Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of the characters involved in the show.

"& starving hurts the soul when you're hungry for some love."

~ Collapsing ~

She looked down at the scales, frowning at the numbers that jumped out at her, she kept repeating it to herself, 76lbs. She shook her head, looking in the mirror, it was six months now, a whole six months and where was Melinda? Still in the hospital, still laying in a coma. And where was she? Living her life, trying to pretend that everything is normal even though she is clinging onto life as tight as she can, not really wanting to die.

She sighed, wondering when she had become this person, knowing it was never about weight, it was just about punishment but now she couldn't stop. She hated this, she hated living like this, she hated everything about it.

She knew that people stared at her as the walked into the office, shaking their hands, wondering what had become of their best friend, their beloved media liaison. She could see the confusion in their eyes as they watched her waste away in front of them, she could see them longing to say something but being too scared to when they saw the look on her face that told them to not go there, to leave her alone.

That morning was just like any other morning, she walked into work, she ignored everyone as she went up to her office, she found their next case. She took it to Hotch, slammed it on his desk, avoiding eye contact and walked back out – it had been routine for the both of them for six months. But this time something was different, and he knew it as well.

"Agent Jareau." He finally spoke up as she went to walk out of the door, wincing at the name, this is what it had come to, there was no more 'JJ', she no longer called him Hotch, always Agent Hotchner, so he gave up in the end.

"Agent Hotchner." She sighed as she turned around,

"I need you to sit down..." She rolled her eyes, moving slowly towards the seat in front of his desk, watching him carefully with her eyes as he moved across the room,

"We miss you..." He whispered, almost blushing at his own admittance, he hadn't meant to sound so weak, so silly but it was the only way they had decided would get through to her.

"We all tried to leave you alone, thinking that it would be something you would be able to get past, and then when we tried to help you, you pushed everyone away and now we're not taking it any more. We need you back, we miss you so much." She shook her head, he noticed the tears making their way down her ghostly white face,

"Let us help you..."

"I don't need help." He sighed as she remained stubborn,

"Well then I recommend you go home, make an appointment with a psychologist, and I don't want to see you back here for a while." He hadn't meant for it to come out so harsh but it was the only way they could help her, he knew that now,

"You want me to go?" She whispered, looking down at the floor as more tears fell down her cheeks, hitting the carpet lightly, Hotch nodded, sighing loudly as he went to sit down at his desk,

"You're not doing your job, you don't talk to anyone, you are rude to others when we go on a case, you're not doing yourself any good by being here."

"But this is all I have..." She looked up at him,

"We need someone who can do their job, I suggest you go pack your stuff now and we will have a consult in six months."

"But.."

"No buts, we asked you if you wanted our help, you said no, so this way is better for all of us. Don't you realize how much it hurts to see you coming into this office every morning, just look at yourself!" Hotch stood up again, his hand slamming down on the desk causing JJ to jump and look up at him,

"You're wasting away right in front of us and no matter how much we try to help you push us away, so yes I am sending you away and I will not be seeing you for the next six months, maybe more, that all depends on you. Just go!" She nodded, making her way out of his office as quickly as she could, trying to hide the tears falling down her face as she made her way into her office, stuffing stuff into a box and walking out, keeping her head down so she wouldn't have to look at the people she had hurt so much.

~ .. ~

"You told her?" Emily asked, watching JJ walk away and looking up at Hotch as he walked out of his office,

"I had no choice, I gave her a last chance and she refused help so I had to think of something else." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair as he looked at the remains of his time, the past six months had shown what a family they were. Everyone had been keeping their eye on JJ, all of them depressed by the shell that was left of their friend after her kidnapping.

"She is punishing herself, isn't she?" Reid finally spoke up,

"For what?" Morgan shook his head, wanting to punch a wall or anything he could get his hands on.

"Melinda..." Emily whispered, her eyes wide as they all realized what had made JJ react the way she had.

"She is still in a coma and JJ thinks it's her fault.." Reid concluded, shaking his head, wondering if his drug addiction had ever been this bad.

"We need to go to her house." They all nodded, Morgan running off to grab Garcia before walking out of the building,

"I have a bad feeling." Emily whispered to Hotch, biting her lip as he nodded at her, with a look that told her that he had the same feeling.

~ .. ~

JJ looked around her house, putting the box down, more tears falling down her face as she realized she had nothing left. There were no friends, no job, nothing to get out of bed for, nobody...

She sighed, running to the bathroom, knowing that it was time.

A/N This chapter then links back to Chapter One, which I will need your help with. I am either going to skip it, or do the same chapter but in JJ's point of view and then the teams point of view when they find her.

Let me know which one you want to see!

Review!