Disclaimer – I own nothing related to Criminal Minds.
Just a little one shot about JJ's return and one of my made up reasons why she could now return when she was forced out, something that will bug me if they don't figure it out next season.
Of course it's JJ/Hotch, read into it however you want ;)
...
JJ adjusted Henry slightly on her right hip and waited for the door to open in front of her.
A dishevelled looking profiler frowned momentarily before stepping aside and letting the blonde into his dimly lit apartment.
JJ turned to face her colleague as he closed the door. She'd been in this home many times before, yet as he stared back at her in concern, she felt rather awkward just hovering next to the back of the couch.
"Let me take him off you." Hotch stepped forward and took a sleeping Henry out of his silent mom's arms. "I'll put him down in Jack's room."
JJ nodded her thanks once before he moved towards the bedroom corridor.
Left alone, the liaison placed her beige coat on the back of the couch and rested her brown briefcase on top of it.
Walking over to the small bar in the corner of the room, where the damage caused to the wall by Foyet's bullet had once been, the Pennsylvanian attempted to still her shaking hands as she poured herself a glass of Scotland's finest whiskey.
Hearing the profiler re-enter the room, JJ downed the burning liquid before pouring herself another glass.
Without turning, JJ straightened. "Do you want a drink?"
"No." Hotch replied softly while standing a few steps behind the off character blonde. "JJ, do you want to tell me where you've been for the last three days?"
JJ turned, licking her bottom lip free of the single malted whiskey. "I can't."
"Are you in trouble?" Hotch asked noting his friend's strange behaviour.
JJ tilted her head, finding it odd to talk to Hotch while he was dressed in loose fitting FBI training T-shirt top and navy boxer shorts. "I'm sorry for not calling."
Hotch sighed, feeling himself getting frustrated with his visitor's forced calmness. "We've just got Prentiss back and now you're disappearing in the middle of the night..."
"I sent an email." JJ countered weakly.
Hotch rolled his eyes before leading the pair of them to the couch. "JJ, you always call me."
JJ sat first, relieved that he kept the distance by sitting on the arm at the other end. "I couldn't call."
"Are you in trouble?" Hotch repeated more firmly.
Shaking her head slowly, JJ took another sip of whiskey before speaking. "I thought everything would get back to normal."
Hotch frowned slightly at the distant look in JJ's usually vivid blue eyes. "These things take time. Prentiss is still readjusting but Morgan is back to his usual self, so is Reid..."
"That's not what I'm talking about." JJ scoffed at herself, while resting her head on the back of the couch.
Hotch moved to sit next to the troubled liaison and took hold of her hand. "JJ, you can talk to me."
JJ bit her lower lip and gazed down at the hands momentarily before squeezing his hand back comfortingly. "I trust you. You know I respect you. But I can't talk to you."
"JJ, look at me." Hotch tried to bring JJ's eyes back to his. "JJ, please."
JJ reluctantly met the profiler's eyes, doing her best not to show her tears that were forming. "Hotch I can't talk to you about this. I want to, but I can't."
"Okay." Hotch nodded slowly.
Kicking off her shoes, JJ placed the glass in her hand onto the wooden coffee table before placing her feet underneath her body and resting her head back on the couch all the while not letting go of Hotch's hand. "Have I missed much at work?"
"Just case consults. As a new profiler I really should be placing them on your desk." Hotch smirked faintly.
JJ chuckled. "Because I haven't got enough work to be getting on with?"
"Good point." Hotch's smirk widened as JJ smiled.
JJ's return to the BAU seven months earlier had been a year in the works. He and Rossi had called in every favour they could to no avail. Then, with Strauss' absence the Unit Chief took the opportunity to use his new position to its best use.
Through several negotiations he'd managed the top brass to bring JJ back as a profiler, but there was a catch.
JJ was back as a loan and if something sprouted up within another agency she could easily be transferred, albeit this time it would be temporary, due to her new position as a profiler.
Apparently the Georgetown graduate had become a significant asset to the Pentagon, who regularly loaned the blonde to other agencies who had a sticky situation they needed cleaning up or hiding away.
JJ was transferred against her will to become a liaison whose basic aim was to hide mistakes made by those in the corner offices, who could claim their mistakes would cause irretrievable damage to the safety of the country.
With this extra knowledge, Hotch had become determined to bring JJ back to where she belonged, even if he had to overcome budget cuts and secretly alive agents.
However with his extra work in Strauss' office and his duties to Jack, Hotch had asked Rossi to begin JJ's profiling training.
The one thing the two senior members of the BAU hadn't counted on was JJ's refusal to become a profiler. A week after telling JJ about the new plan, she swallowed her pride and met Rossi in his office after a case.
JJ wanted to come home and so they began studying.
It was evident to the acclaimed author JJ was a natural. She knew the basics and more. Her time was obviously well spent in her nearly seven years with the BAU.
It was also clear that JJ had changed in her year absent from her profiling colleagues. She was more in tune with politics, backstabbing and had become somewhat jaded by the whole ordeal.
The pair who sat on the couch continued to sit in silence. JJ shifted slightly so she could bring her head onto Hotch's shoulder.
"Do you want to give me a hint of where you've been in the last three days?" Hotch prodded with lightness in his tone.
JJ shrugged. "I haven't left the state."
"Are you okay?" Hotch asked slowly, feeling dampness on his shirt where her tears were falling.
JJ shook her head and sniffled. "No."
"Is there something I can do?" Hotch asked feeling alarmed that he was relieved that she had come to him when she was at her most vulnerable.
It was a true testament to how much closer he had become to the liaison and even as he pressed a faint kiss onto her forehead, he felt somehow unnerved by this automatic intimate action.
JJ shook her head slowly this time. "Just being here helps."
...
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