A/N: Complete, sickly sweet fluff! Because it's a Friday night and I don't want to write anything else. And because I love JJ, Will and Henry. Henry's probably a little older than in the show here. Enjoy! :) x
Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Criminal Minds.
Jennifer Jareau was an FBI agent. She prided herself on being tough. She could handle some of the most evil human beings on the planet. Serial killers did not faze her. So how hard could it be to get one small child to school?
/
"Are you sure you can manage?" Will asked leaning over his half-asleep wife. He had an unusually early shift and was already dressed for work, while she still lay in bed.
"Of course I can," she yawned, stretching across the bed and enjoying the fact that she had at least another twenty minutes of warmth to enjoy while Will had to leave for work. She had a rare late start that morning and was taking over Will's normal duty of the morning school run.
"He's a bit of a handful in the mornings," Will warned, kissing her on the forehead.
"He's a child," she mumbled. "I think I can handle our son." Will laughed.
"Whatever you say, cher." He kissed her again, this time on the lips, before standing up to leave. "See ya later Momma bear."
/
/
A little later, JJ stood at the stove, making pancakes for her and Henry's breakfast. It had been so long since she'd had time to make a proper breakfast before heading to work and she was suddenly very jealous of Will and his more regular working hours.
"Momma, I'm sick," Henry announced, appearing in the kitchen, still dressed in his batman pyjamas. JJ looked up from the pancakes, a flash of concern for her child surging through her body, until she saw the cheeky grin on his face.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" she played along.
"I got a…" he paused, chewing his lip as he thought. "I got a cough!" he exclaimed, a spark of inspiration lighting up his face. JJ narrowed her eyes at him and he forced two small, and highly unrealistic, coughs. "So I can't go to school." He skipped across the room towards the table and stood on his tiptoes to try to steal some berries from the bowl on the table.
"You don't look very sick to me." JJ folded her arms across her chest and tilted her head to one side, widening her eyes at her son. He mimicked her gesture and giggled. She struggled to keep her expression stern. "Sit up at the table and I'll get you your breakfast."
"OK, Momma," he grinned climbing onto one of the chairs.
"And once you've had breakfast, you can get ready for school," she told him, sliding two pancakes onto his plate.
"Not going to school," he stated defiantly, shovelling a forkful of food into his mouth.
"It's not up for negotiation, kid," she informed him.
Ten minutes later, Henry had finished his breakfast and jumped down from the table.
"Get upstairs, get dressed and brush your teeth," JJ instructed, as he dashed out of the room. She returned her attention to the washing up. This wasn't so bad. She couldn't understand what Will complained about.
/
/
Another ten minutes passed before JJ called up to Henry. In that time she had finished cleaning up the kitchen and was feeling very pleased with herself.
"Henry!" she shouted. "Are you almost ready?"
"Yes, Momma!" came his unconvincing reply. She followed the sound of his voice to his room, and to her dismay, found him playing with his toys and still wearing his pyjamas.
"Henry LaMontagne!" she exclaimed, standing in his doorway with her hand on her hip. "Why aren't you dressed?"
"I can't go to school 'til all the people are safe," he explained, as though his mother was missing the obvious. He turned his attention back to his action figures, picking up superman and swooping him through the air to knock an evil teddy bear off his bed.
"Are all the people safe yet?" JJ asked, her sarcasm undetectable to her small child.
"Not yet." Superman left the fallen bear alone and readjusted his focus to the terrifying papier mâché monster which perched on the top of the toy box.
"How about now?" JJ's patience was waning. Henry looked up as he contemplated his answer. "Teeth. Now." she commanded, before he had a chance to find any other villains to defeat. Henry reluctantly left his game alone and tramped off towards the bathroom. JJ headed for her own room to get ready for work.
/
/
A little while later JJ heard the sound of the springs creaking on Henry's bed. Frowning slightly, she finished buttoning up her shirt and went to check on her son. She was greeted with the sight of a small boy bouncing up and down on his bed, with one of Will's shirts tied around his shoulders like a cape. And he was still clothed, head to toe, like batman.
"Henry," JJ sighed exasperatedly as she shook her head.
"Superheroes don't go to school," he grinned as he continued bouncing.
"This one does," JJ told him sternly. He ignored her and jumped even higher. "Superheroes don't jump on their beds." She adopted a different tactic.
"This one does!" Henry spluttered, barely able to get his words out between giggles. JJ took a deep breath and counted to ten in her head before scooping the laughing boy into her arms and setting him down on the floor.
"You have until the count of three to get dressed or I'm calling Daddy," she threatened, hating that she had to lean on Will to discipline her son. Surely he couldn't be this difficult every morning?
/
/
"OK, we've got your backpack, you're dressed and you've got your shoes on. Are we ready to go?" JJ thought aloud. Henry finally seemed to be under control and they were so close to heading out the door. She looked down at her little boy who was shaking his head. "What are we missing?"
"My book," he answered, scuffing his shoes on the hall floor. JJ swore under her breath and was immediately thankful that he didn't hear her.
"Where us it?" she asked, remembering that Will had been helping Henry with his reading homework when she came home the previous night.
"Under my bed," he answered disinterestedly.
"Can you go and get it then?" she asked. "Your superhero mission is to collect it as fast as you can," she added, hoping he might do as he was told if it was a game. To her relief he raced straight upstairs and towards his bedroom. "I'm timing you," she called when he seemed to be delayed inside.
"Got it!" he shouted. Smiling, convinced that her move had worked, she picked up her purse and got ready to leave.
"Momma!" Henry shouted from the top of the stairs and she spun round to be met with a jet of water to her face. "I found my water gun!" he called gleefully as she dripped all over the hall.
"Henry!" she yelled. "I'm going to have to get changed, now." She shook her head.
"I can't go to school now!" he chanted as she ran upstairs to change her shirt.
/
/
"Now, because you soaked Mommy, you don't get to watch cartoons after school today, understand?" she asked as she strapped Henry into the car. She definitely didn't trust him with his own seatbelt this morning. "And I'm going to send Daddy a text to make sure he knows that too." Henry turned away from her, sulking. "Henry, look at me," she instructed.
"I'm sorry, Momma," he pouted. Despite how far he had pushed her, her heart melted at his sad expression. She pushed his blonde curls gently out of his face.
"Why don't you want to go to school?" she asked. He continued to pout but gave no response. "Come on, you can tell me," she smiled.
"You're not at work. I want to stay with you," he explained quietly.
"But I have to go to work soon too," she reminded him.
"You're here now," he continued with a frown.
"And I'll be here tonight," she reassured him with a smile.
"Promise?" he asked. She sighed; she couldn't lie to her son.
"I can't promise. Henry, you know I sometimes have to go away to work," she explained. He nodded sadly. "But how about I promise that if I'm home tonight I'll play superheroes with you?" she offered.
"Daddy too?" he asked, his previously sad eyes lighting up.
"Yes, Daddy too," JJ agreed with a grin as she kissed her son's head and ruffled his hair. "And we can even make Daddy be the bad guy," she grinned.
/
/
That night William LaMontagne returned from a long day at work to spend most of his evening handcuffed to a chair with Henry's plastic handcuffs while Henry and JJ ran around the living room in capes made from blankets, stopping only to soak him with the water gun that had, until that morning, been lost under Henry's bed.
And the next day Henry went to school without a fuss, happy that whenever his Momma was home, they'd get to defeat the bad guys together.