"The belly rules the mind." – Spanish Proverb

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaassssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," I beg, my brows furrowing into a frown and my lower lip popping out ever so slightly in a pout.

"JJ, it's 1 in the morning," Emily replies with a groan from across the room.

"Em, I swear, I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't desperate."

"You're desperate for onion rings dipped in peanut butter?" she says in disbelief as she turns over to face me.

"Yes," I answer simply. How she doesn't understand this, I will never know.

"Jayje, that's gross," she says before a yawn escapes as her eyes drift closed again.

"I can't help it. Baby wants it."

"You don't always get what you want in life," she mumbles sleepily. "Maybe Baby should learn that lesson now."

"You're going to deprive your unborn niece or nephew-"

"I'm not technically their aunt," she interrupts.

"Technicalities go out the window when you work in the BAU," I point out.

"Ugh," she groans and covers her face with a pillow.

"Please, Em? Please?"

"JJ, it's 1am," she replies, flinging the pillow off her face and back onto the other side of her bed. "Where am I even going to get onion rings? Or peanut butter for that matter?"

"There's a 24 hour grocery store down the street, and one of the officers was telling me about a 24 hour diner across from the precinct that has the best burgers," I tell her, confident that she'll be able to get both items successfully.

"If you know where it all is, why don't you go get it?"

"Oh, yeah, sending the pregnant woman out in the middle of the night alone with an unsub on the loose is definitely a good idea."

"He's not abducting pregnant women," Emily points out cheekily.

My only response is a pointed glare in her direction.

"Hang on, how is it okay for you to send me out all alone with an unsub on the loose?" she asks, her brow raising in question.

"Take your gun, it'll be fine," I say with a shrug. "Go wake up Morgan if you need backup."

"You really don't see how irrational this is?" she says, eyes wide with apparent disbelief.

"I know that if I don't get some onion rings with peanut butter soon, this baby is going to make me very grumpy," I retort, knowing full well that not fulfilling my cravings has so far led to some seriously foul moods for poor Will to deal with.

"Ugh!" she groans in frustration but begins to sit up. I smile at her actions, knowing I've won this battle.

"You're the best, Em!" I say happily, a wide grin spreading on my face.

"Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," I hear her say loudly. "I drive all the fucking way across town to get her goddamn peanut butter and onion rings and she fucking falls asleep?! Come on!" she grouses, dropping the bags on the desk across from our beds.

"Oh calm down, you drama queen. I'm awake," I say as my eyes open, finding a very grumpy Emily Prentiss standing at the end of my bed.

"This better be worth it," she says, glaring at me, "because it smells fucking disgusting, and I'm exhausted."

"Watch the language, would you? Don't want Junior here to pick up on the negativity while still in the womb," I say as I open up the jar of peanut butter.

"Jayje, if you weren't pregnant I would punch you."

I suppress a chuckle at her reaction. Emily has always had a tendency to curse like a sailor when she gets tired and grumpy, and it's always very amusing to see happen. I can't help but push her buttons a little. "What? It's not so much to ask."

"You know what? I don't even care anymore," she says, shaking her head. "I'm going to bed since we have to be up in like..." she takes a second to glance at her watch, "…4 hours."

"Yeah," I say distractedly, my focus honed in dipping my first onion ring into the peanut butter. I frown when I can't seem to get a good amount onto the onion ring. I settle for using my finger to spread some of the peanut butter onto it.

"Oh god, that's…how can you eat that?" she says, staring at me like I've grown a second head.

"Just you wait until you're pregnant, Em. You'll get these ridiculous and crazy cravings and then you'll understand that they don't have to make sense to anyone else, and that you just have to have them," I explain, dipping the second half of the onion ring into the jar, having a bit more luck this time getting some peanut butter on it.

"That would require finding a halfway decent man first," she quips with a grimace as I finish off another onion ring.

"Well are you actually looking for one?" I ask, tilting my head to the side slightly as I consider her statement. The more I get to know Emily Prentiss, the more I begin to realize that I'm pretty sure that being a mother is in those secret hopes and dreams that she keeps locked up so tightly. I admit I'm half hoping she'll give me an answer because she's so damn tired. We're on our third case in two and a half weeks, and it's taken its toll, leaving all of us pretty close to exhaustion.

"What?" she says, her brow furrowing in confusion.

"Are you actually looking to find someone to be your baby daddy?"

"You've been hanging around with Garcia too much," she answers with another shake of her head as she heads slowly over to her bed. I'm not a profiler, but I recognize a dodge when I see one.

"Nice try, Prentiss. Answer the question."

"I'm regularly away for weeks at a time, carry a gun, and spend my days getting into the minds of criminals. I think I'm the definition of 'no-way-in-hell' for men."

I frown, realizing the root of her words. Beneath that confident and independent exterior is a woman who believes she isn't good enough, and that is incredibly sad to me. She's a hell of a person, and would certainly be a hell of a catch for a guy.

"You still didn't answer the question," I point out, dipping a particularly large onion ring into the jar, making sure to coat it thoroughly. The heat from the onion rings has started to melt the peanut butter a bit, making the dipping process a lot easier now. I see Emily cringing at my actions out of the corner of my eye. "Well?" I prompt, still not satisfied with her lack of response.

"Does it even taste good?"

"It's heaven in ring form," I say with a roll of my eyes. "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook, Prentiss. Are you looking for a sperm donor or what?"

She lets out a huff – whether in frustration that she hasn't been able to dodge the question, or in disgust at my possibly a little on the strange side food combination I don't know – and falls backward onto her bed with a flop.

"Baby's awake and kicking my ribs quite happily, so I can do this all night…" I say with an arched eyebrow. It doesn't take a profiler to know that I've made her uncomfortable, and while I feel a little bit bad about it, ultimately I'm curious about her answer so I'm not letting it go.

"Jayje…it's not that simple. I'm…" she trails off.

"You're…"

She lets out a sigh. "This job doesn't really allow for a normal dating life."

"So?"

"So…that makes meeting someone a little difficult," she answers, propping herself up one elbow to face me.

"I met Will," I point out.

"And look how long it took you two to make that work," she answers immediately. "If you hadn't gotten pregnant you'd probably still be flying back and forth between D.C. and New Orleans."

"Mm you might be right," I concede as I munch on one of the last onion rings. Emily had gotten me a large order, but I'd gotten through them pretty quickly thanks to the little human currently growing inside of me who has a tendency to make me absolutely ravenous at strange times. "But we're not talking about me. We're talking about you."

"And?"

"And I want to know if Emily Prentiss wants to have babies of her own."

Emily gets a faraway look in her eyes at my bold statement as she appears to drift off somewhere in her mind. I know she had been a little disappointed months ago when Hotch told her Carrie's relatives had stepped up to take care of her. I've seen the way she lights up around kids, even in the dark situations we face on cases. It's not a stretch to say that it's a little bit obvious that Emily wants to be a mom. But it might be a stretch to say that she's willing to admit that to herself.

"I don't know if I know the honest answer to that," she finally answers, her tone quiet.

I feel my brows furrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I…" she lets trails off before letting out a breath. "I haven't thought about it."

"Bullshit," I call confidently. She's thought about it. I know she has. "That's a copout and you know it."

"Jayje," she says with an exhale. "If it happens, I think maybe I'd be okay with it…but I don't think it's something I absolutely need to do."

I pause my eating, and tilt my head as I scrutinize her expression. I'm not a profiler, but I've spent enough time with the team to have learned some of their habits and what they look like when they're lying or bending the truth a bit.

As far as I can tell, she's not just spitting anything out to end the conversation. Her answer seems genuine.

"Besides," she continues, clearly uncomfortable with the silence that had taken hold, "I'll just get my fill with your kids."

"Kids? Plural?" I say, my eyebrows rising as I begin to screw the lid back onto the peanut butter.

"I think Will's pretty set on a big family," she says with a smile.

"He is?" I say in surprise. That's news to me.

"Mmhmm," she hums with a nod as she leans over to turn the light off. "Night, Jayje."

"Night," I say, my brain suddenly working overdrive to process the idea of having more than one kid. How does she know that? Did Will tell her? No, they haven't had a ton of interaction. Did she profile him? Did he give something away that I'd missed?

"Good morning, princess," Morgan says as we enter the room where they have their breakfast buffet set up. "Sleep well?" he asks with a grin, noting just how tired Emily looks.

"Shut up, Morgan," she grouses.

"Ouch. You want some coffee?" he asks.

She collapses into a chair and rubs her tired eyes. "Please."

"Decaf, JJ?"

"Please and thank you."

Morgan disappears to grab us some coffee and I turn to face Emily. "Em, thanks for last night. Junior and I both appreciate it."

"Just please don't ever ask me to do that again."

"Do what again?" Morgan asks as he places the mugs in front of us.

"Make me drive all over this god forsaken town at one in the morning to get her onion rings and peanut butter."

Morgan's face shifts to disgust. "Really, JJ?"

I shrug. "Baby wants what Baby wants. I don't ask questions."

He shakes his head. "Prentiss, I take back my cheeky comment. You're a trooper for putting up with going out to get that for her and for having to watch her eat it."

"Thank you," she says as she sips at her coffee. "At least someone understands."

I let out a laugh and take a small sip from my mug. Emily meets my gaze and gives me a small smile, and it assures me that there's no ill feelings from last night. She may grumble about having to go out, and how exhausted she is, but ultimately I know she'd do it again in a heartbeat. Any of the team would. I'm lucky to have all of them looking out for me. It might be the only reason Will is even remotely okay with me being in the field right now – because he knows they'd all do anything to help me.

So...did you cringe at JJ's odd combination? Did Emily's grumpy morning antics amuse you? Did you smile at Emily giving in to JJ's pleas? Let me know.