IMPORTANT:This is PART 2 of chapter 23! Fan fiction wouldn't let me upload it as one chapter so if you haven't already please go back a chapter and read part one.
They ate their breakfast quickly and went back upstairs to get dressed and ready for work. They had gotten into a rhythm over the last few days and it reminded Emily of the rhythm she had had with Will.
There were some noticeable differences though, like the absence of sex and similarly the absence to want to have sex. As well as the cheesy pick up lines and the teenage boy level of compliments that Will often said to Emily in passing.
But there were also some similarities. For one JJ complemented Emily's bra, which was something Will often did. JJ also watched Emily put on her makeup and waited for her to finish getting ready at the door.
Emily didn't let her little lists get to long however because she knew that Will and JJ were different and if she started making connections to how they were the same she would end up driving herself insane.
On the drive to work the two debated on whether to stop at a coffee shop or just settle on the coffee at the office. In the end short time and the fact that the coffee at the office was free won out.
When the car was stopped in the parking garage JJ turned to Emily. "Please don't tell anyone I'm staying at your house."
"Don't worry JJ I won't." Emily said reassuringly before grabbing her bag and getting out.
When they arrived at the office they said good morning to Morgan, Reid and Rossi who were all chatting by Emily's desk.
Emily proceeded to walk towards her desk to talk to her friends while JJ got called to Hotch's office.
Twenty minutes later JJ was calling the team into the conference room and then they all knew they had a case.
Thankfully it turned out to be a local case. There were three dead and one person who fit the general victim type missing. The UNSUB was burning his victims and the team debated on whether or not he was raping them as well. The burn marks on the victims were what looked like symbols but no one on the team recognized them.
The team spent the rest of Monday and Tuesday making up a profile for the sicko of the week and on Wednesday they drove across town to present their profile to the police.
The media was also contacted and almost immediately after the press conference the UNSUB made a crucial mistake of leaving his fingerprint on his forth victim and the police were able to identify and catch him by Thursday morning.
It was not exactly how the team had thought they would catch him but Rossi suggested that the sudden media attention might have made him panic and make a simple mistake.
Once the police officers thanked them they were on the road again. Emily thankful they were only across town and not across the country. She was also thankful that Hotch had given them the rest of the afternoon off.
Before JJ and Emily went back to her apartment they went grocery shopping. They picked up things that JJ liked and things that they could make good meals out of instead of just microwaving.
When they finally got back to Emily's apartment and put away the groceries the two were exhausted. Emily declared that they would not be cooking anything tonight and went to order Chinese food.
"Don't you think it's a little sad that we just bought all that food and we ordered supper?" JJ said from the couch.
"A little lazy but defiantly not sad." Emily concluded.
When the food arrived Emily paid for it and the two ate it in front of the TV. Their nightly routine was the same as the night before and Emily turned out the light early so they would be well rested for the paperwork that waited for them on their desks.
JJ had told Hotch that her and Emily would be taking the afternoon off. She didn't tell him the reason because he was fine without knowing. JJ had arranged for Emily to go in and make her statement to her lawyer after he had called her and told her that Will had signed the divorce papers.
The morning went quickly even though Emily didn't want it to and soon they were leaving the office. Emily drove a little slower to JJ's lawyer's office than usual because she wanted to put it off for as long as she could. She had seen interviews like this done before and she was not very excited about being on the other side of the glass and having to answer all the personal questions.
When they arrived they were a few minutes late so JJ rushed ahead. Emily had never wanted to run away so much in her life but she knew that would hurt JJ even more than she already had so she walked into the lawyer's office.
After a few minutes Michael greeted JJ and Emily and Emily was briefed on what was going to happen. She listened intently and even though she had heard the speech a hundred times it felt so foreign. Emily was also informed that the interview was to be done by one of Michael's partners so that it wouldn't be biased.
Once they got up to go to the little interview room Emily turned to JJ. "Are you sure this is ok? I can appear in court if you want." Emily asked looking directly into JJ's eyes.
"I'm sure." JJ reassured before hugging Emily.
The two walked down the hall and into a room where you could see the interview room through one-way glass. It reminded Emily of an interrogation room but it was more welcoming and a hundred times less intimidating.
Emily was guided into the adjoining room and she heard JJ say good luck before the door separated them. JJ took her seat at the same time Emily did and they waited fro Michael's partner to arrive.
Once he came through the door JJ stood up and shook his hand before he proceeded through the next door to the room where Emily was.
"Hello I'm Daniel and I'm going to be asking you a few questions. Have you been briefed?" He asked in a professional tone.
"Yes, I know what's going on." Emily replied.
"Right because of your job." Daniel said more to himself. "Well you probably already know this but I have to state that this interview is being recorded and parts of it will be shown to a jury."
When Emily nodded Daniel relaxed slightly. "Ok so lets begin. How did you meet William LaMontagne Jr.?"
"He is my co-workers husband and I worked with him through work a few times." Emily replied.
"Did you have any contact with Mr. LaMontagne other than through work in the last two years?"
Emily took a deep breath. This was the big question. "Yes I did. I had an affair with him."
"How long did this affair last?"
"Six months." Emily said while tapping her finger on the table lightly in order to prevent herself from biting at them.
On the other side of the glass JJ's mouth fell open. She listened to Emily explain details of her relationship with Will intently. She listened to Emily not know how many times she had slept with Will and continued to listen until near the end of the interview. It was so much information and it felt like one bombshell after the next and JJ couldn't take it anymore. She needed to get out of there and get some fresh air.
She got up from her seat and walked to the door, slamming it hard on the way out. Emily jumped at the sound and then put her face in her hands.
"I only have a few more questions." Daniel said softly and Emily nodded for him to continue. "When did your relationship with Mr. LaMontagne end?"
"A little over two weeks ago I guess." Emily replied tiredly, suddenly drained of all her energy.
"One final question, why did the relationship end?" Daniel asked.
Emily froze. All of the sudden she started to panic and sweat. She had to tell him the truth she couldn't lie to him. She swore under oath she couldn't lie. She was about to say out loud for the first time that she had gotten raped and suddenly she was not ok with that.
"Ms. Prentiss?" Michael asked gently.
Emily pushed back the tears and sat up straight. She had to do this for JJ and because she had quite literally fucked up and now it was time to face the music. "He raped me in my kitchen." Emily replied.
This in turn led to a few more questions until finally it was over. "Ok I think that about does it. Thank you Emily." Daniel said as he stood up.
Emily stood up and shook his hand and said. "Thank you."
She left the small room and went into the adjoining one to find that JJ wasn't there just like she had expected.
She walked through the building and out into the parking lot but JJ was nowhere to be seen. It had started to get dark out because it was so late in the year so it was going to be more difficult to find JJ but she was willing to look all night if that's what it took.
Meanwhile JJ had walked fairly far and still had no idea where she was going. She couldn't bring herself to care no matter how much she tried.
She had debated on whether or not to listen to Emily's interview and now she wished she hadn't. She learned more about Emily and Will's relationship then she ever thought existed.
Six months.
The thought of Will and Emily together for six months made her want to burst into tears. She had thought that Emily had only slept with Will once but seeing Emily struggle to come up with a number made her insides turn.
She had never felt so betrayed in her life.
JJ continued to walk and realized that at some point she had started to cry. She wiped her eyes so she could see but she didn't bother to try and stop the tears from falling down her face.
She walked into yet another parking lot that belonged to a store she had never heard of. She saw headlights appear behind her all of the sudden. She wasn't scared like she usually would be in fact she kind of hoped it was someone that was going to kidnap her and take her away from this mess she called her life.
The car pulled up beside her and stopped but JJ didn't.
"JJ wait!" Emily yelled as she got out of the car but got no response, not that she really expected one. "JJ please just let me explain." She pleaded as she started to slowly follow behind her.
"Explain what?" JJ said stopping suddenly and turning on her heel. "Explain how you lied to me? Why should I listen to you?" JJ screamed. "So you can come up with some stupid excuse that will somehow make everything better?" JJ asked with her voice overflowing with anger. She let out a huff and said, "I don't think so." Before turning around and walking away again.
"How much did you hear?" Emily countered gently.
"Enough to know that you slept with my husband. A lot." JJ said over her shoulder as she kept walking.
That meant that JJ hadn't heard that Emily was the one to end the relationship or that Will had raped her in her kitchen. She wanted to scream because if anything that was what she had wanted JJ to hear. And now it was too late because Emily knew there was no chance in hell that JJ would believe her if she told her the truth.
"JJ I made a mistake, I'm sorry." Emily said with her voice full of regret.
JJ felt her face get red with anger once again as she turned around to face Emily who had wisely put some distance between them. "Yeah that's what you told me, you made A mistake. Little did I know you made six months worth of mistakes! So many in fact that you can't even come up with an accurate number. I can't believe you!" JJ yelled as she tried to hide the fact that she had started crying again. "How could you?" She whispered almost inaudibly.
Somehow Emily managed to hear her. "I don't know Jay I wish I did." JJ rolled her red eyes. "I know you don't believe me. I know you're mad and probably want to call me all kinds of names but please come home so we can talk about it. You can scream at me and blame me for it all but please come home."
"Oh I'm not going anywhere with you. I can call you a whore and blame you for everything right here just fine." JJ stated firmly.
Emily knew there was a slim chance that JJ was going to go back to her apartment and an even slimmer chance that they would still be friends after this. "Where are you going to go?" She asked.
"Who knows? I'll probably just walk till I drop dead from exhaustion. Why would you care? Call Will, you two can fuck in my bed!"
"JJ seriously!" Emily said raising her voice for the first time.
"I don't know!" JJ yelled like a teenager yelling at her mother. "I'll probably end up at my mothers at some point." She brushed off as she wiped her eyes for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Get in the car I'll drive you." Emily offered but JJ refused. "JJ please. You'll freeze out here. I just want to make sure you're safe I don't care if you talk to me or not."
JJ debated for a minute. She really didn't want to be near Emily but it was getting cold out and it was getting darker. So for her safety she walked over to the car and got in without a word.
Emily thanked the heavens that JJ was going to accept her offer even though looking at the big picture it didn't change anything. Just because JJ was willing to get in the car with her didn't mean that Emily was forgiven or that JJ was even willing to talk to her. It meant she was probably cold.
Emily got in the car and glanced at JJ who was looking out the passenger window. She sighed and put the car in drive and drove to Sandy's house.
Emily had tried to stay strong in case she got the chance to explain what really happened. She had tried to hold the tears back because she knew JJ wouldn't be able to understand her if she was crying. But now sitting in the car with JJ almost completely turned away from her, Emily knew there was no chance. So she let hot, silent tears fall from her eyes.
Emily knew that JJ would react this way but Emily wished she hadn't. Emily knew what really happened with Will and what changed. But JJ didn't and because she had walked out during the interview Emily knew she never would. It was a helpless feeling that was stronger than Emily.
The drive was quick because Emily speeded, wanting to get home as quickly as possible. JJ had yet to say anything but Emily heard her sniffle and cry a little.
When Emily dove into the driveway she parked the car and looked at JJ. "I'm sorry Jay." She whispered.
"I'm sure you are." JJ said sarcastically. "If I didn't file for divorce you would probably be riding my husband right now." JJ spat harshly.
"No JJ I wouldn't." Emily strained. " I promise you wouldn't. Its just…things changed between me and Will an-"
"What, did you get bored of him?" JJ interrupted and turned to Emily for the first time since she got in the car. "I know you Emily. I know what you're like, I know what you did in the past and I know what you're like with men. Let me ask you this, if you were in my situation would you believe anything you're saying or anything you're about to say?" JJ asked surprisingly calmly.
Emily cursed herself. Of course not. No one in their right mind would and that was the problem.
"Well?" JJ probed.
"No." Emily said putting her hand on her forehead.
"That's what I thought." JJ said before opening the door and getting out without another word.
Emily watched her walk up the walkway to her mother's house and watched her disappear into the house.
Fuck! Fuck everything. Fuck Will (figuratively). Fuck her life. Fuck her stupidity. Fuck the last six months of her life. Fuck the next year of her life. Fuck it all.
Emily backed out of the driveway and drove back to her apartment. She felt numb. She had most likely just lost her best friend and she could only blame herself, well and Will but mostly herself.
She drove home fast and carelessly because she honestly didn't care anymore. She didn't care if she got into an accident and she didn't care if she died.
When she finally got into her apartment she didn't bother to lock the door because she didn't care if someone robbed her. Nothing meant anything to her anymore.
She took off her work clothes and went straight to bed, where she planned to stay for the entire weekend. Fuck my life was the last thing she thought before she fell asleep.
I have a little bit of an idea of where to go next but as always suggestions are welcome. Thank you for reading and thank you for sticking with me.