Her blue eyes blinked fast, and Emily immediately knew that the other girl was frazzled. She gave a small smile as she caught onto the actions of the blonde, and handed back the books that she had managed to pick up from the ground. She was one of the soccer kids… Emily was new to the school and she knew that. The brunette waited for the blonde to reply to her introduction, one of her brows lifting in question when no words escaped the other's lips. Emily shrugged and stood up, merely turning around and heading in the opposite direction. She did not make it more than five steps, however, until she heard a sultry voice cut through the air, smooth as silk.

"JJ. My name is JJ. Well… Jennifer… But everyone else calls me JJ so… Just call me that." As Emily turned once again, she saw the pale girl's cheeks flushing a deep shade of red, and the brunette could not help but to smile at the sight. She had a way with people. That was one way of putting it, and it was apparent that she was getting to Jennifer without even doing anything. With a courteous nod, Emily stepped back forward and gave a chuckle, her head shaking from side to side as she did so.

"Where did the other 'J' come from?" She asked with the smallest of chuckles escaping her lips. Hell. Hell, how could this girl, this small blonde that had literally just bumped into her have this effect? "Sorry… Just thought I'd ask. I'm Ms. Prentiss. The new English TA." Emily released a laugh and shook her head, her brown eyes shifting down for the slightest of seconds until the bell rang for the next class to start. She would have guessed that the smaller girl was newly eighteen, her petite frame not alluding to the fact that she had the markings of a young woman. "Well, I don't want to be late for my first day of class. I'll see you later?" Emily had already spun around, but she stated the last statement as a question. Truly, she did want to see the small girl again… There was something about her… Whether it be the nervousness that radiated off of the senior for no particular reason, or the way her eyes shone as Emily handed her back the books that had fallen onto the ground.

Although she was out of sight, Jennifer was not out of Emily's mind. The brunette's mind swarmed with the facial details of the smaller woman, the way that her cheeks turned red as soon as Emily began to speak, the way that her perfectly blonde hair remained almost untouched with the unintentional contact between the two young women. Lost in thought, Emily wandered into calculus class, only a couple of minutes late, her mind whirring with thoughts of the small blonde. Only of the small blonde. Jennifer. Jennifer what? Where had the second 'J' come from? These thoughts caused for a smile to spread across her lips as she sat, the talk of similes and metaphors completely going into one ear and out the other. Emily was in a trance, and she knew immediately that she needed to find this girl again. It was almost unbelievable as to how captivated the brunette was by this blonde girl.

When she had decided to move to Pennsylvania, it was not an easy decision. Emily Prentiss had been forced to move around endlessly as a child due to her mother's position as a diplomat, and it really did not come as a surprise when her mother would come home announcing that they once again would be leaving. So, to move from Paris, where she was teaching a prestigious class of advanced writers to teach as a TA in the tiny East Allegheny high school was quite the decision. It was a decision that had to be made, however.

The other girl released a sigh as she lay on top of Emily, her head buried into the crook of her neck. A small groan escaped the brunette's lips as the other girl shifted, pressing down a little too harshly against her chest area, but the two of them both settled back into each other, their bodies fitting together. That was the thing that Emily loved most. She loved the way that the two of them fit together seamlessly, no matter the circumstance, and this only confirmed the fact that Emily was in love with the woman laying on top of her. She loved that the two of them did not need to be doing anything for Emily to fall even more in love with her. The way that the other woman's hair fell flawlessly over her shoulders no matter the position or activity, the way that her freckles showed a little more prominently in the Italian sun that the two of them had lived under for so long, the way that their hands always found a way to intertwine. Yes, Emily was irrevocably and indescribably in love with the woman she was with. Nothing could come between them. Nothing would come between them. Or so they thought.

She blamed herself. For two years Emily Prentiss blamed herself for the loss of her girlfriend. The love of her life. The reason that she had survived all of those years in Italy and all of the years that she had needed to travel. When she had finally broken somewhat free from her mother's grasp and could finally settle down, it was Nicole that Emily turned to. Everything was changing and everything continued to change throughout the years, but the one constant that Emily Prentiss could rely on was her girlfriend. Suddenly, with the blink of an eye and the course of one heart wrenching phone call, the girl was gone. The same girl who had been Emily's rock ever since they met as teenagers, was gone. Completely gone. The fact that she would never be able to hear the glorious laugh that she had fallen for years ago, she would never be able to run her fingertips against her smooth skin as they layed in bed. They were only twenty five at the time, but they already had so many plans for their future; they were going to leave every form of politics behind them, to finally settle down in one place, to get married and start a family. Nicole had always wanted three children. In a perfect world, she wanted two little boys and a baby girl, all with Emily's chocolate brown eyes and her dirty blonde hair. Perfect little mixes of the two of them. Now, that was impossible.

It truly was Emily's fault that Nicole had been on the road that day. She just wanted some milk. That was all. Both women knew that Emily was much too picky to eat her cereal without milk, and that was truly the only thing they had in the house. Not to mention the fact that Emily only ate the sugary kind, and since it was close to midnight, all the brunette wanted was a midnight snack. So Nicole had offered to go to the little convenience store that was just on the outskirts of the area that they lived. Since the couple lived just outside of Paris, there was countryside to spare that surrounded them on either side of their little cottage. The little Fiat that the two of them owned together, although that Nicole had claimed as her own, honestly stood no chance against the horror that was to be faced that day. Hell, Emily Prentiss knew that her girlfriend was strong, that was an undeniable fact, but the moment she heard Nicole's voice over the phone, Emily's heart sank deep down into the pit of her stomach. It was broken, there was the sound of breaking glass, crunching, crumbling, pain… Emily had never moved so fast in her life. The brunette sprinted to the door, her hand clutching her black jacket in one hand while her other grabbed the keys to the Mini Cooper that had Emily had attained by default, and it took her only a few seconds to track where Nicole's phone was pinned. On the other side of the phone, Nicole's voice cracked and broke into the phone, breaking Emily's heart with each and every word that she heard escape her love's lips.

"Em… Em… Don't come… Don't… D-don't come here… Please… Please… Th-there is too much blood… Baby… B-baby… I can't feel my… I can't feel my legs." And at that, Emily's stomach practically flipped, her face going completely stoic. She couldn't speak for a few seconds, thoughts running through her mind on a continuous loop. She couldn't lose her. She couldn't lose her baby. The best thing to ever happen to her was this woman. The reason that she was so successful, that she was still alive, was the woman on the other end of the phone. If Nicole was torn away from her, Emily truly didn't know what she would do. So she sped up, the car heading in the exact location that her phone had pinned her to.

As soon as Emily drove over the hill and the scene of the accident came into view, a hushed whimper escaped her lips. There was a truck overturned on its side on one side of the road, the ditch completely cleared of any sign of grass and the truck completely lit up in flames. That was not the thing that concerned Emily even in the slightest. Immediately her eyes were drawn to a nearby tree, her jaw dropping when she saw their tiny, red Fiat wrapped nearly completely around the wide trunk. Nicole was nowhere to be seen. Once the Mini Cooper had come to a complete stop, Emily's hand trembled and she dropped her phone, practically leaping from the vehicle towards the gruesome scene of the accident. On the way to the site, Emily had been sure to call emergency services, and echoes of the sirens could be heard throughout the densely tree covered area, but they seemingly bounced off the bark trunks, taunting her, playing with her mind. It took all Emily Prentiss had not to scream, not to cry, not to break down right then and there, and just as she was about to call out her girlfriend's name, she heard a very weak and muffled cough. The brunette set off on a dead sprint to where she had heard the cough, and as she ran to the opposite side of the vehicle, her brown eyes filled with tears.

Nicole lay in a heap on her back, her legs both bent in inhuman ways, her left arm obviously having been torn from the socket, her face and any other piece of exposed skin was burned, cut bruised, and perhaps the most shocking of all injuries was the piece of metal sticking vertically out of her abdomen. At first, Emily approached her girlfriend with caution. She had to be careful not to move her. She had to be careful not to hurt her… But then she realized the pools of blood being formed around the dirty blonde's body, the way that her skin was turning a sickly colour of grey, the way her lips were going blue and the way that her hazel eyes were beginning to glaze over. Nicole was leaving her. There was no way of getting around the fact, there was truly no hope for the other woman. Of course, Emily wanted to be strong. God, she was trying to be strong, but deep down, deep down Emily Prentiss knew that there was no way that Nicole would make it through this.

So calmly, Emily moved to sit just above Nicole's body, lifting her head carefully and placing it in her lap. Softly the brunette began to hum, her fingers sifting through the blonde hair that was stained a dark red colour. She tried to rake her fingers gently through the knots that had been formed, knowing damn well that Nicole hated when her hair got even the slightest bit knotty. The two sat there only for a few moments before the other woman coughed, a clot of blood slipping between her lips and trickling blood out of the corner of her mouth. Nicole looked up to Emily with calm eyes, blinking them rapidly as to stay awake. The brunette knew that it had to be getting hard, however, and it seemed as though the sirens were only getting further and further away… The last thing that Emily wanted was for her girlfriend to be in pain. So Emily's free hand reached down and took one of Nicole's in it, giving it a small squeeze as she began to speak quietly.

"Pumpkin… Hello. It's Emily here. I want you to know how much I love you. Okay? I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere, Nicole. Okay? I'm not going to leave you. I… I want you to hold on. Fuck, I want you to hold on, baby, but… That's so selfish. I want you to know that… I want you to know that I am always going to love you. Do you understand? Never will I stop loving you, Nicole. Nicole Prentiss… That has such a lovely ring to it, doesn't it?" Emily allowed for a soft smile to appear and allowed it to tug at the corners of her lips as she continued to speak. "You're my baby girl. You always have been and always would be. Okay? I want you to know that if it starts to become too much… If it starts to hurt too much, Nicole, you can go. I don't want you to hurt anymore. Okay? I love you… Oh my God, I love you…" And with that, Emily bent forward, her lips pressing against her dying partner's. She left her lips against Nicole's for a moment longer than she should have perhaps, because when she pulled back, the dirty blonde was gone.

By the time the paramedics had arrived, Emily had tried everything to revive Nicole; CPR, mouth to mouth, she even tried to shake the other woman awake. No luck. Nicole was gone, forever. Emily knew, however, that she would never let the memory of her first real love fade away. Nicole was a part of her, she always had been and always would be. She had held her dying girlfriend in her arms and that fact would stay with her forever. It would never leave her. Ever.

Emily had made the executive decision to move from Paris, away from the memories, the pain, the past, to the furthest thing away from the place as possible. Pennsylvania seemed… Fair. It was a tiny little area with only a few people, but Emily still found herself enjoying the dynamics thoroughly. It was a change. A much needed change. So there she was at East Allegheny High, an impressive teaching career under her belt for her age, and she was stuck being a TA. Any other person would have been even the slightest bit upset, but not Emily. The woman was incredibly thankful to be putting the demons of her past behind her… Or as best she could, she supposed.

Emily didn't end up seeing Jennifer again for around a week, but then suddenly it was the two of them. Only the two of them. The blonde had a soccer ball under her left arm and her cell phone in the other, a grin spread across her face from a text message that one of her teammates had sent her after their practice. Pieces of her blonde ponytail that had fallen out stuck to her sweaty neck and forehead, her skin seemingly glistening in the flourescent light of the hallway. Emily gave a small smile as she recognized the smaller woman, clearing her throat as JJ approached. The blonde looked up from her phone, the grin still on her face, and she tucked her phone into her sports bra under her jersey, the number four plastered proudly against her chest. Much to Emily's surprise, it was the blonde who actually spoke first this time, and the brunette could not help but to give a smile at the statement being made.

"Jareau. That's where the second 'J' comes from."