JJ is pacing in the master bedroom. She wants to call Reid but knows he and Rossi aren't even in Pittsburgh yet. She stops and stares out the window at the backyard. A soccer ball sits in the middle of Henry's playground.
She smiles as a memory comes to her.
"Come on, Amy! Pleeeeeeeease?" JJ whines.
"Fine, Jenny, I'll do it. But you owe me!"
The nine-year old nods her head. "I know! No problem! I promise!"
"So you'll do the dishes for me all next week?"
JJ's smile fades. "All…All week? But…I just need your help for, like, 2 hours!"
"Take it or leave it, Shrimp."
JJ stares at her sister. Someone had to go with her to the park or she couldn't go. Mark wasn't home. Their parents were busy. A bunch of kids who played in the soccer league were going to play a pick-up game. Amy grins, watching JJ try to figure out if 2 hours of fun was worth a week of dishwashing. Finally JJ sighs.
"Fine. Let me get my cleats."
Amy chuckles and raises her hands above her head. "SCORE!"
JJ rolls her eyes. "Whatever. Just don't go smooshing on that guy Jacob or I'll tell Mom."
Amy stops. "You know, Jenny, making threats is not the way to get what you want."
JJ bites her lip and just heads into her room to grab her cleats. She walks out and sees Amy still standing in the hallway. JJ rolls her eyes.
"Fine. I won't say anything if you go smooshing with him. It's gross anyway."
Amy grins. "Ten bucks says you'll think differently when you get older."
"Ugh! NO way!"
The two Jareau girls head for the park. Soon JJ is involved in a soccer game with kids of all ages. Amy stands on the sideline flirting with Jacob, who'd accompanied his little sister. Just when she thinks she might get to "smoosh" him, she hears JJ above the crowd.
"LET ME GO!"
Amy spins around. One of the older boys has her sister by the arm. Amy races out onto the field.
"HEY! Let her go!"
He shoves JJ to the ground. "Get lost, Spaz!"
Amy arrives as JJ scrambles to her feet.
"You're just mad a'cause you can't stop me from scoring. Not my fault you suck!" JJ yells at him.
The boy raises his fist as if to punch her. Amy spins JJ around behind her and gets in the boys face.
"Punch her and I'll kick your balls so far up your ass you'll choke on them!" Amy threatens the boy.
He stares at her, wondering if she would really do it. JJ just stares at her sister's back, stunned that Amy would protect her this way. Finally one of the other boys grabs the angry guy.
"Leave 'em, man. The kid is just good. There are pro's that couldn't stop some of the shots she takes. JJ is just that good!"
The boys take off. Amy turns and looks at her sister. "Are you okay, Jenny?"
JJ nod. "Yeah. He kinda hurt my arm."
Amy rolls her sister's sleeve up and sees the red mark where JJ's nemesis had grabbed her. "Damn. Mom's gonna kill me if that bruises."
JJ smiles. "Nah, I'll tell her how you stopped him from doing worse." She nudges her sister. "Thanks, Aim."
Amy pats her on the shoulder, smiling. "No problem, Shrimp. Come on, let's head home."
"Are you mad you didn't get to smoosh with Jacob?" JJ asks with concern.
Amy puts her arm around her little sister's shoulder. "Nope. I had something more important to do."
JJ smiles up at her sister as they make the walk home.
JJ wipes the tears streaming down her cheeks. She turns and heads to her walk-in closet. She goes to one of the plastic storage bins tucked in the corner. Some just hadn't been unpacked yet. This one was not meant to be unpacked. She drags it out into the middle of the bedroom.
She paces around it a moment, then kneels down and pops the lid off. She pulls out her high school letter jacket, running her hand over the 4 Varsity soccer awards, the two State Champion patches, and the captain's star. There was a time when soccer was all that mattered. Well, soccer, grades and keeping her bisexuality secret.
"My way out," she says as she sets it aside. "My way to forget."
She digs down farther and finds the wooden memory box she is looking forward. Foam letters, now dry-rotting with age, tell the significance of the box: Best Big Sister Ever! JJ had made it when she was 11 for Amy's 16th birthday. Just a few months later…
"…you were gone, Amy. God, Amy, what happened? What the fuck happened to you?"
JJ opens the box and starts to flip through the pictures, ticket stubs, other mementos Amy had cared enough to store in there. JJ had gone through it once after Amy had been found but never again. Now…now she looks through it again, this time with a profiler's eyes.
"What did I miss, Amy? Why did you…or did you…shit…"
Tears blur her vision as she lifts up a picture showing her riding on Amy's back, chasing Mark with a water balloon. She remembered that day. Mark had been picking on JJ and kept climbing a tree where she couldn't get to him. Amy helped her even up the fight by suddenly appearing with the water balloons and offering a piggy-back ride to help chase him down.
"I loved you, Amy. I still do. What the hell happened to you? What happened to the girl in this picture?"
She sets the box back in the tub. She grabs the photo album in the bottom of it. She walks over and lies down on the bed, flipping through the pictures. JJ had put it together the Saturday after Amy's funeral. She had tracked down every picture she could find, placing them carefully on the pages in chronological order, resetting entire pages if she found one photo she had missed. She had worked on it for almost 16 hours without a break. Her mother had brought her food; her father had brought her a soda.
"Did I even eat or drink them? I know they brought them to me but did I even touch them? I was…obsessed with making this perfect." She wipes away a tear that drops onto the page. "Making it…it perfect since her life obviously wasn't."
She strokes a hand over a picture from Amy's Sweet 16. As she turns another page, Alaska stands up against the side of the bed. She looks at him. He tilts his head to the side, as if asking what's wrong. She can't help but smile.
"You really are a cute pup, aren't you."
His ears perk forward as he lets out a big yawn. JJ sighs.
"Don't tell Emily."
She leans over and pulls him up onto the bed. He cuddles up to her and rolls onto his back. She chuckles and starts to scratch his tummy. She finds that perfect spot and laughs as his back leg starts to shake. Finally she stops and just pulls him close. He buries his nose in the crook of her neck. She strokes him as he falls asleep.
Soon the emotions of the morning catch up to her and she follows him into slumber. When Emily pokes her head in to check on her wife she can't help but smile. She pulls out her phone and snaps a photo of JJ and Alaska cuddled up together on the bed.
She steps to the bed and looks at the photo album still lying there. Not wanting it to get damaged she moves it to the side table and leaves, letting JJ get some rest. If this bastard turned out to be telling the truth her wife won't be getting much sleep until the whole sordid tale is told.