Author's Note: Well I'd say this final chapter is long overdue! I think it may be because it marks the end of "Jake's". Still, I hope you come back and re-read both stories when you feel so inclined. :) Thank you for all of your support during the writing of "Jake's Series" and "Jake's Companion". It was a long project that would have never finished without your encouragement!
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds.
Jake's Companion – Epilogue
"Okay my little man! Out you go!"
I watch as my adorable godson—seriously, so adorable—hops out of my car. I take his hand and go to shut the door.
"Thanks for takings me's to the park, Aunt Pen-o-pe!" Henry squeaks out. He's swing our arms back and forth, skipping along the drive as we head to JJ's front door. I pause when I see a soccer ball in the yard.
"Hey, kiddo," I say, tugging on his hand, "That's a cool soccer ball you have sitting in the yard over there." I motion over to it with our joined hands. "Don't you think you should go pick up your ball and put it away for your mom?" I keep my voice light and ask him the question with a smile, because, after all, I'm the cool aunt. Henry looks for the ball and when he spots it, begins to laugh.
"Aunt Pen-o-pe! That's not mine! That's Jack's ball!" He begins to pull me up the driveway towards the front path leading to the house, clearly having no intention of picking up a ball that isn't his.
"Who's Jack, Henry?" I ask, as I begin to walk again. My phone dings, alerting me to a text so I miss Henry's mumbled answer.
"I'm sorry, buddy, what did you say?" The two of us reach JJ's front porch and I'll admit I'm still quite a bit distracted because I'm trying to find my phone.
"I said—"
"Ring the doorbell, sweets," I mutter. Where is that dang phone?!
"Hotch!" Henry suddenly exclaims. Uhm, what? I'm utterly confused as to why my godchild is saying Hotch's name until I look up and low and behold, Hotch is looking right at me.
"Hotch?"
I watch my boss take in a slow breath and exhale with a tiny quirk of his lips.
Whaaaaat? I…what…huh?
"Sir! Wh…what are you—"
"Hotch!" Henry says again, a bit louder, jerking me from my haze. My little munchkin is raising his arms, waiting to be picked up. Hotch obliges and he does so with—hold on, I'm about to fall over—a humungo smile on his face.
"Hey bud! Have a good time with Aunt Penelope?" Hotch pauses and glances at me. "You guys are a little earlier than anticipated."
"Early?" I squeak.
"Aaron did I leave my phone upstairs?" JJ's voice calls from the kitchen.
Aaron? OH. MY. GOODNESS!
WHAT!?
"Uh, why don't you come in?" Boss man says with a nervous smile.
Oh. I must have said that out loud. OH WELL! Bring on round two!
"WHAT?!"
My responses to this…this…unbelievable discovery must have been a little rambunctious because soon JJ appears, completely surprised. Though in all fairness, there is no way she is as bombshelled as me! I mean JJ…and HOTCH! Hotch…and JJ!?
HOW DID I MISS THIS?!
I may have my blonde moments and people may find me hard to take seriously but my eyes have been opened! There is no missing JJ and Hotch's quick glance that says a thousand words. Nor do I miss the expert way Hotch handles Henry and tells him to give his mother a kiss hello.
I think I'll just melt now.
/XXX/
Answer the phone. Answer. The. Phone.
"Hey, Em!"
"Jayje! Hi. It's Emily." There's a pause on the phone and I roll my eyes at my clumsiness. "Which you know. What are you up to?"
"About to put in a movie, actually."
"Oh? Okay well I'll be quick! I'm calling because…well I'm calling because I wanted to reschedule lunch."
"Lunch, huh?"
"Yeah. Yeah I feel bad for missing our last one."
"Don't be. I get it."
"Thanks. Maybe Garcia could come too?" I hear JJ chuckle on the other end.
"Something tells me you just got done talking with Garcia after she left my place today."
"What? No, I haven't…"
…in the last hour, at least. I can't give in, PG will kill me. I hear JJ giggle. Giggle. What?
"Stop it!" she mutters to someone else that's with her.
"I'm sorry?"
"Oh, nothing. So lunch with Garcia?"
"Yeah, I thought—"
"Stop it!" she laughs, clearly not talking to me. Now I'm irritated beyond belief but only because I think I'm the last to know anything.
"How's Hotch, Jayje?"
"He's fine," she answers without a flinch. I wince. I thought I was a better fibber than this. Pen is gonna kill me for blowing our conversation.
"Is he?" I really want to throw her off. So. Badly. "So how's the sex?"
"Want to ask him yourself? He's right here."
"No!" I half shout. Ugh. Point two for JJ. I hear her laughing and she sounds happy, even if it is partially at my expense. It makes me smile. "I can't believe you never said anything!"
"I know. We just weren't really ready. Morgan was an accidental test run."
"MORGAN KNOWS!?"
"Uh, yeah…he saw us out one night."
"He did?"
"Yeah." JJ pauses and it is silent because I'm not entirely sure how I feel about Hotch and JJ in the first place. "Hey, Em, this is real. I'm happy."
Leave it to JJ, who was never a profile, to be able to discern what I'm thinking over a phone line.
"How about you, Pen and I have a girl's night on Saturday? I can tell you everything."
I smirk because I'm picturing Hotch's eyes go wide at JJ statement.
"Sounds great, JJ."
"Okay, good."
"Enjoy the movie, tell Hotch hi for me."
"Will do! Night, Emily."
"Night." The line disconnects and I stare at the phone for a few seconds, still in disbelief.
It only takes me a few more seconds to realize I have a small smile on my face.
/XXX/
"Did you know that—"
"Before that, Spence, I have something to tell you," JJ says as we are walking towards the parking garage. We just finished seeing a movie and there were so many facts wrong in it that I can barely keep the contradictions in. Normally JJ lets me tell her all a movie's inaccuracies right afterwards, but right now she's avoiding eye contact and playing with the edges of her sweatshirt sleeves.
"Sure, okay. Is everything all right?"
"Great, actually," she sincerely tells me in her special, JJ way. "I uh, have some news."
"Oh, okay. Good or bad?" Her anxiousness is making me nervous. I don't ever remember her being like this with me, the only exception being when I confronted her after learning about Emily's cover up.
"Good. Definitely, good." The brilliant smile on her face tells me she's not lying.
"Well then what is it?" I ask. Anything that makes JJ happy must be a good thing.
"Uh, Hotch and I…we, uh, well…"
I skip a step in my excitement. "You guys found a way to get you back to the BAU? That's great! Why wouldn't that be great?"
"Well, no."
It appears I got ahead of myself. "No? Then what, JJ?" Normally I'm more patient, and the surprised glance JJ sends my way says so, but something is going on and it involves her and Hotch. Other than work, I have no idea what it could possibly be.
"Hotch and I are together," JJ blurts. "We have been, for a while now. I just wanted you to know."
"You and Hotch?"
"Yeah."
"I don't understand. How?"
JJ shrugs. "It just happened."
I feel irritated, but I'm not sure why. I like Hotch, but his being with JJ makes me feel awkwardly uncomfortable. I stop our walk and turn to her. "Did you know that approximately 78.7% of relationships between boss and subordinate—"
"He's not my boss anymore," she defends.
"That's when it started though, isn't it? Is that why you left? Did you both simply lie to avoid us knowing?"
"Spencer! That's not true. We would have never lied to you guys."
"Really? You didn't have a problem doing so about Emily," I spit out.
There's silence between us and we don't move. JJ stares at me with hurt eyes and I feel ashamed. Projection is often a defense mechanism I am partial to. 82.3% of people use it over other any other coping strategy.
"I see," JJ whispers. We both turn away from each other and begin to walk back to the car again. "I thought we were over that."
I think about my words carefully, because JJ was smiling brightly a minute ago and because of me she isn't anymore. "I think I thought I was. I know you are, but I must need more time."
"Okay." She sounds disappointed in me. She braves a look in my direction before speaking again. "Well the truth is that we ran into each other—after I began working at the DoD—and it just happened."
"Well, what about Henry?" I demand, though softly. Hotch and JJ still isn't sitting right with me. I can't explain it, but there must be a reason.
"Henry's fine. He is doing great with all of it. He loves Jack. And Aaron treats him like his own. You should see them together, Spence. It really is great."
"Okay."
We both mutually turn and walk to the car again, but I can tell JJ is unsure what to make of my outburst.
"Okay? After all that?"
"I'm sorry. I just…"
She cuts me off.
"Look, Spence, come over tomorrow and come to the park with all of us. It is supposed to be a beautiful day. I think it will make you feel better about this."
"I don't want to intrude. Or say something stupid."
"You won't. I wanted to tell you tonight so I could ask you to come without you being blindsided in front of the boys."
"Okay." I'm glad she trusts me to come, even though I just lashed out at her for no rightful reason. "So Hotch is okay with our movie nights?" I ask her.
"Of course he is. We've been doing this for years. Aaron wouldn't want me to change anything just because he loves me."
"Loves you?"
"Yes," she affirms without missing a beat.
"Wow. I had no idea."
"Some profiler you are."
/XXX/
The cubes clink together as I swirl my scotch in Hotch's office. We just closed an open-and-shut case, we're home early and tomorrow is Friday. Dare I say it, we're about to sail smoothly into the weekend. Which means I need to encourage a certain someone in front of to go out and enjoy himself.
"So I know this attractive—"
"Dave."
"What?"
Aaron sighs and gives me a knowing look.
"It'd just be a casual lunch!" I persist for his sake. The man needs a woman in his life again. Hell, he deserves it.
"No."
"Why not?"
"It's not…necessary. I'm not looking," Aaron answers before taking a sip of his drink.
"I know you aren't. Hence the reason I'm doing so for you.
Hotch remains silent, but I'm not sure why. Now I notice a lack of eye contact. Interesting.
"Unless, of course, something or dare I say someone has happened and you've neglected to say something," I hint.
One glance from Hotch says it all.
I don't believe it. The man went and got himself la—
"I didn't neglect, I...kept to myself," he smirks at me. He knows he caught me off guard and he's enjoying it. I set my glass down so he knows I mean business.
"Well who is she?" I prod. Aaron's smirk turns into a grin and I know he is thinking about this mystery woman. My curiosity peaks. "Do I know her?"
Aaron chuckles. "Yes, I'd say that you do."
My confusion grows. It can't be anyone I've tried to set him up with because he's declined everything I've offered on a silver platter. Who could it be?
"Who?"
Hotch glances at me and plays with the rim of his glass, thinking. He seems nervous all of the sudden.
"JJ," he answers, finally.
Well, hell.
"JJ. Our JJ?"
Hotch nods affirmation.
Well, shit the bed.
"How long?"
"A while." Typical Hotch style, not offering more information than necessary. He must drive Garcia crazy.
"A few weeks 'a while'?"
"Ten months," he confirms, shocking the hell out of me.
"You dog!" He smiles at my less-than-graceful sentiment. "I'll hand it to you, I didn't see this coming a mile away." Hotch studies me a moment, cocks his head and makes a decision.
"I'm going to ask her to marry me," he confesses. His voice, while quiet, is determined.
I sit back. Now, I'm speechless. Well, almost. "You're sure?"
"Yes."
Aaron's never been one for words, but I trust him and his impeccable judgment. I trust JJ too. I reach over for my glass and raise it.
"Congratulations."
The End