Unhooking the Stars
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@enbies-and-felonies chapter 9!
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Strawberry Blond
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Slipping out of the city was surprisingly easy: there were no roadblocks, and hardly any patrols as they wove their way north for the second time. Emily had wanted to leave as soon as possible, and JJ had no real objections.
‘What are we going to do?’
Emily looked at her. ‘Right now, we’re going up to the border. We can talk about the rest later.’
‘Are we crossing?’
‘I don’t know yet. There’s no rush, JJ. We have all the time in the world.’
‘Until Hotch finds us.’
‘Ah, yes. The seemingly-infallible Agent Hotchner. He’s not gonna find us.’
‘And you know this how?’
‘Has he found us before? You place so much trust in your precious profiling abilities. There’s nothing to lead him to us, no trail to follow, no messages or signatures to analyse.’
‘There’s always something.’
‘And he can bleed his brain dry looking for it. In the meantime, we’ll be one step ahead.’
JJ fiddled with her jacket hem, not entirely reassured. She was stopped from tearing the fabric by Emily’s hand, softly laid over her own to still it. ‘Hey. It’ll be okay.’
‘It’s not going to be okay! Nothing is okay! My family is trying to kill me and I don’t know what to do.’
Emily squeezed her hand gently. ‘We’ll figure it out.’
‘You can’t promise that.’
‘I can’t, but I’m going to anyway. We can start over, just us.’
‘How? How do we go on from this?’
‘The only way we can. Forward.’
--
‘Well, it looks a lot nicer when I’m awake.’
Emily sighed as she stopped the car in the back of the farmhouse. ‘It never looks nice.’
The house was a startling red against the grey-brown landscape, just beginning to be dusted with snow. It fell thicker and steadier as they dragged the few bags and groceries they’d been able to bring, Emily unlocking and dragging open the back door.
JJ stepped inside, looking around the kitchen. ‘Home sweet home, huh?’
‘At least for tonight. Grab some kindling from that box, would you? I’d rather not have this place be the same temperature as outside.’
JJ collected a handful of sticks from the bin Emily had indicated, tossing them into the woodstove in the living room. Emily gasped in mock horror. ‘What are you doing? Don’t they teach you to start fires in fed school?’
‘Are you judging my fire-starting ability?’
‘Yes! Give me those. You have to make a pyramid, and then-’
JJ groaned, raising her hands in surrender. ‘Why don’t you just do it?’
‘I will, thank you. You can go and get the actual logs from the woodshed.’
JJ sighed. ‘I am so not going to be able to live with you.’
Emily paused. ‘I thought we were splitting up after we got out of the country.’
JJ turned back. ‘I hadn’t thought that far ahead.’
Emily nodded. ‘Let’s just get through tonight.’
--
Two hours later, the house was almost a habitable temperature and Emily had managed to throw together something resembling dinner from their depressing supplies.
JJ was now sprawled over the couch, dozing with her feet encroaching dangerously on Emily’s perch on the arm.
Emily had thought she was asleep, and was weighing the merits of shoving her off the couch entirely when she spoke.
‘Why don’t we just stay here?’
Emily looked up from the book she had been trying to read. ‘Hmm?’
‘We can stay here. There’s no reason to leave unless we’re being chased, and no one in town knows what’s going on.’
‘What’s going on with the whole on-the-run-from-the-FBI thing, or with us?’
JJ sighed. ‘Is there something going on with us?’
Emily didn’t answer. ‘I thought you wanted to leave the country.’ And then split up.
‘I still do, but there’s no rush.’
‘What about Hotchner? Yesterday you seemed pretty worried he’d be kicking in our door by now.’
‘I don’t want to spend the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. We don’t need to stay here forever, just a few months or so.’
Emily nodded. ‘Okay.’
‘Okay? Really?’ JJ grinned. ‘I thought I was going to have to pull out a powerpoint.’
‘I don’t like running either, and I’ve been doing it far longer. If there’s no danger to staying put, there’s no reason to move.’
JJ shivered. ‘I mean, it would be warmer in Mexico.’
Emily laughed. ‘Oh, give it up. If we cross the border, it’ll be the northern one.’
‘Ugh. We’re definitely staying here.’
Emily dragged herself to her feet. ‘If you’re that cold, you could help me bring in wood.’
‘Or I could go find a blanket.’
Emily shoved her off the couch. ‘I like my idea better.’
--
Emily jolted awake, lying on the threadbare carpet. Neither of them had wanted to take the time and energy to make up the bed, and around 2am JJ had just laid down on the floor and refused to get up. Emily had given up on anything else and stayed there with her, justifying her actions with ‘she might make a run for it.’
It took her a moment to get her bearings, sitting and looking around for what had woken her. Beside her, she could just make out JJ’s face, still asleep, the firelight paying over her features and highlighting the blonde hair spilling over her shoulders.
JJ shifted slightly, eyes still closed. ‘Hm? Is someone there?’
Emily sank back down, running her hands through her hair. ‘No.’
‘You sure?’
She sighed, letting her head drop onto the floor. ‘Yeah.’
JJ slithered closer, almost touching her. ‘I’m cold.’
Emily froze, torn between closing the gap between them and fleeing to Canada immediately. ‘You...could get closer to the fire.’
JJ smiled, eyes still closed. ‘Oh, but you’re right here.’
Emily decided Canada could wait. She’ll be gone in a week, tops. Just this once. She wrapped an arm around JJ’s shoulders, pulling the blonde against her. JJ tucked her head against Emily’s chest, curling even closer. ‘See? Now we’re both warm.’
Emily almost smiled. Just this once.
--
JJ was gone when she woke up in the almost sunrise light, the fire burned down to embers. Emily lay there for longer than she needed to, knowing once she got up life would be there to kick every inch of her for letting her guard down. She’s leaving soon. There’s no point in...whatever this is.
She dragged herself to her feet after another minute, hoping JJ was at least still in the house.
JJ turned out to be in the kitchen, drying last night’s dinner dishes. Emily noticed the holster back on her hip, no doubt strapped on first thing after she’d gotten up.
JJ grabbed a plate from the sink. ‘Good morning.’
Emily wasn’t sure how that ‘good morning’ had been meant. ‘Hey.’
JJ set the plate she’d been drying on the counter, wiping her hands on the dishrag. ‘We need to talk.’
Emily’s heart skipped about five beats. ‘About what?’
‘About our plans after this. We can’t live here forever, but I still don’t want to try leaving now.’
‘Whenever you want is fine.’
JJ twisted the dishrag between her fingers, looking anywhere but Emily. ‘And when we do leave...are we going to stay together?’
Emily didn’t particularly want to look at her either. ‘If you want.’
JJ nodded, staring at her feet. ‘Okay.’
Emily stepped closer to her, willing her to look up. Just this once.
JJ kept her eyes fixed firmly on the ground, turning to put the plates away. Emily reached for her, stopping her in her tracks. Just this once.
‘You ever heard the phrase ‘taking advantage of someone?”
JJ met her eyes. ‘Yeah?’
‘Well, seeing as your hands are full, and as such you can’t go for your gun, I’m going to take advantage of that.’
Before JJ could respond, Emily’s hands were in her hair as she kissed her, pulling JJ close against her before stepping back.
JJ stared at her. ‘What...what was that for.’
Emily looked back at her. ‘I just wanted something of you. For just one moment.’
JJ smiled, hair falling into her eyes. ‘You can have more than a moment.’
‘What do you mean by that?’
JJ tossed the plates and towel onto the counter before turning back to Emily. ‘I mean this.’ She reached for Emily’s hand, twining their fingers together, pulling her back in before kissing her, feeling Emily’s other hand back in her hair, wrapping her own free arm around her shoulders.
Emily pulled back, staring at her. ‘You just kissed me.’
‘Is that an issue?’
Emily grinned. ‘Not at all.’
JJ drew her closer. ‘Good, ‘cause I’d like to do it again.’
Emily let her, allowed her hands to drift into JJ’s hair, around her shoulders, holding her close. Just this once.
