Beautiful (one-shot)
"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.”
-- Kahil Gibran--
It was early morning and as usual, Jennifer Jareau arrived early at work. She was always early; her work demanded her to be punctual - and by punctual, it meant that she had to be the first there and the last to leave the office. She didn’t mind it at all; she loved her job. She drove slowly around the relatively empty parking area to the assigned spots for her team in the BAU.
As she approached the spots, she noticed another SUV parked there. She smiled and parked her own car beside it. It wasn’t unusual for her to see that someone had come before her even though it wasn’t even seven in the morning, everyone in her team was committed to their job and had the tendency of being workaholics; although to be honest; she didn’t expect anyone would come early that morning. The team had just got back from a particularly difficult case and their unit chief had told them to take their time.
She got out of the lift and headed straight to the bullpen, hoping that her teammate wouldn’t be too busy to have an early chat. Before she even reached the bullpen, she heard a melodious voice singing loudly. She stopped and peeped through the glass door to see the owner of the voice.
Inside the bullpen, Emily Prentiss was singing - oblivious to the fact that someone was listening right outside. She didn’t even lower her voice - why would she? No one was supposed to come in this early, not after Hotch, their unit chief, had told them to take as much time as they needed before coming back to work. She had been working on a case report earlier and was now taking a break. The tall woman stood up and sang the last sentence of the song, arms wide opened, and made a small twirl - and that was when she saw JJ outside, looking at her. She lost her balance and fell on the floor. “Shit!” She cursed under her breath.
“Emily, you okay?” JJ ran towards her friend, helping her. “I’m so sorry; I didn’t mean to surprise you.”
The taller woman grinned in pain. She was embarrassed. She knew she looked flushed and she tried to hide it. She let JJ help her to a chair. “Ugh, it’s okay,” she finally said. “I didn’t know that someone would arrive this early.”
JJ smiled apologetically. “I wanted to call out to you, but you seemed very... absorbed in singing and I didn’t want to disturb you,” she said. “Do you need something for the pain? Did you twist your ankle? It was a pretty bad fall.”
Emily’s face reddened. She had never sung in the office before - no matter how late or how early she was, even if she thought she was alone. “No, JJ, thank you,” she replied. She glanced up to see a flash of an amused look in the blonde’s eyes and her flush deepened.
“You have a great voice there,” JJ pointed out. Her blue eyes twinkled in delight. She didn’t lie. She really thought that her friend’s voice was rich and melodious. “What song was it? It wasn’t familiar.” she asked; although she truly did know what the song was. She only wanted to make conversation with the older woman.
“Beautiful,” replied Emily, her face still bright red. “All for One.”
The blonde press liaison smiled, nodding her head. “It was a great song,” she agreed. Before she could say anything else, she heard footsteps outside the bullpen. She took one step backwards - she was standing very close to Emily. She looked out and saw Hotch and Garcia walking together - or it was Hotch strolling down the hall with Garcia who was half running trying to keep up with her boss. She chuckled before getting her attention back to the woman sitting in front of her.
Emily Prentiss was extremely beautiful; JJ contemplated. She had already noticed her unique beauty the first time they met. She had been startled by it - and had been convinced that a person with such beauty and with such kind of family connection must be a snob. But time had proven that everything she had first thought about Emily Prentiss was wrong. The dark-eyed woman was a sweet girl and never comfortable with her family connection. She was a great friend for JJ and everyone in the team, even though the other team members had first treated her with suspicions. Emily Prentiss was a perfect woman - at least that was what JJ thought.
“Morning, girls,” Garcia beamed as she saw the two woman. The woman gave JJ a hug and patted Emily on the shoulder before continuing to walk to her own office. Hotch only waved without saying anything. He was on the phone, and from what little JJ heard, it must be a new case. She sighed. She had hoped that they didn’t have to go off again just after getting back the night before.
“I... I think I’d better finish my report now,” Emily suddenly said, making JJ turned to see her. The older woman cheeks were still a bit flushed, and she thought it was cute.
“Yeah, you do that,” the blonde agreed. “I have to work myself.” She picked up her bag and coat from the floor, wondering if Garcia had noticed it. As she stood back up, she saw Emily had already busied herself with work - or pretended to do so. She walked one step then decided to follow her guts. “Emily,” she called.
The brunette looked up, a small frown formed on her forehead and again, JJ thought it was cute. “What was the song again?” JJ asked.
“Uh... Beautiful?” she replied confused.
JJ nodded. “Yes, you are,” the blonde said. She winked and walked straight to her office without looking back, leaving a very confused - and flushed - Emily at her desk.
"Love: The irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired."
--Robert Frost--
a/n: So, what do you think? *fidgets*