A/N: I'm trying to add a bit more humour to this chapter to lighten the mood. Tell me if I was successful, kay?
How epic was JJ's fight? I was like 'BADASSERY!'
Ok, for inspiration reasons, this is set around 'Closing Time'. Say the attack was why JJ was gone for an amount of time, to recuperate.
Now as for the firearms, I did a little research, and there wasn't anything that said someone with a missing arm COULDN'T possess a gun, so I'm going with that.
Disclaimer: I don't own CM.
JJ sat on the lounge, a pad of paper in her lap, a pen in her hand. She was staring into space while tapping the pen against the paper.
"JJ," Will said bluntly as he finished making sandwiches for them.
"Sorry," JJ said quickly, stopping the tapping. Will grabbed a bottle of lemonade from the fridge, pouring two glasses. As he put the lid back on the bottle, he realised she was doing it again.
"JJ," he called. JJ sighed in frustration.
"I don't know how to write a book! This is too hard, I'm going to strangle Daniel," she exclaimed, throwing her hand up. Will moved towards her, carrying their lunches on a tray. Setting it down on the coffee table, he sat down beside her. Gently, he took the paper and pen from her hand.
"Here's an idea. Why don't you just talk to me, an' I'll write it all down"
"Talk about what?"
"Anythin'. Your feelin's, what you've been through, how you coped...anything that comes to mind," Will said softly. JJ thought for a moment, before nodding and smiling. She took a moment to think before she softly began to speak.
"Well, the morning of the attack was like any other day. I didn't think twice about going surfing..."
xxx
They sat for about two hours. After JJ had found that it was easier that way, she had poured her heart out to Will. Some of the things she said had brought tears to Will's eyes as she spoke, especially when she talked about how terrified she had been to die, that all she'd wanted was to see Will and Henry one more time if she was going to die.
JJ had wound up curled against his chest as she spoke softly, watching as he wrote in his neat cursive. They had filled four pages with two hours of talking. JJ realised that she felt better about it all, having finally bared the truth and telling Will how she felt. It made her feel more at ease with her new life.
She was finally ready to accept it and move on.
xxx
"Will! Will! Will! WILL!" came JJ's shrieks from the lounge room. Will got up from the kitchen table, heading down the hallway.
"WILL!"
"Alright, cher, I'm comin'!" Will called back exasperatedly. Entering the lounge room, he found Henry standing on the coffee table, JJ perched on the couch, and Meilani gurgling as she played with one of her toys.
"There was a HUGE spider! It went under the couch! And Henry says he saw a cockroach over near the TV," JJ told him. Will laughed. JJ might be tough as nails when it came to her line of work and surfing with one arm, but if there were bugs within 1 foot, she was running in the opposite direction as fast as she could.
Will turned to see if he could see the cockroach, when Henry jumped off the table and ran out of the room, yelling 'SPIDER!' at the top of his lungs. JJ shrieked as the spider ran across the floorboards, coming out from underneath where she was sitting. Will grabbed a magazine, letting the spider run onto it, before carrying it to the front door and putting it outside. Moving back over to the couch, he lifted Meilani to his hip. She had grown so quickly, nearing five months old.
"Happy?" he teased. JJ smirked at him, sliding off the couch, walking hand in hand with Will as they went to find Henry.
xxx
Having re-taken a special firearms qualification to put her back in the field, JJ was feeling better than ever about being back at work full time.
But after an encounter with a man by the name of Michael, she felt pretty roughed up. Having charged at him, and somehow (even she didn't know) pushing him against the wall and punching him in the face at the same time, she had received a few retaliation hits of her own. And now, she was sitting in the back of an ambulance, looking, and feeling like hell.
"Spencer...I'm fine. I swear, it's just a scratch," she said softly as the paramedic wrapped a bandage around her arm.
"I don't know, I count two cuts, three bruises, a black eye, and possibly a fractured rib. I'm not telling you how to do your job, but you should probably consider giving her a cat scan," Spencer replied, watching her closely. JJ sighed, turning to the paramedic.
"Ignore him," she muttered under her breath. The paramedic almost laughed.
"You ok?" Hotch asked solemnly. JJ looked up, the light hitting her face and illustrating to everyone just how battered she was. Half smiling, she nodded.
"Yeah, I will be," she started. Looking away, she nodded towards Hunter. "What about him?"
They turned and watched as Hunter hugged his mother, crying tears of fear and relief.
xxx
Morgan laughed as he and JJ entered the bullpen. "Look, JJ, all I'm saying is I am never making you angry again. I mean, who knew that Pennsylvania Petite could give such an ass whooping, with one hand?"
JJ grinned as she came to a stop at her desk. "Well, I'm just glad my hand to hand coach could work his schedule around my surfing, work, and family life"
"It's my pleasure," Morgan said softly. "I'm just really grateful that it all paid off"
JJ exhaled, raising her eyebrows and nodding.
"You were great out there. I'm proud of you," Morgan said warmly. They stood in a comfortable silence before he spoke again. "Why don't you get your little butt home? I'm sure Will's waiting on you"
JJ looked at her watch. "Ah, well, yeah, we did have dinner reservations, but um," she said, waving her hand in front of her face. "I'm thinking we'll do takeout instead"
Morgan chuckled, glad that for once, his colleague's insecurities had nothing to do with her arm.
"Thanks Derek," she finished. Morgan nodded.
"Yeah," he said softly, reaching out and placing his hand on her left shoulder. JJ reached across, patting his arm as he pulled away. Turning around, she grabbed her bag, slinging it over her shoulder, and making her way out of the building to head home.
xxx
As she opened the front door, JJ heard Will call out.
"Cher? I got a message from Spencer. He said you got hurt-" Will stopped dead as he rounded the corner and caught sight of JJ. "Woah"
"This is nothing, you should see the other guy," JJ laughed. Will grinned, putting his arm around her as they went into the kitchen dining area. Henry looked up from his drawing, gasping when he saw his mommy's black eye.
"Mommy! Why is your eye purple?" he exclaimed, jumping off the chair and running over to her. JJ knelt down, wrapping her arm around him as he hugged her.
"I got into a fight," she explained. Henry frowned.
"Fighting bad, Mommy," he scolded. Will and JJ laughed. Meilani shrieked, making her presence known. JJ walked over to her rocker, lifting the baby girl out.
"Hi, sweetheart. Did you miss me? I missed you," she cooed, going back over to Will. Meilani replied by reaching up and winding her fingers through JJ's ponytail. JJ braced herself for the stab of pain as Meilani pulled.
"Ow," she groaned. Will gently untangled Meilani's fingers from her hair, lifting the baby girl from JJ's arms. They both laughed when they saw that Meilani had a very pleased look on her face.
xxx
Foreword
Fame was something that had never crossed my mind, in the whole 32 years I've been around. I wasn't your typical eight year old girl, who dreamed of being the next world famous pop star, or award winning actress.
I played soccer and walked around in my older brother's T-shirts.
But now, I'm known pretty much all over the world, which is a little scary for me, because I'm so used to my private little life in Washington DC. In fact, just the other day, I got a phone call from a family friend of mine, who's a tenth grade art teacher at an international school in a small town in Northern Malaysia. Apparently, all the girls in her class are my number one fans. Which is more than a little bizarre, because 1) only a few speak fluent English and 2) I didn't realise my story had been spread to small towns in places like Malaysia and Brunei.
So yes, it is strange. I'm still learning to cope with it all, but some days, it can feel like I'm being smothered. I know one thing for certain though. I never would have made it through if I didn't have the love and support of a small group of amazing people, only a few of which are blood related, but they are all my family anyway.
There's my parents. When I first told them what had happened, they were shocked, but accepting and supportive. It took a little while for them to adjust to the fact that their daughter had lost an arm, but eventually, they moved on. And ever since, they've just been amazing, which is the only word I can think of to describe how I feel about them at the moment.
Then there's Will. We found each other in New Orleans in early 2007, while my team and I were working a case there. We started flying back and forth between DC and New Orleans whenever we had the time. A year later, I discovered I was pregnant with our son, Henry, and we made our relationship concrete. Will gave up his detective shield, and moved to DC.
Then there's my team. Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Dr Spencer Reid, and Penelope Garcia. My extended family. My best friends. I love them so much, it's probably almost wrong, because I see them as the brothers and sisters I never had. They were amazingly supportive of me, and I will always be grateful that they were in Hawaii with me when I was attacked, because I don't think I would've coped without them.
Needless to say, I never could've dealt with this on my own. I don't think anyone could, despite what you might think. It's a hard road, but I'm glad that, despite my lost limb, I got the chance to walk down it. It opened my eyes to how easy it could be to lose everything, and how you have to take every opportunity you get, because you may not get another chance.
A/N: Chapters of JJ's book will now appear in each chapter :D
Please read and review!
SQ215 xxx