Title: Easy
Author: Cherokee62
Feedback address: cherokee1962@verizon.net
Date in Calendar: 16 December 2012
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Jennifer Jareau/Emily Prentiss
Rating: PG
Word Count: 508
Summary: AU: Emily's POV. With the seconds ticking down, Emily realizes just how easy it would have been to change her entire future with just one choice.
Spoilers: Season 7.24 I take liberty with the episode dialogue but the general premise remains.
Advertisement: Part of the FSAC:DD12

Author's Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, if I did I would not be pretending JJ and Emily were together and she never would have left the show. They are owned by CBS Corp. No profit is being made with this story.

Author's Notes: Those who follow canon faithfully will find I do not. One of the reasons I do not like Will was made glaringly obvious in this episode when with the exception of asking Emily to save Henry, he didn't use what could have been his last chance, to tell JJ he loved her. It would have been the only reason to not let him blow up in my book. I apologize in advance for any errors and take full responsibility for them.

It would have been so easy.

Just walk away and let fate do its job. No one would have been the wiser.

It was just she and him, and the bomb of course.

"Less than a minute - if I run full tilt boogie I could maybe get far enough away to just get a few cuts and scratches , maybe even a little singed, but my number one problem would be gone.

Why did I have to look him in the eyes?

God Damn him!

I never believed he really loved her, not really. More like some twisted old 'southern gentleman' version of doing the right thing by her bullshit he probably had beaten into him since childhood."

Emily stared at the wires and the blinking red digits. She had disarmed all the others but one remained and she was down to just a few precious seconds.

She took a deep breath and as everything seemed to go into slow motion, she had a moment where she wondered if this could be the way to her personal happiness.

"Emily; tell her I love her."

It would have been so easy.

Emily blinked and glanced quickly at Will and saw the truth of his words in his eyes, and he saw the truth in hers.

"Tell her yourself," she said and snipped the wire.

~~~

"Speak now or forever hold your peace," the preacher said, glancing around at her family of friends with a smile.

It would have been so easy.

To just step forward and say the words that were tearing her apart like the bomb had failed to do. Her hands shook and her mouth went dry but she smiled like everyone around her and the moment passed.

Now she walked around in their yard of their happy home and watched them dance and laugh together, surrounded by all of their friends who were more like family and wondered why.

"Why did I do it? It would have been so damn easy."

She looked again at the dancing couple, heard her musical laughter wafting through the air and she wrapped her arms around herself to keep the pieces from flying everywhere.

Then JJ turned her head and she and Emily's eyes met and JJ smiled at her.

Emily's heart filled with such love, light and never ending longing and she knew the answer at last.

That look.

That smile.

That was why she had done it.

To make JJ happy.

Her look said, "Thank you Emily. I love you."

It was never about Emily's happiness; it was always about JJ's.

Even if it meant she was never to be a part of it.

"I love you Jennifer." She finally allowed herself to think. "I wanted to be your happy ever after."

Emily smiled back at JJ, hoping her thoughts and feelings spoke just as loudly to JJ as they both knew they had reached one ending to their story.

Emily smiled as JJ and Garcia pulled her into a dance, "I've always heard every ending is also a beginning, we just don't know it at the time. I'd like to believe that's true."