"Cheers, ladies!" Garcia declared emphatically over the din of the town's only bar as the bartender passed their drinks around. She smiled her thanks at him as she took her drink, holding it up awaiting the group returning her salute.
"What are we celebrating?" Alex asked, primly sipping her drink as if not quite sold on the whole idea of alcohol.
"It's girls' night," Garcia said emphatically as if that were answer enough, seeming utterly confounded by Alex's apparent lack of knowledge on the matter.
"Yeah," Tara agreed, "The whole point is getting drunk for no reason with your girls." She clinked her glass against Garcia's. "Is this your first girls' night?"
"Actually, yes..." At the incredulous looks she was getting, she explained, "I started dancing professionally at fourteen, I never had time for getting drunk."
"Well, consider this on-the-job training," Kristy declared. "Now drink!"
After a moment of hesitation during which everyone stared expectantly at her, Alex obeyed, taking a greedy swallow, wincing at the liquor burned its way down her throat and settled warm and pleasant in her stomach.
At that moment, Clara came sweeping in, hair distinctively mussed and her shirt buttoned slightly askew. "Sorry I'm late! I was..." She trailed off, cheeks pinking as she suddenly realized how dishevelled she looked.
"Celebrating her honeymoon..." JJ supplied, waggling her brows.
Clara cleared her throat as several members of the group made lewd gestures. "I need a drink," she declared, grabbing the nearest unclaimed glass and downing its contents. A chorus of laughter followed as she chugged.
"So..." Kate started, smirk crossing her lips as she changed the subject, gaze zeroing in on her target. "Jayje...have you and Will finally hooked up yet?"
"Kate!" JJ yelped, scandalized. "Will and I are just friends..."
Garcia snorted. "Like hell you are! You make googly eyes at him across the street all day long. You're like a cartoon character."
"I do not make googly eyes!" she protested. No one appeared to believe her.
There was a raucous chorus of, "JJ and Will sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"
The bartender came sauntering over at that moment wearing his most charming grin. "Ladies," he said by way of greeting. "Another round?"
"Yes, please!" JJ nearly begged, downing her drink in one swallow. "Make it a double this time."
"Hey, Luke," Garcia said, talking over JJ.
"Not you again," he teased as he collected the empty glasses littering the table.
Garcia pouted playfully. "I'm your favourite customer and you know it."
"You truly are the best," he agreed, paused dramatically. "Around..." She gasped as if offended, making him laugh as he departed to get the round of drinks JJ had requested.
"Now who's making googly eyes!?" Tara demanded once he was out of earshot.
"Is everything alright?" Alex asked JJ, voice a whisper so they wouldn't be overheard by the rest of the group – assuming they weren't loudly goading each other into taking tequila shots and therefore much too preoccupied to eavesdrop.
Alex had a warm, almost maternal manner about her that made JJ let her guard down in a way she wouldn't ordinarily have done, except perhaps with Emily. "It's fine," she answered, as she stared moodily into her drink as if it contained some long-searched-for answers.
Alex hummed a sympathetic note. "I can tell your heart's really not in it tonight. Is this because we were teasing you about Will?"
"No," she insisted. "That was fair game – my crush isn't exactly a secret..."
"Then what is it?"
She shook her head once, twice. "I, umm, I think I need some air," she declared suddenly, standing up and fleeing the table. In her haste to depart the bar, she nearly barrelled over Clara on her way back from the bathroom.
"What was that about?" Clara asked as she rejoined the group, suddenly silent in the face of JJ's hasty departure.
"I think I must've upset her," Alex said apologetically.
Garcia shook her head, eyes narrowed almost suspiciously. "No, there's something else going on here...and I'm going to figure out what it is." That must've sounded almost ominous based on the looks she was getting. "What?" she said, holding up her hands in self-defence. "I meant that I was going to go console her..."
No appeared to believe that either because, if there was one thing everyone knew about Penelope Garcia, it was that she couldn't resist good gossip. That was a risk you took when you were friends with the town reporter, though...
Garcia caught up to JJ where she was pacing the sidewalk just outside the bar, face distorted by the glow of the neon sign proclaiming the bar as The Bullpen. "Everything okay, peaches?" she asked. She offered a smile that she hoped was comforting and not creepy in a 'please spill all your secrets so I can write about them for tomorrow's paper' kind of way.
JJ looked up sharply as if surprised anyone had come after her. "I'm fine," she insisted yet again, even if she didn't seem to believe her own words.
"Are you sure?" she pressed. "You know you can always talk to me, right?"
"Of course," she said, flashing a hollow smile because she wasn't exactly about to pour her heart out to the town reporter. "I just needed some fresh air – you know how stuffy it gets in there..."
"So, you're not mad we were teasing you about Will?"
She shook her head, but said nothing.
"Then is it about Emily? Because I tried to invite her, but when I called her, her phone went straight to voicemail and I know she's your friend, but she's the Sheriff's wife and that guy..." She shook her head, trailing off.
"It's fine!" JJ said yet again, nearly shouting this time. "I'm fine, everything's fine, okay? I just need a moment alone and..."
Her rant was interrupted before she could say anything she'd regret, thankfully, by her phone ringing, the sound shrill in the nighttime quiet.
"Hello?" she answered.
"JJ? It's Derek..."
The smile fell off her face at the sound of his voice. "Derek, what's going on? Is everything alright?"
"I've been arrested..."