Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds and no copyright infringement is intended
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Penelope Garcia heard a light knock on her door; at least she thought it was a knock, but it was so quiet with the sound of her machines that she couldn't be sure. "Come in," she said, her voice lacking its usual perkiness.
The door opened slightly and Reid slithered into the room, staying back near the door with his back to the wall, "Uh, hi Garcia."
"Hi sweetcheeks, what are you doing standing over there?"
"I wondered if we could talk." He said quietly, still not moving from his place near the door.
"Sure," she turned back to look at him. "What do you want to talk about?"
Reid finally advanced into the room, taking the chair beside Garcia. "I think you know."
"JJ," she said as she looked in his eyes, at the sadness that had suddenly taken residence there. They all showed it, but none more than Reid. Her fingers flew over her keyboard once more. At least no one could ever make her babies leave her.
She felt, more than saw, him nod as he sat quietly next to her. Her hands stopped their manipulation of the keyboard and she turned again, "So talk."
"How could they just take her away like that?" He asked the same question he'd asked the team and himself a thousand times. "It's not fair."
"No," Garcia replied tearfully, "it's not fair. Nobody ever said it would be."
After a comfortable silence that seemed to stretch on unendingly, Reid let out a little laugh. "Did you know that she's the only one in the world who calls me Spence?"
"I could call you Spence if it would make you happy." Garcia suggested.
"No, that wouldn't be right. You couldn't call me Spence and she couldn't call me sweetcheeks." He paused for a moment. "She was my first date, you know. I didn't know what to do or say. She was so understanding. I guess she knew I wasn't the guy for her, I'm not like Will am I?"
"Yes, she's smart that way, well in too many ways to count really; and I don't mean smart like you. I think she knew about Kevin and me before I did. And, no, you're not like Will, but you're special in your own way. JJ knows that. Why do you think out of anyone else in the world she chose you to be Henry's godfather?"
"She chose you to be his godmother," Reid replied.
"Perhaps we should rejoice in that fact because, unlike the others, we'll always have Henry, wherever we are; whatever we do, we'll always have Henry. We'll always have that bond with JJ, and you don't think she's ever going to let either of us forget it, do you?"
Reid gave another small laugh. "No, she won't ever let us forget that." Then he became serious again, "But what will I do without her? Who will ever understand me like she did?"
Garcia reached for each of his hands with one of hers. "No one will ever understand any of us the way JJ did. No one will have her sense of humor, her outward beauty and poise that was only a façade to her powerful inner strength that held us all together. Even if the higher ups try and replace her, they never will. Only JJ is JJ." She squeezed his hands, "And instead of being sad and missing her, we'll just have to be grateful that she even crossed out paths at all in her journey, let alone for almost seven years. We have to take the strength she always gave us and go forward."
"You're right Garcia, thanks," Reid said as he stood. "I better get back out there." He ran his hands over his eyes. At the door he turned back. "You were right about you and me being luckier than the others. We will always have Henry."