AN./ For the purposes of this story, italics indicate that a character is speaking a language other than English.

Babble

"Quit biting your nails," JJ called across the room.

Emily's head jerked up at the admonishment, her fingers stilled at the corner of her mouth. "What?"

"Your nails," JJ repeated. She smiled teasingly. "Does being alone in a motel room with me really make you so nervous?"

"I'm not..." Emily trailed off as JJ raised a knowing eyebrow in her direction. "We share a room every other week," she pointed out instead. "Why would I choose today to start getting squeamish about it?"

"I dont know... But you've been biting your nails far more regularly lately," JJ replied. The teasing note had dropped out of her voice, leaving a note of undisguised concern. "Em, you'd tell me if something was wrong, wouldn't you?"

"Are you really so concerned over a silly nervous habit?" Emily asked. She was only recently out of the shower and her hair was combed back into a neat bun, leaving her with nothing to fiddle with but her nail bed. "I'm fine, JJ."

JJ crossed her legs beneath her on the bed and shrugged. "You never let anyone see when you're struggling, Emily. I just want you to know that, if you are, that's okay. And you can talk to me any time you want to."

"There's nothing to talk about," Emily answered. "I'm sorry you've been worrying about me."

"I'd worry less if I knew what was bothering you, Em," JJ admitted. She knew that she was pushing harder than usual but, then, Emily was letting her. She hadn't pulled any of her usual tricks - taking out a book, going for a walk, taking out her tablet. She was just sitting on the edge of her bed, listening, as if waiting for JJ to do something different, to alter the pattern.

JJ bit her cheek nervously as she came to a decision. She stood up, hugging her jumper tight around her, and climbed onto Emily's bed to sit beside her. She crossed her legs beneath her, like she was getting comfortable, and, absently, she reached for Emily's hand and traced two fingers over her palm. Emily's breath caught.

"Trying to read me?" she asked.

"I'd rather listen to you," JJ replied.

Emily slipped her free hand over both of JJ's - not reducing their uncharacteristic intimacy but at least controlling it.

Suddenly she began to talk- so quietly and quickly that it took JJ several long moments to realise that Emily wasn't speaking English. A small burble of surprised laughter escaped JJ's throat yet, while, Emily smiled a little, she didn't stop talking.

JJ marveled as Emily spoke, holding her hands, watching her mouth form each rapid, unfamiliar word. She was like a child who'd just been allowed to speak again after a long period of being forced to keep silent. Her face changed from upset to excited to uncomprehending to curious to - at one point - utterly furious in a ridiculously short space of time. When she was finished, thirty five minutes had passed, Emily was exhausted, and JJ was giggling uncontrollably.

"So do you feel better?" She asked.

Emily squeezed JJ's hands tight then released them. "So much better."

"One day you're going to trust me enough to say all that in English," JJ told her. "But until then, Em, you do that as often as you like."

"Jayj, I wouldn't say all that in English to anyone," Emily answered. "...And I wouldn't say it in Italian to anyone who could speak Italian either."

"You will," JJ replied confidently. "One day. And it's going to be me."

Emily smiled despite herself. "You sound awfully certain."

"Awfully," JJ repeated, teasing. "But whenever you're ready. I'm in no rush."

She nudged her shoulder against Emily's playfully and then she got up to return to her own bed with no idea quite what she'd just started.

After that night, it became standard for Emily to unload on JJ by ranting in any of the six languages she was reasonably proficient in. This wasn't a practice confined to the privacy of one or the other's motel room either. Emily seemed to take pleasure in walking down the street, chattering to JJ in Russian or Greek, leaving any onlookers to assume that JJ was equally fluent, when in fact she was completely lost. The only way she could keep up was by following the shifts in Emily's tone and expression.

Their arrangement even entered the office on occasion. If there was a chance of being overheard by a colleague, Emily spoke Russian and explained that she was teaching JJ. Although she was most fluent in Italian, she didn't like to risk Rossi catching any part of what she was saying.

Emily might have stopped, of course, if JJ had ever appeared anything other than transfixed by her monologues. Although at first she'd expected JJ to tune out when she couldn't understand what was being said, she was surprised to find the blonde hanging off every word.

"You get so passionate and honest..." JJ admitted, when confronted. "I love to hear you talk like that. And I love to see the expression on your face changing." Then she reiterated her earlier promise: "One day you'll speak to me like that in English."

Gradually, Emily stopped doubting it. At first, the idea of opening up to JJ - or anyone - utterly terrified her. Yet, the more time passed, the more she found herself having to make an effort to stop speaking English. JJ would ask her a personal question and it would take everything she had not to answer her honestly in a way that she'd understand. Yet her instinct for self-preservation remained. She'd spin off into Greek instead.

"Have you ever been in love?" JJ asked one night. She liked to ask big questions to see whether, or to what degree, Emily would answer them.

It had been over an hour since they'd turned out the light in their shared motel room but Emily wasn't asleep and she guessed that JJ could tell. Nobody had ever seen through her half as easily as JJ seemed to.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, giving in.

"What do you mean?" JJ retorted. "I mean in love. Properly. You know - truly, madly, my-heart-lights-up-when-I-see-you deeply… Have you ever?"

"Does it count it it's not reciprocated?" Emily asked next.

JJ smiled up at the ceiling. "Of course it does."

"Then, yes, I have," Emily divulged. "I am," she added in French.

"...Did you ever tell that person you loved them?"

"Non," Emily replied, knowing full well that that much was within JJ's capacity for French. (Not that she didn't suspect JJ that had taught herself at least the words for yes and no in each language Emily knew).

"Why didn't you?" JJ asked softly.

Emily took a while to respond and, when she did, it was in French again. "Because what I already had was too good to risk," she answered. "You're too good to risk, JJ."

JJ tilted her head and thought of all the things she wanted to say but couldn't. She wished she had enough control of a foreign language to get those words out into the universe as well. And she was afraid to ask Emily what she wanted most to know.

Emily, for her part, swallowed down her fear and kept talking, albeit unintelligibly. "JJ, I love you so much that it terrifies me. I never should have let myself need you like this. If you ever stopped talking to me, I don't know what I'd do. I keep telling myself I can't keep it up but I can't stop either. Falling for you is both the stupidest and the most irrevocable thing I have ever done."

"Emily, you have the most beautiful voice..." JJ murmured into the dark room.

"Then you have the most beautiful ears," Emily answered and then she rolled over and eventually, far later, fell asleep.

"Are you feeling okay, JJ?" Emily asked. Her voice was unusually full of concern, given that she was speaking English, but JJ looked terrible.

"Fine," JJ sighed, rubbing her head. "Don't worry about it."

"Have you got a fever?"

"No."

"...Yes, you have!" Emily removed her hand from JJ's forehead worriedly.

"I'm just having a bit of a migraine," JJ insisted, squinting a little as if the dim room was too bright for her.

"You're just having a bit of a migraine and a fever and, to be honest, JJ, you look a bit green too," Emily replied skeptically. "I'm calling Hotch and telling him you're staying in the motel today."

"Emily, don't!" JJ protested, grabbing Emily's arm, but Emily shook her off.

She spoke two lines of very quick, very annoyed Italian, and then she picked up the phone and said perfectly calmly, "Yes, Hotch? JJ's come down with something. I think it would be best if she worked from here today. ...No, that's fine. I'll be downstairs in twenty minutes. ...I will. Thanks."

"I told you not to do that," JJ grumbled but Emily was completely unfazed.

"Work by video link later if you feel well enough," she replied, "But in the mean time, get back into bed before I have to drag you. Hotch's orders. You are not well."

If asked, later, Emily would blame her lapse in judgment entirely on JJ's worrying condition. But, when she called JJ from outside the precinct to check on her early in the afternoon, she forgot to be wary of the possibility of Rossi entering hearing range and spoke to her in Italian.

"Will you stop being so damn pig-headed and realise I'm doing this because I love you? You're my whole life, you idiot…"

Rossi's ears perked up as he neared Prentiss and caught pieces of her conversation. That was interesting! Usually the whole team knew when one of their lot was dating and yet Rossi was fairly sure nobody knew anything about a mystery Italian in Emily's life!

"…I do not! Shut up," Emily complained into the phone, in English now. "…Well, you worry about me ten times as much as I worry about you, so you can just deal with it for a day, all right?…Whatever." She signed off in Italian before hanging up the phone: "Yeah, I love you too, baby..."

"Who was that?" Rossi asked with a twinkle in his eye.

Emily's heart stuck in her chest. "Were you listening in on my phone call, Rossi?"

"My ears are automatically attracted to my native tongue," Rossi replied, raising his hands helplessly. "…I didn't know you were dating."

"I'm not," Emily replied sourly.

"Do explain?" laughed Rossi. "Really, I'd like to hear you try. Who's this 'baby' of yours?"

He continued teasing her as they reentered the precinct.

"Don't think I'm going to share any gossip with you just because the others can't understand what we're saying," Emily pointed out. "We have work to do."

Rossi chuckled good-humouredly. "It's just so rare to see you squirm."

At that moment, Emily's phone began to ring (for the millionth time that day - JJ was clearly getting restless) and she answered it in a fluster. "Jennifer Jareau, if you call me one more time-!" Emily cut herself off as she realised she'd as good as revealed who she'd been talking to all day. She turned away from Rossi and added in a low voice, "I'm in a really awkward situation right now. I'll call you back later. …Or better yet, you could actually get some goddamn bed rest!"

She hung up the phone and then tried to walk away without acknowledging Rossi. Yeah, like that was going to work.

"Wait, you weren't on the phone to JJ before, were you?!"

"Don't be ridiculous. JJ doesn't speak Italian."

"JJ doesn't speak Russian either, last I heard, yet we've all been catching you speaking it lately. What the hell is going on between you two?"

"I'm warning you, Rossi. Leave it alone."

An artificial cough drew both of their attention to Hotch, standing nearby and looking concerned. "Is something going here on that I should know about?"

"I was just asking Emily the same thing…" Rossi replied darkly, then he added with a cheerful smile, "But clearly whom she may or may not be dating isn't relevant to the case!"

"No, clearly not…" Hotch replied, seeming mildly curious despite himself. He forced himself to walk away.

"JJ and I are not dating!" Emily hissed, narrowing her eyes at Rossi. "Don't you dare go spreading that!"

"You're denying that awfully vehemently, Emily," Rossi replied.

"Because it's not true!"

"JJ has no idea that you have feelings for her, does she?"

Emily gawped helplessly as Rossi reconsidered her. His eyes had lost their sparkle of mischief and turned sympathetic. Emily riled against the pity. "This has nothing to do with you, Dave. Do not bring it up again."

"What's this?" came Morgan's voice, full of amusement, and Emily realised that she'd been raising her voice. "A lovers' spat?"

"No thank you," Emily sneered and then she stalked off, leaving Rossi to chuckle and fend off questions on his own.

"What was that about earlier?" JJ asked, almost as soon as Emily returned to the motel. "When you oh-so-rudely hung up on me?"

"Rossi caught me speaking Italian to you," Emily admitted, groaning as she remembered. "Now he won't stop teasing me..."

"Wait, so Rossi knows what you said but I don't get to?" JJ protested.

"How are you feeling?" Emily asked evasively.

"Fine," JJ insisted. "Can't you at least tell me what you said on this one occasion? I mean, if Rossi knows!"

Emily chewed a nail unconsciously as JJ stared her down and, noticing, JJ took pity on her anxiety.

"Come here," she said, gesturing to a spot beside her on the bed. "Come sit with me." She waited for Emily to do (reluctantly) as she was told before putting an arm around her shoulders, hugging her closer, and going on. "I'm going to make you comfortable enough to talk to me." She said with total certainty. "Lie down on your stomach."

"Jayj, I don't- Anyway, you're sick! You should be resting."

"I've been trying to tell you all afternoon that it's passed. I feel completely fine. Now, do as I say, Emily. And take off your jacket. It'd be best if you took off your shirt as well but I won't force you."

"What are you...?" Emily began but she trailed off when she saw JJ watching her expectantly. She had her best stern face on and it was pointless arguing with her when she got like that.

Emily did as she was told and removed her jacket, then she met JJ's eyes, unsure how to proceed.

JJ's face softened as she took in Emily's uncertainty. "I'm just going to massage your back," she explained, although Emily had already gathered this much. "I have a really gorgeous smelling oil I can use if you take your shirt off but it's up to you... Do you trust me, Em?"

If only it were just a matter of trust! The thought of JJ's hands slicked and sliding across her bare body was more than enough to bring a flush to Emily's cheeks. Still, she found herself turning away and unbuttoning her shirt. She felt the bed shift as JJ got up and went into the bathroom to retrieve the massage oil she kept in her toiletries bag.

Alone in the room, Emily felt a burst of excitement and the momentary courage that entailed. She slipped off her shirt, as well as her shoes and socks, and then lay on her stomach and waited for JJ to return. At the last moment, she made a snap decision and removed her bra as well before quickly lying back down and ensuring that her nipples were safely pressed against the blankets, out of sight.

It would be easier for JJ if there were no inconvenient straps in her way, she reasoned.

When JJ returned she was humming to herself softly. She turned off the main light in the room and replaced it with the dim, yellow glow of the desk lamp. Then she turned on the radio to a soft, smooth station. She knew what she was doing... Well, she'd Googled it.

JJ gave a gentle laugh when she saw Emily turning her head to watch her. "Oh, Em. Don't look at me like you're awaiting sentencing..." She sat down on the edge of the bed and scooped Emily's hair up, fastening it in a low bun with the elastic she kept around her wrist. She stroked the back of Emily's neck gently as she did so. "I'm going to help you relax, okay?"

"Okay," Emily breathed. She watched as JJ squeezed a small amount of lavender scented oil onto her palm before setting the bottle aside. She rubbed her hands together to warm it and then began with a long, exploratory stroke across Emily's back, her hands butterflied together.

"This is about making you feel good, Em, so if I'm pressing too hard or too softly or you start feeling uncomfortable with what I'm doing, I want you to tell me," JJ began. Her hands stilled as she spoke and Emily found herself sighing.

"Just touch me, Jayj," she murmured in Italian and JJ began to move as if she understood. Perhaps she was reacting to the unintentionally sensual tone of Emily's voice.

She should've been more nervous. She should've been terrified. For god's sake, she was exposing herself in front of the woman she had secretly loved for years, letting her touch her naked back... Emily told herself she ought to be in a panic. Yet even as her mind formed the words, her body rebelled, sinking into a state of total relaxation.

'Holy fuck, she's touching me!' turned into, 'Mmmm... she's touching me..." and Emily was certain JJ could feel the shift in her loosening muscles, if not her whole demeanour.

"There..." Emily gasped as JJ's smooth hands slid over a particularly tight muscle. "That's so good, JJ..."

JJ fought back a smirk, although she realised that Emily couldn't see her. The brunette's head was turned sideways, her cheek pressed against the pillow, and her eyes had been closed from the first touch. Her eyebrows drew together now as a soft moan escaped her.

'What did Rossi overhear you say?' JJ wanted to ask but she knew it was too soon to risk it. She forced herself to relax along with Emily, focusing on the soft music and the feeling of her hands against that gorgeous woman's warm, silken skin. She ran her hands along Emily's sides, up to her ribs, stopping just beneath her breasts to run back down again.

"Did you know you have dimples in your lower back?" She asked softly.

Emily's eyes fluttered open and she looked confused. Obviously she didn't.

JJ traced her fingertips down Emily's back and pressed a finger against each dimple - two small dips just above the waistline of her trousers. "I- um, a lot of people find that really sexy," she admitted, glad that Emily couldn't see her blush. Then she continued to work the invisible tension from her friend's body until her every touch had Emily melting and sighing. She'd long ago given up on hiding her reactions.

"This is so dangerous," Emily murmured helplessly, slipping into Italian once again. "All I want to do is roll onto my back and see what happens. My nipples are so sensitive that it hurts when they rub against the sheet. JJ, I want you..."

"Em," JJ gasped, sinking her hands deep into Emily's back. "Maybe you could lay off the Italian just for this evening. I have no idea what you're saying but it's kind of turning me on..."

Now Emily did roll onto her back, leaning up on her elbows and meeting JJ's eyes. She felt cool air flooding over her breasts but tried not to be self conscious about that. She kept her gaze deliberately on JJ. "It is?"

JJ took a slow breath in, her fingers brushing against Emily's hips, where they had fallen when she turned over. She fought not to check Emily out (more than she already had). "I told you once that you have a beautiful voice... Em, I love to hear to talk in whatever language makes you feel comfortable but I sometimes think I'm imposing meanings on what you're saying that aren't there."

Emily brushed her hand gently over JJ's forearm, feeling the hairs raise, and she smiled, despite herself. "Tell me what you think I'm saying now," she murmured and she followed with a few lines of soft and sexy Italian, which made JJ shiver.

"That's the kind of thing I'd misinterpret," she confessed quietly.

"How do you know you're misinterpreting it?" Emily asked.

JJ shook her head. "I- I think I've been guilty of wishful thinking ever since this started. I've been feeling... closer to you than you feel to me."

"JJ, Rossi heard me say that I..."

"Emily, please," JJ begged, her voice breaking. "In English!"

"Rossi heard me telling you that I love you," Emily released on a sigh. "That you're my whole life, Jayj. Because you are. Although the compulsion to say it aloud has been mitigated by the fear that you'll actually hear it... JJ, you are beautiful and kind and fearless and I love you more than I've ever loved anyone in my life."

JJ bit her lip and leaned down and placed a delicate kiss against Emily's lips, careful not to brush her exposed breasts. She didn't want to startle her. But Emily's hand immediately rose to cup JJ's cheek and she kissed her back so tenderly that JJ couldn't help but sit up to look at her.

"Is that what you've been trying to tell me all this time?" She whispered but Emily shook her head.

"I've been struggling not to tell you."

"Emily, I love you too."

Their lips met again and it was only hours later, lying flushed and damp against one another in the room that still smelled like lavender, that JJ recalled what Emily had said and baulked.

"...Wait! Rossi knows this?!"