A/N: Here it is everyone: Please Don't Leave Me, the sequel to my JJ/Reid fic And I Always Will. If you haven't read that one, I highly recommend you read it first, otherwise parts of this story won't make sense. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the first story, and those who added it to their alerts and favourites- I hope this story lives up to your expectations!
Warning: Slight spoilers for 3x02- In Birth and Death.

Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any of it's characters.

Spencer Reid and Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau: a couple that nobody had ever seen happening, a couple that most people still believed would never happen. Yet it had happened. Two months earlier, Reid and JJ had finally confessed that they loved each other. One month earlier, Reid had pulled down his walls and let JJ in, admitting his drug addiction to her and letting her help him. One month earlier, Reid had stayed at JJ's house and the couple had fallen asleep in bed together for the first time.

Every chance they'd had since then, Reid and JJ had spent the night together- just lying there, holding each other until they both fell asleep. They had not yet had sex, and nor did they feel like they needed to. They just wanted to be with each other, without having to hide their love from everyone.

No one else knew of JJ and Reid's relationship, not even the rest of the team. It wasn't because they didn't want anyone else to know- in fact, Reid wanted nothing more than being able to tell the team that this glorious woman was his. The secretly was actually because they couldn't tell anyone- JJ and Reid were both members of the FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit, and fellow agents were forbidden from being in a relationship with each other. Being on the same team made things even worse.

Most of their time was spent at JJ's place- she lived in an actual house as opposed to Reid's tiny apartment, which contained nothing more than the bare essentials and a library's worth of books. Reid was at her house so often that JJ often thought he should move in with her, but she had never mentioned the subject. Mostly that was because living together would raise suspicions, but it was also because she didn't know if Reid was ready for that level of commitment. He had been hurt so much in the past, it took a lot for him to trust people and let them in. It was enough that he had told JJ of his Dilaudid problem and let her help him break the addiction.

That, fighting the drug addiction, had been very hard on Reid. He'd gone through serious withdrawals, serious cravings. His body had ached for the drug, and he had pleaded with JJ to get some for him. It broke her heart to see him like that- she had never seen Reid look pitiful like that, begging to her. At times he had been rather crabby and snapped at her, but JJ had stayed calm and managed to soothe him. She hadn't let his fight end their relationship, and now it was stronger than ever.

JJ shifted in Reid's arms, but she didn't wake from her sleep. They were sleeping in JJ's bed once again; it was much bigger and comfier than Reid's. Reid had woken only a few moments earlier, jolted from sleep by the beep of JJ's alarm clock. He hadn't woken JJ straight away though; he'd wanted a minute to watch her sleep. She was beautiful- so, so beautiful. Reid still couldn't believe she was his.

"JJ," he whispered. "JJ, wake up." JJ stirred a little, but didn't wake up. "JJ," Reid repeated, louder this time while also lightly brushing her face. This time JJ's eyes flickered open. "Hey," Reid said, smiling.

"Hey," JJ replied sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Your alarm went off a couple of minutes ago," said Reid. "We've got to get ready for work."

"What if I don't want to go to work?" JJ asked. "What if I just want to lie here forever?"

"Then we would never move from this spot, JJ," Reid replied. "But seriously, we need to go to work. Neither of us is ever late, and if we are even once it will begin to look suspicious."

JJ sighed. "Sometimes, I really hate it when you're right," she said, slowly and regretfully extricating herself from Reid's arms. Both agents got out of the bed and pulled on their work clothes. They no longer felt the need to change in separate rooms- they no longer felt embarrassed by the possibility that the other one could see everything.

JJ appeared in front of Reid as he picked up his tie and took it into her own hands. Reid ducked his head obligingly so JJ could slip the tie around his neck. When she had finished tightening the knot, JJ left her hands on the back of Reid's neck. Seeing the look in JJ's eyes and realising what she wanted, Reid obliged again and bent down even closer so his face was hovering right above JJ's. She brushed her lips against Reid's gently and looked at him for a second before going in for a real kiss. They kissed, and kissed, and kissed… After a while, Reid began to gently push his tongue against JJ's lips, until she opened them and granted him entry. He had one hand one hand on the small of her back, and one hand in her hair, holding her as close to him as he could.

JJ and Reid only broke apart when JJ's secondary alarm went off, signalling that they had to leave for work. She had never needed a secondary alarm before, but ever since she had begun seeing Reid both of them had taken a lot longer to get ready for work than normal.

JJ sighed and began walking out of the room, Reid right behind her. When they reached the front door, JJ rested a hand on the doorknob and turned back to face Reid. "Do you think we'll ever get to that stage?"

Reid didn't have to ask JJ what she was talking about; he already knew. "Yes," he replied instantly. "Absolutely. I mean, not that I don't already want to, I do, really, it's just-"

"Spence, it's okay, I get it," JJ said. "You're not ready yet." JJ used her free hand to take one of Reid's. "And I can wait for you, forever if I have to. I know you find it hard to let people in, and I don't blame you in the slightest."

"We will get there, JJ," Reid promised her. I know we will."

JJ smiled, and gave Reid's hand a reassuring squeeze before they both walked out the door. They climbed into their own cars, Reid into his old blue Volvo and JJ into her much newer white one. They still drove to work in different cars to keep up appearances and to not arouse suspicion. Reid drove off, and like every day JJ waited a few minutes before driving off after him. Reid was always the first one to arrive, and his apartment was closer to work than JJ's house.

When JJ walked into the BAU bullpen about twenty minutes later, the first thing she saw was Reid already sitting at his desk. Neither Morgan nor Prentiss had yet shown up for work, but Reid had already started on his paperwork. JJ chuckled and looked up to Hotch and Gideon's offices.

Neither of them were there.

That was definitely unusual. Hotch and Gideon always beat her and Reid to work, especially now. They would not be late to work unless they had a very good reason.

JJ looked from the two offices to Reid, who had noticed her staring. He had the same look on her face as she did: worried and confused.

She walked over to him. "They would've told us if they weren't coming in today," Reid said, trying to convince himself as much as he was JJ.

"I'm sure they would have," JJ agreed. "But normally they would've been here by now. You may have occasionally beaten them to work before, but now…"

"They always beat me here," Reid finished.

The two agents were still talking when Morgan walked into the bullpen. "Hey you too," he greeted them jovially. "What are you talking about?"

"The fact that both Hotch and Gideon haven't shown up to work yet," JJ replied. "They would be here by now without question, unless they'd already told us they weren't coming in- which they haven't."

"I'm sure they'll be here soon, JJ," Morgan said, trying to soothe her. He looked around the bullpen. "Has Prentiss shown up yet?"

"Not yet," Reid said. "But it's not so unusual for Prentiss to be late. Hotch and Gideon both being late? That is strange."

"We'll wait a little bit longer," Morgan decided, taking charge. "After twenty minutes, we'll start the briefing even if none of them have shown up."

Morgan sat down at his desk, and he and Reid continued to work on their stacks of folders. JJ headed up to her office to prepare the folders for the briefing. When she stepped out of the room nearly twenty minutes later, she looked down at Morgan and Reid. Both men looked at her and shook their heads. The three missing agents had not shown up.

JJ gave Morgan and Reid one last look before heading to the meeting room. The two men instantly rose from their seats and followed her.

"It feels weird, starting the briefing when there's only the three of us here," Reid said as he sat down. He looked down at the file JJ handed him, not really reading it. His mind was elsewhere, worrying about where Hotch, Prentiss and Gideon were. Especially Gideon.

While Morgan was actually reading through the case file, JJ knew exactly what Reid was thinking. All three of them were worried about the others, but Reid… that fear was amplified. With what had happened to him two months ago, and his fear of abandonment and losing those he cared about, JJ wasn't surprised.

Out of Morgan's sight, JJ moved to stand behind Reid and gave his shoulder a soft, reassuring squeeze. He turned around to look at her, and touched her hand briefly before Morgan could look up. When he did, JJ was still standing behind Reid, but the two of them looked perfectly normal. She just appeared to be reading the case file over Reid's shoulder.

When JJ noticed Morgan watching them, she looked up. "Let's get started then." She moved away from Reid, towards the screen and the board at the front of the room.

"Salt Lake City, Utah needs our help," JJ began, switching into work mode. "Four women in their thirties have been kidnapped, beaten, raped, and then killed by strangulation."

"Where were the women found?" Reid asked.

"All three women were found in dumpsters," JJ replied. "They had just been tossed in there."

"Like the UnSub didn't care if they were found," Reid concluded.

"It would've only taken a few minutes for the UnSub to dump the bodies," Morgan added. "And it also seems like he doesn't care about these women at all- like they mean nothing to him."

"Well anyway," JJ continued, "the UnSub manages to kidnap these women from public places with no witnesses, and kills the women and dumps the body after three days."

"When was the last body found?" Morgan asked.

"Yesterday," JJ replied.

"Meaning the UnSub could already have taken another victim," said Morgan.

"So what do we do?" JJ asked. "Should we wait for the others, or should we leave for Utah?"

"Maybe we should wait a little bit longer-" Reid began, but before he could finish Garcia burst into the room, flustered and out of breath.

"Garcia?" JJ said, confused by the panic on the technical analyst's face. "What's going on?"

"You guys haven't heard the news?" Garcia said. "About the others?"

"Do you know why they haven't shown up yet?" Reid asked quickly, both hope and fear rising inside him.

"Oh, my goodness, my dears, it's horrible!" Garcia exclaimed. "Chief Strauss has suspended Hotch, and Prentiss quit!"

"What about Gideon?" JJ said, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"Nobody knows where he is," Garcia replied, her voice softer now. "He isn't at his apartment, and he isn't answering his phone. He's gone."

A/N: So there's the first chapter! What do you guys think- good, bad, meh, better or worse than the first story? Please review guys, I really wanna know how well I started off!