Chapter Text
“This is so different.”
Jennifer Jareau breathes this from the passenger seat of a black Ford Focus. The sun is nearly blinding, fewer targets and no buildings with which to protect them from raw heat pounding on the roof of the dark car.
“You can say that again”, Emily Prentiss replies lazily, swerving gently to avoid a pothole. “The roads are terrible. And it’s hot. It’s only September and it feels like June back home.”
“The forecast says it’s supposed to drop to fifty-eight degrees by Wednesday."
Emily looks at her, eyebrows raised. “It’s seventy-five today. Are you sure that’s right?”
JJ nods. “Apparently the weather does that all the time here.”
Emily leans back into the seat. “Just another inconsistent thing.”
JJ offers a reassuring smile, one she knows Emily won’t look over to see. She’s independent like that, and it’s the kind of strength JJ was always drawn to for comfort. It’s an anomaly and what’s further anomalistic is the lack of need for surety and lasting in another person. It’s then that she remembers that she’d promised not to profile anyone, but Emily is different because they’re not in a conference room now, avoiding sideways glances to the other. It’s different because they’re thrust into yet another unfamiliar environment and yet another unfamiliar situation, the instability of which doesn’t seem to faze Emily at all.
Which could only mean, of course, that Emily is used to change. The years that JJ had hoped she’d become adept in changing circumstances obviously had not worked as well as Emily’s had. Theories of her experiences run wildly through Emily’s head but there’s too many to be sure of one. She’d have to accept this woman as yet another atypical enigma of human behavior, and she’d have to just know what Emily did, if she ever decided to share and not why she did it. If anything, this job had taught her that some people can’t be solved.
“You’re quiet.”
This obvious statement stuns JJ for a second, but she laughs anyway. “Yeah, sorry I’m so dull. I stayed up late last night and we all got an early start this morning. I need coffee or something.”
“Me too. We’ll see if there’s any good places to get something to eat in this town.”
“Speaking of the town, how do you think you’re going to be able to find a rural-route address when there’s hundreds of them here?”
Emily grimaces. “Don’t remind me how awful it is to find it. No matter how many times we go to small towns I’ll never understand why people don’t use street addresses.”
“Hey, if all else fails we can occupy someone’s barn.”
Emily laughs, and it’s genuine. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”
JJ smiles to herself, settling back. “We passed a ’28 miles left’ sign a ways back.”
“Yeah, and we passed a ‘point of no return’ sign about five-hundred miles ago.”
+++
About a half an hour later, Emily rolls into a lengthy gravel driveway to a house obscured by woods. There’s only one other vehicle parked, a rusted Chevrolet pickup truck with the left window down and a spare tire in the back.
Almost as soon as they park, an older woman, maybe fifty-five or sixty comes from the front door with a wide smile. They get out and before they meet, the woman speaks. “Hi! We were wondering if you’d show up. I’m Jean; this is where you girls’ll be staying.”
After they shake hands and introduce themselves, Emily inquires. “Will you be staying with us?”
Jean shakes her head quickly. “Oh no, I just take care of the place. And even if I could get the time off work there’s no point. I live about twenty minutes away in Little York.”
JJ nods. “We appreciate you letting us stay here. Emily has a family reunion and the closest hotel was thirty miles away.”
“Don’t mention it, sweetheart. I have to take off here soon, but I made a cinnamon cake and it’s sitting on the counter. There’s also sweet tea in the fridge. If you need groceries, the store’s on Main Street in town on the corner. You can’t miss it. Oh, and if you need anything, I left my number by the phone.”
Emily smiles gratefully. “We’ll make sure to call if we need you. Thanks again.”
“It’s no problem, really. I’d stay, but I’ve got to make sure to be home when my husband gets home. He gets cranky when I’m late to start dinner. He can’t cook for shit.”
The women laugh at the revelation and watch as Jean gets in the truck, starts it, and waves before backing out.
“Better get settled in”, Emily says, rolling a suitcase over the gravel and to the porch.
The house is already unlocked; a silver key on the counter next to the cake Jean promised was there. A table lies before the kitchen in a makeshift dining room. A living room is beyond that with two leather couches sitting adjacent in front of a TV. JJ goes down the hallway, seeing the bathroom that lies on the right side. One door down, she enters a bedroom.
She hears Emily in the hallway, feet rubbing against the carpet. A door opens behind her and in Emily’s typical revealing voice, she announces: “She said there were two bedrooms but I guess she failed to mention she used one of them for furniture storage. It’s so full I could hardly get the door open.”
JJ drops her suitcase and her duffel on top of it. “Just sleep in here. I don’t bite.”
Emily pulls her luggage into the room, laying it on the other side of the bed. “It’s not the biting I’m concerned about so much as the snoring.”
JJ shoots Emily a look. “I do not snore”, she says defensively.
“No, of course not. That time you fell asleep in the car you were just breathing violently.”
JJ shakes her head in defeat. “Hotch says we’ve got about an hour to get settled in before he needs us at the station in town.”
“In that case”, Emily says, walking out of the room and stopping at the doorway. “Cake?”