Just my take on what happened after JJ submitted her resignation and left the BAU. It's my usual one-shot with a twist at the end.
I don't own Criminal Minds. And though I'm still angry at the PTB, they did give us a good exit ep with a lot of food for TONS of fanfics! Song prompt: "The End" by Earl Grant
The End
Fierce pounding echoed thru the tiny brownstone.
"Who the hell is pounding on my door at this time of the evening," JJ muttered as she rolled over in bed. Looking at the clock on the nightstand she read the time: nine forty-five. Okay, it wasn't that late, but after the day she had, everything seemed to have crashed down and she just wanted to go to bed and forget everything.
Maybe if she ignored the noise, it would go away. Rolling back over, she threw the pillow over her head and tried to close her eyes. The pounding continued. Even if she didn't want to get the door, she had to before Henry was woken.
"Maybe you should answer the door before who ever it is beats it down," the voice beside her grumbled half asleep.
The pounding continued. Groaning, JJ threw the pillow down and sat up. "You're right. Stay here. I'll be right back." Giving her lover a kiss, she grabbed her robe from the chair beside the bed, stood up and slipped it on. Belting it quickly, she rushed to the living room. Throwing back the two dead bolts and chain, she cracked the door a bit and peered out. Rossi!
Opening the door all the way, she looked at him in surprise. "Dave. Hi."
"Hi, Jen," Rossi replied, his eyes bleak, his features drawn. "I hope I didn't bother you."
JJ pulled her robe belt tighter. "No. I was just relaxing and trying to forget this day ever happened."
"That's understandable." Rossi looked uncomfortable. "I want to apologize for the way I treated you when you left Strauss's office."
JJ shrugged. "That's okay. I wasn't being straightforward with you guys. But, I didn't think that it was going to go as far and as high as it did."
"Still…"
"You were concerned for me. I appreciate it."
"I should have tried a little harder to get them to let you stay."
"It was out of your hands Dave."
"I have friends in high places. I know that I can get you back into the BAU."
"Dave…"
"Jen, you got screwed. You know it, Hotch knows it, and I know it. And even Erin knows it."
"Her hands were tied. Hotch spoke to her. The higher ups were threatening her job if I wasn't transferred immediately. Hotch did everything he could to get me a few days to at least clean out my desk."
"I wish you had said something when this had first occurred that way I could have circumvented the powers that be and secured your job."
JJ sighed. "Maybe it was supposed to be this way. Will's gone; he won't be coming back. Now that Henry is beginning his toddler stage, I realize that it might be more beneficial for the both of us for me to have a job that isn't taking me all over the country. I don't want to have him basing his later feelings of me on the memories of me never being around when he needed me most."
"Jen, that would never happen."
"It could. How many cases have we investigated where the UNSUB was reacting to suppressed feelings of abandonment by one or both parents?"
"You know those are very special circumstances and the UNSUBs had a severe chemical imbalance to begin with…so you can't base what Henry might do on what they did."
"Maybe not, but that is the downside of being a parent. You don't know what's going to happen, so you try to cut it off ahead of time."
Rossi sighed heavily. "I could still try and get you reinstated."
"I really appreciate that…but maybe this is a blessing in disguise. I'm not really a profiler like Reid, nor am I computer savvy like Garcia. I can't speak anything but basic French, so I can't be a linguist like Emily. I will never have cop instincts and gut feelings the way Morgan does, and I don't have the ability to confront a suspect with cold dead eyes like Hotch can. And most of all, I will never be able to roll all of those talents up into one incredible gift like you have. You guys have something that I never will be able to touch. I can't be a profiler because I'm a mother first. I know that doesn't make any sense, but I keep looking at every child as though they were mine."
"I understand."
"I don't know how you can cut off your emotions when you're interrogating someone who may have killed a child."
Rossi shook his head. "It's not a talent I'm proud of."
"I wish I had it."
"I wish I had your ability to feel."
JJ reached out and touched his cheek. "No you don't. But thanks any way."
Rossi watched her for a moment. "Are you going to be alright?"
"In time. I guess it's going to take some getting used to learning to stand on my own again."
"If you are anything with them the way you were with us, they are never going to let you go."
JJ gave a small chuckle. "I hope."
"Maybe you might be able to find someone to replace Will."
JJ nodded slightly.
"Would it be too forward of me to put my name in the running?" Rossi asked, his eyes brightening a bit at the prospect.
"I have to sort my life out first."
Rossi nodded as the light went back out. "That's a woman's way of saying 'no, not right now'. I'm familiar with it, trust me."
"I'm sorry Dave."
Rossi looked at his watch. "I'm sorry none of us were there when you left tonight. We figured you needed time to yourself."
"I had to fill out that form for Strauss."
"Always a stickler for protocol."
"That's what Hotch told me."
"I take it you had to stay and conference with the good old director."
"Actually, I left it on her desk and came home."
"Brave."
JJ gave a sardonic smile. "It was no big deal to me. I mean, what was she going to do, fire me?"
"True."
They both stood in the door way in an awkward silence.
"I would ask you in, but Henry's asleep."
"I understand. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were holding up."
"Thanks."
"And to ask you to dinner Friday night. The team wants to throw you a going away party."
"That sounds good."
"If there isn't a case," Rossi amended.
"Of course." Standing on tip toe, JJ pressed a kiss to Rossi's cheek. She stepped back and looked at him. "Thank you for everything."
"Come here," Rossi demanded and pulled her into a tight hug. Holding her close, he buried his face in her hair and breathed in her sweet scent. For a long moment he just held her as though his life depended on it.
"I'll miss you Dave." JJ pulled back to look at him.
"You'll see me again. Every now and then I have to give Erin a break and terrorize the department of defense."
"I don't doubt it."
Rossi leaned down and pressed a kiss to JJ's forehead. "Call me later, okay?"
"I will."
"See you later, Cara."
"You too."
Rossi turned around and walked away. Watching him until he made it to the end of the hallway and disappear around the corner, JJ closed the door and threw the locks.
Making her way back into the bedroom, she closed the door and slipped over to the bed. Untying the belt on her robe, she laid it back on the chair. Moonlight briefly bathed her naked skin before she crawled on to the mattress and back under the covers. Nestling her head down on her pillow, she closed her eyes.
Softly an arm went around her waist and pulled her close. Moaning softly, her body seeking the warmth from the body beside her.
"Who was that?" the voice asked low in her ear, his lips trailing down across her skin.
"Dave. He wanted to see how I was handling the change."
"Did you tell him that you were getting special one on one therapy to help you with the transition?"
"No. But he did ask if he could put his name in the running now that Will is gone."
"What did you say?" His lips moved across her shoulder, down her arm.
"I told him thank you."
"You should have told him you were spoken for."
"With everything that happened in the past three days, it may have been too much for him to take. But the team is throwing me a going away party on Friday. I guess we can announce our relationship then."
"They're not going to be happy."
"Maybe, but I am and that's what matters." Her hands curled in her lover's hair as his mouth teased her. "When they see how much I love you, they might forgive me for leaving."
"At least we don't have to sneak around anymore."
"Strauss won't be happy."
"It's out of her hands now."
"Yes it is," JJ confirmed. "She did us a favour by denying my request to stay."
"She's smarter than we give her credit for."
"I'm glad she is because I don't think I could have waited one more minute for you."
"It would have been a little awkward when you started showing." His head ducked and kissed her abdomen. "I don't think I would have been able to distance myself."
"I know." JJ arched into the sweet delicious touch of her forbidden lover. "I love you Aaron."
Moving his body over hers, he looked into her eyes. "I love you too Jennifer."
Kissing her deeply, he made them one.