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The night had started with the finishing of the case. New Orleans was safe once again and JJ’s pocket was sure to be heavy with the scribbled down phone number of one William LaMontagne Jr. Hotch had given the team the night to rest before they head back to Virginia the next morning and the team had spent some time together in a bar before their numbers had dwindled and most had gone their separate ways for the evening.
It was JJ who had insisted on Emily coming back to her room. Of course it was JJ. She had been nursing feelings for this woman since they had first met. Everything she did was with the hopes of spending more time with the newest profiler on their team. She was quietly enamored yet never brave enough to tell the other woman how she had felt. Instead, she had resorted to spending her every available moment hanging around Emily, hoping that one day Emily would notice her like she noticed Emily.
So as the rest of their team had dawdled away from their night at the bar, JJ had been the one to catch Emily’s arm and, attempting to hide how nervous she was at the mere thought of it, asked: ‘you wanna come back to my room? I think I saw some not terrible wine in the mini fridge?’
Emily had looked surprised and had glanced over to the detective that they had yet to shake – the detective that was fawning over JJ all night; the detective that JJ had very obviously not invited back to her room. Emily gave her a smile – that beautiful smile that had a way of stopping JJ’s heart – and agreed.
So, they found themselves in JJ’s room together – JJ resting back against the headboard of her bed and Emily leaning back on her elbows at the foot of the bed, both nursing white coffee mugs filled with red wine. JJ had left the window open, letting in the cooling night breeze and the ever so faint sounds of a city alive somewhere out there. It was a peaceful backdrop for their laughter and easy conversation.
They had always found it easy to talk to one another. It was something that they both appreciated about their friendship – the ease of it all. They were only interrupted by JJ’s phone buzzing on the nightstand. She paused in what she was saying to pick it up, rolling her eyes and toss it carelessly back down on the nightstand. Emily’s smile grew wider.
“What was that?” She laughed and JJ took a long pull of her wine, the taste lingering on her tongue and giving her a nice buzz about her head.
“That detective,” she shook her head. “He’s persistent, I’ll give him that.”
Emily seemed to study her for a moment, her smile faulting. When she spoke again, it was with a casualness that seemed a tad too forced, even to JJ.
“You should text him back,” she said, and JJ couldn’t help the scoff that came out of her mouth.
“Why would I do that?” She asked.
Emily took a long sip from her wine and seemed content to stare down into its contents rather that look anywhere near JJ. The blond agent adjusted herself so she was sitting a bit straighter.
“It seemed pretty obvious you liked him,” Emily shrugged. “He’s been flirting with you since we got here.”
“Yeah and I’ve been dodging all of his attempts,” she sat up properly and put her glass down beside her, noting with interest the smile that was quickly coming over Emily’s features. “Some profiler you are,” she joked.
“Hey!” Emily said but smiled all the same.
“Emily, come on, surely you’ve figured it out by now,” JJ felt her stomach flipping but couldn’t seem to make herself stop. Perhaps she had had too much to drink tonight, or perhaps she was sick of just being friends. When Emily inevitably rejected her, she would blame it on the alcohol. Easy. Right?
“Figured what out?” Emily’s fingers played with the handle of her mug. JJ watched them and then met Emily’s eyes and her nerve dissolved into nothing and all but washed out of her.
“I’m not even into men,” she settled on instead but that seemed to surprise the other agent into silence. It stretched between them and JJ picked up her wine, if for nothing else than for a way to avoid Emily’s astonished stare.
As the media liaison, JJ was more than accustomed to being in the spotlight, but here, in a dim hotel room, under Emily’s brown-eyed gaze, she squirmed like this wasn’t something she was specifically trained for.
“You’re not?” Emily’s words came out so softly. There was something in them – something in the way that Emily looked at her…JJ chalked it up to the alcohol. It was always easier when there was alcohol, she figured. She drained the rest of her mug and looked down into it like it held all of her nerve.
Fuck it, she thought. We’ve made it this far.
“Even if I were into men, I would never have gone for him,” she swallowed thickly and finally – finally – met Emily’s eyes. “I’ve been too busy fawning over you.”
The shock on Emily’s face was clear as day in the shadow of the room. The silence that encased them was thick and uncomfortable, JJ almost wished she had her gun nearby for a death quicker than whatever this was. She shook her head and laughed.
“Sorry, I don’t know why I said that,” she rubbed her sweaty hands against her thighs and looked anywhere but at Emily. “We can just pretend that I didn’t. Maybe it’s time to call it a night.” She stood and took her mug over to the small kitchenette in the corner. Only when she was over there, with her back to Emily, did the older agent speak.
“We can’t,” she said and JJ’s heart shattered. She had really ruined everything. JJ cleared her throat.
“Please,” she said.
She could hear Emily shifting behind her, felt her presence leaning against the counter beside her.
“We can’t,” Emily shook her head. “You haven’t asked me out yet.”
It was like the world went silent, waiting for the two of them to get their shit together. JJ’s head went empty for a long moment and, with furrowed brows, she finally met Emily’s eye again.
“What?” Emily smiled at her, that brilliant smile.
“I’m waiting,” Emily said in that voice – that same voice that JJ had heard her use on others. Her flirty voice. Her brain finally kicked in and, blinking stupidly, she could almost feel herself smile.
“W-Would you—” she cleared her throat and tried to sound more confident than she felt. “Would you, Emily, like to go out with me sometime?”
JJ could see Emily’s tongue touching against the back of her canines as she smiled. “Yeah, I think I would like that,” she said, inching just slightly into JJ’s space.
JJ turned to face her fully, her cheeks burning and her heart bounding.
“Really?” she heard herself ask and Emily breathed out a laugh.
“Yeah,” Emily slid her hands up JJ’s shoulder, resting them just under her collar. “Of course I will.” And then, as JJ’s brain basically imploded on itself, Emily tugged gently on her collar and bought her mouth onto JJ’s, kissing her tentatively, almost questioningly.
When JJ’s brain finally caught up with her, her hands were on Emily’s waist and she was turning to push Emily back into the counter. It wasn’t a passionate kiss. It wasn’t a tentative one either. It was a kiss that said finally. A kiss that knew it would not be the last. A kiss that explored and teased and relished. A kiss that knew that it would be the first of many.
When they finally pulled apart, JJ couldn’t help the smile that overwhelmed her, couldn’t bring her eyes away from Emily’s lips. She relished in the fact that she now knew how they tasted, how they felt against her own. She wondered how much she could kiss Emily before the brunette got sick of her.
“I can’t believe it,” Emily finally said. “You’ve really been fawning over me?”
“I can’t believe you haven’t noticed,” JJ laughed. “I thought I was being obvious. Penelope thinks I have been too.”
“Penelope knew you had feelings for me? That little shit.”
JJ nudged her nose against Emily’s softly. “You can’t expect her to tell you all my secrets,” she smiled.
“No, of course, but when I came to her a couple months ago, gushing about how much I was falling for you, she could of at least given me a hint.”
JJ leaned back enough to look into Emily’s eyes, finding nothing but honesty in them. She tucked a strand of hair behind Emily’s ear and trailed her hand over the back of Emily’s shoulders to land easily on her waist again.
“Oh, she is going to be so excited,” JJ laughed.
“You can say that again,” Emily said.
When they kissed again, they did so around toothy grins and with tight grips, as if neither wished to ever let the other one go. And as they kissed, they both pointedly ignored JJ’s phone which still buzzed away on the nightstand.