Stand In The Rain

One

JJ woke with a start, but as she took stock of her surroundings, Emily appeared at her side almost immediately, gently pushing her back on the bed when she tried to sit up.

When JJ got the message, she relaxed and laid back.

Emily gave her friend a kind smile. "Hey, you; how are you doing?"

"Super sore... and super thirsty."

Emily helped JJ have a few sips of water from a cup she'd filled for her earlier, but warned her to pace herself because she'd been down for the count for awhile. After that, JJ noticed that her hair was now devoid its ponytail from earlier, and that bothered her a little at the moment.

"What is it?" Emily asked.

"I feel dumb asking this, but do you have a hair tie, or something? I just want my hair out of my eyes right now."

Emily found one in her pocket, and although she had to sit in close proximity to JJ to do it, she delicately combed her fingers through JJ's golden locks to get rid of any stray tangles before gathering the hair with her hand and tying it up with the hair tie. When there was a stray lock of hair that hadn't made it into the ponytail, Emily tucked it behind JJ's ear for her. Anything to maintain contact.

JJ was mesmerized by Emily's gentleness, and when she made to move back to her chair, JJ spoke softly.

"Stay. Please."

Emily's heart skipped a beat. She had feelings for JJ, no two ways about it, and she'd noticed over the past few months that she was a little... closed off and almost scared to reach out to anyone on the team past a professional manner.

She knew now that Baylor was to blame for that, and that in this particular situation, most people wouldn't cater to JJ's need for some kind of affection because that would make it seem like she was being taken advantage of, but then again, even though she didn't know if JJ was interested women, either, Emily Magdalene Prentiss didn't fall into the 'most people' category.

So she stayed.

"Okay."

JJ became a little less downhearted and then paused, finally taking in everything she'd been outfitted in since her admittance to the hospital.

First and foremost, her damaged arm was secured in a cloth sling across her body to keep it out of the way, and that was good. She still had the nasal tube, and she was wearing a hospital gown while sporting a plastic ID bracelet on her available wrist, but now there was also a medical finger clamp on her right pointer finger with a long coated cable protruding from the end, and JJ suspected that it was monitoring her blood pressure.

Not to be missed was a fresh oxygen tank for the nasal tube, along with an IV line that was pumping saline into her veins. Her heart was being monitored with wires that were attached to her chest with paper patches, and when she looked down her body a little further, she saw that her midriff was exposed and that more patches and wires were decorating the lower portion, the slightly distended part.

Wrinkling her nose and looking away quickly, JJ asked, "Emily, why isn't my arm in a proper cast yet, and why is the baby being monitored?"

"I told your doctor that you're having mixed feelings about the baby and that you're considering an abortion. The baby is in good health-I saw it on an ultrasound on the ambulance ride over here-but the doctor also said that if you really want an abortion, we can schedule an appointment for today."

"If I did that, would you come with me?"

Without missing a beat and because she genuinely loved her, Emily answered. "Yes, JJ. For you, I would."