Cruel World
~Slight spoilers for "It Takes A Village"
~This story mentions a few parts from one of my other stories, 'Coping Mechanisms.' You don't have to read that story for this one to make sense.
~This story is written for ilovetvalot who is having a really crappy week. We love you Tracia!
He sat in his office and watched her move stiffly from the coffeemaker, back to her new desk in the bullpen. He watched as Morgan passed her and gave her a dirty look and Reid pretended she didn't exist. He studied her as she picked up a file from the never ending pile on her desk, read it over and shook her head as she began making notes and finally, he watched as she seemed barely able to hold back tears.
"This is bullshit," he muttered to himself; he was all for the kids working their problems out on their own, but this was getting out of hand and someone needed to put a stop to it. He got up from his chair and walked the short distance to his boss's office. Without bothering to knock, he barged in and said. "You've got to do something, Aaron."
"What exactly did you do this time, Dave? Did Strauss catch you in the supply closet with one of the secretaries again? Did she find your not-so-secret stash of scotch in your desk drawer? Did you 'accidentally' email her some inappropriate pictures again?"
"This isn't about me," he said as he stared out the office window that looked onto the bullpen.
Hotch knew it was serious because in all of the years he had known his friend, he'd never come to him to fix something for someone else. His curiosity piqued, he got up and followed the older man's gaze to their newest profiler. "She's like a fucking pariah out there, Hotch."
"I know the feeling," the unit chief responded dryly.
"No, it's worse for her. You're the boss, they understand why you were in on the secret, but JJ is one of them and they can't get past that."
"So what do you want me to do Dave? Do you want me to go down there and order them to start treating her normally?"
"Hell yes I do!" Dave told him. "I heard Garcia snap at her today, for Christ's sake. Garcia! I didn't think that woman had a mean bone in her body. Vindictive and scary, yes, but not mean!"
"I can't do that, they have to work things out for themselves," Hotch said softly. It killed him to see JJ look so beaten down; she was like a little sister to him but he knew if he interfered in the team's healing process, it would do more harm than good.
"The hell you can't!" Dave exploded. "I'll make this simple for you Aaron, either you go down there and take care of it with your own brand of finesse, or crazy Uncle Dave will go down there and start cracking heads! Which would you rather have? At least you'll do it nicely, but I'm a wildcard so-"
"Why do you care?" Hotch asked quietly.
"What do you mean? She's a team member and she's hurting. I would do the same thing for any other member of our team!"
Hotch shook his head, "No you wouldn't, the team is treating Prentiss the same way, if not worse, and you're not demanding that I fix that situation, so why is JJ different?"
Dave tried to come up with a pithy answer but ultimately failed. "She's special," he said softly.
Hotch studied his friend's expression for a minute and then gave him a soft smile, "Have you told her yet?"
"Told her what?"
"Told her that you're in love with her?"
Dave sighed, he should've known better than to try and keep anything from his best friend. "No, not yet, she just broke up with Will and then we had the whole Ian Doyle thing and Emily came back from the dead and-"
"You need to tell her," Hotch interrupted. "You need to tell her because I'm fairly sure she feels the same way about you."
"You really think so?" Rossi asked with wide eyes.
"I really do."
Dave smiled at that and then his expression hardened again. "I'm not kidding Hotch, if those idiots don't start treating her better, you're going to have a real problem on your hands. Remember when Max Ryan pushed me too far? That'll be child's play compared to the smack down I'll bring down upon the kids."
"Just try not to break anyone's jaw this time," Hotch called after him as he left to go back to his office.
Dave had his hand on his office door when he heard someone start to pack up their belongings. He turned and watched as JJ shoved a bunch of files into her briefcase. As she stood, he noticed her shoulders were stooped and it almost looked like her back was hunched over. He watched as she walked away from her desk without saying a word to Derek or Spencer but then saw her face brighten as she bumped into Emily, who needed some paperwork signed by their unit chief before she could go on to the next round of her re-qualification meetings.
"Hey, leaving already?" She asked the blonde.
JJ nodded tiredly, although her face looked brighter than before. "It's six o'clock on a Friday and Henry's with Will for the weekend, so I have the house to myself."
"Any big plans?" Emily asked.
"I plan to open a big bottle of tequila and down it while watching Thelma and Louise. You?"
"Dinner with my mother. Now that I'm back from the dead, it seems as though she wants to work on our relationship."
"That's great Em," JJ said, giving her a small smile.
"JJ, they'll come around," Emily told her. "Rossi already has and eventually they'll realize-"
"Don't Em; I really don't want to talk about it, especially here. All I want to do is drown my sorrows in the biggest margarita known to man," JJ told her.
Like Dave, Emily could see that her friend was beaten down by the treatment she was receiving from their fellow co-workers, but she knew not to push it with her. She just nodded and watched as the woman left the BAU. Dave, having heard their exchange, knew what he had to do.
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Two hours later, the profiler knocked on JJ's front door. He heard the movie stop in the house, but he didn't hear her get up so he knocked again.
"It's me, JJ, it's Dave," he called out, mindful of her neighbors. He smiled as he heard footsteps approach but the smile faded when the door opened and revealed a very drunk Jennifer Jareau.
"Dave!" She squealed happily. She threw herself at him to give him a hug and, in the process, she spilled some of the margarita she was holding. "Finally, someone who doesn't hate me!"
He caught her in a hug and walked her back into the house. "No one hates you, Jen," he said as released her and closed and locked the door behind him.
"Nuh uh," she said as she took a gulp of her drink. "Derek hates me, Reid hates me, Garcia hates me, Will hates me and God knows Henry will grow up to hate me. You, Emily and Hotch are my only true friends."
"That's not true, they all still love you, they're just having trouble processing things right now," he lied as he helped her stumble the living room. Oh yeah, he was going to lay down the law first thing Monday morning.
"Liar," she slurred with a smile and a shake of her head, "I'm a profiler now, remember? I can tell when someone's lying and you, David Rossi, are full of shit."
"How much of this have you had?" He asked, holding up the half empty bottle of Patron.
JJ shrugged as she plopped down onto the sofa, "The bottle was full when I started. Want some?" She held her cherry margarita out to him in offering.
Dave wanted to get the drink out of her hand, so he nodded and took it. Curiosity got the better of him and he took a cautious sip. "Fuck Jen! You could light this thing on fire!" It was definitely the strongest margarita he'd ever tasted.
"Yeah, but it's SO yummy!" She said as she tried to snatch it back from him. He held it out of her reach and almost laughed when she began to pout; she looked like a petulant child.
"That's mine!" She exclaimed angrily.
"Too bad," he said, still holding it out of her reach. "You've had enough."
"No I haven't, I can still feel their hatred burning into me!"
"This won't take that away Jen," he said, nodding at the drink. "It'll just make you feel like shit in the morning."
"I don't care!" She shrieked and she sounded like she was all of ten years old. "I want to forget, if only for a little while!" She spied the bottle of tequila on the coffee table a second before Dave did and grabbed it with surprising speed. Before he could stop her, she took a long draw from it.
"Dammit Jen, this is NOT the way to cope with things!" Dave exclaimed as tried grabbing the bottle out of her hands. She moved it out of his reach and held it protectively.
"Try that again Rossi and you'll pull back a stump!" She told him and he knew she could deliver on that threat, so he changed his tactics. He sat down next to her on the sofa, put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. "What in the hell are you doing?" She asked. While she was confused by his intentions, she didn't mind him being so affectionate with her. Truth be told, it had been awhile since she'd been touched by anyone, other than her son, and it felt nice…she felt loved and protected. It was nice enough that her self-built walls began to slowly crumble.
"I'm being a friend, Jen. You look like you could use a shoulder to cry on and I'm here for you. Trust me, I might not look it, but I'm much more comforting than a bottle of tequila."
She nodded as she set the bottle back down on the coffee table, "You're right, you are," she choked out as she snuggled against him. She wasn't sure if it was the liquor or the fact that she'd always had feelings for the older man, but she found herself opening up to him. She told him how difficult it was to keep the secret while watching her friends grieve over Emily, how much harder it was being a profiler, how Will had left her after she went back to the BAU and how Henry seemed to miss his dad. By the end, she was blubbering into his shirt.
Dave, who kept quiet, simply wrapped his arms around her and let her cry into his chest. Finally, after nearly an hour of listening to her sobbing, he heard her breathing even out; she was asleep. Without waking her, he scooped her into his arms, carried her to her bedroom and carefully tucked her into bed. He then put a garbage can by her head and crept out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
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At around ten o'clock the next morning, a red-faced Jennifer Jareau sheepishly entered her kitchen and found the legendary profiler reading the newspaper. "God, it wasn't just a nightmare," she moaned as she made her way to the precious caffeinated brew. "I really did make an ass out of myself last night." She poured herself a cup and sat down across from her friend.
Dave gave her a sympathetic smile. "You're fine, Jen and you didn't embarrass yourself with me, so there's no need to avoid eye contact." She smiled and looked up at him at that point. "However, I gotta say, speaking from experience, drowning your problems in tequila isn't the best coping mechanism; all it does is give you one hell of a headache the next morning." With that, he pulled a small bottle of ibuprofen out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Thanks," she said gratefully as she popped the lid off and downed three of the pills with her coffee. "And I'm sorry about last night, I usually don't do that but it just got to be too much, you know?"
"I've been doing this job in some form or another for nearly thirty years, Jen, so I know what you're going through. You just need to find a better way to cope," he told her. "Derek tears down houses, Garcia has her computers, Reid has puppies, Emily has shopping and Hotch has Jack; you just need to find something of your own."
"I usually have Henry," she said and then his words sunk in. "Wait, did you say Reid has puppies?"
Dave grinned, "According to Agent Todd, Reid goes to the local humane society and plays with the puppies when things get too bad for him."
"Oh my God, that's adorable!" She said, imagining the man, who was himself an overgrown puppy, playing with the small dogs.
"I know; we'll have to get Garcia to hack into the security feed sometime so we can see it."
"If she ever speaks to me again," JJ said, her smile fading. "So how do you cope, Dave?"
"Well I'm glad you asked that, Agent Jareau. After you're showered and dressed, I'll show you my way of coping.
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Two hours later, Dave parked his SUV in front of a large, non-descript building. He got out, went around to the other side of the car and helped JJ out before starting for the door.
"What is this place, Dave?" She asked, looking around for a sign.
"It's sort of like a community center," he said holding the front door open for her. She found herself in a large room filled with children of various ages and as soon as they saw Dave, they went nuts.
"Dave!" A few of them yelled out and it alerted the rest of the kids and soon they were surrounding the older man, trying to hug him. JJ stepped out of the way so she wouldn't be crushed.
"Dave, I got an A on my math test!" One said, while another shouted, "The fishing pole we built actually caught a fish!" One little girl approached shyly and held out a piece of paper. "I drawed you a picture, Uncle Dave."
"Aww, thanks sweetheart!" He said as he took it from her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"Kids!" An adult yelled from the other side of the room, "Let's let Dave and his friend actually come into the room!"
The children parted and let Dave and JJ through. "What is this place?" She asked again.
"Like I said, it's kind of a community center. Most of these kids are homeless or else their families live in motels. This place offers various life/skills courses for the parents and it also offers a free daycare for kids whose parents have to work weekends. I come here to spend time with these kids because even though they've been given a raw deal by life, they're still innocent and they need some fun in their lives." Any other explanation he would've given her was cut off when a group of kids literally pulled him away from her.
"Don't let him fool you," a woman said from behind her. She turned and saw she was the woman who'd gotten the kids to let them into the room. "Dave is here at least two weekends a month and without his generous donations, this center wouldn't exist."
"But I don't see a wall of donors with his name on it or anything," JJ said.
The worker shook her head, "And there wouldn't be since he's our only one and he insists on being kept anonymous, but again, he's what keeps this place open, not to mention the kids love him!"
JJ smiled as she watched the kids tackle and tickle him. Who knew the great David Rossi was such a softy for children?
Throughout the afternoon, JJ partook in playing with the kids, but she also kept a keen eye on Dave. She watched as he finger painted with the younger kids, had a tea party with a group of little girls and taught some of the boys the proper way to throw a football. All in all, by the end of the day she was exhausted, but in a good way.
Once they left, after they both promised to return the following weekend, JJ leaned her head tiredly against the leather seat of the SUV. "Thanks Dave, I needed to be reminded of the good in the world...I needed a reminder that it isn't a cruel world."
"No problem Jen and you know you can always come to me if things get too hard, right?"
She nodded tiredly and then settled even further into the seat. She was asleep within minutes and Dave was amazed at how peaceful she looked. While he wanted profess his love for her, he knew she had enough on her plate at the moment, so he held back but he knew he would only be able to keep it to himself for so long and he just hoped the blonde dynamo sitting next to him would feel the same way.
A/N 2: Be sure to check out http :/ / fanfiction . net/topic/74868/48350094/1/ (remove the spaces) for information on the 2011 Profiler's Choice Awards!