A.N. This story follows The Clone, and makes liberal reference to it. So it's best to read that one first!

The Clone was inspired by my noticing a change in JJ's behavior toward Reid in recent seasons of the show. There was much eye rolling, sarcastic grinning and general non-support. And I wondered whatever would possess her to treat him so poorly. We found the answer there, and here we find the fallout...or the Consequences.

Making a point to get this up while we still have power...last year it was gone for over a week!

Consequences

Chapter 1

No one, perhaps not even Strauss herself, was more invested in the director's sustained sobriety than was the pair of young BAU profilers. They knew that a relapse on her part might threaten one or both of their careers, or possibly even the entire BAU team. As the months passed by, Reid was grateful for every day that their superior declined to challenge JJ or himself. He knew the odds were against them, given the usual rate of relapse, but he also knew that the odds were created by events at both ends of the spectrum.

Maybe she'll be one of the exceptions. Maybe it really will be all right, like I told JJ.

The thought of JJ brought a twinge of doubt. Things were not entirely smooth on that front.

At least now we're talking again. Sort of. For a minute there, I actually thought we were more than talking. But, once again, I was wrong. I may be able to read 20,000 words a minute, but I obviously can't read human behavior. At least, not when the human isn't an unsub.

It had been several months since Reid's crisis with Strauss, and his reconciliation with JJ. The tension was considerably eased, but not absent. JJ had been much more like the person who'd been so long his best friend. But she'd also maintained an uncharacteristic reserve. She was there, supportive and within reach, and yet she was not. Reid felt a wall slowly being constructed between them once again.

Is it Strauss? Has she threatened her again? Or has she threatened me again? Is JJ keeping it from me?

He was determined to find out. He'd suffered through the distance between them before, and realized that she had suffered, too. But how to break through it now?

He thought about using Henry, then immediately felt bad about it. One part of his brain was concocting a plan to use a visit with Henry to get some time alone with JJ. But he loved the boy too much to use their relationship as a tool. I'll see him this weekend anyway. If we get a chance to talk, so be it. If not, I'll just have to deal with it.

It had been over a month since he'd seen his godson, between away cases and other commitments interfering. He was supposed to visit with him on Saturday.

Friday afternoon, JJ wandered over to Reid's cubicle under the guise of bringing him a cup of coffee, ignoring the steaming one that was already on his desk.

"Hi."

"Hi. Is that for me?"

"Yeah, sorry, I see you have a full cup. I just needed to take a break and thought…."

"Thanks, JJ. That was very thoughtful." And Reid politely put his own cup aside and drank from the one she'd brought him.

"Spence, I know you're supposed to take Henry out this weekend…."

He was wary. This sounded like she was about to break his latest date with his godson. "I was planning on taking him to the natural history museum. He loves the dinosaurs there."

She looked at him, and then away again, was quiet for a moment. Sighed.

"Spence, I think we need to reschedule."

"Oh? He's not sick, is he?"

She reassured him. "No, he's fine. He…..we…..something else came up, and he can't make it."

She knew she'd just told her best friend that he'd been bumped for a better offer, knew his social insecurities would rise, and felt terrible about it. She tried to soften the blow.

"He was really looking forward to it, Spence, but…." She felt the penetration of the look Reid was giving her. He said nothing, but it was effective.

She couldn't look him in the eye, but she had to tell him the truth. "He's doing something with Will."

Reid sat back. Of course the boy would want to be with his father. And considering JJ and Will were no longer together, of course it would be on a weekend. Reid was conciliatory.

"Of course, JJ, he should go ahead and be with his father. He doesn't get to see him every day, and I would never want to be in between a father and his son."

He was confused about why JJ didn't look relieved. He'd just let her off the hook. He squinted at her, trying to focus in on what, exactly, was going on.

JJ caved under the look, even though Reid hadn't meant it as a challenge. Again failing to make eye contact, she reported, "Spence, Will and I are trying again."

He didn't get it. "Trying?"

She sighed again, then finally looked at him. Even though nothing had ever been spoken aloud, she knew he had feelings for her. But she flatly refused to have the conversation with herself, about whether she might have feelings for him. I can't go there. I won't go there. I have Henry to think about.

Forcing herself to maintain his gaze, she told him. "We're trying to see if we can make it work. We're back together. For a month or so now." She paused, then added. "We're living together."

Reid had long ago learned to mask his feelings. That long practice served him well in this moment. He was surprised, and saddened. Although he'd never overtly acknowledged it even to himself, some part of him had hoped that there might be something more between them one day. This reconciliation with Will put an end to that hope.

"Oh." He searched frantically for the right words. Since they were so far from what he was actually thinking, they were proving elusive. He grasped at whatever came to mind.

"That's great, JJ. It's important for a child to have two loving parents." I should know. "I'm glad for you."

JJ was new to profiling but, she later mused, it didn't take a profiler to realize that her colleague was simply telling her what he thought she wanted to hear. Deep inside, in the part that she would never acknowledge, a voice was crying, "Fight for me, Spence!"

She couldn't hear it, and neither could he. His insecurities had, indeed, risen, blocking all other input. There was nothing left for her to do except to thank him for his understanding, and walk away.


Spending another Friday evening alone in his apartment, Reid sought out the company of a great author. He'd always found it oddly inspiring to think that someone in some distant place or time had so generously shared their thoughts that they would put them down for posterity….and thus share them with him. And so he routinely engaged them, gave his mind fully over to their ideas. It kept him from feeling lonely. Until tonight. Tonight, he felt keenly the absence of others, the absence of a particular 'other'. He'd betrayed himself, letting the idea of them having a relationship cross his mind, when he knew it would never happen. She needed to try again with Will, he understood that. He even had to root for them to succeed, for Henry's sake. He tried to suppress a pang of jealousy as he wondered what their lives were like, what warmth, and sights, and sounds, and humor were being shared in the household with the two parents and their little boy.

He felt an emptiness that was familiar, and yet not. It was something he'd felt as a boy, wondering about how his classmates' lives were different from his. It was something he'd managed to suppress for a very, very long time. And now it had been awakened. He knew intuitively that he needed to put it away again. Why want something you don't have? Maybe can't have? Why not be content?

He pulled down another book. Maybe I just need to listen to a different voice tonight.


Driving home from the BAU that same Friday night, JJ ruminated on her situation. Will was a good man, she should be able to make a life with him. And, for the sake of their little boy, they needed to try. But she always felt just that, like she was trying. It never seemed to come easily, even when they succeeded in enjoying one another. It always felt like work. But so many of her friends had told her about the need to work at a relationship. Maybe that's just what this is….the work. But how do I know when I'm having to work too hard?

She was also torn about Spence. I can't ever, ever tell him that Will blamed our separation in part on him, on our friendship. On my trying to comfort him when Emily was gone. On my choosing him as Henry's godfather. I can't tell him that Will is jealous. Even though I've never given him any reason to be.

But she knew that Will's personality became more prickly any time she mentioned Reid, or any time Reid came to visit Henry. She'd had to pull back from Reid to make a genuine effort at her relationship with Will. Part of her could understand Will's point of view. She wouldn't have been happy if he'd invited a woman over on a regular basis, no matter how platonic it might be. But he needs to understand my point of view as well. Spence was, and is, my best friend. And I don't want that to change.

She tried to make the best of the current situation. I'm sure Spence has got other plans this weekend anyway. Now he doesn't have to interrupt them for Henry.


Monday morning brought a case in Michigan. Hotch was summoning the team to the round table room.

"Hi, Spence." JJ had to double step to catch up with him. "How was your weekend?"

"Great. How was yours?"

His failure to disclose details was nothing new, so JJ didn't pick up on his attempt to cover his disappointment at not spending the time with Henry.

"It was busy. I almost couldn't wait to get back to work to get some 'down' time, you know?"

He didn't, but he knew a chuckle was the right response, so he gave it. JJ was still feeling badly about canceling with Henry and thought she had found a solution to including Reid without irritating Will.

"Spence, Henry is dying to see that new animated movie, you know, the one about the school bus?" Watching him, she could see he didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Of course not, why would he know about a kid's movie? He hasn't seen his favorite kid in over a month.

"No? Well, it's a movie about a school bus that misses the kids in the summer. Henry thinks school buses are cool, and he can't wait to see the movie." She looked sideways at him. "Do you think you'd like to take him? Maybe on Sunday afternoon?"

She was one hundred percent sure that Will would never sit through a kid's movie, and Sunday afternoon was 'a huge game for the Saints', so Will wouldn't be going anywhere. But then she realized she was presuming Reid wouldn't have plans.

"Of course, if you've got something else…"

"No, JJ, I don't. Nothing important, anyway. Nothing as important as Henry. Sure, I'd love to take him."

"Great!" Inexplicably, she felt as if a burden had been lifted.


They settled in around the table as Garcia set up the case.

"Boys and girls, we are headed to a suburb just outside Detroit. Yesterday, a hiker found a set of human remains. Some of the remains were in plain view, and some found via cadaver dog. Giving new meaning to the term 'two left feet', the medical examiner discovered just that. It appears there were two bodies in a single grave."

"And I suppose we've ruled out an ancient burial ground." Rossi was being both practical…..and sarcastic.

"Yes. The ME dates one as having died about two months ago. But the other was over a year."

Morgan needed clarificiation. "Garcia, do we know how long they were in the ground?"

"Sadly, no, my love."

"So it's possible the unsub buried both bodies in the same, grave, over a year apart?" Emily was starting the discussion.

"Or he held on to the one, and buried them both after he killed the second one." Reid offered a more grisly possibility.

JJ was thinking about both possibilities. "So, if this is someone who's gone back and buried a second body in the same location, it could mean he's still active, and planning to return over and over again to the same spot."

Reid was following her train of thought. "But if he buried them both at the same time, it could mean he's done. He's killed his targets and moved on. Or not."

"Precisely. Or, better put, imprecisely." Hotch was dangerously close to making a joke. "They're asking for our input on it. Even if the unsub is still active, this timeline…bodies a year apart….is reassuring. Unless he's already started on a second pair. Wheels up in thirty."