daylight (jemily)

Chapter Thirty Two

"Can we be done yet?" JJ whined, crashing back down onto the couch. She was in the middle of doing physical therapy on her knee, which she did not enjoy in the least.

Emily grabbed her hands and pulled her back up. "We're almost done. Just a couple more exercises," she said. She began to position JJ's knee into the next pose.

"I hate this," JJ sighed, leaning on Emily's hand for support. She didn't like how long it took, or how painful it was.

"I know you do," Emily nodded. "But it's important to do so you're able to walk again. It's only to help you heal."

"I know that," JJ reminded her. "I still hate it."

"Well, that's fair enough," Emily laughed softly. JJ wasn't amused.

Finally they did the last stretch and were able to stop. JJ sat back down on the couch and remained perfectly still.

"When can I go back to work?" she asked softly. Emily gave her a look. "You know the answer to that already," she said. It was probably the tenth time she'd asked that question.

"I forgot," JJ lied. Emily had no idea why she was lying, but repeated it back to her anyways. "When you're cleared by the doctor, the psychiatrist, and you repass the bureau fitness test."

"How long will that take?" JJ asked, another question that she'd definitely asked before. "You know the answer to that too," Emily said. "We don't know how long it will take. If you keep doing  physical therapy, I can guarantee it will go faster than if you don't."

JJ nodded along and yawned quietly. "Are you tired?" asked Emily. "I thought you slept well last night."

JJ just shrugged her shoulders. When she didn't want to answer a question, she just didn't answer. This was a habit that had always bugged Emily, but she learned to live with it.

"You want to go upstairs and take a nap?" Emily asked her, hoping to get some type of response out. It was always odd to her, the way JJ acted. She'd be talking no problem one second, but a minute later she'd completely shut down for no reason.

When JJ didn't speak again, Emily realized that it was one of those moments. So she decided to take JJ's hand and force her to go upstairs.

When they got into their room, JJ pulled the covers over her head and shut her eyes tight. Emily watched her for a moment, before leaning down and kissing the top of her head that was peeking out. "I'll be downstairs if you need me, okay?" she whispered. "I love you."

JJ's body was still, expect for her slow, deep breathing. Emily realized that she'd already fallen fast asleep.

It was a few hours later when Emily came up to check on JJ when she realized that she was awake. She was sitting up in bed and watching tv.

"How'd you sleep? Feel any better?" she asked, brushing the few pieces of hair that had fallen out of JJ's face.

"I feel fine," she said softly. She reached up and rubbed her eyes, still slightly tired. She quickly noticed something. "Where's my bracelet?" she asked, looking at her empty wrist.

"You took it off before bed last night," Emily told her. The bracelet JJ was talking about was a little gold charm bracelet that Emily had gotten her for her birthday. She wore it all time time.

"Where is it?" JJ asked, glancing around the room. "I don't know," Emily shrugged. "Where'd you put it when you took it off?"

"I don't know," JJ admitted. "I need it. I have to find it," she said, starting to get out of bed. Emily stopped her. "Relax, would you? I'll look around and see if it turns up."

JJ agreed and sat up in bed while Emily left the room. She began to look all around the house for places that JJ might have set it.

She started getting a little frustrated when she'd looked everywhere and it was nowhere to be seen. JJ had it on yesterday, so it couldn't have gotten far.

Finally when she was searching through the kitchen junk drawer, she found it tangled in a pile of wires. She had no idea why JJ had set it there, but she was glad she was done searching.

"I found the damn bracelet!" Emily called upstairs, laughing slightly.

As she was about to shut the drawer, she noticed something odd inside. Even though it was a messy drawer, she knew what was usually in it.

She reached all the way to the back of the drawer and pulled out a stack of white envelopes. They'd all been cut open and read, and then put back and shoved inside the drawer.

Emily saw their address printed on all of them, but no sender. She reached into the first envelope and couldn't believe what she read.

They were all letters from Collins. The one she was reading was the first one he ever sent, and it was dated only a couple of days after JJ's attack. There were dozens more after it.

The first letter was written to JJ. He said that he was sorry he hurt her. He ranted about how he wanted to make it up to her, how he wanted them to live happily ever after. The whole letter was basically him describing out his fantasy again, acting as though he hadn't murdered her child.

Fuming, Emily stomped her way upstairs. When JJ saw her holding the stack of letters, she knew she was in trouble. She tried to limp her way out of bed but Emily grabbed her crutches before she could.

"Sit down!" she all but shouted at her.

JJ listened, sitting back down in bed. Her whole body trembled. She'd never seem Emily this mad before, and never ever at her.

"You want to explain this? You've been getting letters for nearly a month from the serial killer that murdered our baby, and you don't say a word about it? Do you want him to just get away with this?" Emily said, tossing the letters at her. "What is wrong with you!?"

JJ stared at her, tears slipping down her face. She couldn't speak. She couldn't even make eye contact with Emily.

She just sat there like a statue, watching the letters scattered on the bed. Her mind was so overfull that she couldn't even think.

The longer that she was silent, the more angry Emily became. "Say something! Answer me!" she yelled, rage bubbling out of her voice. JJ's could barely even comprehend what she was saying at this point.

"Give me one reason, Jennifer. Give me one reason that you could have possibly thought it was a good idea to keep this a secret from everybody. From the police, the team, from me," Emily said, her hands gripping the bedsheet at the end of the bed.

JJ tried to inch backwards until she hit the headboard. She'd never felt scared of Emily like this before. She stared down into her lap, unable to look up.

Emily moved right in front of her. She grabbed JJ's jaw and yanked it upwards. "Look at me!" she shouted. She clenched her hand harder around JJ's skin. "Say something!"

"You're hurting me!" JJ cried.