One hundred and eighty days. I just need to survive for one hundred and eighty more days…
Jennifer Jareau had always been a very hard headed individual, and her mother always said she had inherited that trait from her father, while her father argued the same thing right back. It was a never ending cycle in the Jareau household, due to constant rebellious acts performed by the only child and perpetual bickering between the two authoritative figures, it was as though none of them could catch a break. Sandy blamed her daughter's tendencies to disobey their word on the fact that they had lost their oldest daughter, Rosaline, in what she seemed to refer to as a "freak accident." Every time JJ heard that term, her eyes practically rolled out of her head, and on multiple occasions she actually replied with, "Ah, yes, because slashing your own arms is such a freak accident, right?" in front of the entire family, causing her to get scolded right then and there. But it was true. It was not a freak accident. Jennifer knew that. Hell, Jennifer was the one who found the older blonde bleeding out in the washroom. The sight stayed with her, never left her, and never would.
East Allegheny, Pennsylvania. Nothing exciting ever happened in East Allegheny. Nothing. There were hardly enough kids to comprise Jennifer Jareau's soccer team. Nonetheless, everyone in the area had to make the best of it. The best way to stay out of trouble in an area as such was to keep busy. Sports, school clubs, volunteer work, schoolwork, helping out on the farm, it seemed as though even in this tiny community the Jareau girls had something to do. Constantly. There was a lot of pressure on the eldest of Jareau daughters. Rosaline was the token highschool girl; from her beautiful blonde hair, to her naturally slim body, to the way her freckles showed perfectly after the summer months, all the way to her straight A's in school, her being captain of the varsity soccer team, and with a nearly guaranteed full ride to Penn State. The pressure never truly stopped for the oldest blonde, and it was apparent that it was all getting to her. That was not the only thing that Rosaline had that caused a decline in her mental health.
She had noticed it in junior high for the first time ever. The way that she was not drawn to the boys of her grade, the way that the girls in the locker room would constantly gossip and about their boyfriends or crushes, and the way they would whisper about Rosaline keeping her mouth shut. She had no desire to be with a boy. She had no desire to gossip and drool over boys. It just was not her. Not that it truly mattered to anyone in East Allegheny, but the Jareaus just could not have their perfect reputation tarnished. So when Rosaline brought her first girlfriend home to meet her family, there was dead silence. Her mother and father did not even acknowledge the fact that Rosaline was home, ignoring the guest and completely pushing the two of them aside. Jennifer, however, had limped out of the kitchen after badly spraining her ankle in soccer practice, her eyes going wide at the guest. She wondered silently why her parents were ignoring the two girls, but then noticed that both her sister and the other girl were crying. The small girl limped over to the two of them and, tending to the guest first out of courtesy, Jennifer wrapped her arms around the girl's waist, causing her to freeze for a moment. When JJ felt the other girl tense up, she pulled back awkwardly and looked down to her feet, although only one was on the floor. Suddenly, JJ was being hoisted up by her older sister, who squeezed her half to death she swore, and Jennifer Jareau knew at that moment that she had done something good.
When the guest had left (which wasn't long after), Jennifer was sent up to her room. It made her a little nervous to go upstairs because everyone seemed either very sad or very mad… JJ never liked that. She fought at first, looking to her mother with big, pleading eyes, but the older woman insisted that JJ go upstairs without even taking another one of the little girl's words into consideration. With a few huffs, JJ hobbled up the steps, using the railing to practically pull herself upstairs to her bedroom. Despite her mother's orders, Jennifer left the door partially open and flopped back onto her bed, opening up one of the small books that had been sitting on her bedside table. She truly had no idea how long she was laying there, but she woke up to the sound of a door slamming. The tiny girl sat up and began to hear angry mumbles and even yelling from downstairs and it caused her to stand up. 11:46 pm the clock next to her bed read. She had been asleep for so long and now there was yelling!? What had she missed?
The small girl made her way to the stairwell, looking down from the completely darkened upstairs down to the illuminated kitchen and she spotted her mother. JJ gave her a small wave and a smile, but she immediately stopped when she saw that her mother was crying. What was going on? Instinctively, Jennifer began the descent down the flight of stairs, but her father looked up and caught sight of her, immediately swooping in to help her. He picked her up with ease and shook his head, his features showing his exhaustion clearly.
"Nuh uh, monkey. It's bedtime for you. Mom and I are sorry for waking you up. Everything is going to be just fine, okay? Honey? Everything is going to be just fine…"
As the weeks passed, Jennifer began to heal and the Jareau parents were back on their toes in attempts to corral her. It seemed that all of their energy was spent on JJ. Their parents, did not seem to recognize the lack of sparkle in her brown eyes, the way she snapped at little Jennifer much more than usual, the way the blonde spent all day up in her room with no intentions of coming out. Ever, it seemed. No. The only shift in Rosaline that her parents chose to notice was the decline in her grades slowly, the way that she would skip soccer practices because of illnesses and injuries that never truly showed. This caused the two of them to snap constantly at the older blonde, which did not help any of the case. Once, Jennifer had even mentioned the guest that had been at the house before, which resulted in a fit of yelling from both of her parents and Rosaline in tears at the dinner table. The little girl was shocked. It was a genuine question! Of course, JJ was too young to know of anything that was going on…
It was months later before the physical toll began to set in on Rosaline. She had lost at least fifteen pounds; weight that the already slim blonde really could not afford to lose. She had bags under her eyes constantly, as though she never got more than a wink of sleep. Maybe she truly didn't. Rosaline had come close to her breaking point so many times. Too many times, actually, and one night, after yet another fit of yelling between herself and her parents, an exhausted Rosaline made her way upstairs, her dull eyes looking straight ahead with no sign of life to them. She had a plan. She had devised a plan so long ago, although nothing had pushed her quite to the edge like that night had. The older blonde had had enough. Before heading to the washroom, though, Rosaline turned into her younger sister's room, looking to the small girl who was laying in a ball on the bed, her hair in a knotty mess on the pillow. Rosaline couldn't help but to smile softly at the sight, and she walked to the edge of the bed, taking a seat and running her fingers through JJ's hair. It took a moment for the little girl to stir, but when she did, she rolled over and looked to Rosaline with a look of confusion in her eyes as she blinked the sleepiness from them.
"Your hair's a mess, you know that right, monkey?" Rosaline purred out the words softly, but as she referred to JJ's nickname, her breath caught in her throat. The little girl had acquired the nickname after falling from a tree she had climbed when she was only nine years old. Nothing was broken, thank God, but the doctor had referred to JJ as a "lucky little monkey" and it had stayed with the family all that time. Rosaline tried to shake the memory from her mind, but tears persisted and continued to pool in her eyes. The older girl snaked both hands behind her neck and unclasped the necklace from her own neck, turning it over in her hand. She smiled softly, knowing that Jennifer loved this necklace in particular. Her sister had always loved butterflies so much. JJ's eyes watched her sister, but they widened dramatically when Rosaline leaned forward and began to clasp the necklace on JJ's neck. She cocked her head in confusion, one hand lifting up to touch the pendant that lay on her smooth skin while her eyes searched Rosaline's for any trace of a joke. There wasn't one.
"Jay. I need you to listen to me for just a moment, okay? Just listen. I want you to know that I love you so much. Okay? So much. You are the best little sister that anyone could ever ask for, you know that? I know that I have been impatient lately and I've been a little mean… But I've just been going through some… Stuff. Okay? Oh, Jenny… JJ… I love you. I want you to know that you have to believe in love, alright? It's the strongest and most amazing thing in the world, Jenny. It really is. Once you find that someone that you love, you hold onto them tight, okay?" By this time, Rosaline's cheeks were damp with the tears that streamed down them in rapid streams. JJ, who was a little confused but still touched nonetheless, looked to Rosaline as she began to cry, and very carefully she slid into her sister's lap and held onto her tight. This only prompted for more tears to fall down Rosaline's cheeks as she gripped her little sister as tightly as she could. This was it. This would be the last time that JJ would see her. It pained her to even think that way. It pained her that she would be someone who hurt the innocent little girl, but it needed to be done. Rosaline's mind had been made, and it would stay that way.
The sisters stayed and held each other for quite some time, but Rosaline knew that she needed to go. She gently lay sleeping JJ back down and kissed her forehead, then both cheeks, then her nose, and then her chin as she always did, before standing up.
"Goodbye, Jenny. I love you… I love you with all my heart…" And with that, the older girl slipped out of the room silently, closing the door partially behind herself as she headed to the washroom.
It was nearly three in the morning when JJ woke again. Ever since the spraining of her ankle, she had been having some troubles getting to sleep due to how achey it had been. The small girl rolled onto her back and gave a small sigh before sitting up, her hand immediately darting to the pendant that lay on her neck. Triumphantly, JJ puffed out her chest and stood up. She was basically a big kid now! She had the necklace to prove it! But she really did need some of the chewy pills that her mom kept in the cabinet of the washroom. They really helped with her hurt ankle, and she knew to only take one if her mom was not there to help. Only one. So with that in mind and after one big stretch, JJ partially limped her way to the washroom, furrowing her brow when she saw that the light was already on but the door was only part of the way open. The little girl gave a small shrug and pushed the door open, not even registering what she was seeing at first. It took her a minute, her eyes going as wide as they possibly could, before she released the most bloodcurdling scream that anyone on the property had ever heard.
Blood. There was so much blood. As soon as Jennifer had released the scream, she completely forgot the pain in her ankle and ran to where her sister lay in the porcelain bathtub that was stained with red. The tiny girl reached into the tub and grabbed her sister's wrists, both of them slit straight up the middle with no hopes of being able to be repaired. JJ didn't know this, though, and she grabbed ahold of Rosaline's wrists shaking them in order to rouse her pale sister.
"Ros!? Ros!? Please? Please!? What happened!? I don't know what happened!" JJ screamed her words and shook her head as her father burst into the washroom, his eyes going wide as well. Sandy appeared behind her husband and released a scream, immediately grabbing Jennifer by the waist at her husband's command. The last thing she wanted to do was leave their oldest daughter there like that… But Jennifer needed to be taken away from the scene as soon as possible. With JJ struggling in her arms, Sandy pulled her downstairs and sat her down on the couch, her arms wrapped around her daughter's tiny frame while she waited for her to calm down. She had dialled 9-1-1 somewhere in the mix between trying to calm Jennifer down and trying to come to terms with what happened, but that phone call seemed to have not even had happened. It was all a dream. This was all a dream. A nightmare. It had to be. Sandy looked to JJ's pyjamas, the shirt that she had gotten from her soccer coach as a Christmas gift and her purple pants both soaked in her own sister's blood. For God sakes… What had Rosaline done?
Occasionally, JJ was stuck reliving the day over and over again. It was still somewhat fresh in her memory even though it had happened a little over seven years ago. People around the town still gave her the exact same Goddamn look and she could still hear the whispers as she passed people in the hall. It was as though they figured she could not hear them at all. Well, joke was on them, she supposed. One hundred and eighty days. That was all JJ had to last for until the stupid school year was over. Until stupid senior year was over. JJ was still pulling herself out of her trance when suddenly she bumped into someone, all of her books spilling from her hands and a loud groan escaping her lips. Without even pausing to look at the other person, JJ mumbled her apologies and bent down to pick up the spilled contents of her arms, however, she stopped as soon as she felt a hand on her arm. With hesitation, Jennifer looked up and met with the most beautiful pair of brown eyes that she had ever witnessed before… A pair of eyes that belonged to an equally as beautiful face. That was it. At that moment, Jennifer Jareau was done for, captivated, enticed, and it all started with four simple words.
"Hello. I'm Emily Prentiss."