An/Thanks for reading! Just FYI (to all of those of you who will wish me death threats if I don't update this quickly) I will not be updating this story until at least the end of next week. Going on vacation. But, I did want to leave you with a great chapter, so I hope this does the trick.
"Come on Henry, we're going to be late for day care." JJ worried as she rushed to the car. She wasn't going to be late perse, just later than usual, and when you prided yourself on your ability to be on time, being late was unacceptable.
She hurried and fastened her small son into his car seat, cursing the many straps and buckles. She never had a car seat and she turned out fine, maybe this whole child safety thing was just a fad. As she climbed into the front seat of her blue SUV, JJ instantly noticed that her chair was scooted further back than she remembered, and her review mirror was all sorts of alignment. Blaming it on being drowsy the night before, JJ easily corrected the problem and went to back out. She didn't know why she noticed anymore, her entire life she had fixed the strange changes in her car, though she never remembered making them.
Trying to shake her sense of paranoia, JJ turned around and backed out of her driveway. As she worked to push the thoughts of fear from her mind, she failed to notice the black Cadillac parked just a few feet from her house.
"Agent Jareau." Angela, the receptionist said as JJ walked in for the morning. "Here are your messages."
JJ thumbed through them needlessly. Most of them had little relevance, her dad called to tell her about a new kind of bolt he was going to sell back in his hardware store in East Allegheny, Henry's daycare teacher called to remind JJ about the booster shot round that Henry needed before his first birthday. Reading through the messages, she almost didn't notice one from her aunt saying her old piano teacher had died. She thought that was strange for a moment, not that the woman died, she was nearly 90 years old--death was to be expected. But more that her Aunt Lillian thought to tell her. JJ decided that she would send the family a nice floral arrangement, after all, Nina Gordan did have to work with JJ's awful rendition of 'Chopsticks'. It was thanks to Nina that JJ was still to this day the best pianist her family had ever seen. It never crossed her mind that nothing in the death was natural.
Flashback
"Jennifer." Nina Gordan chastised as JJ hit yet another wrong note. At 10 years old, JJ lacked all the talent that her brother Johnny had exhibited at her age. "Did you not practice?"
"I was busy." JJ defended, trying to fight the urge to remind Nina that she was 'JJ' not 'Jennifer'. "I had soccer practice."
"If you never practiced soccer, you wouldn't be very good." Nina said, trying to be patient with the young woman. "Piano is the same way, if you neglect it, you won't be very talented."
"I'm trying." She complained slightly, wondering what the lady's problem was.
"Not very hard." Nina countered. "Keep your fingers round, like your holding a bubble."
"Why would I be holding a bubble?" JJ muttered under her breath. This was seriously pointless, if it weren't for the fact her mother made her, JJ wouldn't be caught dead playing the piano.
"I never had this problem with Johnathon." Nina grumbled bitterly, instantly regretting it as she saw small tears swell in the young blonde's eyes. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
"No, its fine." JJ lied. "May I go home please?"
Nina nodded, remorseful that she had even thought to be so callous. "Yes you may."
"I promise to practice." JJ said, silently swearing to herself that she would be as good as Johnny had been. Though it was years ago, she still remembered the sweet piano music that filled thier home before he 'went away' as her mother called it.
As she rushed out the door and climbed onto her bike, she didn't notice the man in a beat up pick up truck watching her intently.
"Come in." JJ called as she heard a light rapping on her office door. It was sheer torture to be stuck in here alone all day, so any visitor was well received by her.
"Hey JJ." Hotch said as he let himself in, smiling tentatively at the blonde. "I was wondering if you still needed help fixing that lock."
"Oh, yes." JJ exclaimed, having nearly forgotten. The previous week she had woken up to her lock sticking funny, it would turn just fine that night and in the morning--the door was practically wedged open. Sadly, this was not the first time her back door had become more than an annoyance. Since the door only opened to her fenced-off backyard, it was only a nuisance. With Will gone, and not knowing any good handymen in her area, she had resorted to the next best thing, Hotch. "If you could help me with that, I would really appreciate it."
"I'll be by after work if that's alright with you." Hotch announced, grinning despite himself at JJ's joyful expression. He found that JJ was a person who was easy to please, something he found very endearing.
"That's great." JJ smiled, happy to be getting her door fixed. Maybe if she was lucky, she could persuade him to take a look at her bathroom light. "I'll even buy Chinese."
"Like you need much of an incentive to do that." Hotch retorted, slightly mocking JJ's love for oriental food.
"Hey, its not my fault. We never eat it on cases because Reid can't wield a pair of chopsticks and soy sauce is delicious." JJ defended. "I have no choice."
"Well, I will see you and your Chinese food at seven." Hotch chuckled as he reached for the door. Before he could step out though, he noticed a small something on the floor. Stray papers weren't unusual in JJ's mess of an office, but as he bent to pick it up, he noticed something. It was a picture of JJ. "I think you might have dropped this." He said, reaching it over to her.
"Why do I have a picture of me walking to my car in the parking garage?" JJ asked rhetorically, sizing up the photo. It wasn't a bad picture of her, just one that she had no idea she had. "That's strange." She shrugged, deciding it was nothing. If anything, it was probably a picture that Morgan had taken for a prank that he dropped when he was in her office last. Morgan was always doing weird things like that.
"Is it anything I should be alarmed about?" Hotch asked, not knowing why there was a sudden feeling of uneasiness coming over him. It was just a picture, there was no reason why he should feel worried about it.
"Nah, its nothing." JJ insisted, throwing the photo in the trash bin next to her desk. "I will see you and your highly appreciated toolbox at my house." JJ smiled, glad that her boss was willing to help her out in the manual labor department.
He really hated Aaron Hotchner. Jennifer's boss was getting to cozy with his soul mate, and boundries needed to be drawn. He knew Jennifer's "Hotch" was just an insignificant little thing, not worthy of his time or energy, but he felt himself coil with anger all the same. One day, Hotch would pay restitution for all the harm he had done to his and Jennifer's love, but until then, he would just have to tolerate him as man tolerated termites before an exterminator.
"Hey." JJ smiled as she answered the door for Hotch. "There's my free labor."
"Who said it was free?" Hotch teased. "I'm working for Chinese food."
"Funny." JJ smiled as she let him through her door. As per usual, her house was a tad bit messy, not that Hotch noticed much. Every time he came into JJ's house, he was surprised at how lively it was. Even before Henry, JJ's home personified personality, almost as much as Garcia's. His own home seem cold in comparison, though that wasn't hard.
"So where is the lock that needs fixing?" Hotch questioned, lugging around his red tool box.
"Yeah, on the back door." JJ informed appreciatively. "It keeps sticking and I would just really like to be able to shut it again." She ushered him to her kitchen table where her favorite chinese take out was piled.
"I'll fix this real quick and then we can eat." Hotch said, breaking out his screwdriver. The lock seemed to be jammed, like something had been thrust in there to keep the door unlocked. Hotch was sure that JJ wasn't jimmying her own lock, so he assumed that something must have gotten in inadvertently, never suspecting that the lock was broken for a reason. With a few twists, Hotch surveyed his handy work with pride. He managed to fix the door that had been irritating JJ for months in a matter of minutes.
"You're a life saver." JJ smiled gladly, happy to finally be able to shut her door all the way. "You are worth every penny I spent on the food."
"I get that a lot." Hotch chuckled, letting himself up from the squatting position he had been in. "So what do we have here?" He asked as he sat at JJ's kitchen table, pulling up a chair for her as well.
"I got some orange chicken and the beef and broccoli." JJ said, placing some plates on the table and opening the large containers.
"This looks great." Hotch thanked, his head turning slightly to catch JJ's eye. However, he noticed something and turned around quickly. "Wait."
"What?" JJ asked in confusion, not noticing what was suddenly so interesting about her house.
"You own a piano?" Hotch inquired, getting up and walking toward the piece of musical furniture. "I had no idea that you even played."
"My mom tried really hard to keep me well balanced. She'd only allow me to play soccer as long as I was doing something to refine myself in other ways." JJ explained, smiling at Hotch's shocked expression. "Piano was the best way I was able to do that."
"Still, I took piano lessons for years and can barely manage "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". Are you any good?" Hotch asked, already suspecting the answer.
"Erm." JJ said elusively, "I began practicing really hard when I was about ten. My teacher told me I wasn't as good as my brother, I had to prove her wrong." JJ blushed slightly, attempting to dodge his question.
"Are you going to play me anything?" Hotch asked hopefully, not knowing what to expect. Part of him was shocked that JJ played the piano, and part of him had known it all along.
"I don't know." JJ said softly, not knowing if she wanted to play for her boss. It wasn't a matter of whether she was good or not. She was fantastic and she knew it. It was just a little embarassing show casing her secret talent like that.
"What? Are you afraid?" Hotch taunted, knowing that any teasing from him would ignite that fire with in JJ that would give him exactly what he wanted.
"Fine." JJ conceded, plopping down on the piano bench. "What do you want to hear?"
"How about..." Hotch began as he searched through the music piled haphazardly on top of JJ's piano. Like everything else in JJ's life, her piano was subject to a survivable cluttered mess. "This one."
"Kaleidoscope?" JJ asked unsure, it had been a while since she had played that one. "If you insist." She shrugged as she began to tune out the world around her. When JJ played, the world around her faded into nothingness, the only thing living being her and the music that surrounded her. This tunnel vision began easily with the plucking of the first few notes. Slowly, she began to play more intensely, her eyes focusing on the music in front of her, never looking down as her fingers flew. Hotch could tell within moments that JJ loved it, as she focused entirely on the music being played, there was a smile continually dancing on the edge of her lips. He had never seen such intensity in his life than he saw at that moment, JJ pounding on the keyboard. Softly ending with the last peaceful notes, JJ looked over at Hotch.
"What did you think?" She asked rhetorically, noticing that Hotch seemed moved by the piece played. This lifted her spirits ever so slightly, she always enjoyed Hotch being impressed with her and this was no exception.
"I had no idea you could do that." Hotch said truthfully, trying to contain the stunned expression he was sure his face held. "JJ, I've never heard anything like it."
"I will take that as a compliment." She chortled softly. "Thanks." She smiled slightly, trying to interperate what the strange look in Hotch's eyes meant. It was moments like this where JJ felt like the peace between them was too full to disperse. There was a feeling of wholeness around Hotch that she found no where else.
Blinking, Hotch tried to overcome himself. "Ermm...We should eat."
"Alright." JJ said, biting the corner of her lip as she got up and walked to the table. This new form of conversation between them was strained, but meant more to JJ than she would have ever thought. She was finding herself in a new and different sort of terrain with Hotch, and she wouldn't have it any other way.
He felt disgusted as he watched them settle down together to eat. They looked just like a little family, it was sickening. He tried to control his fury at the music Jennifer had played for the unworthy Unit Chief. Jennifer was his, she was supposed to save that music for him. Didn't she understand that she was breaking the heart of the only person who loved her? Her foolishness would be paid for in the end, but Aaron Hotchner was finding himself creeping onto a long list of people who needed to be stopped and punished. A list that niether Damien or Nina had managed to get off of alive.
An/ Anyway, let me know what you thought. Have a great week :)
