Dress

the rally

Emily stuffed the keycard into her dress when she heard someone call out her name. She turned around to face her caller, revealing a tall, handsome agent Emily vaguely remembered from somewhere.
"Emily...Prentiss?" he says again. He holds out his hand and with a charming smile, introduces himself. "James Keller, I work in VICAP...I don't know if you..."
That jogged her memory. "Oh yeah, the interrogations seminar in New York last year...how are you?" Her face lights up as she grabs his hand and softly shakes it.

"I'm great. Sorry if I caught you on your way out," James says, looking down at the coat in Emily's arms.

"Uh, actually, I was just grabbing this," she grabs her phone from the pocket and waves it before putting it back and handing her coat off to the coat check once again.

"Oh, sweet, do you want to go grab a drink?" James asks. Emily looks over at the valet door, neither Penelope nor JJ anywhere to be seen.
"Yeah, I would," she says with a smile.
Before she knew it, Emily felt herself getting drunk again. The light blues, pinks, and purples of the dance floor lit up the ballroom and made it feel as though the vaulted ceiling was the night sky. She and James caught up on life since they met at the conference eight months ago.

"So, you're at BAU now, huh?" James said with an impressed look. "I knew you had it in ya, Em. You were like top of the class at every seminar in New York." Emily chuckled to herself. The class wasn't the only thing she was on top of that week. She felt herself getting warm as James moved in closer. She knew any second now, they'd start making out, and then maybe something else. But she didn't mind. He was a welcome distraction from the pining for someone else. When she  felt his hand slip down her thigh, she looked up at him and grinned.

"Emily!" Penelope's voice broke the thick tension, pulling the brunette's attention away from her suitor. "Emily! I'm so glad I found you! I thought you left or something! Look who I found in the parking lot!" Penelope turns her shoulder and JJ reappears from behind her.

"JJ! Yay!" Emily says with fake enthusiasm. There's a moment of awkward silence and her friends stare at her and James and James stares back.

"Uhhh, Penelope, JJ, this is James. We met at the interrogation tactics conference in New York last year. James-these are my coworkers Penelope and JJ," Emily finally says.

"Lovely to meet you both," James says. "Uh, I have some coworkers here as well, should we all meet on the dance floor?"

"Uh," Emily sighs. "I don't know if I can. I'm pretty drunk."

"Oh, c'mon Em, that's not a problem," Penelope exclaims. "Barkeep, two double shots of vodka, please!"

"Uh, Pen," JJ murmurs.
"Jayje, we just gotta get on Em's level. It's time to rally," Penelope says.

Emily finally gets a closer look at JJ and realizes her eye makeup is freshly done. As much as the blonde tried to hide it, Emily knew she had been crying. Still, JJ downed the double shot anyway and the three women joined James and his two friends on the dance floor.

"This is Phil Donellan and Tyler Maynard," James yells over the music. James's coworkers were almost as attractive as he was, and they came ready to party. The group of six danced and grinded against each other to the pulse of the music, eventually making their way over to the mosh pit that Derek had started, the dancing getting raunchier and raunchier as the night moved along.

As much as she distracted herself with gorgeous men and stiff drinks, someone still stayed on her mind like a golden tattoo. The slightest touch, a glance, even, and the pining for JJ was as strong as ever. Nevertheless, she kept rallying, rubbing up against James, kissing him any chance she got. She even took her turn with Derek again, who wreaked of bourbon but was still sure footed and strong lipped as ever.

"Damn, Prentiss, what has gotten into you?" he whispered to her jokingly in her ear. The answer, of course, was lots of expensive liquor and regret, but still, she rallied.

In that moment, the mood shifted on the dance floor again, as party music turned to a love ballad. Horny agents partnered off and swayed together as one. Penelope tapped Emily out and grabbed Derek for herself, pushing Emily back into the arms of her former one week stand. James was gentle and tender in the way he held her, and she felt surprisingly safe with him, but as she set her head on his shoulder, her eyes wandered to JJ, who was resting her head on Phil's shoulder. There were moments where their eyes would meet, and they'd promptly look away to try and pass off their pining stares as coincidence, but they both knew what it really was: anticipation.

In another attempt at diversion she turns her head into the crook of James's neck and whispers in his ear: "talk dirty to me."  The VICAP agent obliges, softly telling Emily exactly what he'd do to her if she wanted him to. The brunette feels her legs getting weaker, the pulse between her thighs throbbing so much she can feel it in her chest. She closes her eyes to drown the room out: just her and his sweet, dirty words.

The song ends but the butterflies in Emily's stomach are calling out for relief. She grabs James by his collar, nearly dragging him from the dance floor. "Bathroom," she tells him, and they nearly run, as fast as their drunk legs can carry them out to the hallway. When they reach the ladies' room, the line is funneling out the door. Emily does an about face and scans the hallway, noticing a small closet just behind the bar.

"Um, cleaning closet?" She shrugs. James goes along with everything she says at this point, so he pulls open the surprisingly unlocked door and they climb inside before locking the door behind them. The closet is pitch black and only their heavy breathing bounces off the walls. They maneuver their way around the cleaning supplies as James unbuttons his pants and Emily hikes up her already short dress. They smash their faces together as they feel each other up and down. Their hands as their guides in the dark closet. Emily rubs herself against James's thighs, but she can't quite find what she's looking for.
"Give me a few seconds," James tells her as he buries his fingers into her breast. She tries to help him out, but he still won't get hard. After a few minutes, they stop. "I don't think this is happening. Too much to drink," James shrugs. "I'm sorry, Emily."

Even in the darkness, Emily could read the embarrassment on his face, so she kisses him one more time and says "it's fine." She turns around and pulls down her dress before unlocking the closet and walking out. As she walks past the bar and into the party lights, she finishes fixing her dress as she walks back to the BAU table. As she passes the bar, she feels something shift in her dress, and hears a tiny clack as the object hits the ground. She subconsciously begins to bend down to pick the keycard up, but when she reaches the floor, a familiar set of piercing blue eyes meet hers.

"Hey, you dropped...Oh, Emily," JJ says, a nervous smile filling her cheeks as she picks up the keycard. Suddenly, Emily's suspicions were confirmed. Even in her drunken state, she'd recognize the way the number 2 was written on the envelope any day. They freeze as their hands touch, the hours, days, weeks of mutual want collectively flow through them as Emily takes the card from JJ and they stand up.

"Uh, I should go," JJ says before awkwardly jetting off toward the valet.
Emily's heavy legs run after her. "Jennifer," she says. The way Emily called her name stopped JJ in her tracks. She silently walks with Emily toward the elevator and waits as it descends to their floor. The "up"  arrow lights as the door opens, and Emily's about to step in when JJ says, "wait." The blonde turns and runs as the brunette holds the door and watches her coworker sneak behind the bar. She returns with a chilled bottle of wine.

"I got us something," JJ smiles as she joins Emily in the elevator.

Emily smiles back as she grabs the blonde's perfect face and pulls it toward her as the elevator door closes.