Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds blah blah blah… you know the drill.
A/N: If you read my drabbles on tumblr, then apologies because you've read this all before. The only difference is that I changed the scenes written in present tense to past tense for consistency's sake.
This is a compilation of some "200"-related drabbles that I've written arranged in chronological order. I basically did this so I could be more consistent but less repetitive when filling new "200"-related prompts.
Paris – April 2011
A knock on the door startled Emily out of her quiet contemplation. She warily glanced at the door, wondering who it could possibly be. She was new to the area, hadn't had time to make friends (not that she would've anyway), and hadn't ordered anything that needed delivering.
A second round of knocking persuaded Emily to move to the door. Glancing through the peep hole, she was surprised to see JJ standing on the other side.
"Hi," Emily greeted as she opened the door, confusion clear in her voice.
"Hey," came JJ's quiet response, and immediately Emily knew this wasn't going to be a Girls' Night Out – or Girls Night In as the case might be – type of visit.
Taking in the contusions on JJ's face, Emily asked with concern, "Are you all right?"
Rather than answer, JJ held up a bag filled to the top with food. "I went grocery shopping. I figured I could cook you dinner."
"Umm, okay," Emily replied, still feeling very off-footed. "Come on in."
Dinner was a subdued affair, as JJ wasn't feeling talkative and Emily waited for her to take the lead.
After they finished eating and JJ began to clear the table, Emily couldn't take it anymore. She took the stack of plates from JJ's hand.
JJ didn't resist as Emily led her to the couch and gently sat her down.
"Okay, as much as I enjoy your company and as nice as dinner was, you want to tell me what's going on?"
JJ responded with a fidgety shrug. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't tell Emily about the baby, not when she hadn't even told Will. It had been the only thing on her mind since she found out in the medical tent. It overshadowed any hurt she would've felt from losing Hastings or Askari's betrayal.
Will's words echoed in her ears.
The first thing a cop does when she gets pregnant is she takes herself out of the field.
"I screwed up. I…"
When JJ trailed off, unable to continue, Emily placed a hand on JJ's shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. "You don't have to tell me."
"I can't… I don't know what to… I…"
Tears began to well up in her eyes, and for a second JJ regretted coming.
If she'd stayed back at base camp, she would've been fine. There would've been plenty of work to distract her, and she would've carried on.
But being here, being here with Emily and feeling the concern radiating from her, made it impossible not to cry.
"Hey, come here." Emily pulled JJ close. "I got you."
And the next thing JJ knew, she was sobbing into Emily's shoulder.
"Got it all out?" Emily asked when JJ's sobs subsided, gently using her thumb to clear away some of the tears on JJ's cheeks.
JJ nodded shyly. "And onto your shirt apparently. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to —"
"You don't have to apologize to me," Emily smiled at her before standing. "Right well, I'm going to go make up the guest bedroom. You're staying the night. I assume you got me this two-bedroom apartment for a reason."
Feeling guilty for having already stolen Emily's evening, JJ began to decline, "No, I –"
"No arguments," Emily cut her off. "I don't care if work is waiting for you. If you could take time to help me in Boston, you can stay for the night."
"Okay," JJ whispered, looking utterly defeated.
And from JJ's lack of resistance, Emily knew she made the right decision.
LaMontagne/Jareau Household – pre-"200"
JJ frowned as she typed a text response into her phone.
"Who are you texting?"
She looked over her shoulder to see Will approach. He'd been tucking Henry in for the night, and she had been too absorbed in her text conversation to notice he'd finished.
"It's just work," JJ responded with a smile Will knew to be fake.
"Yeah?" He eyed her suspiciously. "Who was it? Hotch? Garcia? Reid?"
"Why does it matter? I don't need to go in if that's what you're worried about," JJ hedged. She could easily have lied her way through to a quick end of the conversation, but she was trying to minimize the lies in her life, no matter how small.
"I just want to know who it was. That's all," Will pressed on.
"Why do you need to know?"
"Why won't you answer the question? It's a simple question."
JJ let loose a frustrated sigh followed by, "Will, stop."
"Is it another man? Do I have reason to be concerned?"
"What?! No!"
Will was relieved that at the very least that response sounded genuine. He didn't think JJ would cheat on him, but he had married a commitment-phobe. They'd had a blissful marriage thus far, but he couldn't help but worry that she was still looking for a reason to run.
"Just tell me what's going on!"
"I can't."
Their voices were getting louder, but they were too lost in the moment to notice.
"Just tell me," Will insisted.
"I can't!" JJ snapped.
She could see the realization dawn on Will's face, but a small voice distracted them.
"Mama?"
Will and JJ turned to see Henry coming down the stairs.
"I'm sorry, baby. Were we too loud?" When Henry nodded, JJ said, "Everything's all right. Can you go back to bed for me?"
After Henry reluctantly made his way back up the stairs, Will made sure to pick up where they'd left off. "You're working for the State Department again."
JJ seemed to deflate as she nodded, "I was texting Matt Cruz."
"Matt Cruz…" Will mulled the name over, trying to remember where he'd heard it before. "As in your new Section Chief?"
"We work together at the State Department. We've known each other for a few years now," JJ explained.
"Work," Will repeated, picking up on her present tense usage of the word.
"I guess you could say we never really stopped."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Will asked. He'd thought the secrets and lies had ended when Emily returned from the dead.
Clearly, he'd been wrong.
"It's need-to-know."
"Then why are you telling me now?"
He knew JJ could have effectively lied her way out of this situation if she wanted to. That she had let it get to this point meant something big was going on.
"Will…" JJ trailed off seemingly lost in thought.
"What is it?" Will pressed when she didn't continue.
He found himself feeling disconcerted when she suddenly stared at him intensely.
"If anything ever happens to me, find Matt. He'll know what to do."
Panic began to course through his body. "What's going on? Are you in danger?"
He knew his wife was in danger every day she went out into the field, but when things got personal, every fear and insecurity felt infinitely worse. Flashbacks of Izzy Rogers and Matthew Downes invaded his mind.
He didn't want to go through that again.
"I don't know. Maybe," JJ responded, providing him with no comfort whatsoever. "Will, if something does happen, go directly to the BAU. Promise me you won't call. We don't have a secure line, and someone could be listening in."
"I don't understand."
"Will, promise me."
"JJ, you're scaring me."
"Promise me," JJ repeated, emphasizing each word to stress how important it was to her.
Will wanted to know more before complying but knew it wasn't an option. Past experiences showed that JJ was a steel trap when keeping secrets.
"I promise."
"Thank you," JJ said with a sigh of relief.
But Will wasn't done. "How bad is this?"
Before JJ could answer – or refuse to answer as would have been the most likely case – her phone began to buzz repeatedly. She glanced at the screen, muttered "I have to take this", and disappeared from the room.
Will stared after her, stomach sinking at the thought that his wife could be taken from him at any moment.
And he couldn't do anything about it.
Secure Compartmentalized Information Facility (S.C.I.F.) – "200"
Reid was mad at her.
JJ had been keeping secrets. Again. And like all secrets their team tended to keep, this one came back to bite her in the ass.
He was mad because she'd been lying to him. He was mad because she didn't trust him enough to tell him the truth. He was mad because she'd put herself in danger.
Of all the stupid, insipid, idiotic things to do…
But if anything, he was angrier with himself.
Her keeping secrets wasn't something he could control. What he could have controlled was how he reacted when he knew she'd been keeping secrets, and he had most definitely known. Therein laid the problem.
He'd known, but he hadn't done anything.
Sure, he'd asked if she was all right. He'd given her looks to say, "No, I don't believe any of that nonsense you've been trying to pass off as calls regarding Henry." He'd invited her to spend more time with him.
None of that mattered though because for every lie she'd told, he'd given her a free pass.
Of all the stupid, insipid, idiotic things to do…
What was the point of all his degrees, his high IQ, his ridiculously fast reading speed, or his eidetic memory if he couldn't keep his loved ones safe? He'd always seen the signs. First Elle after the Fisher King, then Emily with Doyle, and now JJ with this.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice… For being a genius, it seemed he hadn't learned from his mistakes at all.
When they got her back — and they would get her back, this he promised himself — things would be different. He'd give her space and time to heal, but he'd also watch her like a hawk. If he saw that something was wrong, he'd do more than just warily accept the "I'm fine" lie JJ had become so prone to telling. In fact, he planned on imposing a moratorium on those very words.
He was going to be a man of action. He was going to make sure she took care of herself. He was going to make sure she was looked after. He was going to make sure he did something when he sensed something was amiss. And if she didn't like it, well…
She was going to find out just how stubborn he could be.
Rooftop of Cramer Industries – "200"
JJ sat against the wall and took a series of deep breaths. Her heart was finally starting to resume its normal pace after nearly falling off the edge of the building with Hastings.
Emily was crouched in front of her and observing her with a worried expression that JJ didn't like, so with an impressive amount of false bravado she said, "I guess we should head down, huh?"
"Yeah, but you might wanna…" Emily gestured at JJ's top, and immediately the blonde attempted to re-fasten all the buttons Hastings had undone.
Attempted being the operative word.
Her hands were shaking too badly to do anything more than get a button and its corresponding hole in the same vicinity.
Emily placed a steady hand on hers. "I'll do it."
The brunette didn't ask, but JJ can see the question in her eyes.
She knew Emily had seen the files on Askari and Nadia. She knew it was far from difficult for Emily to put two and two together.
"I wasn't," JJ said. The sentence was awkward, and it was missing its last word, but she couldn't bring herself to say it.
"JJ, you don't have to—"
"No, I…" She needed to say these words. She needed to reassure herself that, despite how violating it felt to be touched the way she was, she wasn't raped.
Emily seemed to understand. She'd finished doing up JJ's buttons, so she just nodded and waited for the blonde to continue.
"I wasn't raped," JJ finally managed. "Hastings was going to, but Matt stopped him."
"Cruz did." Emily's voice was halfway between an echoed statement and a question.
It wasn't that she didn't want to believe JJ, but the position the two were found in hardly lended its hand for any heroic action on Cruz's part.
"It was me or his security code," JJ explained. "Apparently I'm his Achilles heel."
"I'm glad." JJ looked stunned at the statement, but Emily didn't care. "I know Integrity's important, but…" Emily trailed off and finished with a shrug.
JJ knew exactly what she meant to say.
You're more important to me.
Cramer Industries Lobby – "200"
When he saw her, Morgan couldn't help but release a big sigh of relief.
Emily was helping to hold her up, and when they approached him and Reid, she guided the blonde into his arms. As JJ leaned into him, he made sure he didn't squeeze her too tight, and when he pulled away, he kept his hands on her waist to keep her steady.
Morgan knew she couldn't be fine, so he didn't ask. He'd seen Askari's file, he knew — superficially at least — what she'd gone through, and he didn't want to draw attention to how far from fine she probably was.
Tilting his head toward the glass doors and Hasting's body just outside, he gave her a small smile and joked, "Don't mess with Pennsylvania Petite, right?"
JJ knew he was trying to keep their reunion light-hearted, and she was grateful for it. She didn't want to keep reassuring everyone she was fine even if she didn't feel that way. The fact that Hastings and Askari were both dead does help, but it wasn't enough to erase what they'd done.
She didn't have much of a response, but she gave Morgan a small smile of her own. It was genuine enough that it turned his relief into joy, and in a way, he felt like he'd done his job.
He could've continued trying to make her feel better forever, but he knew Reid was waiting impatiently behind him, so it was his turn to guide her into someone else's arms.
Hospital – "200"
Will ran through the hospital hallways, Henry secured tightly in his arms.
When Hotch had called him to say JJ had been found and was on her way to the hospital, he'd wasted no time in wrangling his protective detail to rush him and Henry there.
He slowed to a stop when he saw a very unexpected Emily Prentiss.
"Go on in. She's waiting for you," Emily said before taking JJ's son into her arms. "Hi, Henry. Long time no see."
When he entered JJ's room, he was relieved to see her sitting on the edge of the bed. She was dressed in a hospital gown and had her right arm pressed against her body, her hand gently cradling her side. Despite that, the worn expression, and the bruise on her face, she seemed relatively all right, all things considered.
"Will," she greeted him with a smile.
Tears of relief sprung into his eyes, and he immediately wrapped her in an embrace.
"Hey, no tears. I'm fine."
He didn't believe her in the least, but she was alive and as stubborn as always, which he took to be a good sign.
"What'd they do to you?" Will couldn't help but ask as he gently pulled away. He looked into her eyes and saw a terrifying blankness as if part of her had been ripped away.
"It doesn't matter." He was about to protest but stopped when she added, "I'm sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry for," Will said, caressing her cheek. "You couldn't tell me about your job. I get it."
"No, I…" JJ trailed off, and suddenly — though he didn't know how it could be possible — she looked frailer. "I need to tell you something."
"You can tell me anything."
"Promise not to be mad?"
Will was taken aback by how terrified JJ looked, as if he could hurt her more in this moment than she had been in the last 24 hours.
"Of course."
"What I'm about to tell you happened when I was in Afghanistan."
"Okay." Will braced himself for what would come next. Terrible thoughts ran through his head.
Despite his assurances, JJ steeled herself for his reaction as she uttered her next words, "I lost our baby."
"You were pregnant," Will noted, stunned. "How did I not know?"
"No one did. Just me and Matt." And Hastings, but she wasn't going to mention that to him.
"Matt," Will echoed blankly. Matt Cruz, the man she shared all her secrets with. He couldn't help but feel betrayed. "You told him but not me?
Seeing the betrayal on her husband's face, JJ's explanation spilled out quickly. "He was there when I found out, but then I got the Emily call, and when I was moving her to Paris, she helped me realize there was a double agent. I couldn't not deal with that, Will. We were trying to find bin Laden. I couldn't let the double agent spend more time in Ops, so I arranged for an off-site interrogation of our people, but then our Humvees were attacked, and that's when…"
She trailed off, unable to say the words. "Everything went so fast, Will. I'm sorry." Tears had begun to spill from her eyes. "I'm so sorry."
As Will processed the timeline of events, realization dawned. "That's when you said you wanted to give up."
JJ nodded.
Taking in the sight of his tearful wife in front of him, Will found he couldn't hate her for it. He couldn't even blame her for it. If he had been in her position — though truthfully he never would be — he could imagine himself doing much of the same.
It would still take some time to get used to this notion that they could have had another child, but he could have lost more than just their unborn child in that attack, so he decided he would just be happy that JJ was alive and safe in the here and now.
"It's all right. I'm just glad you're okay," Will reassured her as he pulled her in for another hug. And then because he did like the idea of having another baby, he added, "Besides, we can always try again."
Involuntarily, JJ flinched. Memories of Hastings unbuttoning her shirt invaded her mind, and she couldn't help but think she wasn't ready for that.
"If you want to," Will quickly appended. "Only if you want to."
"I'm sorry," JJ muttered again.
"Don't be," Will said, rubbing her back in soothing circles. "You have nothing to be sorry for."
Outside the bar – "200"
When Garcia first laid eyes on JJ, she couldn't stop herself from running up to the smaller woman and crushing her in a hug.
Immediately JJ groaned causing Garcia to pull back quickly with an apology. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," JJ reassured her with a smile. "I'm glad to see you too."
Garcia gave her a once over to make sure JJ was all right to be walking about. She was sure there was more than met the eye, but she gave a cautious stamp of approval. She was too happy to see her friend to turn away the opportunity to spend time with her.
Reaching into her bag, she said, "I've got something for you."
As Garcia produced JJ's phone, the smaller blonde's smile widened. "I've been wondering where that ended up."
But before she could grab it, Garcia pulled her hand back. "We need to talk about this first."
"Okaaay," JJ drew out the word unsure as to where the conversation was headed.
"I will give this back to you under one condition." At this, JJ nodded to indicate her acquiescence, and Garcia continued, "No more encrypted phone. No more GPS that won't transmit. I want to be able to find you."
"You did."
JJ's voice was quiet, but it spoke volumes. It was sincere, it was grateful, and it in no way blamed Garcia or the team for not finding her sooner.
Garcia shook her head in response. "I want to be able to find you whenever, wherever. Not 24 hours after you disappear."
She too was grateful they found JJ when they did. It was the "just in time" part of it that she didn't like. She didn't like that her friend had been tortured for 24 hours before she'd be found. She didn't like that her friend was nearly raped. She didn't like that her friend was seconds away from having her throat slashed.
Even though they'd found JJ's phone without the help of its GPS fairly early on, it hadn't proved useful due to the encryption, and that bothered the tech analyst immensely.
"I'll see what I can do." JJ knew that wasn't a good enough response for Garcia, so she added, "It's not up to me. I have to debrief with Secretary Jackson, but like I said, I'll see what I can do."
Hidden in her words was the implication that this ordeal wasn't over. Hastings and Askari may have been neutralized, but Integrity was still out there and as enticing as ever. Even if JJ no longer held a necessary security code to access it, she was still an operative in the database. She was still at risk.
If Garcia got all that, she didn't say. She merely held the phone out once again. When JJ reached for it, Garcia captured her hand in her own and pulled her into another, much gentler hug.
"Never scare me like that again," Garcia murmured into her shoulder.
JJ couldn't guarantee it, so she didn't promise it. She just reciprocated her friend's hug with a gentle squeeze of her own and relished the fact that she was alive to enjoy it.
Bar – immediately after "200" ends
As the night progressed, the team had broken up into smaller groups, each with their own conversation. Finishing up a conversation with Alex Blake, Emily looked over to see JJ had fallen asleep on the bar stool where she'd remained leaned into Will. She smiled and walked over to the pair.
"Don't wake her," Emily said as Will was about to nudge JJ awake upon seeing her approach. "I'm surprised she's lasted this long."
"She's not supposed to be here," Will explained. "The hospital wanted to keep her overnight for observation, but she signed out AMA. She didn't want to miss you."
"Sounds like JJ."
She watched the blonde sleep, took in the bruises and the shadows under her eyes, and knew that JJ's journey to recovery was just beginning. After the relief of being rescued abated, the harsh reality of coming to terms with what she'd been through would begin. She would need someone to talk to, someone who understood. She'd need her best friend.
"Tell her I said 'Phoenix'."
"What?"
Although she hadn't gotten a phoenix tattoo as JJ suggested, she had used the mythical creature for her online Scrabble username. It seemed apt. Interpol, the BAU, Paris. She was always being reborn into a new identity.
"She'll understand."
Will eyed her suspiciously. "JJ said no more secrets."
"She did, but I didn't," Emily responded with a smirk. "Just tell her for me, would you?"
"Of course." Looking down at his wife, Will said, "I should probably get her home."
Emily nodded her agreement, and Will added, "Thank you. I don't know what I'd do without her."
"Anytime."
LaMontagne/Jareau Household – post-"200"
JJ stared at the water spraying from the showerhead.
It was amazing what a difference it made when water wasn't being forced down your throat through a towel or blasted at you with a high-pressure hose.
It seemed so harmless like this.
Reaching out a tentative hand, JJ tested the temperature of the water and found it still too cold for her liking.
Despite the feeling that this was a bad idea, she couldn't let her fears conquer her. She had to take control. She had to move on. She wasn't going to let a shower scare her into submission.
When she deemed the water warm enough, JJ gingerly stepped into the shower, muscles tense in anticipation. She stood with her back to the showerhead and slowly let herself acclimate to the feeling of the water hitting her skin.
Eventually she began to relax and even found the sensation to be rather soothing. JJ transitioned into her normal washing routine, making her way from body part to body part. Lulled into a false sense of security, JJ unthinkingly turned to wash her face.
Holding her breath to let the water wash down her face, JJ was suddenly transported back to the room in Cramer Industries. Lost in her memories for longer than she cared to admit, her starved lungs reminded she'd forgotten to resume breathing. Gasping for air, water streamed into her mouth and down to her throat.
She spluttered and scrambled backwards away from the water, feet slipping on the wet floor. The fall jarred her tired and beaten body, and rather than get back up, she pulled her knees into her chest. She knew she should turn the shower off, but to get to the shower handle she'd have to go through the steady stream of water.
She wasn't ready for that.
"JJ?" Will called through the bathroom door, having heard the thud of her fall. "JJ, are you all right?"
She considered responding with a reassuring answer — she didn't want him to see her like this — but couldn't muster up the energy to say anything loud enough for him to hear.
"JJ, I'm coming in."
Entering the bathroom, Will caught sight of his uncharacteristically fragile looking wife, quickly turned off the shower, grabbed a towel, and wrapped it around her.
"You okay?"
Hotch hadn't given him many details — it was JJ's place to do that, not his — but he had told him the basics to prepare him. As Will clutched JJ close to him, he fought the urge to shudder at the thought of everything she'd gone through.
He felt her nod against his chest.
"Let's try sticking with baths for the time being, all right?" Will said, pressing a kiss onto the top of her head. He wasn't entirely sure what had set her off, but he could guess. "Take it slow."
"I hate slow," came JJ's quiet yet petulant reply.
Will couldn't help but smile at the response: what a JJ thing to say. Despite everything, his wife's strong and stubborn spirit remained intact or at the very least was being repaired.
9x15
When JJ came back to work, Morgan met her return with a hint of trepidation. It had been a meager two weeks since her abduction, and he was doubtful anyone can recover from such a traumatic ordeal so quickly.
His fears were realized when JJ uttered the words "I'm fine."
It wasn't the words themselves that made his heart sink. It was the way she pulled her chin back, just slightly turning her face to the side as if physically retreating from the question.
It was her tell.
She wasn't fine, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to call her out on it. He merely responded with a stilted, "Well, let's do this."
He wasn't convincing in his delivery, but if JJ didn't have to be then neither did he.
As they headed to the round table room, a quote flashed through his head, or at least the gist of it did. Morgan didn't remember the exact wording, but he knew the take-home message: by not calling JJ out on her lie he'd made himself complicit in it.
The very least he could do to make up for it was to look out for her and make sure there was no price to pay.
…
9x17
"You okay? You've been pretty quiet back here."
JJ, who'd been staring out one of the plane windows, turned to see Morgan hovering above her. Without even thinking, her signature "I'm fine" response escaped her lips.
"Are you?"
"Yeah, of course."
Morgan sighed at her delivery: chin back, face just slightly to the side. He'd let it go too many times in the past couple of weeks, so he decided to press on with a gentle nudge. "So what happened in the tunnels then?"
Confused big blue eyes stared back at him. "What are you talking about?"
As he settled himself into the seat beside her, he could see JJ's displeasure at the notion that this conversation wouldn't be over soon. "Cesar creeping up behind you."
"Oh," JJ said softly, her brow furrowing as she recalled the event in question. "I don't know. I guess I didn't hear him."
"Because your head wasn't in it?"
Morgan's question wasn't confrontational. The gentle tone of his voice was usually reserved for victims, which bothered JJ to no end. She was no victim.
"What?" JJ knew what he was referring to, but she played ignorant in hopes that he'd drop it. He was breaking the BAU's unspoken code of pretending not to profile one another, so maybe he'd stop if she made him explicitly state everything aloud.
It didn't work.
"Our victims had been restrained and left to drown in a dark, dank tunnel. Sound familiar? I know it's not quite the same as being handcuffed and waterboarded, but —"
JJ involuntarily flinched and tried to cut him off, "Morgan, it's not—"
But turnabout was fair play, and he continued on, effectively cutting her off in turn. "It's okay if being down there brought up some memories."
"Morgan, stop," JJ said through clenched teeth. "It wasn't like that. Really."
"Is there something else then?"
At that, JJ deflated, shoulders slumping, which Morgan took as confirmation. He didn't believe a word she'd said, but if she was willing to give up something, anything really, then he'd take it.
"When I was…" JJ was nearly about to say "kidnapped" but avoided the word. It made her sound like a victim. She didn't want to be a victim. "When I was taken, I didn't sense Hastings' men either. I kept looking around. I knew something wasn't right, and I was still taken by surprise. Do you think… Do you think there's something wrong with me?"
It felt odd admitting a weakness, but this wasn't something she could keep to herself. Whatever phobias or nightmares she'd developed didn't matter to the team — or at least she didn't think they should. If she couldn't be relied upon in the field, on the other hand, that was a different story. She didn't want someone to get hurt because of her.
Morgan stared into her eyes, contemplating his response. "Do you want the honest answer?"
"No," was JJ's immediate answer. If he thought she was weak, she didn't want to hear it. Still, she needed to know if she was trusted, so she added, "Yes. I don't know."
"I think you're all right."
It felt odd for Morgan to utter those words when he wanted to cringe every time JJ say she's fine. The truth was, though, that he wasn't sure what more he expected from her. She was trying to move on, and he couldn't take that away from her. That she'd admitted any doubts in herself at all was a huge first step, and he wanted to celebrate that.
"But I…" She trailed off as Morgan held up a hand to stop her.
"I think you're human. You're not infallible, and people are going to sneak up on you every now and again. That's what I'm here for. I got your back." JJ didn't look convinced, so he continued, "Look, if it makes you feel better, we can run some drills. Just you and me. No one else needs to know."
"Okay," JJ nodded.
"Okay," Morgan echoed. And then because making people feel better was a personal habit of his he jerked his head towards the rest of the plane and added, "Now give me a smile, or they're going to think we're having a serious conversation back here."
When JJ let loose a soft laugh and a genuine smile, Morgan swelled with pride. JJ may not have been 100%, but she was strong — maybe even stronger than anyone had given her credit for. If she wasn't fine now, she would be.
He suppressed the thought that maybe he was just slapping on bandages where more severe operations were required.
A/N2: That's it for now. I compiled this around March last year, so I've definitely written more "200"-related things since then. I might go through my tumblr and upload a part 2 at some point, but until then, thanks for reading!