Title: No one puts the mistletoe in a corner
By: Foxy Nighthawk
Pairing: JJ/Emily
Rating: PG-13
Note: This one is for Varsha, because it is totally ok to get hooked on CM fics.
Summary: Involves mistletoe...

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Emily walked around her apartment taking one last look around before her guests would arrive. She was a bit nervous; having invited the team over for a pre-Christmas party had been a spur of the moment thing, but she had felt that they needed to do something other than work for one night at least. After Garcia had been shot, the entire team had been a little on edge, especially JJ. A smile formed involuntarily on her lips at the thought of the blonde, but as she glanced over at the mistletoe hanging in the corner the smile vanished at the impossibility of pursuing the other woman. Truth be told, it had almost been love at first sight when she had met Jennifer Jareau, albeit a one sided love at first sight, but love none the less. She was sure that JJ was straight, she'd seen her flirt with more than one man, but, as the small voice in the back of her head always said when she was down about her feelings for the blonde, she had never seen or heard about her actually dating any of them.

She walked into the kitchen mentally going over the various items she had bought for the party, knowing that she hadn't forgotten anything, but still needing to check to make absolutely sure. Suddenly the doorbell rang, she looked at her watch, frowning, someone was more than half an hour early.

"Hey, sorry I'm so early." Jennifer stepped into the apartment and offered a bouquet of flowers to Emily. "I was done at the officer earlier than expected and going home before coming here would just have been a waste of time..." She paused, looking slightly nervous. "I hope you don't mind." She slipped off her jacket.

"No. No, not at all," Emily hurried to assure her. "I was just going over everything one last time." She took the blondes coat and hung it up. "These are nice." She smelled the flowers. "You didn't have to, but thanks." She smiled and looked the blonde in the eyes.

"You're welcome." They stood for a minute gazing in each others eyes, before realizing what they were doing.

"So," Emily cleared her throat and smiled a bit awkwardly. "Come on in," she showed JJ into the living room. "Make yourself at home. I'm just going to put these in some water." She indicated to the flowers. "You want a beer or wine or... something?" She offered on her way to the kitchen.

"A beer would be nice." JJ smiled and looked around the big room.

"Ok, Emily Prentiss, get a grip on yourself." Em mumbled to herself as she quickly arranged the flowers in the kitchen. "It's a colleague. A female colleague you're in love with, but you're going to act naturally and just... just wing it until the others get here." She put the last flower in the vase, grabbed it in one hand and took two beers from the fridge with the other and walked back into the living room. "JJ?" She put the vase down on the table. "Beers are here." She turned towards the window, knowing that the view always caught people's attention, but she saw no JJ.

"Why is this hung all the way over here?" The blonde asked from the corner.

"Ehm," Emily turned around a saw the blonde standing under the mistletoe looking up at it. "I didn't want Garcia standing in the doorway all night." She joked.

"Oh, so you want her standing in the corner, then?" JJ asked with a smile.

Emily smiled back, but felt her smile freeze slightly when the smile on the other woman's face was replaced with a look that she couldn't quite decipher.

"So," Emily saw the intense look on the other woman's face, when the blonde spoke. "Correct me if I'm wrong here, but doesn't a girl get a kiss when she's standing under the mistletoe?"

Suddenly Emily realized that she did recognize the look on JJ's face, the only reason she hadn't recognized it earlier was that she had never seen it on her before; JJ Jareau was visibly nervous.

"Yeah," she nodded at the question and mentally kicked herself for not coming up with something more eloquent. She stood rooted to the spot, her mind going over various ways to proceed, rejecting all possibilities.

"Sooo," the blonde drew out the word. "Am I going to stand here until Garcia and the boys get here or are you going to do something about it?"

"Uhm," Emily desperately wanted to do something, say something, but emotions were flooding her mind, leaving her motionless and speechless.

"Em," JJ sighed dejectedly. "Did I get this all wrong?" She moved away from the mistletoe towards the brunette. "Because if I did," she was now standing right in front of her. "I am really sorry and I won't mention it again."

"I..." Emily looked away from the blonde. All she had dreamed of for months were had now become available to her, but she couldn't act on it. In the haze of all the emotions that were floating around her body and mind all she could do was concentrate on staying upright.

"Em," JJ's voice was soft and felt almost like a physical caress. She cupped Emily's face and gently forced her to look her in the eyes. "I've thought this through, and I don't care about risking my career. Not for you... Not for us." She took her hand away, slowly caressing the brunette's cheek as she removed it. "The ball is in your court now." She stepped away slowly as if giving Emily space to think.

"I..." Emily cleared her throat. "Are you sure?" She looked the blonde straight in the eyes. "I mean, have you really thought this through?"

"I have," JJ nodded. "I've done nothing else but think about it." She stopped backing away from Emily.

"Because I need to know that you know the consequences of a... a relationship between the two of us." Emily looked away from her. "You see, I've... Most of my life people have left me and I can't start something with you knowing that you haven't..."

"Emily," JJ stepped back into her personal space and cupped her chin again. "I know what will happen if people find out." She smiled a little. "I know what this mean. I'm not promising forever, but I can promise that you won't lose me because of the job." She smiled.

"I thought you were..." Emily tried to look away, but JJ's hold tightened a little holding her head in place.

"I'm not." JJ sighed. "Em," she looked at her. "I'm not going to force anything on you. I can see how you shield yourself from everyone, so you won't get hurt. But I'll never intentionally hurt you."

"I know," the words came as a whisper. "But I'm still scared." Emily hated making that admission.

"I know," Jennifer smiled reassuringly. "But I'll be here with you, I'll do my best to chase your demons away. I'll..."

Emily put a finger on her lips silencing her. Keeping her eyes open, looking deeply into the blue orbs in front of her, she leaned in slowly. As her lips met the blonde's in a tender kiss, she couldn't stop her eyes from fluttering shut. In that instant the world and everything in it, except the two of them, disappeared. All she could do was feel, everything inside her exploded in a blur of emotions.

She brought her hands up to cup the other woman's face, needing to feel that she was really there, that this wasn't just an all too vivid dream. She stepped closer, wanting to feel JJ close to her and moaned in appreciation when she felt the blonde's arms sneaking around her waist holding her tight.

As they broke the kiss Emily kept her eyes closed, but felt the silly smile playing on her lips. She heard JJ giggle a little and opened her eyes with her eyebrows raised in question.

"What?" She asked.

"It's nothing really." JJ looked at her, the smile playing in her eyes. "I guess we didn't need the mistletoe after all." She looked over at the mistletoe hanging miserably in the corner.

"No, I guess we didn't." Emily smiled and looked at it too. "But I'm glad it was there."

"Yeah," JJ nodded. "So am I."

They were interrupted by the sound of the doorbell ringing.

"I better go let the rest of my guests in." Emily said reluctantly.

"Yeah," JJ nodded. "They might suspect something is up if you pretend not to be home." She gave the slightly taller woman a peck on the lips.

On the way to get the door Emily took a deep breath and quickly checked herself in the mirror. She paused for a second as she passed it. It was amazing really, so much had happened since she'd let JJ in, but she looked the same as always. She looked closer. No, there was something different, the look in her eyes had changed from settling with the present to having hope for the future. She smiled to the reflection in the mirror before opening the door.

"Hey guys," she smiled to the rest of the team. "Come on in." She showed them into the living room.

"Emily Prentiss!" Garcia looked sternly at her. "Why on earth have you hung the mistletoe in the corner? Don't you know that no one puts the mistletoe in a corner?"

Emily looked at JJ and smiled.

"I do now." Her smile grew bigger and she looked around at her guests. "Merry Christmas everyone."

- The End

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