Tags to episode 10x11: The Forever People.
Kate wasn't one to tiptoe around people, unless it was Hotch, and they were in the middle of another argument, so on the flight home, she didn't hesitate to go and talk to JJ.
"Hey, Jayje?" She asked softly, and the taller blonde flinched at the nickname. "Sorry. I'm sorry. That's not for me to use, right?"
"No, it's just..." JJ shook her head. "Do you need something?"
"No, but you do," Kate said, cautiously sitting on the seat opposite her. "JJ, I don't know what you went through. But I have some inklings, especially judging from what you said to me on our very first flight home. Last year, you said? Are we coming up on an anniversary?"
"Never work with profilers," JJ said, her face white. "Kate, I just don't want to talk about it."
"You don't have to," Kate promised, and reached out to touch JJ's hand. "It's okay to show weakness, JJ. Do you know that? You do not always have to be perfect, even though you seem to try to be all the damn time. Life is not about being the perfect mother, the perfect agent, the perfect wife. It's not about having the perfect body either."
She subconsciously touched her arm where her own scars had been. "Scars show us where we've been," she stated simply. "It's a hard thing to take a physical mark away from a horrible experience, but someday, you'll look at that mark and see it is a mark of your survival, not of the experience itself."
"This is a scar that cocoa butter with Vitamin E lotion will not take away," JJ said. "Kate, I just don't want to talk."
"I already said that that's fine," Kate said, and withdrew her hand from JJ's. "But I asked Reid before we left and I got you these."
She pulled a bag of cheetos from her bag and tears filled JJ's eyes as she took them.
When Kate looked over at her again, half an hour later, JJ was curled up in a window seat, staring out at the night sky and eating cheetos.
Kate sighed and only wished she could do more.
Hotch drove home from the airport with an empty feeling in his chest. He was hurting for JJ, and he was afraid that things would never return to normal for her.
"Dad!" Jack came running to meet him in front of Jessica's house, flinging his arms around him. "You're finally back."
"I know, I am," Hotch said.
Jessica came up behind Jack, walking slowly. "Jack was worried about you. He said you'd miss a date if you stayed away any longer. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you and Beth broke up."
Hotch shook his head at his son, swinging the ten year old into his arms with a grunt. "You're almost too big to pick up," he said, walking with Jessica into the house, since he knew he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't tell her about March now.
"I did break up with Beth," he admitted, putting Jack down. "Want to go get your backpack, buddy?"
"So who's the woman you're going with?" She asked, wiping down a counter.
"It isn't a date," he said flatly. "She's an agent who's going to a banquet and needs a date. Her boyfriend is in Indonesia currently."
"Wait, seriously?" Jessica asked. "Not serious at all?"
"She's twenty-six," Hotch said. "A bit too young for me."
"Age is but a number," Jessica said. "I admit that I am relieved, though. Have fun, then."
"I doubt it," Hotch said. "I'm going to an FBI banquet."
Her laughter chased him from the house.
Ichigo March showed up at Hotch's apartment the following night in a floor length red gown, complete with a slit going up her long leg to her thigh. The skirt was flowy, though, and it looked elegant instead of trashy.
"Hey, you ready?" She asked, looking almost painfully earnest. "My parents are already there, actually. I'm going to be in big trouble for being late to my own award banquet."
"I'm sure it will be fine," Hotch said.
"Jack isn't here?" She asked, craning her neck.
"No, he's at a friend's house for a birthday sleepover," Hotch said. "It was actually very serendipitous how the two occasions collided."
"Then let's go," Ichigo said, and Hotch nodded.
"Penelope, I don't know why you need me to go," Kate said. "And at this late hour? We've got about thirty minutes to find an appropriate dress."
Penelope ignored her, and continued to drag her down the aisles of a department store. "It's not so bad," she said. "We've got forty-five minutes. Anyway, I have to go and Sam has a sore throat, so I'm taking you."
"I'm not sure how that follows," Kate admitted, scurrying after Penelope. "By the way, you're really getting stares dressed like that."
"I know," Penelope preened in front of a mirror. She wore a floor length emerald gown, which hugged her full figure to the perfect advantage. Her hair was done like a 1940's movie star, and her red lipstick set the look off.
"What about this?" She showed Kate a pink dress, and Kate shook her head.
"Or this?" Penelope grabbed a figure hugging black dress, and Kate considered it.
"I'll try it on," she said and took it.
"You know what?" Penelope said. "You go to the dressing room, and I'll pick out a few other options. Go!"
Kate hurried to the dressing room and into one of the stalls. Locking the door, she shimmied out of her jeans and blouse down to her lavender panty set.
"At least Penelope warned me to go strapless," she muttered, taking the black dress and wiggling into it.
She left the dressing room and Penelope's eyebrows hiked up. "Hot. Maybe too hot."
"It is a bit va-va-voom, isn't it?" Kate sighed, looking at how her breasts jumped over the neckline. "Give me the next one."
The next one was emerald green. "Shouldn't I be going floor length if you are?" Kate asked, coming out of the dressing room.
Penelope nodded. "Yeah, probably. Try this yellow one."
"Yellow is a little bright for January," Kate said, but obligingly took it. She liked the way the fabric fell; it had a beautiful flowing skirt.
"Yes, it is too bright," Penelope said. "Okay, we are down to twenty minutes. At least you already did your makeup."
"Okay, this one better be it," Kate said, taking a brown dress from Penelope.
And it was.
"You look amazing," Penelope said. "So let's get out of here. You brought shoes, right?"
"Black stilettos," Kate said. "They go with almost everything."
They bought the dress and left, heading to Penelope's car.
"It's freezing out here," Penelope grumbled. "Can you drive? I need to readjust my makeup."
"Of course," Kate said, taking the keys.
They weaved in and out of traffic swiftly, Penelope marveling. "How are you doing this?"
"I learned to drive in Texas, and everyone goes faster there," Kate said. "Plus, I've spent a fair amount of time in NYC traffic. I've figured gaps out."
"Holy cow," Penelope said as Kate took an opening.
They arrived just in time. Waiters seated them, and Kate looked around the room self-consciously.
"Who else is here?" She asked.
"Just the big names of the FBI," Penelope answered. "And some random senators. A lot of people are getting medals tonight so expect to applaud frequently."
They were sat at the back of a large room, filled with round tables. There was a stage at the front, and soon enough, boring speeches started.
Kate looked around the room and tried to see if she recognized anyone, but it was a tough call. There were a lot of faces there she just didn't know, and it made her shrink back into her chair.
Not for the first time she was reminded of how in-the-corner her work in Andi Swann's unit had been.
Andi rarely went to banquets like this. Kate could remember one instance, and she sighed into her Martini. No wonder she could only remember one. This was both boring and intimidating.
She jerked to attention when Ichigo March's name was called.
"Agent March is getting an award?" She asked, and Penelope nodded.
"Yeah, Hotch went with her as a pity date," Penelope said. "See, he's over there."
Kate searched the tables until her gaze found his and her heart flipped.
On stage, Ichigo was speaking. "Besides that, I'd like to thank my wonderful fiance, Brandon. He's in Indonesia currently, but he sent me this corsage."
Kate's heart pounded even more loudly. That was why Hotch went with her? And he wasn't interested in her at all, and she wasn't interested in him?
The evening stretched out before her like a new horizon, and when Hotch left his table a while later, she took the plunge and followed him.
A/N: To see Kate's dress, google Jennifer Love Hewitt, Golden Globes 2007.
Fireworks in the near future! I'm not one to beg for reviews, but the more I get, the faster it'll be up. Just saying. I guess I'd also like a leisurely break between chapters, LOL!
