p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 15pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rossi raised his glass of wine, "To good friends and time off together!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Everyone raised their glasses to the toast, happily chatting amongst themselves. The team had just gotten back from a long case and a family dinner at Rossi's was very much what everyone needed to unwind. It was a beautiful night, so they had opted to eat on Rossi's patio to enjoy the warm summer weather./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Derek was telling Emily some story about his most recent date-of-the-week and she was half nodding along while her eyes focused over his shoulder. Emily couldn't help but stare at JJ, her heart melted while she watched the way JJ's entire face lit up while she was talking to Garcia./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're not even listening, huh?" Derek chuckled as he waved a hand in front of Emily's face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? No, I was absolutely paying attention! You were saying that Laura goes to your gym," Emily repeated to him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lana goes to my dentist," Derek corrected with a suspicious glance. "What are you staring at anyway?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He went to turn around to follow Emily's line of sight. but she quickly interrupted him with, "Hey, can you go grab me another drink?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Derek kept his attention on her, "Sure, Princess. I need a refill anyway."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily smiled until Derek walked away, then dropped her façade with a sigh. She was so hopelessly in love with Jennifer Jareau and she knew it was only a matter of time until the team figured her out. It wasn't Emily's fault that JJ was so gorgeous, how was Emily supposed to not stare?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rossi sat down in Derek's chair and smiled at Emily knowingly. "Hey Prentiss, what are you thinking about?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Me? Nothing, I wasn't thinking anything," Emily stammered, plastering on her well-rehearsed, tight smile, she had adopted for her mother's political functions./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rossi sipped his wine, staring at her for a moment. "Take a walk with me."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It wasn't a request, Emily knew she had no option in the matter. She got up and followed Rossi as he wandered into his large backyard./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rossi, if you have something to say..." Emily stated, once they were far enough out of earshot of their team members./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look, Emily, you know I think of you as a daughter," Rossi said. "So, I just felt like it's my duty to say that I'm here if you want someone to talk to about...well, your secret." The last two words were nearly whispered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily's posture went rigid, "...what secret?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I've noticed the way you watch JJ and I put two and two together. But I'm not going to tell anyone," Rossi reassured./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily glanced back towards the patio, automatically smiling when she saw JJ. Her body language softened a bit when looking back to Rossi, "Am I that obvious?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""To me? Yeah, absolutely kiddo," Rossi laughed. "For what it's worth, I think you should go for it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily's brow furrowed, "Go for what?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""For her! You should ask her out," Rossi replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ohhhhh, right..." Emily nodded slightly, trying to hide her surprise at Rossi's suggestion. "Yeeeah... I should, ask her out... Uh, thanks for the advice."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wonderful," Rossi said. He squeezed Emily's shoulder supportively, before motioning towards the team. When Emily didn't move he chuckled and added, "No time like the present!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You want me to ask her out...right now?" Emily asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why not? Gorgeous night, jovial spirits, why don't you take her around the side to the swinging bench?" Rossi instructed, clearly proud of himself for coming up with such a romantic idea./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sure. Yeah, the swinging bench..." Emily muttered when she began walking back to their group of friends./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ had moved to sit with Spencer, who was showing her his newest magic trick while she feigned excitement. Emily tried to act casual when she moved to stand next to the pair./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, there you are," JJ smiled. "I was wondering where you got off to."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh, yep. I'm here. It's me," Emily said, shifting under JJ's stare. "Uhm, JJ...do you want to...walk with me?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? Why would anything be the matter?" Emily replied, forcing a smile, which was a strange mix of surprise and uncomfortableness. "I'm fine, it's fine. Great, fine!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""JJ's right, you're really flushed and you're grimacing," Reid pointed out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm not grimacing," Emily admonished. "I don't grimace!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, he's completely right. Your face is doing the thing where you think you're smiling but it actually just looks like you're in pain," JJ joked with a small wink. She tried to mimic Emily's facial expression, while bursting into laughter./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily scowled, "Fine, you know what? Nevermind!" She turned to walk away from the awkward conversation, but JJ caught her wrist. Emily stopped without turning around, afraid JJ would see how much she was blushing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Emily we were joking," JJ said softly. "Of course I'll take a walk with you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily pulled free of JJ's grasp and began walking away, without another word. She needed to get JJ alone before they could talk. She made a beeline towards the side of the house, where Rossi had an impressive rose garden with a wooden swinging bench. Emily often snuck away from the group to go swing when she needed to clear her mind. Many nights, she had sat alone on the bench while trying to sort out her feelings for JJ. Now, JJ was two steps behind her as she headed towards the secluded spot and Emily's heart was racing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why don't we sit down," Emily offered when they reached the bench./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ followed Emily's lead, sitting down next to the brunette. "Em, are you alright?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The only light was from the small garden lanterns and the moon, but even so, Emily could make out all of JJ's striking features. JJ's blue eyes still somehow sparkled in the night. Emily admired JJ's features, suddenly focusing on JJ's lips...JJ's perfectly soft, inviting, lips./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Em?" JJ asked again./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily opened her mouth to speak but closed it unable to form a sentence, her thoughts were racing. She sighed looking to JJ, who was patiently waiting for Emily to explain why she had pulled her aside. Emily just smiled before leaning in to press her lips to JJ's. The kiss had caught JJ by surprise and she pulled away quickly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Emily?" she whispered in disbelief./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I uhh, sorry. Sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Emily replied hastily. "Oh god, JJ, I'm so sorry-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, Emily...it's not that I don't want to kiss you. It's just, the entire team is here," JJ said softly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know, that was really careless," Emily groaned. "It's just that you look so gorgeous and I just got caught up int he moment and I really should have asked but you just..."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ took Emily's hand in hers, "You're always so cute when you're flustered."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily stopped rambling, her shoulders relaxed. She rubbed her thumb against JJ's hand, looking down at their interlocked fingers and grinned. "It's just that... Rossi thinks I should ask you out on a date..."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rossi said you should ask me out?" JJ laughed. "Well, Agent Prentiss...are you going to follow through with that suggestion?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily bit her lip, "I dunno, you can be sort of a handful sometimes."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thought you loved when I keep your hands full," JJ replied in a tone that made Emily's pulse plummet into the pit of her stomach./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I do," Emily said with a low moan./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ closed the distance between them, lacing her fingers in Emily's hair as their lips met again. Emily wrapped her arms around JJ's neck to pull her closer as JJ deepened the kiss./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"When they paused to catch their breaths, Emily put an arm around the smaller woman, so JJ could rest her head against Emily's shoulder. Emily gently pushed the ground with her foot to rock the swing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So, did you tell Rossi we've already been dating for three months?" JJ laughed. She rubbed Emily's thigh with one hand, while reaching for Emily's hand with the other./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, not at all," Emily chuckled. "You know he loves giving me parental-type advice, I wasn't going to take that away from him."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're so kind," JJ quipped. "You know, when they all figure it out, he's going to think we got together because of him." Emily laughed at the thought and JJ looked up to her girlfriend with a loving smile, "...I'm glad you asked me out, Em."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily kissed the top of JJ's forehead with a dopey grin, "Me too, Jayje."/spanspan id="docs-internal-guid-344c8f12-7fff-7b8c-8576-b83bcc1f4266"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Everyone raised their glasses to the toast, happily chatting amongst themselves. The team had just gotten back from a long case and a family dinner at Rossi's was very much what everyone needed to unwind. It was a beautiful night, so they had opted to eat on Rossi's patio to enjoy the warm summer weather./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Derek was telling Emily some story about his most recent date-of-the-week and she was half nodding along while her eyes focused over his shoulder. Emily couldn't help but stare at JJ, her heart melted while she watched the way JJ's entire face lit up while she was talking to Garcia./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're not even listening, huh?" Derek chuckled as he waved a hand in front of Emily's face./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? No, I was absolutely paying attention! You were saying that Laura goes to your gym," Emily repeated to him./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Lana goes to my dentist," Derek corrected with a suspicious glance. "What are you staring at anyway?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"He went to turn around to follow Emily's line of sight. but she quickly interrupted him with, "Hey, can you go grab me another drink?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Derek kept his attention on her, "Sure, Princess. I need a refill anyway."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily smiled until Derek walked away, then dropped her façade with a sigh. She was so hopelessly in love with Jennifer Jareau and she knew it was only a matter of time until the team figured her out. It wasn't Emily's fault that JJ was so gorgeous, how was Emily supposed to not stare?/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rossi sat down in Derek's chair and smiled at Emily knowingly. "Hey Prentiss, what are you thinking about?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Me? Nothing, I wasn't thinking anything," Emily stammered, plastering on her well-rehearsed, tight smile, she had adopted for her mother's political functions./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Rossi sipped his wine, staring at her for a moment. "Take a walk with me."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"It wasn't a request, Emily knew she had no option in the matter. She got up and followed Rossi as he wandered into his large backyard./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rossi, if you have something to say..." Emily stated, once they were far enough out of earshot of their team members./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Look, Emily, you know I think of you as a daughter," Rossi said. "So, I just felt like it's my duty to say that I'm here if you want someone to talk to about...well, your secret." The last two words were nearly whispered./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily's posture went rigid, "...what secret?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I've noticed the way you watch JJ and I put two and two together. But I'm not going to tell anyone," Rossi reassured./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily glanced back towards the patio, automatically smiling when she saw JJ. Her body language softened a bit when looking back to Rossi, "Am I that obvious?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""To me? Yeah, absolutely kiddo," Rossi laughed. "For what it's worth, I think you should go for it."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily's brow furrowed, "Go for what?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""For her! You should ask her out," Rossi replied./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Ohhhhh, right..." Emily nodded slightly, trying to hide her surprise at Rossi's suggestion. "Yeeeah... I should, ask her out... Uh, thanks for the advice."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Wonderful," Rossi said. He squeezed Emily's shoulder supportively, before motioning towards the team. When Emily didn't move he chuckled and added, "No time like the present!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You want me to ask her out...right now?" Emily asked./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why not? Gorgeous night, jovial spirits, why don't you take her around the side to the swinging bench?" Rossi instructed, clearly proud of himself for coming up with such a romantic idea./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Sure. Yeah, the swinging bench..." Emily muttered when she began walking back to their group of friends./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ had moved to sit with Spencer, who was showing her his newest magic trick while she feigned excitement. Emily tried to act casual when she moved to stand next to the pair./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, there you are," JJ smiled. "I was wondering where you got off to."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Uh, yep. I'm here. It's me," Emily said, shifting under JJ's stare. "Uhm, JJ...do you want to...walk with me?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ raised an eyebrow, "What's wrong?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""What? Why would anything be the matter?" Emily replied, forcing a smile, which was a strange mix of surprise and uncomfortableness. "I'm fine, it's fine. Great, fine!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""JJ's right, you're really flushed and you're grimacing," Reid pointed out./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I'm not grimacing," Emily admonished. "I don't grimace!"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, he's completely right. Your face is doing the thing where you think you're smiling but it actually just looks like you're in pain," JJ joked with a small wink. She tried to mimic Emily's facial expression, while bursting into laughter./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily scowled, "Fine, you know what? Nevermind!" She turned to walk away from the awkward conversation, but JJ caught her wrist. Emily stopped without turning around, afraid JJ would see how much she was blushing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Emily we were joking," JJ said softly. "Of course I'll take a walk with you."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily pulled free of JJ's grasp and began walking away, without another word. She needed to get JJ alone before they could talk. She made a beeline towards the side of the house, where Rossi had an impressive rose garden with a wooden swinging bench. Emily often snuck away from the group to go swing when she needed to clear her mind. Many nights, she had sat alone on the bench while trying to sort out her feelings for JJ. Now, JJ was two steps behind her as she headed towards the secluded spot and Emily's heart was racing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Why don't we sit down," Emily offered when they reached the bench./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ followed Emily's lead, sitting down next to the brunette. "Em, are you alright?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"The only light was from the small garden lanterns and the moon, but even so, Emily could make out all of JJ's striking features. JJ's blue eyes still somehow sparkled in the night. Emily admired JJ's features, suddenly focusing on JJ's lips...JJ's perfectly soft, inviting, lips./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Em?" JJ asked again./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily opened her mouth to speak but closed it unable to form a sentence, her thoughts were racing. She sighed looking to JJ, who was patiently waiting for Emily to explain why she had pulled her aside. Emily just smiled before leaning in to press her lips to JJ's. The kiss had caught JJ by surprise and she pulled away quickly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Emily?" she whispered in disbelief./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I uhh, sorry. Sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Emily replied hastily. "Oh god, JJ, I'm so sorry-"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""No, Emily...it's not that I don't want to kiss you. It's just, the entire team is here," JJ said softly./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I know, that was really careless," Emily groaned. "It's just that you look so gorgeous and I just got caught up int he moment and I really should have asked but you just..."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ took Emily's hand in hers, "You're always so cute when you're flustered."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily stopped rambling, her shoulders relaxed. She rubbed her thumb against JJ's hand, looking down at their interlocked fingers and grinned. "It's just that... Rossi thinks I should ask you out on a date..."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Rossi said you should ask me out?" JJ laughed. "Well, Agent Prentiss...are you going to follow through with that suggestion?"/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily bit her lip, "I dunno, you can be sort of a handful sometimes."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Thought you loved when I keep your hands full," JJ replied in a tone that made Emily's pulse plummet into the pit of her stomach./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""I do," Emily said with a low moan./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"JJ closed the distance between them, lacing her fingers in Emily's hair as their lips met again. Emily wrapped her arms around JJ's neck to pull her closer as JJ deepened the kiss./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"When they paused to catch their breaths, Emily put an arm around the smaller woman, so JJ could rest her head against Emily's shoulder. Emily gently pushed the ground with her foot to rock the swing./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""So, did you tell Rossi we've already been dating for three months?" JJ laughed. She rubbed Emily's thigh with one hand, while reaching for Emily's hand with the other./span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""Oh, not at all," Emily chuckled. "You know he loves giving me parental-type advice, I wasn't going to take that away from him."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;""You're so kind," JJ quipped. "You know, when they all figure it out, he's going to think we got together because of him." Emily laughed at the thought and JJ looked up to her girlfriend with a loving smile, "...I'm glad you asked me out, Em."/span/p
p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.7999999999999998; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt 0pt 15pt 0pt;"span style="font-size: 11.5pt; font-family: Verdana; color: #2a2a2a; background-color: transparent; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"Emily kissed the top of JJ's forehead with a dopey grin, "Me too, Jayje."/spanspan id="docs-internal-guid-344c8f12-7fff-7b8c-8576-b83bcc1f4266"/span/p
