JJ hurriedly pulled down her shirt as the door to the ladies' room opened.
"Hey, what was that?" Emily asked worriedly. "Are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital?"
"No, I'm fine." JJ pulled the hem of her shirt back up, revealing a large welt on her side where electricity had been used to torture her. "I just…" She sighed as she studied it in the mirror. "It'll scar."
Emily stepped closer with a small smile. "You could get a tattoo. Maybe a phoenix, or a blackbird?"
JJ couldn't help but return the smile a little bit. "I do like the song." She put her shirt back in place and stepped closer to Emily, placing a finger at the neckline of her shirt. "What did you do?"
Emily let JJ pull at her neckline to reveal the faint remnants of her brand, faded but still there. "Lots of Mederma."
"Hm," JJ responded quietly as she lightly traced a finger over the scar. "It looks good."
Emily chuckled wryly. "No it doesn't. Even with concealer I still can't bring myself to wear anything low-cut."
"Shh, you're beautiful," JJ reassured.
"Yeah? How much have you had to drink?" Emily fought a shiver as JJ leaned against her slightly, continuing to trace the scar with a finger.
"You're beautiful whether I've had a pint of beer or a pint of ice cream."
"One pint? Lightweight," Emily teased.
"I have an excuse, I hadn't eaten for twenty-four hours!"
JJ continued to smile lazily as she leaned her head on Emily's shoulder, still transfixed by the brand. Emily's expression, however, became serious as she wrapped JJ in a bear hug.
"I was so worried. I'm so glad you're okay."
JJ buried her face in Emily's neck, reveling in the security of her warm embrace. "Now you know how we felt when you faked your death, sort of. Except you didn't have to go to my funeral."
"Don't even say that word," Emily shushed as she ran her fingers through JJ's hair.
JJ wrapped her arms loosely around Emily's waist. "Do you have to go back?"
Emily rubbed JJ's back briefly before pulling back enough to meet JJ's gaze. "We'll keep in touch, Cheeto Breath."
Emily groaned and tried to roll over to escape the sunlight that seemed to be hitting her right in the eyes. As she stretched out her legs she realized that the bed she was in was rather small, and sat up to find herself in a room full of space and dinosaurs and a bunch of scaled-down furniture. She rubbed her eyes and stifled a yawn as she made her way out of Henry's room, wondering where the kid was if she had woken up in his bed.
A heavenly smell led her to the kitchen, where William was making pancakes. He took one look at her confused expression and pointed down the hallway with the spatula. "JJ and Henry are still in bed. Master bedroom's at the end of the hallway."
Emily nodded wordlessly and plodded down the hall to find Henry curled up in a little ball next to a sprawled-out JJ. Emily knelt next to JJ's bed, moved JJ's hair out of her face, and poked her in the cheek. "What happened?"
JJ groaned, trying to go back to sleep. "Get your own damned code."
"Hey, it's Emily. JJ, what happened last night?"
JJ groped for her phone on the bedside table, found it, and squinted at the display. "You missed your plane."
"Shit."
JJ, having finally opened her eyes fully, was staring at Emily. "Shit," she echoed softly.
Emily looked down to where JJ was staring to find a rather large, very new tattoo of a blackbird with wings spread across her chest. "Shit," she agreed. "I'm not sure about Interpol's policy on tattoos. Really big, really permanent tattoos."
"It's beautiful," JJ assured Emily absentmindedly as she scrolled through her phone in search of evidence of what exactly had happened last night. "And badass."
"Hey, let's see…" JJ lay compliant, squinting at her phone, as Emily tried to move JJ's comforter and pajama top without waving Henry. "Shit," she breathed.
"What?"
"I guess they have a policy about tattooing over fresh welts but you, ah, you have a tattoo around it." Emily traced a finger over the words that encircled JJ's scar: "blackbird fly, into the light of the dark black night."
"I have an event on my phone for a month from now. The location is Crazy Jay's Tattoo and Piercing and the description just says 'middle blackbird finish yay'. I wonder if I already put a deposit on that appointment. 'Crazy Jay's' doesn't sound too promising."
"You seem rather chill about this. We just woke up, hung-over, with tattoos and you're calmly checking your phone? Are you still drunk?"
"But we match, that's pretty awesome." JJ went for a fistbump before adding with a mischievous grin "and mine isn't nearly as visible as yours."
Emily swatted away JJ's fist with a groan.
