Catch me if you can
Chapter 1
“So basically, I just don’t think it’s working out, I mean I work all the time and he wants some stay at home wife. He’s sweet, just not sweet enough for me to love him like he seems to love me”
Jj ranted, coffee in hand, as the girl trio of the BAU walked through the park on the way to work.
The air was crisp and just above freezing as the early November winds swept through Washington. Their steps made crinkling sounds as orange and brown leaves were crushed on the walkway, and around them were joggers, parents with strollers and kids going to school. Today was one of the rare mornings they didn’t have to come in at 7am, and instead began their meeting at 10, as they’d gotten home from a case the previous night. Hence, the prolonged coffee round. The women took up nearly the entire walkway as the had their arms hooked together, Jj in the middle.
“So are you gonna break up with him?” Penelope inquired
“Yeah I guess, it’s not gonna be easy though, now that we live together and everything, I just feel really bad about it”
Jj sighed, she’d somehow thought that if she just stayed with will for long enough, she’d eventually develop feelings, or forget about her feelings for the dark haired agent beside her.
They had only been casually dating for about 3 months, or so Jj thought until he one day decided to move to DC. She had tried not to freak out, but he insisted it wasn’t just for her. That was several years ago, but truthfully the blonde had only stayed with him to distract herself from her actual crush. It had basically worked when they were just dating on and off, but when he moved in with her, she’d realized how little interest she actually had for the man. For the last couple of months, the blonde had tried to break it off, but something always came in the way, usually a case.
Emily couldn’t help her heart jumping when the blonde mentioned breaking off her relationship with the man. She was suddenly very aware how close Jj was, their arms intertwined at the elbow. It was like she could feel the blondes body heat despite the many layers of clothes between them.
Emily wasn’t ashamed of her crush, but she could never see herself telling anyone about it. Her mother had very early on told her what kind of daughter she should be, and being attracted to women was not one of the qualities Elizabeth Prentiss embraced. Emily remembered the ambassador’s many disgusted comments about the parade in the news, or the gay guy in her high school class.
Therefore, the agent never felt comfortable to utter a word of her sexuality, in fact, she had barely admitted it to herself yet, constantly pushed the feelings as deep down as they would possibly go.
Sure, someone on the team occasionally asked about her love life, but she’d just shrug it off and come up with some excuse about long work hours and little free time. The few boyfriends she’d had, only made it harder for her to push aside the thoughts, as none of them interested her in the slightest.
***
“Alright everybody, we’ve got a new case”
Aaron stated with a serious look on his face as the team filed in to the round table room.
“Two women have turned up dead in and around a town in Ohio. It’s not got a huge population but the town is wide spread so there’s a lot of ground to cover. The first victim was found about 2 weeks ago, found by a hiker in the woods. There were obvious signs of torture, probably over several days, up to a week, as well as starvation and severe dehydration. There were ligature marks around her wrists and smaller bruises all over, the ME is trying to figure out what caused them. She also had some cracked ribs, but what killed her was blunt forced trauma to the head. The second victim was found yesterday in a lake just outside of the city, all the same markings”
“Were there any signs sexual abuse?” Spencer asked
“Not that we’ve found, although due to the water there is very little evidence on the second body, it’s believed she was in there for at least 3 days”
“So he’s escalating his time between kills, he’s probably already searching for another victim” Emily stated.
“All the more reason to get going, wheels up in 20”
***
The town was just about as depressing as you would expect, and the small police station was less than welcoming to strangers, only making the job harder.
Reid and Morgan had gone off the talk to the families, Aaron was discussing the plan with the Police chief in his office. Emily and Jj were stuck in front of a computer screen in a run down little conference room, FaceTiming with Garcia to find a possible connection between the victims.
As the call ended, Emily moved to the board holding crime scene pictured, and all the information they’d gathers so far. She stared long and hard, trying to come up with some sort of revelation. She quickly turned around when she heard the tell tale sound of a Jj shiver. The blonde was always cold, but Emily must admit, this room, the whole town even, really was absolutely freezing, even though it wasn’t even winter yet. It must be the wind, she thought.
“Hey! Take this”
Emily quickly shrugged off the green cardigan she was wearing and draped it over Jj’s shoulders.
The blonde was about to protest, but saw the look of reassurance in the brunettes eyes, and instead just thanked her. The gesture truly warmed her heart, and she had to fight off the redness trying to creep up on her cheeks. The shirt even smelled like Emily, it couldn’t get better.
***
Since the town didn’t have a hotel, the team was forced to stay at a forgotten motel, which was possibly even more dated than the station, but they’d survived worse. There was no need to fuss over room divisions, as they all had their usual bunk mates; Spencer and Morgan, Emily and Jj, and sometimes Rossi and Hotch had to share if there was a shortage.
Emily followed the blonde past the parking lot to a ground floor room and they both practically threw themselves on their own beds as they came inside. The beds were probably the skinniest twin beds ever, but at least they didn’t have to share, that’s what they both tried to convince themselves.
As Jj hopped in the shower, Emily made herself comfortable, her eyelids already falling shut as the blonde returned. Jj laughed quietly and said her good nights to an already snoring Emily.
***
Emily awoke with a shiver and realized the rooms ancient movable heater had given out. Though she tried to fall asleep and let it wait until tomorrow, it was only 1.25am and she couldn’t escape the cold, so decided to go ask for another one. These places usually had receptions open 24/7, right? Well she could at least check.
She slipped on another sweater and shoes, before quietly slipping out the door and locking it behind her. With tired steps, she dragged her feet along the outside walkway witch was sparsely lit up. When she reached the reception door and saw the lights off she huffed, annoyed she would have to sleep through the cold.
Accepting her fate, she was just about to turn around when she felt a large hand cover her mouth. Her training kicked in as she tried to fight off the man, but he was at least 2 heads taller than her and had a great deal of muscle. Her vision felt off as everything started spinning, and she realized she must have been dozed with something. She didn’t even feel the needle.