AN./ You know I'm severely busy with uni when I start posting like a machine. This has been sitting around for a while, long before the department stores over here started stocking Christmas trees. But I feel like I've been neglecting my Emily/JJ readers by not posting anything!

"How late are you running?" Emily asked into the phone, shooting Garcia a disappointed look as the two of them stood in line to order coffee. "No, we're already here. ...Sure. I'll order for you."

Garcia stepped up to the counter as Emily laughed at something JJ said over the phone.

"Okay, I'll see you in five." Emily came up beside Garcia and smiled at the barrista. "Can I get one medium long black and one hot chocolate with marshmallows and no cream? And also a blueberry muffin... Yep. Thanks!"

Emily paid while Garcia gave her a curious look. As they stood aside to wait, she loosed her question. "Doesn't JJ drink cappuccinos?"

Emily offered an embarrassed grin. "She prefers chocolate to coffee. She just feels like a baby when she orders it. Wait. She'll be pleasantly surprised."

Garcia raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know that," she replied in a tone that reflected just how used she was to always knowing everything about her best friend. "When'd she tell you that?"

"Um, she didn't," Emily admitted. "I just... noticed."

"Uh huh..."

Emily fought an inexplicable blush at the tone of her friend's voice and then the two of then collected their drink and found a table.

"What else have you just noticed about JJ?" Garcia asked.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you somehow figured out that her regular coffee order isn't her actual preference. You frequently point out when a meal she's considering ordering contains something she doesn't like. You always know where she is . Like, I don't know if you have a tracking device on her or if you've just memorized her patterns down to a 'T' because any time JJ isn't in her office or answering her phone, someone just says 'Ask Prentiss,' 'cause you'll inevitably know what's up. So tell me, Em, where and when'd you get your degree in JJ?"

"I don't know what you- ...Hey, Jayj!"

Garcia shot Emily one of her 'We're not done here' looks before glancing up and greeting their friend.

"Morning, ladies," JJ answered, hanging her bag off the chair beside Emily's with a drawn out sigh. "Sorry. The traffic was awful from my place... Oooh, Em, is that for me?" JJ's face brightened as she pointed excitedly at the muffin Emily had ordered and she beamed when she received a nod in response. "I love you!" She leaned forward to place a playful kiss on her friend's cheek, then took a sip of her drink. She released a sigh when she realised what it was. "...I really love you. Emily, how do you always know exactly what I want?"

"I'm convinced there's some sort of creepy mind-reading relationship going on between you two," Garcia answered for her. "Still haven't got it quite figured out but it's probably kinky. There may be hypnotism involved."

JJ laughed, while Emily spluttered on her coffee and nearly spilled it.

"Oh- ah- Shit, that's hot!" she gasped.

"The coffee or our kinky mind-reading relationship?" asked JJ with a wink. "Mm... Thanks so much for the muffin and hot chocolate though. Wow. My morning's been made."

"No problem," Emily answered, coughing awkwardly as she began to pick at her nails. "So, ladies, are we still on for tonight?"

Emily and Garcia glanced at JJ, who offered a guilty look. "Sorry, Em. The case I'm briefing this morning is in North Carolina and it doesn't look like a quick wrap-up..."

"Seriously?" Garcia moaned. "It's been ages since we've gone out!"

"This Saturday?" JJ suggested, taking a bite of her muffin.

"Can't," Garcia answered. "It's Morgan's mom's birthday."

Emily and JJ exchanged a look.

"...And?" JJ asked.

"And I'm gonna be in Chicago," Garcia finished with something of a 'duh!' expression on her face.

"With Morgan," Emily confirmed. "And his mom. And the rest of his family?" Like JJ, she was unable to contain her grin.

"Where do you think I get all those amazing stories about his childhood?" Garcia pointed out. "I got in with Momma Morgan and Derek's sisters years ago. Spend every Thanksgiving and Christmas in Chicago now, as well as Momma's birthday. Got my own Christmas stocking and everything."

"Hmm, maybe I should get in with your mom," JJ teased Emily, continuing their earlier joke.

Emily snorted at that. "Good luck," she answered. "I haven't been 'in with' my mother since I clawed my way out of her vagina."

"Let me guess, you were born premature?" JJ laughed and, good god, she was gorgeous when she did that.

"By two months," Emily confirmed. "I had a tantrum and she had to get a C-section, which I'm pretty sure she still blames me for. Turns out even the ambassador's womb was inhospitable to me." She was only half-joking.

"Hey, speaking of the holidays," JJ segued. "Do you spend them with your mom or what?"

"Why on earth would I spend them with my mother?" Emily asked. "No, I'd rather stay home alone."

"Tell me you don't!" Garcia gasped.

Emily glanced down at her coffee. "Well, sometimes I take a trip..."

"So you can spend the holidays alone and away from home?" JJ pressed, equally as horrified as Garcia.

Emily affected a look of concern. "Why? Do you think my cat minds?"

"I mind!" JJ cried. "No one should spend Christmas alone!"

Emily stared, somewhere between defensive and just plain confused by her friends' concern. "I'm not religious, I don't have any family besides the ambassador, and during the holidays everyone else tends to have somewhere to be. I'm not lonely. I can handle a few days a year to myself."

"The only things you should have to handle during the holidays are awkward questions about your love life and more food and drink than you'd usually consume in a week being squeezed into a single day's intake," JJ persisted. "If Pen gets that from Morgan's family, then it's obvious that you need to start spending the holidays with mine."

"JJ, I can't-"

"Emily Prentiss, you may've missed out on Thanksgiving but Christmas is in two weeks," JJ interrupted forcefully. "If you've got plans to tour some foreign museum of contemporary art by yourself, you'll just have to cancel them. You're spending Christmas in the middle of nowhere with me! ...And fifty-odd friends and relatives but-"

"Jennifer, stop! I can't," Emily burst out, a little desperately. "I mean I haven't since- I don't know... Since I was six and my dad died, probably. Everything I know about how real families spend Christmas comes from those movies they put on every year during the holidays. I can't-" Emily made a soft choking sound as JJ took her hand under the table. She couldn't say anything more but she shook her head, meeting JJ's eyes, willing her to understand.

But it was Garcia who replied. "My first Christmas with Morgan's family was the first one I didn't spend alone at my computer since my parents died, Em. I know how you feel right now. But it's been like four years or something since I started going and now Morgan's family put presents under the tree for me and it's amazing to have something like that again. Let Jayj take you home for the holidays. Or else we're both going to have miserable Christmases thinking of you here alone."

Emily shook her head despairingly but the expression in her eyes had already changed. The final guilt trip was all it took to push her over the edge. "...Give your mom plenty of warning," she begged JJ. "And make sure it's okay with her that I come!"

JJ laughed, relieved to have got through to her. "Em, at my house, everyone is welcome as long as they bring food!"

And that was how it happened - how it came about that, just under two weeks later, three days before Christmas, Emily and JJ were driving through small-town Pennsylvania together. JJ pointed out almost every building they passed with some story or other. She showed Emily the place she'd gone to school, the field where she'd played soccer, the diner where she'd hung out with her friends and drunk vanilla milkshakes, the park where she'd kissed her first boyfriend - apparently that hadn't been so pleasant... And Emily was overcome by the strangest kind of nostalgia: a longing for something she'd never had, for something she might've had if her mom hadn't been Ambassador Prentiss, packing it up for a new country every couple of years. A new house to pretend was her home, new peers to pretend were her friends, a new language - she'd always do her best to learn it but inevitably she'd betray herself somehow at being a pretender at that too. She'd once been accused of speaking Russian with an Italian accent, despite speaking Italian with an American one.

"You were the soccer captain, right?" Emily asked as they passed the field.

"Sure was," JJ replied fondly. "There were a lot of things about life here that weren't right for me, being who I am, but I fit with soccer. And my team - well, we got up to some crazy stuff..."

"When you weren't getting straight A's and athletic scholarships," Emily teased.

JJ tossed her a disbelieving smile. "Says the woman who learned six languages before she was twenty! You must've been doing some hardcore studying during your goth rocker phase."

"Jennifer, we have a binding agreement never to mention my goth rocker phase again," Emily reminded her seriously but JJ only laughed.

"It's not an agreement if the other person doesn't agree, sweetheart."

Emily glanced out the window, wondering if JJ could hear how fast her heart was beating. They were in her neighbourhood now - any minute now she'd get her first glimpse of JJ's family home, her family. And they'd see her - the sad colleague without any family of her own, someone who called her own mother Ambassador Prentiss more often than not and spoke Italian-accented Russian. Someone who had never fit in anywhere in her life before the BAU, before JJ.

JJ, who had just called her sweetheart.

"There's nothing to be nervous about," JJ reminded her, sensing her friend's rising panic. "I'm not going to leave you alone with a bunch of strangers. I'll be right there the whole time. It'll be great. ...And anyway, we're seven hours out of DC so there's no point in having second thoughts."

"I passed second thoughts weeks ago," Emily answered, her tone only faintly humorous. "I'm closer to eightieth thoughts now."

"Well, this is my street," JJ pointed out and Emily's heart started really slamming against her ribs then. "...Em, stop jiggling your leg like that. You're making me nervous!"

"Your mom's name is Sandy, your dad's name is Charlie, your older brother's name is Philip-"

JJ shook her head with a smile. "You know, they're going to introduce themselves, right, Emily? And there's no way you'll remember them all so just, y'know, be nice and don't be afraid to ask if you forget. Hey, we're here!"

The first thing Emily heard when she opened the car door was rapid French being yelled by two teenage boys chasing a toddler around the front yard and she almost laughed in surprise.

"Boys!" JJ called. "Come meet-"

"Well, well, well! What delectable creature has Aunt Jenny brought home for us?" the first boy, around 14, asked his brother with a wink toward Emily. He continued in French, obviously not expecting her to understand.

"She's probably an FBI agent too, dumbass," his older brother replied, picking up the toddler. Then he greeted JJ in English, "Hey, Aunty Jen."

JJ glanced between Emily and the boys, amused. "Marcus, Blake," she addressed the oldest two. "This is my friend, Emily. And before you start making stupid comments, you should know that she's fluent in French."

The first boy, Marcus, blushed to his roots, while Blake only laughed. "We get away with saying whatever we like because the American Jareaus don't speak any French," he explained good-humouredly. He waited for Emily to reply, as if testing her knowledge of the language.

"Jennifer doesn't speak French, does she?" Emily asked.

Her accent was perfect (she'd only learned from native language tutors after the Italian-Russian incident) and the boys offered a pair of impressed grins.

"Just us and our parents," Blake answered.

"You won't translate what we're saying, will you?" Marcus pleaded.

Emily shook her head. "I wouldn't dream of ruining your fun... But in return, I want you guys on my side in there!" she gestured toward the house and the boys nodded their understanding.

"We've got your back," Marcus declared.

"That's enough French, I think," JJ cut in, looping her arm through Emily's possessively. "I'm starting to feel left out."

"Don't worry," Emily replied. "They weren't telling me anything too embarrassing about you..."

"Ha-ha," JJ retorted sarcastically. "Where's grandma?"

"Gran's in the kitchen," Blake provided, referring to JJ's mother, and JJ quickly gave each boy a hug before leading Emily inside.

"Mom," she called. "I'm home!"

"Jennifer!" Her mother cried, wiping damp hands on her apron excitedly. "How was the drive?"

"Em drove the first few hours, so it was fine," JJ answered, hugging her mom quickly. "Mom, this is the friend I was telling you about. Emily, this is my mom-"

"Sandy," Mrs Jareau volunteered, stepping past her daughter, and to Emily's surprise she found herself being immediately drawn into a tight hug. She patted the older woman's back uncomfortably but then loosened up with a laugh as she saw the face JJ was making at her over her mother's shoulder.

"Thank you so much for letting me come and stay," she offered in reply. "You have a really lovely home..."

"But you haven't even had a proper look around yet!" Sandy protested, pulling back quickly. "Jen, give her the full tour. I'm busy with dinner right now but if you guys settle in, I'll be done in an hour or so."

"Sounds great," JJ answered, giving her mom a kiss in the cheek. "We'll dump our things in my room and then find some of the others. Is dad around?"

"He's down at the shop with his brothers. Billy's around with Amy though, and Phil. And..." Sandy continued to list names that Emily couldn't possibly hope to remember but she tried to keep smiling through it.

Then, when she was done, Emily followed JJ through the house.

"Bathrooms are here and down the hall there, laundry is here... Parents' room, Phil's room, guest room, study, which also turns into a bit of a guest room at Christmas. The boys will probably be on the floor in there. My room is just down here..."

"What about this one?" Emily asked, nodding towards a door JJ hadn't pointed out.

JJ's face clouded slightly. "Um, that's my sister's room. We haven't used it since she... Well, you know. ...Right, so my room is this one..."

JJ opened the door to the bedroom she'd had as a teenager. All the old posters and books and stuffed animals remained untouched and a camp bed had been set up alongside JJ's bed. Both had been made up with matching kitten bedspreads.

JJ gave a nervous laugh. "We start running low on linen during the holidays," she apologised.

"It's great," Emily laughed back. "I was starting to miss Sergio anyway. You have such a cute room, Jen."

JJ blushed and shook her head, "Now I'm embarrassed... I haven't changed it since high school."

"Oh god, you must have been the queen bee - look at you!" Emily gasped, lifting a photograph of a smiling young JJ with her friends, all of them wearing soccer shirts. Then she lifted another, this one of JJ at her senior prom. "God this is exactly the kind of photo I wish I had from high school..."

"Instead of all your goth ones, you mean?" JJ giggled, looking over Emily's shoulder as she surveyed the photographs lined up on her shelf.

"We don't talk about that, Jennifer," Emily reminded her but she shook her head. "You just look so happy... Who's this? She's in almost all the photos." She glanced back at JJ and was surprised to find how close the younger woman stood behind her.

JJ looked where Emily was pointing and then met her eye, her mouth falling open a bit. A blush lit up her cheeks.

"...Jen?"

"Shewasmygirlfriend," JJ confessed. Then she looked away. "But nobody knew about us, so don't worry, they won't think that you and I-"

"It wouldn't bother me if they did, Jen." Emily's voice was smooth and relaxed. It was as if only one of them could be nervous at a time. When Emily saw JJ worry, all of her own fears went out the window, and vice versa. "You two look really happy together."

JJ pulled her bottom lip into her mouth, meeting Emily's eye again. "She was the first person I ever loved. I mean, I dated guys before I ever dated her, but they didn't... Well, I didn't..."

"And now?" Emily asked. "Do you still date women?"

"It's complicated," JJ answered. "Well, that's my own fault... I should've come out when I was a teenager. As an adult, being bisexual, I guess I date men because it's easier. Easier to meet them, easier for others to accept them. You don't feel like you have anything to explain when you're dating a man. But then... For the right woman I'd throw open the metaphorical closet doors. It wouldn't matter what anyone else thought."

JJ ducked her head a little, wondering if she'd said too much, but Emily nodded understandingly.

"Me too," she agreed. " ...So, I haven't met your da-"

"Hang on, you too? What? Just wait - which part of all that were you agreeing with?!"

"Um... All of it?" Prentiss answered awkwardly. "Although my closet doors are already somewhat ajar. It's not a secret that I date men and women, so much as it just doesn't come up at work... Morgan definitely knows. Maybe Reid?"

"I didn't know!" JJ protested. "Why wouldn't I know? I thought I knew everything about you! What about our kinky mind-reading hypnosis thing?!"

Emily couldn't help but laugh at that. "I'm sorry!" she apologised. "I didn't realise it'd be a big deal. I didn't know about you either, you know. ...What, you're going to be uncomfortable sharing a room with me now? Should I move the camp bed into the hall?"

"Don't tease me," JJ laughed back. "And that camp bed is awful, trust me. You'll be in my bed within half an hour, bi or not. Now, come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the family."

Meeting JJ's family was like being introduced as the new face on a long-running sitcom. Everyone accepted her with bright faces and open arms but there were generations of private jokes flying over Emily's head.

The French boys, Marcus and Blake, ran about the place as boys do, tailed by the tiny mute one, known only as Mini (or was it Minnie? Emily wasn't sure of the ambiguously dressed toddler's sex and wasn't concerned enough to ask). The trio were an even better asset than Emily could've hoped. More than once they explained in French a joke or story that had been delivered in English, saving her from the awkwardness of asking for an explanation. Think of watching a DVD with the commentary on in the background.

The French Jareaus comprised a small section of the present family, which was now several generations American. The boys' parents, Nathalia and the one Emily privately referred to as He-who-cannot-be-named (because-his-name-has-been-forgotten), brought them to America every year for the chance to see their family and practice their already perfect English. They came bearing chocolates and other treats for the younger Jareaus, which Emily hadn't seen since laying low in Paris after bring attacked by Doyle several years ago now. Not many things other than Scrabble ever made Emily nostalgic for those difficult times but chocolate was apparently one of them. When Mini thoughtfully offered her a piece, Emily thought her heart might melt.

"How does your mom handle having so many guests?" Emily asked disbelievingly. "There are still two days until Christmas. That's a lot of work!"

JJ only laughed. "Mom used to run one of the big hotels in Pittsburgh. This is a small gathering for her."

"God, you Jareau women are some high achievers..."

"We're also notoriously good at reproducing," JJ announced. "I'm the black sheep on that one."

Emily grinned, leaning in to JJ's ear to whisper, "I'm pretty sure there's a good reason for that... Sleeping with a woman has never yet been capable of producing offspring. Although you can always try..."

JJ pushed Emily away, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle a giggle.

"It's been a long time since I've heard that naughty little giggle of yours, Jenny," one of the uncles laughed from across the table. "I was starting to think the FBI was stamping it out of you."

"They couldn't if they tried, Geoffrey!" Emily replied brightly. Secretly, she was ecstatic to have remembered his name.

"Glad to hear it, uh- Sorry, was it Edie?"

Uncle Geoffrey received a swift elbow in the side from his wife, Cathy. "Edie's my mother, you asshole! This is Emily!"

"Ouch!" Geoffrey whined. "I'm going to hear about this later, aren't I? ...Sorry, Emily."

"It's fine," Emily waved him off. "It was about half right. I'll give you a B minus."

"He has no excuse to forget," Cathy replied apologetically. "Jenny's always talking about you when she comes down."

"I think she's got a crush on you," JJ's brother drawled with a wink.

"Phil!" JJ cried, although to Emily's ears it was clear he'd been joking.

"You know we love you no matter what, pumpkin," Phillip teased, reaching across Emily to grab JJ's cheek.

She shoved him off. "Go choke on one of your cigarettes," she shot back. Then, enjoying the way her mother's head snapped towards Phillip, she asked, mock-innocently, "Oh, did you not want people to know you were smoking again?"

Emily laughed along with the rest of the table as JJ's mother tore into Phillip and he really did get up to go out for a cigarette. Several of the others stood too, reaching guiltily into their pockets for lighters and thanking Sandy for the now-finished evening meal.

"Do you smoke, Emily?" Cathy asked as she and Geoffrey stood.

"Not since high school," Emily replied. "Well, except post-coitally..."

"Cigarettes are never better than after sex, are they?" JJ's dad agreed, causing her mom to hit him playfully.

About half the table cleared out with the smokers and those who accompanied them into the garden. Emily immediately stood and began to help clear.

"Don't be silly!" Sandy protested. "You go and unwind. I've got things here under control."

"Now, don't you be silly," Emily replied, her tone cheerfully firm. "It'll take a fraction of the time if JJ and I help."

Sandy began to complain but a look shared with her daughter make her reconsider. "Thank you, Emily. That's very kind."

"Not at all," Emily answered dutifully and she and JJ began to clear and stack plates side by side while Sandy ferried glasses to and from the kitchen.

"So... You're a post-coital smoker, huh?" JJ asked quietly without looking at her.

Sneaking a glance at JJ's face, Emily was amused to find her blushing. "Not as a rule but, more often than not, yes. When I was in school, smoking a cigarette after having sex with a girl always seemed like the biggest possible fuck you to my mother and the habit stuck even after I quit... Why? Is that a turn off for you?"

JJ definitely wasn't about to admit that the opposite was true so she just shook her head. "Between your goth phase, rampant bisexuality, and now smoking, no wonder you and your mom never saw eye to eye," she replied instead. She spoke quietly, so that none of the others, now engaged in their own conversations, could possibly hear.

Emily cracked a grin. "And that's not even mentioning my tattoos..." she teased.

The grin broadened as Emily caught JJ freezing up in her periphery.

"Tattoos? Plural?"

"Well, you already know about the blackbird I got to cover up Doyle's handiwork," Emily replied. "Are you surprised that I have others?"

"Surprised is the wrong word," JJ answered uncertainly. It's actually more like aroused... "What, um... What else have you got?" And where?

"I'd show you if we weren't in polite company," Emily replied, then she gave JJ a nudge with her shoulder, inviting her to take it as a joke, before heading into the kitchen with her dishes.

JJ followed in a daze.

"I told you, Em. You can't sleep in the camp bed," JJ sighed as she pulled her hair into a ponytail. "I don't know why mom even set it up. It's crazily uncomfortable and if you're half as exhausted as I am-"

"JJ, it's fine."

"It's not. Please just sleep in here with me. I swear I'm not coming on to you, if that's what you're worried about."

Emily snickered disbelievingly. "That's the last thing I'm worried about."

"Then come here," JJ insisted. Then, seeing Emily's hesitation, she tried coaxing her over with a cheeky wink. "I still want to see your tattoos..."

Rolling her eyes, Emily obliged, climbing up into JJ's - admittedly, far more comfortable - queen bed and crawling under the doona with her.

"Show me," JJ demanded with a bit of a giggle and Emily couldn't help but smile back at her.

"Okay, okay." She tugged the collar of her pyjama shirt down first to reveal the blackbird at the top of her chest. "Here's the one I told you about," she began, enjoying the way JJ was staring, transfixed. "You can still kind of feel the brand beneath it though..."

Emily fought down a shiver as JJ ran a finger lightly over her chest. The skin was raised where Doyle had branded her. JJ knew that Emily had had to shop around for a tattoo artist skilled and willing enough to work on that kind of scar tissue. "It's beautiful," she said honestly. Then she pulled her hand back with a shy smile. "What else?"

"Don't laugh," Emily warned, although she was smiling herself. "I got my first one illegally when I was a teenager. I wanted to piss my mother off..."

"Oh no!" JJ gasped, squirming. "What'd you get?"

"Well, it was during my goth rocker phase," Emily hinted. She sounded almost gleeful, enjoying JJ's anxious response. "Thankfully, as goths go, I was pretty tasteful - at least when it came to what I inked permanently onto my body. I'm actually still pretty attached to this one." She shimmied her hips a little to get her pyjama shorts down to mid thigh and then pulled the doona back so JJ could see the whorl of black thorned roses and the raven that nested in them. "My blackbird is actually continuing a semi-accidental bird theme on my body," she pointed out. The tattoo itself was monochrome except for the raven's one gleaming sapphire eye.

"God, you're even kind of classy when you're trashy," JJ jibed. "I like it. Is it Poe's raven?"

"Uh huh." Emily jiggled her shorts back up, pleased with herself. "The last one's on my rib," she explained as she began to draw her shirt up.

JJ's breath caught as Emily lay back and exposed her torso up to the creamy underside of her breasts. She rested her hand on Emily's stomach as she leaned closer to read the finely printed text and swallowed tightly as she felt Emily's abdominal muscles flutter at her touch.

"My dad used to hand-write his favourite poems into this little notebook he carried around," she explained quietly. "I vaguely remembered that, although I think I assumed he authored them himself until I found the notebook again when I was twenty or so. I had a few lines tattooed on in his handwriting because that was the sort of sentimental thing I did back then. ...Do you know it?"

"It sounds familiar," JJ answered, stroking her thumb softly over Emily's stomach. "What is it?"

"I know why the caged bird sings," Emily told her. "Maya Angelou."

She began to recite a few lines quietly:

The caged bird sings

With a fearful trill

Of things unknown

But longed for still

And his tune is heard

On the distant hill

For the caged bird

Sings of freedom

"Well," Emily said. "You can see why it appealed to me. The way I was as a kid, the way things were with my mom and her job... I was always feeling trapped."

"I can see why it still appeals to you," JJ replied softly. "You're so contained, Em." She breathed out a gentle laugh. "Well, you are with most people..."

"Yet not with you somehow," Emily agreed, catching her meaning. She pulled her shirt down most of the way but not far enough down that JJ had to move her hand from her stomach.

JJ rolled over to switch her lamp off and then came right back where she was, lying on her side and leaning her head on one bent arm, caressing Emily's stomach with the opposite hand. She gave a little tickle that made Emily laugh, surprised, in the darkness.

"Thank you for asking me here," Emily said softly. Then she smiled as, for the briefest moment, she felt soft lips touch her shoulder.

"Thank you for being here, Em..."

Emily awoke slowly to the smell of coffee brewing - one of the few things that would always rouse her from sleep, no matter how deep or necessary that sleep may be. She began to rise without fully registering her position and then stopped as she felt herself constrained by a weight on her chest.

Blinking herself awake, Emily lay back down and let out a soft puff of laughter at finding JJ clinging to her - her head on Emily's chest and her arms snug around her waist. As Emily shifted, JJ let out a sleepy sigh and snuggled in deeper.

"Sweetheart, those are my boobs, not your pillow," she pointed out in an attempt at wry humour that morphed into something shamefully akin to a giggle as it left her mouth. "Jayj? You awake?"

The snuggling continued and Emily shook her head disbelievingly. Well, at least JJ looked comfortable... Resisting the call of a morning coffee, Emily wrapped her arms around JJ's back and gave her a light squeeze. She had just closed her eyes again, intending to go back to sleep, when the door opened.

"Morning girls!" Sandy greeted them cheerfully. "Want some coffee?"

Emily pushed Sandy's soundly sleeping daughter off her as she bolted into an upright position. "Morning, Sandy! I- I was going to sleep in the camp bed but then JJ, ah..."

"She's a cuddler," Sandy finished, waving a hand dismissively. "Always has been, ever since she was a girl. You aren't the first friend she's coaxed into that bed of hers. If only she were as good with the boys, I might have got some grandchildren out of her by now!"

"I- Oh...kay... Coffee would be great then," Emily replied slowly. She had the feeling that she'd dodged a bullet with JJ's mom. Either it hadn't occurred to Sandy as a possibility that her daughter might be interested in girls or she was secretly supportive of that, despite JJ never coming out to her. For the time being, Emily couldn't tell which. "...Does JJ always sleep this heavily?"

"Like a log," Sandy replied fondly. "We used to send her brother in to wake her. He'd do something nasty like dangle spit over her face or threaten to put his tongue in her ear until she had to get up. ...Brothers, right? Anyway, coffee's on in the kitchen. I'll leave you to wake Jen however you see fit..."

Emily fought back a blush as Sandy left the room, pointedly closing the door. What on earth had she meant by however you see fit? She couldn't be encouraging Emily, could she? Beside her, JJ slept peacefully on and Emily eased herself back down beside her.

God, she was beautiful. How could it be that anyone was naturally that beautiful? She could've been the angel at the top of the Christmas tree...

"Jayj," Emily whispered. "Jayj, sweetie... Um... Can you get up because I'm not about to dangle spit over your face or throw cold water on you or anything." She gave her a gentle shake. "Jayj?"

Still nothing from sleeping beauty.

...Wait. There was an idea!

Emily took a shaky breath in. "Sleeping beauty, if you don't wake up, I'll have to kiss you."

No response. Emily leaned closer.

"Sleeping beauty," she teased. "Wake up or I'll-"

"...Or you'll repeat that statement again?" came JJ's amused voice, though her eyes remained shut. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is? Or rather, your mouth where my mouth is..."

"Because you're awake," Emily laughed, swallowing hard as she gave the teasing blonde a nudge. Then she swung her legs out of bed and reached for a jumper. "Come on, coffee's on."

"You're no fun," JJ sighed but she got up too.

The sound of children's laughter came flooded in from the open doors to the garden the moment Emily and JJ ventured outside their room.

"Wow, those kids are early risers," JJ yawned, rubbing her eyes.

Sandy gave a knowing little chuckle as she handed her daughter a cup of coffee. "You two are just late sleepers," she replied. "It's almost eleven. Doesn't working for the FBI require any discipline?"

"Eleven!" JJ gasped, looking down at her pyjamas shamefacedly. "Why didn't you wake us!"

"Well, I opened the door at eight when the youngins started running around," Sandy told them, "But you two just looked so cute cuddled up like teenagers! I had to leave you! Anyway, it's the holidays. You should sleep in for a change."

JJ took a long drink of coffee, shaking her head, while Emily was passed her own cup and thanked Sandy quietly.

"What are they playing out there?" she asked, nodding through the open doors towards the children - 7 of them, including the two older boys, Marcus and Blake, whom Emily knew.

"What, you've never played Blind Man's Buff?" JJ asked, raising her eyebrow at her mother who laughed.

"I'm sure they'll teach you. Go on and join them!"

Emily opened her mouth to protest that she was in her pyjamas but found herself grinning. "How do you play?" She asked JJ.

JJ leaned against the kitchen table and smiled back. "Okay, it's like this," she explained. "The person in the blindfold is 'It'. Everyone else runs around the yard, hiding in plain sight, calling out to the blindfolded person so that they know vaguely where they are. The blindfolded person has to catch one of the others and tag them and then they have to feel that person's face and guess who it is and if they get it right, that person is out. I think in the version they're playing, the blindfolded person wins if they get everybody out in under fifteen minutes. If not, everyone else wins and the blindfolded person has to do a dare. Get it?"

"I think so..." Emily answered. Then she set her coffee down on the table. "Let's go get dressed. I wanna play."

"You wanna play?" JJ repeated with a sceptical smile.

"Yeah. I do. And you're gonna play with me!"

Emily grabbed JJ by the hand and led her back into the bedroom excitedly and she didn't miss the satisfaction on Sandy's face as she did so.

Curiouser and curiouser.

"You have three and a half minutes left to catch me," JJ teased, to the giggles of all the children Emily had already got out.

Emily lunged toward the source of her voice, missed and fell, but recovered quickly. She'd worked too hard remembering all those kids' names and faces to let JJ be the reason she lost.

"I'll get you," Emily insisted. "Just keep talking."

"I'm over he-ere...!"

Lunge. Miss.

"Again!"

"Well, now I'm here..."

Lunge. Miss.

"Two minutes!" one of the children chimed.

"Marcus, where is she?" Emily called in French.

"Left! To your left!"

"No fair, that's cheating!" JJ protested, indeed to Emily's left.

"She's moving right- No! It was a feint! Left, Emily! Left!"

"One minute!"

"Where is she, Marcus?"

"Left, left- No, stop! Ahead of you. She's- Wait! She's on the ground! Behind you! Turn around!"

"Thirty seconds!" JJ yelled, just as Emily whirled around and grabbed her. The force of the movement sent both of them tumbling to the ground, to the whoops and cheers of the onlookers - adults and children both. Marcus and Blake yelled the loudest.

"Emily wins!" One of the little girls declared but JJ wasn't going to be beaten that easily.

"You still have to correctly figure out who I am," she said with a pout that Emily could hear.

"JJ-"

"You're supposed to put your hands on my face and figure it out by touch, spoilsport!"

Emily chuckled softly. She already had JJ trapped on the grass beneath her but she decided to humour her. "Hmm, where's your face," she sighed, as if she had no clue. Covertly, she let one hand brush the side of JJ's chest and she delighted in the shiver that ran through her. Then she trailed her hands up JJ's arms and neck before finally settling on her cheeks.

"Oh," she said, her voice a feigned mixture of surprise and disappointment. "It's just you, JJ."

"What on earth is going on out here?" came Sandy's voice, tinkling with laughter, from what Emily assumed was the direction of the back porch.

Emily climbed off JJ and pulled her blindfold off too as she jumped to her feet. "I believe I just won my first game of Blind Man's Buff," she announced confidently and, as Sandy winked at her, Emily felt certain now that she was being approved as a partner for JJ. ...Which, admittedly, was odd, considering they actually weren't in a relationship, but it was reassuring all the same. She wondered if JJ knew she had such a supportive mother.

Unable to wipe the grin from her face, Emily offered a hand to help JJ to her feet, which the younger woman took, blushing cutely.

"Is it time for lunch, mom?"

"I think my mom wants to adopt you," JJ confessed that evening as she climbed into bed beside Emily. She leaned over to turn the lamp off as she did so and she was happy when Emily immediately shifted towards her.

"You think so, huh?" Emily asked. She shrugged an arm around JJ's shoulders and pulled her into her chest, mirroring the position they'd woken up in that morning.

"She keeps pointing out to me how amazing you are," JJ laughed. "How sweet and funny and intelligent and gorgeous - she thinks you're just stunning, Em. And obviously, you are but it's weird to hear my mom saying so!"

Oh take a hint, Jayj, Emily thought. Your mom's trying to push us together!

"That's nice of her," she forced herself to reply vaguely. Then, unable to help herself, Emily added, "You think I'm stunning?"

"You're objectively stunning," JJ replied and, although Emily was staring up at the darkened ceiling, she could tell from JJ's voice that she was blushing. The realisation caused heat to rise in her own cheeks.

"That's ridiculous..." she murmured. "Especially coming from you."

"Coming from me?" JJ repeated.

The most beautiful woman I've ever seen, Emily wanted to explain but she held her tongue.

"It's Christmas tomorrow," she answered instead. "Get some sleep or Santa won't come."

"Aunty Jen, Emily, we're opening presents!" came a high-pitched giggle-filled voice, starling Emily awake. She glanced over to JJ's bedroom door to find it open with a little girl in pyjamas and pigtails fidgeting on the threshold. Jessie, Emily remembered. Her name was Jessie. She was practically shaking with excitement. "Oh, and Merry Christmas!"

Jessie had run off before Emily could respond but she left the door wide open. A stream of children rushed past followed by some sleepily indulgent adults. Sandy was last in the line and stopped in JJ's doorway. She took in her daughter once again curled tight around Emily and smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Emily," she greeted her, adjusting the tie on her dressing gown. But instead of leaving Emily to wake her daughter, she came in and sat on JJ's side of the bed.

"Time to wake up, darling," she called, resting a hand on JJ's shoulder.

Emily blushed a little for JJ's mother to be sitting over her while JJ held her but she didn't want to move out of JJ's arms and wasn't sure she could anyway. Instead, she placed a light kiss against JJ's forehead. "Can't your inner child sense it's Christmas?" she teased.

JJ mumbled something happy but unintelligible and nuzzled further into Emily's shoulder.

"Don't you want to see what I got you?" Emily asked and that had JJ's eyes fluttering open.

"What did you get me?" She giggled. "Oh, Merry Christmas, mom!"

"Merry Christmas, Jenny," Sandy replied wryly. "I trust you two will be out of bed by the time I've got the coffee on?"

"Definitely," JJ answered, glad of the reprieve.

"How on earth do you wake up for work so early everyday?" Emily asked as Sandy left, closing the door this time.

"Easily," JJ answered. "I don't sleep well by myself." She gave a sad smile. "I used to sneak into Ros's room in the middle of the night."

"Your mom told me you were a cuddler," Emily answered, not sure how to respond. JJ so rarely talked about her sister.

A soft chuckle emitted from JJ's throat, vibrating against Emily's shoulder. "You haven't seemed to mind."

"I don't," Emily quickly replied, then she blushed, afraid to sound overeager. "...Come on then, I want to give you your present."

"Children first, Jenny!" Sandy protested as JJ hovered around the Christmas tree excitedly.

"Aww, come on, mom!" JJ whined, to the amusement of all the kids in their pools of gift wrap.

Emily settled onto the couch beside JJ's brother, who gave her a kiss on the cheek and wished her Merry Christmas.

"Merry Christmas, Phillip," Emily answered.

"Jen's cute, huh?" he pointed out, giving her a little nudge. "The kids all love her because she's so much fun but I don't think I've seen her this happy since she was a kid. Since before our sister died."

Emily turned her head to look at him fully and his eyes were full of earnest.

"She took that badly, didn't she?" It felt strange to talk about something so sad with all the children laughing around her (JJ with them) but Emily sensed that Phillip wanted to and she made sure he saw that she was fully engaged.

"Jen and Ros were inseparable," he answered. "She wasn't the same for a long time after that. I was worried she'd never be the same at all but she's happy now. She's really happy..." He looked uncomfortable for a second. "It's, ah... Because of you, isn't it?"

Emily's body stiffened at that. "Phil, I think you and your mom have the wrong idea about me and Jayj... Which isn't to say that I wouldn't like it to be the right idea but... We're not a couple. We just work together. We're- we're friends, best friends..."

"Jen had a girlfriend in high school," Phillip confessed guiltily and he was interested to see that Emily didn't look surprised. "She thought we didn't know but of course we did. She was as obvious then as she is now. You know, I forgot a little just how much she used to laugh. You make her happy, Emily."

"Good," Emily answered with a weak smile. Then JJ was in front of them, waving a neatly wrapped present.

"Merry Christmas, Phil!" She announced, handing it to him. Then she winked towards Emily. "Yours is under the tree, Em. Thought you deserved the full Christmas experience for a change."

"Speaking of the full Christmas experience," Phillip cut in before Emily could stand, "I do believe you and I are sitting under a sprig of mistletoe, Em!" He offered a not-so-subtle wink and Emily laughed.

"You're absolutely right!" She answered. Then she grabbed JJ's hand, pulled her down into her lap, and gave her a cheeky smile. "Mistletoe," she repeated, pointing up with her free hand. "Now, I may not know much about Christmas but I do believe I know what happens next..."

"You don't want your present?" squeaked JJ, lifting her arms around Emily's neck for balance.

Emily leaned in until their noses brushed gently. "It can wait."

"It's a pretty good present," JJ demurred.

"Jennifer Jareau, I am never getting any grandchildren out of you if you don't stop being such an outrageous tease!"

"Mom!"

"Emily is an amazing woman and if you don't kiss her, I'm sure your brother will," Sandy jibed. "Although, as the mother of a thirty-five year old, I do think it's time we stopped this ridiculous pretence that you're straight, Jennifer."

JJ let out a groan, burying her face in Emily's neck. "I finally understand it, Em!"

"What, Jay?"

"Why you always spend Christmas alone!"

Emily kissed JJ's cheek lightly, unable to suppress a smile. "There, that can be our kiss if that's all you want."

JJ raised her head and offered a shy smile. "Uh uh," she answered. "I think I want a proper one."

"You think?"

"I do."

JJ gave a soft sigh as Emily's lips touched hers and covertly raised her middle finger toward her brother, who had begun to laugh beside them. A hush fell in the room as the other adults began to catch on to what was happening, although nothing could quieten the children on Christmas morning.

"I love you," Emily murmured, pressing a light kiss against the tip of JJ's nose as they separated, breathless.

"Oh god," JJ whined. "Stop! I don't want to cry in front of my whole family! Goddamn you, stop..." She relented with a little sob as Emily leaned in to kiss her again, wiping her tears with the pads of her thumbs on JJ's cheeks. "Em, I love you too."

"Wait your turn, Phillip!" Sandy chastised her son as he reached across Emily for the potatoes she had just finished doling out to the kids. "And don't lean over people, it's rude!"

Emily only laughed and passed the bowl over to him. "I don't mind," she answered honestly. Because being leaned over and made fun of was probably the greatest possible sign that she had been accepted into the Jareau family - well, except for their constant attempts to pile her plate with food.

"It's how we express love," JJ whispered conspiratorially as Emily fended off a third helping of ham before guiltily relenting to some turkey.

"Jenny, remind me - is it you or Phillip who doesn't like cabbage?" JJ's dad asked, having been delegated the task of passing that around the table.

"It's Jen," Emily replied authoritatively, causing JJ to raise an eyebrow.

"How on earth do you know that?"

"I don't know," Emily answered. "I just-"

"You just noticed?"

"I guess so."

JJ shook her head disbelievingly. "You notice everything," she accused her. Around her neck she wore the proof: a necklace she had spent a minimal amount of time admiring (no, adoring) in a shop window months ago, which Emily had remembered and bought her for Christmas as if it were the most casual thing in the world.

"We're profilers," Emily defended herself with a blush.

JJ leaned into her ear to whisper back, "Are you sure it's not just our kinky mind-reading relationship?"

"No, honey," Emily teased. "That only tells me what you like in bed."

"Oh really?" JJ emitted a soft hum of consideration. "Then I can't wait to test it out..."