A/N: So, this chapter, I've been thinking about for quite a while.
HAPPY EASTER!
Disclaimer: I don't own CM.
"So you just quit?" Bethany exclaimed, throwing her hand up in the air. JJ sighed, resting her chin on her arm, which was resting on the kitchen bench.
"Yeah"
"JJ, you're incredible, you really are, but sometimes, you can be really stupid"
"Thanks for the pep talk"
"JJ, I'm serious," Bethany said softly, feeling defeated. JJ sat up straight, sighing again.
"I broke my board, I nearly drowned, I came last. I don't want to do it anymore," she explained simply. Bethany bit her lip, before looking back at her friend.
"It's hard. I know it is, my first competition wasn't great-"
"Yeah, but this wasn't my first, this was my seventh!"
"It's hard! But do you just give up when it gets too hard?"
JJ didn't reply, knowing Bethany had caught her there.
"JJ, you have incredible potential. I've seen you surf. Trust me, you would work your way up the rankings in no time. Please tell me you'll give this another go," Bethany pleaded, gripping JJ's hand. JJ squared her jaw, looking Bethany straight in the eye.
"No," she said finally, pulling free and sliding off the stool. Bethany shook her head, grabbing her car keys and heading out the door.
"Where are you going?" JJ asked.
"I know a lost cause when I see one," Bethany called back, closing the door behind her. JJ exhaled heavily, exiting the house through the back sliding door and heading down to the beach for another walk along the sand.
xxx
Seeing as they had another week in Hawaii, the team had been asked to consult on a particularly bad case in Oahu. JJ and Morgan were sent to the hospital to talk to the latest victim, while the others spread out to various other locations. Will stayed at the beach house with Henry and Jack, keeping them amused for the day.
Morgan took a deep breath as he looked around the doorframe of Iekika Gryde's hospital room. Picking up the chart near the door, he scanned the doctor's comments. Sighing, he turned back towards the end of the hallway and approached JJ, who was standing with Iekika's doctor.
"She doesn't seem to be badly emotionally traumatised. She talks freely with the nurses, but she insists she's not ready to talk about what happened to her," the doctor was saying.
"Well, that's what we're here to do," JJ replied gently. Morgan stepped up, looking at JJ.
"I think you should be the one to talk to her," he said gently.
"Why?" JJ asked.
"Her chart...apparently she's lost the use of her right arm. Chronic paralysis due to trauma," Morgan persisted. JJ nodded, turning back to the nurse at the desk.
"How do you pronounce her name?"
"Eye-ee-ka," the nurse replied. JJ smiled in thanks, before giving Morgan a pointed look, and heading down the hall to Iekika's room. Entering the room slowly, and making sure the young girl knew she was there, she closed the door. Iekika looked to be about 14 or 15, with long brown hair that had been cleaned and combed by a kind nurse. Pulling up a chair beside Iekika's bed, she sat down.
"Iekika? My name's Jennifer Jareau. I'm with the FBI-"
"I know who you are," Iekika said softly, avoiding JJ's gaze. JJ half smiled.
"Ok then...who are you?" she humoured. Iekika turned her head to look at JJ.
"Iekika Mai Gryde. My name is Hawaiian for Jessica, chosen because my parents think they're Hawaiian natives, just because they moved here a year before I was born. They're both lawyers from Detroit. I prefer Kiki...it sounds more normal," she sighed.
"I prefer JJ. It's shorter, and much more convenient for people who are terrible with names," JJ said nonchalantly. The tone she used brought a soft smile to Iekika's face. JJ felt like she was getting somewhere. She'd already established a relationship with the girl. Some victims were easier to crack than others.
"Can I call you JJ?"
JJ smiled. "Of course you can"
"I'm guessing you want to know all about what I went through"
"Only if you're ready to talk about it," JJ said softly. Iekika nodded slowly.
"Not yet"
"That's fine. I won't push you"
"But there is something I would like to talk about"
"What's that?"
"What's it like? Living with one arm?" Iekika asked, her eyes filling with tears. "I mean, that's why they chose you to talk to me, right?"
JJ hesitated, before nodding slowly. "Yeah"
"I never asked for this to happen"
"Neither did I, Kiki. One minute, I was surfing, and enjoying life, the next, I was lying on the beach, missing an arm, and wondering if I was going to die," JJ said quickly. Iekika sniffed, prompting JJ to hand her a few tissues.
"I'm right handed, I mean-"
"Hey, hey, just calm down for a minute, alright? You need to think of the positives. You still have your arm. I don't. There's absolutely no possibility of me having two arms ever again. Medicine advances every day. You have the possibility of regaining the use of your arm sometime in the future"
"But how do you live with one hand?"
"It can be hard sometimes. Especially at first, during the adjustment period. But you'll eventually learn how to do things with one hand, and you won't have to think about it as much"
"You can surf with one hand. You don't seem to have any problems leading a normal life"
"Actually...I quit"
"Surfing?"
JJ nodded sheepishly.
"Why?" Iekika asked, pulling herself up into a sitting position.
JJ bit her lip in thought. And then, to a girl she'd met five minutes earlier, but who she'd already established a trust with, it all came out. "It got hard. Harder than I thought it was going to be. More difficult than I was used to. I broke my board, which was an expensive Christmas present from my husband, and I almost drowned. I was humiliated, and afraid of getting hurt again"
"Hard isn't an excuse to give up," Iekika scolded gently. JJ looked up, surprised. "I loved watching you surf, when it was broadcasted to TV. Your competitions, I mean. I didn't know what it was about you that drew my attention, but you're a really good surfer. I wouldn't be throwing that away if it was me"
JJ looked away, thoughtful for a moment, before turning back to Iekika. "This is supposed to be about you"
"Nah. You're more interesting," Iekika scoffed. JJ laughed, leaning back in her chair as their conversation ran through her mind.
xxx
During the three days she'd spent with Iekika before the young girl was discharged and sent home, JJ had not been able to stop thinking about what she'd said..
Sprawled across the couch one afternoon, while Will was outside with Morgan, she stared at the ceiling and tried to make sense of all the thoughts running through her mind.
Pulling herself off the couch, she crossed the room to the back door and stepped out into the back garden. Walking down the gentle slope, she approached her husband and colleague.
"Hey. I need your help," she said, addressing them.
"Both of us?" Morgan asked as he turned around. JJ nodded.
"Name it," Will drawled.
"I think I wanna compete," JJ said. The grins that spread across the guys' faces were evident of excitement.
"Are you sure? 'Cause you don' have to," Will said gently. JJ smiled.
"I'll take it heat by heat," she replied. "But we have to figure something out. Some way so the handle doesn't snap"
"Already way ahead of you," Morgan laughed, heading down to the board shed. Reaching inside the door, he pulled out a surfboard that had a cover on it. Pulling the cover off, he revealed a brand new short board, in bright tropical blue and lime green, with a thicker handle rigged on top. Across the back, a little strap joined the two ends of the handle, preventing them from snapping free of the holes they were threaded through.
"Something like this?" Morgan asked. JJ nodded, grinning from ear to ear as she reached forward and took the surfboard from his hands. Once he'd let go, Morgan sprinted back up to the house, leaving the married couple alone.
"Do you like it?" Will asked, stepping up beside her as she looked over the board.
"I love it. But...why would you go and buy another board when I told you I didn't want to do it anymore?"
"Somethin' told me you wouldn't give up. I trusted my gut. And I was right"
Morgan ran to the young boys' bedroom, where the others were helping them build a blanket fort.
"Guys, JJ's going back in the water," he said excitedly. At that, everyone dropped everything and stampeded out of the house.
A/N: Stay tuned. Next chapter very soon.
Please read and review!
SQ215 xxx