Author's Note: This is the penultimate chapter, guys. You should have the final one later today and from there I will be concentrating on While You Were Sleeping. Despite having promised myself that this was going to be my final Emily/JJ fic, I just can't bring myself to walk away. There's something about the characters of Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau that sends my muse into a frenzy, so I do have another idea for a story somewhere at the back of my imagination, but it's likely going to be pretty dark and there will be no case involved. I secretly hate writing cases (I'm sure it shows). Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Reviews = smiles! So please, make me smile! :)
Chapter Fifteen; So Fucking Lucky
"You have five seconds to disappear before I make you disappear." Morgan growled protectively as he took a step towards Will, but JJ stopped his advances.
"Wait, Morgan." Standing to her feet, JJ handed Henry to Emily and placed herself directly in front of her team. She spoke again, her words aimed at Morgan as well as the guy who had destroyed her grasp on trust for all these years. "I can handle this."
Will eyed the eight people behind JJ, a little intimidated but that didn't stop him from stepping closer to the now brunette and pressing his hand against her arm. "Chere.."
JJ shook her arm free and spoke firmly. "Why are you here?"
"I.." Will looked once more to the team before whispering. "Do you think we could do this somewhere else?"
"Whatever you have to say, you can say here."
"Very well." Will nodded, taking a step back and standing firm in a gesture of strength that he really didn't possess under this circumstance. "I spent the past five weeks in London, so you can imagine my surprise when I'm waiting for my second flight Philadelphia to New Orleans and see on the news that a Media Liaison's son was taken. And you can imagine my surprise even more when I realise that absolutely no one bothered to tell me about this. That no one bothered to tell me that my son had been kidnapped. And-"
"Woah, let me stop you there." JJ waved a dismissive hand. "No one bothered to tell you what?"
"What?" Will spoke incredulously. "Are you seriously gonna deny it happened? Your face was all over CNN, JJ!"
"Oh, no." JJ spoke calmly. "It definitely happened. I just find your use of the word son to be ironic. Was he your son when he turned one? Or two? Or three? Or four? Was it you who taught him to catch a ball? Or that there are no monsters in his closet? Or that it's okay to ask questions and that magic really does exist? Have you ever painted with him and held no care for the multi-coloured hand prints that wound up on your designer clothes? Has your apartment ever been in complete disarray because there's a four year old who runs around behind you undoing everything that you just tidied? Have you ever allowed him to sleep in your bed and disrupt your sleep simply because he's upset? Have you ever held him and told him that you love him? Have you ever loved him at all?"
"But I.."
"No buts, Will." JJ allowed her hands to fall to her sides as she took another step forward. "I am done taking excuses from people, I am done allowing other people to control my life. I am done allowing you to control my life and my heart and any other part of me. I don't need you, and neither does Henry. I think it's best that you leave."
"You can't raise that kid alone, JJ!" Will yelled to JJ's retreating form, continuing when she stopped mid step. "You need me."
It wasn't Will's words that stopped JJ, but instead, the look on her little boy's face as she turned around. He did not need to hear this. "Why don't you guys go get some ice-cream? Doesn't that sound good, Henry?" She spoke with a smile that was intended to reassure, but considering the looks on each of her family's faces, she knew that she hadn't achieved it.
"JJ.." Emily spoke nervously in a hushed voice. "You can't do this again."
"I'm not doing this again. There's just someone who doesn't need to hear this conversation."
Emily knew that that someone was Henry, but she couldn't help but feel that maybe it was herself. Did JJ want her gone so that she could fix the past with Will? With a sigh she nudged Henry further on her hip and walked silently passed JJ, her eyes directly meeting Will's as she headed to the ice-cream stand that was situated close enough to still be in sight but far enough away to be out of earshot.
"Guys, could you leave us too, please?"
"Heh, are you kidding?" Morgan laughed humourlessly. "I am not leaving you with this pri-"
"Morgan." Hotch snapped, remembering that his own son was there. "Let's go. All of you, that's an order."
After every member of the team had filtered passed him, each with their own threatening look of disapproval, Will felt suddenly brave once again and wasted no time in stepping closer to JJ. "Come on, chere.. Don't you remember how good we were? How good I made you feel?"
The way that he winked as he spoke the last part made JJ want to throw up but instead she laughed. Just laughed.
"W-what's so funny?"
"No, nothing, it's just.." She couldn't help it; another burst of laughter jumped from her lips. "Oh, Will.. Come sit with me."
Will watched completely dumbfounded as JJ walked away and took a seat beneath the tree before he followed her, sitting himself down on the ground beside her. He looked down at his dirt covered hands, his face crumpling up in disgust before he wiped them on his pants. Clearly he wasn't one with nature.
"Do you know how many nights I cried after Henry was born? Hoping and praying that you'd just magically reappear?"
"Oh, chere-"
"No." JJ pushed his hand away and silenced him as soon as he began. "I think you're misunderstanding me. I spent so long wishing for you, pining over you, missing you. I even gave Henry your surname on his birth certificate in the hope that one day, you'd return to make us a real family. I couldn't talk about you because it hurt so damn much. I kept my distance from any kind of romantic entanglement because I was so afraid to allow someone else into my heart. Because I was so certain that one person already held my heart and that that someone was you. Because I was so hopeful that I still held your heart."
"You do, JJ. You always had my heart." Will spoke in a soft drawl, trying desperately to quell what he thought was still JJ's fears. "I'm back and I'm not going anywhere. We can be a family now. You can have the family you always wanted."
"The family I always wanted.." JJ trailed of dreamily with a gentle nod as she watched her team in the distance. "It's funny that. There was one time when I genuinely did believe that a real family consisted of man, wife, and child. Ya know, the typical nuclear family along with the dog and the white picket fence. And there was a time when I would have given everything for that. Everything."
Will began instantly, totally missing JJ's point or not even bothering to look for it. "You don't have to give anything for it. I'll even move here. You can keep your job and we can buy a house, any house you want. I'll stay home with the boy and-"
"The boy's name is Henry." JJ shot back before looking back to the team and continuing. "And as for a family.. I have all the family I need. And so does Henry. He has uncles who teach him everything that his father should have. He has an aunt who spoils him rotten and a cousin who treats him like a brother. He has a mother who.." JJ's words disappeared as she watched Henry in the distance, spilling his ice cream onto a laughing Emily's crisp shirt; and she smiled. A real, genuine smile. "He has two mothers. Two mothers who would defend him with their life, two mothers who will love him until the day they die and would do anything to keep him safe, happy, and healthy."
"Two.. What?" Will trailed off as his eyes followed JJ's gaze directly to Emily. "Oh, you have got to be kidding me! My god, Jennifer, you are pathetic. You get your heart broken once and you swear off men altogether?" Will scoffed as he moved himself almost directly in front of JJ in a threatening gesture. "No, it's not happening. She isn't having anything to do with my son's life. I'm not having him grow up thinking it's okay to be.. like that."
"You really should stop throwing that word 'son' around." JJ spoke calmly but firmly as she stared him down; his threatening gesture not even remotely having the desired effect. "And no, I haven't sworn off men. Just one man in particular. But you know what? If she would have me.." Her eyes helplessly floated back to Emily. "I would swear off men for the rest of my life for her. Ya know why?"
"Because she brain-washed you? Because she saw her chance and wormed her way into your life? God, she even got you to dye your hair that horrid colour. You are not gay, Jennifer. You forget that I've had sex with you. I know how much you enjoy being fucked.. I know how much you enjoy coc-"
"Oh, Will." JJ shook her head. "I don't need a man for any of that, and I certainly don't need you for any of that. Besides, I thought I loved you. Of course I'd pretend that it did anything for me."
Will's face flushed red at realising that he really didn't have any control anymore. "Jennifer, what has she done to you? This isn't you. This isn't the woman I fell in love with."
"Good!" JJ laughed, happy that he was finally getting the point. "I'm glad I'm not that woman anymore. I was fucking miserable. And to answer your question.. She's changed my entire world. She's shown me that I can trust people. She's shown me that it is possible for sex to not be enjoyed, rather than an endurance that you just long to be over." She could see the visible flame of anger in Will's features burst alight even brighter at that last sentence and it spurred her on. "She's shown me that I am not pathetic. That actually, I'm strong and more than capable of being happy by myself. But you know what.. I don't want to be happy by myself. I want to be happy with her. Because there isn't a moment in her presence where I don't feel happy, and safe, and loved."
"You're not doing this, JJ. You are not taking my son away from me. I will drag you through the courts if i have to. How do you think that would turn out if they found out that you'd killed a man and abandoned the kid for weeks on end?" He saw the faint question in JJ's eyes and continued. "Oh yeah, I know about that. I have friends in high places too, Jennifer. And mark my words, I will use every single one of them to keep you from taking my boy away."
"I didn't take him away, Will. He was there all along, you just didn't want him." JJ spoke calmly to Will's back as he stood to his feet; hiding the nerves that she felt at his threats. "So.. why now? What suddenly changed?"
Will stopped in his tracks, cranked his neck to the side briefly and when he turned back to face JJ, there were tears in his eyes.
Something had changed, something was different and she found herself standing to her feet and reaching out for him. "What changed, Will?
"Th-the reason.." Will stuttered through the tears that he was desperately trying to erase. "The reason I was in London is because my girlfriend lives there. She's pregnant. Was pregnant. She.."
"Oh god." She hated the man, but she wouldn't wish that on any human-being. "How?"
"The doctors don't really know." He spoke as he took up one of the seats around the picnic table and brushed a hand through his mousey hair before shrugging. "Apparently sometimes it just happens."
"I'm so sorry, Will." And she was. She genuinely was.
"You don't need to say that. But that's why.." He looked up to her, his jaw locked and his tears firmly held back. "That is why you'll be hearing from my lawyer. I've lost one kid, I'm not losing another."
JJ looked down and shook her head slowly before looking back to him. Could she rely deny Will his son when he had already lost one child? But.. "Do you want Henry in your life because you want him in your life, or because he's your chance to fix something that you had no control over?" When Will didn't answer, she took his hand in hers and spoke again. "Because, Will.. If it isn't the former, I'm afraid my position still stands. You are not using my son to fix your pain. Because it won't fix your pain. All it will do is confuse him and make him endure your pain when he's questioning why his daddy won't play with him, or hold him, or look at him like he loves him. All it will do is make him hurt when you disappear again because if you don't want him in your life for genuine reasons, then we both know that you will disappear again."
She was afraid, honestly - despite his absence throughout the whole of Henry's life, she knew that he still had a very strong case against her in the eyes of the law - but when Will sobbed again and indicated that she was right, that she had gotten through to him, she spoke again. "You need to make a decision right now, and a definitive one. If you genuinely want to be a father to my son, and I mean a real father who is present, then I will take you over and introduce you to him right now. But if you can't honestly say that.. then you need to leave. And you will hear from my lawyer. You will sign a contract that will cut all paternal rights and your name will be removed from his birth certificate. There will be no more child maintenance checks, no more of these visits, nothing. But whichever one you choose, it is all or nothing. You can't straddle the line and have both. So which is it going to be?"
CM-CM-CM
"Hey, you." Emily spoke softly as she found JJ leant against the door frame to her guest room, watching the small boy sleeping in there.
"Hey." JJ smiled genuinely. "I just can't seem to tear myself away."
Wrapping her arms around JJ's waist and resting her chin against the younger woman's shoulder, Emily responded. "I get that. I'd watch him for hours on the nights when I.."
JJ turned instantly as Emily faltered, draping her arms over the brunette's shoulders and looking honestly into soulful brown eyes. "Hey.. I'm home. And I'm never leaving again." It was in that instant that JJ realised that she had apologised to everyone – everyone except for Emily. "I am so sorry, Emily. I.." Shaking her head slowly, JJ looked down to the ground as she realised that she didn't have the words to encompass just how sorry she really was.
Placing her fingers against JJ's chin, Emily lifted the younger woman's gaze. "You never need to be sorry for what you did. I would have done the same if I was in your position. And you also don't need to be sorry if.. If.. Ya know. I know Henry needs a father and.."
Stuttering was not a typical Emily Prentiss trait.
She'd managed to ignore it all day; managed to push out her thoughts and accept that whatever happens from here just.. happens. She wanted to believe that JJ had meant what she said; that she genuinely did love her, and more than that, that she loved her enough. But when compared with the prospect of having a real, proper family, Emily was certain that she would never be enough. So she had made the most of her short time with Henry as they ate ice-cream, knowing almost certainly that it would be the last real chance that she had to spend with the boy, and she resigned herself to the fact that the day had finally arrived; her luck had finally run out.
JJ smiled. Just smiled. "I love you." She pressed her lips to a confused looking Emily and spoke again before turning back to face her son. "I love you, so much."
"I.." Emily really was confused. "I love you, too?" It was more of a question than a statement, but she digressed willingly as Henry rolled over and away from them in his sleep, kicking the comforter off of most of his body and star-fishing out across the bed. "That is one tired little boy."
"Yup. It's all that fresh air." JJ ran her hands over Emily's arms before diverting the topic back in the direction that it needed to go; testing the waters, so to speak. "He loves you, ya know. He wouldn't stop talking about you when I tucked him in. He made me promise that when we go home, you'll still come round to play catch with him."
"I'll always come round to play catch with him." It wasn't what she wanted to say, but what she wanted to say was far too premature and she knew it – even with the events of the past month. Relinquishing her hold on JJ, the sadness in her chest at the prospect of Henry and JJ leaving taking her by surprise, Emily spoke again. "Well, after running around with your beautiful four year old all day.." Her use of the word 'your' pained her more than she had expected. "I'm exhausted. Are yo-"
JJ grabbed the brunette's disappearing arms and wrapped them tight around her waist before speaking simply."I should get the paperwork through from my lawyer at some point over the next couple of days."
"The paperwork?" Emily turned to face JJ's profile, unsure whether to smile along with her smirking lover or be concerned for the presence of that smirk.
"Yep." JJ nodded before clarifying; the disappointment that she had recognised in Emily's previous words fueling her. "The paperwork that severs any custody rights that Will has over Henry. In a couple of days, Will will no longer legally be his parent."
"Wow.. How did you.." Emily shook her head, a genuine concern for the answer to that question filling her chest.
"I just appealed to his human side. Apparently he actually has one."
"And.. And you?" No, it was the answer to that question that she was most concerned about.
"Me.." JJ turned and laced her arms around Emily's neck once again. "Well, I told him that my heart is with someone else."
"Oh yeah?" Emily raised her eyebrow, relieved as she she linked her arms behind JJ's back and pulled her closer. "You should tell me about that someone else."
JJ smiled as Emily pressed her lips to her jawline, her neck. "Well.. she's pretty great. Pretty perfect, actually."
"Yeah?" Emily encouraged, somewhat distracted by the soft skin beneath her lips.
"Oh, definitely. And she.." JJ paused to giggle as Emily's thumbs brushed over the sensitive area of her rib cage. "She makes me happy. Oh so happy. She makes me certain that I can accomplish anything and that, even if I get it wrong, she'll still be stood right by my side fighting my corner."
"Always.." Emily stilled her ministrations and pressed her lips gently to JJ's. "She will always fight your corner, JJ."
"I know." JJ smiled. "And that's what got me thinking about this empty space that's going to be alongside my name on Henry's birth certificate."
Emily's heart stopped. She was certain that JJ was about to tell her that she planned to put Reid or Morgan or one of the other guys down as Henry's adoptive parent, and she knew that that was a good thing - a great thing even - so she hated the jealousy and disappointment that hummed deep in her heart. But she laughed nonetheless. "Oh, there's going to be fights over that one. You gonna create some kind of triathlon-type tests for them to compete in in order to win the title?"
"No." JJ's face turned serious, somewhat disappointed that Emily seemingly didn't want what she had been so certain she would be overjoyed about; and her voice dropped to a whisper as she spoke again and turned away. "I was going to put your name down."
"My name? But.." Emily's mind trailed off. It wasn't that she wasn't happy, just a little overwhelmed over her disappointed certainty being shattered in the blink of an eye and it was taking her a moment to process the information. "Doesn't it need to be a guy? Like, doesn't he need a father?"
"Nope." JJ sighed as she leant against the door frame once again without the heat of Emily's body behind her. "Besides, he has a father. Several of them, in fact. They double as the best uncles in the world." JJ sighed once more, feeling incredible dumb. "I'm sorry if that idea was too much. I can leave it blank. It really doesn-"
"I'll do it." Emily spat out suddenly, a huge grin forming on her face as JJ turned to face her with a questioning eyebrow. "I mean, I'd love to. I would love to, Jayje. I.. I would love to."
"Really?" JJ smiled slightly, trying to suppress most of it in case she had gotten it wrong.
"Really, really." Emily pulled JJ into her arms before pressing her lips to JJ's soft skin once more, whispering between each kiss. "I would love to."
"Wait, Em.." JJ stilled Emily's movements and smiled inwardly at the terrified look on the brunette's face before whispering. "If you're going to keep doing that, I need to close the bedroom door. Our son doesn't need to see what I'm about to do to his momma."
"Oh yeah?" Emily smirked as JJ pulled the guest bedroom door almost the whole way closed and nudged both of them back towards Emily's room. "Our son? I like that."
"Hmm.." JJ hummed as she nudged the master bedroom door closed behind them, her hands dipping immediately beneath Emily's shirt and her lips pressing in brief kisses to her crimson lips. "Not as much as you're going to like this."
Emily opened her mouth to speak but gasped instead as JJ's hand ghosted the underside of her breast through her bra. "I.. I don't know."
"Are you challenging me, Ms Prentiss?" JJ raised her eyebrow as she sat Emily on the edge of the bed and removed her shirt before pulling away her jeans and bra too.
"Depends.." Emily lifted JJ's tank top and pressed her lips to the taut abdomen that was at just the right level with her wanting mouth. "Are you up for the challenge?"
"You have no idea." JJ spoke breathlessly, taking Emily's hand and dipping it beneath her skirt to press it to her own heat that showed just how 'up to the challenge' she was.
Emily groaned unashamedly as her fingertips felt heated liquid even through the material of JJ's panties. "Is this all for me?"
"Always." JJ breathed as she moved Emily's hand against her.
Emily watched JJ. Just watched. Basked in those heavy eyelids and luscious, pink, slightly parted lips as the still-brunette woman ground herself against the hand that she herself was in control of. "You're so beautiful."
JJ smiled through uneven breaths. "You make me feel beautiful.."
"And I hope that I never stop." Emily pressed her lips to JJ's tummy once more whilst her hands moved to work the younger woman's tank top further up her torso until JJ took the hint and removed it along with her bra. "I promise, I will never stop."
JJ gasped as Emily's wandering fingers dipped beneath the sides of her panties and pulled them to the ground, and she moved to remove her skirt but Emily stopped her.
"No, no. Leave that on."
"Who knew that Emily Prentiss has a skirt fetish?" JJ raised her eyebrow as she knelt down and parted Emily's thighs, running one single finger along the brunette's panty-covered slit as she looked up into dark eyes. "Who knew that a woman in just a skirt and heels could make her this wet?"
"Not any woman, JJ." Emily gasped for a second time, her head falling back as she spoke again. "Just you. Only you."
JJ smiled as she hooked her fingers beneath Emily's panties and pulled them down to the ground, her own arousal flooding again as the brunette's scent filled her nostrils and she couldn't resist pressing her lips to an exposed inner thigh.
Emily unconsciously parted her thighs further, her hands gripping the lip of her mattress as she mentally willed JJ's mouth to move higher, just a little higher. "Please.. Pl-" And that mental urging worked; it really worked. "Oh fuck.."
JJ struggled to suppress a proud smile as she brunette whimpered against the ministrations of her tongue. She ran her tongue the whole length of Emily's pussy, purposely avoiding where she knew that the brunette craved that extra pressure, waiting for that one gesture that would tell her that she really couldn't take anymore. She licked and licked, around and close but never quite at that right spot.. until it came. Emily's hands left their controlled position on the bed and instead tangled in her silky, light brown hair, nudging her mouth closer and closer still, and she rewarded her neediness with one flick of her hot tongue against a throbbing, engorged clit; a motion that left her basking in such a heavenly sound that she couldn't resist doing it again.
"Oh God, Jayje.." Emily's hips jerked and her fingers tangled further in JJ's hair as the younger woman lapped teasingly at her clit. "You're going to hell for this.."
"Oh yeah?" JJ whispered, purposely allowing her breath to fan over the wetness of Emily's exposed pussy. "I'll save you a seat."
And that was the last thing that she said as she hooked her arms beneath Emily's thighs and sucked and licked and tasted every inch of the older woman; short fingernails tightening on her hair and scraping over her scalp as she pushed her further and further. Her own need grew with each flick of her own tongue, and as Emily's pants grew quicker and far more broken, she wrapped her mouth around the brunette's clit and sucked and licked with abandon; only one objective on her mind that soon came with a gush of hot liquid flooding her chin and thighs clamping down around her face, with hands so tight that she was certain that her hair was about to be torn out and words that she had never once heard fall from the very proper Emily's very proper lips shot through the air around them. And as the older woman's orgasms subsided to sporadic tremors, she allowed her lips to press softly to an inner thigh once more as she whispered. "How was hell?"
But when she looked up, it wasn't satiated, tired eyes that met her; it was exquisitely dark eyes that magnified the want between her own thighs, and she wasted no time in complying to the demand given.
"Come up here."
JJ moaned as she straddled the brunette's waist and two fingers dipped beneath her skirt and instantly plunged deep inside her throbbing centre as Emily's free hand pressed against her lower back.
"Hell was perfection." Emily whispered breathlessly as she thrust in and out of JJ. "I wana spend forever in hell with you."
"Oh god.." JJ whimpered as she moved against Emily's fingers, her hands gripping against the older woman's shoulders for leverage as she thrust and thrust her hips like her life depended on it. And when Emily's mouth wrapped around her nipple and her skilled tongue flicked against the aching bud, she dug her fingernails in deeper, impaled herself further on those delicious fingers. "So good.."
Emily relinquished JJ's nipple and smiled through her panting breaths as she thrust a little faster, harder. She couldn't believe that this was now her reality.. that this goddess that was currently clawing at her shoulders was actually hers, that she had chosen her over the perfect lifestyle. That she had chosen her, period. "I love you, Jayje."
"I.." JJ slowed her thrusts and pressed her forehead to Emily's, willing her eyes to stay open and locked with the brunette's as she chased her orgasm through to fruition. "I love you, too. I am.. I am so lucky to have you."
Emily smiled as she allowed her thumb to brush over JJ's clit and reveled in the extraordinary sight before her. Their panting breaths mingled as one as she slowly massaged JJ's clit whilst thrusting slowly and purposefully with her fingers, and she couldn't help the groan that escaped her own lips as JJ's walls tightened around her. "Come for me, beautiful.."
"I.." JJ panted as she moved herself a little quicker against Emily's hand, struggling to keep her eyes locked with the brunette's as the beginnings of her orgasm hit her. "Oh god, I'm coming.."
And what started as a delicious knot somewhere deep inside, a knot that made promises, soon more than followed through on those promises as she exploded against the fingers coaxing her towards euphoria. Her left hand clutched at the back of Emily's head, the other gripping onto the exposed skin of the brunette's shoulder, her blue eyes remaining fixed on dark brown as her mouth parted against crimson lips with a single deep moan, several unfinished panted breaths and a series of broken whimpers that indicated her subsiding release.
"You are incredible." Emily whispered, her fingers slowly moving in and out of JJ through the younger woman's remaining tremors whilst her other hand drew circles against an exposed back. "You are amazing." She gently pressed her lips to JJ's, and then to her cheek, and then to her neck as she gently withdrew her fingers. "I'm the lucky one, Jayje." She allowed her arms to wrap around her lover's small body as she met heavy, blue eyes once again. "So fucking lucky."