Chapter 16

JJ decided to wait until the whole gang arrived and everyone was having a good time before she told them about her and Emily. Emily, for her part was willing to let her beautiful girlfriend take the lead on this one, mostly because JJ knew their friends better and longer than Emily had and she would know the best way to break the news to them.

So for the first hour, it was mostly just waiting for everyone to get there. After the last of the gang had arrived, Alex's parents came out to the yard.

Alex ran over to them and smiled, "Mom, dad, what's up?"Her parents had agreed to stay upstairs in their room, away from the party.

Alexander Cabot smiled at his daughter while his wife, Caroline, said, "Alex, honey, we just came down to let you know that we are going out. The Markersons called and invited us to join them for drinks and dinner. We'll be home later, so have a good time and remember the rules."The look Caroline gave her daughter made it clear to Alex that breaking any of the rules would have dire consequences.

Alex just smiled, "Yes mother. Have fun."

Alexander and Caroline nodded then turned and left, heading to their car in the garage.

Alex watched them leave, smiling at the thought of having the whole house to herself and her friends, with no parents lingering around ready to spoil the fun. She sensed Olivia stepping up behind her and she turned to look at her girlfriend.

"Hey baby."

"Hi...what did your parents want?"Olivia knew that sometimes Alex's parents could be real uptight about certain things but that for the most part they were pretty cool.

Alex leaned forward and kissed Olivia before she pulled back, grinning, "They are gone. They left for the rest of the day and night. Dinner and drinks with the Markersons."

Olivia thought about that for a moment then said, "So...that means this party just became parent-free?"

"Yup."

Olivia's grin turned almost evil. "That is..."

"Perfect."Alex finished before Liv could come up with something dirtier.

Liv nodded, "Yeah...perfect." She pulled Alex closer then turned them both to return to the party. "C'mon, let's go have some fun with our friends."

The two girls quickly rejoined their friends. The girls were all standing together, talking and laughing. The guys were on the other side of the yard, trying to figure out a way to get the girls to do something more physical than gossiping.

JJ and Emily were standing with the other girls and Emily was telling stories about some of her 'adventures' in Europe and the Middle East when she would travel with her mom. She purposely left out the "Rome Incident", not wanting to ever talk about that again.

She was in the middle of telling them about the time she was in Paris and she met a guy who showed her the city while her mom was busy working. His name was Matthew Benton and his parents were artists who emigrated to Paris when he was a baby to 'find inspiration'.

When she came to the part about going to the top of the Eiffel Tower to see the sunset with Matthew, Olivia and Alex rejoined the group and Liv stepped closer, "You never told me you had a romantic moment with some guy in Paris."Olivia was a little confused now because Emily had always told her that she'd never even been with a boy.

Emily turned to Olivia and grinned. "I don't tell you everything Liv, besides it's not what you think." She turned to the rest of the girls and said, in a low voice, "Matthew was gay. We were only ever friends."She had already told JJ all of her stories that might have the potential to make the blonde jealous, reassuring her girlfriend that it was all in the past and that no one would ever compare to her in Emily's heart. JJ just grinned at the look on her friends' faces when Emily revealed Matthew was gay. The way Emily described him and talked about him, anyone would be forgiven for thinking he was an old boyfriend or even God's gift to women.

Olivia deflated a bit but then she grinned, at least it meant that her plan to bring JJ and Emily together still had a chance.

Emily looked at JJ and saw something in her eyes. She wondered if JJ was ready to tell their friends about them.

JJ was ready to tell them, she was ready to drop the 'just friends' act and be able to hold her girlfriend. JJ looked at Emily and just raised an eyebrow. It was the only signal she needed, knowing Emily would understand what it meant.

Emily gave a tiny nod at the raised eyebrow and turned to Garcia who was asking her a question about Paris.

JJ moved away from the crowd and headed towards the guys. She smiled as she pictured their reactions...then her smile vanished as she pictured them going all 'big brother' on Emily when they found out the truth. She really hoped they didn't go into bodyguard overdrive, despite the fact that they already knew Emily and had accepted her into the gang. JJ raised her voice as she said, "Hey guys, can you come over here for a second? I have an announcement to make and I only wanna have to say it once, okay?"

The guys stopped their mini football game and gave JJ their attention. They looked at each other, gauging the reactions before they nodded and began making their way to the girls.

Once the whole gang was together, paired up as usual with the guys standing behind their girlfriends, their arms around their waists, JJ turned to Emily and the dark haired girl didn't disappoint as she stepped closer to JJ but kept her distance for the moment. JJ smiled to see Olivia holding Alex much the same way as the guys.

JJ cleared her throat and said, "Okay, well...since this is Emily's birthday, my announcement is also one of the birthday gifts I got her. I hope she likes it." JJ was uncharacteristically nervous, she turned to Emily and saw the brunette's smile and it calmed her nerves a bit. "Em, can you come here?" She held out a hand for her girlfriend and Emily stepped closer and took it. JJ turned to her friends and said, "I know that some of you," she looked right at Olivia at this point, "have been trying to play matchmaker and hoping to create a 'love connection'" She looked now to Garcia, "and some of you have been keeping secrets. That's fine because despite how hard it is to keep a secret in a small town like ours, especially being who we are," JJ continued, referring to their popularity and how they were more closely watched than most others. "I, too, have a secret that I wanna share with my friends right now."JJ turned to Emily and smiled then looked at her friends. They were willing to let JJ ramble and talk as long as she needed to, because she was their leader. More than Elliot or Olivia or Morgan, JJ was their leader, she was the one who usually decided what they did and where they went and they had given her that power of their own free will once they'd realized that she was born for it.

JJ cleared her throat and said, "For a while now, since just before the auditions for the school play, Emily and I have been...dating. We're together and..." JJ looked at Emily now and said, for the first time out loud, "I'm in love with her."She watched Emily's eyes to see her reaction to her declaration.

Emily heard the words and her brain went into shock. She hadn't expected JJ to say those words yet...not for a while still but she wasn't about to complain...not when she felt the same way. In the short time that they had been together, the blonde had managed to completely own Emily's heart. Emily finally smiled then she stepped closer and whispered into JJ's ear, "I love you too Jennifer."Emily placed a light kiss just below her ear before she pulled away and faced their friends.

Almost everyone was in shock at the declaration. They hadn't seen it coming, none of them knowing if Emily was gay or straight. The only one not in shock was Garcia, who had known already, and she was the first to move forward and hug them both, grinning the whole time.

JJ saw movement out of the corner of her eye and she turned towards it just in time to see Elle, Casey, Brian, Munch, Reid, and Elliot handing money to a smug looking Jordan. JJ frowned as the implications sank in, she took a step towards them and said, "Wait, you guys were betting on this?"

Jordan wasn't imtimidated by JJ's tone and she just grinned, "Come on JJ, give us some credit. The others didn't want to admit it, and it cost them some money, but I could see it."

"See what?"

"The way you looked at Emily. The way Emily would look at you when she thought no one else was watching her." Jordan turned to Emily, who was now blushing a bit, "You may have a great poker face Emily, but when it comes to JJ, you're easier to read than a Dr. Seuss book."

Emily just grinned before she turned to look at all their friends, "So...anyone else have anything to say about me and JJ being together?"She waited, hoping no one said anything negative but knowing that someone might.

There was silence for a moment as the gang exchanged looks before they all grinned and began rushing forward to offer hugs and congratulations to the both of them. Everyone was happy that JJ was happy and they all liked Emily.

Later that evening, the party had broken up shortly after the cake and presents. The gang separated to go home and get ready for their dates or just to go home.

Emily and JJ left, Olivia was staying with Alex and would find her own way home later.

In the car, JJ turned to Emily and smiled, "So, anywhere in particular you wanna go now?"

Emily grinned and said, "Maybe...Cook's Cliff? If you don't have to be home right away that is..."

JJ smiled as she leaned closer to kiss her girlfriend, "I have plenty of time Emily."

JJ put the car in gear and drove off towards Cook's Cliff, smiling as she thought about the surprise she had for Emily when they got there.

The drive was made in silence, each girl lost in her own thoughts. Emily was thinking about how great it felt now that they were out in the open with their friends and didn't have to hide their relationship. She was also thankful that their friends had accepted their news positively.

JJ was thinking about what would happen when they reached Cook's Cliff. She was hoping that Emily would like her final surprise.

They arrived at 'their' spot and JJ quickly killed the engine. The silence in the car felt heavy with anticipation. JJ turned to Emily and smiled, "We're here."

Emily noticed the nervousness that JJ was trying to hide and it melted her heart. "Yeah...so why are you all the way over there?"

JJ shifted a little closer but stopped before she was too close, she knew if she didn't say what she had to say now, she might not get the chance later. She cleared her throat and said, "Emily there's something I need to say to you."

Emily looked at JJ and smiled, "Jennifer you can tell me anything."

JJ nodded. "I know...I just...I've never said this to anyone else and I just, I want to get it right." She paused for a moment to take a breath before she said, "Emily, I love you, with all my heart. I have never loved anyone else and I honestly don't think I ever could love anyone else. I don't ever want to love anyone else. I know that we haven't been together for a long time, but it doesn't matter to me because I know that I love you. And, having said that, there's something else I need to tell you."

Emily waited, knowing JJ wasn't done. She was floored by JJ's words, the heartfelt sincerity behind them let her know that this was for real.

"Emily...I want you to be my first. Tonight." It took all of JJ's bravery to get those words out. She knew that she could've taken the easy way out and simply started kissing Emily and let their passion take over, but she needed Emily to know that she truly wanted this, that it wasn't a decision made in the heat of the moment.

JJ waited, as the silence stretched out, for Emily's reaction.

TBC...

AN: This isn't a long chapter but I wanted to get something out there for the people who were begging me to continue. I was hit with a bolt of inspiration and wrote this chapter in less than 2 hours (while watching TV and dealing with my sister's kids). Hope y'all like it!

AN2: For anyone who is interested, I have posted pictures of how I picture these characters in high school. Basically cast current teen stars in the roles and a photo of JJ's car. If you wanna see, they are on my personal fanfic site here: http:/ www. freewebs. com/ acathlasfanfics / crossovers. htm (copy, paste to browser, remove the spaces and enjoy!) Next chapter is almost finished and it's a longish one...will be up soon! Til then, enjoy the pics and lemme know how I did, if you agree or disagree with who I picked and why! Be prepared to explain and/or defend your comments.