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Speaking in Code - Criminal Minds - Gen (Emily Prentiss and JJ) - Words: 1,415
Summary: Emily and JJ communicate while Emily is on the run.
Content Notes: None. PG.
Author Notes: Spoilers for 7.04 Painless, but takes place in between seasons six and seven.
On AO3: Speaking in Code
When Emily had realized that she might have to leave the BAU, but before she'd known how disastrous things would become, she had written the url of an online Scrabble website that she sometimes frequented, the name of her favored room (Night Owls), and her own username: SergioSleeps, all on the inside of the lid of the Scrabble box stashed in the BAU bullpen. They didn't play often, mostly when they weren't doing anything urgent but needed a break from the endless case files and consults. Reid had been banned from all Scrabble games due to having an unfair advantage, and Rossi, Morgan and Hotch simply weren't interested, so it had eventually become something that JJ and Emily did together to unwind when they weren't ready to leave the office yet.
Emily looked up from the book in her lap when her computer pinged softly in the mostly empty cafe. She felt some tension leave her when she saw the invite to sit down at a game table from JJ. The username 'cheeto_breath' still made her smile every time she saw it, she'd even actually laughed when it had popped up for the first time, half because JJ had found her clues and followed them and half because of the memory of why JJ had chosen the name so that Emily would know who she was talking to.
JJ and Emily were typically the only women with the team when they traveled, which meant pairing up whenever they were required to share rooms. Neither of them minded, by the time they were back at the hotel they were usually too exhausted to do anything other than sleep, and on the nights they were to unsettled to sleep they could stay up watching late night television and slipping out to a nearby gas station for snacks and drinks. It had been the second to last case they'd worked before JJ had left that they'd fallen asleep after one such night. They'd woken in the morning to discover that JJ had left her bag of cheetos open in the bed and they were both a little bit grimy as a result. Emily had called JJ 'cheeto breath' resulting in a brief but furious war of thrown cheeto pieces before they had to stop and get ready for the day.
It had been five days since she'd talked with JJ, or as much as they managed to talk through the Scrabble interface. They checked to see if the other was logged in at the same day every time. When Emily had logged in and discovered that JJ wasn't there, she'd left her computer on and waited, just in case JJ might still show up.
Her computer made a small popping sound, and Emily found the word 'home' spelled out in the center of the board. She had suspected that they were on a case, and sometimes that took a while, but it didn't mean that she didn't worry in the back of her mind the longer it took between conversations.
Emily considered her letters for a moment before attaching 'okay' to the word 'home', knowing that JJ would understand that it was a question.
There was a longer pause this time, and Emily checked her surroundings again out of habit. It was after midnight, and even though the cafe would stay open well into the night she shouldn't stay that late. She felt it wasn't out of paranoia that she was concerned about drawing any attention to herself, considering the very real fact that someone wanted her dead, but she was dedicated to remaining as invisible as possible.
'Fine' was JJ's answer, connected to the end of the word 'home'.
Emily didn't know if the word 'fine' actually meant that everyone was okay, though she knew JJ would tell her if something was seriously wrong, but she suspected that it meant that they were still struggling. Emily added the word 'you' to her previous question of 'okay', hoping that JJ would understand that she was concerned about all of them.
It had been through their coded conversations, safe enough because Emily reasoned that someone might try to track her through chat logs on a computer but she'd never heard of someone accessing a game account to check what moves had been made in Scrabble, that she'd learned bits and pieces of what was happening with the team. Boss meant Hotch, and he was 'away', where ever that was. Morgan's signifier was 'doors', something that Emily had smiled over for days when she thought of it, and JJ had reluctantly said that he was 'sad'. In fact, sad had been repeated after the name 'kitten' and 'magic' as well. Emily had immediately understood that 'kitten' was Garcia, but it had taken a moment to realize that 'magic' was Reid. It made sense, because 'genius' would have been far more difficult to collect all the letters. They already cleared the board several times a conversation in order to get enough vowels.
In return, Emily let JJ know that she was safe, which was a word that they repeated back and forth almost every conversation. She gave key words as much as she could, like pasta and sun and sheep, so that JJ would at least have a general idea of where she was in the world.
The computer gave a soft beep and Emily realized that JJ had cleared the board and was starting over, this time with the word 'late'.
Looking down at the time, Emily realized that it was after dinner in Quantico and wondered if JJ had made it home yet or if she was sitting in her office. Emily used her blank tile to make the letter 'p' for the word 'sleep'. JJ would understand that while Emily was frequently unable to sleep, being on her own and constantly on the move had only exacerbated that tendency.
JJ's response was 'also', and Emily felt a pain of guilt knowing that the team wasn't in particularly good shape at the moment. Five days was a long time for them to have spent on a case, the previous week JJ had connected 'magic' and 'apart', and Emily guessed that Reid hadn't gone with them this time.
Emily looked at the letters that had appeared after her previous word and realized that she had enough to make the word 'flight' when attached to 'also'. It was a good enough time to as any to let JJ know that she was moving again. She had already checked out ships in the area, it was easiest to travel by bus and boat than risk getting on a plane, even with her fake identity.
JJ added 'where' onto the 'h' of 'flight', and Emily considered her letters for a moment to see what she could make.
There wasn't much she could do, so she made the word 'red' with the 'r' from 'where', and hoped that JJ would understand that she'd be traveling east into Germany and the Netherlands. Probably not, but she could give more words another day.
When JJ didn't respond, Emily cleared the board and then made the word 'closed' to indicate that she was saying goodnight.
JJ responded almost instantly: 'eyes'.
Emily didn't know if that was a reminder stay on the lookout, or that the team was doing what they could, or that she should try to sleep, but either way she appreciated the sentiment. She closed the window and signed out of her account before slipping her netbook into the small bag she carried with her everywhere. She took an extra moment to return her empty cup to the counter. Decaf coffee wasn't her favorite thing to drink but at least it was warm and she could pretend for a moment that she was in just another police station somewhere, drinking terrible coffee and the team was just in the next room over.
She went out onto the street, still filled with people moving and talking, and decided to walk for a while before she returned to the small apartment she'd rented for the past two weeks. Her body still ached, phantom and psychosomatic pain for the most part, and lying down to sleep only seemed to make it worse. The lights on the streets were bright enough that she felt safe in moving through the crowds, at least for now, comforted in the knowledge that she'd be in another country within a few days time.
Summary: Emily and JJ communicate while Emily is on the run.
Content Notes: None. PG.
Author Notes: Spoilers for 7.04 Painless, but takes place in between seasons six and seven.
On AO3: Speaking in Code
When Emily had realized that she might have to leave the BAU, but before she'd known how disastrous things would become, she had written the url of an online Scrabble website that she sometimes frequented, the name of her favored room (Night Owls), and her own username: SergioSleeps, all on the inside of the lid of the Scrabble box stashed in the BAU bullpen. They didn't play often, mostly when they weren't doing anything urgent but needed a break from the endless case files and consults. Reid had been banned from all Scrabble games due to having an unfair advantage, and Rossi, Morgan and Hotch simply weren't interested, so it had eventually become something that JJ and Emily did together to unwind when they weren't ready to leave the office yet.
Emily looked up from the book in her lap when her computer pinged softly in the mostly empty cafe. She felt some tension leave her when she saw the invite to sit down at a game table from JJ. The username 'cheeto_breath' still made her smile every time she saw it, she'd even actually laughed when it had popped up for the first time, half because JJ had found her clues and followed them and half because of the memory of why JJ had chosen the name so that Emily would know who she was talking to.
JJ and Emily were typically the only women with the team when they traveled, which meant pairing up whenever they were required to share rooms. Neither of them minded, by the time they were back at the hotel they were usually too exhausted to do anything other than sleep, and on the nights they were to unsettled to sleep they could stay up watching late night television and slipping out to a nearby gas station for snacks and drinks. It had been the second to last case they'd worked before JJ had left that they'd fallen asleep after one such night. They'd woken in the morning to discover that JJ had left her bag of cheetos open in the bed and they were both a little bit grimy as a result. Emily had called JJ 'cheeto breath' resulting in a brief but furious war of thrown cheeto pieces before they had to stop and get ready for the day.
It had been five days since she'd talked with JJ, or as much as they managed to talk through the Scrabble interface. They checked to see if the other was logged in at the same day every time. When Emily had logged in and discovered that JJ wasn't there, she'd left her computer on and waited, just in case JJ might still show up.
Her computer made a small popping sound, and Emily found the word 'home' spelled out in the center of the board. She had suspected that they were on a case, and sometimes that took a while, but it didn't mean that she didn't worry in the back of her mind the longer it took between conversations.
Emily considered her letters for a moment before attaching 'okay' to the word 'home', knowing that JJ would understand that it was a question.
There was a longer pause this time, and Emily checked her surroundings again out of habit. It was after midnight, and even though the cafe would stay open well into the night she shouldn't stay that late. She felt it wasn't out of paranoia that she was concerned about drawing any attention to herself, considering the very real fact that someone wanted her dead, but she was dedicated to remaining as invisible as possible.
'Fine' was JJ's answer, connected to the end of the word 'home'.
Emily didn't know if the word 'fine' actually meant that everyone was okay, though she knew JJ would tell her if something was seriously wrong, but she suspected that it meant that they were still struggling. Emily added the word 'you' to her previous question of 'okay', hoping that JJ would understand that she was concerned about all of them.
It had been through their coded conversations, safe enough because Emily reasoned that someone might try to track her through chat logs on a computer but she'd never heard of someone accessing a game account to check what moves had been made in Scrabble, that she'd learned bits and pieces of what was happening with the team. Boss meant Hotch, and he was 'away', where ever that was. Morgan's signifier was 'doors', something that Emily had smiled over for days when she thought of it, and JJ had reluctantly said that he was 'sad'. In fact, sad had been repeated after the name 'kitten' and 'magic' as well. Emily had immediately understood that 'kitten' was Garcia, but it had taken a moment to realize that 'magic' was Reid. It made sense, because 'genius' would have been far more difficult to collect all the letters. They already cleared the board several times a conversation in order to get enough vowels.
In return, Emily let JJ know that she was safe, which was a word that they repeated back and forth almost every conversation. She gave key words as much as she could, like pasta and sun and sheep, so that JJ would at least have a general idea of where she was in the world.
The computer gave a soft beep and Emily realized that JJ had cleared the board and was starting over, this time with the word 'late'.
Looking down at the time, Emily realized that it was after dinner in Quantico and wondered if JJ had made it home yet or if she was sitting in her office. Emily used her blank tile to make the letter 'p' for the word 'sleep'. JJ would understand that while Emily was frequently unable to sleep, being on her own and constantly on the move had only exacerbated that tendency.
JJ's response was 'also', and Emily felt a pain of guilt knowing that the team wasn't in particularly good shape at the moment. Five days was a long time for them to have spent on a case, the previous week JJ had connected 'magic' and 'apart', and Emily guessed that Reid hadn't gone with them this time.
Emily looked at the letters that had appeared after her previous word and realized that she had enough to make the word 'flight' when attached to 'also'. It was a good enough time to as any to let JJ know that she was moving again. She had already checked out ships in the area, it was easiest to travel by bus and boat than risk getting on a plane, even with her fake identity.
JJ added 'where' onto the 'h' of 'flight', and Emily considered her letters for a moment to see what she could make.
There wasn't much she could do, so she made the word 'red' with the 'r' from 'where', and hoped that JJ would understand that she'd be traveling east into Germany and the Netherlands. Probably not, but she could give more words another day.
When JJ didn't respond, Emily cleared the board and then made the word 'closed' to indicate that she was saying goodnight.
JJ responded almost instantly: 'eyes'.
Emily didn't know if that was a reminder stay on the lookout, or that the team was doing what they could, or that she should try to sleep, but either way she appreciated the sentiment. She closed the window and signed out of her account before slipping her netbook into the small bag she carried with her everywhere. She took an extra moment to return her empty cup to the counter. Decaf coffee wasn't her favorite thing to drink but at least it was warm and she could pretend for a moment that she was in just another police station somewhere, drinking terrible coffee and the team was just in the next room over.
She went out onto the street, still filled with people moving and talking, and decided to walk for a while before she returned to the small apartment she'd rented for the past two weeks. Her body still ached, phantom and psychosomatic pain for the most part, and lying down to sleep only seemed to make it worse. The lights on the streets were bright enough that she felt safe in moving through the crowds, at least for now, comforted in the knowledge that she'd be in another country within a few days time.
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