A/N: Hi everyone! First, thank you so much for the interest in this story. I know you have some questions, but you're going to have to put them on hold for a bit, because this story is going to be told in a 'back and forth' kinda way. Also, this will also answer the question about why I tagged this Emily/JJ femslash. Just because it wasn't in the prologue doesn't mean it doesn't exist. *grins*
Emily Prentiss had known from the second she met Jennifer Jareau that the woman would be trouble. She was sunshine and coffee, and Emily couldn't look away. The media liaison for the Behavioral Analysis Unit, the woman did much more than just stand in front of cameras or pick which case the team took up. She was beautiful and young and smart, and Emily found herself feeling things she hadn't in a long time.
"Hey, Emily, you free tonight?"
"Hmm?" Without looking up from the report she was writing, Emily shifted her body in the direction JJ's voice had come from.
"You free?" JJ repeated, dropping a hand to idly brush her fingers along the wood of Emily's desk. Catching the motion out of the corner of her eye, Emily managed not to change the expression on her face. She started writing faster.
Finishing the sentence she was working on, Emily slapped the file down in satisfaction, the pen following right after it. "Alright!" she smiled, looking up at JJ properly, "The answer to that question depends on what the rest of your inquiry is."
JJ smiled back, loosely crossing her arms. She raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Well…" Lowering her eyes, Emily nodded, "You see, if you were to finish your questioning with, 'Would you like to accompany me to that new club on 4th?,' I'd be more inclined to tell you yes than if you were to end it with, 'My next door neighbor has a fourteen year old who's into Justin Bieber and has tickets to his concert but her parents are busy so I stupidly agreed to take her in their place and I don't want to go alone – '"
"Okay!" Interrupting her, JJ made a face at her. "That was only once. You don't need to rub it in."
Emily grinned. "Oh, but that's the fun part."
"Fun part?" Walking back over to his desk with a mug of coffee, Reid smiled curiously at both women. Sliding his mug down, he took a seat.
Before JJ could respond, Emily smoothly offered, "Making fun of JJ."
"Emily!" Lightly slapping Emily's shoulder, JJ huffed, "That's not fair. How was I supposed to know who Justin Bieber was? Or that there would be thousands of screaming prepubescent girls?"
Emily raised her hands in a placating motion, pushing her chair back a bit to get out of JJ's range. "Hey, I knew who he was."
"So? Somehow that didn't surprise me." JJ's tone was full of suggestion, the corners of her lips turning up as she looked at Emily pointedly.
"Hey, what does that mean?"
Sensing he might be kicked out of the conversation completely if he didn't attempt some sort of interruption, Reid slightly raised his voice, "I knew who he was."
That got both women's attention. "How do you – " Emily started, JJ taking up the slack to finish, "Know who Justin Bieber is?" They looked at him in total shock.
Flushing a little at the sudden complete attention, Reid brought his coffee mug up to his mouth. "I find the social phenomenon of teen superstars fascinating. Like, did you know that out of the hundreds of musicians signed to a label each year, only an eighth of them achieve what could be classified as success? And of that eighth, only twelve percent even come close to what – ? "
From where she was nodding dismissively throughout his speech, Emily cut in, "Reid. You're a horrible liar."
Reid flushed. "Okay," he looked down, "Garcia pulled me into her office and forced me to watch a video before she would give me the information I asked for."
Emily reached over to pat his shoulder supportively. Then, meeting JJ's eyes, they both nodded decisively. "Garcia."
"You rang, mere mortals? Look upon this goddess and be granted knowledge that lesser gods could not even attempt to comprehend." Walking into the bullpen, Morgan trailing after her, Garcia beamed at the three agents. "Hello, my lovelies. What are we talking about?"
"Uh, Justin Bieber," Reid piped up helpfully.
"Justin Bieber?" Morgan repeated, nodding hello at everyone. Taking up position between JJ and Garcia, he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, now this I gotta hear."
A broad smile crossed Garcia's face. "Justin Bieber," she gushed dramatically, "Ohh, if only I were privy to the CIA's secret Fountain of Youth serum, I'd be on him like white on rice. I tell you." She waved a hand in the air, "That boy is the poster child for attracting those teetering on the edge of icky cougar-dom."
"I thought that was Taylor Lautner?"
Garcia wheeled around and whacked Emily on the head. "Get with the program, sister! Taylor Lautner – while his abs may still go on for miles and he has an insane amount of charisma – is last year. As well as legal." She added almost in afterthought.
Morgan cleared his throat, conspicuously flexing under his shirt.
Grinning, Garcia wrapped an appreciative hand around Morgan's bicep. "Don't worry, my chocolate Adonis. He has nothing on you."
"Damn right, baby girl. And don't you forget it." Flashing white teeth, Morgan nodded at her, then walked past Reid to take a seat at his own desk. Sitting down, he leaned forward to tease the doctor, "So, Reid, how's the nonexistent gym membership going?"
Letting air out of her mouth, Emily smirked, shaking her head. "Boys," she commented, successfully distracting Garcia and JJ's attention from the two males, "JJ, you were saying…?"
"Hey! Morgan's all man," Garcia bristled, narrowing her eyes at Emily, and Emily raised a hand. "Fine," she nodded, "All man. Now, can we please get back to JJ's original question? I want to hurry before Justin Bieber or anything else gets mentioned." She shot Garcia a pointed look, stopping the redhead from saying the words she had opened her mouth to say. "No Justin Bieber," she said strongly, holding Garcia's gaze until she deflated and pouted, throwing a hand in the air to signify she'd acquiesce.
"Ohhkay," JJ watched the interplay between Emily and the technical analyst, doing a good job of purposefully struggling to keep a smile back, "If I may interrupt? Alright, great. Garcia."
"Yes?"
"I'm glad you're here. You can help me convince this one," she tilted her head in Emily's direction, "To come out with us tonight."
Emily crossed her arms. Glancing at the reports on her desk, she mentally calculated how long it would take to finish them, and, waiting until Garcia had finished squealing excitedly about a Girl's Night Out, she schooled her expression, "It takes two to convince me, now?"
"You know it, missy," Garcia looked at Emily over the top of her glasses; because Emily was sitting and Garcia was standing, the effect looked comical, and the redhead had to quickly push her glasses back up her nose and straighten before they slid off her nose. "You're the queen of overworking and boredom."
"I am not boring!" Emily protested, sitting up ramrod straight and gaping at Garcia. "JJ! Tell her I'm not boring!"
"Well…"
Emily's mouth dropped open as she stared at the knuckle bump Garcia gave JJ. "Meu deus," she muttered under her breath, giving the both of them an unimpressed glare before standing up and walking around both women to make her way to the coffee machine. "Excuse me, ladies," she sniffed pompously, pushing past them, "I am going to get myself some coffee, and then I am going to finish my reports, and then, as you two seem convinced that I am a lame, lame Jane, I will head home to spend a lovely night snuggled up to Sergio and a glass of lame, lame wine." Once her back was turned, she smirked to herself.
"Sacrilege!" Garcia gasped, following after her.
Picking up the coffee carafe, Emily shrugged lightly. "Your loss, really," she teased, rolling her head back to give both of her friends a small quirk of the lips, "Sergio's a handsome boy."
"I don't disagree…" JJ started, mouthing thank you when Emily handed her a filled mug; Emily nodded, smiling, "He is one handsome boy."
"But he has nothing on us: a pair of hot mommas!" Garcia butted in.
Turning, Emily rested her hip against the counter, lifting her mug to her lips to take a sip. "Hot mommas… Sergio…" she orally weighed.
Garcia stared at her. "Prentiss, put the coffee down."
"What?"
"Put the coffee down."
It was Emily's turn to say, "Ohhkay…" Setting the mug down, she absently wiped her hands on her thighs. Looking back up at the redhead after flicking her gaze over to see if JJ knew what was going on, she smiled. "What?"
Barely a second passed before Garcia drew back and poked Emily violently in the shoulder of the arm that had been holding the coffee. "No!" she gesticulated wildly, JJ smothering a laugh at Emily's gobsmacked look, "No contest! You, my dark beauty, cannot say no to a Girl's Night Out! It's not done!" She gestured at herself then at JJ, finally shimmying, "Look at us! We need our hot brunette! And face it, Emily Elizabeth Prentiss, there's no way you can say no to our outstanding company and gorgeous bodies and personalities and attraction for all things fun and alcoholic and most likely criminally illegal that we shall never speak of ever again on threat of cyber sabotage that you will never, never live down."
A wide smile crossed Emily's face. "Well… If you put it that way…" she picked her mug back up again, "I guess I'll be accompanying you two tonight."
"Yes!" Garcia crowed, doing a victory dance.
Beaming, JJ met Emily's eyes. Her blue eyes full of sparkling merriment and lips turned up in a stunning smile, she dipped her head. Smiling back, Emily allowed her heart to flutter before turning back and chuckling at the quirky analyst's continuing dance.