This is my submission for the 'Flower Challenge 2013' over at the 'Chit Chat On Author's Corner' forum.
Drats! Foiled again as I attempted to abscond with the rights to Criminal Minds... alas, it isn't mine.
Happy reading and enjoy :D
JJ sat in front of her computer, debating as her computer mouse hovered over the purchase icon on the website as she sat with a phone pressed to her ear while on a conference call. Finally, her decision made, she clicked on 'purchase' and quickly entered her credit card information as well as the personal message for the card.
She leaned back in her chair and smiled, glad that it was her turn to send Stargazer Lilies to Hotch as she thought back over all the times they'd sent the flowers to each other.
JJ smiled as she finished unpacking the few personal effects she'd had at her old desk in the DC field office. She'd managed to successfully navigate the interview process with Agents Hotchner and Gideon and transferred teams. Now she was the Media Liaison for the BAU Alpha team. She was pulled out of her thoughts by a knock on the door of her office.
"I have flowers for an Agent Jennifer Ja…" the flower delivery guy trailed off at the sight of her last name on the delivery slip, not even attempting to finish it as he sheepishly looked her from under the brim of his cap. "I'm sorry… I…" the delivery boy stumbled over his words, reminding JJ momentarily of the awkward Dr. Spencer Reid that she'd met just a short while earlier.
"Don't worry. A lot of people have trouble with it. It's Jareau… just like bureau… as in Federal Bureau of Investigations." JJ said as she stood up and walked around her desk.
"Oh… right." The delivery boy nodded as he held out his pad for her to sign for the flowers. "Well enjoy." He said giving her a parting nod.
"Thanks." JJ said nodding distractedly as she caught him leaving out of the corner of her eye while pulling back the paper that carefully wrapped the flowers she'd received. She gasped as she pulled back the paper wrapping of the flowers to behold the beautiful, bold, striking pink blooms of Stargazer Lilies. She searched for the card and pulled it out to read the message, 'Congratulations and welcome to team Agent Jareau' but no signed name. It would appear that the flowers were from the team as a whole to welcome her to the newly created position.
JJ smiled again as she closed the web browser. It hadn't been until months later at a team outing and Haley asking her how she'd liked the flowers that she'd been able to determine the flowers had been from Hotch at Haley's insistence that she do something nice to make the new girl feel welcome. She of course had the returned the favor in the only way she she'd been able to think of a year later.
"Thank you for the flowers. They are gorgeous." Haley leaned over and whispered to JJ as they stood in the elevator lobby while Hotch held Jack swaying back and forth as he enjoyed a moment with his newborn son.
"You're welcome. I'm glad you liked them. It seemed fitting since Stargazer Lilies are supposed to represent innocence, wealth, and prosperity. I know I maybe should have sent something blue… but…" JJ said as she nodded at the bundle of blue in her boss's arms.
"But the pink Stargazer Lilies were just too gorgeous not to send?" Haley asked with a smile. "I loved them."
"Good. I'm glad." JJ whispered back. "Congratulations again. He's so gorgeous." She said as Garcia and Spence walked up beside her.
"If you find baldness and wrinkles attractive." Spence said at hearing JJ's comment.
JJ couldn't help chuckling as she turned back to look at Jack snuggled up in his blue blankets in Hotch's arms. She also couldn't help but wonder if Spence would change his mind someday if it were his child. Then she couldn't help wondering what a child of Spence's would look like. She couldn't help but picture a slightly precocious but adorable, energetic blonde child with big brown eyes.
JJ shook her head, lost in the reverie of memories. It was funny how life worked out sometimes.
"Hotch, you didn't need to do this," JJ said as she looked up over the large arrangement of bold hot pink petal with white edges at her boss, "but thank you all the same." She said with a smile at Hotch's stoically raised eyebrow.
"You're welcome JJ." Hotch replied. Truth be told, he remembered how much it had meant to Haley that JJ had sent flowers to her when they'd had Jack. It seemed only fitting that he celebrate the newest addition to the BAU family by sending flowers to JJ. "And you're right I didn't need to… Since I'm not Reid, I had to check. Stargazer Lilies are a sign of aspiration. I'm sure Henry will accomplish great things… and even if the world doesn't consider his accomplishments to be great things, you will." He said with a smile, glad to share a little bit of the parental wisdom he'd picked up with JJ.
JJ smiled as she glanced over at Henry in his bassinet, glad that he was finally here and glad that Henry had the BAU family to watch over him.
A frown crossed JJ's face at the memory of the next times she'd had cause to send flowers to Hotch. If only it could have been because he and Haley were remarrying or because there was new baby… instead…
"JJ, thank you for the flowers." Hotch murmured in a somber tone as JJ passed through the line to shake his and Jessica's hands while offering her condolences. "I'm sure Haley would have loved them." He said, blinking back tears as he remembered the how happy she'd been to receive the pink version in congratulation of Jack's birth rather than the white Stargazer Lilies that JJ had sent in sympathy and condolences. He'd seen the distinctive white lilies and instantly known that they'd been from JJ.
"You welcome. Hotch…" JJ replied, her voice breaking slightly, "I'm so sorry."
Hotch took a deep breath and nodded, aware of how mortal and powerless being unable to save Haley had left the team feeling. It was easy to know how they all felt. He'd seen the same look in their eyes in his own eyes every morning since Haley's lifeless body had been wheeled out of the home they'd shared together in a body bag. "I know. Thank you." Hotch replied, his stoic wall back in place.
JJ nodded knowingly as she watched the Hotch's wall rise back up. She could understand the need to raise the walls on a day like today. After all, it was how she herself had learned to cope with the loss of her sister.
She glanced around her office, longingly wishing she were back at the BAU. Strauss might consider The Pentagon a promotion, but she sure as hell didn't. Being torn away from your family and almost everyone in the world that you cared about was like being sent to the seventh level of hell as she remembered the most recent flower delivery she'd received.
"Ms. Jareau?" the voice of her assistant came across her phone as she arranged the few personal items she'd allowed herself to bring in for her new office. A photo of Henry and her sat on the desk as she unwrapped a photo of the team at their last outing and sat it on the desk to join the photo of Henry.
JJ sighed. She hated the loss of the title of Supervisory Special Agent that she had worked so hard for. "Yes?" JJ answered as she lifted the phone.
"You have a flower delivery." Her assistant answered.
"Oh? I'll be right there." JJ responded, surprised and curious, as she wondered who would have sent flowers.
JJ's assistant watched nosily and curiously as her new boss pulled back the parchment encasing the flower delivery to see what and who the flowers were from, if for nothing else than a slight bit of gossip to share over lunch. The sharing of work secrets might be verboten, but that didn't stop the gossip mill. If anything, the closed off, isolated nature of the campus made the rumor and gossip mill that much stronger.
'Would they be roses from her significant other? Would it be a plant for her new office from her parents?' JJ's assistant wondered as her nose crinkled up in distaste at the thought of a plant. In all of her years in the administrative support pool in ring three she'd come to dread her bosses receiving plants as gifts. She was the one who ended up being responsible for said plants' upkeep.
JJ smiled and shook her head as she pulled back the parchment and tissue paper wrapping the flowers and lifted them out.
JJ's assistant's eyes widened in confusion. 'Weren't white lilies considered a plant for the expressing of sympathy? What an odd gift for someone who'd just received a promotion. Just wait until Gertrude in Commander Smith's office heard about this!'
JJ smiled and glanced at the white Stargazer Lilies who she knew could have only come from one person as she opened the card. 'I know I already told you this, but I truly am sorry that I couldn't stop this. I'll keep working on trying to fix this. Hotch' Sympathy flowers expressed exactly how she felt about this new job at The Pentagon.
But now… now she'd heard about Hotch coaching soccer. To be honest, she was surprised that he hadn't asked her for any advice seeing as she'd gone to college on a soccer scholarship after all. Garcia had told her all about the Jack, Hotch, and Rossi's soccer victory this morning at their weekly Tuesday breakfast. A soccer victory seemed like the perfect opportunity to send something that said congratulations and prosperity… say perhaps, pink Stargazer Lilies. She smirked as she thought about what the team would think of Hotch receiving flowers at the office. The truth of it was, she wanted to break the cycle of white Stargazer Lilies. She also hoped it brought a smile to her former boss's face. Heaven knew the man didn't have nearly enough opportunities to smile. She was only sorry that she wouldn't be there to see it when it happened this time.
A few months later…
"Agent Jareau… ma'am?" Anderson asked as he walked up to her desk in the bullpen. "These were just delivered for you."
"Thanks Anderson." JJ replied as she looked up from her text book on profiling and stack of case study files. She smiled as she recognized the relative size and shape of the wrapped flowers as she stood and took them from Anderson.
"You're welcome ma'am." Anderson replied as he handed over said flowers.
JJ pulled back the paper to find pink Stargazer Lilies. She searched for and found the card. 'Congratulation and welcome to the team JJ.' No signed name; but she didn't need one to know the flowers were from Hotch.