AN: I have spent a lazy weekend of enjoyment! (minus my 36 hour headache anyway) Lunch with the fam on Saturday (my nephew was being very cuddly, too bad it was while he was coated in spaghetti sauce), video games pretty much all weekend, Breakfast with the family (minus bro who was at work) today then some shopping. Managed to get a full outfit for my Little Man, two shirts for me, a matchbox (also for little man) and a pop for 26 bucks! Oh, yeah, did a little writing too. Sebby seems to like this whole "getting back to paper" thing…
MN: Seriously, if it weren't for the fact that her arm injury a few years ago has had some lasting effects that slow us down, I would now be writing exclusively on paper! I love it! We are officially out of training at work now so this week may be rough so no guarantees on the next update.
As she shifted in her seat, JJ winced. She'd taken herself off the narcotics when she left the hospital, but the long flight had left her in enough pain to make her momentarily reconsider the decision. She pushed the thought from her mind as Spencer climbed into the driver's seat of her minivan. "Do you want me to stop and pick anything up?"
She shook her head. "I'm okay. Garcia insisted on restocking the fridge. And by that, I of course mean that she did it and then told me about it."
She saw a small smile curve onto his face as he fastened his seatbelt. "That doesn't surprise me." He put the vehicle in gear and pulled out of the spot. "Do I need to go pick up Henry later?"
She leaned back into the seat slowly, trying not to jar her ribs. "No. Will's going to bring him home when he gets off shift this afternoon. I figured you would need to go in for paperwork after you got me home, and it's going to be at least a week before I can drive, so I asked him to drop Henry off.
Spencer nodded in understanding. "Okay. But, I don't have to go to the office. I finished my paperwork on the plane and Morgan offered to get it filed for me."
He had spent most of his evening camped out in her hospital room completing her paperwork. By the time she'd woken, all that was left was the addition of a few details and her signature.
"Good. I could use a nice quiet evening at home with my guys."
The remainder of their ride was spent in silence as she struggled to keep the evidence of her pain off her face and beyond the detection of the profiler in the vehicle with her.
They were met at the door to their house by Garcia. The woman aided her upstairs and through a shower before rewrapping her ribs and helping her don a fresh set of pajamas.
If the walk up the stairs was painful, the return trip bordered on excruciating. Her friend helped settle her onto the part of the sofa that reclined and got her feet up, then sat down a short distance away. "Dinner is in the oven so I'm going to stay and finish it and eat with you guys before I leave. I got some meals prepped for the rest of the weekend too. I know Boy Wonder isn't exactly Rachel Ray. This way he just has to nuke and you all still get real food."
"Thanks Garcie." She was relaxing her muscles slowly, allowing herself to sink into the cushions. "I don't know how to even begin to pay you back for everything you've done in the last week."
Garcia grinned widely. "Easy. Let me hang out with Henry this weekend. More specifically, let me kidnap him and take him to the museum of his choice. I'm planning a whole day of it."
"If I say no, you'll just pout and use my child against me, so let's cut to the chase and I'll just say 'yes'." Had she been speaking to another of her friends, she would have accused them of going out of their way to make her life easier, but she knew that wasn't the case here. Garcia and Spencer both took her son on as many educational daytrips as they could.
"Good. I'm going to talk to Boss Man and see if Jack's available too." The perky woman sprung to her feet as Spencer walked into the room. "I'm going to go finish dinner." She flounced from the room in the direction of the kitchen.
Spencer crossed to her, a glass of water in his hand. He passed it to her, followed by a pair of prescription ibuprofen. She swallowed the pills then handed him back the glass. "Will's on his way. They should be here any minute."
As if on cue, she heard a car door slam. Spencer turned and exited the room. A moment later she heard him open the front door. Another moment passed and she heard her son's footsteps as he ran into the house.
Will's voice followed almost immediately. "Henry! No running inside. And what did I tell you about your mama?"
Even from a room away, she could hear the boy's sigh. "She falled down and hurted her side real bad so I has to be really careful and be extra good."
"That's right." Will's voice was getting louder. Obviously he was escorting their son in to see her.
A few seconds later, the pair appeared in the room and the boy walked over to her cautiously. "Hi, Mommy. I missed you."
"I missed you too." She patted the seat to her right, but he didn't move. "It's okay. My owwie is on the other side. You can sit over here as long as you don't move around a whole bunch.
Henry climbed up next to her carefully and she reached over to give him a half hug. The movement sent a stab of paid through her ribs, but she made sure not to let her son notice. When she released him, he grinned up at her and she smiled back.
"Why don't you go put your stuff away while I talk to your dad. Then you can go see if you can help Auntie Penny with dinner, okay?"
"Okay!" He crawled off the couch carefully then rushed over to his father, flinging himself into a hug. "Bye, Daddy."
"Bye, Bud." The words were barely out of Will's mouth before the boy had snatched up his backpack and raced toward the stairs.
JJ watched him go then turned toward Will. "Thank you. For bringing him home and for talking to him about me being hurt."
Will sat in the chair across from her. "You're welcome. We had a long talk about him being careful, but if he gets to be too much, call me. I'm off this weekend and on first shift again next week, so it won't be a problem for me to take him."
"I appreciate the offer. I know we'll be okay for the weekend. Spence is going to be home and Garcia's planning a museum trip with Jack, but if the team gets called out of town next week, I'll probably have to take you up on that. I can't drive for a week or two so I won't be able to get him to school if I'm home alone." She relaxed a little as the pain in her side dulled with the onset of her dose of ibuprofen.
Will nodded. "Speaking of school, parent/teacher conferences are week after next. When do you want to schedule it for?"
She shrugged and immediately winced. "Do whatever will work best for your schedule that week. If I'm lucky, I'll be sitting at my desk by then. No way will I be cleared for fieldwork."
Will began to reply, then stopped to once again scold his son as the boy went tearing through the room. Once he'd disappeared into the kitchen, he once again looked at her. "So, do you want to tell me what happened in Oregon?"
When they'd spoken the previous evening, she'd been deliberately vague on the details. "We thought Blake, Hotch, and Morgan had the UnSub in custody, but it was actually his brother. Our guy managed to sneak up on us and came out right in front of me. Put six shots into the left half of my vest. When I went down, I cracked my head on a crate and hit the floor hard. Spence and Rossi each put three in him before he could decide to aim a little higher."
They sat in silence while Will absorbed the information. The quiet was broken when Spencer reentered the room. "Garcia says dinner is almost done and she wants to know if you're going to be more comfortable in here or the dining room."
"I can come to the dining room as long as you help me up." She knew she would probably be better off where she was, but she wanted to keep things as normal as possible for Henry's sake.
He stepped toward her and gently pushed the foot rest of the recliner down until it clicked into place. He carefully took her right arm in his hands and guided her to her feet
The action was painful despite his help and the stabbing feeling robbed her of her breath. As he tried to withdraw his hand, she clutched it tightly. "Give me a sec."
He stood dutifully at her side until she was able to steady herself. Once she had released him, he turned to Will. "I'm supposed to tell you that there's plenty of food and that you are welcome to join us for dinner."
JJ was impressed by how unemotionally he'd delivered the message. In the four weeks since Will's accusations, Spencer had made it clear to her that he was now very uncomfortable with his godson's father.
"Thanks, but I have plans. Pool league." Will stood and moved toward the door. "You want to walk me out so you can lock the door, Reid?"
Before she could object, her roommate was following him toward the entryway. She followed as far as the entrance to the kitchen, but paused in the doorway. A conversation between Will and Spencer at this point might need to be monitored, and from here, she could listen without being intrusive.
"What did they give her for the pain? Because it's obviously not enough." Great. He was going to pry into her medical care.
"She started alternating high doses of acetaminophen and ibuprofen once she left the hospital. She didn't want to come home on narcotics."
Will's voice turned harsh. "You mean she didn't want to come home on narcotics with you. Not enough that you got her shot, she's passing on painkillers for you."
Furious, JJ shuffled toward them as quickly as she could as Spencer tried to reply. "I didn't tell her not to…"
As she crossed into the foyer, she interrupted him, her glare trained on Will. "Let me make two things crystal clear for you. Spence didn't 'get me shot', he saved my life. And my decision about the painkillers was my own, and not for him. I don't want to be loopy constantly, especially around Henry. I'm getting really tired of you treating him like crap when he's never been anything but polite and helpful to you. Get out of our home.
Will stood frozen in shock for a moment, then stormed through the open door.
Spencer closed and locked it then turned toward her. "Thanks for sticking up for me."
She offered him a soft smile. "All I did was tell him the truth. Now, let's go eat. I'm starving."
AN: Holy cow, that was WAY longer than we thought it was going to be! Hope you enjoyed!