Criminal Minds Oneshots

Soft & Sweet

Summary: A confession between JJ and Tara leads to a night full of soft and sweet moments

Pairing: Jennifer Jareau x Tara Lewis

Category: Fluff, Smut

Content Warnings: (18+, minors DNI) drinking alcohol (responsibly), separation mention (Will & JJ), JJ struggles with her sexuality, implied homophobia, coming-out, kissing, fingering, oral

Word Count: 2.6k

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Girl's night with the BAU ladies was a very important tradition for JJ. They could all forget about their professional demeanor for at least a couple of hours and show one another a softer side. Moments of light-hearted laughter and gossip seemed so rare in their line of work.

To her surprise, JJ didn't find all of her friends' familiar faces when she entered Tara's living room. Once she learned that Emily and Penelope had to cancel at the last second, her heartbeat got much louder than she'd expected.

"Guess it's just gonna be the two of us tonight," Tara told JJ while pouring her a glass of her favorite white wine.

Little did Tara know how much the prospect of being alone with her both excited and terrified JJ tremendously. As they both sat down on the couch, it became even harder for the blonde woman to relax.

Tara noticed that, too. She brushed it off as some initial awkwardness between friends who had only ever hung out with each other when other people were present. It was the first time the two of them were alone with one another outside of work.

Tara pointed at the glass in JJ's hand and chuckled, "You better take a sip of that, you seem awfully tense tonight."

"Sorry," JJ apologized. "I just have a lot on my mind."

Tara's facial features softened at her friend's words. She knew how hard leaving a marriage could be but she couldn't even begin to imagine how much more difficult that was when children were involved.

"Are the boys with Will tonight?"

JJ nodded, a shy smile visible on her face when she said, "They'll probably play video games all night."

Tara then asked the question her friend usually dreaded, "How are you holding up?"

To her own surprise, JJ didn't need to lie when she answered, "I'm alright."

Those past few months had been complicated and difficult but slowly JJ was settling into her new life without Will as her partner.

"Apparently Will started dating again and I'm actually happy for him."

"What about you?" Tara wanted to know. "An attractive woman like you surely gets asked out a lot."

A rosy shade spread over JJ's cheeks at the compliment. She thought about it for a moment but quickly realized that no man had caught her attention in a while. She struggled to be honest with herself but there was no denying how much she longed for something – someone – else.

Shaking her head, she snickered, "I don't really feel like going out with men right now."

Secretly she hoped that Tara would catch onto how that sentence was worded but she just joined JJ in her laughter and said, "You deserve a little break. Enjoy life as a single woman!"

It wasn't the first time JJ had managed to control herself enough to deceive the best profilers in the country but this time she really hoped that Tara would see right through her. She didn't, though.