JJ just stared across the table in shock. Emily was mortified with herself, and she just stared back, not sure what to say at this point. "Emily, I don't...I don't know what to say." JJ stammered, looking down at her lap. Emily swallowed hard, choking back the tears she knew were coming.

"I need some time to think. Just...don't try to contact me. Please." JJ stood up swiftly and walked out of the club without so much as another word. Emily stared after her, shock and hurt starting to take over. She slowly stood up and found her way to Penelope.

"Pen, I'm gonna head out." She stated. Penelope, who was too drunk to care, just nodded and went back to dancing. Emily left the club before remembering that JJ had been her ride here. In fact, her car was still in the BAU parking ramp. She quickly hailed a taxi and climbed in the back seat. The whole ride home, all she could think of was how royally she'd screwed up.

When the taxi pulled up to her apartment building, Emily wordlessly handed the driver his fare and found her way into her apartment. Sergio greeted her once more, but Emily didn't have the energy to return the hello. She found her way into her bedroom and curled up on her bed, praying to God that the BAU wouldn't have a case for a few more days.

Tears started to flow the more she laid there and thought about what she'd done. Her friendship with JJ was probably ruined, and how would they ever manage to work alongside each other now? Her mind was filled with worries and the absolute desire to text JJ and beg her to forget it ever happened. But JJ didn't want to speak to her, and Emily didn't really blame her.

It was approximately 4am when Emily was awoken from a fitful sleep to loud banging on her door. Instinctively, she grabbed her gun, even though she was half-asleep and too emotional to think straight anyway, if she did have to fire a shot. She approached her front door, but relaxed when she opened it to see Penelope standing there, still drunk, and practically falling over.

"Em, can I crash here? I forgot where I live." Penelope stated bluntly. Emily laughed a little and let her friend inside.

"You can take the couch, Pen. Sleep well, I'll see you in the morning." Penelope practically dropped onto the couch and Emily threw a blanket over her before heading back into her bedroom. Normally she would've taken the couch and let Penelope take her bed, but she didn't think her friend would appreciate the tear-stained pillows, drunk or not.

Emily curled back up under the covers and somehow managed to fall back asleep, but only for a few hours. She quickly found herself awake with sunlight pouring in through the window. She wiped dried tears from her face and sat up, stretching.

When she padded out into the living room, Penelope was still passed out on her couch, as she expected. She took some solace in the fact that Penelope would stay her friend no matter what happened with JJ. But regardless, she still couldn't believe what she had done last night.

Emily sat down at her kitchen table, sipping the Starbucks mocha frappuccino she had pulled from her fridge. She let herself get lost in thought, trying desperately not to focus on the blonde agent she cared for so much.

She polished off the frappuccino within a half an hour and then walked back out to her living room. Sergio weaved in and out of her legs as she walked, and she cursed out loud when the cat managed to trip her up, causing her to fall straight into her coffee table.

All of the noise woke up a hungover Penelope, who groggily looked around and muttered out, "Where am I?" But she quickly realized she was in Emily's apartment, and then saw Emily sitting on the floor next to her coffee table, muttering quietly to herself about how annoying cats can be.

"Good morning, Emily." Penelope stretched and sat up, a huge yawn escaping her. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine Pen, thanks." Emily stood up and brushed cat hair off of her legs before sitting down next to her friend.

"Have the lights in here always been this bright?" Penelope complained, squinting her eyes.

"No, that's just because you're hungover as all hell." Emily replied, smiling a bit.

Penelope groaned and leaned back into the couch. "So where's JJ? She usually comes back with us." Emily froze, holding back tears that were already welling up in her eyes.

"JJ went home before us. Wasn't feeling well, I guess." She whispered.

"Alright Emily, I may not be a profiler, but I can tell when my friend isn't telling me the whole truth. Where's JJ?" Penelope demanded.
Emily sighed and looked over at Penelope, who was looking at her with a mixture of concern and determination to get her answer. "I think I love her." Was all she managed to say. Penelope's eyes widened.

"You're in love with JJ? That's great Em but then why-"

"I told her last night. The alcohol got to me." Emily cut her off, tears starting to flow again.

"Oh no."

"Yeah, she said she needed time to think, and then she basically told me to leave her alone."

"Oh God, Emily, I'm so so sorry." Penelope's gaze had softened as she watched her usually stoic friend come completely undone in front of her.

"It's fine, I'll be fine, I guess, I just don't know what to do. What if she hates me now? What if she tells Hotch and gets me kicked off the team? What if she's so disgusted by me that she can never bear to speak to me again? What if-"

"Slow down, Emily. JJ could never, ever hate you. You're her best friend! And Hotch wouldn't kick you off the team, even if JJ was mean enough to tell him - which she's not, mind you. She'll speak to you again. Just give her the time she asked for. I'm sure you just caught her by surprise. She needs to process this." Penelope stopped Emily mid-speech and put her arm around her.

"Are you sure, Pen?"

"I'm sure."

Emily nodded, slightly comforted by Penelope's reassuring words. Surely she was right. Surely JJ couldn't hate her for this.

"Look, Emily. Worst case scenario, she doesn't return your feelings. Best case scenario, she does."

"She won't return my feelings."

"You don't know that. Have some hope."

"Penelope, if I've learned one thing doing this job, it's that hope kills."

A few hours later, after watching some TV game shows and eating some pancakes, Penelope was gone, leaving Emily alone to her thoughts. She sat, curled up on the couch under a big fuzzy blanket, watching a thunderstorm roll in from her window.

It was unusual that she have a full day off from the BAU, considering there was usually at least some paperwork to be done. But Hotch hadn't called her in, so she took advantage of the gloomy day and took some time to relax at home.

Of course, she couldn't fully relax, because her mind kept wandering back to JJ. What was the beautiful blonde thinking right now? What was she doing? Was she okay? No matter what Emily did, her thoughts always seemed to circle back to JJ.

Emily just let her mind wander, giving up on trying to control its path, and made herself a warm cup of chamomile tea. She sat and drank it, listening to the thunder roll overhead and watching the lightning strike through the sheets of pouring rain.

Raindrops spattered against her windows, the wind blowing them into the glass, and Emily watched with amusement as Sergio tried to chase after each raindrop. Suddenly, she heard a quiet knock at her door. After a brief pause, there was a slightly more assertive knock, and Emily got up to go and see who the hell would come visit her in the middle of a raging storm.

Now normally she would have brought her gun with to the door for protection, or at least looked through the peephole to see who was there. But this time, she felt strangely compelled to just open the door.

There, standing in front of her, was none other than Jennifer Jareau, dripping wet from rain. "Can I come in?" She asked hesitantly. Emily just stared at her in shock.

A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I know it's a bit shorter but I'm happy with it! Thanks for all the love on my last chapter!