LA had been a bad one.

Emily tried not to bring cases home with her, to leave her baggage at the door and give herself fully to Dawn during the short time they had together before one of them had to run off to work once again. It couldn't always be helped, though, and she entered the apartment with the weight of fear settled heavy in her chest.

All she really wanted after running on nights of bad coffee and no sleep was to fall into bed with Dawn beside her and just not think.

Upon entering the bedroom, though, she heard the sound of quiet sniffling and knew that there were more pressing matters at hand than recouping her lost sleep. "Dawn?" she said softly, stepping into the ensuite bathroom. "Everything okay?" (It was a stupid question and she knew it because she obviously wouldn't have been crying if things were okay...)

Dawn was soaking in the tub – a glass of wine perched precariously on the ledge – tears streaming slowly down her face. She looked up sharply upon hearing Emily's voice and immediately did her best to wipe away her tears. Clearing her throat, she said, "Emily... I-I wasn't expecting you home tonight..."

Rather than addressing that, she knelt down beside the bathtub, concern glinting in her eyes.

"I'm fine," Dawn insisted, addressing her unspoken concerns. Then, repeated herself in an attempt to be more convincing, "I'm fine."

Emily gave her a pointed look. "You can't lie to me, Dawn – I'm a profiler. And you were literally just in tears...that's hardly an indication of being fine."

Dawn sighed, shrugged slightly. "It's nothing."

Reaching up to cup her cheek, Emily gently forced her to meet her gaze. "Remember what Gavin said?" she prompted, "About being honest?"

She nodded slowly, hating to admit that she was right, that Gavin was right...but unable to deny it all the same. She leaned into Emily's touch, eyes falling shut as Emily wiped away a stray tear with her thumb. At length, she rasped, "I'm sorry..."

Emily raised a brow. "What are you sorry for?" she asked gently.

Dawn choked on a sob then and, between strangled breaths, said, "I can't have a baby..."

For a few moments, Emily remained stunned into silence by the admission, more than a little confused as to why now, of all times, this particular issue had come to a head. "What...umm..." she stammered, struggling to form a response, "I didn't realize we..."

"I wanted to surprise you," she said weakly. "I mean, I know we've been talking about having kids for awhile and I just wanted to find out if it was even a possibility for me to carry a baby and..." She broke down into sobs again and was unable to get the words out.

Emily was able to glean the end of the sentence, though, and she felt her heart clench. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, tenderly stroking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "I wish you'd told me you were getting tested – I would have been there with you..."

She shook her head. "It's fine," she insisted, even though it clearly wasn't. Emily didn't call her on that lie, though, for which Dawn was extremely grateful.

What she did say was, "Let's get you out of the bath and into bed..."

Since she didn't have any fight left in her to argue...and the bathwater was ice cold anyway, Dawn didn't argue the matter, gratefully accepting the warm towel that Emily wrapped her in.

It wasn't until they were curled up in bed together that Dawn whispered, "Maybe we should start considering adoption."

For several moments, Emily remained silent, debating what to say next. They both knew that Emily's chances of carrying a child were slim – though not necessarily impossible – because of scarring left behind from her less-than-legal abortion, but that didn't mean she didn't want to try... "Maybe we should wait and talk about this in the morning," she said at length, concerned they were heading down the path to an argument and wanting to head it off before it started.

"I just don't know if I could do it," Dawn said in a murmur and it wasn't entirely clear whether Emily was intended to have heard it or not, "Watch you run into danger every day, knowing you brought our unborn child with you..."

Emily had to concede that that was a fair point, but it also felt distinctly like Dawn didn't trust her to be safe, to put the welfare of a child first. It wasn't that she was against adoption, per se, but she still felt a little like she was being rejected. "Tomorrow," she said softly, but with a note of finality that said she wasn't in the mood to discuss it any further.

(How did you do it? she would later ask JJ. How did you come into work every day when you were pregnant knowing how easily something could have gone wrong? And how did Will find it in himself to be okay knowing that was his child you carried with you into danger?

JJ would shrug, as if the answer were simple when, in fact, it was anything but. It wasn't easy, she would say in answer, We had knock down, drag out screaming matches about it...but in the end, he knew there was no stopping me – and he would do the same if the situation had been reversed.

Emily would sigh at that, purse her lips in annoyance.

JJ would laugh because it was clear that that wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for. Ultimately, she would say, You'll do what you need to do and so will Dawn. It's what you do when you love each other.

Emily would bark out a laugh because, while they absolutely did love each other, they were also both stubborn assholes who would do just about anything to prevent having to admit they were wrong.

JJ, of course, knew that as well. She would just smile and shake her head.)