Author's Note: You guys are amazing! Thank you so much for all the reviews. You made me one happy girl. Keep them coming, and I hope you enjoy this update. :)

Disclaimer: Criminal Minds = not mine.

SIX DAYS

She stood at the closed door of Emily's room, Morgan's word still ringing through her ears; she's worth it.

He was right and she knew it, but it didn't help the knot in her stomach. Emily may have been the one who had made the first move just yesterday afternoon, but JJ had still taken a risk in reciprocating and she still wasn't convinced that it hadn't been in vain. That is what terrified her beyond belief – what happened from here? If she put herself out there again, where would that leave her?

Apprehensively pushing the door open with her good arm, JJ tentatively stepped over the threshold and, effectively, into the fire. There was a chance that she would get burnt again, but if she didn't take those steps, she could be throwing away the warmth that she was still hopeful was in Emily's heart. Emily couldn't possibly be the cold person that Sarah painted her to be.. Not the Emily that she knew. Not the Emily who had told her she was beautiful as she came apart beneath her touch, not the Emily who had stood so nervously at her office door and declared feelings, so many feelings, for her, not the Emily who had taken a bullet for her.

The room was silent, except for a few sounds coming from the multitude of machines surrounding Emily. She had to remind herself that it was all scarier than it looked; that the coma was purposeful in fixing her currently broken body. To her though, the machines looked to be the only thing keeping her alive.

Taking a seat at the older woman's bedside, she wondered briefly if Emily even knew that she was there, if she could sense her presence or if she had heard her footsteps. If she spoke, would she hear her words? She'd read about that somewhere, seen it in the movies - that a patient in a coma can hear everything around them - but what would she say?

She ran a gentle finger along Emily's bruised cheek, flashing back immediately to the cause of the black and purple mark. She pulled her hand away like it had burnt as a rush of responsibility burst through her. She trailed her eyes down to the older agent's arm, remembering the moment that she had gotten the wound there and closed her now tear-filled eyes at the memory. And then her eyes fixed to Emily's chest. She was covered with a hospital gown, but JJ knew of the wound that lie beneath the thin material; the wound that wouldn't exist if it wasn't for her, the wound that would soon be a scar that Emily would have for the rest of her life because of her.

She knew that it had been Emily's choice to take the bullet, and it was also true that JJ had her own soon-to-be scars, but that didn't ease the guilt. She should have done more to protect Emily and, oh God; what if she had died? What if she wasn't here right now?

JJ, never one to let herself off the hook too easily, didn't stop to think that maybe the one to blame was the one currently behind bars, or remember that she had tried to save Emily and would have taken a bullet herself for the brunette just as easily as Emily had done for her. And she really would have. A part of her didn't understand it; that truth. She did not do those kinds of feelings, not really, and yet there she was with a woman before her who she would exchange her whole life for and would so without even blinking.

Morgan had filled her in on the details - Emily's injuries, recovery time, necessary precautions following her release – and JJ had vowed in that second that she would be by her bedside each day until she woke up. She wanted hers to be the first face she saw when she opened her eyes; she wanted her to know that she wasn't going anywhere, both figuratively and literally.

And that's just what she did.

On that first evening, she had stayed the whole night, despite the doctors telling her that she needed her own rest. She drifted in and out of sleep in the chair beside Emily's bed, her mind unable to relax long enough for her to get more than twenty minutes of uninterrupted sleep.

The second day, she had read Emily the newspaper that Morgan had brought. She still wasn't certain that she could hear her, but it didn't matter. Emily read the newspaper every morning; today was going to be no different.

The doctor's had resigned themselves to the fact that Miss Jareau was the most stubborn person they had ever met on the third day and gave up on telling her to go back to her own room and rest. In fact, later that day, after checking her vitals, they deemed her fit for discharge. Though, this was quite possibly down to the fact that then she would no longer be a patient or an immediate relative, thus there would be certain hours that she would have to go home and rest.

The fourth morning had seen JJ return to the hospital bright and early. She'd written Emily a letter the night before whilst trying and failing to sleep. It had been strange returning home to see the place exactly how she had left it four days prior – a day that they were meant to spend together in different ways. She couldn't shake that thought from her head, and had spent most of the previous evening writing down every single one of her thoughts for the brunette to read upon waking.

On the fifth day, Morgan and Garcia had popped in to see Emily. Though, it could be argued that they had actually come to check that JJ was still sane having had little to no sleep, and barely eaten in the past five days.

They brought her food, and had stayed to make sure that she actually ate it. They had told her what she was tired of hearing – to go home and rest – and of course, they failed. They spoke about the brunette's recovery process, and through gritted teeth JJ had reluctantly agreed that Morgan should stay with her; he'd sweetened the deal by allowing 'visiting hours' as long as that didn't include any physical exertion for the brunette – something that got him a swift punch to the arm and left a hint of sadness in JJ's gut.

The sixth day rolled around, and though JJ didn't realise it as she strolled purposefully into Emily's hospital room that morning – it was the day that her fight for the brunette would really, truly begin. Everything up until this point had merely been a warm-up.

Morgan and Garcia stopped by once again in the afternoon. They'd decided the day previous that it was doing JJ no good to be there alone, but they also knew that no amount of convincing would keep the blonde away. So instead, they'd both agreed amongst themselves to visit during their lunch break and at least give the younger woman some kind of two-sided conversation.

"Seriously guys, I'm fine." A tired JJ responded as the pair gave her a look that silently questioned how much sleep she had really had.

They knew that they weren't going to win – they'd already resigned themselves to that fact. "Okay, you're fine. But will you please at least take a walk, honey. Get a coffee. Grab a sandwich. Anything. Just allow yourself five minutes outside of this room."

"Yeah." Morgan added. "It ain't like Prentiss is going anywhere." His attempts at lightening the mood won him a stern look from both women, and he suddenly wished that he'd kept his mouth shut.

"Please, Jayje?" Garcia pleaded softly.

The blonde reluctantly agreed, rising from her seat. "Okay, okay. I won't be long. The doctor should be along soon to check her vitals." She turned to leave, before turning back instantly and adding. "Perhaps I should-

"JJ, go!" The pair said in unison and JJ realised that they meant business; swiftly leaving the room.

She didn't want coffee, she didn't want food. What if Emily woke up whilst she was gone? What if something went wrong and she wasn't there? Sighing to herself, JJ grabbed a bottle of water from the vending machine and wondered outside.

The sun felt amazing against her tired, aching body and she naturally took a deep breath and her eyes fell closed as soon as she was out in the courtyard of the hospital. Perhaps they were right, five minutes wouldn't hurt, and soon enough she felt herself truly relaxing as she perched herself on a nearby bench and just enjoyed the noise that didn't consist of a beeping machine.

She'd been gone almost twenty minutes when she wondered if she had been away long enough to keep the bossy twins at bay. And right on cue, her phone buzzed in her pocket.

"She's awake."

Within seconds she was back inside, turning each corridor like an excited child in a maze as she made her way through the never-ending twists and bends of the hospital and back to Emily's room. It took her approximately sixty seconds to reach her destination, but she was certain that she didn't breath for any one of them. But as she reached the door, her hand gripped tight around the handle, she stopped dead in her tracks. She just needed to see and really have a moment to drink in the fact that Emily was awake, she was sitting up, she was alive.

Finally, she gently nudged the door open. She wasn't really sure how comas worked, but she was pretty certain that what Emily didn't need after her ordeal was a stressed blonde bouncing through the door firing hundreds of questions her way. So with a soft smile on her face, she walked in slowly, cautiously. But that smile dropped as soon as the conversation inside the small room suddenly did. The expression on Emily's own face had changed so abruptly - from gentle smiles to anger - and it broke her heart to see; even more to know she was the reason.

"Uh.. we'll wait outside." Morgan spoke uncomfortably as she felt the sudden change in atmosphere.

"No." Emily immediately spat out; her voice horse and dry, her now black eyes locked on JJ's.

Morgan stepped forward slightly at the brunette's harsh tone, a frown formed between his eyes. "Em-"

"I have absolutely nothing to say to her."

JJ felt her heart break even more at Emily's words. She knew that they'd have issues, but what had she done to deserve this? Wasn't she the one who should be angry?

Garcia tried too, to tame the elephant in the room, but to no avail.

"It's okay." JJ spoke with a dismissive hand. "Whatever she wants." And with that, she left the room – her shattered heart and stormy brain in tow.

Whatever she wants.