Mystery
by
Disclaimer:
Criminal Minds is copyright to CBS, and a bunch of others who aren’t me. I’m just playing around in
the sandbox.
Notes:
Consider this #4 in the “Short ‘n Sweet” series.
Love it
or hate it – Razz the writer: shaych3@yahoo.com
It all
started with touch.
Well,
no, it really started with a smile. JJ's eyes fluttered
closed as the
memory snuck in and caressed her with whispers of the past. That first day, warm brown
eyes lingered just
a little too long as hands were shaken, introductions were made and the
nickel
tour was given.
Going
home that night, all she could remember about Emily was how alive the
older
agent’s smile had made her feel. She
should have known then that it was too late.
Emily
Prentiss had stood on the outside of their little family for so long
that JJ
had almost forgotten that initial response, but then, as these things
do,
something happened.
Maybe
it was gradual, like the tide stealing a bit of the land with every
swell, or
perhaps there was some defining event – JJ could never quite decide,
but what
she did know was a deep and intensely pure.
Every minute spent in the company of Emily Prentiss was
worth every hour
she had to spend wallowing in the filth of human unkindness.
In the
kitchen, Emily looked up from washing the dishes and bestowed one of
her rare,
full-faced smiles on her lover.
Flooded
in the warmth of that regard, JJ slid from her perch on the couch and
joined
Emily in the kitchen. Their
embrace was
natural, almost regal as Emily drew JJ close and rested her cheek
against the
blonde crown of the press liaison’s head.
Sighing,
Jennifer said, “You are something else.”
“I
am?” There was a
hint of a chuckle
tingeing Emily’s voice.
“How on
Earth do you manage to wash dishes and not get the sleeves of your
jacket wet?”
Full
and merry, Emily’s laughter blossomed.
“Would you believe me if I said it was a secret?”
“Maybe…
if you share it with me?” JJ
tipped her
head back to look at her lover and grinned at the expression of
consternation
that rippled across Emily’s noble features.
“You’re
one of those people that always wants to know the secrets behind the
magician’s
tricks, aren’t you?” Emily
shook her
head and stroked the back of her fingers across JJ’s cheek. “Don’t you know that some
things are better
left to the greater mystery of life?”
JJ
smiled even as Emily’s touch ignited a flurry of heat in her gut. “And the fact that you
managed to keep your
sleeves dry is one of those great mysteries?”
Somehow,
Emily managed to look perfectly serious.
“Of course. Long
ago, an ancient
and wise man passed the secret on to my family.
It is to honor him that I practice the art of ‘Wet Dishes,
Dry
Sleeves’.”
For
about thirty seconds, it looked as if JJ would buy the older woman’s
explanation,
but then she stepped back and snorted disbelievingly.
Catching sight of something, she reached down
and revealed the pale tan strip of a large rubber band.
“You,”
JJ said, punctuating her words with a poke to her lover’s chest. “Are full of so much shit,
Emily
Prentiss. It’s a
damn good thing I love
you.”
As the
words left JJ’s mouth, Emily’s eyes became the windows to a soul that
had been
long parched. Such
was the depth of
sadness growing within them, that JJ felt her own eyes moisten. Yet, in less than a
heartbeat, the emotion
was gone, replaced by a joy so intense that it struck JJ like a blow.
“I love
you too, Jennifer.” The
words were
spoken with all the solemnity of an oath and a prayer.
The
light that went on inside of JJ’s mind was blinding.
That was the first time we said it. Her face a mask
of wonderment, JJ slid
back into Emily’s arms and whispered, “I do, you know.
Love you.
Like nothing I’ve ever known.”
Emily
swallowed and murmured, “Me too.”
Slowly, she brushed dozens of soft kisses over JJ’s cheeks
until the
other woman captured her lips in a long, intense embrace.
She is light and sound and fury. She is comfort and passion and pain. She is hero and savior and saved. She is everything that is and isn’t. In that moment, all that she is or ever will be has shifted. The tune of her life has changed from a singular, melancholy air to a symphony of such explosive passion that not even the sun going nova would eclipse this one, perfect heartbeat.
“Take
me to bed, Emily,” whispered JJ. “I
have
all the mystery I need right here.”
In
this moment, she just is, and that is enough.
fin
01/02/08
Fireflies