Work Text:
There was only so much she could take. Emily had been avoiding her for months, avoiding being alone with her at least. It wasn’t entirely possible for Emily to escape her, they were working together after all, and Emily was her boss. JJ knew that they needed to have this conversation, it should have happened a lot earlier, at the time it seemed like a better idea to hide it away and pretend that it never happened. JJ had been okay with it, at first, but it was now slowly ruining their friendship. And From what JJ could tell it wasn’t just her that carried the weight of what had happened.
It hadn’t been easy, but she had finally managed to corner Emily in the parking garage. They were alone, and there were no excuses left.
“Don’t you walk away from me,” JJ said, her voice firm and low, her eyes locked on to Emily. “You’re avoiding me and avoiding what we need to talk about.”
She took a few steps closer to Emily, as she did Emily retreated, backing away. JJ kept walking closer, closing the distance between them.
“I’m not,” Emily replied, she took a step back.
“You are.” JJ was right in front of her, her voice raising. Right now she didn’t care if anyone heard them, they were going to finish this conversation. JJ placed her hand on Emily’s shoulder, inches away from pinning Emily against the concrete wall.
There was something dangerous about having Emily trapped between her and the wall. Her mind flashed back to the party after Tara and Rebecca’s wedding. They had been alone then too, just like they were right now. Maybe there had been a glass too much, but they had still been aware of what they did, and the choices they made.The alcohol had given JJ more courage to act on her feelings that had been buried for longer than she cared to admit, and over the last year had made themselves known again.
“JJ, this isn’t the place for this,” Emily said. It could possibly be only one thing that JJ wanted to talk about. The one thing they had silently agreed on not talking about. But it seemed like JJ was about to break the unspoken agreement.
“If we don’t talk about it right now, we will never talk about it,” JJ said, her voice dropping to a harsh, almost desperate whisper. “And I need to talk about it because this…” she made a motion between them, “...is too awkward, I feel like I can’t breathe around you”. JJ let out a frustrated breath, she ran her fingers through her hair, “and it’s a matter of time before the team finds out. If they don’t already know.”
“JJ…” Emily’s voice softened. She really looked at JJ and then, finally noticing JJ’s face, the dark circles under her eyes, and the exhaustion in how she carried herself, her posture wasn’t what it used to be. None of it had been visible at the distance Emily had kept, but now standing this close to her, Emily could really see how the distance in their friendship had torn JJ down.
“Don’t,”JJ replied, her shoulders sunk, the anger slowly fading away, the one thing left was the exhaustion she felt, having to juggle everything in her life. “Just don’t try to run and hide anymore. This is your chance.” She took one last step forward, this time Emily didn’t take a step back, she stayed. Their eyes locked. “Because I’m tired of chasing you.” JJ whispered, her tongue darted out wetting her dry lips. “After tonight I’m done.”
The words hit Emily right in the chest, almost like a physical blow. Her heart hammered fast against her ribs. She hadn’t realized how close she was to actually risk losing JJ. She reached out for JJ, she took her hands in her own, holding on to her.
For once in a long time Emily was honest. “I don’t want to run,” her voice cracked as she spoke, “I’m tired too, but I don’t know what to do.” The feeling of having to be the one that fixed this peaked out, like a reminder.
“No one said you were supposed to figure out all of this by yourself,” JJ said, shaking her head. “We both were there and we both made the choice, so we have to figure out what it means together.” She looked down on their joined hands, “we can’t keep acting like it never happened. This tension… we’ve never had that kind of weirdness between us.”
“What do we do?” Emily whispered.
The question didn’t have an easy answer. JJ looked from their hands back up to Emily’s eyes. She slowly laced their fingers together, on one hand, her grip on Emily’s hand was tight, almost painful, as it was working as an anchor for them to stay in the present. With her free hand JJ gripped Emily’s jacket, and pulled her forward, making sure that the last distance between them disappeared.
JJ leaned in, "We take action,” she whispered against Emily’s lips, and she closed the gap.
Her lips crashed against Emily’s. At first part of the nerves were still present. A flash of fear hit JJ, scared that she had crossed a line that she couldn’t uncross. But then she felt Emily’s hand slide up her back. Emily didn’t pull away, instead she pressed her body against JJ’s, and leaned into the kiss.
It didn’t take long for the kiss to shift into something more passionate and demanding. It was the easiest and the most honest way JJ could express what she had felt for years, even if it had been buried deep and pushed away. With each passing second the kiss was slowly tearing down the walls that had been building between them since the wedding. Nothing but a chance to a new and honest start of what this could be between them.
Lost in the kiss they didn’t break apart until a pair of headlights of a car were directly on them, almost like a spotlight. JJ pressed her forehead against Emily’s, and a soft breath left her lips.
“Let’s get you home,” Emily whispered, “and we will find a day that works for you and we’ll go out on a date.”
“Emily,” JJ said, smiling, and she wiped her lips, “we don’t have anything to talk about on a first date,” she looked up into Emily’s eyes, her gaze warm. “Before you say anything, technically it is our first date, but we already know each other. We are well past the small talk people normally have on a first date, or even a tenth date.” She leaned in and pressed a soft kiss against Emily’s cheek, “but you can take me out for dinner and we’ll talk about whatever feels right.”
“I can definitely do that.” Emily took JJ’s hand in her own as she walked JJ to her car. She held the door open until JJ was safely inside, she stepped back. Emily stood in the quiet garage, a warmth spread in her chest, as she watched JJ start the engine and back out of her parking spot.