Work Text:
Emily Prentiss had spent the last five years slowly but steadily falling in love with her best friend, JJ. It had been such a slow process, she honestly hadn't even noticed. That is, until she found herself at JJ's wedding. As JJ walked up the aisle in her mother's wedding dress, Emily felt a familiar flutter in the pit of her stomach. It was the same flutter she had always felt when looking at JJ. Yet, she had never thought much of it. Why would she? They were best friends and it was just her swelling happiness to see JJ finally marry Will.
Right?
As if everyone else in the world slipped away and time slowed to a stand still, Emily locked eyes with JJ as she approach the alter. In that moment three things happened.
One. The usual flutter ignited into a flame and nearly consumed Emily from the inside out. Burning her with all encompassing emotions of love, longing and agony.
Two. JJ saw the realization on Emily's face. As if she too could feel Emily burn. Her face went from a joyful smile to sombre, stoic. Her eyes filled with sympathy as she did her best to tell Emily how sorry she was with just her gaze.
Three. Emily, overwhelmed with the realization that everything she had ever wanted, hoped for, and needed was here, embodied in the woman walking up the aisle towards the wrong person, yelled "STOP!"
At first it was nearly a whisper. Her mouth moved to make the word but no sound came out. She tried again but still, it was as if she had totally forgotten how to speak.
The third try was clear and loud with one unsure, "STOP!"
And they did.
Everyone turned to look at Emily. Who stood there, a bit shocked that the voice had come from her.
JJ looked at Emily and mouthed "Please...don't."
But it was too late. Emily knew it was now or never. She was clambering over people down her row to get to the aisle.
Will stood frozen at the alter, watching the scene unfold.
"Jennifer. Don't do it. Please, you can't marry him" Emily said breathlessly as she closed the distance between them.
She stood in front of JJ, taking JJ's hands in hers. JJ tried to protest but Emily held her firmly.
"I know you don't owe me anything. And I know you may hate me right now. But as soon as I saw you, I know you felt it too. That small flutter, here," she placed a hand on her chest, over her heart, "It's suddenly a blazing fire. And maybe it's been burning for a long time. And I was too stupid to see it. Or maybe I was afraid. But I know, I know you feel it too. Here."
She placed her other hand on JJs heart, which was racing. Tears streamed down JJs cheeks, her hands sweaty when Emily took hold of them again.
"Jennifer, you can finish the walk down this aisle. You can marry Will. He loves you. He will take care of you. And I'm sure you'll be happy...."
Emily took a deep breath and continued, "Or, you can trust your heart. And you can take my hand and we can leave. We can run away and find out what this could be. This fire between us. This spark. I can't promise it'll be easy or stable and I can't promise you a white wedding. But my god, Jennifer, I promise all my love. I promise to never leave your side as long as you'll have me. I promise that I'll do everything I can to put you and Henry first. I promise to love you as your best friend, your partner and your soul mate. I don't know what life would have in store for us, but if I've learned anything in our job it's that we can't always count on tomorrow. So here I am. Telling you that I love you. Because if I didn't tell you, I'd regret it for every second for the rest of my life."
Emily stared into watery blue eyes and searched for any sign of hope. Any flicker of light that JJ felt the same.
But to her surprise, JJ sighed heavily then wiped her eyes. She released her hands from Emily. And turned to continue up the aisle towards Will.
She stepped up to meet him. And she smiled at him, and he took her hand and squeezed it. He leaned in and kissed her cheek and whispered, "Go."
JJ looked at him in a surprised appreciation, she nodded in understanding. She turned towards the gathered guests, who hadn't made a sound since Emily shouted 'Stop'.
"Family, friends, and colleagues. Thank you for coming tonight to celebrate my wedding," she looked back to Will, "Our wedding. But you see, the thing is, sometimes life can be a bit bumpy. And it throws us curve balls. And a lot of people may think it's absurdly irresponsible to do what I'm about to do, but those people obviously don't know me. Because I've always been someone who loves taking a risk."
With that, she walked, then skipped, then full sprinted to close the distance between her and Emily
Emily caught her in an embrace as their lips met. And the world went still and quiet and loud and sparkling all at once.
Three years later, when JJ walked up the aisle again, her eyes met with Emily's and she smiled. And whispered, "Don't worry, Emily. I'll never stop."
[A/N: The title of this fic was inspired by: '1, 2, 3, 4' by Plain White T's
Find this song and all of my other song inspirations on my Spotify: w00t4ewan CM Fic Titles]