A/N: I hate economics.

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds or any of its characters and affiliates.

~Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strengths~ -Charles H. Spurgeon

January 2, 1990

The waiting room felt like it was getting smaller and smaller with each minute that ticked past on the clock. Every breath Sandy took incited even more butterflies within her.

The day had come for JJ's first tri-monthly scans.

Despite how happy the doctors were with JJ's progress, Sandy couldn't help but be terrified at the prospect of a bad result. Even though she had been assured that JJ's declining ability to walk and use her hands efficiently was a result of the resection surgery and her weakening body, Sandy was terrified that it was attributed to another tumor.

JJ was currently in the large room at the end of the hall, having her MRI. A scan that would take up to two and a half hours to complete. And she had only been in there for an hour.

And so Sandy sat restlessly, in the same waiting room where she had sat the day their lives had been turned upside down yet again.

James was sitting across the room, flipping aimlessly through one of the tattered magazines that littered the table in the center of the room. Sandy could tell just by looking at her son that he was anxious and restless just as she was. Ever since JJ's diagnosis, he had been so protective of his little sister. Every test, every procedure made him just as nervous as his mother.

Feeling a hand on her knee, Sandy looked up from her clasped hands to see Michael sitting down beside her, a steaming cup of coffee held out to her.

Taking it in her shaking hands, Sandy managed to take a sip as Michael put his arm around her shoulders, providing her the comfort she so desperately needed.

"Sandy, you're shaking," Michael said softly, his voice just loud enough for her to hear.

"I feel sick," Sandy admitted, leaning forward and setting the coffee down on the table. "I'm just...I'm so scared about what these scans are going to tell us"

Taking his wife's hand between his, Michael tipped her chin up.

"I feel the same...but we have to try and be positive. She's made incredible progress. There haven't been any signs of it coming back. And Edmonds said it's too soon after radiation for a chance of it regrowing anyway," he said gently, trying to reassure her.

Sandy sighed. "I know. I still worry"

Michael smiled slightly, pulling Sandy into his embrace and kissing her temple. "I know. We all do"

An hour later, JJ's MRI was over.

The radiologist had kindly taken the three anxious Jareau's to the room where JJ was being looked after until it was time for her next scan, a CT.

Rounding the corner into the room, Michael and James right behind her, Sandy smiled when JJ's face lit up.

"Hi Mom! Hi Dad! I fell asleep in the machine!" JJ said excitedly, making her parents laugh. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, a nurse seated beside her. Sandy couldn't see what the nurse was doing, but it looked like she was adjusting the NJ tube.

The radiologist grinned. "She certainly did. The scan went very well. We'll have preliminary results soon, but we'll only let you know if we find something worrying. Otherwise, you'll have the full results within a week's time"

"So no news is good news?" Michael clarified.

"Absolutely," the radiologist said with a smile. "I'll be back later to take Jennifer for her CT scan"

Shaking the man's hand, Michael smiled. "Thank you"

"Mom, look! Butterflies," JJ said suddenly, turning their attention back to her.

Sandy broke into a wide smile when she realised what the nurse had done. She had removed the Hypafix that had been holding JJ's tube in place, and replaced it with blue butterfly stickers specifically designed to hold IVs and nasal feeding tubes in place.

"Oh wow! Better than medical tape, hey?" Sandy said with a laugh. JJ grinned, nodding at her mother as the nurse discarded the packing and old tape.

"Heaps better"

Pulling into the driveway after their long day at the hospital, Michael put the car into park and sat back against his seat, sighing heavily.

Reaching over, Sandy took her husband's hand, giving it a squeeze.

"We're gonna be ok. We have to believe it's going to be ok," she said gently, echoing the words Michael had told her so many times.

"I know. We will be," he replied, giving Sandy's hand a squeeze in reply before he climbed out of the car.

As he went around to the rear door of the car to get his sleeping daughter, he realised James was already there, easily lifting his sister into his arms.

"You got her bud?" Michael asked, reaching in to grab JJ's feed pump and bag.

"Yeah," James replied as his dad placed the items in JJ's lap.

Walking carefully so he didn't slip on the snow, James followed his dad to the house. Sandy had already let herself in and turned on the heat to warm up the house quickly.

While his parents hung up their jackets and moved through to the kitchen for coffee, James carried JJ up the stairs.

It frightened him to hold his little sister. He'd never noticed exactly how thin she'd gotten. But now that he could feel her bones poking into him from under her pale skin, he wanted to cry.

His sister was tough, active, strong, and incredibly talented when it came to sports. Not a fragile little kid who looked like she would break if she sneezed.

Reaching JJ's room, James carefully set her down on her bed, taking the pump from her lap and quickly hooking it back to the IV stand. Hanging the feed bag from the hooks at the top, he moved back to JJ's bed, pulling her blankets up over her body.

"Dad?" JJ mumbled, her eyes half closed as she stirred from her sleep.

"No, it's James," James said softly, reaching down and giving JJ's hand a quick squeeze.

"Love you James," JJ whispered as she fell back into an exhaustion fuelled sleep.

"Love you too JJ," James said with a smile. "Get some rest"

Turning around, he left the room, pulling the door half closed as Mr Toes skidded past him to join JJ for a nap. Grinning at the crazy cat, James shook his head and made his way down the stairs.