Guilty Pleasure

Ten: the café's surprise

"Hold me, love me, touch me, honey
Be the first who ever did"

~Lana Deal Rey

Emily

Cookies, coffee and hot chocolate roamed the small café's interior. Sugary sweet scents filled my nose and stuck to my clothes. Jean opposite to me looked rather exhausted, yet we both knew it was for the best to leave the apartment. Getting up, after one has been hurt is the strongest thing one can do and she did just that. After yesterday's conversation she was so worn out, I believe not once before did she fall asleep any faster.

"Here you go," The young waitress smiled at me, as she placed a mug of black coffee in front of me. "And a tea for you. Anything else?" We shook our heads and the polite woman left us alone.

"How's the tea?" I rose a brow, after the blonde took a sip of the steaming liquid.

She parted her lips and narrowed her eyes by a bit. "Way too hot." She gasped.

Chuckling, I drank some of my coffee. "I gathered that much."

"Do you think I could have done anything?" Jean wrapped a hand around her wrist, rubbing her thumb harsher along the soft skin.

"To prevent any of this?" She nodded. "No, and there was no fault with you." Before Jean could've grabbed the chance to find excuses, I reached above the table and took her hand in mine. "Jean," Her eyes were mine, as was her attention. "You were a child. A child, who should have been protected." She did not want to buy this, although it was the truth. "I blamed myself for a lot of things that happened —actually everything." I chuckled a little.

"Because you feel responsible for it."

"I am responsible for these things, though. That's the difference. A good friend of mine died in the field, while I was taken and in the hands of an UnSub, not too long ago. I was already unit chief. It was my call to walk into the trap." I explained slowly, the squeezing of my hand left me smiling slimly.

"We have no control over what an UnSub does. So it wasn't your fault, Em." The cozy warmth in my middle spread over my skin, as if hugging me.

"See how the same applies to you?" She rolled her eyes and a sincere beam fell onto those dry lips. I followed her motion and laughed at Rossi's words, as they popped into my head. "He was right you know." A puzzled look in her eyes, earned me to elaborate. "Dave said we were similar."

Blush coated her cheeks in a soft pink. "But I am not stubborn."

I snorted out a laugh, the aching pulling at my temple with an instant. "That was a good one."

Popping out a pill and swallowing it shortly after, I caught Jean's gaze. The sun shone right onto the side of her face, allowing one of her eyes to appear olive green and the other in a gentle brown. Her skin appeared vibrant and alive, although it was rather pale. The dark bags underneath her eyes seemed to fade, which was a good sign. At least she slept at night.

Faint blush spread over her cheeks, when she noticed how my eyes traced her face. We raveled in the moment for as long as we could, though it eventually passed.

We ordered another round of coffee for me and a tea for Jean. It was an odd thing to know she fancied tea. All about her that was revealed to me at first was this tough badass, who liked to do the opposite of what she was supposed to do. I had expected her to be a big coffee drinker, yet she wasn't. Her softer side came through and I wouldn't trade it for anything in this world.

Regular topics, yet the ones far off from small talk ruled our conversation.

Then a strikingly breathtaking question welled over her lips. "What happened when you were drugged by Peter Lewis?"