"So, how did it go?" JJ asked. It was her weekly Skype session with Alex – the first one since she'd seen Emily – and she was obviously very curious. She didn't want to push too hard, knowing that Alex was still rather fragile from the divorce, not to mention the fact that she was a very private person...but she wanted to know all the same.
Alex raised a brow, unclear on what it was that JJ was trying to pry into. "How did what go?"
She wasn't sure if Alex was playing dumb on purpose or if she was genuinely confused as to what she meant. "Your date..." she prompted.
"Date?" she repeated, one brow arching up her forehead in question.
She huffed, rolled her eyes. "With Emily."
"It wasn't a date," she quickly insisted. Perhaps a little too quickly. At JJ's continued dubious expression, she maintained, "We met for coffee, talked a little... I'm not even sure we could be called friends at this point, so it certainly wasn't anything romantic."
"Alex..." she started, gentle, consoling.
They were interrupted, though, by Henry climbing into JJ's lap, face barely an inch from the camera in a comical close-up view of his eye. "HI ALESK!" he shouted in greeting. He was missing a front tooth, causing a little whistling sound on the 's' sound of his mispronunciation of her name.
She laughed softly. "Hello, Henry. How are you?"
He shrugged, settling an appropriate distance from the camera. "Mama says you's in London like Em'ly?"
"That's right."
He paused, thought for a moment. "Is you gonna marry Em'ly?"
For several long moments, Alex blinked in surprise at the young boy's candour. "Oh... I, umm... I don't..." she stammered, struggling to find an age-appropriate response to his curiosity.
JJ, taking pity on Alex, tickled Henry's sides, effectively distracting him. "Why don't you go watch Paw Patrol?" she suggested.
Henry, clearly, didn't need to be told twice, judging by the way he quickly scuttled off.
For several moments, there was silence.
"How... How did he know I like her?" Alex asked at length.
"He has no idea," JJ assured. "Kids are intuitive, but I think he just thinks that because you're both in London, you're living together... His friend at school has two mommies and now he's obsessed with the concept of girls marrying girls and boys marrying boys."
Alex nodded slowly, thoughtfully.
"But you do like her, right?" she prompted when Alex didn't appear to be about to comment further.
Once again, she looked rather like a deer in the headlights at the truth being put so casually into words.
JJ just laughed at her uncharacteristic lack of words. "You think Garcia is the only one who sees things?" She smirked. "Alex, you were practically a heart eye emoji looking at her from across the bar that night you met."
Alex sighed. "I really think it's a moot point at the moment," she said. "Even if she did return my affections, I don't think she's in any place to start a relationship."
JJ seemed to understand what it was she was implying. Afterall, she would have to have been blind not to see it... "She needs a friend," she said softly, "Even if nothing else is in the cards, she could really use you in her corner."
She nodded, attempted a smile.
Then, changing the subject, JJ asked, "Did she really adopt a dog?"
For all that JJ somehow seemed to have intuited about Alex's feelings for Emily, there was something she didn't know...
The truth of their relationship was that they'd actually spent the night together the first time they'd met. It had been completely out of character for Alex to do something so impulsive and morally grey, considering the fact that she had technically still been married...but from the moment Emily had approached to whisper in her ear the suggestion that they leave together, her hand resting warm on her hip, Alex had been powerless to resist.
The cab ride to Emily's apartment had been a blur of impending pleasure, promised by Emily's hand wandering up Alex's thigh to brush against her centre through the fabric of her jeans. (Alex had a feeling that if it hadn't been for the cab driver, Emily would've had her then and there in the backseat...)
When they'd arrived, they'd made it as far as the couch before Emily had slipped her hand inside Alex's jeans in search of her clit and quickly brought her to orgasm.
Then, a second with her tongue on her cunt against the hallway wall.
When they'd finally reached Emily's bedroom, Alex had suddenly felt shy as soon as she'd stripped off her sweater, leaving her exposed to Emily's hungry gaze.
Clearing her throat, she admitted, "I've never actually done this before..."
Laughing softly, Emily asked, "Which part exactly?" She pulled off her own sweater, tugged off her jeans, leaving her standing there in her bra and panties.
Alex shrugged. "Any of it. All of it..."
Nodding knowingly, Emily said, "Ah... Let me guess: you've only ever been with your husband, but sometimes after he fucks you, you touch yourself and think about the cute female barista who gave you your coffee and smiled at you just a little too long?"
Her cheeks pinked at Emily's words. For a few moments, she stammered, debating which part of her speech to address first. "How... How did you know I'm married?" (She'd stopped wearing her ring three weeks earlier...)
She just shook her head as she approached, reaching to cup Alex's cheek, pull her in for a kiss. She smiled softly. "We can stop if you want," she murmured, then kissed her again, more insistently this time.
Alex whimpered into the kiss. "I want this," she confirmed when Emily pulled away for air.
Grinning, Emily backed her towards the bed, waiting for her to lay back so she could straddle her hips. Then, suddenly feeling bold, Alex tugged Emily's panties down and sough out her clit. Emily let out a shuddering breath at her touch.
Alex remembered that night so clearly.
Maybe part of her wanted to forget because that would have made things so much easier. Then she could pretend that she didn't have feelings for a woman she couldn't be with.
She hadn't known at the time just how much Emily was struggling. That was the thing about the BAU: everyone knew how to fake being okay. No one knew how to speak up when they knew someone was struggling.
It wasn't until later that anyone would admit to Alex how worried they were for Emily. She'd seemed find when they'd been together...but then, it was easy to fake anything for one night,
