FIC: Let Me Prove It To You (8/?)
Title: Let Me Prove It To You 8/?
Pairing: JJ/Emily
Summary: It’s been months since Emily Prentiss left the BAU and the US for that matter. It’s also been months since she last saw Jennifer Jareau. But what happens when Emily gets a call that JJ has been in an accident?
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I don’t own Criminal Minds or its characters. I wish I did, though.
A/N: A couple of angsty chapters still ahead, but bear with me and happier ones will follow too :)
Chapter 8
From the moment Emily agreed to help JJ out, she knew that this was going to be one of the hardest things she would ever have to do in her life. Just being in the same room as JJ was killing her inside, but to actually be in JJ’s home alone with her was almost unbearable. To be this close to her and to know that everything that had been between the two of them was over was making Emily die little by little. Every minute she spent in that apartment reminded her of the life she always wanted to have with JJ. They had never actually talked about it and Emily now knew that apparently JJ never wanted the same things . Because Emily had wanted a life with JJ and JJ had wanted a life with Will. And even though Will was no longer in the picture, Emily knew that JJ had made her choice then and destroyed her and she had to learn to live without JJ. Which was of course really difficult since she was about to spend all this time living JJ’s apartment. It had only been a couple of hours, how was she supposed to take it for days or weeks?
She sighed deeply as she took a seat on JJ’s couch. “Crazy, crazy idea…” She muttered to herself, wondering how she was going to bear being this close to JJ and acting as her friend only.
“Did you say something?” Emily heard JJ’s voice and almost jumped, hoping JJ hadn’t really heard what she said.
“What? No, nothing.” She replied quickly, a little nervous, which didn’t go unnoticed by JJ, but she decided not to push the issue.
“Listen, I wanted to take a shower to wash the hospital off of me. Is that OK?”
“It’s your apartment.” Emily replied, a little surprised as to why JJ would need her permission to take a shower.
“I know, but I thought that maybe you wanted to…” JJ explained, becoming more and more nervous. “I don’t really know what I thought…” JJ added and Emily noticed that the whole situation was a little uncomfortable for JJ as well. Emily could see it in her eyes. She was struggling to make things work, but Emily knew it wasn’t a piece of cake for her either.
“I’m good, feel free to take a shower.” Emily answered and a second later it dawned on her why JJ would tell her about wanting to take a shower. Crap! “Do you… Do you need any help?” Emily asked, terrified of what might happen if JJ says ‘yes’.
“No, I’ll be fine.” JJ replied, a little flustered, thoughts of her and Emily in the shower together invading her mind. For a moment the memory became so vivid that she felt her cheeks getting flushed, praying that Emily wouldn’t notice. “I learned all the tricks at the hospital.” She explained with a smile.
“OK then.” Emily agreed and JJ walked away and into the bathroom. Emily buried her face in her hands and sighed deeply again. Why in the world did she agree to do this? She never realized masochism was one of her traits, but apparently it was.
As she tried to calm herself down and figure out how to go about things for the remainder of the evening, she heard a loud thump coming from the bathroom followed by an angry ‘Damn it!’
Oh this cannot be good, Emily thought as she stood up from the couch and quickly made her way towards the bathroom.
“JJ?” She asked through the door, worried about what might have happened. “Are you OK?”
“I’m just freakin’ peachy!” Came the sarcastic reply and Emily couldn’t help but laugh. She had always loved when JJ was being sarcastic. And even though Emily couldn’t see JJ now, she was sure that her eyes got a little narrower, just like they always did when she was making a sarcastic comment.
“I’m serious, JJ.” Emily suddenly came back to reality. “Are you OK there? Do you need me to help you with something?”
“I’m not really sure…” JJ answered and Emily could tell that JJ really did need help, but wasn’t too comfortable asking for it.
“OK, I’m coming in.” Emily finally decided, scared to death of what she might see inside the bathroom, but knowing that JJ needed some assistance and after all, that was what Emily was there for.
When she entered the bathroom, she saw JJ sitting on the edge of her bath wrapped in a towel with a grimace apparent on her face. Emily could hardly concentrate on anything else but JJ’s ‘outfit’ and the part of JJ’s body that the said outfit wasn’t really covering, but she tried very hard to focus on the help that JJ needed.
“What happened?” Emily asked concerned, trying to figure out if JJ was in any way hurt.
“Funny thing really.” JJ sighed, although it was obvious that it wasn’t really that funny. “I tried to grab my shampoo with my right hand and support myself with my left hand, except that I forgot that my left hand isn’t really working… So I grabbed the cabinet to stop myself from falling.“ She laughed and added, “Which obviously didn’t work.” JJ motioned for Emily to look around the bathroom where some of the contents of her cabinet were scattered.
“Did you hit your head?” Emily asked worried as she noticed JJ touching her forehead as if trying to feel something.
“A little bit.” JJ replied, painful grimace still visible on her face. “But I’ll be fine.”
“Let me see.” Emily gently removed JJ’s hand from the blonde’s forehead and looked at her head carefully to see if there were any signs of injuries. As she gently brushed her hand against JJ’s forehead, she thought the felt the blonde shiver, but she figured it was because of the cold. Or at least that’s what she chose to tell herself. “Looks like your head will indeed be fine.” Emily smiled. “Did you hit anything else?”
“My hip. But it’s fine.” JJ insisted as she tried to stand up, but as soon as she did she winced.
“Yeah, I can see that.” Emily laughed. “Come on, let’s get you to the bedroom.” She added as she put her arm around JJ. She shivered herself as she felt JJ’s naked, still slightly wet body against hers. She had to try really hard to look away and not concentrate on what was underneath the towel that JJ was wearing.
When she finally lead JJ to the bedroom, she made her sit on the bed and took out one of her nightgowns out of the closet. And of course she just had to grab the one that she had seen on JJ so many times before. Why did every single thing in that apartment have to remind her of everything that she and JJ had once shared? Why couldn’t she just let it go and move on?
“I’ll let you get dressed and let me know if you need anything else, OK?” Emily smiled as she made her way out of the room.
“OK.” JJ smiled back as she watched Emily leave. Once the brunette was gone, JJ changed into her nightgown and couldn’t help thinking of what would have happened in a situation like this one if it had happened a couple of months ago. Both her and Emily knew that the towel would have been lost somewhere in between the bathroom and the bedroom because painful hip or not, they both knew Emily would never have been able to keep her hands off of JJ and JJ would never have been able to deny Emily that pleasure.
But things were so much different now. Whenever they touched, it was awkward and you could always cut the tension with the knife. There was so much history, so much tears and pain, things they didn’t know they would ever be able to get past.
***
When Emily woke up the next morning, she was hoping the worst was already behind her and that she would never have to see JJ almost naked again. She soon realized that things were bound to get even more complicated soon.
She got up, put her robe on and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. It wasn’t long until she heard angry groans coming from JJ’s bedroom. At first they made her smile, but after a few more seconds she got concerned, so she walked up to the bedroom.
“JJ are you OK?” She asked through the door.
“Not really. I think I need some help.” Came the reply. “Can you please come in here for just a second?”
“Sure.” Emily opened the door to the bedroom and what she saw made her heart skip at least two beats. JJ was standing wearing her pants, her bra and a half-buttoned shirt. Oh why was God doing this to her?
“I’m sorry, I so didn’t want you to have to help me with every little stupid thing, but I seem to keep having trouble remembering my temporary limitations.” JJ explained and Emily desperately tried not to look at her breasts, but how could she not. “For some reason I thought that I would be able to make this shirt work with just one hand,” JJ continued, “But I took care of three buttons and then it just stopped working and I can’t button the rest of the shirt or unbutton the buttons I have already did to take the shirt off and it’s driving me crazy!” She exclaimed and Emily could see how frustrating it was for JJ.
“Take it easy.” Emily asked. “I’ll do it.” She offered although she knew that standing any closer to JJ than she already was would just completely crush her. But she took two steps closer towards the blonde, with her heart beating a little faster. She kept as much distance as she could, coming just close enough to be able to reach JJ’s shirt. She slowly started buttoning up the shirt, all the while thinking that under ‘normal’ circumstances she would have ripped that shirt off of the blonde, the rest of the clothing for that matter as well, pushed her on the bed and made her scream her name in ecstasy in a matter of minutes, just like she had done many times before.
Emily knew that it was the slowest she had ever buttoned up a shirt, but she knew that once she’s done, she was going to have to take her hands off of JJ’s body and being the masochist that she was, she wanted the torture to last as long as possible.
JJ could feel herself trembling as she felt Emily’s hands inadvertently brush against her naked stomach and chest. She knew she would never be able to forget this touch. She never had. And now Emily was so close, just inches from her and all JJ wanted to do was to push Emily against that door and kiss her senseless. But she knew she had blew her chance and now all she had left was secret longing and lonely nights, while the love of her life was so damn close, but at the same time so far away.