Final chapter is up! sorry for the wait! thanks for all the reviews!
A few weeks later. . .
JJ hobbled towards her office, her crutches tucked firmly under her arms as she pulled herself along, her left ankle swinging as she moved forward slowly.
After heading through the bull pen and dodging everyone's desk's, JJ exited the doors and turned left to head towards her office.
She pulled herself along a few times more, this time covering ground more quickly, before she reached her office, pausing momentarily as she turned to face the door.
Leaning over gingerly, wincing a little in the pain in her ribs, she turned the doorknob and opened the door, making her way inside her office.
She slowly turned herself around, closed the door and then turned to face her desk.
Piles and Piles of folders were stacked almost as high as the ceiling and she let out a deep breathe as she prepared to tackle it.
It was as if she had been gone for months, instead of just a few weeks.
It was hard to believe that two weeks had passed since the Tobias incident. It was especially painful being back at work already because it only made Reid's absence more noticeable.
He had been gone for two weeks and she missed him every day. . .
When she had woken up from the hospital, Emily and Garcia had filled her in on what had happened, giving her time to absorb all that had happened in the past hours.
Hotch had come in a few hours later, mainly to see how she was doing, but also to see what would happen with her work.
They had argued heatedly for almost an hour before JJ managed to persuade Hotch to take only two months off before returning to work, starting off doing deskwork, staying behind with Garcia on the cases they did.
So, a few days later she was discharged from the hospital and had been driven home by Garica, who had promised to call her every single day to check up on her.
Everything was fine the first day until she went to sleep. Or tried to go to sleep.
She had woken, screaming and drenched in sweat at two in the morning, trembling in fear at the nightmare that she had had.
At first, she knew that they were normal, for her to be having them, but as they continued the following nights, she knew that they weren't right.
They were making her afraid to go to sleep, not just that, afraid to even close her eyes.
In them, they were always the same. Tobias looming over her, with this eerie grin on his face as he beat her and she could feel every thing, the nightmare's were so real. She'd wake up trembling, on the verge of tears and she couldn't fall back asleep. She didn't want to have to see him again.
It was like she was reliving the experience over and over again, but this time there was no one there to save her.
So after a few nights, she had decided enough was enough. One night, after a particularly rough nightmare, she had gone into her bathroom and opened the mirror above the sink.
Inside the cupboard lay the two small vials of dialiud that she had take off of Tobias.
It was something she was ashamed off, so deeply embarrassed that she had to resort to using drugs to keep her away from the reality of what had happened.
It showed weakness and she hadn't told anyone about . . .she couldn't.
A drug addicted federal agent. Just what the agency wanted. She'd be fired for sure and she couldn't lose this job. It was what was keeping her going at the moment.
Shaking the thoughts aside, JJ swallowed thickly and then turned her focus to the task at hand.
She had to concentrate on the cases and forget about her personal problems. She would deal with them later.
She made her way over to her chair, hopping on one foot as she leaned her crutches against the wall.
She then slowly lowered herself into her chair and then turned to face the mountain of folders in front of her.
It was going to be a long day. . .
A few hours later . . .
JJ hung up the phone and gathered the file lying in front of her together.
She had just finished talking to Hotch, relaying to him that she had found a case for them to take.
A serial killer was targeting young women, chasing them through a forest for hours before finally killing them. So far five women had been killed in a span of a month, and JJ knew it was only going to get worse.
When she had looked at the pictures of the girl's bodies in the leaves, she had flashbacked to when Tobias had taken her out to the woods to be killed.
That's why she had to take this case. . .before more girls wound up killed after being terrified for hours on end, never knowing when it would end. They had to stop this. They had to stop it now.
JJ pushed her chair back a little and slowly stood up. She balanced on her one foot and carefully hopped and turned around to grab her crutches, placing them under her arms.
She turned around, grabbed the file and carefully tucked it under one arm as she made her way towards the door.
She paused by the door before leaning forwards slowly, wincing as it shot a sharp pain through her ribs, and then she twisted the handle and pulled the door open.
As she opened the door, the folder fell from underneath her arm and fell onto the ground, papers spilling everywhere as JJ let out a groan of frustration.
She removed the crutches from her arms and leaned them against the wall as she slowly made her way into a crouch.
"Here, let me help." JJ looked up and her face lit up as she grinned happily, staring at . . . .
Reid who had crouched down to pick up the folder.
"Reid! What are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming back for a while." JJ said as she threw her arms around him, knocking him off balance a little as he stumbled back and let out a laugh as the two of them stood up, JJ's arms around his neck as she placed all her weight on him.
"I managed to persuade Hotch, just like you did and . . . I also missed you. Wanted to see how you were doing." Reid said as he looked into her eyes.
"I missed you too. . ." JJ said softly as she looked up at him. She then leaned up and kissed him gently as he kissed her back, placing his hands on the small of her back.
"My my my . . . ain't this a cozy scene." Morgan's voice called out from behind them and the two of them turned red as they turned and looked at him standing behind them, a grin spreading across his face.
"Hotch's got the conference room set up. Though I'd come and check on you JJ but I see Reid's got it covered. Meeting's in five minutes. Reid. .nice to have you back . . .good going my man." Morgan said as he slapped Reid across the back before walking towards the bullpen.
"Well. . .that was a little embarrassing. . ."JJ said as she let out a laugh.
"At least it wasn't Hotch or Gideon." Reid said as JJ smiled.
"True. That would have been worse." She admitted.
"So. . .new case for the team?" Reid asked as he held up the folder.
"Yeah. You going with the team on this one?" JJ asked and Reid nodded.
"Yeah, I think it's time to go back. . .you staying here with Garcia?" Reid asked and she nodded.
"I think it's for the best. I'll be in good hands." She said.
"Good, glad to hear it." Reid replied as he bent down and kissed her gently.
"Here. I'll help you take it to the conference room." He said as he held open the door, holding onto the case file as she slowly made her way out.
"Thanks Reid." She said.
"Anytime. . .JJ, hold on." Reid said as she turned around to face him.
"What is it?" JJ asked.
"You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" He said softly and she felt a twinge of guilt as she nodded her head.
"Yeah, I know. But I'm okay." JJ said and she knew it was a lie and Reid probably knew it was a lie, but he nodded, letting it go for now as the two of them headed off towards the conference room.
She was far from okay, and knew it would take her a while to get back, but she had Reid and today, that's all she needed. . . the other problems, well, that would be another day . . and another case. . .