Sunday

The first thing Emily noticed when she woke up was that she was cold. She looked around the room and quickly discovered the reason why: she had forgotten to close her bedroom window the night before. She pulled the covers up around her and rolled onto her back, staring idly at her ceiling.

True, the day before hadn't been as bad as she had expected, but attending one of her mother's political functions was never what she would describe as enjoyable. After laying in bed for ten minutes, she finally rose from her bed and prepared for her morning run.

Emily set out on her run through the nation's capital. She preferred running outdoors to a treadmill and Fall was her favorite season for it. She loved the feeling of the cool air filling her lungs and her cheeks flushing. She also loved the way the leaves looked, their green giving way to oranges, browns, and yellows, and the crunching sounds below her feet as she moved along the path.

Usually she listened to music as she ran but this time she opted not to in order to concentrate better on thinking. It was still pretty early and there were few people on the trail. Moving through her thoughts, Emily decided that the best approach was just to go to JJ's house and lay it all out there. She tried not to think about or plan too much what she wanted to say; she preferred her speech to be more impromptu and sincere.

An hour later, Emily had made the trip across town and was slowly walking towards JJ's door. She had carefully chosen her outfit of dark jeans and a fitted gray sweater because JJ had once complimented how nice she looked wearing it. But none of that mattered now. Her heart felt as if it was going to beat out of her chest, the pulse deafening to her ears as she finally reached the door.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, she opened her eyes and raised a shaky hand to the doorbell. Emily could hear the bell through the door as it resonated throughout the house. After a few seconds of hearing no other sounds, Emily raised her fist and delivered three swift knocks on the solid wood door. Still hearing nothing, Emily stepped to the left of the door and leaned close to the window. Cupping her eyes with her hands to shield the sunlight, she peered into the entryway. It appeared as though JJ wasn't home.

Disappointed, Emily walked back to her Range Rover. She sat at the wheel for a minute, wondering where JJ might be. She remembered that on the weekends JJ loved to frequent a coffee shop down the street. Faced with the decision of waiting for JJ in her driveway or checking the coffee shop, Emily decided not to wait. She backed out of the driveway and headed towards the shop.

Minutes later Emily drove around the small shop once, looking for JJ's car. She didn't see it but decided to go inside and check anyway. She parked and entered the coffee shop and quickly determined that JJ wasn't there either. Not knowing where else to go, Emily returned to her SUV and began the drive back home. Doubts about what she was doing began to creep in. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Emily pulled onto her street and found a spot near her building. Finding a spot so close meant at least something was going her way today. She exited her vehicle and made her way towards the front door of her building. The sun had warmed the air considerably since her run earlier that morning and she noticed there were a lot of people outside enjoying what was probably that last semi-warm day of the year. She passed a few people on the sidewalk as she approached the stairs in front of her building. She was staring straight ahead but was so wrapped in her own thoughts that she wasn't focusing on her surroundings. She lightly brushed against someone's arm as she reached the stairs. She turned her head to mumble an apology as she continued on.

Her eyes cast downward, Emily began climbing the stairs towards the front door of her building. She was about halfway up when she paused, at the same time raising her gaze from the pavement to stare in front of her. Her mind had caught up with her eyes. She slowly turned on the step. JJ was standing at the bottom of the steps.

Now that Emily stood facing her, a slow smile crept across the blonde's face.

"JJ? What are you doing here?"

JJ didn't respond right away. Instead, the two women stood staring at each other, the brunette looking down, as she was five steps higher than the blonde.

"You were talking about me, weren't you?" JJ finally replied, ignoring Emily's question.

"Talking about you? When?"

"Friday. On the plane." JJ knew she didn't need to elaborate.

"Ah." Emily broke their gaze to look down at her hands. She had her fingers interlocked and was nervously pressing her left thumb into her right palm. She knew her lack of denial was as good as an admission but she couldn't bring herself to answer in the affirmative yet. Instead, she looked back at JJ and countered, "Would you like to come inside?"

The blonde only nodded, before starting up the stairs as Emily had turned back towards the door.

"Where have you been so early on a Sunday morning?"

Emily never for a second considered lying. "To your house. And then The Coffee Shop." JJ didn't ask why.

They silently made their way into the building and up the stairs to Emily's third floor apartment. Emily used her keys to open the door and enter her place. Without looking back, she set her keys on her entryway table and silently made her way to her apartment's picture window. She knew JJ had followed her in and closed the door behind them.

After a moment to compose herself, Emily found the courage to turn towards her best friend. "Listen, JJ, about Friday..."

Emily was cut off before she could completely turn around. Unbeknownst to her, JJ had followed her nearly all the way to the window and had stopped only feet from her. As the brunette had turned to speak, JJ had closed the short distance and was now pressing her lips firmly to Emily's as her hands went to the back of Emily's head and pulled the brunette closer.

Emily closed her eyes and returned JJ's eager kiss, her own hands immediately going to JJ's waist and then wrapping her arms around JJ's back. Emily didn't stop to think about why JJ was doing this. All her mind could comprehend was how she had thought of this moment countless times for three years and yet somehow, impossibly, it was exponentially better than she ever could have imagined.

After a minute, JJ hesitantly broke the kiss and took a half step back, still in Emily's embrace but their bodies no longer flush.

"I don't understand..." Emily was the first to speak, her eyes searching the blonde's blue ones for an explanation. JJ stepped out of her arms and walked to the window, taking in the vast and picturesque scene. Emily's eyes followed her the whole way.

JJ turned to Emily and half smiled before beginning, "I realized something yesterday, something I should have figured out a long time ago. See, when you were saying what you said on the plane on Friday, I got jealous. At the time, I thought I was just jealous that you had everything so figured out. But I realized last night that I was jealous of whoever it was that you were talking about. And the more I thought about it, the more everything suddenly made sense. The lingering touches. The looks. It's why the thing with Will felt like something was missing. On Friday, you were talking about me, but I could just have easily been talking about you." She realized she had made a daring assumption that she hadn't fully had confirmed yet by the brunette. "You were talking about me, right?"

Emily moved to within a foot of the JJ and raised her right hand to cup JJ's face. She bent slightly, so her eyes were level with the blonde's. "JJ, I've loved you for three years." She paused, taking a breath. "I'm in love with you."

"Is that why you were at my house this morning?"

"Yes." Emily nodded. Her expression turned serious. "JJ, I can't promise how this is going to turn out..."

"I know," the blonde cut her off, "but I don't care. I love you, too, Emily."

Emily smiled before leaning in and briefly kissing JJ again, softer this time. Pulling away, she smiled at the blonde before walking back towards the door to her condo and retrieving her keys.

"Where are you going?"

Emily opened her front door, without looking back, "We are going to get some coffee." She turned to face JJ and was now motioning for to go through the door. "I may love you, Jareau, but I simply am terrified of the thought of you without coffee after 9 a.m."

JJ laughed before making her way towards the brunette. "As if I'd ever be rough to you."

"Oh, that I am counting on, for sure." Emily replied, a mischievous look in her dark eyes.

JJ blushed and playfully slapped Emily's arm as she walked past her and into the hallway. Emily locked the door and then hand in hand they made their way towards the stairs. Ready to begin their day and every day after it.

A/N: This story was inspired by "Babylon" by David Gray.