A/N: Hello. This little two-shot was written for CCOAC forum's Mix and Match Challenge and I am very, very late in getting this out. My pairing and prompts were: JJ/Hotch; Texas, bicycle, rainstorm, and class. The prompts will be spread over the two chapters. Title of this story is It Will Rain, inspired by Bruno Mars' song of the same name. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.
Chapter 1:
JJ stared down the wide, busy hallways of the University of Texas, or UT as the students fondly referred to it. She was absolutely ready to give up and head back to the hotel.
"How could you lose him?"
She turned her perturbed glared on the emotionally stunted male to her right. "How could I lose him?" she replied, her voice rising an octave or two as her anger at him continued to simmer beneath the surface. "You were the one who said, 'Go ahead, Reid, we'll catch up.'"
That last bit was done in her best monotone Hotch voice, the one she'd been practicing ever since they'd broken up almost two weeks ago.
"Never mind the fact that this is so not the time or place to have that conversation…" she fumed, crossing her arms over her chest.
JJ, Hotch, and Reid had been tasked by Strauss to come to Austin and do a guest lecture to a Psych 101 class, something they normally didn't do. JJ had a theory that the bothersome Section Chief had known about their secret-from-the-bureau month long relationship and their subsequent break-up, and had sent them there as punishment. Throwing Reid into the mix was an added nice touch.
"What was I supposed to do, JJ? You haven't given me a chance to explain myself—" Hotch protested.
She held up her hand to his face. He'd broken her heart, that's all there was to it. What more did he have to explain?
"Can we just find Reid and go?" she cut him off tersely.
"Fine," he said gruffly. "Let's get this over with," he muttered under his breath.
JJ glanced at him unsurely; he had such a look of finality on his face that she wondered if maybe she'd finally pushed things too far.
He hurried forward and she had to push the worry from her mind, lest she lost Hotch in the crowd, too.
They had tried calling Reid but, either their cell service was acting up or he was just plain ignoring them. If it was the former, she did not want to lose Hotch without potential phone coverage. And if it was the latter, well, she was going to kill her son's Godfather.
On and on they walked the sunny Austin campus until an hour later there was still no sign of the genius and their moods had plummeted further.
Hotch exhaled a resigned breath. He dropped himself onto a bench and said, "I give up."
A voice in her head told her to resist the urge to comment, but she didn't listen. She was just too mad for words. "What else is new?"
JJ was thoroughly stunned when he suddenly yelled at her. "That is not fair, JJ!"
People stopped in their tracks, just as surprised as she was by his outburst. He'd never ever raised his voice to her. "Hotch, I—"
"No, you know what, I tried to explain. Now, I'm done," he shouted angrily. He stood up. "Find Reid, or not, I don't care!"
When he started to stalk away, she remained frozen to the spot, completely bewildered by what had just happened. Oh God… that voice that had told her to shut up before, groaned inside her head. What have you done?
A tear slid down her face, bringing her back to life. She wiped it away, furiously, taking a breath, and a self-conscious look around. More eyes were on her now, some looking curious, some pitying, some downright amused. She could not stand still a moment longer and be these kids' source of entertainment. JJ forced one foot in front of the other, not knowing where she was going just thinking, 'anywhere but here…'
Twenty minutes later, she found herself in yet another cavernous hallway, still alone, still no sign of Reid. She let out a huff of a breath, deciding the best thing to do now was head back to the hotel. The sooner this day ended the better.
She pushed off the wall she'd stop to lean against and turned right, hoping for an exit. Instead, she found even more classrooms, with doors that were fully closed or slightly ajar. It was when she passed by one that was a crack open that she heard a familiar voice.
"Actually, a vector space over a field F is a set of V with two binary operations…"
It was Reid! She had no clue what he was talking about, but it was him.
Thank God! her brain screeched. She poked her head inside the classroom she'd heard his voice coming from. And sure enough, there he was at the front of the giant room that held some one-hundred students. He was inexplicably mic-ed up and the regular professor was nowhere in sight. But their notes were; and Reid was making marks all over his handheld device, having them pop on the large screen for the class to see.
It was some kind of math class that much JJ could figure out. But beyond that, she had no clue what the heck he was unexpectedly teaching.
JJ would have laughed at the situation if she weren't already so miserable over the mess with Hotch. She continued to stand at the back of the classroom, waiting for him to be done. She did not want to lose him again.
She listened to Reid lecture—he was surprisingly good at it, and had a certain charisma about him when he spoke about the topic he was so obviously knowledgeable about. Another twenty minutes later, JJ was amazed to find the class over and that she'd been so immersed in the topic—linear algebra, she'd gleaned—that for those minutes she hadn't thought about how hurt she really was.
JJ pushed off to the side to allow the students to file past her as she waited for Reid to be finished. A number of students had rushed down to have a word with her genius sidekick and she had a feeling, by the comments that she heard from the students, that they weren't going to be harsh words. In fact, looking down at Spencer, she could see him beaming. Well, at least one of them was enjoying themselves.
Finally, the last few students trickled out, all that was left was Reid and a young woman who she assumed was the professor. They were chatting and laughing, JJ couldn't hear what was being said. At one point, Reid looked up to the exit and seemed startled to see her standing there.
She gave him a wave and a look that she hoped conveyed her fineness with him taking his time. After all, she didn't want everyone to be miserable just because her life sucked. But the look must have fell short because he frowned at her. And the next thing she knew the Professor was hurrying up the steps.
The woman gave her a smile. "Your friend's smart… and cute," she said by way of greeting, no accent in sight.
JJ glanced down at Reid who was busy getting his things together. She hoped he hadn't been oblivious to this woman's crush on him. But knowing him… She quickly pulled her card from her pocket. Flipping it over, she wrote her friend's cell number on the back.
She handed it to the woman; she took it with a hesitant glance back at Reid. "I couldn't…" But the blush on her face totally said she could and would.
Good, Reid can at least get something out of this stupid trip. "We're here until tomorrow afternoon…"
The Professor offered her thanks and was on her way.
A moment later, Reid climbed the stairs meeting her at the very top of the lecture hall.
She gave him a smile. "You're good."
He grimaced. "What happened?" he asked, instead, more perceptive than she'd ever given him credit for.
Despite her feelings on useless girly-ness and waterworks, she abruptly wrapped her arms around her tall and skinny male best friend, letting the tears slide down her cheeks at will, now. God, she was standing in a University of Texas classroom, hugging her friend, bawling her eyes out. Could this day get any better? she thought sarcastically.
With the tears came the words to describe the earlier incident with Hotch. She pulled away, once done, sniffling unattractively. Reid drew her back in, cupping her face with both hands, using his thumbs to wipe away the residual tears in a surprisingly tender gesture. "Oh, JJ…" he breathed out, the sadness in his voice cutting through her.
She swatted at his chest. "This is all your fault, you know…" she accused jokingly.
"My fault?"
"Yeah, if you hadn't left to become Super-Professor, me and Hotch wouldn't have been left alone… and he wouldn't have blown up at me," she replied, slightly less jokingly.
Reid looked at her pityingly. "I hate to tell you this, JJ, but that was inevitable…"
"What?"
"He's been trying to talk to you forever… there's only so much brushing off a man can take," he said knowingly.
She turned away in annoyance. Though, if she looked deep inside she would see that Reid was right and the person she was truly annoyed with at the moment was herself. "Well, now I regret giving your number to that cute Professor…"
"What?"
JJ turned around and smiled at Reid, knowing he was just trying to help. "You're welcome."
He let out a nervous sigh. "Let's get out of here," he finally managed to say.
Walking through the halls, the melancholy from before came rushing back. "He's done with me, Spence…"
"He's not." She gave him a quizzical look. "The question is are you done with him?"
She furrowed her brow at him. "Never was. He broke up with me."
Reid's mouth formed a thin line. "He had his reasons…"
"Reasons that he's been trying to tell me…" she finished for him. "And I've been pushing him away this whole time. God, am I an idiot or what?"
Reid opened his mouth to reply. "Don't answer that, Reid," she warned.
A minute later, Reid spoke up. "What are you going to do the next time he tries to talk to you?"
"If he does," she scoffed.
"He will."
"Fine, when he does… I'll listen."
The words were easy to say, but she loved him and he'd ultimately broken her heart; it wasn't easy being in the same room with him, let alone standing face to face.
That's it for the first chapter. Next chapter will be up soon. And the rating will be going up. Hope you like and that you'll let me know what you think with a review. Thanks!
I've got one last message from Chit Chat on Author's Corner Forum:
THE AWARDS SEASON HAS COMMENCED! Nominations have opened for the third annual Profiler's Choice Awards for Criminal Minds' fandom! Please visit Chit Chat on Author's Corner forum for the nomination ballot, rules and guidelines and category definitions. Please review ALL information BEFORE submitting your nomination ballot. Nomination ballots must be received by October 15, 2012. Fics for consideration must have appeared on the CM section of between September 1, 2011, and August 31, 2012 (see rules for full details.)