A/N: Here's next chapter! I hope you all like it.

Special thanks to red2013, CM Fan, jenny crum, Sohpia0665, Christiangirl, Westie80, K8e1 and BAUMember!

I don't own criminal minds!

Chapter 35: Family time

JJ had been glued to her couch for the rest of the evening. The bottle of wine she had opened didn't help her forget the painful day she just experienced. But she couldn't go on like this for too long because she needed to find another job. She had no idea where she was going to work next. She no longer knew if she wanted to be a lawyer. But someone was trying to destroy her reputation along with Griffen's. She couldn't stand by and let it happen. So there was only one thing left to do. She needed to find the person who reported Griffen to the bar. It wasn't a simple task and JJ knew she needed help from an experienced investigator, so she decided to ask her uncle if she could stop by their house to talk to him.

After the call to her uncle, she was able to tear herself from the living room couch and get ready to visit her family. She saw them the night before at dinner, but before that it had been a long time since she last saw them. It had been over a month. It was mainly because work had consumed all her time and she barely had any time to herself anymore. She hated that she had become a workaholic and she no longer had time for the only family she had left. She realized she hadn't spent enough time with Tom and Sara ever since she started law school. She thought it would be easy, but in reality it wasn't. They all had their separate lives. Tom also had a demanding job. Being a detective couldn't be easy at all. It was a job that showed what humanity truly had to offer and what people were capable off. JJ had always been torn between becoming a detective or a lawyer. The field of law seemed to have more to offer, until now. She often wondered if she made a mistake because she mainly dealt with corporate cases and she wasn't really helping any people, but she did love it. She loved the thrill of winning a case and telling their client that they won a suit. And with Griffen nothing was ever boring. He made the job challenging and interesting. He challenged her every view she had and he wasn't shy to let her know his opinion. To sum it up. She loved working with him. In the past tense. Because it was all over. Ripped away from her for no good reason.

JJ snapped from her thoughts when the cab came to a stop. She looked to her left side, realizing she was already at the house. Her aunt and uncle lived in a sweet little home just outside of New-York. JJ always wondered why they didn't have children, but Tom always told her that they both choose their careers and that JJ had become like their own child, even though she only lived with them for a short time. They saw her as their own and that meant the world to her. They had always supported her, except when Hotch knocked up Haley. She could still remember the fight like it was yesterday. It was the first time she was afraid of losing everything again after her parents and sister. It was a moment of fear and it became reality. She often wondered what her life would've been like if Hotch had made another choice. They probably would've been married and both of them would have brilliant careers. The kids would've come when she was around thirty years old, so she had enough time to enjoy a job and be good at it. A career had always been important to JJ. She wanted to provide for herself if it was necessary.

Through her daydreaming she gave the cabbie money and made her way to the front door. She waited a couple of seconds before ringing the doorbell, trying to regain her composure. She was going to tell them about her horrible day and she knew they weren't going to like it at all.

Tom opened the door to see a sad JJ standing on the porch. She looked exhausted and it immediately worried him. It wasn't a look for JJ. Usually, she was bubbly and smiling. But he couldn't trace any of it. ''JJ, come on in!'' he said as he stepped to the side. ''Sara and I've been worrying since we got your call.'' he began as he took her coat and hang it. He followed a silent JJ into the living room.

JJ gave Sara a quick hug and sat down on the sofa across from her, keeping herself together. It was suddenly very obvious that she was emotional. She felt her anger and hurt rushing to the surface and she didn't know how long she could keep it all in. She cleared her throat before speaking. ''I know I haven't seen you two in such a long time before yesterday and I'm so sorry for my absence.'' she began. ''But I have a favor to ask you.'' she explained, getting right to the point as she looked at Tom.

Tom gave Sara a concerned glance before he spoke. ''I'll always help you, JJ. With anything. You know that.'' he said.

Sara didn't want to interrupt the conversation that seemed to be extremely important. ''JJ, talk to us.''

JJ looked at them with tears in her eyes, forcing them away. She didn't want to cry. She was twenty-five. She wasn't a child. ''I was fired from the firm today.''

''What?'' Tom and Sara asked in unison. ''What happened?'' Sara added.

''My boss, Griffen, was reported to the bar for inappropriate behavior regarding me.'' she explained and she was about to continue when Tom nearly jumped up from his seat in anger.

''Did he harass you?''

''No!'' JJ said immediately. ''Griffen and I…we…you know…we kissed yesterday night.'' she went on, feeling embarrassed as she talked about it. ''Today I came to work and he was distant and then I got called into Lauren's office and she fired me because she suspects me of reporting Griffen to the bar, but I didn't do it.''

Tom's mind was racing as he listened to situation JJ was in. It seemed stupid, but it was all too real for her. ''Did they give you a reason to suspect you?'' he asked.

''Griffen said I set him up and got evidence to support my claim.'' she replied. ''I don't even know what kind of evidence he was talking about.''

''Well, it has to be pictures or a video because you need solid evidence to report someone to the bar, especially a lawyer like Griffen. He has a very solid reputation.'' he explained. ''I guess they already launched an investigation.''

''I just want to figure out who would do this to Griffen.'' JJ said sadly.

''Or to you.'' Tom said, hoping JJ didn't take it personal.

JJ looked up in surprise. ''Me?'' she asked. ''But Griffen is the one who's in trouble.''

''Not yet.'' Tom said. ''Anyone knows that Griffen West has an excellent relationship with Lauren Parker and she wouldn't let a traitor work in her office. So any lawyer at your firm would know that you were going to get fired on the spot because of it.''

Tom noticed that JJ was completely speechless. Tom had an excellent theory, but she didn't want to believe that it was someone at Parker & Watson. It couldn't be anyone she worked closely with. She trusted everyone and she didn't believe any of her friends were capable of it. ''Do you mind helping me out with this?''

''No, I don't mind.'' he replied, looking to his side and noticing that Sara had given them some space to discuss the problem. ''I want to start with a list of people you work with and then we'll discuss each person on the list. And of course the people close to Griffen as well.''

''Sure,'' JJ agreed as Tom grabbed his notebook and a pen. She noticed he was ready, so she started listing the people. ''My closest friend is Tracy. She knows absolutely everything about me and it's also the other way around. Benjamin Morris is a fellow associate, we've worked on cases together but he hasn't worked with Griffen.'' she said simply. ''Other associates I know pretty well and work with are Craig Holden and Eric Wright. Junior partners are Ethan Young, Glenn Cooper, Tyler Baily and Sam Briggs, but I haven't worked with any of them since I started and neither has Griffen. Senior partners are Nancy Flynn, Andy Weiss, Wesley Evans and Isaac Cohen. So far I've only worked with Evans and briefly with Cohen.''

''How are their relationships with Griffen?'' Tom asked curiously.

''Well, Griffen had an outburst when I had to answer to Evans, so there's definitely bad blood between them.'' she replied. ''And the relationship between Isaac Cohen and Griffen seems cold, but not as bad as it is with Evans.''

As the night wore on, they talked about every possibility. Tom quickly realized Griffen had a lot of enemies, but the list got smaller as they looked at people who could definitely hold grudges against Griffen. And people who worked in the office. They soon had come to the conclusion that someone within the firm was behind it all. Nothing else seemed to hold up. They had to know JJ and Griffen pretty well to know they shared mutual feelings for one another.

Tom had a final list of names of people they suspected, but they both know they couldn't jump to judgment too quickly. ''So the final names are, Wesley Evans, Benjamin Morris, Tracy Clark, Isaac Cohen, Aaron Hotchner and Brian Lewis.''

JJ sighed deeply. She didn't like it at all. Half of the names were people she trusted. She couldn't believe Tracy or Benjamin were behind it. ''You can scratch Benjamin and Tracy. I trust them, Tom.'' JJ insisted.

''I get it, JJ. But I've seen people do worse things than this for absolutely nothing.'' he explained. ''I'll check their backgrounds tomorrow and I'll let you know. Why don't you sleep in the guestroom tonight?''

''Yeah, I will.'' she said, rising from the chair tiredly.

''Sleep well, kiddo.''

''You to.'' JJ said before she disappeared into the guestroom. As she rid her jeans and blouse, she was afraid to think about who it could really be. She didn't want to know just yet. The truth could hurt even worse and she didn't want to lose someone else in her life.