Hey guys, here is your next one shot, thank you to everybody who is reading and reviewing these, I hope you are all enjoying them.

Shout out to Thalie57, who requested and left the idea for this one shot, it is not completely what you asked for as I wanted this to be different from other people's take on a similar situation but I hope you enjoy what I have done with your idea.

Don't forget to let me know what you think!


One Shot Name: Fireworks.

Synopsis: Every year firework shows leave Emily feeling sick for a reason Emily herself doesn't know, this year maybe something or someone will make her feel differently about them.

Rating: K+


Nine: Fireworks.

Emily Prentiss was not a chicken.

She was not scared of anything that didn't have a valid reason.

Hardly anything could break through her tough exterior, apart from her mother's condemning looks of disappointment.

She was tough as nails and tried hard not to let what people thought of her get to her.

She was the queen of compartmentalising.

She put all her thoughts and feelings in little boxes in her mind and shut them away.

Of course there was that one little box that would not shut.

The box that held her feelings for one Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau.

Right now there was another box that was slightly open.

The box that held her hatred of fireworks in.

Yes hatred.

Absolute and utter hatred.

She didn't just not like fireworks, she hated them.

She hated the noises that made her jump.

She hated that fact they made her jump in the first place.

She hated the cold sweat she would feel upon knowing they were coming.

She hated the nauseating feelings she had while waiting to hear them exploding.

What she hated the most was the fact she had no idea why and where this hatred came from in the first place.

Since she was a small child they had always scared her and made her feel this way and she had no idea or reason why.

With her Birthday being in the middle of many different fireworks shows around the world she was always dragged to them as celebration by her mother who was clueless to her fear and hatred of the sparkling exploding monsters in the sky.

She was always able to hide her reactions to events that had fireworks in them until she started working with the BAU.

She was stupid to think she could hide this from them, a team, an entire building, of the best profilers in the world.

Of course they knew.

At least though, they had the decency to not call her on it.

Morgan would chuckle to himself when she told him she felt ill on a day of firework shows, Gideon would give her that little half smile of sympathy, Garcia would ask if she wanted company, Hotch would tell her, unless they were on a case, that she could work from home if she wanted.

They let it go because they knew of her need to be and look strong and in control.

Fireworks made her everything she didn't want to be.

In her eyes they made her weak.

Knock, Knock, Knock.

"Garcia, I told you I'm not in the mood for company tonight!" Emily shouted as she walked towards the door to fend off the bubbly tech.

She knew that her friend meant well, but she didn't want her to see her like this, feeling the way she did, as sick as she was due to what was about to commence in an hour's time.

"Jayje?" Emily asked confused after pulling the door open.

"What are you doing here?" She continued after briefly taking in the blonde's appearance.

JJ was still wearing her work clothes, she was also carrying a supermarket carrier bag that Emily recognised as being the market across from where she lives.

Emily herself had changed from her work clothes hours ago, not feeling up to keeping her ambassadors daughters / FBI agents smart appearance, she had changed into sweats and a hooded jumper for comfort.

"You disappeared from work earlier, Garcia said you weren't feeling well. Sooo, I brought you soup and ice-cream, they always make me feel better." JJ explained pulling each item out of the bag as she mentioned them.

Emily had to forcefully stop her eyes from narrowing, knowing damn well that Garcia probably had a big part to play in JJ's turning up on her doorstep right now.

Why couldn't see have just told JJ that the reason she feels un-well is due to these damn firework shows, and that she would be better if left alone to place those feelings back in their little box in mind?

But no Garcia had to be, well Garcia.

She had to find a way to get JJ to come over here knowing that JJ was the one person she would not send away, that she couldn't send away.

"Yeah, think I have a cold or something." Emily said adding a cough at the end for good measure.

"Uhuh. Don't think that bottle of red will really help much in that case." JJ said raising an eyebrow in question noticing the bottle of wine sat on a table just inside the door with a bottle opener next to it, Emily had been about to open the bottle just as JJ knocked on the door.

"You're probably right." Emily said stepping aside to let the blonde in, damning her mind as the JJ box opened a little bit more, wishing she could just send the blonde away instead.

There was one part of mind screaming at her to do so, while the other part told her she needed to let someone in and stop pushing everybody away.

Closing the door Emily followed JJ through the hallway into her kitchen and took a seat on one of the kitchen island stools, resting her head atop her one hand on the table watching as JJ started to take the cans of soup and ice-cream tub out of the bag.

"Chicken noodle or Tomato?" JJ asked with her back turned as she put the ice-cream away in Emily's freezer.

"You pick." Emily said as she watched the way her friend moved confidently around her kitchen.

She would never admit this to anyone but she secretly loved the fact that JJ was here right now and attempting to take care of her, even if she didn't really need it.

JJ nodded, before grabbing the two cans of chicken noodle soup and opening them up, she placed the contents in a saucepan that she found in an overhead compartment above the cooker.

"So, are you going to tell me what's really going on?" She asked as she turned the right side cooking hob on and placed the pan over the heat before turning back to look at Emily expectantly.

"I told you, I think I have a cold or something." Emily said adding a cough again for good measure before shrugging her shoulders.

"Lair." JJ said simply.

"Excuse me?" Emily said confused.

"I know you're lying. After working with you and a group of the best profilers in the world do you really think I wouldn't be able to tell when someone is lying?" JJ said raising an eyebrow again before turning to the cooker and stirring the soup with a wooden spoon she had found in a small container near the cooker top.

"What happened to that no profiling each other rule?" Emily said amused and slightly impressed at her friend's ability to read her so well.

"More of an observation really. Besides, while we are on the issue, can you really tell me that you have never profiled me?" JJ said as she turned back around to face Emily.

"Okay you got me there." Emily said with a small smile which JJ mirrored.

"In my defence though, sometimes you're not very forthcoming with how you truly feel. You're good with words, you use them to hide behind." Emily said watching JJ's reaction to what she said.

"That's true I guess." JJ said, not many people knew that about her, it didn't surprise her one bit that Emily had picked it up though.

"You deflect." She stated matter of factually.

"Guilty." Emily replied with a smile.

Emily watched JJ turn back around to the soup again stirring it lightly, before turning back to face her again.

"You know on the jet you told me once that fearing something doesn't make me any less of an agent. It doesn't make you any less of an agent either." JJ said locking eyes with Emily.

"What makes you think I'm afraid of something?" Emily countered.

"You're acting the way I do on the jet. You're tense, you feel sick, and you're keeping everybody at arm's length so you don't have to tell them what's going on in your head. You don't want to tell them because you don't really understand yourself why you feel the way you do." JJ said quietly.

"You should ask Hotch to send you on the profiler's course, you really would make a great profiler." Emily said after a silence had filled the room for a few moments.

"Stop deflecting Em." JJ replied softly.

Emily looked at JJ releasing a long sigh before taking her head off of her hand and placing both hands on the kitchen island counter in front of her.

"It's this fireworks show tonight, it's got me all worked up." Emily admitted.

"You don't like the fireworks?" JJ asked, it was more of a statement than a question but she asked anyway for confirmation that she had understood what Emily was trying to tell her correctly.

"I hate them." Emily said looking down.

"I hate the fact they make me feel like this, every year everybody gets so excited for these shows, saying how pretty they are and how fun it is to watch. I try, I really do, but I hate them. The first bang makes me want to throw up and I have no idea why. It's the noise, I can't stand it, I hate that it makes me feel so weak." Emily explained feeling relieved at being able to tell someone how she really felt, yet ashamed of the way she feels at the same time.

She had never told anybody before, she knew the team knew, but she never spoke to them about it, she didn't want that look of pity people give you when they know you are afraid of something so trivial.

Both agents were silent again for a moment, JJ taking in what Emily had just told her, Emily refusing to look back up, refusing to see the pity she thought would be in her friend's eyes.

"Do you trust me?" JJ asked breaking the silence.

Emily looked back up at the question, she hadn't expected that, nor had she expected to see the understanding she saw in JJ's eyes when she looked up at her.

No pity.

Just understanding.

"Yes." Emily answered, she didn't even have to think about it.

"Good." JJ answered simply, turning back around to the soup and stirring again.

"Do you have a jumper I can borrow?" JJ asked her back still turned.

"Yes?" Emily said confused, the yes sounding more like a question.

"I'm taking you out somewhere, get some blankets and a couple of pillows as well." JJ instructed turning back around to face Emily who looked unsure.

"You'll be fine, trust me." JJ assured her.

"Okay." Emily said softly after a pause before jumping down from her stool to retrieve the items as JJ turned back to the soup and took it off the heat.

JJ then turned to an overhead cupboard near the fridge freezer and took out two heated flasks, she opened one and filled it with the now boiled soup, before flicking on the kettle to prepare coffee for the second flask.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Emily looked around after noticing the car had stopped to see that JJ wasn't behind the wheel, she could feel a soft breeze behind her.

She looked at her surroundings confused, they had been driving for around forty minutes or so but she had been lost in her thoughts and hadn't really been paying attention to where the blonde was taking her.

They appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, currently atop a cliff near some mountains overlooking the city which they had been driving through before.

Looking back she could see the car boot, that was facing the city, was open and JJ was arranging the blankets and pillows they had brought with them in the boot area.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

"Making sure we will be comfy back here for the show." JJ replied.

"What show?" Emily replied anxiously.

"You'll be fine, trust me." JJ replied assuring her the same way as she had earlier after hearing the anxious tone of her friend's voice.

"Feel free to come and help me anytime, lazy." She continued jokingly.

"I'm not lazy, I'm just comfortable where I am." Emily replied.

"Fine, no coffee or soup for you then." JJ said innocently before hopping in amongst the pillows and blankets she had arranged in the boot and relaxing.

JJ laughed as she heard Emily grumble something under her breath about blondes stealing her coffee before the passenger side door opened and then closed shortly after.

Smiling to herself JJ poured some coffee into two little plastic cups that were sat on top of the heated flask just as Emily came around and climbed into the back next to her, before settling down against the pillows and taking the offered cup of coffee bringing it up to her lips to take a sip.

"Where the hell are we anyway?" Emily asked after taking her sip of coffee, looking to her side she could see the soup had also been portioned out and still steaming hot.

"There's a clifftop trail up there, this is the highest point you can drive to till you have to hike the rest. It's the only place I found in the area that isn't surrounded by woodland. I come here when I need space to think because it's quiet." JJ explained.

"You come here alone?" Emily asked surprised.

"Usually. You're the first person I've brought out here." JJ replied.

"Christ Jayje! You could end up being one of the victims we profile, coming here alone at night." Emily said concerned.

"I usually come here in the day time, I've only been here once before at night. Besides, tonight I've got the big bad Emily Prentiss with me for protection. I think I'll be alright." JJ joked before taking a sip of her own coffee.

"That's why you wanted me to sit in the back with you then, to be your bodyguard?" Emily joked taking a sip of her own coffee before turning back to JJ.

The fireworks show had just started and so far Emily had yet to notice as she was too busy watching JJ and enjoying the conversation they were having.

As she watched the younger agent she couldn't help thinking about how the cream knitted jumper she had loaned her friend looked so good on her and brought out the colour in her eyes.

"That and to enjoy the show better." JJ replied after finishing her coffee and placing the cup down in the boot bringing Emily out of her thoughts.

JJ turned to watch Emily, watching as the older girls face showed surprise at seeing the fireworks, she watched as her muscles tensed at first before relaxing.

"I can't hear them." Emily stated, surprised and relieved.

"I know." JJ said settling back against the pillows and blankets before letting her head drop on Emily's shoulder as she turned to watch the fireworks show.

JJ smiled to herself as she felt Emily relax next to her placing her own finished cup of coffee down before turning to watch the show as well.

"Thanks Jay." Emily said simply.

She was so grateful right now she didn't know how to express herself other than saying a simple thank you, she knew that JJ would understand, just like she understood how Emily felt earlier.

As she watched the now almost completely silent firework show she found herself able to close the little box in her mind that held her hatred for fireworks and for the first time in her life she found herself seeing the true beauty they could hold.

All that was thanks to JJ, her best friend, the one person she couldn't keep hidden in a box in her mind, the one person that understood just how she felt even though Emily didn't understand that herself.


AN: Dont forget to let me know what you thought!