The Art of Butterflies

He ran small circles on the inside of her palm – it was cool, nothing like the heat he'd felt before when they were in the garage. Her fever was gone – it was more relief than he could have possibly imagined. When he'd seen her in the garage hours ago, he hadn't imagined he could ever see her well again – and he wasn't seeing her well now. She was pale, and the bruises on her face were still there – but she was alright. Somehow, she was okay. He slid his hand quietly under hers, a reassurance that he was going to be there.

He mentally made a note to remind himself to tell her – because they didn't do that too often. They didn't often tell her how much they appreciated her.

Will was sitting on the other side - brushing the back of his hand continuously against her temple. He was speaking – but not truly aloud. His lips were moving in silent words uttered to her. Once they'd entered the room, his eyes had never left her – he watched her as if she was the sole thing in the room. To him, she was the only thing there –she was the most important thing and she always would be.

Hotch didn't think Will was even aware of his presence until he lifted his eyes to him upwards of forty five minutes later and spoke. "Thank you, for finding her." His hands were an inch away from starting to shake.

"She's lucky to have you, Will." Hotch told him. "If she's upset when she comes to-"

"I won't take it personally." William LaMontagne finished the sentence for the unit chief of the BAU, brushing the back of his hand over his fiancé's cheek. He hadn't broken contact with her since he'd been reunited with her. "Emily told me why I wasn't called immediately." He paused, meeting Hotch's eyes. "Thank you, for putting her first. That's another reason I asked you to join us – she feels safe with you, if she doesn't right away with me." There was no anger behind his voice – he was only hoping that she'd feel safe with one of them. That was all that mattered right now.

"Mm."

The noise was subtle, at first, but it caught both of the men's attentions. Their eyes snapped back to the pale woman lying in the hospital bed. JJ's brow was furrowed; her lips pressed tightly together. Will took a breath as his eyes went to Hotch in question. She moaned uneasily, turning her head away from Will's hand on her cheek. Quickly, Will withdrew his hand as if he'd burned her. JJ had her eyes screwed shut as if she feared opening them.

Hotch wondered how many times she'd fallen asleep and woken up only to be in the captivity of that garage. He couldn't stand to watch her work her way out of that conclusion now. "JJ." He spoke her name in hopes of her recognizing his voice. "JJ, sweetheart, take it easy. Open your eyes for us."

"Jenn? I love you." Will spoke, not giving her the chance to come to a conclusion of the contrary, touching her hand.

Her head was still turned away from Will; her eyes were closed. "Stop." She mumbled. "Stop."

"Take it easy." Hotch soothed. "Neither of us are going to hurt you. It's just me and Will. It's Hotch." He spoke slowly. "Open your eyes for us." He repeated.

She whimpered quietly. "You'll leave …" She paused in talking, her throat on fire. "… if … I look."

"We're not going anywhere, love." Will assured her, reaching out a hand to hover over hers'. After a second's deliberation, he placed it down.

"Not real." The liaison winced at using her voice again. "Can't be." She started to bring a hand towards her throat.

"We are real." Hotch professed. "We're right here, and it's only us. Me, you, and Will." The latter let Hotch do the talking – he was the profiler, after all, he knew what to say to someone who was frightened like his Jennifer was.

She took a breath through her nose, feeling the oxygen tubes on her face, hooking behind her ears. She brought a hand up again – she'd paused in the action before – to try and tug at it.

"Hey, none of that. I'm sorry, it's got to stay there for awhile, JJ." Hotch apologized.

She tilted her head back towards the ceiling, squeezing her eyelids shut tightly once before letting them slide open. The liaison blinked immediately, adjusting to the lighting.

"We're still here." Will told her, squeezing her hand.

"If you can sit up the tiniest bit, you can have a sip of water." Hotch urged. "Do you want Will to hold your head?"

"Please." She whispered, coughing and then groaning. The blonde woman steeled her jaw, needing a sip of water. Will moved closer, cradling her head and neck. She grit her teeth unhappily at the movement before relaxing her jaw again.

Hotch held the plastic pink cup of cool water to her lips. She took a gulp of it greedily before coughing harshly. Her hand flew to her ribs. "Slowly, JJ. It's not going anywhere." There were tears in the corners of her eyes from the sudden pain in her ribs. "Take a few breaths and try again." Hotch soothed. "There's no rush." The pained woman took a few shallow breaths, her hand clutching at her side. Finally, she took a couple of sips of water without coughing and Will rested her head against the pillow again. She fought not to close her eyes.

"Go ahead, close your eyes. It's alright." Will said, surprised to see her turn her head to look at him.

"Hi." She whispered.

"Hello." He answered.

Hotch touched her shoulder "Do you want a moment with Will?" He asked, after a moment's pause. If she didn't want him to leave – if she still wasn't comfortable with that – then he had no intentions of leaving. He would sleep there all night if he had to, but she nodded. "Alright, I'll tell the team you said hello." She nodded again and he left the room.

"Can I get you something?" Will asked. "Are you in pain?"

She nodded her head again. "Don't go?"

"I'm right here." He had to admit that the fact that she was doing the opposite of what he'd expected – wanting him to stay instead of wanting him to go – was a relief.

"I'm glad." She sighed, curling her arm against her chest. "I'm sorry. About before."

Will furrowed his brow. "For what, Jenn?"

There was sadness in her eyes. "I was afraid."

"I know." He said. "There's no problem with that." He leaned forward, and, very carefully, placed a kiss on the woman's forehead. She sighed. "I'll love you no matter what, JJ."

"I'm not in one piece right now."

"Nobody ever is." He answered, stroking her hair. "It's alright. We'll get through this, together. You, me, and our beautiful son."

Something changed in her eyes, then – something akin to light flashed in their blue depths.

And, though it was more alike to a ghost of something once there, she smiled.

Author's Note:

I'll be putting a link up for it on my profile page, but, with the closing of the year, the 2009 Criminal Minds FanFiction awards are about to be underway! Nominations begin January 8the – and there are plenty of categories! Go check them out. Most of the fics there are loaded from livejournal, but you can nominate ones from FanFiction as well, I believe. I love these things – they introduce me to so many author's I haven't heard of before.

Well, if this chapter isn't uploaded before the closing of 2009, I apologize. But even if it isn't – Happy New Years. Thank you for making this year the greatest.

You're all amazing. Three hundred reviews? My god, I can't even begin to explain what that does to me. It makes me the happiest fanfiction author alive; that's for sure.

And no, we're not over yet. I'm thinking next chapter is Hotch's chapter to talk with JJ, and then … well, you'll see. So … review? It'd make a great start for the new years.