Ghosts (5/?) (Emily/JJ)
Title: Ghosts (5/?)
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Emily/JJ
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds. This is just for entertainment purposes.
Summary: Set after 5x03. JJ doesn’t want to go home.
A/N: As always please, please comment, it makes my day ♥
I stared at my phone, perched on the edge of my couch with my hands clasped between my knees I stared at my phone sitting silent on my coffee table. I hated silence.
JJ didn’t come back to work, for hours I waited, stayed late in the hope that she would walk through those doors and stroll across the floor to her office but she didn’t. She never even called. Hotch knew she had to go home on personal reasons so she must have phoned him but why not me? Why not Garcia?
Personal reasons, did that mean Will or Me? Was there even a difference right now? We were both creating the same problem, me more so but I refused to let him get away with it. The breakdown of his and JJ’s relationship was just as much his fault as it was mine, maybe.
My phone buzzed and I wasted no time in grabbing it roughly and flipping it open.
“Emily Prentiss.” I answered automatically.
“Em,” it was JJ’s voice, quiet and unsure, “can you come and get me?”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“My house. Please come and get me.” She pleaded.
She didn’t sound like she was crying, that was a good thing, but she did sound defeated, almost guilty.
“I’m coming.” I assured her before hanging up and snatching my keys from where they had been lying on the table next to my phone, ready for action.
I practically ran to my car, scenarios in which Will was the villain running through my head before being dismissed, as much as I hated him he would never hurt JJ or Henry. The elevator took way too long to come but I was several floors up and still in my work heels. My car flashed at me in the dark when I remote unlocked it, flying out of the elevator and clicking my shoes loudly on the asphalt of the underground car park as I ran to my car. It took more self control that I thought I had not to just floor it and get to JJ in as quicker time as possible, damning the speed limit but I’m a federal agent and getting caught speeding off duty would be a mark on my record that not even my mother could wipe out. There had been too many accidents in the past and I had a reputation for recklessness.
It took almost three-quarters of an hour to get to JJ’s house, having been stopped by more red lights than I had ever believed possible but when I did get there she was waiting for me on the front steps, illuminated in the lights of my car with the shadows of her picket fence making an eerie pattern on her white shirt.
“What happened?” I asked, jumping from my car and jogging up the drive to her side.
“He understood.” She said, not looking up from Henry gurgling in her arms. “I told him and he said he understood. He let me go without a fight.”
I crouched down in front of her, putting my arm on her shoulder to get her attention. “That’s good JJ. It’s the best we could have hoped for.”
“That’s the problem.” JJ said. “I was expecting him to shout at the very least, say I was trying to take Henry away from him but he just stood there calmly and made me promise he could still see Henry. It’s like he had been expecting it.”
“Maybe he had.” I said, brushing her hair back behind her ear do I could see her face.
Henry gurgled something unintelligible, and started swatting at my hair where it swung above him, laughing he played. I grasped his hand in mine and tugged at it playfully, making him laugh in delight. My eyes never left JJ.
“He had an overnight bag already packed but I said I’d go. I couldn’t stay here after that.” She whispered, a bit of the desperation I heard over the phone finding its way back into her voice.
It was then I noticed the bags beside her. “Come on, you’re coming back to my place.”
“He’s still inside.” She said, finally looking at me. “Henry’s travel cot... he needs it.”
“It’s okay, I’ll get it.” I assured her, squeezing her shoulder before getting up from my crouch. “Where is it?”
“The spare room.” She said.
I nodded, stepping past her and into the house through the open front door.
Will was sitting on the stairs with his head in his hands.
“LaMontagne.” I greeted softly, there was no need to make him feel worse than he already did.
“Prentiss.” He stood and held out his hand for me to shake. “Congratulations.”
I grasped his hand, letting him squeeze harder even though I knew I could match him. “I’m sorry.” I said.
“She’ll be happy with you.” He said, squeezing my hand one last time before dropping it. “Henry too.”
“He’ll always be your son.” I said, remembering the pain in my father’s eyes when my mother left him, I had been nine.
“He’ll be yours as well now, he needs two parents at home. I’m glad it’ll be you.”
Feeling awkward I shifted my feet. “He needs his travel cot.”
“I can take apart his proper cot in a couple of minutes, I assume you’ll be able to put it back together again?” He asked, showing me respect I didn’t think I deserved.
I nodded.
“I’ll be right back.”
Ten minutes later JJ and Henry were in my car along with the last panel of the cot and the rest of the toys and clothes JJ hadn’t managed to pack. Henry’s room had been stripped bare and JJ’s closet too.
“Look after my boy.” Will said, shaking my hand again before patting his gun on his hip and looking at my matching weapon. I nodded in understanding. It was because I was a cop to, in his head that’s what made it better. He knew I could protect them just as well if not better than he could. “And JJ too.”
I nodded again. “I’m make sure JJ calls to arrange for you to see Henry soon.”
“You call.” He said. “I don’t think she could stand it.”
I smiled slightly, he knew JJ just as well as I did, loved her just as much as I did. It created a kind of mutual respect that hadn’t been there before.
“The best woman won.” He said, patting my arm before turning and making his way back to the house.
“I hope you’re right.” I whispered, knowing he was too far away to hear.