Jemily | Am I Allowed To Look At Her Like That?

Chapter Ten

𝙰 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝙲𝚊𝚜𝚎

————
'If we're strong enough
to let it in, we're strong enough
to let it all go.'
————

november 10, 2007

Four days. It took them four additional days to finally track down their UnSub, when they had just expected it to be one. Jason Blunt. JJ swore she could curse that name for eternity.

He pretty much sent them on a witch hunt.

On the third day, the letters began. Letters full of nothing but ego and torment, driving the entire team up the wall. At first, they thought it would be simple. They had a name and Garcia found them an address quickly, as per usual. All the clues left inside that letter lead to that address, and JJ felt relieved that the case would end quickly, getting her and the team back home, as well as providing some sort of justice to the women whose lives had come to a tragic and merciless end.

They should have known it was a trick. But they were too confident, they were too ahead of themselves, and the arrogance took an additional life. This one belonging to a well-respected and seemingly fearless officer at Raleigh PD.

JJ felt her stomach drop as deep as it could possibly go when the sound of the explosion came through her earpiece. Remaining helpless back at the department, all she could do was hope that she would hear the sound of her team's voices, indicating that they managed to remain away from any harm. Mere seconds felt like agonising hours until Spencer's voice finally came around, informing her that no one from the BAU was hurt.

It had made them all angry. Anger only lead to determination amongst this group of workers, so they worked harder and longer than before. Until finally, they got him. The confession was hard, not that they needed it with the evidence that plagued him, but eventually the admittance came. After much taunting and interrogation from Derek.

The words that came out of Jason Blunt's mouth, JJ feared would forever haunt her.

Silence lingered across the jet the entirety of the short ride back home, and as they all piled one by one into the BAU, defeated, Hotch announced that they were not to be expected in tomorrow. Sighs of appreciation could be seen and heard from every single one of them.

Penelope hadn't been with them, but she had been filled in on many of the details, like every other case, leading her to hook her arm through JJ's to take her home. If the details didn't tell her how much her roommate needed to be home, the look on JJ's face most definitely gave it away.

"I feel defeated." JJ admitted as she locked the door behind her, double-checking to make sure the chain was secured. "God, Pen." She exasperated. "How can people do this?" The exhaustion caught up to her and she felt herself collapse down on the couch. "How can people be so cruel? I don't understand." JJ often felt plagued by the cases she saw day in, day out, but rarely ever had they affected her this much. She shook away the tears she felt forming in the corners of her eyes, and laid her head back against the soft cushion.

Penelope joined her, two glasses of cold ice water in her hands, "I don't know, peaches." One glass made its way to JJ's hand. "But at least he's locked up now."

"But how long until the next one? There's always going to be people like that. Monsters." The sensation of cold water trickling down her throat began the soothing process, and it didn't take long for the feeling of Penelope's hand gently running through her hair to contribute to that.

At least twenty minutes they spent sat like that, Penelope's hand raking through her hair, gently pulling through any knots resulted from the restless day, and the only noise heard being occasional nothings from the tenants residing in the neighbouring apartments.