Sometimes, JJ really did envy people with 'ordinary' jobs; people like teachers, doctors, and receptionists. People who had guaranteed 9-5 hours with weekends off, and above all, people who weren't summoned to random cities at the drop of a hat. With that being said, JJ wouldn't have traded in her position for the world; she loved her job and she loved her team, she just wasn't particularly crazy about the hours.
The benefit of having scheduled time off, was that it allowed people to do certain things; such as running errands and developing relationships with people who you didn't see each and every day in the office. Both were luxuries that were not afforded to JJ. Whilst she may not have been one of profilers on the team, it was her responsibility to analyse the many cases that came past her desk and choose which one required the team most urgently.
Due to these duties, JJ was not left with much time to run errands; hence they were usually squeezed into her lunch break, or after work. The issue with this, was that it severely limited the time in which JJ was able to accomplish these errands, which was the problem that was currently at hand.
After being so involved in the past two cases that the team had handled, JJ had almost completely forgotten that it was Spencer's birthday, and as such, a party was being thrown for him at Garcia's. While JJ was more than thankful to not be the primary organizer for once, she was still required to bring a gift for Spence, which was proving to be something of a challenge.
She pondered on the difficulty of the situation as she made her way through the brightly lit sections of Barnes and Nobles; Spence was always such a challenging person to buy gifts, especially when considering that the twenty-five-year-old seemed to know all there was to know about everything and anything.
One could never go wrong with a book for Spence though, he revelled in the prospect of acquiring further knowledge, his eyes eagerly scanning the pages for new information. The only problem was which book to buy for the boy wonder, Spencer could find the same amount of joy out of a book about the lifespan of a may fly as he would in a criminal biography.
Nevertheless, JJ found herself lingering in front of the crime section of the store, something inadvertently seeming to draw her towards the section. She really wished that she could have foreseen these things though, as she perhaps would have foreseen the very small woman hurrying down the aisle with her arms piled high with papers.
However, as JJ was unable to foresee these things, she didn't see the woman until she was bumping into JJ, all of her papers tumbling to the floor as she did so. The collision seemed to knock some logic into JJ, who immediately swooped down to assist the woman in collecting what appeared to be the half-marked essays of high school students.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you there!" The frazzled woman fussed as she began shuffling her papers back into order, accepting the ones out of JJ's hands with a flustered smile. "Thank you for helping, you didn't have to" She uttered softly, her cheeks burning bright with embarrassment from the collision.
"Oh don't worry about it! You literally knocked some sense into me! I would've been standing here aimlessly for the next hour if you hadn't," JJ returned her smile with gentle one of her own. Although quite small and incredibly flustered, the woman truly was unlike anyone JJ had ever laid eyes on before.
Small and petite, the woman was evidently no stranger to her height, with her ensemble tailored to compliment her small yet curvaceous figure. Her fitted skirt and off-the-shoulder blouse served to make her seem much taller than she was, a factor that was aided by the pair of heels which adorned her feet.
"If you should be looking for a recommendation in the future, the biography about Fritzl and his underlying psychology is amazing," the shy woman offered as she shifted the pile of papers in her arms, her painted lips pulling up into a small smile before she stepped around JJ carefully, continuing on her way out of the store.
JJ glanced over her shoulder briefly as her eyes flitted over the woman's retreating figure, her mind spinning as she began inadvertently profiling the young woman. Her seemingly confident attire contrasted with her shy and meek demeanour, meaning that she had lowered self-esteem, possibly stemming from a trauma during her youth. She estimated that the woman was most likely around Reid's age, meaning she was a good two to four years younger than JJ and the rest of the team.
She shook her head in an attempt to stop herself; this was the reason why she had never pursued profiling as a career. Besides the fact that she enjoyed being the one who was able to offer support to the victims' families, she didn't want every interaction she had to be marred by accidental profiling. God knows it was hard enough to find someone willing to settle down when she was away so often, she didn't need to further complicate things by profiling every person she met.
[&&&]
Elsewhere, Lia Hunter was berating herself over the interaction she had just had with the blonde woman in the bookstore. Of all the times for her introverted nature to rear its ugly head, it had to be when Lia was in front of the most beautiful woman she had ever seen.
She balanced both the unmarked essays and newly purchased books in one hand as she used the other hand to unlock her car, dropping onto the leather seat unceremoniously as she dumped her papers in the passengers seat. Picking up her phone, she noticed two text messages; one from her mother which she deleted without even thinking about it, and the other from her cousin, Penny, detailing an event which had happened whilst she was at work. Lia let out a small laugh as she read the message, responding to it quickly before starting the ignition and beginning her drive home to an empty apartment and cat.