It was Christmas Eve and JJ was curled up on the couch as she watched Last Christmas and sipped at her hot chocolate. She was lost in the movie she almost didn't hear the knock at the front door.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
JJ paused the movie, sat the drink on the coffee table and walked over to the front door. She looked out the peephole and smiled as soon as she saw Emily standing there. She quickly opened the door "and to what do I owe the pleasure of having Emily Prentiss visit?" she asked stepping out of the way and closing the door once Prentiss stepped inside.
"Well, part of me wanted to come spend Christmas Eve with my best friend" she said as she handed JJ the bottle of wine she was holding.
"And the other part?" JJ asked curiously as she walked to the kitchen and poured them both a glass.
"Reid asked me to check up on you because Will had asked him, but he was stuck doing something else" Prentiss said as she followed JJ into the kitchen. "Which leads me to my next question as to why you didn't go with Will and the boys."
JJ sighed slightly as she handed Prentiss the glass and took a sip of hers. "Do you know if Spence and Will converse about me often?"
Prentiss shook her head as she took a sip of her wine. "I don't think so, but he asked Reid if wasn't doing anything tonight if he could come see you, so you weren't alone. Reid felt bad that you were alone so messaged me" JJ nodded her head and walked into the lounge room, curling back up on the end of the couch. Prentiss followed and sat at the other end, turning her head to look at JJ.
"What?"
Prentiss raised her eyebrow "why didn't you go with them?"
JJ shrugged her shoulders "I didn't want to be in New Orleans you know, in case we got called in."
"JJ, I don't know who you're trying to fool but your boss isn't one of them, you know very well that I took us all off call for Christmas week, this year has been a lot and we all deserved a break."
"Oh" JJ chuckled slightly "silly me, like you said this year has been a lot, it slipped my mind that we got the week off." Prentiss studied JJ's facial expressions which JJ noticed. "You better not be trying to profile me Prentiss" she said, raising her eyebrow.
"Okay, okay" Prentiss said, sipping her wine again. "You know if you need to talk though I am always here."
JJ smiled slightly "I know" she said as she set her glass down. "Do you want to watch this movie with me? I can start it from the beginning."
Prentiss furrowed her brows as she looked at the description of the movie before looking back at JJ and seeing her pleading with her big blue eyes. When JJ looked at her like this, she could never say no. "Okay, fine" Prentiss said, laughing a little. "We can watch this movie."
"You'll love it" JJ said as she selected it to start over.
"And if I don't? "
"You will, and if you don't, I'll watch a movie you pick or something" JJ said has she hit play.
Towards the end of the movie the tears began running down JJ's cheeks. Prentiss looked over at her and lifted her arm up. JJ scooted down and sat next to her as Prentiss gently placed her arm around her and rubbed her arm. "Does this movie always get you this upset?"
"How can you not be crying?" JJ asked in between sobs.
"Well I mean, I kind of sensed it was going to happen" Prentiss said as she wiped JJ's eye. "Why do you watch it if it makes you this sad?"
"Because, it's a beautiful movie"
As Prentiss's attention went to the remainder of the film, JJ's mind began to wonder as she glanced at Prentiss's fingertips drawing circles on her shoulder.
"What's got you so lost in thought?" Will asked as he noticed JJ staring at the bookshelf.
"Oh nothing" JJ said, smiling as she looked at Will.
Will glanced over JJ's shoulder to the picture of JJ and Prentiss. "you get lost in thought a lot when you look at pictures of her" he stated.
"It was a good night; I was lost in the memory" she replied.
"You don't get that lost when you look at photos of your other friends."
JJ sighed slightly, "she's my best friend and we have a lot of good memories together."
Will shook his head "we both know you think of her as more" he said as he walked away.
"JJ, hello?" a soft voice brought her out of her daydream.
"Hm, what?" She asked as she sat up straight and looked at Prentiss.
"The movie is over, and you were kind of lost in your own world" Prentiss said as she removed her arm from JJ. "Is everything okay?"
JJ nodded her head "yeah, I just miss my boys" she said softly.
Prentiss nodded her head and pulled out her phone "I could look at flights for you? I'm sure there is some that would get you to your boys tomorrow."
"It's okay" JJ said as she shook her head. "Henry and Michael are flying back tomorrow; they should be here in time for us to make it to Rossi's for our family Christmas dinner."
"No Will?" Prentiss asked.
Before JJ could reply there was another knock at the door. She quickly got up, looked out the peephole and opened the door to let Reid in.
"Hey" he said softly as he handed her a box of donuts.
JJ smiled as she took them "thank you" she said as she shut the door and the two of them walked over to the couch and sat down. "as much as I appreciate you two being such good friends, I am okay you know. I don't need people checking up on me."
"We know" Prentiss said as she looked at JJ "just don't think of it as us checking up on you and instead just think of it as friends hanging out, which it was" she smiled softly as she looked at the time on her phone. "I should probably head off, I will see the both of you tomorrow night" she said, standing up and walking to the door.
JJ got up and followed her "thank you for coming over, for the wine and the movie" she said quietly.
"Anytime, just please don't watch it again tonight, we don't need any more tears from you" she said as she pulled JJ in for a hug. JJ wrapped her arms tightly around her and rested her head on her shoulder, closing her eyes. Prentiss rubbed her back softly "are you okay?" she whispered.
JJ nodded her head as she pulled away slightly. "I am fine" she half smiled "I will see you tomorrow night."
Prentiss nodded her head and opened the door, waving bye to Reid as she left. Once JJ had shut the door she went and sat back on the couch, noticing Reid was staring at her. "What?" she asked.
Reid took a bite of his donut. "You haven't told her about you and Will, have you?" he asked, and JJ shook her head. "Why not?"
"Because she will ask me what happened, watch me like a hawk, probably order me to take a few days off. I just want to get through Christmas first" she said softly.
"Are you going to tell her how you feel about her?"
"No Spence, I'm not."
Reid raised his eyebrow "why not?"
"Because, I loved her too late."
"I'm sure she still has feelings somewhere for you. JJ, when she first met you, you could see how much she liked you."
"Yes, but let's not forget she is also the one who pushed me to Will."
"She would always put your happiness first, she wasn't sure if you felt anything for her and she didn't want to ruin the friendship so when she saw you liked Will she wanted you to go for it, to be happy. It pained her that she wasn't the reason, but she was happy for you."
JJ raised her eyebrow slightly "how do you know all this?"
Reid shrugged his shoulders "you aren't the only one I have late night donuts and gossip with."
JJ chuckled slightly as she took a donut from the box "we are all lucky to have you Spence."
He smiled slightly "look you either tell her or you don't, but if you don't that is going to eat you up. Emily loved you too early, and you loved her too late. But she isn't with Mendoza anymore so now is the perfect opportunity for you both."
"Wait, when the heck did those two break up?" JJ said as she scratched her head "clearly I need to step up my best friend game."
"It only happened a couple of days ago, he really wanted her to move permanently with him, but she didn't want to leave here. She was going to tell you, but she thought you seemed a little stressed this week, so she didn't want to add anything else to your plate."
JJ sighed slightly "I'm a bad friend."
Reid shook his head and scooted down on the couch, wrapping JJ into a hug. "You aren't a bad friend; you've had a lot going on. Not a single one of us think you are a bad friend" he said as he left go and picked up the tv remote to put on their movie. She smiled slightly as the two of them sat together, enjoying their donuts and movie.
