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BITTERSWEET
::  xliii. | until i lose my breath

Another morning, but at Jj's apartment. It was a peaceful night because Henry was at his dad's place for a couple of days, according to jj and will's co parent schedule. Just as the sun came up, jj was already out the bed, getting ready and making coffee while Vanessa and Cole were still asleep.

Vanessa wasn't sure if she should sleep in the same bed as jj, but was convinced otherwise and besides, jj only had one extra room which was for Cole.

After thirty minutes, jj was about to head out the door but quickly realized that she was forgetting something ——— her phone. So she placed her things down on the couch and rushed back to the bedroom. And just as she saw, Vanessa was just waking up. Or so jj thought she was, but no, Vanessa was just turning around in her sleep.

Jj thought it was cute and just stared at her sleeping for a moment. They weren't together yet, but she already knew she was lucky. After another couple of seconds, Jennifer turned around and began to head out the bedroom door but suddenly stopped.

"Heading to work?"

Jj turned around at the sound of the voice, "And you're supposed to be sleep."

Vanessa sat up, "Couldn't help but wake up. My body felt you leaving."

Jj lightly chuckled, "Never heard that one before."

"Can I get a hug at least?" Vanessa opened her arms.

Jennifer walked over to Vanessa and leaned down, wrapping her in an embrace. Because jj needed to get to work, the hug didn't quite last long. She pulled away and as she did, her eyes glanced down to Vanessa's lips ———- lingering on them for only a moment before stepping back.

"I'll see you tonight." Jennifer then rushed out.

Vanessa just shrugged, sinking back under the covers to hopefully fall asleep again. It's not like she had anything better to do yet. She was still job hunting and well, Cole hadn't given her the word that she's ready to go back.

• • •

"Pause ———— " Penelope stopped and turned to jj in the hallway of the BAU, "You're playing house with her, she's sleeping in your bed, and you came so close to kissing her? Sounds like a couple to me."

"We haven't even had our first kiss yet and as far as I know, she's probably still with Savannah." Jj shrugged.

Penelope pointed her finger across the room, "Speaking of Savannah."

Jj turned in that direction and let out a groan before heading over there. The blonde was ready for round two, to give Savannah Charles a real piece of her mind but that wasn't the case at all.

First the first time ever, Savannah Charles just wanted to talk.

"I don't know if you heard, but me and Vanessa called it quits."

Jj shook her head, "No, I haven't heard."

"Well, I just came to say ——- be good to her. She's an amazing person who deserves everything." Savannah continued, "And since her and I remain friends, I hope you and I could at least tolerate each other."

Jennifer nodded, "Me too."

As Savannah turned on her heels, about to head out, "Be careful."

"Be careful?" Jj questioned.

As Savannah backed away to the glass doors, "I'm sure your family's going to want you home in one piece."

And just like that, Savannah was gone and jj was left with her thoughts. She couldn't believe what just happened. Savannah was nice for a change and she called Cole and Vanessa jj's family. The agent always saw them as that, but it felt different this time. It felt like her family.

Maybe living together could become more of a permanent thing.

• • •

After the case, the jet didn't get back to Quantico till eight at night. But as jj was on her way home, Will was on his way to her place as well. He was dropping off Henry and expected jj to be there because they had arranged something prior. But little did he know of the sudden change.

With Henry in his baby seat, Will knocked on the door and waited. He picked back up the baby bag and slung it over his shoulder. Next thing he knew, the door opened and it wasn't Jennifer at the door.

"Will, hi." Vanessa spoke.

"Hi." He briefly paused, "Where's jj?"

"On her way back, I guess. Want to come in?"

"Ok." He spoke softly, walking into the apartment.

Will walked to the kitchen with Vanessa and placed Henry on the table, along with the baby bag.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here." Vanessa began.

"Not really." Will unstrapped Henry from his little seat, "It was only a matter of time. How long you guys been together?"

Vanessa shook her head, "Not really together. Y'know our house is not really a house anymore, so ——- "

Will nodded understandingly, "She offered. Jj's always nice like that and sorry for assuming."

"I understand." She approached him, "In ways you can say I'm a home wrecker. I know we were never friends, but I did not want you to get the short end of the stick."

"I appreciate that, but you're not a home wrecker. You're just someone who fell in love with someone who was in a tight situation." Will continued, "This is your first time meeting Henry, isn't?"

She nodded, "He looks just like jj and definitely has your eyes."

"Well, if this debacle is worth anything, I'm glad Henry has another person in his corner."

Before Vanessa could say anything else, the front door was heard being opened. The two stood by the table with Henry when jj walked into the kitchen. And just as jj stood there, putting her things down, Cole now walked into the kitchen.

"I was just about to head out, spending the night at Mia's." She stopped in her tracks, "Will's here and baby Henry." The teen walked over to him and said hi for the first time.

Cole then continued to make her way out, saying bye to her mom and jj. She had made plans with Mia to stay over earlier that day and she thought it was time to have a serious talk with her.

• • •

After a twenty minute bus ride and a ten minute walk from the bus stop, Cole finally made it to Mia's front door. Just before she rang the doorbell, Mia had opened the door.

Cole immediately dropped her bag and wrapped her arms around Mia in a tight embrace.

Mia had her arms around cole's neck as she mumbled, "You have no idea how much I missed you."

"A year was too long." Cole pulled away, "But it did give me time to think of a few things." Cole jumped right to the gun, she didn't feel like waiting. Once her and Mia settled into Mia's room, that's when the serious talk began, "I realized it wasn't because I wasn't ready to accept my feelings for you, it was more so that I knew if it did . . there was no turning back."

Mia squinted her eyes, "I'm not following."

"This maybe kind of weird of me to say, but for some reason I have this thought that you're just it for me." Cole shrugged, "I guess I was too nervous to accept that."

"And now?"

She scooted closer to Mia, "I'm ready to see where this goes if you still feel the same of course."

Mia scoffed, "Why wouldn't I? I've had a thing for you for a very long time, Cole Lauren Reigns."

"So, yeah?"

Mia spoke softly, "I guess we can make this a non friendly sleepover."

Cole just lightly chuckled before leaning in, meeting Mia halfway. Once their lips touched, it was like kissing each other for the first all over again. Except this time, there was no tether or ties. Cole felt completely free and she had no one else to worry about.

After their little quick kiss, they retreated to Mia's bed under the covers with a laptop. YouTube was put on the screen with the lights turned off and that's where the two stayed until they fell asleep.

• • •

However, back at the Jareau apartment, Vanessa and Jennifer were very much still awake. After jj and Will talked, he left and jj put Henry to bed. Now since he was sleep, Cole was out, they figured then it was time to finally have that talk.

The two were seated at the kitchen table, lights on at ten at night.

"I heard from a little birdie that you and Savannah pulled the plug?" Jj began, "How does that make you feel?"

"Relieved because nothing's holding me back now. I can be with you and not feel guilty of having these feelings."

"Why'd you feel guilty?"

"Because I was lying to myself the whole time I was with Savannah. The door wasn't closed ever with you. I just shut down my feelings because you shut us down before giving it a real chance." Vanessa continued, "I shut you out because I was mad."

"I'm sorry it had to come to that. Those couple of months sucked." Jj reached out, "But you don't have to feel guilty now because we're officially an us."

Vanessa reached out, holding jj's hand from across the table, "I'm not being punk'd, right?"

Jj lightly chuckled, "No. This is very much real."

"As real as a kiss?"

Jj just looked into her eyes, biting the inside of her cheek. The blonde then stood up, leaning over the table. The burnette decided to meet halfway, so she got up a little and met jj's lips in the middle. After two and half years, they finally had their first kiss, they finally became one.

Vanessa isn't the type of person to compare people, but she definitely felt the difference between jj and Savannah. She never felt that electricity, butterflies, pounding of the heart ——— but with jj, it was all of that. And she didn't know what to do with herself.

As the kiss continued, cries were heard through the hallway.

"I got it." Vanessa pulled away.

"You sure?" Jj stayed standing up.

Vanessa nodded, "I live here now and who else is going to take care of the little rascal while you're out on cases?"

Jj had a smile plastered across her lips as she watched her girlfriend walk out the kitchen and to her son's room. She couldn't ask for a better night to wrap up her day.

a/n:
it's official, Vanessa && jj are
are finally girlfriends. Mia &&
Cole are finally girlfriends. my
heart is happy 💗