A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I apologize again for the space between updates. Forgive me? :) I hope that you enjoy the new chapter. Flashbacks are in italics.

Disclaimer: Same as always.

Chapter 14 – Jonathan Cooper

"We, the jury, find the defendant, Gerald Miller, not guilty."

Elle opened her eyes in frustration and sat up in bed. In reality, she could not sleep because she was afraid to, and she genuinely hated to admit that. But she was awake and having flashbacks, flashbacks that she hadn't had in years. She really thought that she had locked that part of her past away as much as she possibly could, yet memories of every action, feeling, and thought had been dredged up by Ken Decker.

She felt nauseous and she knew that it had nothing to do with pregnancy. Just thinking about Gerald Miller made her physically sick.

She tried to slip out of bed but two arms gently seized her waist. "Where are you going?" Reid mumbled sleepily.

"To the bathroom," she replied as she turned to him with a forced smile on her face.

"Is anything wrong?" He asked with concern.

"No," she assured him as she ran a hand through his hair. "I'll be right back."

"Okay, I'll wait up for you," he stated as he rolled onto his back and folded his hands under his head.

Elle tiptoed into the bathroom joined to Reid's bedroom. She closed and locked the door, something that she never did, and turned the water on. The running water drowned out the noise of her vomiting into the toilet.

When she emerged from the bathroom, after brushing her teeth, she saw that Reid had fallen back asleep. He looked so peaceful and angelic that she instantly felt guilty about the fact that she had neglected to tell him that she had had a phone conversation with someone whom she had…a long history with, to say the least. She knew it was very easy to begin to explain to Reid who Jonathan Cooper is. The beginning was easy. It was the twists and turns along the way that made the story of their relationship a little more complicated.

They first met at the tender age of four. Joseph and Isabella Greenaway, Elle's grandparents, were incredibly close friends with their next-door neighbors, Marie and Edward Cooper, who just so happened to have a grandson who was Elle's age. The little boy was pleasant, energetic, and had an adorable head of shaggy blonde hair. Elle and Jonathan quickly became inseparable and both sets of grandparents were convinced that they would have a Greenaway-Cooper wedding on their hands in the future.

Their inevitable separation came when both children started school. Elle lived in New Lots, Brooklyn whereas Jonathan's home was in Brooklyn Heights and therefore they were in two different school districts and tax brackets. Jonathon threw multiple tantrums because he was not able to go to school with his best friend and Elle cried for weeks. It resulted in the two spending even more time together when they were not in school. Everyday, directly after school, they would sit side by side in front of the television and watch cartoons while eating cookies and milk. As they aged their activities turned into playing video games at his house or playing sports with Elle's brothers. Although they were in different schools, they never drifted apart and for that they were both thankful. They had a bond and a connection that was incredibly strong and one that others often found peculiar.

When high school arrived, Jon's parents decided to send him to Packer Collegiate Institute where Elle would be enrolled as a scholarship student. Attending high school in Brooklyn Heights was not always enjoyable for Elle but Jon made it worth it. He protected her from the stereotypical cruel, popular cheerleaders who detested Elle's secondhand clothes, brains, and Cuban background. Jon was as loyal a friend that anyone could ask for.

The dynamic of their relationship changed in October of 1994. She could remember it like it was yesterday. She had just gotten out of her relationship with Justin Schrader. He had been her very first boyfriend and they had been together over a year but he had been cheating on her for quite sometime. She had been upset, angry more then anything else and all she had wanted to do was to go out and get drunk with her friends. Well she did that and had ended up having sex with Jon. At first she had thought that it was just a drunken mistake. Most friends have fleeting moments of sexual attraction and sometimes alcohol facilitates those moments. But Jon had come to talk to her the next day and she realized that his feelings towards her had changed entirely.

Rafael answered the front door excitedly. "Jon!"

Jon smiled at Elle's baby brother. "Hey Rafa! What's up man?"

"Nothing really, just doing some boring homework."

Jon messed up Rafael's dark hair. "Hey homework is good for ya."

Rafael laughed, "Yeah right."

Jon stepped inside the house and closed the door behind him. "Is your sister home?" He asked tensely.

Rafael nodded. "Yeah, she's upstairs studying."

Jon laughed lightly, "Yeah, that's your sister for ya."

"You can go on up."

Jon nodded. "Okay, talk to ya later little man." Rafael smiled at him brightly before he turned and went back into the living room.

Jon walked anxiously up the stairs and paused for a second before he knocked on Elle's closed bedroom door.

"Come in."

He cautiously opened the door. She was on her bed lying on her stomach with her chemistry book in front of her. She twirled a pen in her right hand and she wore her glasses, a black tank top and a pair of black short shorts, and her hair was slightly disheveled but still perfectly straightened from the night before. He almost kicked himself when he realized that he had been staring at her butt and her long, almost completely bare legs.

Anticipating one of her brothers, she simply rolled over, so when she realized that it was Jon, she panicked and was not quick enough to stop herself from falling off the bed. But she recovered quickly and hopped to her feet. "Hi," she said awkwardly.

He gave her a small smile. "Hi." He laid her purse on her bed. "You left this in my car."

"Thanks," she said slowly.

They both stood there in an awkward silence until Jon made a suggestion. "Do you wanna talk?"

She nodded. "Okay, I'm going change first, maybe we can go outside."

He nodded and left her room closing the door behind him. He walked down the stairs and went out the backdoor.

Elle was pacing her room nervously when she glanced out the window and saw Jon walking out into her backyard. She closed her blind in her window even though she didn't change; she simply pulled on a pair of jeans and a hooded sweater over her tank top and shorts. She laid her glasses on her bedside table and pulled her hair back into a ponytail.

She jogged down her stairs and took a deep breath before she pushed open her backdoor. She couldn't help but laugh as she saw Jon hanging upside down from their large, oak tree.

He smiled at her warmly. "We used to climb this tree when we were little, remember?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I remember," she replied quietly.

He pulled himself back up into a sitting position and jumped out of the tree. He watched as she shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. "Are you cold?" He asked concerned.

She shook her head. "No," she replied stubbornly. He laughed lightly as he walked towards her and removed his leather jacket. He draped it over her shoulders and she immediately pulled it together. "Thanks," she said quietly as she gave him a small smile.

Ever since they had been little he had always been sweet to her.

Jon tried to get all of his thoughts in order before he spoke. "So do you remember what happened last night?" He asked carefully. She looked up at him and nodded. "Okay well I just wanted you to know that I don't think it was just because we were drunk;" he laughed lightly, "really really drunk. At least not on my part anyway."

As she sat on the edge of her back step, he sat next to her. "Elle, you know that you're my oldest friend, right?" She gave him a simple nod once again. "And I love being your friend, but I dunno if that's gonna cut it for me anymore."

She turned and looked at him with an expression of pure shock. "Jon, I just got out of a relationship…"

"I know, and I'm sorry but… I can't lie and say that I'm sorry about the fact that you guys aren't together anymore, because you were way too good for him…" he paused, "and you deserve better," he finished quietly. With no response from Elle he paused again before he continued. "So I'm not sorry that we slept together. I am sorry that we were drunk, but yeah, I know that you'd never be with me sober so…" He stood up and turned towards the door. "So I guess that I'll talk to ya later?"

Elle simply sat there in silence and listened to him walk back through her house and leave.

Shortly after that they began to date seriously. They had spent seven years together. They had lived together and had even talked about marriage and children. She had loved him with all of her heart. He was her best friend, a wonderful lover and boyfriend, and an overall perfect guy. But some things just aren't meant to be. She still remembers their last fight as a couple.

Elle turned her acceptance letter from the FBI Academy over and over again in her hands.

The moment that she had been dreading all day arrived when Jon walked through their apartment door. He smiled at her brightly before he walked towards her and kissed her softly on the lips. "I brought home Chinese. Hey, what's ya got there?" He asked curiously, noticing a letter in her hand.

She looked up at him nervously. "It's a letter from the FBI Academy."

"And?" He asked excitedly.

"I got in."

He picked her up off of the ground and spun her around joyfully. "That's great!" He kissed her. "I'm so proud of you." He placed her back on the floor and looked at her questioningly as he observed the sad look on her face. "Hey beautiful, what's wrong?"

"It starts in January and I'm there until June."

"So?" He asked confused.

"And then I could be assigned anywhere in the country."

He laughed lightly. "Sorry baby, but I'm just a big, dumb jock so I'm not getting why any of this is sad, this is what you've always wanted to do. It's your dream!"

She walked out of the kitchen and into the living room and he followed her. She took a seat on the couch and he sat down next to her. "We're not meant to be together," she stated quietly.

"What?" He leaned in and tucked a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear. "I've been in love with you since I was four, of course we're meant to be together."

She shook her head. "No, we're not." She was on the brink of tears. "We've had obstacles ever since we started going out." She didn't need to make a list, they both knew that she was referring to the year after her rape when she had been distant, her modeling career, and then his career had been a source of stress with him being offered a million dollar contract to play volleyball in Finland, which he had turned down, and now her dreams stood in their way.

"I love you," he whispered softly. "And I'll wait forever if I have to."

She shook her head again. "I don't want you to."

He looked at her puzzled. "Elle, I don't understand."

"Maybe we should just accept the fact that we're not right for each other."

"But we are!" He protested. "Marry me!" She turned to him with a look of pure shock. "Marry me and then when you graduate from the Academy and get your assignment I'll move wherever," he laughed lightly, "if you get assigned to Alaska I'll move there, I don't care. You're the only thing that matters to me anyway."

She grasped both of his hands and looked into his eyes, which were filling up with tears. "Jon, listen to me, I know how much you love me but I don't think that that's enough anymore. In January, I'm moving to Virginia and I'll be gone for six months and I know that you would not even look at another woman. But I think that we both need to move on."

She got up off of the couch and walked into the bedroom, she returned seconds later carrying a large, manila envelope. She sat back down next to him as she began to speak. "I know that you turned them down last year but I resent your tape and credentials and hoped that they would respond, and they did." She passed the envelope to him. "Everything is in there, contract, airline tickets, maps, schedules," she paused and took a deep breath. "Training camp starts next week and I'm making sure that you get on that plane to Helsinki." She leaned in and pressed her forehead against his. She used every ounce of energy that she had to prevent herself from crying. "I love you, but this is going to work out for the both of us, you'll see."

That conversation had been of the most emotionally draining experiences that she'd ever had in her life. Their breakup had been hard to say the least but at the time she had had FBI training to distract her and occupy all of her attention and focus. But for a while after her graduation, she thought that she would never find anyone who felt as strongly about her as Jon. And then she met Reid. She automatically smiled as she thought his name and turned to watch his sleeping form. She crawled back into their bed even though she knew that she would not be able to get back to sleep. She had too many things on her mind.

The feelings that she had for Jon, and still had for him to this day, were nothing like the ones that she had for Reid. At times, she felt physically tied to Reid, like he was holding her in place. Their was no doubt in her mind that Spencer Reid was the man of her dreams and would be her husband one day.

But because of what had happened Jonathan Cooper had invaded her mind. He had been so instrumental in helping her heal after…Gerald Miller had raped her. Unfortunately, she also remembered that like it was yesterday.

"Hey! I'm really sorry I'm late!" Jon apologized as he walked into her room and closed the door behind him. He smiled as he saw Elle sitting on her bed wearing a pair of pajama pants and his black 'Guns 'N' Roses' hooded sweater, which was way too big for her. He sat down next to her and smirked. "Are you on a study break?" She simply nodded without raising her head to meet his gaze. He leaned in and started to tenderly kiss just beneath her earlobe. He pulled back and stared curiously at a mark on her neck. "You have a little bite mark or something on your neck," he laughed lightly, "was that me?"

She hopped up off of her bed and covered the marked side of her neck with her hand. "I guess," she replied, attempting to laugh.

He stood up and looked at her worriedly. "Elle, what's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing," she answered weakly.

He smiled at her sadly. "Come on Elle, I can read you like a book." He watched as she repeatedly shook her head. He walked towards her, "Elle just..." he gently grasped her wrists but she pushed him away.

"Don't touch me!"

He took a step backwards and put his hands up in the air. "Okay, I'm sorry," he apologized meekly. He had never seen her like this before. There was something different about her.

She turned to look out her window and he caught a glimpse of a bruise on the other side of her neck. "Elle, did something happen?" He asked softly. She shook her head defiantly. He sighed heavily, "Let me see your arms."

She turned and looked at him with almost a disgusted look on her face. "What? Why? No!"

"Take off your sweater."

She shook her head again. "Jonathan, I'm not exactly in the mood to take my clothes off!"

He took two steps forward before he knelt down in front of her. "Please, I promise that I won't touch."

She looked down at him, on the brink of tears. "Jon, I can't," she said almost inaudibly. He pleaded with his pale blue eyes. "You can't tell anybody okay?" He nodded. "You promise?" She asked as tears began to roll down her cheeks.

He became increasingly concerned and upset as he watched her cry. "Of course, I promise."

She took a slow, deep breath before she pulled his sweater that she was wearing over her head, quickly followed by her tank top, leaving her standing in front of him in just a pair of pajama pants and a white bra.

His eyes widened. "Ellie, who did this to you?" He stared at the injuries of her upper body. She had bruises on her wrists, shoulders, neck, and all over her abdomen. Scratches covered her forearms and worst of all; she had bite marks on her neck, shoulders, and the tops of her breasts.

"Jonathan you can't tell anybody," she repeated in her currently choked up voice.

"Ellie, tell me what happened." He considerately passed her back her clothes. She pulled her sweater back over her head and took a seat on the bed again. He sat down beside her. "Did...more happen?"

She gave him a small nod. "Yeah," she squeaked out through tears.

He was about to ask for more information when her doorbell rang. "I'll get it." He got up off of her bed and walked out of her room. He ran down the stairs and opened the door. "Oh, hey Officer Miller," he greeted the man politely.

"Jonathan Cooper, good to see ya," he spoke in his thick, Brooklyn accent. "Maria just called me and asked for me to check on the kids."

"Well everybody else is out; it's only me and Elle." He turned around and looked at the top of the stairs where Elle stood.

"Oh, there she is," Miller said happily.

Jon stood in silence for a long time, switching back and forth between Elle and Miller. Observing the grin on Miller's face and staring curiously at Elle as she folded her arms awkwardly and kept her head down, refusing to make eye contact.

All of a sudden, everything clicked. Jon threw every bit of force he had in his six foot eight, two-hundred and sixty-five pound frame behind a quick punch to Miller's face, knocking him to the ground. He followed through on his punch by jumping on top of him. "You bastard! You raped my girlfriend!"

He heard Elle scream in the distance. "Jon! Stop it! You're gonna get hurt!"

He ignored her and continued to throttle Miller until his elbow managed to make contact with Jon's jaw. He fell off of Miller and clutched his jaw in pain.

In this time, Miller removed his gun from its holster and pointed it at Jon. "Just go back in the house boy," Miller ordered calmly.

Jon slowly got to his feet and eyed Miller angrily. "You son of a bitch."

For months after, Jon had been her rock. So much so that she had needed to hear his voice in order to see if he still had that effect on her. She had needed to know if he still held that silent power over her. And he did. And she wasn't sure how to react to that. She wanted to try to explain it to Reid but she was worried about how he would feel about the fact that she thought that she needed another man to comfort her. She knew that if their roles were reversed, she would not be pleased at all.

Her inner conflict was interrupted by the topic of discussion himself. "You're still up?" He questioned sleepily as he rolled over onto his side so that he faced her.

"Yeah, I'm finding it hard to sleep," she answered honestly.

"Nightmares?"

"Yeah." Well, that answer was partially true.

"Anything that I can do?" He inquired in concern. From now on, if she wasn't sleeping then he wouldn't sleep either.

She smiled brightly; he couldn't be any sweeter. "Hold me."

He smiled back enthusiastically and wrapped his arms around her petite frame. "I can do that." He kissed her lovingly on the forehead. "Sweet dreams."

A/N: So there's another chapter. I hope that it fully explains any and all questions that you guys had about this 'Jon' character who was previously mentioned in the very last chapter of Part 3 by Elle's mother. If there are any other lingering questions on your mind about him feel free to leave them in a review or drop me a PM. Hope you enjoyed! Review!! :) Only a few more chapters left to this one!