A/N: This took ages to prepare. It was easier to write when JJ was in a coma, now I have to research to make sure everything is medically correct.

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of its characters and affiliates.

It was so dark. Darker than anything she thought she'd ever experienced in her life.

The deafening silence she'd been immersed in had now been broken by a multitude of soft noises.

She could hear the ventilator, working hard to pump air into her lungs. The steady beep of the heart monitor, indicating that for now, her heart was beating strong.

'I'm still alive,' she thought. 'Then what the hell was that?'

She felt odd. Something was different. Something wasn't...as it had been. Her body felt like it was made of lead. Something was sitting on her chest. She tried to lift her hand to swat at the air above her, but she was too weak.

'Come on JJ, open your eyes,' she told herself. 'Just open them'

But it was hard. Her eyelids felt like they were weighted down with rocks. She was so tired; she almost didn't have the energy to open them.

Henry wasn't talking anymore. But she could hear his breathing, the rustle of his clothes as he settled in the chair next to her bed.

'Open your eyes and get up off the floor, Jareau,' she tried to command herself. But again, she couldn't open her eyes, no matter how hard she tried.

She knew she had to get her eyes open. She to gauge her surroundings, figure out why she seemed unable to move.

Mustering all the strength and fight she had left, she concentrated all her efforts on lifting her eyelids. They were so heavy, so unwilling to move, but by some miracle, she managed to part them enough to let the light in.

It was blinding at first, painful even. But as she forcefully blinked away the sluggishness, she was able to make out shapes. It was blurry, but she could tell she was still in the hospital.

Above her, she was starting to see the panels in the ceiling. She could also see the top of the ventilation tube that she knew was down her throat to help her breathe. That was enough to tell her that she was no longer watching from an outsider's perspective.

She'd made her choice.

To her left, a head of blonde hair told her that Henry was still keeping his bedside vigil. He was resting on the edge of her mattress, his head lying on his folded arms. His hand was still closed around her own, which gave her the perfect opportunity to get his attention.

Concentrating as hard as she could on her hand, she was already struggling to keep her eyes open.

'Keep it up, JJ, come on. Your boys need to see you'

With great effort, she managed to close her fingers slightly, making just enough to movement to startle Henry and make him lift his head.

"Mom?" he said, clearly confused. JJ could tell that he was wondering if he had imagined it.

Looking down at his mom's hand, Henry stared in total confusion. He was sure he'd felt her move just now. But that wasn't possible. His mom was in a coma. She hadn't so much as twitched in two days.

Lifting his face, Henry nearly jumped out of his chair when he found his mother's blue eyes looking back at him.

"Mom!" he said in disbelief, rising up from his chair as tears welled in his eyes. JJ could see that he wanted to hug her but was scared that he would hurt her. "You're awake! Oh my god, you're awake!"

Stepping back, he held up a hand to his mom. "I'll be right back, ok? Right back," he promised, almost falling over the chair in his haste to exit the room. Regaining his balance, he turned on his heel and took off as fast as he dared.

Running out of the ICU and down the hallway, Henry passed the bank of chairs his father had been sleeping on. Realising he must have moved, he skidded to a stop outside the waiting room just a little further down the hall.

"Where's my dad?" he asked a bewildered Aaron Hotchner. The place had been so still, so quiet and now Henry was tearing around like a madman.

"Back there," Hotch replied, pointing over his shoulder, watching the boy curiously.

Walking quickly around the seats, Henry found him asleep on the row of chairs behind Hotch. His heart pounding, he reached down and shook his father's shoulder.

"Dad!" he said excitedly. "Dad, wake up!"

"Wha?" Will said groggily, rubbing his eyes as he was pulled from his slumber. Blinking in the sudden light, he looked up at his son. "What is it, Henry?"

"Mom! She's awake!"

At those words, Will jumped up from the seats like he'd been burned.

"You're joking!" Morgan exclaimed as the team, Sandy, and Daniel all rose to their feet within seconds. Without another word, they followed the teenager out of the waiting room and back towards the ICU.

JJ was still fighting to keep her eyes open by the time Henry returned with Will in tow. Looking just beyond the window opposite her bed, she could see the team, her mom, and her brother waiting outside, craning their necks to see if she was truly awake.

As Will approached her, she saw the tears pooling in his tired eyes.

"Hey beautiful," he said thickly, reaching out and gently running the tips of his fingers down the side of her face, tucking her hair back behind her ear. "I was startin' to worry I'd never see your gorgeous blue eyes again"

At that moment, two nurses and a doctor entered the room, having been alerted of JJ's changed state by an alarm in the nurses' station.

As they spoke with Will, JJ found herself unable to fight the drowsiness anymore. Allowing her eyes to drift closed, she fell back into a deep sleep.

The last thing she registered before succumbing to sleep was someone taking hold of her hand and kissing it gently.

Wait.

Not someone.

Will.

"I just want to feel you touch me," JJ whispered in the darkness of the room as Will hovered just inches above her.

As his lips met hers, his tongue grazing her teeth, his hands slid down her sides. His fingers roamed her soft skin, making her tingle beneath his touch.

"You have the most beautiful body of anyone I've ever met," Will breathed in her ear as his fingers dipped beneath the elastic of her underwear.

As he touched her, JJ drew in a sharp breath, her eyes falling closed as she threw her head back on the pillow.

"God...keep doing that," she gasped, pushing her hips into his hand.

"As you wish"

"It will take time for Jennifer to recover from being in a coma," Dr Kate Marshall explained gently.

"But she is awake, right?" Will asked.

Kate nodded. "She is awake. She is no longer what we would consider comatose, but she will take some time to recover. What happened today is known as spontaneous eye opening. She may or may not have registered our presence in the room. She will continue to have periods of wakefulness like this for the next day or so, and she may start moving around. At first the movements may seem unnecessary, but they will be good signs that she is regaining function of her body"

"When can she come off the ventilator?" Sandy questioned softly, her hand holding her grandson's tightly.

"That may take some time. We need Jennifer to be able to communicate with us through hand signals and eye movements before we begin the process of getting her off the ventilator. It may take a few days, it may take two weeks. Everything needs to go at her pace"

Glancing down at her notes, Kate looked up once more at the concerned faces before her. "Keep talking to her. Encourage her to try and use her hands. She may seem confused or agitated at times. Reassure her and comfort her. When she starts tracking, which is when her eyes follow you around the room and respond to your voice, that's a good sign that her brain is healing and she is able to respond to stimuli once more"

Closing her clipboard, she smiled. "Jennifer is in good hands. And she's making good progress. We will be keeping a close eye on her and monitoring her as she improves. Once she's off the ventilator and has returned to a normal state of consciousness, she will need to have more surgery on her leg, but we will discuss that when we get there"

Will nodded, reaching out and shaking the doctor's hand. "Thank you"

Kate smiled.

"Support her as you have been these past couple of days, and she is going to be just fine"