Chapter Text
Penelope Garcia loved her friends dearly. They were the smartest and most interesting bunch she ever had the privilege of meeting let alone spending time with. Yet, sometimes a room full of profilers couldn’t figure out the elephant in the room to save a life. Garcia was in the midst of describing yet another run of the mill let’s-torture-and-kill-women case of the week when she noticed that her two best friends were sneaking each other not-so-inconspicuous glances.
This would be fine, except that fact that they never seemed to catch each other staring. Garcia shook her head and filed it away for later use because there were more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. Those women deserved her full attention.
‘The UnSub sticks to a rigorous schedule. He kidnaps them once a week almost always between 1 to 2 pm. The women are found a day later and you can see the horrible pictures behind me.’ The agents’ attention shifted to the pictures that were displayed on the screen behind Penelope.
‘The plastic wrapping around each of the women indicates that the UnSub might feel some remorse towards his victims,’ Emily remarked, her eyes trained on the horrific pictures ‘and he certainly has a type as he has only targeted brunettes.’
‘I have heard enough. The UnSub usually abducts his targets on Saturdays and it’s Friday now. Garcia, I want you with us on this case. Wheels up in 30.’ With a resolute nod from Hotch, the team gathered their paperwork and stood up. Everyone wanting to get there as soon as possible.
Garcia felt excited yet intimidated. Fieldwork was daunting, but this gave her ample opportunity to study Emily and JJ’s behavior more closely. Guess who is going to get profiled now, huh?
***
The case had turned out to be a tough one, but fortunately, the team had been able to catch the UnSub and his partner just in time to save Amber. The group was on the plane back to Quantico. There was a nice atmosphere in the jet. Hotch was focused on his paperwork. Spencer and Rossi were sleeping in their respective seats and Morgan was engrossed in a novel he was reading. JJ and Emily were yet again playing the endless hide and seek staring game.
Emily was typing on her laptop and JJ was obviously struggling with a Sudoku that she had borrowed from Spencer. Garcia observed the two women’s behavior. JJ kept sneaking looks at Emily over the edge of her Sudoku booklet and whenever Emily wasn’t working she smiled softly at the then focused face of JJ.
These women had been working together for years and even though neither had ever mentioned anything about being remotely bi-curious, Garcia’s Spidey Senses were tingling. Not even tingling, all the alarm bells were going off. Garcia let out a frustrated sigh. Why didn’t they ever catch each other staring? Weren’t these two doofuses trained to notice the details? The FBI had really better step up their game with their training because these two women wouldn’t even realize that they were madly in love with each other unless the other confessed. Well, that was never going to happen.
Maybe, just maybe they merely needed a push in the right direction. Garcia wondered if it was time to assist her dear friends. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.
‘Garcia, why are you staring and smiling like that?’ JJ suddenly asked, startling Garcia out of her conspiracies.
‘Sorry, I must have blanked. I was thinking about a scene in Doctor Who.’ JJ hated all things SciFi, so hopefully this easy lie would work.
‘...Sure.’ JJ seemed to have bought it, but she still eyed Garcia suspiciously. Garcia was glad that Spencer was vast asleep otherwise he would have inquired into what scene she was referring to.
After a little while, JJ returned her focus to the incredibly difficult Sudoku. Garcia pretended to be busy on her laptop so that she could think in peace. She needed to be subtle about this, but honestly, subtlety wasn’t her strength. She liked to be direct, but Emily was a very private person and JJ seemed to be a hopeless romantic.
‘Em, could you take a look at my Sudoku, because I am stuck and I don’t want to show it to Spencer as he will complete it within a fraction of a second.’ Garcia kept typing on her laptop while she eavesdropped on her friends.
‘Sure, but don’t you know I suck at math?’
‘You know, you don’t need math for Sudoku, right?’
Emily scoffed and said ‘Of course, but anything with numbers eludes me. Let me take a look.’
‘I suddenly don’t trust you with this anymore.’ JJ looked at the other woman skeptically, but she was smiling coyly.
‘You shut it. Hand it over.’ Emily tried to grab the booklet but JJ dodged her and wrapped her arms protectively around the booklet.
‘Nah, I’m good. I’m sure you have many other qualities.’
‘Such as…?’ Emily leaned forward. The sexual tension was almost palpable and even Garcia could feel the woman’s anticipation.
‘Uh…’ Garcia mentally slapped JJ. This would have been a perfect moment and nobody besides yours truly would have noticed.
‘Wow, JJ, you really know how to make a woman feel good about herself.’ The dark-haired woman leaned back and folded her arms.
‘Oh, I know how to make a woman feel good about herself.’ JJ winked at Emily in an obvious attempt to flirt, but the woman didn’t notice. Garcia’s eyes widened as this confirmed that Garcia’s suspicions that JJ was bisexual. After Will had left JJ had suddenly become close with a dark-haired woman who worked in the office downstairs. However, that friendship didn’t last very long as one day JJ had gone from talking about Jessie non-stop to not mentioning her ever again.
‘Ha, did you still need me to take a look?’ Emily asked.
‘Nah, I think I see my mistake now.’ JJ sighed dejectedly and returned to her Sudoku. Emily furrowed her brow in confusion but returned her attention to her laptop. Garcia was blatantly staring at the interaction at this point. How dense could a person possibly be?
Setting these women up was going to be harder than Garcia had originally thought.