Chapter 2
All three women had a great time until they woke bound and gagged on that boat. Emily felt warm at last, wrapped in blankets and wearing her mermaid beanie; the FBI profiler ordeal had shaken her to the bone. She never expected to be kidnapped and tossed into the sea to die.
The only bad thing she expected during her visit was a couple of hangovers. " No one has made it yet, ladies; they usually last a few hours", she remembered the UnSub telling her. "Five Nautical miles that way to land," she shivered, thinking about what might happen if that Coast Guard helicopter hadn't spotted them.
Emily smiled, remembering those piercing blue eyes of the rescue swimmer who had saved them all.
"I know that look, Emily Prentiss," smirked her friend Anne. "I know your penchant for Blonde, blue-eyed women. You like our little Jennifer, don't you?"
"Sweetheart, don't forget she has only seen Jen's blue eyes. She had her helmet on in the plane and in the water," Tracey told her wife.
Their nurse entered the three women's hospital room to check on her patients.
"Steph, have you got a picture of Jenny from Sophia's Birthday party last week
So we can show Emily." Anne asked her friend
"Of course, let me have a look," she answered, pulling out her cell phone and looking through the pictures she had taken of her 10-year-old birthday. Selecting her favourite, she passed her phone across to Emily.
The Brunette took the offered phone and looked at the picture. The picture showed a blonde beauty, her blonde hair draped down her back, wearing two blue clamshells over her breasts, sporting a blue mermaid tail for her legs, and a thrilled girl hugging her in the water.
"Look at that sappy grin; she likes our little mermaid," teased Anne
Emily ignored her best friend's teasing as she gazed at the picture.
"Earth to Emily," Teased Tracey
The brunette Profiler blushed, realising she had been caught out staring at the picture. The ringing of her cell phone saved her. Checking her caller ID, she smiled, seeing Penelope Garcia flashing on her phone screen.
"Hi, Penelope," greeted Emily, having to hold her phone away from her ear to stop herself from being deafened by the very loud technical analyst.
"Penelope, inside voice," asked Emily, trying to calm her excitable friend.
"Sorry, Emmster, I was worried I couldn't reach you. Are you OK, my precious? Not too wrinkly. Are your friends ok? Whom do I have to smite?" Emily smiled, knowing the more frightened Garcia got, the quicker she spoke. Emily adored her for her empathy.
"Penelope, I am fine. We were freezing, but our body temperature returned to normal with the excellent care we received here and copious amounts of blankets. Anne and Tracey are okay also and send their love." Answered Emily
"Don't ever scare me like that again; Hotch and Derek want a word. I'm putting you on speaker. We are in the round table room," scolded a much calmer Garcia
"Prentiss, are you OK?" Asked Hotch
"Yeah, or I will be just shaken, Hotch…Hotch the UnSub, while he was talking before we got tossed into the ocean, said, 'No one has made it yet, ladies. 'They only last a few hours. He was too proficient for our kidnapping to be his first effort. My gut tells me he has killed before…Penelope, could you search to see if any missing females disappeared without a trace?" Asked Emily
"That's going to be an extensive list, Emily. I would need some more parameters to narrow the results,"
"I know; my gut tells me he has done it before; tossing them overboard is a tremendous forensic countermeasure, no, body, no detectable crime. While he had me bound and gagged on his boat, I did much thinking. I think he targeted Anne and Tracey; I guess I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Leaving me behind would risk him being detected. Five nautical miles is a long way for someone unbound to swim. Bound and gagged, I would say it would be impossible; after about an hour, I was ready to give up," Emily told her team.
"Garcia will do what she can, Emily. I am glad you are safe and sound. Get some rest." Hotch hung up after he finished
EJ
"How are you doing, ladies?" Asked a smiling Blonde rescue swimmer from their hospital room door. "Steph said I could pop in to say hello," smiled Jennifer Jareau
The married helicopter pilots smirked at each other after subtly arranging for the blonde to be near the hospital, knowing she would pop in and see her friends.
"Hi, Jen, better now we are dry and warm, a little shaken up about the ordeal; thank you for pulling us out of the water. I owe you big for saving Tracey and Emily," smiled Anne. "Emily Prentiss, I would like to introduce you to our guardian angel AST1 Jennifer Jareau; Jenny, this is my oldest friend, Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss," Anne smirked as she introduced her friends.
"Hi, nice to meet you, Ma'am," smiled Jennifer Jareau
"Emily, please, Jennifer, you saved my life," smiled Emily. " Thank you for your mermaid beanie. I will get it washed and return it before I return to Washington,"
Jennifer smiled. " Keep it, Emily,"
The two Coast Guard pilots looked at each other and smirked. The obvious attraction between the two women was almost visible. Knowing the two women very well, Anne and Tracey knew they would need a not-very-subtle nudge.
"Jenny, you have one thing in common with our profiling friend here: her favourite go-to film is 'My Little Mermaid,' Her girlfriend had cheated on her with the head cheerleader, and we found her locked in her room comfort-eating ice cream and watching my little mermaid singing along crying her eyes out," Anne smirked as she watched Emily's face redden in embarrassment.
"You should feel honoured, Emily; our little Jenny doesn't give her mermaid things to just anybody," Steph commented from the door, smiling as she watched the rescue swimmer blushing
Tracey went in for the kill. " Jenny, Emily has had a fantasy since she was a little girl to swim with a mermaid in the ocean. As your, our coasties little mermaid, why don't we take Emily up as a duck?" She smirked, seeing the two ladies' embarrassed looks
Anne enjoyed seeing her two friends lost for words and utterly embarrassed. A drunken memory from a girl's night spent with Emily and the amazing Penelope Garcia surfaced in her memory. "You even asked Santa for your mermaid tail one Christmas, and through a hissy fit when Santa didn't bring you them, you refused to speak to the ambassador for days," laughed Anne
Emily glared at her friend, "Well, you told me mother had written to Santa and told him I had been naughty and didn't deserve any presents. I was so pissed at her that I didn't speak to her until the next day, only after she threatened to ground me for my entire life," Emily reminded her friend. Anne did have the decency to look a little ashamed.
"AST1 Jareau," she answered her work cell.
Jennifer listened to her call. "On my way, Senior Chief; I will be back in the hangar in 10 minutes," she answered and ended the call.
"Sorry, I have to go back in. They need a third crew to relieve a crew searching for a capsized boat. Nice to meet you, Emily," smiled Jennifer as she turned to leave.
Jennifer paused at the door, turning around; she smiled at Emily and nibbled on her bottom lip, unsure if doing this was a good idea.
"Emily, if you would like to….I have two mermaid tails; you could swim with me in the base pool if you wanted to?" asked the embarrassed rescue swimmer
She looked adorable as she chewed on her bottom lip; Emily's stomach was doing somersaults, listening to her offer. She didn't know if she could adore this beautiful woman more than she did after saving her life. Emily's childhood dream, if she was utterly honest, she still often daydreamed about her fantasy. "I would love that, Jennifer, but I can't do it. Wouldn't it be difficult?" sensible Emily asked.
"Emily, the three of you swam for over an hour with your hands and feet tied together; that's difficult. You won't have a problem in a warm swimming pool. Trust me. Sorry, I have to go. Arrange it with the two troublemakers," Jennifer smiled and walked off.
Emily watched as Jennifer walked away, a broad smile on her face. She liked the blonde rescue swimmer; she liked her a lot, and that smile just melted her heart.
EJ
Jennifer still wore her smile as she kneeled at the door of the Coast Guard Jayhawk as they searched for the missing crew members of the capsised boat. The inexperienced mariners had tried to return to port, crossing the Columbia River bar. Experienced mariners could need help. The Coast Guard station on Cape Disappointment was always busy, their boat crews sailing in all weather.
"Jen, I take it from that grin you popped in to see a certain FBI agent you recently rescued?" Dave, the flight mech, asked his friend
"Yeah, Emily.." smiled Jennifer, smitten by the brunette agent. "I offered to take her swimming; she adores mermaids as I do," she cheerfully informed her friend.
"Everyone, we are being diverted for a Person in the water; we have multiple 911 calls from Fort Canby State Park along the coastal path; they are diverting a 47-foot motor lifeboat close to the lighthouse to aid in the search. We are five minutes out," advised the pilot
"Off the nose at one o'clock, sir. People on the path are indicating. I have something on the FLIR." Jennifer told her crew as she operated the IR camera from her seat.
"She is floating face down, sir; she is dead. This is a body recovery," Jennifer told the pilots. She hated not being able to save people.
"Dave, what do you suggest, leave her for the motor lifeboat?" asked the pilot in command
Dave looked across at Jennifer for her opinion, and she just shook her head to say no.
"Send the swimmer down, Sir; Jenn can pull her out from the surf line so the motor lifeboat can safely pick her up. Freefall deployment of our little fish, she can tow her body to the motor lifeboat, and we can pick her up afterwards out the Surfline," Dave suggested
"Agreed, Jenny. Get ready for freefall deployment to recover the body in the water,"
EJ
Two observers on the coastal path watched the hovering Coast Guard helicopter as the swimmer dropped from the door into the ocean and swam to the body floating face down in the surf line.
David and Quinn Coleman watched the rescue swimmer towing the body towards the waiting Coast Guard motor lifeboat. He couldn't tell if it was one of his earlier ladies. The body was too bloated and disfigured from her immersion in the sea.
"Can you tell who the swimmer is, Quinn?" He asked his wife quietly so as not to be overheard by the nearby gaggle of onlookers
Using the pocket binoculars, she studied the back of the rescue swimmer. "I can't tell. The name on the back of the life jacket is Jareau. We can ask Paul to check when he is around the coasties tomorrow," she answered her husband as she watched the body recover.
"Is she one of ours?" She whispered into his ear
"Could be. She can't be traced back to us, so I am not too bothered. We will need to take a few more precautions. Her demise was too quick for a while, and they needed to suffer more. No more chances; we do something similar to Tina. I will have to think about that. After watching the body being zipped into a body bag, he took his wife's hand to look like the attentive husband, and he strolled back to his truck, hand in hand, with his wife.
EJ
Jennifer closed the distance to the body after jumping into the ocean. She turned the body onto her back to confirm she was deceased. She hated bodies that had been in the water for a while. It made her stomach twist when she saw the eyes gone; the first thing the sea critters ate were the eyes. It always creeped her out.
Experience told her this body had been submerged for three to four weeks. "Come on, Ma'am, let's get you ashore so we can get you to your family. Someone must be missing you," Jennifer told the corpse as she started to pull her to the 47-foot motor lifeboat.
The boat crew took the body from Jennifer and floated her into the body bag before lifting her on board. Jennifer smiled at the boat crew and swam off towards the hovering helicopter.
"Rescue 6035, rescue swimmer ready for retrieval," announced Jennifer into her radio mike.
The bare hook descended from the Jayhawk; Jennifer secured herself onto the hoist hook and displayed that she was ready for pickup. She controlled her swing with arm movements. She noticed the crowd atop the cliffs, watching no doubt the body recover. It would be plastered all over cyberspace within minutes, and her mind switched to a certain brunette FBI agent imagining her dressed as a mermaid swimming beside her.
EJ
Simone Keller glanced down at her cell phone screen discreetly as she wasn't supposed to use her cell phone whilst on watch in the operations room, sector Astoria,
'What can you tell me about the rescue swimmer's last name, Jareau?'
The message requested. The operations specialist remembered the name but couldn't recall why. She logged onto the network using her former friends' log-on details and searched for AST Jareau.
"Bitch, so that was you that saved those two from their judgment," she whispered, remembering the terrified looks on the three women bound in the boat that night.
"OS3 Keller, when you ready," her master chief chastised
"Sorry, master chief," she replied, returning to work; she hated everything about her master chief. She hoped her husband or David would one day deal with the nasty man. Unfortunately, Simone's relationship with her husband was similar to Quinn Coleman's, except that she had been allowed to join the Coast Guard to help David and Brian with their retribution.
As she returned to work, she opened an instant message screen on her computer terminal and sent the details of AST1 Jennifer Jareau to her husband so he could pass these details onto Quinn as she couldn't risk alienating her Master Chief; she was already on his wrong side her work was not always up to his high standards.
Brian, her husband, acknowledged her message, so she closed the message down and returned to her work.
EJ
Emily Prentiss sat on the pool's edge, admiring the green-scaled mermaid tail that adorned her legs. Jennifer had helped her dress in the Mermaid tail, occasionally running her fingers along her thigh. Emily hoped it was intentional; the touch of her fingers was electrifying to the brunette. Emily felt giddy, just like a little girl all over again.
"Ready, Emily? Don't worry. I won't let go of your hands until you feel ready," smiled Jennifer
Emily smiled at the blonde, already in the water, holding her hand up for her to grasp. "What if I never want you to let go?" Emily thought the smile on her face made her heart skip a beat. 'Damn, did I say that aloud?' she asked herself.
Allowing herself to be pulled into the water, Emily kicked her legs. Her mind shot to the previous night. Her heartbeat increased, and she breathed heavily as she flashed back to the moment she was tossed into the water.
"Emily, you're safe; you are in a pool, not the ocean; your hands are free," Jenny told the panicking brunette. Having seen that look many times when rescuing people, sheer terror manifested in many ways, but the look was always the same. The eyes were a window to the soul. The most dangerous aspect of a rescue for a rescue swimmer was the casualty panicking when you tried to rescue them. She had been pushed underwater. A terrified teenage girl had wanted to strangle her. Jennifer had to slam her open palm into the girl's nose. Not wanting to damage her beautiful face, she stroked Emily's cheek with her thumb, pressing firmly but not too hard.
"Your safe, Emily; you will always be safe with me, do you believe me?" Jennifer gently told the panicking Profiler, continuing to rub her cheek
Emily's eyes locked on blue eyes. Her breathing slowed, and she relaxed her death grip on Jennifers waist. The Blonde rescue swimmer wiped the tears falling down Emily's cheek with the pads of her thumbs. "We can go if you want?" offered the blonde, not wanting to upset her.
Taking hold of Jennifers' hand and rubbing her cheek, she gently squeezed it, passing on her silent thanks; a smile appeared on the brunette's face, making Jennifer's stomach somersault.
"Not a chance, Jennifer Jareau; now I believe you promised me a swim with a hot coastal mermaid," smirked Emily, her panic attack forgotten.
Emily soon mastered swimming, wearing the mermaid's tail, and even progressed to swimming underwater. The two women seemed to revert to their childhoods. They spent time chasing each other.
"Your cold, Emily. You've started shivering; let's go and get changed and warm yourself up," smiled Jennifer, not sure she wanted tonight to finish.
"Don't you feel the cold?" Emily enquired
The blonde smirked at her question, "My last posting was air station Sitka, Alaska. As a rescue swimmer, you get used to being cold. You learn to work when you're mildly hypothermic; this water is tropical compared to the northern Pacific," she smiled as she looked into Emily's eyes. She hoped she wouldn't be making a fool out of herself. She leaned in and kissed Emily gently on her lips.
Not feeling Emily respond, Jennifer pulled back, instantly chastising herself for being stupid and misreading the signals. She lowered her head to the pool's surface, not wanting to see the shock in her eyes.
Emily was momentarily shocked by the gentle kiss; after her momentarily pause, her heart fell as the pleasant sensation of Jennifer's lips disappeared. Opening her eyes, her heart started breaking, seeing Jennifers' sad face. Emily's brain finally caught up, realising the blonde rescue swimmer thought she had rejected her advance. Without hesitation, she lifted the dejected blonde's chin and crashed her lips into Jennifer's. Jennifer responded instantly, putting her arms around Emily's neck and pulling herself closer.
The two women parted, smiling and gazing into each other's eyes. Emily kissed Jennifer again, "Would you like to come back with me to cuddle and watch Ariel and the other merfolk and make out like we were at high school again," Emily asked shyly.
Jennifer thought how timid this strong, confident FBI agent had become was adorable. "As long as we can sing along?" Smiled Jennifer as she pulled Emily to the poolside.
EJ
Three people had watched Unbeknown to the two mermaids their entire evening in the pool. Anne Logan had contacted Penelope Garcia to update her on what she had planned with her friends to kick-start what they all hoped would be a great relationship between the two women.
Penelope had done her thing and hacked the security cameras feed for the base pool complex, the pictures being live streamed in her lair at Quantico and to the two pilots' laptop screens. The trio delighted with how their gentle medaling in their friend's personal life had gone.
EJ