CHAPTER 98
CAN I MARRY HER?
The team had walked in the police station an hour ago, so they were now updated on everything and ready to set up their own lair.
Emily had requested a work space in the Bureau's NYC field office, as she liked doing the job in an official FBI building, when possible and necessary. Police officers would pop by occasionally and the team would still go back to the police station, but their official workspace would be the FBI building.
"Well, if that ain't SSA Prentiss herself!" A man, about Emily's age, greeted her when he saw her walk down the hallway, towards their assigned meeting room.
"Oh God, not now!" Emily muttered to herself, while she kept walking and tried to ignore the familiar voice she heard coming from behind her.
"Oh, Prentiss, got yourself a fan out here." Luke teased her, because it wouldn't be him if he didn't.
"And he's a bit of an eye pleaser." Tara added, checking out the man who was now hurrying to catch up with them.
"Fan? More like a stalker." Emily replied to Luke first, with that signature one and a half eye roll of hers.
"Hmm, that's what you think of it before you've…" She then tried to reply to Tara, but decided not to go there. It would be too much information. "Just, nevermind. Ignore him. He'll go away…"
"Emily, hey!" The man was now dangerously close to them, to the point where she was no longer able to ignore his existence.
"Oh, hey there." She said lamely.
"What's bringing you here?" He asked.
"I heard the Yankees are playing."
"Yankee fan?"
"No, Stanley, I'm obviously here on a case." Emily rolled her eyes one more time.
Tara started to realize why Emily was not a fan of this man. He did not get Emily's jokes.
"Oh. Right." He muttered.
The team started to walk into their new work space and they gave them some privacy to talk.
"Look, about last time, I-…" Stanley started to excuse himself for something, but Emily was not having any of it.
"Don't!" Emily interrupted him immediately.
"Can I make up for it by offering you dinner?"
"I don't know. Are you still married?" Emily bit back harshly.
"No. And this time it's the truth."
"I'm not interested, Stanley. Let's keep it professional." Emily felt the urge to shut him down from the get go.
"Uh, okay. Professional is good. I mean, I'm the local Agent that's been assigned to your team." He stated and Emily remembered one of the conditions she had been asked to accept, if she wanted a temporary office in NYC – one of their own would be assigned to her team.
"Of course you are…" She trailed off, because if she hadn't she would have let him know just how that made her feel. And she might have reached for her gun, too.
"Prentiss?" Matt called out for her from the office and she hurried inside, now with a legit reason to leave that man behind.
Luckily for her, he had some errands to run before he'd officially join the team.
"Simmons, you and I are going to be best friends for life!" Emily stated the moment she walked in and closed the door firmly behind her. Emily had always appreciated Matt and his compassion, but now that he extracted her from an awkward situation she was even more grateful to know him and to have him by her side.
"We've all been there." Tara pat Emily's shoulder, thinking of her own little stunt, years ago, with a man who had also turned out to be married.
"I haven't!" Reid raised his hand.
"Me neither." Angie mirrored his actions.
"Good. Keep it that way." Emily laughed it off and busied herself setting everything up.
By the time they finished, it had already been dark for a while. Everyone was tired, as they never got the chance to relax on the plane and ever since they had landed, work was their priority. They had learned a bit more about the victims and they had made sure they had everything they needed, including a printer, inside their new office.
"Reid, you might want to lay off on the coffee. We're wrapping it up here and going to the hotel. It's been a long day, we need to rest." Emily said, watching Reid reach for a cup.
"Angela, you might have chosen the wrong field office with us, in Quantico. They have a coffee machine out here in New York and it's actually good." Tara laughed at the irony of their field office undergoing budget cuts while the NYC people seemed to be living it up.
"Oh no, Dr. Lewis, I belong at Quantico." Angie said confidently and it didn't go unnoticed by Rossi, who was now following her every move with his eyes.
"You know, you may not be into cars, but you calling me Dr. Lewis just made you my favorite teammate!" Tara smiled and tried to touch Angie's shoulder. It was a gesture the team did often, they were comfortable with each other and they appreciated a good shoulder pat from time to time.
Angie, however, moved away in a manner that wouldn't look rude. She pretended to duck at the same time, tying her perfectly tied shoes, once again.
"Lewis, can we walk to the hotel or do we need cabs?" Emily asked.
Ever since the budget cuts, it had been Tara's job to book the hotels when they traveled. She enjoyed using her old travel agent skills when it came to bargaining a good deal.
"It's not too close, but it would take us more time to try and get a cab in this city. It sucks that we are only allowed to borrow the Bureau car starting from tomorrow. I hate New Yorkers!" Tara said while gathering her stuff from where she had laid it on a table earlier. Her tablet was there, along with her phone and a small bottle of water.
Emily then decided on walking. Nothing could happen in New York City, after midnight, to a bunch of FBI Agents.
"Oh, I love New York!" Angie spoke first, as soon as they hit the streets.
"It's dirty, cold in the winter, always overcrowded and people are rude. What's to love about it?" Tara murmured. She really disliked that place.
"The big city vibe, the mess, the crowds, the lights…look, everything looks so…magical!" Angie pointed at the Empire State Building as they walked.
"Plus, New Yorkers know music like nobody else!" Angie added.
"Okay, can I marry her!?" Luke was walking one step behind Angie and he was enjoying her every word, being a New York native himself.
"No!" Emily slapped his shoulder, as she was walking right behind him.
"Keep walking!" Emily then added grumpily.
Luke started laughing along with Matt. Emily sure was protective over that girl.
"Oh yey, normal beds!" Reid was more than happy when he entered the hotel room.
In the boys' room there was one bunk bed, surely for Luke and Matt and two normal beds for Reid and Rossi. Tara had made damn sure those were the room arrangements. She did not want to hear a single theory on bed safety, coming from Reid, ever again.
As the girls walked in their room, Emily sighed with relief.
"Lewis, you're a life saver!" Emily spotted two king size beds.
Originally, the girls were going to be three. But now that Angela had joined them, Tara was happy that she had overbooked. In reality, she wanted Emily to have her own bed, but that was no longer happening.
"Okay, draw a straw for the beds?" Tara suggested.
Emily looked around. JJ had not said a single word, to anyone, had it not been strictly related to the case. And Emily has had enough of JJ's tantrums.
"You know what? How about the two of you…" She pointed at Tara, tossing JJ over to her, willingly. In any other occasion Emily and JJ would have shared a bed, they would have fought to share a bed. But not today.
"And you and Mini Prentiss?" Tara continued that thought. It would only seem fitting, since it was Angela's job to follow Emily everywhere.
"That's if you don't mind. I'm sorry, but budget cuts hit us hard and it is what it is right now…" Emily pointed at the two beds and the four people in the room. This was far from ideal.
"Oh, I don't mind at all. I'm cool with anything." Angie shrugged and seemed completely unmoved by the sleeping arrangements.
"You should know, Emily steals the covers all the time." Tara laughed and everything seemed light and fun, until Emily laid eyes on JJ.
"Agent Jareau?" Once she grabbed her attention, she motioned towards the terrace.
JJ walked out willingly, but still quiet.
They sat on two chairs outside, further apart, as if they were distancing themselves from one another.
Tara felt extremely awkward, knowing that Emily was about to go off on her best friend, so she opted for another game of poker in the boys' room instead.
Angie followed her, but she had something else on her mind.
That left Emily and JJ in perfect privacy. And that was not a good thing, for JJ.
"Are you going to ice me out and treat me like 'Agent Jareau'?" JJ broke the silence, indirectly confirming how upset she was to have been called that, all day long.
"That depends." Emily kept looking at her coldly. "Are you going to continue pushing me out and treating me like crap?"
"I haven't-…" JJ had to know better than to try and deny what Emily had just said. She found herself interrupted immediately, with the Prentiss dragon breathing down her neck.
"You haven't!? Oh, please JJ! Yes, you have! You made it painfully clear that I am not your friend Emily, so I treated you like your boss Prentiss. And even then, you made a fool out of me, in front of the whole team, ignoring a direct order, as if I was joking when I told you to take the day off. Well, I wasn't! I have enough crap on my plate right now and I cannot find myself pushing my limits and begging you to confide in me, like my friend JJ always does. If you don't want to be her, then I am no longer Emily to you. And you need to learn how to obey your superiors. Had it been anyone else, your ass would be suspended right about now, is that clear!?"
JJ stood immobile. There hadn't been many times when Emily had scolded her like that, the same way JJ scolded Henry and Michael when they had been naughty. It made JJ feel absolutely subordinate and powerless, in front of Emily's motherly-like figure.
Yes, Emily was doing it all out of love and JJ knew that.
But still, it hurt so much to have put herself in that situation.
"Is that clear, Agent Jareau!?" For some reason, Emily lost it. She yelled that question at JJ when her previous attempt got rewarded with silence.
"Yes, it is clear, Agent Prentiss." JJ knew better than to piss off an already pissed off Emily.
"Good!" Emily kept her voice raised and she felt the urge to keep on yelling at JJ. However, she tried to refrain from doing so.
She had noticed the moment that Tara and Angie had silently put their go bags on the beds and had disappeared from the room. There was no longer need to stay outside on the balcony and freeze, so Emily motioned for JJ to get back inside the room.
JJ noticed that sweet, motherly gesture of Emily's – apparently even while blowing up in her face, Emily still felt the need to protect her, even if it was just from the wind outside.
Finding it extremely hard to come up with words - ones that were not insults, Emily decided to ice JJ out again. She gave her the cold shoulder and busied herself, unpacking.
JJ sat on the edge of the bed that she was now going to share with Tara, and kept her eyes on Emily, who, in turn, did not even glance at JJ.
"Michael broke his hand…" JJ finally spoke, tone above a whisper.
"What?" Emily instantly faced the person who had felt a lot more like JJ now.
"Yeah."
"How? When? Oh, poor little thing." Emily was still pissed and that revelation did not excuse JJ's behavior all day, but that anger was now accompanied by a pain in Emily's chest.
"The night I got hammered and stayed with you." JJ shrugged.
"But…no…this can't be true. I spoke to Will…he didn't mention a thing." Emily thought back of that night. It was when Will had treated her like crap on the phone.
"He was in the ER with Henry and Michael, waiting for the cast." JJ sounded odd.
"Seems to me like you're only telling me parts of the real story…" Emily pointed out.
"I didn't want to tell you anything…"
"JJ, your child spent the night at the ER and walked out of there with a cast!? Which part of that did you not want to tell me?
"I didn't even know it was happening."
"What? Seriously? I kind of assumed this was the reason why you drank. But no, it would make no sense then – why would you stay with me instead of going to the hospital?" Emily thought out loud.
"JJ, what the Hell happened?" She asked, hoping she'd get an answer.
JJ only shrugged and looked away once again.
Emily lost it for the third time that day. However, this time she did it with love. She sat next to JJ, on the bed, holding her chin with one hand and almost forcing her to look at her.
JJ did not move. She resisted Emily's hand as it tried to make her face her.
"JJ?" Emily was now scared. Why would JJ shut her off like that? She never had.
The only time JJ had hidden bad stuff from Emily had been during her healing period in Paris, after Ian Doyle. And that had only been to protect Emily and to not cause her any more emotional pain, on top of what she was already feeling, plus the physical pain as well.
And that only lead Emily to one logical conclusion…
"Oh, God, ChayChay…" Emily gasped. "It was you!?"
It finally hit her, she finally knew who had taken the letter. Thinking back, a day after the dinner party that JJ had begged Emily to host at her home, Emily had accidentally found Richard's letter underneath a cushion on one of the kitchen chairs. She remembered how freaked out she was when she realized that possibly during that dinner, someone from her team must have found the letter, read it and then left it under the seat. However, it didn't make sense – if they found it under the sofa, why leave it under a chair instead? Unless they were about to get busted by Emily, with the letter in hand, so they must have hidden it quickly and then must have forgotten to move it to the sofa. It was a mystery to Emily, but one that gave her a massive headache.
She had been walking on eggshells with the team ever after that dinner party, trying to figure out who knew her secret. Her mind was set on Rossi, mainly because she was aware of how much attention he had been paying her lately and how he always kept an eye on her, as if to be ready to help out if he saw her even wince at something. He had this wonderful characteristic of always being the compassionate one, the one who felt like he must help her, no matter what. But then again – Rossi didn't say a word, so Emily had continued her little investigation.
At different points during this week she had suspected different people from her team, but never…not even once, had she dared suspect JJ. She had been so quiet and acting normal, if anything – JJ had been a bit more reserved, because of everything that was going on in her own personal life at home. Emily would have never thought that the one who knew her secret was JJ.
JJ nodded guiltily.
"Oh, I'm kind of relieved it was not Rossi. Or Luke. Or Garcia, but she would have already told everyone about it, so that rules her out." Emily chuckled lightly. "How did you figure it had been hidden under a chair?"
"You mentioned something about someone who could kiss your ass. So I profiled that your best hiding place for a letter like that would be underneath the cushions." JJ confessed, trying not to incriminate Henry for accidentally taking that letter back to his home, leaving JJ speechless and in the need of a very good plan about how to sneak into Emily's home and return the letter, without raising suspicion. The dinner party had been a great excuse and she was glad Emily accepted to host it.
"Well, your profile was almost point on." Emily smirked. "I kept it under the cushions of the sofa in the living room, not the kitchen chairs. But still, I'm amazed at how your brain works and scared with how well you know me."
Emily could not help but smile. Agent Prentiss was now long gone. JJ was speaking to her friend Emily.
And that, once again, made Emily give her identity some thought. It seemed like she had always struggled with who she was. Lauren? Other names she had taken on? Emily? Prentiss? Why was it so hard to assume one identity and stay with it? Was it even normal to feel like she was different people?
"ChayChay, I know you've done a lot for me lately and I know I've been slacking as Unit Chief and even as a friend, ever since the Cursed Case…"
"Please, stop calling it that!" JJ winced.
"Fine. My point is that I want you to always feel comfortable enough to come talk to me. I want to know what's going on in your life…"
JJ had way too much sadness in her eyes. It couldn't have been only because of Michael. She had already confessed about that, but Emily knew there were more secrets out there.
"ChayChay…" Emily moved her hand slowly until it rested perfectly comfortable, on top of JJ's.
"Henry's been bullied at school. Will basically called me a bad mother because I never saw the signs. It's been going on for a month now, so just about as long since we dealt with the Cursed Case." JJ started opening up.
"Woah! Henry!? But he's such a smart and sweet kid!"
"Exactly. The other boys started calling him names and calling him Mommy's Boy. The other day he flipped out and jumped two of the boys. The teacher said she had found him punching the crap out of the two elder boys, in the school's back yard, yelling at the top of his lungs that he's not Mommy's Boy and…" JJ's voice cracked a little and Emily knew that tears were about to roll.
"He also said he had barely even seen his mother lately…" There they were – hot, salty, streaming tears, as soon as JJ admitted that.
"Of course, the teacher only said that to Will, who decided to punish me and to keep everything from me and to experiment and see how long it would take me to figure it out. I mean, Henry came back from school with a huge blue bruise on his arm and he said it was from soccer. It was Tuesday, he doesn't go to soccer on Tuesdays. And I believed him…Emily, I did, I believed my son's lies and my son wanted to lie to me, that's the worst part! My son doesn't think I love him enough to want to know what is going on in his life!"
"Wonder what that feels like…" Emily could not help biting back, in regards to JJ's last statement.
This was exactly what had ticked Emily earlier – JJ not considering the fact that Emily loved her enough to want to know what was bothering her and why she was acting out like that.
"Well, point is – Henry got expelled. And the other day, the evening of your dinner party, he had been acting out at home and he accidentally pushed Michael, so he fell and broke his hand. And Will…" This time there was rage in JJ's eyes, enough rage to make her stop talking and take a breath before she would pass out from fury.
"I can't believe Will would do something like that!" Emily said, still caressing the top of JJ's palm.
"He had been calling me while I drove to your house, but I never use my phone while driving, so I never picked up. And as I parked downstairs, I got upset and I didn't want to call him back. I mean, we already had our problems, but they were just between the two of us. He just had to go and put the kids in the middle of our drama!"
Emily's free hand went up to JJ's face, sweeping the tears off her cheeks and caressing her softly.
"ChayChay, we all go through rough times. I'm sure you will figure it out…"
"I'm not sure I even want to figure it out anymore…"
"Don't say that…"
"Well, I mean it…"
Both of them refrained from finishing their sentences. Instead, they'd both trail off and let the other one figure out the rest of it.
"Well, you are known to be a bit of a stubborn one, hard to handle, you know?" Emily smiled and held her hands out.
It took JJ less than a second to lean in and let Emily hold her. Emily could feel the wet tears on her shoulder, as JJ kept on sobbing. She could also feel every heartbeat, as JJ pressed firmly against her body. Like a child. Like a friend. Like someone who needed Emily to be there for her.
And Emily did not disappoint.
She let JJ take her time to cool down a bit. She had spoken way too fast and Emily was still unsure about the timeline of the events, but she was sure of one thing…
"I'll hold you until the last breath I take, ChayChay." She whispered to her best friend when she felt her shiver.
"I know. That's why I love you." JJ said weakly. "I'm sorry you got dumped. I could tell you were heartbroken, but I didn't know the specifics and I didn't want to upset you by asking something so personal."
"JJ, your marriage is on the line and you're worried about me being dumped by an idiot I only half dated for a few days? That's why I love you!" Emily laughed. It was so typical of JJ to worry.
"I want nothing more but to see you happy, with a man that makes you happy."
"And I want the same for you, which is why I'm going to have a conversation with Will!"
"No, you're not!"
"Oh, yes I am! He cannot disrespect me like that. I've never said a mean thing about him, except for that Godawful accent of his. And yes, I want to threaten his life if he ever dares to disrespect my work wife like that again."
"No, you won't…" JJ laughed through tears, when Emily said she'd threaten her husband.
"Watch me!" Emily smirked and felt JJ peel off of her slowly. She had been glued to Emily for the longest moment. Maybe she finally felt calm enough to stand on her own.
"You are amazing, Emily."
"Why would you say that?"
"You don't even know how happy you make us, your team. You always put us first and that is why everyone feels comfortable to tell you their personal troubles. We can always count on you. We are so proud of you. I just wish you could see yourself through our eyes. Through my eyes."
"I know…I know…" Emily gulped, feeling sad.
"I didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm not upset. I'm just…realizing a few things, as we speak." Emily clarified.
In her head, she was analyzing situations from her past. Other people had claimed to love her, the way JJ did. And Emily had let them in and showered them with her unconditional love. Until she had bailed on them. She had her reasons, but compared to the eternity she had promised those people, the reasons were weak. Insignificant. Egoistic.
"She adores you…" JJ's words startled Emily.
"That girl. She acts all cool, but I can tell how much she appreciates being your Mini this week. She hit the jackpot with you. I mean, not many Trainees get to shadow a Unit Chief and travel to New York with a team, on a case." JJ elaborated.
"You were so unwelcoming, by the way. I wouldn't be surprised if she shut you out." Emily scanned the room, looking for the mini bar. They could both use a drink.
"I know. I'll surely try to make it up to her." JJ finally found the strength to smile. "And please, no alcohol. I've made some poor decisions because of it lately."
"Fine then you can watch me drink. God knows I need some."
"You need some? Didn't you get 'some'?" JJ now smirked. Since the cat was out of the bag, she now wanted more information on Emily's mysterious ex-almost-sort-of-boyfriend.
Emily blushed. After pouring herself a generous glass of cold white wine, she took a big gulp and kept on blushing.
"Fine then. I wanted to tell you about him anyway, but it was just too fresh and I was too confused. His name is Richard and he's French. I met him in Paris, I spent the week there, wanting to see none of you crazy people around me. It was a bit weird, it felt like a fairy tale. He was smart and handsome and he had the most beautiful smile…" Emily started off and then continued telling JJ all the things they had experienced in Paris, and not only.
"You did what!?" JJ gasped at some point, hearing how Emily had slept in a hotel for a night, without paying, and nobody had figure it out.
"Yeah, I mean it was easy to figure out which room was empty. And it was late in the evening. We made sure we were up and out before the morning check by the maids."
"You snuck into a hotel room for the night!? Oh, Emily! Only you could get away with that!" JJ's tears were now gone and all that was left on her face were smiles and laughter.
"Mhm. And it was great."
"Wait, you mentioned a Jacuzzi. Please tell me you did…" JJ suggested cheekily.
"Nope."
"You didn't!?"
"Nope."
"But…it's pretty much what everyone does in a Jacuzzi. Come on! Seriously?"
"Seriously. The Jacuzzi only saw some light action. Nothing fancy."
"Oh, is that so?"
JJ loved pushing Emily's buttons. Sometimes Emily would be an open book and other times she'd pretend to be all prim and proper, until JJ finally would extract all the good juicy information out of her, one way or another.
And right now, Emily was playing hardball.
"You can't expect me to believe you, out of all people, did not get any…for a whole week. With a hot French guy! You!?"
Emily shrugged. She was not going to give JJ a direct answer to that specific question.
"Ugh, fine! One day I'll know the truth. Promise me I'll be the first one to know the details!?"
"No doubt you will be. Although, Morgan has already heard it all. But then again, it was still fresh and I was a crying mess. Much like you were just now, in my hands. So, I'm not sure how much of my words he could make out clearly."
"Pretty sure Morgan would be able to catch sex-related details with amazing precision, even if he was deaf and you were speaking in Korean." JJ laughed.
"True. That man is…wow, I can't even believe he's a family man now. After all the shenanigans we've heard of and even witnessed him do!? Morgan? Ha!" Emily rolled her eyes. Fate was a weird thing. Ten years ago nobody would have imagined Morgan, changing diapers and going back home to a wife that he loved so much.
"Well, if he could do it – you can do it. I can picture Emily Prentiss as a wife. And a mother. You'd be a great mother-…"
"No, JJ, please don't start…" Emily tried to cut her off before she'd dive into another rant about Emily and kids.
"Why not? And please don't say you're too old for babies. I can't wait to see you, holding a little one-…"
"JJ, stop!" Emily flipped out a little bit, sounding as harsh as Agent Prentiss, the one who had initiated a conversation with JJ half an hour ago. This was an extremely touchy subject for Emily and as much as JJ had tried to ease her into discussing that, Emily always iced her out. There was so much about Emily that JJ did not know about. Nobody did. Rossi kind of heard some of it, years ago, but Emily hadn't felt comfortable enough to be completely honest with him, either.
"Okay. Okay…Sorry." JJ put her hands in the air in mock surrender and changed the baby topic. "I know it must hurt, the way it all ended, but you should be happy you had your time with him. He sounds like a wonderful man and please don't yell at me for saying that. I know you must have so much resentment for him right now, but looking at things from the outside, he sounds like just the kind of man I've always envisioned you to end up with."
"Yeah, me too…" Emily didn't even realize those words had escaped her lips.
"Ooh…" JJ mocked her, with a sweet little nudge. She had never heard Emily admit such a thing, it was new.
"Well, it's over now, so…yeah…" With those words Emily finished the rest of her wine in just two gulps.
"Yeah, but you see…he did write down his number…"
"No! I'm not calling him! End of discussion!" Emily was the hardest person to convince, so JJ decided to hit her with an answer to that when she least expected it.
"Now can you please stop making this all about me and maybe we can discuss Henry and Michael for a second?" Emily let her know that she was painfully aware that JJ had been avoiding that discussion, while focusing on Emily's failed love life instead.
"There isn't much else. I mean, it sounds so small, but it hurts so much. Mikey will be fine, the cast will only stay for twenty days. As for Henry - I'm looking for a new school. That's the errand I needed to run today at lunch, that's why I was so cold and distant. It's not easy to enroll a kid in the middle of the school year, after he had been expelled for fighting two boys."
"I would have never acted like a bitch to you, had you told me the truth." Emily sighed. She could still not believe JJ didn't feel comfortable enough to share that, with her.
"It's okay. I deserved it. And the team needs to know we have a tough ass for a Chief." JJ nudged Emily and then literally removed the bottle from her hand before she'd be able to pour herself another full glass.
"For the record, I cannot undo an order. You really are staying behind with Angela. Although I'd love to be able to bring her to the field. It would teach her some."
"Haha, she'd crumble into a ball, the second she sees blood. I just can't picture that cute little thing, discussing an autopsy or negotiating a hostage. What, she'd put sticky gems on her badge and bedazzle on her gun? I mean, she really is an awesome person, but I just don't see it…"
Emily laughed sincerely, hearing what JJ thought of Angela, so far.
"Remember those words, ChayChay." Emily challenged her.
"Also, if I can help in any way, call me. Any day, any time. I'd be happy to take the kids for a day, if you and Will need some alone time." She added.
"Thanks, but right now I can barely look at Will and not hate him. I don't want alone time. I need some action on the field to help get my mind off the failure of a mother that I am."
"Say those last few words again and I'll give you some action!" Emily swayed her fists in the air, mockingly. She hated hearing JJ put herself down as a mother. "And I'm sorry, but you're not getting any action during this case."
"Yeah, I'm okay with that. I'll try to get into Angela's good graces. She's funny, she'll keep me entertained."
"Uh-huh. Good luck with that." Emily smirked, already knowing there was no chance in Hell JJ could undo what she had done.
After that, they took turns to take a shower and they fell asleep immediately.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
"Ducksdragonfly" Your review opening line is always priceless :) Thank you so much! Lol Angie dumped everyone and everything in the matter of two seconds (or less!) when Emily said she could go with the team, hahaha. Dedication! Don't worry, Bryan will be part of Angie's life, he won't disappear, but he might not have huge storylines in the next bunch of chapters. Let's just say that when Angie chooses someone to be in her life, she would do anything and everything possible to keep them close! With Rossi she was well aware he seemed like a bad flyer, so she tried to come up with something to make him feel better (again, empathy). Hmmm JJ and Angie getting up to no good? I dunno...you'll see what happens with them very soon. Not everything could be perfect and not everyone actually likes Angie or rather - Angie doesn't let just anyone see the real her, for whatever reason she might have.
"sweetkid45" Wait for it. Who said she is actually going to end up with the BAU? :) It would be too easy, like a fairytale. And I do like torturing my characters, lol! Yeah JJ got off way too easily and she knows it! Emily hates the part of her job where she needs to be stern with the people she loves, but she also understands that it is her responsibility to lead the team and to give out orders. And I suppose it sucked for Emily that JJ, out of all people, disobeyed her in such a brutal way. In this chapter (98) you learned a lot about JJ's problems and how Emily handled this situation further.
"rmpcmfan" Hey, Angie WANTS the BAU. Nobody said she's getting it *evil grin*. Yes, the team has always loved interns and they enjoy having someone fresh and young around. But woah...JJ right now...that's a whole another story. Emily was obliged to act out on JJ's disobedience. As a friend she would have poured her some wine and called it a day. But as the Unit Chief she has to take action if she wants to be taken seriously in the FBI and not just like some woman who lets her friends do whatever they want, with no consequences. Who knows...maybe someone will some day notice Emily's integrity? Maybe it will get rewarded?
"Natasha36" I'm loving your determination to prove your theory right! Just remember that, while reading, some comments won't make much sense (YET!) to the readers, on the surface. Look for a hidden meaning...for a double sense...a play of words. If something sounds odd, I promise I wasn't drunk while writing it, lol, but it is rather a masked up clue that would only make sense to selected characters in the story - the ones who know Angie's secret! (Also, it may or may NOT be Emily. Just saying. I'm not confirming nor denying it). As for JJ - you have just finished reading the way she handled the "letter" situation (and there's more in depth conversations to come). JJ would never have dared contact Richard after he broke Emily's heart like that...or rather - she'd contact him to find him and kill him off, LOL! And yeah, of course I appreciate reviews and the people who write them. I'm not a review-seeker, I never end a chapter asking for reviews "or else I won't post anymore". (I don't judge people who do it, I'm just saying I personally don't). I let the people who REALLY want to review, do so. And that makes each line of your words sooo much more precious for me, because I know you did it out of your own free will and with good intentions :)!
