Chapter 35

"David, for the fifteenth time, I am NOT staying behind on this case, nor am I going to do it on any other case we will have in the future!" JJ groaned as they made their way to the airfield to leave for a triple-murder case in Colorado.

JJ had been back from her maternity leave for two days, and to say these past forty-eight hours had been challenging was putting it mildly. In fact, it had already started in her last weeks at home, when Dave had uttered his concerns about JJ being out in the field again, with two babies waiting for her, two babies who needed their mother safe and sound. She had brushed him off by questioning his role as a field agent, and playing the age card: "We're both highly trained agents, Dave, but your reflexes might be a little bit rusty compared to mine considering your age and all. What if you're too slow to duck when an Unsub tries to shoot you? The children need their father as well, you know. Besides, you're the one with a prolific career as a bestselling author. How about going back to that?"

Not wanting to start a fight with her, especially not when he was still trying to win her for himself, he let the subject go. Ar least until JJ's first day back.

Seeing her bent over a load of casefiles her replacement had left at her desk, he couldn't help himself: "You know, you're really good at this," he said, using his most charming tone.

"What?"

"This. The paperwork. No one's as accurate and detailed as you are at it."

"Dave, what are you trying to tell me here?" JJ rolled her eyes, knowing exactly what he was referring to.

"I'm just acknowledging your work, that's all."

"I've been back for what, two hours? And you're already trying to trick me into taking a desk job? Your charm's not going to work here," she bit out.

"Jennifer, look, you're a valuable member of this team, I'd never deny that, but you could as well be that from Quantico. You don't need to put yourself in any danger," he tried to reason with her.

"You never had a problem with me being in the field before, Dave," JJ sighed.

"But you have kids now!"

"You didn't complain when I came back after Henry's birth. Why now?"

"It's different now! And I can assure you that I was worried just the same when you came back after Henry. I just didn't say anything."

"Good, then maybe you could keep your mouth shut now as well, and let me do my job. As you can see, I have enough to do for today, discussing with you only takes my attention away from the paperwork I'm so good at, as you just told me." JJ couldn't help the sarcastic tone.

Seeing his tense face, she quickly continued: "Tell me, Dave, what are you and the team doing without me on a case? Who's going to do the press conferences? Who's going to make nice with the local LEO's? You?" She snorted dryly at that image.

"If you remember, I've given a lot of interviews and dealt with countless reporters as an author," Dave answered tightly.

"Yes, to present yourself and your books! And even that went terribly wrong a few times! You have the very rare talent to piss absolutely everyone off wherever you show up! Besides, how do you think you and the team are going to solve any case when there's no one to serve as a buffer with the media, and when you can't focus on your profiling alone but have to deal with millions of other things apart from that? Things I'm here for to deal with!"

The argument went on, or rather, went around in circles, for another few minutes until JJ simply threw him out of her office.

Trying to talk to Hotch about JJ's resistance, Dave had to realize that the Unit Chief was entirely on JJ's side. "Dave, shut up and do your job. And let JJ do hers. She's good at it, remember?" Nodding tersely at his friend's words, the same as he and JJ had both used just minutes before, he went out, and down to the bullpen, where he tried to convince the rest of their team, only to find that each and every one of them was also standing firmly on Jennifer's side, deaf for his arguments and reasoning.

But he wouldn't be Dave if he'd just given up. At lunch he'd taken the next opportunity to make JJ see reason, as he thought of it.

That, however, only resulted in JJ refusing to speak with him throughout their whole break, ignoring his very presence at the lunch table, and making sure that they would not spend any more lunch breaks together until he had calmed down.

And now they had their first case after JJ's return, and Dave decided to make a last attempt, knowing deep down, that he'd already lost that battle.

"Henry and Hannah need-"

JJ cut him off immediately. "They will both be fine with your mother. You of all people should know that. And Garcia has promised me to check on them as well, so nothing to worry about."

She smiled at that thought. Penelope Garcia and Gracia Rossi had become quite a unique team over the last few weeks. JJ had to restrain her laughter at the memory of the fearful expression on Dave's face when both women had ordered him around on the day JJ had come home from the hospital. Within a few hours, his mother had managed to win the whole team over, and he had quickly realized that he was on borrowed time from now on. No matter how small a mistake he would make, he probably wouldn't even live long enough to see the consequences.

"Dave, I promise I'll be careful. I won't take any unnecessary risks," JJ said, hoping that it would finally stop him from arguing.

"Fine. I'll let it go. For now!" Dave growled as they stepped up the stairs of the BAU's jet. "But rest assured that I'll get back to that topic should anything go wrong in the field."

Of course, nothing went wrong. JJ did her job the way she always did it, watched closely by Dave, of course, and they caught their Unsub within three days.

She had to admit to herself, however, that being at work again was harder than she'd imagined. She missed her children more than she would have thought, and having them on the phone every night was far from being enough. She had taken a small photo album with her that she looked at every night before she went to bed, and Garcia had even set up a video chat one evening from Dave's mother's house, so that he and JJ could also see Henry and Hannah and not only hear their voices. It was in these moments, that JJ – and also Dave – knew exactly why they did their job. To make the world a little bit better, a little bit safer for their children.

After they had closed the case, the team decided to take a late night flight home to Virginia. They were all exhausted and tired and it didn't take long until one by one they all fell asleep in their seats. JJ and Dave were the only ones who couldn't sleep. JJ's mind was filled with thoughts of Hannah and Henry, so much that she couldn't get some rest, and Dave refused himself to fall asleep as long as JJ was still awake.

Getting up from his seat opposite to her, he went to the back of the plane to get some water for her and himself, and dropped back into the seat next to her. Handing her the small water bottle, he caught her thankful smile, and was relieved that she didn't seem to be mad at him anymore. He knew she had been less than pleased with him on this case, as he was watching over her the whole time, but he hadn't been able to help himself. They had been too busy to talk about it, though, during the past three days, and he had to admit that he wouldn't have known what to say anyway. He'd been impressed with her work again, realizing that there was no way this team could ever do without her, and in the end he felt quite ashamed that he hadn't trusted her doing her job, that he had doubted her abilities.

"You did a great job on this case. You always do," he finally said softly, breaking the silence they'd been sitting in for a few minutes.

Surprised by his unexpected words, JJ raised her head to look at him. He chuckled. "Don't look at me like you don't believe me. You know you were good."

JJ shook her head lightly and smiled to herself.

"Thanks Dave. It means a lot to hear you say this," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, Jennifer," he apologized. "I wasn't at my best behavior again in the past week. I had no right to tell you how to do your job." He took her hand and linked their fingers, squeezing it softly to reassure his apology.

"You're right. But, honestly, I had expected no less. You wouldn't have been yourself if you had just kept your mouth shut and accepted my return to work without an argument. But it's good to hear that you realize you've been wrong. That's a first," she said gently.

"Hey, I have no problems admitting when I'm wrong!" Dave burst out as quietly as he could without waking the others.

"Relax, Dave, I was just teasing you," JJ smirked at him.

They fell silent for a moment until JJ began to speak again.

"It's not easy to be back, you know. I miss Hannah and Henry."

"Yeah, I know," Dave answered. "I miss them, too. I'm glad we'll be home in a few hours."

He pulled back the armrest between their seats and pulled JJ closer to him.

"Why don't we get some sleep as well."

Feeling his arms wrapped around her, she wanted to argue at first, but the strength and security they provided felt too good that she didn't want to let go of it at the moment. Resting her head against his chest, she listened to his strong and steady heartbeat that managed to relax her completely, and within a few minutes, they were both fast asleep.