Two updates in one day! Don't get used to that, I'll try to update regularly but generally not this often.
Emily unlocked her door and walked into the dark apartment with a box balanced in one arm and her ready bag slung over the other, flicking lights on as she went. Carrie cautiously followed her, trying to take in everything, with a box of her own and JJ brought up the rear carrying a third. It took the women two more trips to get all of Carrie's stuff up to the condo and into the living room, by the time they were finished it was almost eight o' clock and the three of them were exhausted.
"What do you guys say to ordering some pizza? I know there's nothing in the fridge after being out of town for so long." Emily asked the other two.
"I'm just gonna head home, I'm totally beat. Thanks for the offer though." Carrie was surprised to find that the woman didn't live with Emily. "I know you don't have work tomorrow but you still have those reports to do from this case, I'll swing by after work and pick them up off you then. If you want to extend your offer for dinner until then I might just take you up on that." JJ said with a slightly flirtatious tone and a smirk, forgetting about the teenager in their presence who was taking in all these little details and filing them away for later.
"Okay I'll talk to you later on Jen."
"See you tomorrow Carrie." The blonde called over her shoulder as Emily saw her to the door.
"See you then." She called back, not entirely sure what to call the woman. She'd heard her introduce herself as Jennifer, Agent Jareau and JJ but she'd also heard Emily call her Jayj and now Jen.
"Hey what topping would you like on your pizza? I'm sorry I don't have anything else but we've been out of town and it's too late to go to the store. Oh god do you even like pizza?" The older woman was very obviously nervous.
"Emily, relax, it's okay, I'm nervous too. Yes I like pizza, pepperoni is my favourite and I understand why you have no food in the house." Carrie said with a small smile.
"I'm sorry, you're the one who must be so much more nervous, you're now living in a new city, half way across the country with a woman you only met three days ago. I want you to know that you can ask me anything and I'll do my very best to answer it. Also if there's anything you want or need you just have to ask me. Over the next few weeks we'll get you set up with everything like school and such. I have two weeks off work okay?" When she received a nod in agreement she added, "Right, how about I show you around the house and get you settled before we order food?"
Carrie followed Emily around the condo in awe as she saw all the different rooms. Eventually they reached the room that was now hers. "Well, what do you think? We can paint it whatever colour you want and get you some new furnishings and then move in your stuff this week. If there's anything else you want from back home I can have it sorted and brought here, you just have to ask." Seeing that the girl was a little overwhelmed Emily changed the conversation, "You must be hungry, wanna go order the pizza?"
"Sounds good to me." Carrie replied with a smile.
Ten minutes later the two were sitting on the couch waiting for their food to arrive when Emily thought it would be good to get to know the teenager better. But not wanting to overwhelm the youngster more she came up with an idea "Hey, how about we get to know each other a little better? For every question you answer, you get to ask me one in return?" When Carrie nodded she asked her first question. "When is your birthday?"
"I'll be fifteen in six weeks time, on the tenth of December. Yours?"
"I turned thirty-seven on the twelfth of October. What's your favourite food?"
The conversation went on like this for several minutes, favourite foods, songs movies, sports, colours. Carrie generally just asking Emily the same question she had been asked until she started enjoying the conversation.
Finally gathering up the courage to ask more personal questions she asked, "Why did you join the FBI?"
"I travelled a lot as a kid, with my Mother being who she is. I saw some awful things growing up and I decided at a young age that I wanted to help people, catch people who did awful things in the world." The conversation was starting to be more like that, a conversation, and less like twenty questions.
Eventually Carrie got up the courage to ask the older woman what she had been wanting to ask for most of their conversation "Are you in a relationship?"
Not really knowing how to reply to that with what was happening with JJ, whatever that was she just said "Not really, no."
"Not really? I'm surprised, I thought you and Agent Jareau..." she tailed off, it was obvious what she was implying.
Emily almost choked on the drink of water she had just taken "Me and JJ, you can call her that, you don't have to call any of us Agent, well it's complicated."
"Complicated huh? It doesn't look like it to me."
"What does it look like to you?"
"Put it this way, I was surprised when she said she was going home."
Confused by this, it took a moment for Emily to comprehend what Carrie was implying "Wait, you thought she lived here?"
"Maybe not lived here, I know you said earlier that you live on your own, but I definitely thought you guys stayed together, like, a lot." Carrie was enjoying the conversation, it was a nice distraction after the events of the last few days. Emily could see that the conversation was good for the teen and frankly, it was nice to have someone to talk to about this who was removed from the situation.
"What makes you think that?"
"Just the glances and the little touches. You two have been together every time I've seen you. You two were holding hands when I got in the car at the- earlier. And oh god, the flirting! 'If you want to extend your offer for dinner until then I might just take you up on that.'" She said, mimicking JJ from earlier "Really, if that's not flirting, I don't know what is. So come on, spill, what's the deal with you and 'Jen'" she demanded, using air quotes around the profilers nick name for JJ.
"Okay me and 'Jen'" Emily replied, using air quotes right back "are more than just friends, happy? Wait that doesn't bother you does it?"
"Emily why would that bother me? Because both of you are women? Of course that doesn't bother me. What do you mean by more than friends."
"I don't know, we've always felt like more than friends, I think it was always bound to happen. A few weeks ago we you know..." She felt a lot more self-conscious all of a sudden.
"You slept together?" Carrie asked, completely unphased.
"Yeah anyway and it's happened a few times since and we haven't talked about it since but I like her, I really like her."
"So ask her out."
"I don't know..." Emily stalled, just as the doorbell rang "Oh look, pizza, I'm going to get that." With that she jumped up, not able to help the feeling that she'd been saved by the bell.
Bringing the pizza to the kitchen island, the two pulled up stools and, to Emily's relief, the conversation turned to light chit-chat as the two ate their pizza, neither realising how hungry they had been until they smelled it.
Both exhausted after the events of the last two days and all the changes to their lives, the two decided to go to bed after they finished eating, both nervous but for different reasons. Emily that she hadn't been doing a good job of settling the teen and Carrie that the men who murdered her family would haunt her dreams again.
A little bit of fluff between Emily and Carrie, I just wanted the two to have a bit of a bonding moment before it gets angsty.