Author's Note: So apparently, I'm sadistic, because I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy writing this chapter. Or maybe I just enjoy JJ being bitchy and hot, who knows?

Disclaimer: Still don't own Criminal Minds.

THE BEST LAID PLANS

The following day, JJ woke early. She felt like a child on Christmas morning and her heart filled with an unfamiliar warmth the moment that she opened her eyes.

Since she'd seen Emily the previous day, she had thought about nothing other than her plans for Saturday. She considered a few ideas; most of which amounted to expensive gestures and fancy meals. But she didn't want any of that, and if she knew Emily as well as she thought she did, she wouldn't want that either. They'd done everything wrong up until this point and she wasn't about to get it wrong again by flashing her money around. She could do that any time; as she most likely would at some point, but today marked a beginning and it had to extend to more than what money could buy.

In all honesty, all she wanted was Emily; just to be with her. Just to block out the world outside and become lost in their own - their own little bubble. In her mind, that bubble would typically consist of the confines of her duvet and the comfort of her bed as they spent every second of the day inside each other, but today was about more than that. Today, she wanted nerves and shyness and subtle glances that promised more and chaste kisses that did just the same. She wanted laziness that was actually productive in a lot of ways and she wanted to learn Emily, more than her fingers and mouth had over the recent months. And more than that, she wanted Emily to learn her. It scared her, but she wanted Emily to know what had happened the other night with Will; she wanted Emily to know that in those moments in the past when she had crawled into bed beside her, she had been secretly hoping that Emily had been drunk enough to take advantage of the situation; she wanted Emily to know every one of her flaws, every one of her secrets, every one of her dreams.

So she planned to do just that. Just for today, they would do nothing - at least nothing that would seem substantial to an outsider, but to her, to them, it would be everything.

As she sat drinking her morning coffee, she made a list; a list of everything that she knew Emily liked, everything that she knew would make her smile. Her favourite films that she scoffed at but secretly loved, junk food that she rarely ever ate except during movie time, drinks that she consumed even less because, as she put it, "I'm not wasting calories on soda." Just.. everything.

JJ was a secret nerd for making lists; she never did understand why. So, as she made her notes, she sat with a smile on her face - a smile for the woman she loved, and a smile for how content she was in her geekyness.

Before long, she found herself lost in fantasy once again. She pictured the two of them snuggled up on her sofa; Emily completely engrossed in whatever was playing on the television, herself completely engrossed in the moment. That image made her smile and it didn't matter that she had no clue what was going on with the plot or that she cared even less, because she'd be so lost in the gentle fingers tracing patterns against her arm, the warm body that was beside for reasons other than getting off, the content face that was a result of the geeky little heaven that she herself had created.

She loved how nerdy Emily was. She knew that the things that she talked about occasionally were completely over her head and many times she had found herself staring at nothing as Emily spoke, trying desperately to logically follow her words in her mind in order to reach some kind of conclusion that made sense. But it didn't matter that she didn't understand, because what she did understand was the animated and passionate way in which Emily talked about those things and honestly, she would have listened to the brunette read from the phone book if she could. There was something about Emily's voice, especially when discussing topics that were clearly so close to her heart, that kept her enthralled; and that is how she had come to know little things that she was certain Emily wouldn't even remember saying.

It's true that, for the most part, their relationship up until this point had been unconventional; just sex and a lot of forced nothing in between. But on those brief occasions when Emily did let her guard down, right before her walls went back up, JJ got to see a glimpse of what made her, her. It was on those occasions that it became most difficult to pretend that she wasn't falling for her; difficult to pretend that she couldn't happily spend the rest of her life listening to this beautiful woman talk about things that she herself didn't understand.

With her list complete, her mug of coffee almost empty, JJ took a shower and headed out to purchase everything from her list. Emily would be arriving at noon, which gave her just over a couple of hours to get things in order. There wasn't a great deal to do, but she wanted it to be perfect.

Returning some time later, JJ set about making preparations. She looked at the clock and read 11:03, giving her almost an hour.

She took out the films that she'd bought and briefly read over the synopsis on the back of each cover. She'd opted for the films on the list that she hadn't seen, but as she read the basic plot outline of each, she wasn't at all surprised to see why. Her idea of a good film consisted of something easy watching; something that she didn't have to put a great deal of thought into - not something with more twists than she could ever keep up with. She maxed her brain out enough at work, and the rare occasions that she did have the time to watch a film, it was for no other reason than escapism.

But today wasn't about escaping reality, and delving into a world where everything goes according to plan. There was no need. Today; she quite liked her world and no part of her wanted to escape it.

After placing the DVDs onto the coffee table, JJ reached for the second bag. Carrying it through the the kitchen, she realised that she'd probably bought more food than necessary; most of it things that she wouldn't typically choose to eat and none of it remotely healthy. But what where lazy, snuggle days without junk food?

Once she'd unloaded the contents into her refrigerator, she thought briefly over what to wear. She was dressed fairly smart already - it was second nature to her these days after suddenly being called into work at the last minute on so many occasions - and considered for a second not even changing, but then she remembered something.

"Wow.." Emily's jaw dropped as JJ opened her front door.

"What? What's wrong?" JJ asked, confused and somewhat worried.

"No, nothing. I've just.. I've never seen you in normal clothes before."

JJ looked down at the faded blue jeans, and snug, white hooded sweatshirt that she wore. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't expecting you and.."

"Don't be sorry, Jayje. I love it. You look pretty hot.." Emily replied with a smile as she walked passed JJ, grabbing her arm suddenly and pressing their lips together before whispering. "You look beautiful.."

JJ smiled to herself and the decision was made there and then. She was determined to get this right; each detail was as important as the last. And if that is what Emily liked to see her in, then that is what she would wear.

Taking a quick glance at the time again, 11:34, she realised that she must have been day-dreaming for longer than she'd thought and quickly darted upstairs to change.

Returning a few minutes later, however, something stopped her at the top of the stairs. She didn't know what, but something wasn't right. Something didn't feel right. Not moving a muscle, barely even breathing, her ears perked up more than usual; taking in every slight, nothing sound that she heard. Everything was silent, and she laughed to herself. Grow up Jareau. Aren't you a little too old to be afraid of monsters?

Given her line of work, she'd be entirely justified to be afraid of 'monsters', but shaking herself from her paranoia, she continued on her journey downstairs and headed into the kitchen to make a fresh pot of coffee ready for when Emily arrived.

She dumped a full scoop of coffee into the top along with a full carafe of water, flicked on the machine before picking up her mail from the counter, reading over it as she mindlessly wondered back into the living room.

"Wow, you're quite the girlfriend aren't you." Picking up a film from the coffee table. "Memento. Hardly what I'd call romantic."

JJ stopped dead in her tracks, her hand immediately reaching for the gun that she'd relieved herself of upon her return home. It wasn't there.

"You looking for this?" The small woman held up the object that JJ was searching for with two fingers, waving it almost teasingly in the air before getting to her feet. "I wasn't about to take any chances. You can be quite feisty when you want to be."

"Who the hell are you?" JJ asked cautiously, her mind running at a million miles an hour; the agent in her taking in every detail of the situation even as she spoke, even as her heart ran in her chest like a jackhammer.

"Let's just say.. I'm a friend of a friend." The woman grinned.

JJ said nothing.

Wondering around the room, picking up random objects and idly looking them over, the woman continued. "You know.. She's only gonna do to you what she did to me. She never did know what she wanted. But God, did she have a charm.." The woman looked up at JJ. "She play the no strings card with you, too?"

JJ would be lying if she said that didn't hit a nerve a little, but she kept her calm.

"Thought so." She grinned, almost proud. "And I'm guessing.. This," she gestured with her hand around the room, "is all in aid of you taming Emily Prentiss. Making her your own."

The words weren't lost on JJ; they completely hit home and shattered the place to pieces, but it wasn't priority right now. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the safe where she kept her other gun. Taking note of the distance, she pondered over whether it was really worth the risk, whether she'd make it.

As the woman turned her gaze back to the object that she'd picked up from above the fireplace, JJ saw her opportunity and inched slightly towards the safe. "What is it that you want?" She asked calmly, trying to keep the woman distracted as she moved in plain sight.

"Well first, sweet cheeks.." With that the woman darted from the fireplace towards JJ in record time and, grabbing the blonde's arm which she forced around her back."I want you to stop trying to out smart me." Pushing herself against JJ's back and pulling her arm a little tighter, the woman whispered into her ear. "You weren't taught to lock your doors in FBI school, agent?"

JJ tried to struggle free and took a quick glance towards the clock. Noting the time, 11:49, she purposely voiced her thoughts. "Emily will be here soon."

"Ah, yes. Emily. The wonderful Emily. I wouldn't worry about that one. See, while you were up there making yourself look pretty, you got a message." The woman pulled JJ's phone from her pocket with her free hand and pressed a few keys. "I hope you don't mind but I took the liberty of listening. You never know, it could've been something important."

She pressed another button.

"Hey baby. Something's come up. I'm going to be a little late, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you, I promise. I love you."

JJ's heart sank at hearing the words; not just because it meant that Emily really wasn't coming to rescue her, but because it kind of backed up everything that this intruder had said. Was Emily really playing her?

"Aw I wouldn't take it to heart. One thing you should remember about Emily is that she likes the chase. The drama. She's addicted to it. But you're really not good for that now, are you?"

JJ tried again to pull herself free."You're pathetic, you know that? What, she turned you down? Boo-fuckin'-hoo. Get over it."

Pulling her arm tighter the woman responded. "Hah, you're so cute. You really don't know a damn thing."

"I know you're a loser and you always have been. She showed you some attention. You'd never had that had you? Someone noticing you."

"Your profiler bullshit isn't gonna work on me, love."

JJ continued on, determined despite her current position. "You spent your whole life trying to prove yourself to everyone around you. And still they didn't notice you."

JJ was no profiler, and she wasn't certain that the words that she was saying were even remotely correct, but the woman's silences told her that she wasn't far off the mark, so she opted to push further. "But Emily did didn't she? And it made you feel like you were actually worth something. So you latched onto the first semblance of attention that you'd ever been given."

"You don't know anything." She repeated through gritted teeth.

"Except, it didn't last did it? You wanted more than she did."

"Shut. Up." The smaller woman rammed JJ's arm into her back a little further.

Feeling pain shoot through her arm, sure that it was going to break, JJ still didn't falter. She knew for certain now that she was onto something and continued pushing. "You were just a quick fuck. Convenient. And-"

"I said shut up!"

As she spoke those last words, the woman slammed JJ's head against the wall in front of her; her rage reflected it's force, rendering the blonde unconscious on contact.

Author's Note 2: For the record, Memento is a great film. If you've not seen it, you should check it out. Anyway, same terms apply: reviews = faster update. :)