Chapter 3
JJ refused to make eye contact with the doctor. The doctor was a middle aged man, completely stereotypical. He had dirty blond hair that accented his chiseled jaw and chocolate brown eyes. His posture was sturdy, like that of a confident speaker. He seemed uncomfortable with the distance JJ was creating between the two. She caught him staring at her, glancing suspiciously like he was trying to figure her out. And in that moment JJ finally realized how other people felt when the BAU would talk to them...profiling, specifically.
"Jennifer, are you allergic to any medication?"
JJ kept silent but shook her head. She looked over her right shoulder where a painting of a garden decorated the wall. JJ could only wish she was instead lounging in the grass rather than being questioned and prodded in the confined walls of this dingy hospital.
The doctor took a deep breath, loud enough for JJ hear and immediately close her eyes.
"Do you mind walking me through the events of last night?"
"Yeah, actually I do mind. Your job is to wrap up my injuries and collect my money." JJ retorted spitefully.
"Jennifer, I'm here to help." The doctor paused. "I want to help the best I can, and often times we've been more helpful when we know exactly how injuries are sustained."
JJ shook her head and kept her head turned from him.
"Would you be more comfortable with Doctor Hannah Mitchell?"
JJ quickly glanced over at him before looking away.
"I'll go see if Doctor Mitchell is available." The doctor added before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.
Morgan looked over to see a doctor leaving JJ's room. The doctor walked over to a petite woman writing on a clipboard. They talked momentarily followed by the woman entering JJ's room. Morgan stood up to meet the doctor, it seemed as though he was already on his way over, because he immediately made solemn eye contact with Morgan. Initially Morgan was concerned by the interaction, but the doctor introduced himself as Dr. King and repeatedly assured Morgan that JJ was okay and would heal just fine.
"Do you know anything about the circumstances Jennifer seemed to encounter last night?"
"No, she wouldn't talk to me." Morgan said, instantly concerned. "She won't talk to you? She's not saying what happened? Is that really bad?"
"Please, Agent. It's okay. Will you just let me know if you remember anything?"
Morgan slightly nodded before sitting down, somehow more worried than when he first got there, despite the information that JJ was okay.
"Hi, I'm Doctor Mitchell. You can call me Hannah if you'd like. A lot of my friends call me Hannah Banana. Kind of funny, huh?"
JJ smiled lightly, the young doctor had easy features. A pearly white smile, and somehow made JJ feel better. "My friends call me JJ."
"Really? I have a daughter named Jasmine Jay, we call her JJ. I love the nick name."
This time JJ genuinely smiled.
"So JJ, do you mind if I call you that?"
JJ shook her head.
"From your report you seem to have a lot of injuries, how did that happen?"
JJ kind of shrugged, "I had to go to the grocery store last night. It was late."
"Oh, I always end up making late night grocery store runs, I'm such a forgetful person!"
Again JJ smiled. "It was probably 10 pm."
"What were you getting?" Doctor Mitchell asked.
"Just some regular things, like cheese, milk. I'd been so busy at work lately I was running out of everything."
"Oh, do I know how that is. I only have two kids, a boy and a girl, but they eat enough to feed an army...at least it feels like it." Doctor Mitchell added with a wink. "What happened after you picked up your groceries?"
"I got in my car, I had just set down my groceries on the passenger seat when I felt a gun pressed against the back of my neck." JJ paused. "I never even saw his face."
"Oh my God, you were attacked." Doctor Mitchell stood up from her spot on JJ's hospital bed. "Do you mind if I invite your FBI friend in?"
JJ paused to think for a minute...he had done a lot for her in the last few hours, even lying to their team. Finally JJ nodded, she knew the worry must be eating him alive. He at least deserved to know she was okay. She did know he was going to be angry when he found out she was attacked, JJ didn't know if that made her feel better or worse. Morgan's protection was always appreciated, but sometimes it could be pretty intimidating.
A few moments later Hannah and Morgan entered the room. Morgan's face was crisp, clearly worried. He instantly jumped to her side. He grabbed her right hand and placed a light kiss on the top of her head, just above her stitches. Hannah resumed her spot on JJ's left side at the foot of the bed. Her face was solemn, JJ hadn't realized that they were expecting something different than the story she was about to tell.
"Doctor Mitchell filled me in, did you recognize anything about this man?" Morgan asked quickly.
JJ shook her head. "Nothing, he didn't sound familiar or even smell familiar."
"So this could have been random." Morgan deduced.
"No." JJ paused and made hard eye contact with Morgan. "He knew me."
Morgan couldn't help but become more concerned, especially with the idea that this man was still wandering about.
"Why don't you tell me about what happened after you realized he was in your car." Morgan guided.
"He told me to drive, so I started the car and headed north. We didn't make any turns, he didn't even tell me where to go, I was just driving straight."
"Then what?" Doctor Mitchell asked.
"Well, I crashed the car. I knew whatever he had planned for me wasn't something I wanted to endure."
"Where did you crash the car?" Morgan asked, pulling out his phone to take notes.
"I don't know exactly. It was a stop light, probably two or three blocks from my grocery store." Morgan looked up at her and JJ continued. "My grocery store is just a Walmart on the east side of town."
Morgan nodded and sent Garcia a text.
"After you crashed what happened?" Morgan inquired.
"I hit my head on the steering wheel." JJ reached up to lightly touch the bandage covering her plethora of stitches. "I must have hit my head pretty good because all I remember before blacking out, was his yell and I...I could hear the crunch of my car."
"Okay, so you blacked out. That explains the severity of the cut on your head and your concussion." Doctor Mitchell said.
JJ nodded.
"What's the next thing you remember."
JJ shrugged, lying. Her memories were fragmented, blurry even, but she remembered how she felt. Even just sitting here, thinking and talking about it...JJ was disgusted with herself.
"Jayje?" Morgan pressed as he saw JJ leave to another place, she was remembering things, that he was sure of.
"I don't know." JJ retorted curtly.
"JJ, it's okay, whatever happened...we're here to help." Hannah explained lightly.
JJ shook her head again and looked at the painting. She bit the inside of her lip, just as she had done several times in the last little while. Part of her wanted to talk about what happen, ask questions, figure it out, ease some worries. But the other part of her wanted to bury everything. She was half-conscious, her memories could be distorted. She just wasn't sure, about anything really.
Finally JJ took a deep breath, closed her eyes and opened her mouth to talk. When she opened her eyes again she met Morgan's concerned stare.
"When I woke up I was in some alley. I saw the man again, he was struggling next to me, but not for very long. I remember seeing him run away. I tried calling out to him, thinking he could help me or something..." JJ shook her head. "After he was gone I realized that I..." JJ looked down at her lap then made eye contact with Hannah. "That I wasn't wearing any clothes."
JJ saw from the corner of her eye that Morgan's fists had clenched. He kept his head down, making JJ feel worse about the situation.
"I was sitting in a pool of blood. My clothes were on my left side, I tried my best to salvage them. I walked out of the alley, realized I was only a block from my house. I walked to my house." JJ shrugged. "Morgan was already there."
JJ glanced at Morgan, who hadn't moved his head.
"JJ, would you be okay if we ran some more tests?"
Hesitantly JJ nodded.
Morgan had left with Doctor Mitchell, he still didn't understand what was happening, and he didn't know the seriousness of her injuries either.
"JJ is pretty beat up, scratches and bruises cover most of her body. She has one broken rib and her left wrist is broken. Physically she'll be fine in six to eight weeks. Honestly though, I don't know where her mentality is at." Doctor Mitchell admitted.
Morgan's hand rubbed over his face. He gave Doctor Mitchell a nice smile, thanked her and headed back to JJ's room.
This time he really looked at her...all connected to different machines, an oxygen line running beneath her nose. Bruises and scratches littering the majority of her visible skin. Her lips were cracked, red eyes, and Morgan could tell she was upset.
"Hey now, it's okay." Morgan said quietly. He returned to his position next to her and wrapped his arm around her, holding her close.
"Why wouldn't you look at me? Am I really that disgusting?" JJ asked, silent tears falling down her cheeks.
"No, no. Of course not Jayje." Morgan struggled to find the right words. "I was upset with myself. I can't believe this happened. I'm just...so sorry."
JJ shook her head, but kept quiet.
For a couple minutes, no one spoke. Until finally JJ decided to ask about the team.
"Have you talked to the team?"
"Kind of, I called Garcia, explained that you were probably back in Pennsylvania. I told her you would call. I didn't know what to say."
JJ nodded, but didn't say anything again.
"JJ, this isn't your fault." Morgan replied into the silence.
JJ's voice cracked as her silent tears started to turn into more heart wrenching sobs. "Why do I feel like this?" JJ asked just as a few nurses and Doctor Mitchell came into JJ's room to finish up some tests.
Thank you everyone! Please review!