just a stroke of luck."
JJ moved her food tray to the side. "But Aaron is happy for us?"
"One hundred percent, and so am I."
JJ breathed a sigh of relief, and Emily changed the subject around.
"Haley, are your mom and dad still around?"
"Yes."
"How did you tell them that Jack was on the way?"
Haley smirked at the memory. "That involves Aaron accidentally falling into their pool in the process."
"Oh, don't you quit there, Barbie Doll."
And so Haley launched into a story that soon had all three women in fits of happy laughter.
