Sweet Creature (jemily)

Chapter Twenty Nine

"JJ, are you alright?" Emily asked, tucking a strand of hair behind JJ's ear. They were lying in a hotel bed on the last night of the case. They were headed home the following day.

"I'm fine. I miss my baby," JJ said softly. It was her third case back at work since she had Luna, but she still hated leaving her.

"We're going to see her tomorrow. I'm sure she misses you too," Emily said, pulling her close. "Do you think she hates us for leaving her alone? I was with her all day every day and then all of a sudden I just left her for a whole week," JJ sighed.

"She's with a babysitter. She's being taken care of. I'm sure she's sad that we're not there but that just means she'll be happy to see us when we're back," Emily told her. JJ let Emily wrap her arms around her.

JJ looked like she was almost to the point of tears. "Hey, hey, don't cry. I know you miss her. I miss her too. I'm sure she's doing perfectly fine," Emily said, hugging her tight.

She hated seeing JJ so stressed out about leaving Luna but she had no idea how to fix it. "Jen, what do you want to do? You can't keep going on cases if it's making you feel this bad," Emily whispered.

A couple of tears streamed down JJ's face. Emily couldn't stand seeing her cry. "Do you want to ask for more time off to stay with her?" she asked. "Or I could take leave. I could stay at home with her and you could go on cases."

JJ wiped her eyes but she couldn't make herself say anything. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what she wanted.

Emily sat up and pulled JJ into her lap. "We could both quit our jobs and get new ones where we work from home," Emily suggested. "Tell me what will make you feel better and we'll do it."

JJ buried her face into Emily's shoulder. "I don't know. I don't know what I want. We can't quit our jobs. I can't make you take leave because I'm too upset about leaving Luna. I love this job and I hate leaving Luna. I don't know what to do," she sniffled.

"What about this," Emily said, smoothing back JJ's hair. "We switch off cases. Every week one of us will go on a case and one of us will stay home with her. Then we switch. She won't be alone and we're both still working."

"But then we'd never see each other," JJ said, finally able to stop crying. "It could just be for now. Until Luna's a little older. I think you're right, she's too little to be leaving her with a babysitter. This will be short-term," Emily said.

"What about when she turns one? That's eight months of switching cases. Then we both go back," JJ said, still slightly unsure. "I like that idea. We're still going to see each other. I think this is for the best," Emily said. "Do you think Hotch will go for it?"

"I don't know." JJ shrugged her shoulders. "I guess we'll have to talk to him."

"You should do most of the talking. You've always been his favorite," Emily joked. JJ giggled. "I'm not his favorite." She rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Mhm. If that's what you think." Emily pressed a kiss to her head.

___

The next morning they were back home and JJ was relieved to be with Luna again. Emily also felt good about their new agreement. Even if she didn't show it as much as JJ did, she really didn't like Luna being without either of them when she was still so little.

They had both talked to Hotch on the jet about what they wanted to do and luckily he agreed without much convincing. Although he didn't say it, he had wished he'd done something like that when Jack was born. He felt like he missed so much because he was always at work. He didn't want that to happen to JJ or Emily.