Blackbird's Song

Chapter 7 - Lauren

A kind of cute chapter cuz I felt like being nice. Also I have a SAC in like 5 minutes, which if you're not from Australia a SAC is an assessment, not quite an exam but close.

***************************************************************

JJ's POV

Emily is acting weird, ever since Ian Doyle was mentioned, she has been acting weird, she is really on edge and she flinched when I tried to offer her my hand, which she happily took after she realised it was me, but I am still concerned about her, but I choose to leave it alone because she clearly doesn't want to talk about it.

When we land, she still doesn't say anything, just nods when Hotch tells her and I to go to the station and set up, and then we all go our separate ways. On the way to the station, I try to get her to talk, but she not wanting to so I just give up. I drive so I can't sign to her, but she can sign back to me if she wants to, so I give her that option as well.

"Em, hey, you are going to need to talk soon, I can introduce us both when we get to the station and you and I can just sign if you want but the team doesn't understand sign language, so either I'd have to translate or you'd have to talk, but either way you'll have to talk eventually, ok?" I say, hoping that will get her to be a bit more conversational, doesn't matter in what language,

"Ok" she signs back,

Well, it's a start, I think to myself, at least I've got her somewhat talking to me, even if it's not verbally.

We get to the station, and we walk in, me first then Emily behind me.

"Hi, I'm SSA Jennifer Jareau and this is SSA Emily Prentiss" I say, and Emily just smiles and nods at the officer, 

"Hi agents, we've set you up over here in the conference room" the officer says, and Emily and I go into the conference room together,

"Em, talk to me, please, please tell me what's wrong" I say, once we get into the conference room and sit down,

"I don't want to talk, I want it to be over" she signs, and I walk over to her and grab her hands,

"Em, I'm here for you, I'll let you go for now, but when we get back, you're talking to me, please Emily, please" I say, holding her hands as she tries to pick at her fingers,

She grabs my hands and leads me to the couch, and makes me sit down on the couch, and then sits down next to me and lays down in my lap,

"Cuddles?" She says, which makes me happy because she's talking and she is asking for something, so she is ok, for now,

"Em, we have to do work, we can't do cuddles right now, I'm sorry, is there anything you can see on the board that I can't see? I know you usually notice the things I don't" I say, trying to distract her, but realising I just put her back into the same spiral,

"The names, the names of the people he associated with in the past, there's a name missing" she says, clearly thinking about if she should say this or not,

"She's dead, uhh, car crash, but her name should still be up there" she says, more like she's reminding herself that she's dead rather than telling me,

"Ok Em, what's the name? So, I can add it" I say, trying to get more information out of her while she's talking,

"Umm, L-, ughh, h-her name was, her name was Lauren- Lauren Reynolds" she says, getting up and starting to pace back and forth in the conference room, so I can clearly see she's uncomfortable, and that she's not telling me something,

"Emily, you don't have to tell me right now, but I know you're hiding something" I say, watching her pace and trying to figure out how to calm her down,