Changes-Chapter 9

~Oh my gosh, I know this is the first posting in forever and I apologize for that...my muse has run away and I can't seem to find her. Anyway, I've found that writing shorter chapters (1k-2k words) helps me write better so I'm hoping to post on this (and my other stories) more frequently with smaller chapters. I'm crossing my fingers.

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As he heard a car door close outside, Dave let out a sigh of relief. "She's home," he murmured into his wife's ear as he glanced at the clock. It was two-thirty in the morning, which wasn't as bad as it could've been, but it was still pretty goddamned late. He'd nearly gone through the roof earlier that evening when JJ had told him that she'd told their daughter she could stay out as late as she wanted tonight. While a part of him understood why, it was hers and Jack's last night together before she left for college and he left for his travel adventure, he also knew what she was pretty much giving them permission to do and the thought of his little girl being intimate with any guy, even one as great as Jack, made him want to lock her in her bedroom until she turned forty.

"Good," JJ replied groggily, "Now maybe now you can get some sleep." As she said the words, she knew she was not one to talk about not sleeping. While they had gone to bed hours ago, JJ had done little more than doze since she'd turned off her bedside lamp at around midnight. No matter how old Abby was, JJ couldn't fully exhale until she was safely home. She wondered, with some unease, how she would sleep once her daughter was living 2,500 miles away from her. Would she always have the small knot of unease in her stomach? Would horrifying scenarios continue to run through her mind? It was ironic; she'd gotten through the horrors of the past spring without needing counseling but her daughter going off to school might be the thing that got her to lie down on a therapist's couch.

"I'm sorry, was I imagining the tossing and turning next to me for the past two hours?" Dave asked sarcastically as he spooned against his wife.

"Shut up," she muttered as she lightly jabbed her elbow into his ribs, knowing he was right. She was about to say something else but there was a light knock on their slightly open door and then Abby stuck her head in.

"I'm home," she whispered when she saw that her mother was somewhat awake. She had wiped her face as she'd walked up the stairs, so she hoped that between the low light of the hallway and her parent's sleepy state, they wouldn't be able to tell she'd been crying. She should've known better, seeing as her dad was a profiler extraordinaire and her mother might as well be one.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" JJ asked, pushing through her sleepiness.

"I'm fine," the teen lied. "G'night." She might have gotten away with it if she hadn't sniffled loudly just before she shut her own bedroom door, but it she did and both JJ and Dave heard it.

"She's upset and trying to hide it," Dave murmured in JJ's ear. Both he and his wife knew it would be difficult for the kids to say goodbye, but they'd hoped it wouldn't go too badly for them. It seems as though their worries had come true.

"Gee, really? You think?" She shot back sardonically as she disentangled herself from his arms. She slowly got out of the warm and comfortable bed and stretched before starting for the door.

"Want me to come with?" Dave asked as he moved to get up.

JJ put her hand up to stop him. "Do you really want to hear about what happened with Jack tonight?"

"No, but-"

"Besides, she'll probably open up to me more if it's girl talk."

"Well, call me if you need me," he said lying back down on the plush bed; he wasn't too upset at being left out of the conversation. If his wife wanted to handle this latest round of teenage romantic drama, then who was he to complain? Besides, now that Abby was home, sleep was calling his name and he wanted to answer.

JJ watched in dismay as her husband rolled over and pulled the covers up to his chin; he looked waaaayyyy too comfy so as she left the room, she flipped on the overhead lights before pulling the door closed. She bit down on her lip as she heard him curse loudly.

Crossing the narrow hallway, she knocked on her daughter's door. After hearing a watery "come in" from her, she opened the door and found the teen sitting on the edge of her bed, crying softly with her face in her hands.

"Oh honey," JJ said as she closed the door behind her and then rushed to her side. She sat down next to her daughter and pulled her into her arms. "What happened?"

"We…we broke up!" Abby said, which brought a fresh torrent of tears cascading down her face.

"I'm so sorry Abby," JJ said honestly; she loved Jack like he was her own son and she knew that, after eight years of being together in some form or another, her daughter's feelings also ran very deep for the boy.

"He-he told me that-that," Abby was crying so hard her breath was hitching, "we both were about to-to start new things in life and we-we need to be able to experience them fully. He doesn't want me to miss out on the complete college experience."

"And how do you feel about that?" JJ asked as she felt her daughter's tears soak through the shoulder of her pajama top.

"I don't want to miss out either but I don't want to lose him!" She wailed. "But I told him that I don't want him to miss out on his experience either, so I agreed with him that we should just go back to being good friends." What she didn't tell her mother was that she and Jack came to their decision after making love for most of the night.

"It sounds like you were very mature about it," JJ told Abby as she rubbed her back soothingly. "And you didn't really break up…it's not like you hate each other, you're just back to being best friends, which you've always been."

"He asked me to go with him on his trip," Abby said softly as she tried to get her crying under control. The soothing circles on her back stopped and she heard her mother suck in a deep breath through her teeth. "I told him no, that taking a year off might be the right thing for him, but it isn't for me," she said before her mom could freak out.

Thank God, JJ thought but didn't verbalize her thought. Instead, she tried to reassure her daughter. "Honey, things will work out, you'll make new friends and have new experiences at Berkeley, but you'll never forget about Jack and he'll always be a part of your life. Besides, if you're really meant to be together, your relationship will survive this."

"I know," she said in a quivering voice, "But I wish things didn't have to be so hard…I sometimes wish I could still stay a little kid, you know?"

"I know," JJ told her as she smoothed her tear soaked bangs out of her eyes. "Believe me, I wish you could stay young too; it's not easy for me to see my baby getting ready to leave the nest." After JJ spoke, the two of them slowly looked around at the boxes that were scattered around Abby's room. While she wasn't taking everything with her, she was taking the most important reminders of her family and home with her to California and, in less than thirty-six hours, those boxes would be loaded into the back of the SUV so they could accompany her and her parents on the road-trip to Berkeley.

A few minutes later, after Abby's tears died down, JJ told her to go wash her face and change into her pajamas. Abby followed the order and while she was in the bathroom, JJ wandered around her room. It was weird to see her bookshelves and walls nearly bare and she once again wished that Abby had chosen a local college so she could've lived with them longer.

"Weird, huh?" Abby asked as she came back into the bedroom. "It looks like it did when we first moved in here with dad."

"It sure does," JJ agreed. "Remember how strange it was living out in the country at first?"

Abby nodded as she got into bed. "It was crazy going from our tiny little apartment in the middle of the city to this giant mansion in the middle of nowhere…crazy but nice. I've always felt safe here, even with everything that happened in the spring."

"Me too," her mom agreed as she tucked her into bed. She bent down and kissed Abby's forehead. As she stood back up, she heard her daughter say in a quiet voice, "Um, you can stay if you want to." Knowing Abby was feeling sad over her break-up and a bit insecure about her big move coming in less than two days, JJ nodded and slid into the bed next to her.

"Night mom, I love you," Abby said, grateful that she decided to stay with her. She knew it was childish to want her mother, but she also knew she was going to miss her a lot when she moved to California.

"Goodnight Abby, I love you too," JJ responded gently. Within minutes, they were both sound asleep.