a friend from college-jemily

invisible string

Emily was silent as she pulled the blanket around her shoulders and felt the warm tears softly fall on to her sheets. JJ was silent, too. She was speechless, really. It wasn't every day you find out your girlfriend has a secret identity because she is being hunted by a prolific Italian crime boss. Despite her surprise, she still wanted make sure Emily knew she was there for her. She tucked herself in under the blanket and slowly maneuvered her arms around Emily's waist. The couple just laid in bed silently taking in each other's warmth for what felt like hours. Emily was waiting for JJ to say something, but she never did so it was the brunette that broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for ruining your birthday," she whispered.

"Emily, no," JJ said. "You didn't ruin anything."

Suddenly Emily's tears turned to sobs. I ruined everything, she thought to herself.

"Hey, hey, Emily," JJ said as she sat up. "We'll find him. It will be okay."

JJ's blind optimism killed Emily.

"Do you want to tell me about him?" JJ asked.

At first the thought of talking about him made Emily feel sick, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized it was a good idea.

"He used to take me fishing. We used to walk to this little pond in the park in Boston, right behind the bar I took you to, actually, and sit there for hours waiting for a bite. It was entirely boring and I absolutely loved it. He would tell these amazing stories or help me practice my languages. Then, we would ship off to whatever country my mother was working in for the next few months, but whenever we were home visiting my dad, we never missed a fishing date at that little pond," Emily said, with a tiny smile on her face as she recalled that happy memory.

"That's really nice," JJ whispered.

Emily let out a yawn and turned back over in bed. "Yeah, well. Good night."

JJ give Emily a soft kiss on the cheek before also rolling over under the blanket and closing her eyes.

-------

The next morning, JJ woke to that scratchy texture of Sergio's tongue against her cheek. He softly mewed as he rubbed his belly against JJ's shoulders to urge her awake. She laughed as she quickly saw the Sergio wake up call becoming a routine while she was staying with Emily.

Emily...

JJ sat up when she realized Emily wasn't in bed. She looked down at her watch, which said it was wayyyy too early for Emily to be awake. She threw off the covers and immediately scanned the first floor of the house, where she only found Martha getting a head start on Jim's breakfast. She ran back upstairs, her chest feeling heavy with anxiety. She pushed open the bathroom door and ran to the sink to splash cold water on herself to get it together. That's when she noticed.

She looked down in to the sink, where a small pile of dark brown hair was sitting close to the drain. Next to it, was Emily's cell phone with the activation card removed. On the counter next to the sink was a pile of Emily and Lauren's credit cards, IDs, and both passports.

JJ gulped and felt herself getting dizzy as she realized what was going on. As she got closer to the pile of stuff on the counter, JJ noticed a sheet of paper at the bottom. It was mostly blank except for a tiny drawing in the bottom left hand corner of the page. JJ wiped the nervous tears that were forming in her eyes so she could make out the picture.

It was a black bird.

JJ jetted back downstairs as Jim had now made his way to the kitchen table, newspaper in hand.

"Jim!" JJ cried. "Emily...she...her hair, passport, phone with no card..."

"Hold on, JJ. Deep breaths now," Jim said with alarm.

"Emily. She's run away."