A/N- This concludes this story. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

"The most basic and somehow forgettable thing is this: Love is not pain. Love is goodness. And real love-it's less shiny than solid and simple."
― Deb Caletti, The Secret Life of Prince Charming

Anna was a sophomore in college when she got an apartment of her own finally. She was working in the campus library and doing her very best to support herself- which amounted to her living off ramen and doing her best to minimize all other living expenses. She met her neighbor across the hall for the first time when she came home late one evening from a study session.

A tall brunette woman was angrily wrestling with her door. Anna tried her very best not to watch as the woman swore, reared back and drop kicked the door before dropping the duffle bag from her shoulder and throwing it at the wood. The college student raised her eyebrow at the outburst.

"Remind me never to piss you off." Anna joked.

Her neighbor ran a hand through her hair and smiled weakly at Anna. The action pulled back her trench coat and revealed a gun strapped to her hip, "Sorry about that."

Anna just smiled back and shrugged, "I'm sure the door deserved it."

The woman barked a laugh, "I'm Emily." She said, offering her hand to Anna.

She learned later (from the old woman at the end of the hall who gossips with the mailman and owns the cat that's always meowing on the fire escape) that Emily works for the FBI.

…

One morning, when Anna is half asleep and leaving her apartment to go to an eight thirty class, she freezes in her doorway. A tall leggy redhead is leaving Emily's apartment at the same time. Anna scans the woman appraisingly from the corner of her eye. She struts down the hallway with Anna's eyes following her, when she's about to turn the corner, Emily bursts out of her apartment, a cellphone held in her hand.

"Addison!" She calls down the hall, jogging to catch the redhead, "You forgot this." She tells the woman who thanks her and tucks the phone into her purse. Anna watches the redhead lean down the slightest bit to press a quick kiss to Emily's lips.

She walks out of sight, and when Emily catches Anna's eyes, she blushes bright red. It contrasts perfectly with her normally badass FBI agent persona.

…

Anna watches Sergio for Emily when she goes away on top secret super badass FBI business. She never gets introduced to the redhead, but she always seems to be leaving Emily's apartment around the same time as Anna is running out to her first class of the day. One day, Anna sees a different woman leave in the morning, this one is short and blonde, and Emily doesn't chase her down the hall. After that, she doesn't see the redhead anymore.

…

Anna does get introduced to the blonde. She is sitting on the floor against the wall next to her door waiting for the super to show up. Emily comes home, duffel bag over her shoulder, gun strapped to her hip, and pauses when she sees Anna sitting there.

"Waiting for someone?"

"I got locked out and the super won't be here for at least a few more hours." Anna says blushing.

Emily nods with a smile, "Have you had dinner yet?"

"No."
The older woman unlocks her door, "How do you feel about pizza?"

Half an hour later finds both women sitting in Emily's kitchen sharing a large pepperoni.

"No way did that actually happen!" Anna laughs.

"Oh yeah, this woman just jumped in the lake and Reid and I had to go in after her. She kept fighting us and I lost one of my boots!" Emily says, "I had to fly home with just the one shoe."

"That's crazy."
"That's the job." Emily shrugs, taking large bite of her pizza slice.

They eat in quiet for a few minutes until there is a knock at the door. Emily wipes her hands before going to answer it, before she even has the opportunity to say anything, the short blonde Anna had seen once before is halfway into the apartment.

"- and Reid just wouldn't stop going on about how he was playing through every permutation of chess possible." The woman says before she catches sight of Anna, "Oh, I didn't realise you had company."
Emily blushes in a highly uncharacteristic way, "This is Anna, my neighbor. Anna, meet Agent Jennifer Jareau, FBI press liaison."

The blonde nods in greeting at the younger woman and toes the carpet awkwardly.

"We're having pizza if you want to join us." Emily offers.

The blonde looks uncertain, and Anna finds it odd that the woman would be so torn over a dinner invitation when she is so clearly comfortable coming into Emily's space like this.

"I should probably get going-"
Emily cuts the woman off with a hand on her elbow, "JJ, stay."
They share a moment of eye contact that made Anna feel like she is intruding on something private and JJ nods, "Alright."

…

Anna gets to know JJ, and more often than not when she drops Sergio back off to Emily's apartment when she returns from a work trip, the blonde is there. Singing while she makes breakfast barefoot in the kitchen, or emerging tousle haired from Emily's bedroom, JJ was always there.

Anna finds out when the blonde is officially moving in because she sees the boxes stacked up in the living room. They say simple things like 'books' and 'shoes' and Anna realizes that this must be all that life boils down to, boxes of things you empty next to other people's things to show you want to commit to them. Maybe this is enough.

…

Anna graduates and she doesn't move quite yet. She applies to law school and gets in. Emily and JJ get married, Anna almost catches the bouquet at the reception, but she gets bumped out at the last minute by an eccentric blonde woman she later learns also works for the FBI.

After two years, when Anna is nearing the end of law school, JJ gets pregnant. It was something Emily had confided to Anna they had been trying to make happen for a little while and were so incredibly happy when it finally happened. Anna watched with amusement the ways in which Emily tried to make JJ's life easier, the rushing to open doors, the carrying both of their bags. Even more amusing was JJ's insistence that she could manage on her own.

When the baby arrives, Anna hears their rough first weeks of trying to sleep train him. When JJ returns to work, it's the summer and Anna is working regular hours at a law firm as an intern.

She babysits for Henry.

He's the perfect baby. Small with little blonde wisps of hair and the bluest eyes. He completely overtakes the apartment with his toys strewn about, and even though Anna tries her best to tidy up after him, he somehow manages to create a never ending clutter.

The very first time Emily and JJ work up the courage to have a night out after Henry is born, Anna watches him. He does perfectly and she waits after she puts him to sleep for the women to arrive home. When they do, they are absolutely trashed in the hilarious way that means Emily is trying her very best to look dignified when she stumbles through the doorway and uncoordinatedly hangs her jacket up, and JJ can't even try to suppress her infectious giggling.

…

When they move, so does Anna, the two of them to a beautiful house with land, and Anna to a nicer apartment near the law firm she's working at now.

She watches Henry, and their daughter when she arrives a few years later. She sees Emily struggle to put up a swing set in the back yard, and helps house train the puppy Henry convinces them to adopt for his sixth birthday. Anna watches the family grow, she becomes a prosecutor and because of that understands the days that Emily and JJ come home weary from chasing killers.

Anna's never seen a family built on such solid bedrock (her own had been constructed on unstable sediment, crumbling with infidelity and divorce before she ever hit high school). Everything aside, Emily and JJ are solid.

A/N- Drop a final review and vote for this story in the Profiler's Choice Awards if you feel compelled. Feel free to PM me with questions, comments, knock knock jokes, or suggestions for future stories.