AN./ I know, I know. I'm always starting new things instead of focusing on my old ones! But I can't help where inspiration strikes! At this present moment in time I intend to finish all the Emily/JJ fics I've started. We'll see if that happens, but the intention is there. Here is a bit of lighter fluff to pass the time until then :) –Bec xx

Chapter 1

Emily Prentiss was in an unusual rush to leave the BAU and there could be only one reason why. A hushed phone call she'd been embarrassed to answer earlier in the day, the repetitive time-checking since 6pm or so—it didn't take a profiler to figure it out. Still, it was with a peculiar sense of smugness-and-something-else that JJ decided to investigate.

Emily was checking her watch once again when the blonde agent swept down from her office. Her lips were pressed into a straight line and she seemed to be debating herself internally as a shadow crossed her desk. She looked up with a start to find JJ's eyes staring into hers, piercing blue and searching.

"Oh. …Hey." Emily rearranged a few items on her desk without looking at them as she tried to think of something to say. "I was just about to head off."

"Oh, I know," JJ replied. Her lip curled up in amusement. "You've got a date."

"I've got a— Sorry, what? No, I don't." Now Emily's eyes did drop to the desk. She lifted a pencil, then put it quickly back down. It was already perfectly aligned with the others.

"You tidy when you're nervous," JJ stated. The look on Emily's face was deliberately blank but to JJ it was as good as an admission of guilt. "Don't deny it, Emily. Why the secrecy?"

"I don't even know if it's a good idea," Emily sighed, getting to her feet, as if to equalize the power imbalance in their current interactions. It didn't work and she patted her hands against her thighs awkwardly before reaching for her bag. "It's just someone I met in a coffee shop. I probably shouldn't have given them my number."

She gestured resignedly for JJ to walk with her and they headed for the door.

"Them?" JJ repeated, her interest sparking. "Did you give your number to several people in this coffee shop or are you being deliberately ambiguous about the sex of your mystery date?"

Emily groaned softly, and the look in her eyes as she held the door open was 100% "I hate profilers"—it was a sentiment so frequently reiterated amongst members of the team that it had been abbreviated to a glance.

"I don't even know her," Emily admitted. "I don't know why I agreed."

"You're never this shy!" JJ exclaimed, surprised and a little jealous. "She must really be something."

Emily shrugged and combed her hair over one shoulder uncertainly.

"She's beautiful but I shouldn't have accepted," she finally said. "The only reason I said yes was to piss off my mother." Emily let out a sigh as JJ continued to stare at her, knowing she'd need to explain now. "I know, I know—what am I, sixteen? But my mother invited me to this charity ball she's throwing—I say invited but it'd be more accurate to say she demanded my presence—and part of her demand was that I bring an appropriate guest. Which, of course, means that she expects me to bring a man."

"But, given the choice, you wouldn't?" JJ confirmed.

It took Emily a moment to meet her eyes. "No," she answered. "But I don't really want to bring coffee-shop-woman either. She just surprised me and I was brooding, mad at my mother, and I thought that if I went out with her and the date went well, I could invite her to my mother's ball." She closed her eyes briefly as the two of them waited for the elevator. "It was stupid idea. I can't force this by-all-evidence very nice woman to endure an evening with my mother without forewarning her. Anyway, it's too big a favour and I don't know her at all. I just wish I didn't have to cow down to my mother and either bring a man or go alone."

"So take me."

"What?"

"You heard me." JJ flashed a cheeky smile as she stepped aside to hold the elevator door for Emily. As the doors closed behind them, providing a rare moment of privacy, she spread her hands in a gesture of openness. "I know your mother, she doesn't frighten me, and honestly, it'd make me happy to be the woman on your arm for a night. I'll pretty up, do my little liaison thing where I make everyone love me despite their hang-ups, and there'll be nothing your mother can do about it."

"Jayj, you don't want to go," Emily assured her quickly. "It'll be boring. Just a lot of old stiffs and politicians—"

"Will there be dancing?"

"Well, yes—"

"And I imagine there'll be wine. Good wine."

"Yes, but—"

"And food?"

"A big dinner, but, Jayj—"

JJ stopped Emily's speech with a finger on her lips and then stepped back just as the elevator doors opened. "Sounds good to me," she stated simply. "Get back to me with the details. And enjoy your date tonight!"

The last line was called over her shoulder as JJ walked off, and Emily could only stand and stare, watching her bounce away, her hips swinging like she'd got what she'd been after all along...

Well, she was right about one thing. Jennifer Jareau was very, very good at making other people love her in spite of themselves. Emily considered herself a case in point.