Title: Linework

Rating: T (with borderline M-rated moments)

Pairing: JJ/Emily

Summary: AU where Emily is a tattoo artist. JJ's looking to commemorate the start of a new life through ink; Emily helps her get there. JJ/Emily, femslash. Angst/Romance. Rated T, with discussion of M-rated themes.

Linework: Chapter 1

"I am a canvas of my experiences. My story is etched in lines and shading, and you can read it on my arms, my legs, my shoulders, and my stomach." - Kat von D

She tapped the power button on her phone, awakening the display screen. 9:56pm. A breath in. A breath out. Thirty seconds passed. She tapped the button again. 9:57pm. Three minutes to decide. Three minutes until closing time. In or out. She started with fifteen minutes and now she was down to three.

Jennifer Jareau, underpaid and under-appreciated media liaison for the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office, stood outside the colorfully lit New Orleans tattoo and piercing parlor. She shifted from one foot to the other, the winter air chilling her. Though if she were being honest with herself, she'd admit the chill came from elsewhere.

She tapped her phone again. 9:58pm. Now or never.

And it had to be now, because if there was one thing JJ was learning, it was that "never" was far too permanent of a concept.

The small blonde barely remembered the walk from the sidewalk to the stairs, the stairs to the door, and the door to the waiting room, but suddenly, her environment shifted from cold and alone to bright and bustling.

"Why hello there, sugar plum, welcome to your heaven or your hell, your redemption or your sin, your folly or your saving grace, otherwise known as Body Art Unleashed," greeted a pink and purple haired, brightly dressed, very tattooed woman. JJ's jaw dropped, startled by the enthusiasm.

"Pen, Baby Girl, you gotta stop scarin' away customers like that," chuckled a deep but smooth voice to her right. She glanced to her side, taking in the owner of the voice - a dark, handsome man with some sort of tribal-patterned sleeve and blue latex gloves. The man stripped them off, tossed them nonchalantly into the trash can, and offered his hand.

"M'name's Derek Morgan, I own Body Art Unleashed, also known as the BAU." JJ took his hand and shook it, unable to speak. "And this gorgeous lady right here is Penelope Garcia. She's one of our newer tattooers and our receptionist most of the time. Still not sure whether she's helping or hurting business, though," he said with a laugh.

JJ nodded, her shoulders loosening a little bit. This was completely out of her comfort zone, but they seemed friendly. She noticed Derek and Penelope watching her intently, and she mentally kicked herself. Oh right, introduce yourself, idiot. "Hi! Hi... I'm, uh, I'm JJ. I was looking into... into getting a tattoo. Not today, I don't have any and I still need to design it, but I thought I'd just look around, if that's okay I mean..."

"Totally okay!" the man immediately assured her, flashing his pearly-white smile. "We're supposed to close shop in a couple of minutes anyway, but we'll be open until our last client's finished."

Derek gestured back to the sectioned off room, and right then, JJ heard a gruff man's voice, and a gorgeous feminine laugh follow it.

"So someone's getting tattooed right now?" JJ asked, again kicking herself for how inexperienced she knew she sounded.

"Someone's always gettin' inked, baby," Derek laughed, and touched JJ's shoulder. Immediately, JJ flinched, and Derek must have noticed, because he took his hand away and gestured her to follow him instead. JJ took a breath and tried to calm herself. You can't react like that every single time someone touches you. Letting the quick flash of panic pass, she followed Derek into the back room.

The first thing she noticed were the walls around her. Every inch of wall space was covered with some sort of painted tattoo design - a lot of patriotic themed ones, a good number of pin-ups, lots of animals. Around the room were shelves, filled with what she assumed were tattoo equipment pieces and different colored inks, and various stools were set up around the room. After taking in what she could of her surroundings, she finally turned her attention to the two individuals in the room other than Derek, the source of the voice and the laugh. JJ was surprised to see that the gruff voiced man was the client, and the owner of the laugh was the one tattooing.

"I swear to god, Rodney, you make a comment like that again and I'll give this lion the cartooniest eyes you've ever fuckin' seen," the woman taunted with a laugh, her eyes sparkling as she comfortably worked the tattoo machine on a section of the man's arm. She paused every few seconds to wipe his arm with the paper towel she held in her other hand. Was that ink or blood she was soaking up?

"Shut up, Em, you know I'm right," the older man laughed back.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, now stop moving, Rod," the woman chuckled. JJ took the opportunity to take the tattoo artist in. Her frayed band shirt had its sleeves cut off, revealing gorgeous artwork trailing down both of her arms and eventually disappeared under her latex gloves. The woman's dark hair, accented with a streak of bright blue, was pulled lazily back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, and silver earrings hung from her earlobes, highlighting the gentle arch of her neck. JJ's eyes eventually trailed to her lips, curled into a carefree smile that struck JJ in a way she couldn't quite explain.

"'Ey, Prentiss," Derek called out, alerting the artist and her client to their presence. JJ was a little disappointed, wanting to observe the woman under the radar for a couple moments longer.

The brunette pulled back the machine before twirling her stool to face them. "Morgan! What do we have here?" The tattooed woman flashed JJ a wide smile, and the blonde's cheeks flushed under her gaze.

"Reeled in a newbie," the man announced. "Well, Pen tried to scare her away, but I managed to intervene in time."

"Hey," JJ said awkwardly and offered a small smile. "My name's JJ, I hope you don't mind me being back here, I've just been considering getting a tattoo and kind of wanted to know how it worked, and-"

"Pull up a stool, sweetheart," the older woman said invitingly, cutting off her rambling, and gestured to the spot beside her with her elbow. Seeing the blonde taken care of, Derek smiled at JJ and left the room.

"Oh, okay," JJ said, surprised. She turned to the man in the chair and asked, "You sure you don't mind me watching?"

"She's tattooing me, cutie, not fuckin' me, though I keep telling her I wouldn't be opposed..." the client said with a laugh that made it clear he was joking.

"Hey, buddy, you want this needle in your eye?" Emily threatened with faux-bravado, whirring the machine for emphasis. "Cuz that's where it might end up." The pair laughed as JJ rolled the nearest stool over to beside the artist. She made sure to give the woman enough room.

"I'm Emily, by the way," the artist said, her warm chocolate brown eyes meeting JJ's own guarded blue ones.

JJ smiled. "Hi, Emily."

"And this bad boy right here is Rodney," Emily told her as the man smiled warmly at her. "This is, what, the seventh piece I've done on ya? You'd think he'd be tired of me by now."

Rodney shook his head with a grin. "You came to the right place, darlin'. Prentiss does the best linework in town, no question about it."

Emily continued to work red ink into Rodney's skin in comfortable silence for a few more minutes. JJ was surprised how quickly she felt at ease - a lot faster than she did in her own home. Something was just comfortable about the periodic whirring of the tattoo machine, the punk playing moderately in the background, and Emily's tiny inquisitive noises to herself as she worked.

Eventually, JJ found the courage to speak again. "All that red - is that ink or blood?"

"Mostly ink, a little blood," Emily answered, wiping his upper arm again with the paper towel. "Always bleeds a little bit, but never excessively."

"Mhm... So, it hurts, yeah?"

"Pshh, thousands of puncture wounds made by rapidly moving needles is super fuckin' comfortable," Emily teased, and JJ felt her own lips pull into a grin. "But nah, it just depends on the piece, and the location. Tiny piece on your thigh is a cat scratch. Six hour tattoo on your skull, though...that'll make all but the toughest pass the hell out."

After a few more minutes of work, Emily had finished on Rodney's lion. She and Rodney slung banter back and forth for a little while longer as Emily cleaned his arm and taped a bandage over it. JJ took the opportunity to continue her admiration of the artwork on the walls as Emily and Rod sorted out payment and scheduled a touch-up session.

When Emily returned, JJ was standing in front of an eight by twelve print of a phoenix.

"Did you do this?" JJ asked, gesturing to the piece. "It's gorgeous."

"Yeah, that's all me, but you'll never guess the story behind it," Emily said as her lips curled upwards.

JJ found herself grinning, enjoying Emily's sporadic smirks, the ones that showed she had her own jokes with herself. "Well, I have no reason to doubt you. You gonna tell me?"

"That beautiful, majestic, glorious phoenix right there," Emily delivered, pausing dramatically in the middle of her sentence, "was something I sketched up for a woman who wanted a phoenix shooting out of her vagina."

A loud laugh tore out of JJ, and she studied Emily's face, trying to assess if she was joking or not. "Please tell me you're not serious."

"As serious as a heart attack," Emily replied. "I want to hang the actual picture on the wall, but Morgan won't let me. Says a vagina shouldn't be hanging on the wall. But hey, it's a perfectly nice sight to look at."

JJ couldn't stop the blush from reaching her cheeks, and Emily made an apologetic noise and rubbed JJ's back with her hand. JJ didn't flinch at the contact.

"Sorry, darlin', I'm being too impolite for your ears, aren't I?"

"Not at all," JJ assured her. "You guys are... really funny, if that's not weird to say."

"Wouldn't see why it would be," Emily responded and gestured to a photo of Emily, Derek, and Penelope on the wall. "We're a tight bunch. Those dorks are my best friends."

"That's really sweet." JJ observed the loving expression on all of their faces, and the image warmed the pit in her stomach more than she thought it would.

"But hey, enough about us - not the focus here. Tell me about what you're looking to get."

"Oh! Um, I know it's past your closing time, I can come back another day-"

"It's cool, babe. I'm in no rush."

JJ tried to think of the words to express her thoughts, but couldn't find them. How could she ask an artist to draft up a design to represent events she could barely share with a journal, much less a stranger? I should've thought this through better.

Emily sensed the blonde's discomfort and frowned. "Hey, I hope I didn't scare you back there. It's really not that painful, Rod and I just like to goof off."

"No, no, you didn't scare me. Quite the opposite." JJ smiled at the other woman, trying to convey her sincerity. "I just... I have a lot of thoughts about what I want, but the reasoning behind it is all very personal, and I have no experience in this area. I probably should have come in after I had a clearer image in my mind. I just thought being here would help formulate it all."

"Absolutely will," Emily confirmed with a nod of her head. "Well, let me suggest something to ya. There's a nice, quiet bar called the Bullpen just down the street from the shop, I tend to grab a couple beers there after work to unwind. Why don't you come with me, and we'll chat about it there?"

JJ paused for a moment, wondering if Emily genuinely wanted her company, or if she was just being polite. She's not him, not everyone is him. Some people mean what they say, Jayj, she told herself. "Um... sure, I'd really love to. Only if you don't mind. I understand if you don't want to bring work home, so to speak."

"When you love your work as much as I do, bringing work home is never a bad thing," Emily said with a wide smile. "Let me just lock up shop. I'll meet you outside in a minute, k?"

Linework - Linework - Linework

Soon enough, JJ and Emily were seated in a corner booth at the Bullpen. Emily picked up the first round, which was spent on safe conversation topics - JJ told Emily a bit about her work as a media liaison, that she grew up in Pennsylvania but moved down to Louisiana after college for a change of environment, that she enjoyed running and hiking. Emily provided her with similarly safe information - she moved around a lot because her mother was an Ambassador, she spent some time in the Air Force before deciding to pursue a more artistic path after her contract was over, how she spent almost all her time with Derek and Penelope. Conversation flowed easily, and JJ found herself laughing with her new acquaintance more than she had in a long time.

It wasn't until JJ came back with the second round that Emily moved to deeper territory. "So," Emily started as JJ handed her another beer. "Tattoos."

JJ took a deep swig from her bottle before letting out a long sigh to compose herself. "Yeah. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I was hoping to get a pretty big tattoo on my ribs. Which I hear is a painful area, and I know you're not supposed to go big on your first one..."

Emily shook her head. "It's your body, you can do what you want. If you want it, it's not ridiculous."

JJ soaked in her words before nodding slowly. "I guess..."

"Let me ask you this, is whatever you're thinking of getting important to you?"

"Very," she answered instantly.

Emily nodded and smiled. "Then it's a good choice. If the design ends up being big or complex, we can always spread it out over multiple sessions, one for the outline and then however many for the shading. Now, are you going to tell me what you want?"

"Yes. Yeah," JJ said, her finger tracing the rim of her beer bottle. "I'd really like... well, a tree along my rib cage. With some other stuff added in, though. I was thinking, I don't know if you can draw this, but the roots of the tree turning into chains, or ropes, but they fray apart and open up towards the bottom. Along my hipbone, kind of. And at the center of it, there'd be a blackbird. The blackbird's the main focus of it, the tree is just context. And there'd be a nest with a bird's egg in it. That's important. And I was hoping the trees could trail up into the phases of the moon, kind of... y'know, woven into the tree branches. And that'd be trailing closer to the top of my ribs, maybe three or four inches under my armpit." JJ paused her rambling, but when she saw Emily was still listening intently, she continued. "And the whole thing would be... Bright, but not in a playful sense, you know? In a, 'morning is coming' sort of way. It'd be serious, but hopeful. Delicate, but strong. Unbreakable." JJ took a gulp, pushing the emotion building up in her throat back down. "So... Something like that."

Emily nodded slowly, and when she remained silent, JJ got nervous. "Is that... impossible to draw? Sorry, I don't really know anything about tattooing-"

"There's nothing about that I can't do," Emily replied nonchalantly. "You actually have a pretty definite image in your head of what you want."

JJ nodded tentatively, uneasy that the normally sarcastic and joking tattoo artist was suddenly so serious. "So... you'll do it, then?"

"Of course," Emily replied. "I can start working on it whenever you want me to. It'll take more than one planning session for me to draw the whole thing exactly the way you want it, and definitely more than one session to tattoo it. But it's doable."

"That's great. I'm really glad to hear that."

"However, JJ, I gotta ask. Are you going to tell me anything of the context?"

"I...I thought I did."

"I mean, the emotional context. You said you wanted it to convey...how did you word it? 'Morning is coming'?" When JJ nodded, Emily continued. "Are you going to tell me what the morning is, and what the night was?"

JJ stayed silent.

"You don't have to," the older woman clarified. "It's none of my business, and I can draw up the images regardless. You can tell me if what I draft up is what you want, and if it isn't, I can draw you another version. That being said... it's clear emotional relevance is extremely important in what you're looking for."

The pair took a few more sips from their bottles, but JJ kept watching Emily, which Em took as a sign that she hadn't crossed any boundaries yet. "JJ, in a way, tattoo artists are like therapists. Despite having never seen you before, you trust them with the most meaningful aspects of yourself and your life. If you want me to tattoo you, you are agreeing to let me permanently mark you with an interpretation of a story or journey that obviously means a lot to you. Given that fact, I want to make it clear you can share with me as much or as little as you want to."

JJ's heart was thumping out of her chest, but not in a bad way. The anxiety set her skin on fire instead of making her want to throw up as it normally did. She gazed deeply into the dark haired woman's eyes and saw nothing but genuine care. JJ knew Emily was right. This piece of art - a testament to all she had overcome - would mean something very deep to her, and she needed it done properly.

"You're right. But it is a lot to share with someone. The reasons behind it all."

Emily smiled sadly and took another swig. "I know, sweetheart. Like I said, you don't have to if you don't want to. I just think it might allow me to more accurately produce a sketch that you like."

JJ nodded, tearing off the bottle's wrapper to occupy her hands. She glanced at Emily's own hands and allowed her eyes to trace upward, sweeping along her tattooed arms.

"Since we're getting personal," JJ said quietly, "will you tell me the story behind all of your tattoos?"

Emily's lips curled a little bit into a tender smile. "How about we trade. Each time we meet, I'll tell you the story of one tattoo. Any tattoo, you can choose. And in return, you tell me a little piece of your blackbird story."

JJ was quiet for a few moments before she returned Emily's smile. "Deal."

Emily grinned. "Okay then. I'll start. Which tattoo do you want to know about?"

The younger woman studied Emily's body intently, but couldn't get too clear of a sight on any of them in the dimly lit bar. "How about... what was your first tattoo?"

The older woman started laughing, and she pulled her left knee close to her body, beginning to roll up her pant leg. "Of course. Of course you ask about the only bad tattoo I have."

"Oh no, am I going to regret what I'm about to see?" JJ responded with a giggle, the beer starting to hit her a little bit.

"Now it's your mind in the gutter, Jayj," Emily laughed back. JJ's stomach flipped a little bit at the use of her nickname. She liked hearing it in Emily's confident and carefree voice.

"Okay, okay. Well, get talking," JJ prompted, smirking.

Emily pulled her smartphone out of her pocket and opened a flashlight app, pointing the light at her ankle. "You heard of stick-n-pokes, darlin'?"

"I have," JJ confirmed.

"Well, my first tattoo was a stick-n-poke." The brunette moved her phone closer to her body, and JJ could see a shakily done arrow on her ankle. "I was 14 at the time and going through a rebellious phase. My friend - I thought he was super cool, by the way, he smoked cigarettes and stole alcohol and all that - was getting into stick-n-pokes, and I thought it'd be totally badass to get one. A nice little 'fuck you' to my mother, of course. So anyway, I got an arrow on my ankle to signify that with every step, I was always moving forward. However small that step was, I was still going forward."

Emily smiled softly, tracing the asymmetrical arrow with her finger, and JJ enjoyed watching her. Something about it seemed so intimate.

"I like it," JJ told her sincerely, and Emily met her gaze.

"Yeah, me too," Emily agreed, her voice quiet. "Everyone says you'll regret the dumb tattoos, yeah? The stick-n-pokes you get as a kid to try to seem badass. But I don't think I'll ever regret this one. It may be dumb, but it was and still is important to me."

After a few moments of comfortable silence, Emily rolled her pant leg back down and turned her phone back off.

"So, that's my tattoo story for the day."

"I appreciate it," JJ said, and settled back into her seat a little bit. "So, my turn, right?"

"Like I said, you don't need to feel pressured into telling me anything you don't want to. I respect your privacy. But, I do care, and I do want to know."

JJ smiled at her and ran her thumb down the now-empty beer bottle a couple times before speaking. "Blackbirds have a lot of symbolism to them, you know?" The older woman didn't say anything, but nodded. "They're typically associated with bad luck. Blackbirds aren't a good sign, generally. But they're also a sign of vigilance. Watchfulness. Preparation, even. And then, of course, there's that famous Beatles song. The whole, 'Take these broken wings and learn to fly' line really speaks to me..."

The younger woman cleared her throat and looked back down at the table. She blinked the tears that were beginning to form out of her eyes. Her days of crying were over. "I just got out of an abusive relationship."

Emily's jaw tightened, and she brought her hand to JJ's, softly clutching it for support. "JJ, I'm so sorry."

JJ shook her head, but flipped her hand over so she could hold Emily's. "It's okay. I'm okay. It's just... I'd been in it for so many years. The world's been dark for so long and I know I'm back in the light, but it's hard, it's just hard accepting it. I'm trying to move on, but I see him. I feel him. I don't remember what it feels like to be safe. To feel worthy of living. And I know that'll change. Things have already improved so much in the past month. I just... I need to remind myself that things are getting better... It's tough, but every day that passes is a day I regain a little piece of my life..."

Tears were threatening to spill from her eyes before she knew it, and JJ pulled her hand back from Emily's. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. The full story is way too long and I should stop there. You don't have to listen to any of this."

"JJ," Emily said seriously. The blonde raised her gaze to meet the brunette's, and Emily conveyed as much support as she could through her eyes. Not breaking the eye contact, Emily pulled a pen from her bag and scrawled her phone number on her napkin. "Here," she said, handing it to JJ. "If you ever need someone to talk to. Or not talk to. If you just want to sit and be in friendly company. Whatever you need. My phone is always on."

JJ accepted the napkin graciously and quickly wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeve. "Thanks, I appreciate it, and I'm sorry, you weren't looking to have a drink with a mess-"

"You are not a mess. You have nothing to be sorry for. And I enjoyed your company tonight," Emily told her forcefully. Something about the tone of her voice made JJ feel a little less shitty. She got the sense that for some reason unbeknownst to her, Emily really did care about her. "Thank you for sharing that with me. That couldn't have been easy. But I'm glad you did, and I will do everything in my power to help do this justice. Do you justice."

This time, JJ reached for Emily's hand, and she squeezed it appreciatively. "You have no idea how much this means to me, Emily."

Emily smiled at her, and JJ felt the burden in her chest lift a little bit. "You call me whenever you feel comfortable getting together again. I'll have some sketches done up by the time you do."

Linework - Linework - Linework

"My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story." - Johnny Depp

I have the story arc planned out, it should be five or six chapters long. I know this is pretty AU, but tattoos are a passion of mine, and after JJ and Emily's conversation about tattoos in 200, I just had to write it. Please review and let me know what you think!