"Matinee" by Hurts To Purr. Fluff. K rating. 1 173 word count

Emily didn't often play hooky from work. Normally, she would rather be sent home because there weren't enough plague masks to go around than to call in sick—especially if she wasn't actually sick—but that morning she'd put in a call to Hotch that she felt like death warmed over and despite the fact that there was nothing seasonal going around and she hadn't even sort of attempted a sick voice, she never called in so he told her to stay home; they were just doing paperwork while the team was on standby anyway and he could have someone run the work over later in the day if she really wanted it.

She didn't often play hooky from work but she'd woken up in the middle of the night when a realization crashed into her subconscious so hard she was startled from sleep and wasn't able to get back to sleep. She needed time to process this new information.

Emily was hopelessly in love with Jennifer Jareau.

Emily had been in love before. At least, she thought she had, but all the other times, love crept up on her slowly. It started with initial attraction, went on to dating for several months and it built from there. With JJ there was certainly that initial attraction but she suddenly warped from playfully but sincerely interested to 'I can't imagine my life without her.' It was startling. It had woken her up at two o'clock in the morning gasping for breath (though not at all unpleasantly).

She needed some time.

The realization wasn't a quiet one, it hit her full force and suddenly she couldn't think properly or breathe properly. Emily just needed some time to process so she called into work and went back to bed. But much like a child who's woken up before the sun bright eyed and bushy tailed at the notion that it was Christmas and there was a wonderland of presents waiting to be unwrapped, so too could Emily not find any calm within her. She was a strange sort of excited and she needed to just stew in the feeling for a while.

Did JJ love her too? She didn't know. They'd only gone on some dates but they'd spent the better part of the previous nine months dancing around each other until finally Emily caved into the tension and asked her blonde friend out. They'd only been dating for a month, when was it too soon to know? She hoped with more than she dared to admit that JJ felt the same way but she didn't know if she could tell her just yet.

Emily ended up going to a noon showing of a semi-recent movie when she couldn't take stewing in her thoughts any longer. It was a perfect day for screwing off from work and going to the movies. A light summer rain had started to fall by the time Emily got to the theatre in Georgetown and when she made her way to her seat, there was only two ladies in their seventies in the row in front of her and some bored looking ushers milling around the exits waiting for the movie to start.

Emily ended up watching the two old ladies more than most of the movie. It was obvious they were together and they would lean into each other to whisper something in the other's ear at which point they would laugh or to steal a kiss. It was darling and Emily found herself speculating on how long they'd been together and how long she and JJ would be together. She liked to think that she and JJ would be two old ladies laughing in a matinee on a Wednesday afternoon while some other love struck thirty-something sat behind them trying to figure her life out.

When the movie was over, Emily had come to the decision that she was going to tell JJ how she felt regardless of what the response might be and she smiled warmly at the older women as they passed by her hand in hand and they returned the smile like they knew what part they'd just played in her life. It was still light outside as Emily walked to her car. It was disorienting in the best kind of way and the trip home had this dreamy surreal like quality to it that she couldn't be sure if it was the effect of the natural befuddlement of going into a movie in the daytime and still having it be daytime, or the dichotomous sort of serene excitement her love for JJ had lodged in her chest.

When she made her way up to her apartment, she found JJ outside her door with two bags in hand and hand poised to knock. She turned when she heard someone coming up the hall and Emily felt a whole colony of butterflies take flight in her stomach.

"You're so busted." JJ grinned. "I knew you weren't sick."

Emily smiled back broadly and accepted the kiss JJ pressed to her lips, ushering her inside when she unlocked the door. "What are you doing here?"

JJ held up one bag in her hand. "Just in case I was wrong, I brought soup." She held up the other and wrinkled her nose. "And work. Where did you go?"

"I went to the movies." Emily chuckled and fished some bowls out of her cabinet. "Can you stay?"

JJ shrugged. "I took a long lunch to bring you these. What did you see?"

"That new comedy."

"You should have told me, I would have gone with you. I should probably make you come back with me you know."

Emily put the bowls on the counter and pressed into JJ, pinning her against the counter and kissing her languidly. "You probably should."

JJ nodded dumbly, a dreamy smile on her face as Emily pulled away. "I know just what to do." She asserted, pulling out her phone. She held up her hand when Emily opened her mouth to protest and pressed her finger to Emily's lips to silence her. "Yeah, Hotch? …Yeah, I just got here. Listen, Emily really isn't doing well. I have my laptop in my car so I think I'm just going to work from here and take care of her…yeah…okay I will…no problem."

JJ ended the call and dropped her phone unceremoniously onto the countertop and pulled Emily towards her in another heated kiss. "Hotch" kiss "says" kiss "he hopes" kiss kiss "you," nip "oh god," kiss "he hopes you feel better."

"I'm feeling much better already." Emily murmured into JJ's neck before pulling back and draping her arms over her girlfriend's shoulders. "I have to tell you something though."

JJ smirked and went in for another kiss, only pulling back when Emily lifted her up to set her on the counter. "Can it wait? You're sick and you should really get to bed." JJ purred, slipping off the counter and tugging Emily by the hand over to the stairs.

"It can wait." Emily replied with a grin, allowing herself to be led to her bedroom. After all, they had all the time in the world.