The front door is locked and Alex's brows furrows. He thought his mom was home by now. He plots in the code and the door unlocks itself. Where's my mom? Did she leave already?

"Mom? You home?"

No answer. He steps inside and locks the door. He always locks the door when he's home alone. That was something his mom taught him when he was little.

"Then I guess you're gone."

Alex checks the fridge to see if she left a note. She didn't. While preparing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he picks up his phone and tries calling JJ. She answers on the fifth ring.

"Hey, Alex."

She sounds to be a bit of her breath. Is she exercising? On a Saturday?

"Hi, everything okay? Where are you?"

"Oh…Well, I'm fine, yes. Uh, I'm not home right now."

"I know. I am," Alex says, "and you're not. Where are you?"

"Uh… Look, Alex, I'm with someone here right now. We're kinda busy."

Busy? As in…? Ugh! Please!

"Oh, please! Mom, stop talking. Don't say a thing. You're out of breath, I can hear it. Just…ugh, no. Fine, I'll see you later. Look, I was just calling to tell you that Mabel's coming over for tonight. We're gonna watch a movie. Please, don't drag whoever you got there back here. And aren't you supposed to be with Emily and Pen?"

"Really? Have fun, you two. You know, considering what I'm doing right now, I will just add that I do not want you two to do whatever you think I'm doing. Uh…okay, and yeah, we're meeting up around six at Pen's place. Hey, Alex? I didn't meant this to happen… So you know."

"Whatever. Mom, this is gross. Just don't ever mention it again please. And next time, just lie and leave a message so I don't have to call you. But if it's Derek, I'll kick his ass."

"It's not him. Uack, how can you think so? He's my colleague and friend."

"Exactly!" Alex explodes.

"Argh, honey, no," JJ says. "Look, it's not him. You don't know who it is. I'll call you back, or…I'll see you soon. Okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Bye."

Alex hangs up. He looks at the phone and feels the goose bumps crawling on his skin. Then he looks at the sandwich he has in front of him. Now he really isn't that hungry.

Ugh, just the thought of his mom doing someone else… He groans. He doesn't want to think about it. Needing a distraction, he decided to try to eat the sandwich and swallows it down with milk. He goes into the living room, but first he has to open the door. Why is the door closed? Did his mom have someone over last night? Did Pen come over? Sometimes, she has a really tough time, dealing with her parents passing even though it's almost a decade since the tragic even happened. She still blames herself.

On the saloon table, Alex sees an envelope. It's been opened. He picks it up and sees it is actually addressed to him. Furrowing his forehead he takes out the papers. Three handwritten papers, written on both sides, fall out. He turns the envelope to check the return address.

A county prison? Who is this? And why didn't I get it? Has mom read it? Obviously mom did read it. Or at least she opened it. Why didn't she give it to me? It's for me, the letter says it's for me. She's hiding it. Why? What's so bad that she didn't give it to me? And did she know about this before it even came? Considering she took it, she must have known about it arriving since I am the one picking up the mail.

The questions fly in Alex's head and he sits down, shuffles the rest of the sandwich in his mouth. He grabs the envelope and the letter and starts to read the pages.

/

"Hey, I'm home. Look, Alex, I'm really sorry for that… You know what I mean. It wasn't… I mean, I don't do this regularly. Really, it was a first in a long time. Not that you should know about that either. Uh… So, please, don't be mad, I was just… You know? It doesn't matter. It happened. And, as you said, I'll never mention it again. Let's try to forget it, shall we?"

No answers. Maybe he's downstairs? JJ goes to the door and opens it.

"Alex? You down here?" she shouts to the empty staircase. He doesn't answer. Now, slowly, her heart beat's rising. Where is Alex? The car is outside. The door was unlocked. He's made himself a sandwich. She can see the used knife.

"I'm in here."

He sounds stiff and when JJ goes to the living room, she sees him standing there. He looks at her. His face is as in stone. The expression isn't humoristic or sarcastic. It's plain shock and disgust.

"Look, it won't happen again. Okay?"

Doing a one-night stand isn't something she typically does. But this guy, he's a veterinarian and works close to the BAU office. He's sweet and kind and always lets her go before him in the line when she's going to buy doughnuts at work. He got this charming smile and they got into talking several times. This is actually not the first time they've been hooking up, but it's the first time anyone else besides the two of them knows about it.

"Alex, what's going on? Is it that bad that I'm dating? Or like… You know, I'm a grown woman. I can take care of myself and this isn't really your business. But I'm sorry and it won't happen again. If it does, I won't tell you, okay? I'll lie and say something else unless I'm in a serious relationship."

"Mom, stop! Just stop. It's not about that." Alex cuts her off. He turns, grabs the envelope with the written letters and holds it up, silently accusing her. "When where you going to tell me? Why the hell did you keep this away from me? And is it true? Is my father…is he…a fucking criminal? A thief and a rapist?"

JJ stands there. She's in shock. A thousand thoughts are zigzagging in her head, but none of them makes sense. She can't find words. It's silent in the house as Alex waits for his mom to explain herself.

"It's true then?" His voice breaks and he stomps out of the room, passing her roughly. JJ swears and turns to follow him. Her legs are of jelly. Why didn't she keep the letter away from Alex? How could she forget it this morning? Fuck Lambert and his sexting. It took away all her skills of judgmental efficiency and made her forget the letter. But Alex's right, though. She probably should've shown the letter to him. No, actually she should have told him about William the moment came home with the news of him getting arrested.

But now it's too late. He is already pissed. And hurt. And disappointed. She knows Alex isn't going to stop and listen to her, not after he gave her a chance to talk and she couldn't open her mouth. Now he just needs to cool off. Either way, JJ runs after Alex, pleads him to stop and listen for her to explain.

"Alex, look, I really didn't know before it showed up. I didn't know that much about him. Pen got a call a couple of weeks ago. The sheriff told her that he was going to jail and that he didn't ask for anyone."

"So you thought that was okay then? Let this shit slide under the blanket and forget about it because he didn't ask for me? He didn't have to! He knew all along about me. He's been fucking watching me!" he screams back. Alex got his keys in his hand. Soon he will leave the house and she doesn't know when he'll come back or where he'll go. It's now or never.

"No, I didn't think that. Really, Alex, I thought that I needed something more to give you other than that he was going to prison."

"Why did you want me not to know about this? Did he hurt you or something?" Alex's eyes spark with anger.

JJ shakes her head. No, William never hurt her, not intentionally.

"No, no, he didn't. He was really sweet when I met him. And I just met him once, Alex. I promise, I've never seen him after I told him about me being pregnant. He plainly told me to not ever contact him unless you were dying. He didn't want any contact with me, or you, and I couldn't just change his mind."

"Then why the hell does he wants to meet up with me?" he shouts. "And why didn't you want me to know about this? What did he really do?"

JJ raises her hands, shaking her head. She desperately tries to reason with her son.

"Alex, I didn't wanted you to be with him. I didn't wish for you to contact him. He's a dangerous man, okay? He's been charged with a felony crime. He's not good for you. I just wanted to protect you."

"By lying to me?" He accuses her.

"Yes! Yes, by lying to you. If that was what it would take, then yes! I would lie to you, because I care about you. I love you, and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Then you shouldn't have kept this away from me? I can take care of myself, and if I were to meet him, I would've been careful! You're not the one to tell me that I can't see my father, and you're not the one to decide about whom I shouldn't meet up with. As long as it's legal, I'd do something to prevent myself from getting hurt. You know what? The most… The worst with all of this isn't that he's my dad and a criminal and didn't want to fuck around here, but that you also kept him away. Not only now, but then! You're just like…!" It seems like he doesn't have words for what he feels. He yells out and kicks the wall with his foot. Then swirls around and points at her, holding the crunched envelope. "You," he hisses, "this wouldn't have happened if you did just tell me! You should've told me ages ago!"

And with that he strides past his mom, heading for the door. JJ hears the door shuts. She takes a shaking breath before she runs to the kitchen. Seeing her son working up the car out of the driveway makes her heart break.

She sighs. Slumping down in one of kitchen chairs, JJ clutches her hand to her chest and starts crying.

Next chapter will be up tomorrow.