Reid and Hotch were the last two people in the Phoenix police department at the end of the night. One by one the rest of the team had left to go and get some rest, but those two had stayed. Reid had delved so much into the work that he barely noticed his team mates leaving and Hotch felt obligated to stay because he was the unit chief and needed make some sort of discovery in this seemingly hopeless case. In time, Reid glanced up at one of the clocks and a wave of exhaustion pounded into him. It was almost midnight. He looked over at Hotch, giving him a nod before picking up his bag and walking out to one of the FBI cars parked in the lot. The genius started it and took the short drive down to the hotel that they were staying at. As he walked through the doors into the quiet lobby he let his thoughts wander and of course they ended on JJ. He was worried about her. Before she'd left that night he had noticed that she wasn't herself. There was still something off and he didn't think it had anything to do with being in a rut; it was more personal and emotional. If it wasn't midnight he would have walked to her room, but by now he figured she was already asleep. Yawning, he walked down the long stretch of hallway past the various rooms that he knew his colleagues were sleeping in. All of them were silent…until…

"Will…it's getting late and I really don't want to talk about this anymore. I know you're sorry, but I'm just not in a good mood, okay?" He could hear JJ's voice coming from her room. She had to be sitting or standing somewhere near the door for it to be the audible from the outside. He froze in his tracks and listened, uneasily…he hated being nosy.

"Yes…" She sounded reluctant. "I'm just not sure if I have time for a relationship right now and you…" She stopped the sentence abruptly; he must have cut her off.

"I'm not breaking up with you. I get it, you're angry and you're venting right now, but I would appreciate it if you would stop blaming all our relationship problems on me. You are the one who keeps bringing up the problems and you're the one who keeps leaving these fights unresolved. You wait until all your anger builds up and then you just blow it up on me. I'm not going to take it anymore…" JJ stopped for a few moments. "I do love you, but the other night when you suggested…having kids…I just wasn't sure if that was a good idea."

Having kids? Was Will forcing JJ into something that she didn't want to do? She couldn't have kids yet, they were too young and he hadn't even gotten a chance to voice his feelings to her. If they had a child together there would be no way to get rid of Will after that either. It was a mistake…but at least she felt the same way.

"No, no. Not because we aren't compatible, but just because we have all of these problems and I don't think having a baby out of nowhere is going to solve them. If you want to have kids you have to learn how to make compromises." She paused again to listen to him speak. "I do compromise. I do everything for you Will! Hell, I even wasted some of my vacation on going down to New Orléans for you!"

Oh JJ… Reid thought, closing his eyes. The moment she said the time she'd spent with Will had been wasted, he knew she was in trouble. That was the worst possible choice of words that she could have used.

"Why are you yelling?" Her voice was quieter, weaker. "Stop…" There was another pause. "Stop Will, okay? I get it!" He kept going with the yelling. "I'm hanging up…call me back when you get your head out of your ass."

Reid waited and listened after that to see if he ever called back. If he did, Reid would have yanked that door open and handled the call himself. The next thing he heard wasn't a call though; it was the sound he never thought he'd hear come from that woman. She was crying.

Never, in all four of the years that Reid had known JJ, had he seen her cry. It was completely unheard of. She was too strong and put together to cry over the small things that everyone else did, but now as he heard the heart-breaking sounds of her sobbing he felt empty. Had Will really hurt her that bad enough to make her cry? Reid shut his eyes and wanted to walk away, but he knew deep down that he couldn't just leave her there crying in her room so he moved towards her door. The sobbing could be heard a lot more clearly as he approached, making him even more concerned for the woman on the other side of the door. He lifted his fist up and knocked lightly. On the other side there was the sound of a quick sniff before he heard her voice.

"Who is it?" Her voice cracked slightly. She definitely needed his help.

"Spencer." He answered, gently. He hoped that she would trust him enough to let him inside.

"What do you need, Spence? Now's not really a good time."

"I need to talk to you…it's really important." He lied, wanting her to open the door.

He heard a sigh on the other side of the door. A few minutes of silence went by and Reid pondered leaving because he wasn't sure that she was going to open the door for him. Right as he decided that he should leave he heard the locks undoing. The door in front of him opened slowly with a light creak, revealing a distraught JJ.

"What is it?" She sounded a little bit agitated by his persistence, but he could also see that her eyes were red and puffy from crying. It was a heart-breaking sight.

"I'm worried about you…I walked by and I heard you…" He tried to be gentle when he admitted it to her because he knew she would be embarrassed.

"Oh." JJ closed her eyes. She knew that she'd been caught.

"Can I…come in?" Reid asked reluctantly. She was in a vulnerable state she was going to need to get her emotions out, either by yelling, crying or talking about it. With each option Reid knew that it would be an uncomfortable situation that shouldn't be handled alone.

JJ eyed him for a few moments as if she was thinking about her alternatives. "Okay…" she replied, quietly and stepped out of the way so that he could go into her room. Once he was fully emerged inside she shut the door behind him.

"So…" Reid started, "I heard you talking on the phone with Will…" He didn't want to make it seem like he was eavesdropping, but there was no other way to phrase it.

"You did?" JJ didn't seem angry or surprised…or anything. He was having an extremely hard time gauging her emotions.

"Yea. Are you two…okay?" Reid asked lightly. He expected her to get mad or just deny the problems all together so her real answer completely caught him off guard.

"No. We're not." JJ shook her head and sat down on the edge of her bed while Reid sat in a chair across from her. "He…I thought he was a good guy, but now…I can see that he has a terrible temper." She rubbed her shoulder.

"What did he do?" Reid noticed her uncomfortably rubbing her shoulder and it troubled him. He made a mental note to check later for a bruise.

"It's what he does. Every single time something doesn't go the way he wants it to he blames it on me and when I try to stick up for myself he just starts yelling." JJ shook her head. "I can't handle it anymore." Sadness overtook her and it almost looked like she was going to start crying again, but instead she just adjusted her posture and kept rubbing her shoulder subconsciously.

Reid couldn't leave it unaddressed anymore. "What's wrong with your shoulder?" He watched her reaction closely. Right as he mentioned it her hand stopped rubbing and dropped to her lap. He waited to see if she was going to lie for Will.

"Will grabbed it in an argument before we left and it's still kind of sore. It's not bad…but whenever I think about him…I think about it." JJ replied honestly. She slid sleeve of her shirt down to show a bruise on her shoulder. It wasn't severe, but it wasn't something to be ignored either.

"Why are you still with him, JJ?"

"I don't know…" JJ shook her head. "I-I…don't want to talk about this anymore." There was obviously something else bothering her.

Reid paused and made eye contact with her. "What is it? I can tell there's something else." He stopped for another few seconds. "You can talk to me…" He tried to persuade her because he knew, more than others, that keeping feelings inside can sometimes forget who you are altogether.

For once he saw an emotion shine in JJ's eyes; grief. "I told you my dad was a marine, right?" She asked him as she adjusted her seating position on the bed. She barely made eye contact with him which was a weird thing for her because she was usually so sociable, but at least she was finally opening up.

"Yea…" Reid didn't really know where she was going with this. He knew that her father didn't die overseas because she'd said he died of pancreatic cancer so what could be bothering her so much about it?

"When he left it was hard on all of us…especially my oldest sister and I because we were more of daddy's girls than my other siblings." JJ shook her head. "He called and promised that he was coming home, but…it was a whole year before he came back for Christmas and then…he just left again." Her blue eyes were clouded in memories. "That summer after that Christmas we got a call that he'd been shot, but was still alive. A couple of months later he finally came home. It was great…we all loved that he was back, but after a while he started…acting different."

Reid listened carefully. He knew where this story was going.

"He couldn't sleep and he was always so jumpy. If I walked up behind him he'd jump out of his seat and knock me over without even thinking. God forbid you woke him up from sleeping…it was terrifying. We tried to ignore it at first until he accidently…hit my sister in the stomach when she woke him up. A psychiatrist came to our house. After an evaluation she said that he was suffering from-"

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. It happens to a lot of people who come back from the military especially if they were injured." Reid filled it in for her.

JJ nodded at him without making eye contact. "It was a hard couple of months…Everyone in my family was so scared of him because he started to drink when he was depressed and that tied to PTSD made his temper horrifying. I remember one night when I was…9 I accidentally broke one of his old high school football plaques. I dropped it and it cracked right down the middle. I remember being completely mortified at the thought of him catching me so I ran straight to my room and slept in the closet that night. The next day I could hear him when he found it. I could tell he was fuming and I listened as he stomped into my room and looked for me. I held my breath, but eventually the door was yanked open. He was so angry that his face was a light shade of red and one of the veins in his neck looked like it was engorged. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me down the stairs with him where he sat me down in the living room and yelled at me for two hours…straight. While he did it he was holding part of the plaque and I was so scared that he was heated enough to…hit me with it. Even though I was crying and I asked him to stop, he just kept yelling. Luckily my older sister got home from her study session at school and yelled back at him. She made him stop." She stared at the ground and a silent tear rolled down her cheek.

"Did he ever hit you?"

"No…because he knew if he did that my mom would kick him out, but there were other times when he got really close." JJ shook her head at the memory. "I hated him so much…he ripped apart our family." There was harshness in her voice that he'd never heard before.

"What did you do?"

"My sister ultimately couldn't take it anymore so she…committed suicide and that finally snapped him out of it. He was never the same as he was before he left, but after she died he stopped drinking and things were almost normal again." She let out a sigh. "I just hate being reminded of it…of him."

Reid stood up and sat down on the bed next to her. With his heart pounding loudly in his chest he reached over and took her hand in his. He made eye contact with her, now puffy, tear-filled blue eyes. "I'm sorry."

She sniffed and gave him a small, half-hearted smile. "It's okay."

Reid felt her rubbing her thumb across the back of his hand. They were still gazing into each other's eyes and he suddenly felt the urge to kiss her, but in the moment she was vulnerable and he didn't want to take advantage of that.

They sat in silence for five or ten minutes just enjoying each other's company until JJ spoke, "You are the only person I've ever known who can cheer me up that fast." She smiled widely. It seemed like the sadness in her eyes had passed. "You are the only person who I feel completely comfortable with no matter what…" She added and he saw her eyes glance down at his lips. She wasn't that vulnerable now and this was the only time that he felt confident so if he didn't go in now he never would.

Reid gazed intimately into her eyes for any sign of doubt before he continued. He lifted his other hand up to touch her cheek and still saw no hesitation in her eyes. Go for it, Reid. Go now. He leaned towards her and turned his head slightly to the right. He looked down at her lips and got only close enough so that his lips barely grazed hers. A chill flew down his spine, but before he could lean all the way in she was already closing the distance. Their lips pressed together and Reid shut his eyes. He felt butterflies coursing in his stomach as he moved his hand back to run blindly through her hair. This was the best feeling he'd ever had in his life; to finally be kissing the woman he'd loved for so long. After a few seconds they pulled away briefly and then immediately went back in. The second kiss was more forceful and intense. Reid was surprised at how well this seemed to be going, now they were pretty much making out with each other. JJ leaned back and Reid suspended himself above her while still keeping their lips locked together. He felt her start to unbutton his shirt. The feeling of her cool fingers sliding on his bare chest was amazing. He'd never felt anything like it. Just as he was about to start doing the same for her there was a knock at the door. They both separated from the kiss hastily and listened.

"JJ? I just got your text and Garcia's worried about you…I don't know if you're awake, but we need to talk." Emily's voice was heard from the other side of the door.

JJ closed her eyes in frustration. "I'm awake. Just give me a second." She looked at Reid and pointed quickly to the closet. "I'll get rid of her." She whispered seductively in his ear. It was the sexiest thing he'd ever heard in his life. He got off of her and tiptoed into the nearby closet. In the darkness he waited to hear their conversation. He heard the sound of the door being pulled open.

"Hey Jayje. How are you? I know you wanted to talk and so does Garcia so I was thinking we could put her on speaker…" Emily's voice sounded friendly.

"It's kind of late Em. I texted you a couple of hours ago and I'm kind of tired now. Can we do this tomorrow?" JJ asked her and he was impressed with her ability to come up with fake answers that quickly.

"Oh…uh sure." Emily was evidently caught off guard. "I guess I'll see you in the morning then. Good night JJ." He assumed that they exchanged smiles before she left.

When Reid heard the sound of the door shutting he stepped out of the closet. "I'm impressed." He chuckled. "Makes me wonder how much you lie to me." He raised an eyebrow, questioningly at her.

"I could never lie to you." JJ walked over to him and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pressing her body against his. "So…" She looked him from head to toe and bit her lip. "Where were we?" She leaned in for another kiss and he accepted it for a few seconds before pulling away.

"Look JJ…as much as I want to do this right now…and trust me I do. I just don't think we should because like you said we need sleep. Doing this just isn't as important because we have to get up for a case tomorrow." Reid shrugged, glancing at the clock. It was 1:30 AM.

"Not important?" JJ stared at him.

"No, no. That's not what I meant. When I said not important I meant it like-"

"I know what you meant." Anger flashed through her eyes. "Is this as real for you as it is for me because I haven't even broken up with Will yet so if this isn't going to be serious then…" She waited expectantly for him to answer.

Reid stood in front of her, dumb-founded. He wasn't sure what he wanted permanently at all, but right now he was definitely contemplating the effects of getting involved with another teammate. Would that cause one of them to get fired for fraternizing?

"I think you should leave." JJ turned away from him and sat back down on her bed.

"No JJ…wait."

"Now, Reid. We need sleep like you said, but if you really want this then the next time we talk about it…I need an answer." JJ told him, looking up.

"I don't know if I can give you that…" Reid glanced at the ground, avoiding eye contact with her.

JJ shook her head. "I've been hurt too many times to not take precautions so you're either in or out." She was clearly serious about all of this and he understood why, considering how Will had turned out.

Reid still hesitated though as he weighed his options and she noticed.

"You don't have to decide now. Just go…get some sleep and when you figure it out let me know…okay?" Her anger had faded now, but it still seemed like she hadn't fully forgiven him yet.

Reid nodded, obediently before walking out of her room and into the empty hallway. As he walked towards where his room was he reflected on his choices. He'd wanted this for so long, but never had he planned how he'd react. He should've because now he'd made a huge mistake and he wasn't sure that she would forgive him as easily as he hoped. Letting out a yawn he heard footsteps coming around the corner. His stomach dropped when he recognized Hotch walking towards him. Reid realized his shirt was still unbuttoned.

"Uh…Reid?" Hotch looked confused as he noticed Reid's state.

Reid feigned surprise and glanced down at his exposed chest. "It was hot in my room, but I guess I just forgot to re-button it." He didn't have to fake the embarrassment that he was actually feeling in this situation.

Hotch gave him a quick nod and it seemed like he was almost about to smile, but it never actually came. "Well…um…good night Reid." He carried on down towards his room.

"Good night, sir." Reid shook his head. This night had been a rollercoaster, not only had he gained and lost the best girl in the world, but now he also felt sufficiently awkward. Great. Reid shook his head to himself. He would fix all of this tomorrow. He just had to talk to her about his doubts…in daylight…in person…during work. That'll definitely be easy. He thought sarcastically, but he would fix this…no matter what it took.