"Can I hold your hand?"
"JJ…" Emily started with mirth in her eyes when the realization hit her. "Are you actually, scared?"
"No!" JJ lied as she shook her head vehemently, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. They were in Tennessee, the case that brought them there behind them, but Hotch had wanted to give their pilot a night's rest before they left the next day. Somehow, she had managed to let Emily talk her into visiting a twenty-four hour, year round haunted house. Well, not somehow, Emily's excitement had been infectious at the time and JJ had always been a sucker for a pretty face and brown eyes so she found herself agreeing to go despite her very real hang-ups about supernatural things. "It's just…Thomas always put things like this in my head when I was a kid and…I don't know, it kind of still freaks me out."
Emily nodded at the mention of JJ's older brother and shuffled forward as they moved ahead in the queue. It was one thing to take Henry to a spooky maze at the Fun Fair, but they were going to have to sign a waiver before entering this place, something Emily had seemed positively gleeful about. "We don't have to go in, you know." Emily offered, her voice low and sincere. "But I'll make sure nothing happens to you if we do."
"I don't know." JJ said, not wanting to give in to her own irrational fears or ruin Emily's good time in equal measure. "Can I hold your hand?"
Emily grinned and wordlessly slipped her hand into JJ's, their fingers automatically entwining.