Out of all the professions I could of gone into, JJ sighed as she paged through the latest case documents. For the last hour, she had read about innocent men and women, who have gone missing, or been found dead. Every day she received cases from around the company, from law officials who have asked for her team's help. Each of them send a compelling letter, and the evidence pictures show that some monster is terrorizing their town.
But there were thousands of monsters, and each one of them needed to be caught, except not all of them could be taken by the BAU. JJ wish she could contact every official and tell them that the team would be right there to solve their conundrum. Unless there was a time machine, or a cloning machine, there was no way her team could help all of these people.
That is why she had the grand task of hand selecting the worst cases, with the most terror and horror attached to them. Each time she dismissed a case, she mentally apologized to the victims, but found comfort that maybe another team could being their families solace.
The pounding in her right temple began to pick up speed, which was a clear indicator that it was time to close the cases and retire for the night. She technically was suppose to be finished two hours ago, but the work was sitting on her desk, and it would be better to finish tonight, than to tackle it to tomorrow's assignments. As she stood up to put on her jacket, footsteps were heard around the corner. Instantly, JJ's muscle tensed up, and her stomach lurched. It was a instinct she had picked up while on the job, and although she'd felt this feeling a bunch of times, it never got easier.
"Your still here?" a familiar voice rang out, causing JJ's back to unarch. Sure enough, it was Reid coming around the corner, with his usual grin. "You scared me Reid, I thought everyone had gone home for the night", she said as she continued to gather up the rest of her things. "I was in the media room watching some archival pieces from the 1970s. It's amazing how the same profiling tactics are still used today, even though these guys had a bit more violence incorporated in their actions." Reid would be the only one in the BAU who would willingly watch old bureau interviews. Come to think of it, JJ couldn't even recall if she even went into the media room. "Shouldn't you be decompressing? I mean, we literally spent 13 hours going over cold cases, and ranking serial killers. Why would you sit and watch others do it during the spare free time you get" JJ asked a puzzled Reid. "Eh, I guess that I feel like some brushing up would help me on the field. Lately, I feel like..." he trailed off, realizing he may not want to share is doubts to his co-worker. JJ approached him, and looked into his eyes.
"Reid, it's alright. We all feel a bit out of sorts occasionally. It would be inhumane to be able to do this job day in and day out without being perturbed. Remember a few months ago when we worked the Shelter case?" the blonde said, leaning against the desk. Reid nodded. "That was the case in which the victims death were staged as car accidents, but really it was the unsub who poisoned them, and caused the crash after." JJ nodded, knowing she should of suspected the blow by blow by Reid. "Interviewing the victim's families was hard, like it usually is, but dealing with the little sister of Julia Mayer was rough. She reminded me so much of..."Reid knew she meant her sister, who had died when they were children. "That case reminded me that these murders just don't take away their victim's life, but the lives of their families. That little girl will never be the same, neither will her will live the rest of their lives with an empty seat at every holiday, and have days on their calendars where they won't be able to get out of bed." With her voice cracking, JJ, reached for her water bottle, while Reid nodded. "How did you retain your confidence again, and feel capable of doing this"Reid asked. JJ let out an unexpected laugh.
"Every morning, I wake up and still go to work, hoping the gnawing feeling in my stomach would pass knowing that maybe that day would allow me to save one more innocent victim. When I realize that I'm not the only one grappling with these feelings, it confirms that there are still good human beings out there. Reid, we are the good guys. Watching old tapes of profilers, or reading books will not help you do your job. Taking your human emotions into consideration, and letting them aid your profiling abilities, is what makes you a kick ass agent. Reid nodded, and looked down at his brown loafers. JJ reached to the scrawny agent, and pulled him into an embrace. Although he would never admit it, Reid was grateful for the compassion of the blonde. As he wrapped his arms around her, he realized that as long as he had people in his life that reminded him what makes him a good guy, then he would be alright. "Now lets go home so we can at least get a few hours of sleep. We'll be back in 10 hours anyway." "9 and half" Reid corrected her, causing JJ to groan as she pulled him away from the desk, and towards the parking garage.