Emily looked up and caught Reid watching her yet again. She was utterly confused, the boy had been short with her for weeks and now all he ever did was look at her as if she were a puzzle he was trying to solve. The only times he wasn't watching her, he was watching JJ or focused on the case at hand. It was becoming a little creepy.

"Reid, do you need something?" Emily asked softly. She didn't like having him angry with her, and he did seem to be doing better recently.

"Oh, no I'm fine." Reid answered her, flustered.

"Okay..." Emily reached down as her phone rang and groaned a little seeing who it was. She had been avoiding his calls for days – since her mother had been here – but she felt bad about it. "Hello." She answered. Emily could feel Reid and Morgan watching her intently and she stood up and walked into the break room for some privacy.

"How're you?"

"I'm fine Will, how are you?"

"Good. I've got a few days off, I was thinking maybe I'd head up to DC. Finally take you out?"

Emily sighed. She really didn't have much of an interest in Will. Since telling her mother she was sort of dating him, she had answered his calls more often, but nothing about the man made her feel anything. He was a nice guy, but truthfully a bit boring and his cocky attitude got to her sometimes. Regardless, Emily was lonely, and maybe he was just what she needed to get over her feelings for JJ. It would make her mother ecstatic, and secretly, Emily still wanted her approval, no matter how much she tried to deny it.

"Well, we don't have a case right now, but that could change any minute."

"Well, I'll book a flight right now. Be there in a few days?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Great, see ya later."

"Bye Will."

Emily hung up the phone and realized she felt absolutely no excitement about the prospect of a date. She sort of hated dating in general, she always got nervous and said the wrong thing. The idea of sitting at a dinner and listening to Will drone on and on made her desperately wish they got a case so she could cancel. At least then she could say she tried and still get out of it.

"Will?" An annoyed voice asked from behind her.

Emily sighed again. "Garcia, don't start." She said, turning to face her friend. Garcia had been vehemently against Will since learning he called Emily frequently.

"Really Em? You're gonna date him now? What about JJ?"

"What about her Garcia? She practically hates me, she certainly isn't interested in dating me."

"She doesn't hate you..."

Emily cut her off, "she hasn't spoken more than two words to me unless it was related to a case in days. Garcia, I don't know about you, but thats not generally how I treat people I'm interested in. Definitely not friends or coworkers either. She hates me and I don't know what I did, but I'm lonely." Emily admitted. Garcia's expression quickly softened and she moved forward to comfort her friend.

"I know sweetie, maybe if you just..."

"No! I'm going on a date with Will. Leave it alone." And with that Emily stalked back to her desk to get her work done. If they didn't get a case, she wanted to actually have some free time to mentally prepare herself for this date.

Garcia burst into JJ's office without knocking. "You have got to pull your head out of your ass woman!" She yelled. "Oh." She paused noticing a man sitting across from JJ's desk. "You are someone I don't know. I apologize, I didn't know you were in a meeting." Sheepishly, Garcia looked down as the man bid JJ goodbye and left. "Shit, sorry Jayje."

"Garcia! Knock much?"

"I said sorry, now listen to me, there are more important matters at hand."

"More important then a possible case?"

"Way more!"

"Garcia."

"Well, okay people dying is very important, but your love life tops it just slightly at the moment."

"Don't start.." JJ warned as she shifted through her files.

"She thinks you hate her."

"I kind of do."

"JJ!" Garcia yelled. JJ sighed and dropped the files on top of her desk. She held her head in her hands in frustration and groaned loudly. Garcia calmly sat down in the seat the man had recently vacated and waited for JJ to continue quietly. When after a moment or two, she didn't say anything, Garcia softly spoke up. "JJ, I know you don't actually hate her. You're hurting, but if you don't man up and ask her out, she is going to go on a date with Will."

"She's already dating him." JJ moaned.

"No, actually she's not. She said that to get her mother off her back, she's going on a date with him soon unless you do something about it."

"What am I supposed to do about it?"

"Jennifer Jareau, quit acting like a coward and ask her out. I mean my god, even Reid can tell you like her now!"

"What?"

Garcia stood up and walked to the doorway. "JJ, its your life, but I can tell your sad and you don't have to be." And with that Garcia left JJ to her thoughts. She had done all she could, it was up to JJ and Emily now. Garcia decided she wasn't above finding some way to stall Emily's date with Will either however and headed back down to her lair.

JJ followed Reid and Emily into Gideon's apartment. She felt her gag reflex start up as she looked on at the blood spattered room and what was left of Sarah's body. Stepping back slightly, she bumped into Emily. "Sorry." She mumbled.

"Its okay JJ." Emily said catching her. JJ felt her body tense up as Emily's hands held her upright. Stepping away from her touch she gave Emily a tight smile of thanks and pulled on some gloves; willing herself to get it together. At Hotch's insistence, she took out her cell phone and began taking as many photos to send to Garcia as she could. Swallowing down her nausea, JJ caught herself glancing at Emily more than once. The brunette was definitely affected, but she was much better at hiding it. Somehow, having Emily in the room as well calmed JJ down a little bit. Both women finished up and followed Hotch out of the room. On Hotch's orders, Emily and Morgan went outside to look for Gideon. Standing next to Reid, JJ found herself shuffling her feet a little to keep moving around.

"Hotch knows where Gideon is." Reid said as they watched Hotch and the cops talking.

"Is he okay?"

"Someone he loved was just murdered."

"I meant physically."

"I think so." JJ and Reid stood still waiting for something to do. JJ just wanted to be out of this apartment now. After a minute, Reid finally turned and looked at her. "People die JJ." He stated.

"Reid, I'm very aware of that." JJ answered, confused.

"No, I mean..." Reid licked his lips and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to come up with the right words to say. JJ watched him, baffled and uncomfortable. "At any time, one of us could die, but in our job the odds of that are much greater."

"Reid, if your trying to freak me out, you're going a great job."

"No, that's not...what I'm trying to say is...life is too short to let yourself be sad when you know there is a way to fix it."

"Reid...are you?.."

He cut her off. "I'm not as oblivious as everyone thinks, if I've noticed something then its definitely there. She won't make the first move, its your choice. But...I want you to be happy, both of you."

Before JJ could say anything, Hotch got their attention and they followed him outside. Walking over to Morgan and Emily, JJ took a deep breath. More than half of her team had told her to ask Emily out in the last few days, JJ was a little on edge.

"Frank doesn't have Jane anymore. He thinks we have her." Emily told the group as they approached them.

JJ headed back to the bureau to look over the photos she had sent Garcia. She noticed torn notebook paper with numbers on it in some of them. Confused she pulled out her phone to tell the team. She was about to dial Hotch's number, but then hesitated. Pausing for a second to think about it, JJ dialed the phone and felt her heart beat faster as it rang.

"JJ?" Emily's voice answered.

"Hey." JJ said softly. She wanted nothing more than to keep Emily on the line, but she was still unsure of what her exact feelings were and this was neither the time, nor the place. Refocusing on the case, she told Emily about the notebook. In the background, JJ heard Emily relaying the information to the team. Reid recognized it as Gideon's Murder Book; a list of all the people he's saved, including names, dates, times, everything, and Frank had it. God, JJ hated this man.

"JJ, start warning any of the victims who live close by, and make sure that if anyone finds Jane, we are the first to speak with her. She's the only one who knows where Frank is." Hotch ordered her. She hung up the phone and got to work. She could worry about Emily later. Getting photographs from Gideon's office, she compiled them in the conference room for a list of possible suspects.

The rest of the team arrived and JJ couldn't help but curse herself as her gaze went immediately to Emily. She and Reid were carrying files, nine people they had narrowed down to probable victims for Frank. JJ picked up the phone and dialed Rebecca Bryant's phone number.

"Rebecca, This is Agent Jareau from the Behavioral Analysis Unit, there is a possibility that your life may be in danger, we need you too..."

"He's not Agent Gideon is he?" The girl asked cutting JJ off. She looked up horrified and caught Emily's similar gaze.

"Rebecca, this is Agent Hotchner, calmly excuse yourself and get out of the house." JJ and the team waited in anticipation for her to answer, instead, Frank picked up the phone. JJ found herself cringing at his voice. "Frank, we don't have Jane." Hotch insisted calmly.

"I will not stop until I have her back." Frank said, then hung up the phone.

"Lets go." Hotch ordered, and they began leaving in a rush. JJ watched as Emily ran out after Morgan, with one glance back at her. Sighing, she flopped down into one of the seats. Today definitely sucked. Before JJ even had a second, her phone rang. Answering it, JJ learned that Jane had been picked up by the police and had assaulted several officers, demanding to speak to the BAU. She called Hotch and relayed the information. She couldn't help but feel a slight catch in her stomach when she heard Hotch tell Emily and Reid to head back to get Jane. "JJ, Prentiss found a note in Rebecca's hand, there is someone we've missed. Go back through the files again, look deeper."

"Okay." JJ hung up the phone and reached out to grab the files. She opened one and began reading, scoping every last detail again and again. Her eyes were screaming at her, she had gone over everything. Pausing a second on one file, she realized what they had missed; Tracy Belle and her family had recently moved into the Virginia area. JJ quickly called Hotch and told him she was the next victim. On his orders, she went to gather Jane's belongings and help Emily and Reid.

JJ entered the room as Jane lit a cigarette. With a glance at Emily, she handed over the brown paper bag to Jane then moved to stand over by the wall. For some reason, Jane made her very uncomfortable, she knew that wasn't the case with Emily. Somehow, Emily had sympathy for this woman. JJ knew she should, nothing that happened to her was her fault, but it just disgusted her that she could love someone like Frank, crazy or not. JJ looked up as Hotch entered the room and stood near JJ. Jane finally sat down, clutching her bag and smoking her cigarette.

"Did Frank hurt anyone else? I don't think he will, since he has me." Jane said sifting in her seat.

"He doesn't have you, we do." JJ explained to her.

"Jane, what changed to make you leave Frank?" Emily asked softly.

"He changed, just like Agent Gideon said he would. He's angry because Agent Gideon was right all along."

"Jane, does Frank want to be stopped?" Hotch asked her.

"If anyone can stop him, Agent Gideon can." JJ listened on, her arms crossed, leaning back against the wall as Jane explained what she knew about Frank. How he was from Manhattan, talked about his mother all the time, never knew his father, JJ couldn't see how she could love Frank. Emily and Hotch were gentle with her, Emily more so. JJ watched as Jane became distraught at the notion of Frank hurting anyone else because of her.

"You don't chose who you fall in love with." Emily reassured her. JJ noticed her glance very quickly at JJ as she said it and JJ decided right then and there, Emily was not going on a date with Will if she had anything to say about it. In fact, if Jane and Hotch weren't both in the room, she might have pulled Emily into a kiss right now. JJ could feel Hotch glance at her at Emily's words as well, and she sifted slightly, uncomfortable under his gaze.

Donning her kevlar vest, JJ walked up to Reid and poked him in the chest. "No matter what happens this time, we don't split up, clear?"

"Crystal clear." He said with a little smirk. Shaking her head, JJ held her gun out and followed the police officers to clear the apartment. Bursting into the bedroom, JJ frowned at the sight of a corpse in the bed. Hearing a noise coming from the closet, she and Reid turned to it and drew their guns. Nodding to Reid, JJ opened it quickly and sighed with relief, instantly lowering her gun at the sight of Tracy. She was okay. JJ reached out and calmed the girl down, thankful that this was finally over.

Emily felt nauseated as she watched Jane jump in front of the train with Frank. She didn't know what it was about her, but she felt some sort of sympathy. At least this was over, she could go home, take a long, very hot bath and there was that date with Will to look forward to. Sighing, she followed the rest of the team back to the BAU. As they gathered their things, Morgan and Reid were goofing off. Emily watched on, laughing as Morgan chucked a ball at Reid, and to everyone's surprise, he caught it. Sharing an amused look with JJ, Emily walked up the steps – feeling JJ following behind her – and up to the offices. Strauss had asked to speak with her. Emily was dreading it, she didn't know exactly what it was about the woman – she figured it had something to do with her ambition reminding Emily of her mother – but she disliked her. Emily didn't know what to make of JJ anymore. For weeks, it had felt like JJ hated her, avoided her at all costs, made it clear she didn't want Emily around. Since this case had begun however, there had been a shift in her attitude. Emily was just plain confused and tired.

Entering Strauss' office, Emily sat down in the chair across from her desk. She hoped this wouldn't take too long, everyone besides Hotch had already headed home.

"Your team is in trouble. I believe they are reckless, and at times, out of control. Its time for Agent Hotchner's career to end, and you are going to help me do so."

Shocked, Emily barely heard anything else the woman said to her. She was furious to know that she had been hired at the BAU because of her family connections. As Emily gathered her things and walked out to her car, her mind was going a mile a minute. She kept thinking of Jane, of what Strauss wanted her to do, and as always, of JJ. As she stepped into her apartment, her phone rang. Emily almost dropped her bag trying to find it.

"Hello?" She asked without looking at the caller id.

"Emily?" Will's southern accent greeted her. "I was just checkin' in. Are we still on for tomorrow night? I know you had a case?"

"Umm..." Just as Emily was about to answer, her phone beeped with call waiting. It was JJ. "Will, actually, can I call you back?" Before he could answer, Emily hung up on him and switched the lines. "Hello?"

"Emily? Hi...umm..its JJ."

"Yeah." Emily gave a tiny laugh. "I got that from the caller id."

"Oh, right."

Both women were silent for a few seconds. Emily bit her lip and began pacing her kitchen slightly in nervousness. "JJ?" Emily prompted after a few moments of silence.

"I was wondering if you were okay. I know you felt some sort of connection with Jane, I just...I wanted to know if you were okay."

"Oh...uh, yeah I'm fine. I mean, this case sucked." Emily laughed heartlessly. "But, I'm good. Are you okay?"

"I've certainly been better."

"Yeah, thats for sure." Emily and JJ were both quiet again. Emily realized that the silence this time actually wasn't uncomfortable, it was nice, in a weird sort of way. "JJ?" Emily asked as she changed into more comfortable clothes. "Are we okay?"

"I want us to be."

"What...what did I do?"

"Nothing."

"JJ, I must have done something. You definitely were mad at me."

"I wasn't."

"JJ, please don't lie to me."

"I wasn't." JJ said more forcefully. "I was just angry in general."

"Well you sure as hell directed it at me."

"And you avoided me at every chance you got!"

"What!"

"Don't deny it Emily."

"I...that doesn't change the fact that you were openly hostile to me. I didn't even do anything!"

"Yes you did!"

"What!" Emily found herself yelling.

"You made me like you!" JJ screamed back. Emily was silent. She wasn't sure if she heard JJ correctly. Holy fuck she hoped she had, but every fiber of her being was screaming that she did not hear that right.

"What?" She whispered.

JJ sighed on the other end of the line. Emily could just picture her flopping down into a chair and pinching the bridge of her nose as she always did when frustrated. She waited, barely breathing for JJ's response. "I liked you and it made me mad at you."

"That...that doesn't make sense."

"Emily, we work together, I generally don't date people I work with."

"Neither do I." Emily added quickly.

"Well, I wanted to date you. And then I found out you were dating Will...and I...well I got jealous and I had no reason to be, but that's why I was angry with you. I'm sorry. I just, I needed to tell you. To clear the air, I don't know, I don't like being angry with you and its affecting the team, so I apologize and it won't happen again."

Emily was speechless. She had no idea how to respond to that. Half of her wanted to scream, 'no! Be jealous all you want, all the time'; but they still worked together, there were rules. "I'm not dating Will." Was the only thing that came out of her mouth.

"You're not?" JJ asked, sounding very hopeful.

"No. I mean, I kind of was going to. Technically we have a date – a first date – for tomorrow." Emily kicked the wall. She couldn't believe she just told JJ that, what a shitty thing to say. "But..." It was now or never, JJ had bared her soul, it was Emily's move. Taking a deep breath, she gathered all of the courage she could muster. "I wouldn't mind canceling, if I had better plans."

"Better plans?"

Emily nodded, then realized JJ couldn't see her. "Yeah." She said, bitting her thumb almost to the point of bleeding. Maybe she was jumping the gun, maybe JJ had just been telling her to tell her and she didn't actually want a relationship. From what Emily had heard, she and Morgan had reputations for not usually dating one woman for very long. JJ still hadn't spoken and Emily was about to try and find some way to take it back.

"Emily?" JJ asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are you free around six tomorrow?"

Emily beamed. "Yes. I think I might be."

"I'll pick you up then."

"Okay." Emily felt very much like giggling, something that was very unlike her. "Wait, JJ, what about the rule about..."

"I don't think it will be a problem." JJ said, cutting her off.

"Really? How do you know?"

"Let's just say I do." Emily could hear the smile in JJ's voice.

"Okay..."

"So, I'll see you tomorrow?" JJ asked.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Have a good night Em."

"You too JJ." Emily hung up the phone with a huge grin on her face. She had a phone call to a certain detective to make. Apparently, she was no longer free