Because Mommy Works
The decorations throughout the lower level of the two-story town home and back on the average sized patio should have made the atmosphere vibrant and fun yet the atmosphere was gloomy and depressing. The birthday boy had turned four years old and had received the majority of the presents that he had wanted, but the most important thing to him was undeniably absent.
Henry Jareau was distraught that his mother had missed his fourth birthday party. The party had been a somber affair with a few halfhearted giggles from Henry and several from his five friends that were invited. Jessica and Jack had been the first to leave the party following soon after was Henry's friends from pre-school, Kyle, Sean, Curtis, and Elliot which left Will, Will's mother, and Henry. Will's mother had helped with the clean up before going to the guest room for a nap.
Will had attempted to distract his son by keeping him busy, playing with the new toys he had gotten for his birthday, and watching cartoons. When all of that failed, Will held, rocked, and consoled Henry. With each tear that fell from Henry's blue eyes, a crack formed in Will's heart. He felt that it was not right for a child to cry for its mother. He thought that is was not right that for mother always to choose something over her child. Will understood that JJ was not a prime candidate for a stay at home mother, and he understood her desire to help people and to keep criminals off the streets. He was a police officer, a Detective, after all, he had the same mentality, but he felt that she took that mentality to a level that was both inappropriate and insane. She did not have to return to the BAU. He had done everything that he could do to get her to leave, yet she always stood firm, resolute; until it was no longer her option.
Then somehow, someway, someone had screwed his plans up. JJ was requested to return to the BAU if she so desired. Hell, she had jumped at the chance, when she did not have to return at all. Her time with the Pentagon was the best months of both Henry's life and their relationship. Her benefits were the same only her salary was in a different pay grade, but money had never been an issue, her schedule had. With the Pentagon, her hours were almost as normal as his were, and often their schedules had correlated. They had family time, date time, intimate time. He had felt that he was growing closer to his wife, getting to know her, Jennifer, and not the woman that sometimes peeked through the tired and stressed FBI Agent, JJ.
It had long since turned dark and after reading Henry three bedtime stories while he sat beside the toddlers bed one arm cradling him against his chest; they both gave up on the possibility of JJ coming home and tucking him in. She had called three hours ago to say that the jet would wheels up in thirty. Will sighed and carefully placed his slumbering son in his bed, tucked him in, and kissed his forehead. He glanced at the Sponge Bob night light to insure that it was on, before he turned the lamp off. He left the bedroom and left the door cracked just so. He attempted to wipe the tiredness out of his eyes, but it was futile. He needed rest, not sleep, but rest. The stress was killing him, especially today, a day that should have been stress free, his baby's fourth birthday. Today had been one tiring moment after the other. A man could only take so much, and after losing count how many times a child said, "I want Mommy," he was at his breaking point. He often heard the phase and had gotten used to it, but today each time it was said, it broke his heart and pissed him off further. Today was supposed to have been her day off. Hell, he had heard Aaron over the phone; he had told her that it was optional for her to work this case. If anyone knew the consequences of the job, Aaron Hotchner knew, and even he was trying to prevent it from happening to them, but no, she said, she'd be there.
He walked down the staircase and after a few minutes found himself in the kitchen. He went to the refrigerator and shook his head as he saw his reflection. He looked awful, his hair was sticking every which way, bags were starting to form under his eyes, and his normally bright clear blue eyes were dull and bloodshot. He opened the refrigerator door and pulled out a soda. He walked over to the kitchen island and pulled out the chair. He pulled the tab on the beer and the hiss of carbonation broke the silence and he took a gulp before sitting it onto the counter. He wanted a beer, but he needed to be sober for what he planned when his life partner finally came home. He blinked back the tears that had been threatening to fall all day. He refused to cry. The tears would be wasted anyway, because nothing could save his relationship. He knew this, he understood, but he didn't like it. He hoped for a miracle, that she'd find reason with what he said. Several minutes later he heard her car pull into the drive. He heard her come into the house and walk up the staircase. He sat there for a few moments as he considered on what his next course of action would be. He stood, pushed the chair away, and walked out of the kitchen. In no time, he found himself in the door way of the same room that he had left earlier. His face stayed emotionless as he heard her talk to their slumbering son. His heart was breaking and his fury was lit with each word that she told him. He was glad that he was asleep, because what she told him, would not of soothed his fear, his sadness, and yes his anger that his mother was not their for him when he wanted her, when he needed her. It was telling when a toddler had become accustomed to being let down, but today had broken the poor child, as it had him, a thirty-seven year old man.
"Just because Mommy works," Jennifer whispered to her sleeping son as tears of disappointment and shame fell from her blue eyes, "Does not mean that I love you any less than if I stayed at home." She sighed. "I love you Henry. Why I work as hard and long as I do is, because of that love. I don't want you to ever have to encounter anything that I fight every day. You are precious to me. I love you, baby. Don't you ever forget that I love you."
With her right hand, she smoothed his blond bangs. She bent and kissed him on the forehead then cheek. She felt someone watching her and she straightened and looked toward the door to find Will leaning against the door jam with his arms crossed and his chin slightly turned in an angle as if he was trying to figure something out. He looked rough as if he had a rough day. She supposed he had and the guilt within her swelled. He had been the one to tell Henry that she had to work, he had been the one to cope with the consequences, he had been the one that had been there for Henry on his birthday. She was the one that had not been. She should have taken the out that Aaron had given her, but the subject of the case had hit too close to home. She had to help catch the UnSub. She was starting to become uncomfortable with the intensity of his look.
"Will," she whispered with an apology laced in her tone. "I'm,"
He interjected and prevented her from completing her apology. "Save it, Jennifer, for someone who will believe you. I have dried his tears over your job for the last time. You have decisions to make."
He did not move from the door jam and she did not move from the position beside Henry's bed. He had rendered her speechless. She had not expected him to be so calm yet so irritated. The irritation she had been prepared for, the calmness, and the words that he had said, not so. She blinked and she comprehended what he had just said, what he told her, and what he was not.
The day had finally arrived after months, no years, of teetering toward it, of arguing about it, but not quite pushing it. Will LaMontagne was forcing the issue. He was going to make her choose between the family that they had created and the career that had become her family, which protected both.
Unlike previous arguments, Jennifer Jareau was uncertain about the outcome, but the one thing she did know was that the discussion would not take place in her son's bedroom as he slept.
Author's Note: This was the first time that I ventured into the Will character and the pairing Will/JJ; what did you think?