DC, October (Halloween) 2004
"Are you ready, ladies?" Agatha calls. "Check this out!"
JJ and Alex turn their heads to look as the other woman comes out from her room, wearing a clearly Pirates of the Caribbean-inspired dress, showing a lot of cleavage. And Agatha certainly has a lot to show in that aspect. JJ sighs.
"I've seen it three times already. It still looks awesome. I'm still jealous. Okay?"
"Uh, wow," Alex - who sees it for the first time - says as she absently keeps ruffling JJ's hair. "I hope you have a cardigan to go with it."
"Pirates don't wear cardigans, arrr!" Agatha replies, her eyes twinkling.
"You sound more Irish than pirate to me," Alex remarks.
"I am Irish," Agatha says in her normal voice and grins. "Hey, Jen, how are you feeling?"
"Better," JJ replies without sitting up. Her head is resting on Alex's lap.
"Yeah, I bet," Agatha teases her. "Hey, Al, maybe you should get yourself a nurse outfit for this Halloween…"
"Goodbye Miss Christie, have a nice evening somewhere else," Alex says in that haughty teacher's voice that has JJ purring like a kitten every time she uses it. Agatha laughs and stops messing around.
"Don't worry about that, Al, I will," she says, steps over the mountain of shoes on the doormat - Alex's high-heeled black boots are somewhere in that pile too - and opens the door.
"Will you be back later?" Alex asks as she puts the thermometer in JJ's mouth. She and Agatha have developed a very comfortable relationship, half casual friends, half nagging mom/resigned adult daughter. It's no wonder; Alex has been spending more time at their place than she has at her own sterile showroom of a home for the past few weeks, and since miracles do happen sometimes, Agatha hasn't disapproved. Maybe because Alex isn't reluctant to help out when necessary, or because as much as she wants to be underneath JJ's clothes, she shows some basic respect when they have company. Or maybe because they simply click. Agatha is the only person in the world who gets away with calling Alex "Al", but to her surprise she realises that she actually likes it. It's like having a secret codename.
"Maybe, unless my treat wants to show some tricks back at his place after the party," Agatha says and wiggles her eyebrows. Alex sighs and rolls her eyes.
"Just be careful. Text Jennifer if you're not coming home, so we know you're okay."
"Yes, Cap'n, will do, arr!"
"Have fun and don't do anything I wouldn't do," Alex says and glances at the result on the thermometer. "Well, fever's down, so it's probably not the flu anyway, but I'm glad we decided not to be brave and go out."
JJ pouts a little, but nods. The other day they nearly got into a fight over taking their chances and go out for dinner and drinks somewhere; Alex wanted to stay in where they will be safe, JJ wanted to go out like any ordinary couple. Right before the argument got to the point where they'd start yelling at each other, Agatha stepped in and forced them to take reason. And the reasonable thing to do was to avoid any risk of gossip, so here they are. JJ with suspected strep throat.
"And what will you two lovebirds spend the evening doing by the way? Ugh, no, I withdraw the question, I don't want to know."
JJ's face flushes an even deeper shade than the light fever can take credit for, but she giggles a little just the same.
"Shut up," she says and tosses a candy stick at her roommate, but Agatha, laughing, closes the door behind her before the stick hits its target. Still, Alex, who's a skilled shot, is amazed at how accurate JJ's aim is, even when she's down with a fever. Like a lot of things in life, she doesn't comment on it, but she does notice.
She strokes a coil of hair out of the younger woman's face.
"Do you want a drink?"
"You trust me with alcohol?" JJ grins. "Even after our first encounter outside of school?"
"Anyone can make a mistake," Alex says and involuntarily thinks about Amerithrax for the first time in several weeks. She clears her throat and tries to clear her head as well. "You're a grown woman, you make your own mistakes and own up to them."
"I actually don't think we have any booze in the house. Beer, yes, but I think Agatha brought the only booze with her."
"Jennifer Jareau, now you're insulting me. You think I'd come empty-handed to a Halloween party?" Alex says and gets up from the couch. "Just because I don't dress up like Jolly Roger's slutty wife doesn't mean I completely lack the Halloween spirit."
JJ is laughing so hard she's starting to cough.
"Sorry," Alex chuckles and gives her a quick pat on the shoulder.
"I'm gonna tell her you said that," JJ says as she gets herself back under control.
"No you won't," Alex replies over her shoulder. "And if you do, you won't get any drinks on me, that's for sure."
JJ is still laughing a little when Alex returns with two drinks.
"What is it?" she asks as she accepts one of the glasses.
"Just rum and Coke with a squeeze of lime."
"Not that I can taste anything anyway," JJ says and sips the drink, "but I'm sure it's good."
"You're under obligation to say so," Alex replies. "So, are we having a scary movie marathon and eating too much candy?"
"That's pretty much all I feel up to," JJ says.
"Good, because I don't feel like getting my cape and fangs on and go out and drink blood tonight," Alex jokes and leans in for a kiss. JJ puts a hand on her shoulder and shoves her back, to Alex's surprise.
"You probably shouldn't kiss me this weekend," JJ says, apologetically. "You're most likely going to catch this anyway, but I don't wanna make it inevitable."
Alex actually hates getting sick, and as a teacher she knows she's bound to catch at least one of those bugs going around every school year. One awful year she somehow managed to drag the usual fall semester head cold with her all the way into spring allergy season - only by then it had taken the route via chest cold to pneumonia. That was during her third year of teaching and it still holds the record for lousiest year when it comes to health. She knows her immune system is probably weak from all the stress she's been through lately and that she probably has the red carpet rolled out for all viruses and bacteria that comes her way…
… but Alex doesn't care. Alex kisses JJ anyway. And be it luck, or God finally deciding to grace her with some smooth running for a while, she won't catch it. Or any of the other bugs. The other professors - ironically, those at the language departments - will lose their voices at some point between Halloween and Christmas, but Alex won't even get the sniffles. She will even manage to dodge the 24-hour stomach flu that strikes in mid-January.
"Suit yourself," JJ says, but she looks pleased.
"That's precisely what I'm doing," Alex replies and kisses her again. "What are we going to watch?"
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre? If you can stomach it?" JJ adds, teasing her.
Alex thinks about some of the things she has seen in the field.
"Oh yeah, I can stomach it."
"Prove it." JJ doesn't believe her. For a brief moment Alex wonders if she should tell JJ about her other career, but decides against it. She doesn't want to mix the two, not even in her own mind.
"By all means, bring it on."
Several hours, three horror movies and many drinks later, JJ is asleep next to her on the couch. Alex switches over to the news channel and mutes the sound so she won't wake her sleepy lover. JJ probably needs all the rest she can get. The news features a story about one of the cases Alex worked a month ago, but this one isn't brought up as an example of FBI failures, and that's a relief.
She turns her gaze back to JJ and smiles. Hopefully she's coming out of that dark phase now, because it's finally starting to feel natural to smile again. She's just about to get up - somewhat unsteadily - and pour herself the last drink before calling it a night, when her cell phone buzzes. She picks it up quickly to keep the sound from waking Jennifer, and she has James's voice in her ear. She's more or less stuck between her husband and her lover, and the feeling is unpleasant to say the least.
"Hey," she says in a low voice, her eyes flickering to JJ for a moment.
"Hey," James says. "I tried calling you at home, but you weren't there. Out trick or treating?"
She searches for suspicion in his voice but there is nothing of that sort, not that she can detect. Why would there be? He trusts his wife; she has never cheated on him.
"Nah, having a movie night with a friend from Georgetown," she says. That is technically not a lie.
"Horror movies?"
"Of course. It is Halloween."
"Are there any horror movies that actually scares you?"
"Nope."
"Are you drunk?"
"Pretty close to it."
He laughs.
"You have no idea how jealous I am, what I wouldn't give to lean back, put my feet up on the table and pour myself a big Glenlivet…"
"You are not putting your feet up on the table if I'm at home," Alex replies, but it comes automatically. She's looking at JJ again.
"Ah, my sweet, nagging wife, how I've missed thee," James says in a theatrical voice and takes a breath to keep talking, when somebody calls his name in the background. "Ah, shit, I've gotta go. I was hoping we could chat for a while longer tonight, but you know…"
"Yes, I know. Stuff to do and lives to save," Alex says, and sends a grateful thought to whoever needs James's help at the moment. "Talk to you another day. Take care of yourself."
"I love you."
She licks her lips, pondering the words and their meaning for a moment. Then she says the same words in return.
Unbeknownst to her, JJ is awake and watches her through eyes narrowed into mere slits. Her heart aches upon hearing those desirable words from Alex's mouth directed at someone else.
You say that you love him, and yet you're here with me. I wonder where this will lead. To a dead end, probably, but oh, I want to be the one you love. The only one you love.
JJ decides to pretend she's still asleep so she won't have to speak to Alex about James. For a moment she feels a flame of pure hatred towards this man that she has never met, although she is aware that it's James that should be hating her. She never thought this would happen, but she realises that she's not just having a crush on Alex - she loves her. And that may prove to be a very hard thing to do.
A/N
I am so sorry this update took so long; life has been busy, writer's block has been way too persistent, and I've had some health issues to try and sort out at that. So, I'm so behind my writing schedule I actually considered skipping this chapter (as it isn't important for the story as a whole) altogether so I'll be able to get the Christmas-chapter done in time for the actual holiday, but then I decided that NO, I wanted Agatha to show off her Halloween costume and by GOD I'll have her show off her Halloween costume!
Hopefully I'll be able to get the writing back on track enough so I won't be too off the Christmas mark now. :P