Happy Monday everyone!

Here is yet another chapter, and I really hope you all will like it. This will deal with the aftermath of Alex's little fight, but it won't be the end of the issue (as I want Emily and JJ to have a chance to confront Chelsea later on in the story). It's not the happiest of chapters but I hope you'll appreciate it, and soon we will have the little family heading to the Jareau's!

Thanks for reading! -J

Chapter 3

Fuming, but knowing she needed to talk to Alex before doing anything, JJ left Garcia's lair, heading to her own office where she knew stacks of case files waited for her. Resisting the urge to text Emily, knowing it was better to tell her in person, the media liaison set to work, determined to keep her focus. Working through several files, and fielding calls, the blonde barely noticed time passing, only noting that it was almost noon when she was interrupted by the ringing of her personal phone.

"Agent Jareau," JJ answered.

"Hi Agent Jareau, this is Mrs. Mackenzie from Lowell Prepatory," the voice on the other end greeted, JJ dropping her pen in worry.

"Yes, Mrs. Mackenzie I remember meeting you," JJ said, trying to remain calm. "Is everything okay?"

"Well there has been a bit of an incident, and we have Alexandra down here at the office," Mrs. Mackenzie explained.

"An incident?" JJ asked. "What kind of incident?"

"There was a bit of a confrontation between Alex and one of the other students," Mrs. Mackenzie replied. "She's okay but someone will need to pick her up. Dean Hackett would also like to speak with either you or Agent Prentiss, though Alex tells me she's out of town."

"Yes she is," JJ said, taking a deep breath so as to calm her nerves. "I will be there as soon as possible. Thank you for calling."

JJ hung up, pinching the bridge of her nose and taking a few minutes to calm herself down before finally getting up and gathering her things, knowing she would have to go talk to Hotch before leaving. Not entirely knowing what to expect since the secretary had been so vague, JJ couldn't help but worry.

Why does it always have to be when Emily's not here? JJ thought to herself as she rushed out of the office.

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Alex sat in the office, picking her nails while her knee jumped up and down nervously, avoiding the gaze of everyone in the office as she attempted to keep her emotions at bay.

Chelsea had gotten in two good punches before Spencer had intervened, pulling the girls apart, the commotion alerting their gym teacher, who came in and escorted the girls down to the office. Spencer, who knew Alex would still refuse to admit what had been going on with Chelsea, had followed them down to the office, entering Dean Hackett's office to tell her everything, while Chelsea and Alex sat at opposite sides of the main office. Alex had been unable to meet her friend's eye when she had finally reemerged, not ready to talk to anyone quite yet.

Chelsea's parents had arrived first, spending quite a bit of time talking to Dean Hackett before escorting their daughter out of the building, the blonde shooting Alex a scowl before she left.

Still nervously waiting for JJ to arrive, Alex continued to pick at her nails, fighting back tears as she replayed the locker room events over and over again in her head. The brunette had yet to look in a mirror, but she could tell by the stinging of her face that she would have a black eye. The teen's lip was also split and beginning to swell from Chelsea's second punch, blood dried around her lip as well.

"Lex," JJ called, rushing into the office, causing Alex's head to pop up. "Oh my God," JJ exclaimed taking in the teen's appearance and stopping in her tracks. "Are you okay?"

"I…I'm sorry," Alex whispered, her eyes filling with tears that she refused to let fall, taking a deep breath and blinking them away.

"Honey, what happened?" JJ asked worriedly, sitting in the chair beside Alex and taking the teen's face in her hands to get a better look.

"Ah Agent Jareau, you're here," the secretary called from where she was still sitting behind her desk. "Dean Hackett is waiting for you. Go right in."

"Lex," JJ said, following as Alex stood up.

"Can we just get this over with?" Alex asked sadly, knowing her principal was about to expose everything that had been going on.

"Okay," JJ sighed, putting a comforting hand on the teen's back and leading her towards the Dean's office.

The pair knocked, waiting until they were told to come in before entering, Alex shaking with nerves while JJ was anxious to learn what exactly had gone on.

"You must be Agent Jareau," Katherine Hackett greeted, standing from her desk to shake JJ's hand. "It's nice to meet you, although I wish it was under better circumstances. Has Alex had a chance to fill you in?"

"No, not really," JJ replied, taking a seat in front of the Dean's desk, Alex sitting beside her.

"Well from what I've gathered some words were exchanged between Alexandra, and Chelsea Shepard, one of our senior students," Dean Hackett explained, confirming JJ's suspicions. "As a result Alex slapped Chelsea, and Chelsea then retaliated by punching Alex twice. Now when her gym teacher asked the girls what happened, both girls refused to explain themselves, and it wasn't until Spencer Hastings came in that I was made aware of the whole situation; being that Chelsea has been bullying Alex for some time now," the Dean continued, turning her attention to Alex who was picking her nails nervously. "Is this true Alex?"

"I guess so," Alex replied quietly, looking down at the floor.

"Were you aware of any of this?" Dean Hackett asked, turning to JJ.

"Emily and I had our suspicions but we weren't aware it had gotten this bad," JJ replied. "We were worried though and had actually planned to talk to Alex tonight."

"Well from what Miss Hastings told me, this isn't something that has just been going on at school," the Dean continued. "Apparently Chelsea has been sending messages online as well."

"Yes I discovered that today," JJ admitted, earning a confused look from Alex. "I'm not entirely sure why Alex didn't tell anyone though."

"I was wondering the same thing myself," Dean Hackett said, both women looking to Alex who simply shrugged. "Well Agent Jareau I think you should be aware that your relationship with Alex's mother was one of the things that Miss Hastings reported that Miss Shepard had been bullying Alex about, as well as spreading some other rumors that were all untrue, and frankly unkind."

"And what exactly is going to be done about this?" JJ asked controlling the anger she felt at discovering Alex was being bullied about her and Emily.

"We have a zero tolerance policy for bullying of any kind here," Dean Hackett replied. "Chelsea will be suspended for 2 weeks, and her continued participation in the school musical will be discussed at a later date. This incident will also go on Miss Shepard's permanent records, and I would actually appreciate if you could send me a copy of the messages that Chelsea sent to Alex."

"And what about Alex?" JJ asked, knowing it was unlikely that the teen would walk away from this unpunished considering she hit the senior girl first.

"While I understand that Alex was provoked, I cannot accept physical violence of any kind," Dean Hackett explained with a sigh, wishing she could go without punishing the teen. "Alex will have to take a 3 day suspension, and since it's a long weekend that means she won't be able to return to school until next Wednesday. Because of everything she's been through I will make sure that Mrs. Greer keeps Alex on the play, and I will make sure this stays out of her records."

"That seems fair," JJ said, relieved that none of this would go in Alex's file.

"Alex, I really wish you would have come to me about this," Dean Hackett then said. "Or told someone about what was going on."

"I know," Alex replied quietly, her wide eyes filled with sadness.

"I talked to the Shepards, and I think it would be a good idea if we all sat down and discussed this issue when Chelsea returns from her suspension," Dean Hackett then explained. "I would like you and Agent Prentiss to both be here as well."

"Yes of course," JJ agreed.

"Alright well I will be in touch with you in regards to that," the Dean said, standing up, indicating that their little meeting was over. "Alex I am very sorry that you had to go through this, and I really hope that you'll come to me if anything like this ever happens again."

"Yes ma'am," Alex replied, also standing up with JJ.

"Agent Jareau, I truly am sorry for this," Dean Hackett said. "I hope you'll have Agent Prentiss contact me if she has any concerns."

"Yes of course," JJ said, shaking the older woman's hand before putting an arm around Alex. "Thank you."

The pair left the office, heading to Alex's locker to get her things before heading out to the car, Alex remaining silent the whole time.

"Are you okay?" JJ finally asked when they were in the parking lot sitting in the car.

"No, not really," Alex admitted sadly.

"Come here," JJ said, pulling the teen into a hug, rubbing her back comfortingly as she heard Alex take a deep breath, most likely to prevent herself from crying. "Why didn't you tell me and Emily what was going on?" The blonde asked when she pulled away.

"Because I knew we'd have to go to Dean Hackett, and I didn't want Chelsea to know that it was bothering me," Alex explained as JJ began rummaging through her purse, looking for something. "It didn't even really bother me at first, but then she started talking about you and Emily and I just kind of lost it."

"You shouldn't have had to handle this on your own kid," JJ said, finding a wet-one in her bag, opening the package and taking Alex's chin in her hand so she could wipe the blood off her face.

"You read my facebook messages?" Alex asked as JJ finished.

"Yes," JJ replied simply. "And I know it's an invasion of privacy and I'm sorry but I did it out of love okay? Emily and I have been so worried about you and you refused to tell us anything. I had to make sure you were okay."

Alex nodded, unable to be angry with the blonde, understanding that she was just concerned for her wellbeing.

"I'm really sorry JJ," Alex said, looking sad.

"You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for," JJ replied, leaning forward to kiss the teen on the forehead. "Now lets get you home and get some ice on that face."

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Alex was quiet on the way home and when they got back to the condo, she immediately went upstairs to change out of her uniform while JJ went to get her an icepack from the freezer. JJ's original plan was to work on a few case files that afternoon, but upon seeing how upset Alex still looked when she came back downstairs, the media liaison threw those plans out the window, handing Alex the icepack before hunkering down on the couch with her. JJ could tell that Alex was barely holding it together, but the teen, much like Emily would, refused to let herself cry, though JJ had a feeling that her resolve would break as soon as Emily returned.

JJ had been unable to reach Emily, leaving the brunette a message letting her know that everything was okay, but that she was at home with Alex and would explain everything when she got home. JJ had also let Hotch know what had happened, explaining that she couldn't leave Alex alone right now, and would work from home as much as she could.

The pair had turned on some mindless television show, sitting in relative silence as Alex alternated between icing her eye and her lip, her head eventually falling onto JJ's shoulder as the blonde began to run her fingers through long, dark locks. Just as Alex's eyes began to drift shut, the icepack almost falling from her grip, the front door opened, Emily rushing in.

"Jen?" Emily called, making her way towards the living room, dropping her bags in the middle of the floor. "What's going…Oh my God Alex! What happened?" The brunette exclaimed upon seeing the teen's face.

"I…" And just as JJ predicted, the damn broke as the teen burst into tears. "I'm s-sorry," she sobbed.

"Oh honey what happened," Emily asked worriedly, sitting down on the couch and immediately pulling her daughter into her arms.

"I…she….and…" Alex attempted to choke out as tears rushed down her face.

"Shhhh, shhhh it's okay sweetie, it's okay. Just take a deep breath," Emily said, pulling Alex tighter and kissing the side of her head. "Jen?"

"Well it turns out that Chelsea girl has been bullying Alex quite a bit for the last month," JJ began to explain. "She cornered Alex in the locker room today, making some pretty nasty comments about umm…about us," JJ said, seeing Emily pull Alex even tighter, taking a deep breath to control her anger. "Alex slapped her and as you can see Chelsea punched her twice."

"And what…what exactly is being done about this," Emily asked, the anger obvious in her voice.

"Chelsea has been suspended for 2 weeks, and her participation in the play is pending. Dean Hackett also assured me that the whole incident will be put into Chelsea's permanent records," JJ explained.

"What about Alex?" Emily asked, running her hand through the teen's hair, tears still soaking through her blouse.

"She has a 3 day suspension, since she hit Chelsea first," JJ replied. "Since it's a long weekend that means she can't go back to school until Wednesday, but none of this will be included in her records and she can continue with the play. Dean Hackett said you could call her if you had any concerns. She also wants a meeting with all of us, along with Chelsea and her parents once Chelsea's suspension is over. This uh...this has been going on online as well," JJ explained. "Chelsea was sending Alex threatening messages online, and sending them to other students as well."

"God what a…ugh," Emily said, biting her tongue.

"Are…are you m-mad?" Alex sniffed, unable to control her sobs.

"Oh no honey I'm not mad," Emily assured her, wiping a few tears off the teen's face. "Not at you at least. I'm mad at this girl, but I'm not mad at you. I wish you would have told us though."

"I-I know," Alex choked out, resting her head on Emily's shoulder, as JJ reached out and took one her of hands. "I'm…s-sorry."

"I know baby," Emily said, kissing Alex's head before sitting back on the couch, one arm still wrapped around the teen. "It's okay."

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It took a while before Alex finally calmed down, spending most of the day laying on the couch with Emily and JJ, too emotionally exhausted to do much of anything else. The teen eventually retreated to her room with Sergio, wanting to spend some time reading while Emily and JJ made dinner.

JJ could tell that Emily was doing her best to put on a brave face, but the brunette was obviously upset; angry that her daughter had to endure a month's worth of torture, and guilty that her own relationship with JJ had been one of the things used against her.

"How's Alex?" JJ asked since the brunette had checked on the teen not long before.

"She's okay," Emily replied. "She asked if I could make her an appointment with Dr. Sullivan tomorrow so I guess that's good. "

"And how are you?" JJ then asked, knowing the older brunette was barely holding it together.

"I don't know Jen," Emily admitted. "I'm mad that Alex had to go through this. I'm upset that she didn't come to us. I hate seeing her beat up like this and I just really don't know what to do for her right now."

"Hey," JJ said, moving to stand in front of the taller woman, putting her hands on her waist. "You're doing everything you can for her right now. She's upset, and probably a little embarrassed, but eventually she's going to open up. You just need to give her some time. She'll talk to you."

"Why do kids have to be so cruel?" Emily asked, leaning forward to rest her head against the blonde's.

"The girl was obviously jealous," JJ said, circling her arms around Emily's waist. "And where there's jealousy there's hatefulness. Alex is gonna pull through though. And we'll deal with the other girl when the time comes."

"Yes we will," Emily agreed, looking forward to their meeting with Dean Hackett and the Shepards in a couple weeks, wanting to make sure the senior girl stayed away from Alex for good. "Thank you for being here today."

"Always," JJ smiled, giving the brunette a kiss, Emily immediately pulling her closer, taking comfort in the blonde's arms.

Just then there was a knock at the door, the pair pulling apart and looking at each other confused.

"You expecting anyone?" Emily asked, JJ shaking her head as Emily headed for the door, looking through the peephole to find Spencer Hastings standing on the other side. "Spencer hi," Emily greeted, opening the door wider to let the teen into the condo.

"Hi, sorry to just stop by," Spencer said. "I got some homework for Alex and I thought I'd bring it by."

"Oh thank you," Emily smiled, leading Spencer further into the kitchen, standing beside JJ who had begun chopping vegetables for dinner. "Jennifer told me that you told Dean Hackett everything that happened. I know Alex didn't want to, so thank you for doing that."

"Oh, you're welcome," Spencer replied, looking a little nervous. "How is she?"

"She's upset, but she'll be okay," Emily said.

"She seemed pretty mad at me after I talked to the Dean," Spencer said sadly. "She wouldn't even look at me."

"I think she's just really overwhelmed right now," JJ assured the teen. "You did the right thing hun."

"She's up in her room," Emily added. "Why don't you bring that up to her. See how she's doing."

"Yeah…okay," Spencer agreed, making her way upstairs to Alex's room, knocking lightly on the open door, Alex looking up from where she was laying in bed reading. "I brought you some school work,' Spencer said, gesturing to the books in her hands, moving to place them on her friend's desk.

"Thanks," Alex replied quietly, marking her page before closing her book and sitting up.

"How are you?" Spencer asked just as quietly, both girls feeling uncomfortable.

"Okay," Alex replied with a shrug. "My face hurts though," she said, wiping a hand across the bruise that had already formed under her eye.

"It looks pretty bad," Spencer said, feeling bad for her friend. "Alex I'm really sorry I told Dean Hackett about everything. I know you didn't want to, but I didn't want Chelsea to get away with everything, and I really didn't want to see you get into bigger trouble. I mean she deserved that slap, and she's been so awful, I just couldn't watch you let her get away with it…"

"Spencer, Spence," Alex called out, interrupting her friend's rant. "It's okay," Alex laughed. "I'm not mad."

"You're not?"

"No," Alex replied. "I should have listened to you guys in the first place and told Emily what was going on. I let things get to far and they got out of hand. I know you were just looking out for me, so thank you."

"Anytime," Spencer laughed with relief, moving further into the room to take a seat on Alex's bed. "So how much trouble are you in?"

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"So you have an appointment with Dr. Sullivan first thing tomorrow," Emily said, leaning on the doorframe to Alex's room later that night, the teen already tucked into bed, Sergio at her side. "I'll drop you off before work, and I talked to my mother and someone from her car service will pick you up and bring you back here since JJ and I are only going in for a half day tomorrow."

"Okay," Alex replied, picking at her comforter.

"How's the face feeling?" Emily asked, the teen's lip looking a little worse than it had earlier.

"It's not too bad," Alex said.

"Okay, well try and get some sleep sweetie," Emily said, trying to not to be frustrated by the teen's short answers.

"Emily," Alex called, just as the older brunette went to turn away. "Do…could you stay?" She asked sadly.

Without answering Emily walked fully into the room, getting into bed beside the teen, who immediately curled into Emily's side as Emily wrapped her arms around the smaller brunette.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," Alex said quietly.

"I know," Emily said, running her hand through the teen's long hair. "Why didn't you tell me though?"

"I was embarrassed," Alex admitted. "I didn't want Chelsea to know she was getting to me. I mean at first it didn't even really bother me, but then it just kept getting worse and worse," the teen explained. "And then when she started saying things about you and JJ I just…I just couldn't handle it anymore, and before I knew it I was slapping her."

"Well she had it coming for her," Emily said, laughing as Alex giggled softly. "I'm sorry that she was bullying you about that…about me I mean."

"Don't be," Alex said, pulling back a little to look her mother in the eyes. "I'm not ashamed of you and JJ. Some people are just idiots."

"You got that right," Emily smiled, kissing Alex's forehead as the teen once again rested her head against Emily's shoulder.

"You know when I got that part in the play it finally felt like everything was going well," Alex said quietly. "I mean I was happy about you and JJ, and then the baby. I was really starting to feel better, and then she starts on me," Alex explained sadly, Emily pulling her a little closer, feeling tears beginning to sting at her eyes at the teen's confession. "I'm just so tired of feeling sad."

"I know honey, I know," Emily said, a single tear escaping down her cheek as she felt a wet spot forming on the shoulder of her pajama shirt indicating that Alex was crying too. "It's going to be okay now," she assured the teen.

Not wanting to leave her, Emily simply pulled Alex closer, knowing the teen was probably exhausted by now. Alex's tear subsided rather quickly, her breathing beginning to even out as she let her eyes drift shut. "I love you sweetie," Emily whispered, feeling her own eyes falling closed.

"Love you too," Alex mumbled, draping an arm around the older brunette, both females succumbing to sleep.