Chapter Text
The first things Emily did when she got to the BAU were set her things down at her desk, make two cups of coffee, and then quietly slip away to JJ’s office. It had become a routine now, the only variations being maybe some tea instead and/or a playful but short exchange with Garcia, Morgan, and/or Reid and every so often Rossi.
However, Garcia usually went straight to her cave to prep and warm up her machines for the day, Morgan was typically the last of the team to get in, and Reid normally jumped right into going through his work emails first thing in the morning, which gave Emily plenty of time and opportunity to sneak away before their case meetings (if they had one) to see her girlfriend every morning.
Her girlfriend, JJ. Jennifer Jareau, her girlfriend.
It’d been over a week since they’d gotten together in Miami and just the reminder of the fact that she’d finally gotten the girl of her dreams made her grin like a Cheshire Cat.
People who caught her at these random moments probably thought that she was a crazy person, some of whom were her very own teammates, though they’d come to simply give her a weird and/or curious look before more or less moving on. She didn’t care about the looks though. She was way too happy to care.
Like JJ and Will had at first, Emily and JJ had opted not to tell anyone about their relationship yet either, but this time, it had more to do with their work rather than for a desire for privacy.
Though their department didn’t have a policy against internal relationships, they were usually strongly advised against and when they did arise, they were put under rather strict scrutiny—they practically had a probationary period.
Therefore, the two wanted to prove that they could continue working together as professionals while being a couple before it even came into question.
Though he was their direct superior, their apprehension was not because of Hotch, in whom they had more than enough trust not to worry about him taking issue with their relationship. He knew them more than well enough that he’d surely trust them in return to stay focussed and at least mostly objective while on the job.
Their much bigger concern was Strauss, their strict and severe section chief.
Even after having personally witnessed their success with the Milwaukee murders earlier that year, she’d nevertheless scolded them for what she’d deemed to be recklessness, disobedience, and a failure to follow procedure (but what they’d labelled as “an improvised yet ultimately effective strategy executed in the field, faced with an unforeseen situation, that had, in fact, not broken any Bureau regulations.” *Direct quotation from Unit Chief Agent Hotchner’s report*).
Therefore, being the absolute stickler that she still was, they were not even going to give her an opportunity to throw a wrench into their new relationship.
Separately from their work lives, however, JJ and Emily were doing so well. More than well actually. Things were going amazingly.
They’d already been on another date, local this time, and JJ had to admit, it was so much easier dating someone who lived in the same city as her.
It was so easy dating Emily, period. It just felt so…natural and effortless, despite the secrecy. Part of that was probably that “honeymoon period” speaking, but part of it was also attributed to the foundation of their relationship, that being their prior friendship.
Yes, they were still getting to know each other as girlfriends, but they’d already known each other as best friends and the transition was going very smoothly. There was none of the awkwardness like when she and Reid had gone to that Redskins game a couple of years earlier, which was probably due to their more sibling-like dynamic rather than romantic.
For JJ and Emily’s first date, however, there had been no room for any awkwardness or discomfort as there had only been elation and fun as they’d explored as much of Miami as they could in one night.
The beach had been JJ’s favourite place, even when Emily had tackled her while she’d been innocently standing in the water, making them both fall under and get completely soaked, clothing and all, except for their phones luckily, which had been left safely ashore.
For their second date, JJ had been the planner.
She had treated Emily to dinner at a cozy yet elegant restaurant near her apartment. It had been small, intimate, and private and right across the street from a beautiful park with an impressive water fountain, wherein they’d ended up strolling and chatting after their meal. Their night was topped off with the two snuggled up on JJ’s couch, watching Les Intouchables, during which the media liaison had fallen asleep, followed closely by her girlfriend (It’s okay. JJ had already seen it at least five times since it was her favourite French film).
The next morning, they’d gone out for breakfast and had ended up spending the rest of the weekend together.
That brought them to Monday, present time, wherein JJ had gotten ready for work, before driving Emily back to her place so that she could also get ready, then the two had made their way to the BAU, claiming to have carpooled, which technically wasn’t a lie.
And now, Emily, to the best of her capabilities while holding two mugs of hot liquid, was using her elbow to knock on JJ’s open office door, eager to see the other woman despite having spent the entire morning together.
JJ looked up and smiled softly when her girlfriend entered and placed one of the cups onto her desk in front of her. “Thanks, Em.”
Emily frowned slightly when she took notice of the slightly sad tinge in her smile and replied, “No problem. You okay?”
JJ furrowed her eyebrows as if she didn’t know why or hadn’t even realized that she felt a bit off, both of which were actually accurate, and answered, “Yeah. Yeah, I just…I don’t know. I feel weird—tired and, I don’t know, just…a little down, I guess.
“I don’t even know why though. We had a great weekend together and it’s only Monday and we even got to come in an hour later since Hotch and Rossi are gone for the day. I’ve only looked through a couple of cases and emails and none of them so far are any more significantly upsetting than the others.”
Emily’s frown deepened and she asked, “Is there anything I can do?”
JJ shook her head and blinked rapidly, responding, “No, no. Don’t worry about it. Thanks, Em. The coffee and you just being here have already helped a lot.”
To further prove her words, the media liaison took a sip of her hot beverage, then pursed her lips at her girlfriend.
Emily finally smiled lightly as she leaned over the desk between them and connected their lips in a short but sweet kiss.
She was still worried though, so she asked what the outlook for the day was so far, hoping that there wasn’t anything too heavy.
“Uh, well,” JJ began, “we’ll definitely be staying in town for today at least because Hotch and Rossi went out to Boston over the weekend to guest lecture a terrorism seminar and they aren’t due back for a few hours.”
“Is there anything local we can get in on that you think we could handle on our own for now? Maybe even one we could close before Mom and Dad get back in,” Emily asked, “Because you and I both know that Morgan isn’t gonna be able to sit at his desk, writing up reports and going through consulting requests, for much longer. Sooner or later, Reid is gonna start suffering for his restlessness.”
JJ chuckled at how Emily was talking about the boys of their elite FBI team as if they were a pair of hyperactive children whose parents were away as she riffled through the “organized chaos” on her desk and handed the profiler a piece of paper, explaining, “Um, well, I was forwarded this letter by a Keri Derzmond to her local police department at the time about a pretty intense stalker situation. I’ve already responded and she’s coming in soon for an official consultation.
“Now, I know this isn’t serial, but…well, just read it.”
JJ waited patiently while the profiler read the letter, somewhat nervously awaiting her feedback.
She knew she shouldn’t get so self-conscious about the cases she chose to accept, especially when it was with Emily or even Hotch since they normally just trusted her judgement with little to no questioning (Reid also usually just went with whatever as he was content just having something to solve), but she couldn’t help it.
Normally, if there wasn’t anything incredibly gory or particularly unusual about a case or if there weren’t enough victims, she ended up needing to defend her decisions, especially to Morgan, who was the usual skeptic.
She wished that just the desire to help people—anyone, no matter whom, even if it was just one person—was enough but unfortunately, just like how the brass thought, they, for lack of better words, couldn’t be bothered. They needed to prioritize. The usual exceptions to the victim quantity rule were children.
With the brass, it was even worse because though the team would still care but be unable to do anything, many of the higher-ups often only cared about image and numbers.
Becoming restless during the prolonged silence of Emily reading the letter, JJ asked her girlfriend if she was done yet.
“Almost,” the profiler answered, having reread a couple of the more impactful sentences.
“It’s pretty powerful, right?” JJ nevertheless asked, knowing that no matter where Emily had gotten in the letter that Keri Derzmond’s plea for help was clear and desperate.
Finally, Emily commented, “Whew! I can see why you’d meet with her.”
“Oh, thank god!” JJ internally sighed in relief, but simply nodded in response.
Speaking of the devil, Anderson walked up to the media liaison’s office with a red-haired woman trailing closely behind him and knocked on her door, announcing to her, “Your 10:30’s here.”
“Okay, Miss Derzmond, let’s see what we can do to help you.”
Hotch and Rossi had ended up getting caught up in Boston with a last-minute case, which left the five at-home BAU members available to take on Keri’s case, convinced by JJ (and Emily) to prevent a casualty instead of reacting to one this time.
Keri’s case had ended up getting a bit more complicated than any of them had first expected. However, they’d succeeded in apprehending her stalker after he’d decided to finally take Keri for himself and saved her, unscathed.
The boys and Garcia had decided that their win was drink-worthy and at the time, JJ had agreed, wanting to let go of her worries for a bit and have fun with her friends, even if she didn’t drink anything.
She was second-guessing herself now though. She didn’t think that she’d be able to hide this for much longer, especially in front of a bunch of profilers—in front of Emily.
Therefore, JJ found herself at the end of the workday, hiding out in her office and rubbing the area between her eyebrows in a vain attempt to ease the headache that she’d acquired over her entire situation, hoping, despite how little a chance of it there was, that they’d just forget about her and go.
“Hey,” an unmistakable voice sounded from her office doorway.
The media liaison was so out of it that she hadn’t even noticed Emily approach, but seeing her instantly made her eyes begin to sting with incoming tears.
“Everyone’s waiting,” Emily notified the younger woman, proving her earlier thought, but the brunette wasn’t focused on her message at all, she was focussed on her clearly distressed girlfriend.
“You should go,” JJ suggested, not wanting to spoil Emily’s fun as well as give her the chance to profile her.
Obviously, it was too late though and it wasn’t like she’d been masking her feelings that well in the first place.
“Keri’s gonna be okay,” Emily reassured the other woman, not actually thinking that that was the issue here but also not yet knowing what else it could be.
Her suspicion was confirmed when JJ merely offered a small smile, a slight nod, and an, “I know.”
Emily nodded as well, but didn’t let the subject go as she carefully continued while fully entering the media liaison’s office, “Okay, then what is it? Because you’ve been a little off.”
“Really, I’m just…I’m just tired,” JJ insisted, but instead of easing her girlfriend’s concern, it only grew as the tears began to collect in her beautiful blues, the telltale signs of her incoming cries being the rims of her eyes and the area around her nostrils getting red.
“Jen,” Emily sighed compassionately as she walked around the desk that separated them and over to the younger woman, kneeling before her and taking her hands into her own, “Honey, what’s wrong?”
That was all it took for the damn to break. The second the first tear slid down her cheek, the rest followed against her will.
“Oh, Jen,” the brunette said as she wrapped her girlfriend up into a hug.
She let the woman just cry for a few moments as clearly, she needed to, but once the cries lessened, Emily was determined to find out what was bothering her so much so that she could make it stop.
“Baby, what’s going on?” Emily gently questioned the upset blonde, tucking a few stray hairs behind her ear, “Is it something about Roslyn?”
She felt bad for bringing her up because she knew that JJ’s sister was her forever number-one sore subject, but that was the only thing of which she could possibly think that would bring such sorrow to her girlfriend.
“No. No, it’s…it’s about us…” JJ finally admitted as she wiped at her tears.
“Oh god…”
Emily held her breath.
“And Will…”
“This isn’t getting any better.”
Emily swallowed harshly and hesitantly asked, “Okay, um…are you…are you having second thoughts?”
JJ’s eyes widened and she immediately shook her head, just realizing how bad that had sounded, “Oh, god no! No, no, no, no! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it like that! At all! If anything, I’m worried you’ll be the one having second thoughts.”
“Why would I?” Emily asked, genuinely perplexed as to why she’d ever give up the girl of her dreams now that she was with her.
A few more tears slipped down JJ’s cheeks as she opened her desk drawer with a slightly shaky hand. She pulled out a folded-up piece of paper and handed it to Emily, avoiding eye contact.
Confused, the profiler accepted the page, opened it, and read it.
Her jaw dropped a bit and her eyes grew.
“Oh…wow…”
“I just got the official results this morning,” JJ said, her voice quiet and tentative, “I’m so sorry, Em. We were always so careful and it’s been so long since we—I-I mean, I can barely even remember the last time—but i-it-it must’ve just—”
“Jen. Jen! Jen,” Emily called her name until JJ settled down enough to listen and she prepared herself for the worst, until she felt a soft and warm hand rest gently upon her cheek, making her look up at her girlfriend, “Don’t be sorry. You’re having a baby! This is…this is a good thing, JJ—an amazing thing.”
The media liaison stared at the older woman uncertainly—no. Fearfully—trying to read her, and replied, “Do you really mean that? You’re really okay that I, your girlfriend of only like two weeks, accidentally got pregnant and never even considered…getting rid of it?”
“Jen, I could care less that it doesn’t share my DNA,” Emily insisted, taking ahold of the blonde’s hands again, “because it shares yours and you are my amazing girlfriend who, yes, I’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks, but who I’ve been in love with since the moment I laid eyes on you.”
JJ’s eyes welled up again, but this time, with happy tears as the corners of her mouth slowly turned upwards.
“Really?” she asked shyly.
“Really,” Emily confirmed, kissing the younger woman for good measure, “Is that what all of this has been about? You were scared I’d break up with you because you accidentally got pregnant?”
“With my very recent ex’s baby,” JJ pointed out with a shrug, “I mean, I know you’d love to be a mother just as much as I would, but like I said, we’ve only been dating for a few weeks. I mean, I’ve loved you for a really long time too, but we’ve only been official for a really short time, we’ve only been on two real dates, so I don’t know. You can’t really blame me for being scared. A lot of people would just call it quits.”
“Of course I don’t blame you for this reaction,” Emily agreed sympathetically, “But trust me when I say this: I’m not going anywhere if you don’t want me to.”
“Oh, I don’t,” JJ immediately and surely replied, making them both laugh, “Thank you, Em. I love you so much.”
Emily grinned, happy that JJ finally seemed happy again, and returned, “I love you too.”
The profiler then leaned in and pressed her lips to her girlfriend’s.
When they separated, Emily couldn’t help but look down at JJ’s stomach in wonder, saying, “I can’t believe it. Nine weeks.”
JJ chuckled and replied, “Yeah, we’ve been so freaking busy lately that I literally didn’t even realize I missed an entire cycle until…until we found out about Keri’s…”
The profiler responded with a silent “ahh” and a nod, then tried to lighten the conversation back up again, “Well, in no time, you’ll be having yours.”
“Ours,” the blonde corrected hopefully, “It’s gonna be our baby, right?”
Emily smiled.
Gratitude wasn’t a strong enough word for how she felt, knowing that JJ wanted her to be a part of her baby’s life.
“Right. Our baby,” Emily repeated, giving the other woman another kiss, before she remembered, “Oh, have you told Will yet? He is the father. He deserves to know.”
“No, I know,” JJ responded, “I was planning on telling him, but…I know it’s kinda selfish, but I wanted to sort things out between us first.
“But as soon as that was done, I was gonna call him. I just don’t really know how he’s gonna react. Our breakup is still really fresh. I feel like I’m about to reopen wounds that haven’t even healed yet.”
“I get it,” Emily said, “But I’m sure he’d wanna know as soon as possible.”
JJ nodded, then after a moment, hesitantly asked, “Will you…will you stay with me? You don’t have to talk to him, of course, but—”
“I’m not going anywhere if you don’t want me to,” Emily repeated her words from earlier with just as much sincerity, before taking a seat on an empty spot on JJ’s desk.
JJ smiled at her amazing girlfriend, before finally picking up her cell and dialling Will.
“JJ?”
“Hey. Uh…look, I’m really sorry to be calling out of the blue here, but, uh…we really need to talk. Got a minute?”
“Uh, yeah. Yeah, sure, JJ. What’s up? Is there something wrong? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m fine. Uh, we just really need to talk.
“I’m pregnant.”