Chapter Twenty-One: 1912

"The marks humans leave are too often scars." -John Green

The summer passed months passed quickly, and soon it was September. The team had been sent on case after case the past few weeks, so Will had decided to take a trip down to New Orleans with the kids for the last few weeks of summer vacation.

JJ walked out of the elevator, glancing down at several files she had, but for once, they weren't for a case. Since the twins were almost six months old, which she could hardly believe, Will and JJ had decided it was time to start looking for a nanny so that Will could return to work.

As she entered the office, she noticed Hotch already there, which wasn't unusual. What was unusual was the fact that Hotch looked exhausted. JJ knew he'd been through a rough time the past few weeks, what with Hayley's death, but he looked exceptionally bad this morning.

"Everything alright?" JJ asked.

Hotch glanced up quickly, looking slightly startled, as though he hadn't noticed her presence.

"I look that bad, huh?" he said.

"You just seem kind of tired,".

"Jack hasn't been sleeping well. Nightmares," he told JJ as the rest of the team was slowly arriving.

"Have you thought about getting him a therapist?" JJ wondered.

No one really knew how much Jack had seen when Foyet killed Hayley. Even if he hadn't seen a thing, he was a smart child, and he had some understanding of what had happened. Enough of one to traumatize him.

"Yeah, I've just been giving him some time to…adjust," Hotch said hesitantly.

"The sooner you can get him one the better," JJ told him.

She did realize in hindsight that there was a better way to say that. Or maybe she shouldn't have said it at all. After all, Hotch had a lot on his plate. JJ could only imagine how much a wreck she'd be if Will died.

"That's a little ironic coming from you, JJ," Hotch snapped.

JJ froze, and the rest of the team looked up from their desks to see what was going on.

Hotch sighed and ran a hair through his hair.

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Everyone meet in the conference room in 20 minutes," he said, heading into his office and closing the door behind him.

"You probably shouldn't have pushed him," Emily spoke up quietly.

"Yeah, I know," JJ admitted.

As she replayed their conversation in her head, she realized something didn't make sense.

"What do you think he meant by that? That it's ironic coming from me?" JJ asked nobody in particular.

However, when everyone pointedly avoided eye contact with JJ, she knew there was clearly meaning behind it.

"What is it? Tell me," JJ demanded when no one answered.

Finally, Morgan cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Look, you know how we are, we tend to profile people without even meaning to. And…some of us might have picked up on the fact that Tate could use a therapist".

JJ paused for a moment, looking at her team, and saw they all clearly agreed with what Morgan was saying.

"So, you've all just silently thought my kid could use a therapist for months and never said anything to me?".

Emily looked over at Morgan and raised an eyebrow slightly, knowing they were thinking the same thing. That was the first time JJ had ever really referred to Tate like that, as her child.

"Can you honestly tell us you haven't thought about it yourself?" Rossi inquired.

JJ sighed and sank down into an empty desk chair by Spence.

"I suggested it to Will when Tate first moved to New Orleans with him, and he said she seemed fine. Well, he said she was improving. And she's been perfectly fine since she's been in DC so…".

No one replied and JJ could all tell they were thinking something.

"Or maybe she hasn't been perfectly fine, is what you're thinking?" JJ asked.

"Some kids act out in response to trauma, others become people-pleasers," Emily explained to her.

"I wouldn't call Tate a people pleaser per se".

At this point, JJ was honestly just lying to herself, hoping to prove the team wrong. She wanted Tate to be okay. Not because she didn't want to get her help, but because if she needed help now, she'd needed it for a while. Which meant she and Will had been too distracted to get their kid help for almost a year.

"JJ, she never asks you or Will for anything. You never have to ask her to do something twice. She does well in school, she's responsible, her room is spotless," Reid gently pointed out.

"She doesn't tell you and Will how she's feeling. Not because she doesn't want to, but because she thinks it's a bother," Morgan added.

JJ was silent for a moment and looked back over to Emily for her opinion.

"Amelia agrees with us," she said quietly.

"She's never said anything about it".

Amelia was a psychologist and a pediatric one at that. If she thought Tate needed a therapist then…

"She said she mentioned it once or twice to the both of you and you sorta brushed it off," Emily replied.

Thinking about it, JJ did remember Amelia mentioning that maybe Tate should see a therapist. But the woman had said it so casually that JJ had assumed she just mentioned it because of Theo's death.

"There are other signs of trauma too," Morgan began slowly.

"Morgan," Emily warned him and he stopped.

"Just tell me," JJ said.

"She has an inherent distrust of men, you had to have noticed that,".

"She trusts Will. And Beck and Spence," JJ told him.

Sure, Tate wasn't exactly great around men. But her foster fathers had hit her, they'd been abusive. It was to be expected.

"Let's be honest, Will was an anomaly, it took her months to trust Beck and no offense, but if Reid and Tate were in a fight, I'd put my money on Tate," Morgan said.

"Morgan, she's not that bad. Sure, she's not exactly trusting of men she doesn't know, but I'm pretty sure that's probably for the best,".

"I've known the kid for almost a year and I don't think she's ever looked said more than two words to me. She won't be in a room alone with Rossi, Hotch, and I, hell, she barely gets within ten feet of us,".

She knew what Morgan was saying was true, she did. But how could she have missed it? She worked with traumatized children all the time, and yet she'd missed every single sign.

"She was physically abused, Morgan. It's a normal response," she said weakly.

"Maybe it wasn't just physical," Morgan told her.

JJ knew the words he wanted to say but didn't. That Tate had been sexually abused. She didn't even want to think about that.

"Look, it's not your fault, alright? She puts up a pretty good front, most people would never see the signs," Rossi assured JJ.

"I'm not most people," JJ pointed out.

"She's discreet with how she acts around men, and the people-pleasing, you're just used to it. To you, it's just her personality," Emily said.

Checking the time, Rossi realized they had to head into the conference room.

"Just, consider it, okay? Talk it over with Will. She'll be better off," he reminded JJ gently.

"I'm home!" JJ called as she stepped into the house.

"We're in the kitchen," Will replied.

JJ walked into the kitchen to find Will stirring a pot with one hand and using the other to hold Kit on his hip. Meanwhile, Henry was sprawled on the floor of the playpen in the corner, content with playing with some sort of rattle toy.

"How was work?" he asked JJ as she kissed him, before giving Kit a peck on the cheek.

"Not great, is Tate home?".

"Nah, she was at Ellie's doing homework and they invited her to stay for dinner," Will told her.

He stirred the pot again, thinking for a second, before sipping on his glass of wine that was on the counter.

"Why wasn't it great?" he asked.

JJ poured herself a glass before responding. She had a feeling she'd need it for this conversation.

"Well, the whole team decided to stage an intervention and tell me Tate needs a therapist,".

Will almost choked on his wine at JJ's statement.

"You're kidding," he said.

"Nope, and apparently your sister-in-law agrees with them,"

Will sighed before putting Kit down in the playpen.

"I think they might be right," JJ said quietly.

"What are you talking about? Tate's fine," Will asked.

"She's not fine, Will, she's just good at hiding it," JJ told him, and relayed what the team had said.

As she finished explaining what Morgan had said, Henry started crying. Will went to go get him, but JJ stopped him.

"I got him," she said, picking Henry up and bringing him upstairs to change his diaper.

Will reached for the phone on the counter and quickly dialed the number for Beck and Amelia's house.

"Hello?" a young voice said.

"Hey, Ezra, it's Uncle Will. Could you put your mama on the phone for me, buddy?" Will asked.

Ezra called for his mother before saying goodbye to Will, and soon Amelia was on the phone.

"Hey, Will, what's up?" she asked.

"Did you tell Jennnifer's team you thought Tate should see a psychologist?" he demanded to know.

"I only told Emily, and that was after she asked my opinion".

"And you never thought to tell me that?" Will asked.

"Don't put this on me, Will, okay? I did tell you, you just didn't listen," Amelia argued.

"I thought it was just a suggestion, I didn't think it was your professional opinion," Will snapped.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't push it, I probably should have. But Emily's right, Will. Tate needs help and I had hoped it was something you and JJ could fix, but it's not," Amelia said apologetically.

Her sister-in-law's words stung, but he knew she was right. He'd hoped Tate would improve, and he honestly thought she had, but it seems he was wrong. Tate needed help, help that he couldn't give her. It was help only a professional could give.

"I know, it's not your fault. Sorry I blamed you," he said quietly.

"I have to go, but I can send you some names of people in DC. People that could help her," Amelia offered.

"Yeah, that uh that sounds good," Will replied before saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.

A few days later, JJ came home to find Will on the phone in the living room.

"Yeah, that'll be fine. Mhm. Yes, thank you," he said, hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?," JJ asked.

"Dr. Moran's office, they can fit her in on Monday at 4 o'clock," Will replied as he cleaned up some of the boys' toys from the floor.

"Now, we just have to convince Tate to go," JJ reminded him.

Will scoffed slightly. "That'll be fun".

"She needs this, Will,".

"Yeah, I know," Will said quietly.

Will had basically been beating himself up over this for the past few days. How could he have been Tate's parent for almost a year, and not noticed she needed help? His kid had been in pain, and he didn't do a thing about it. He only hoped it wasn't too late to get Tate the help she needed.

"I'll talk to her about it tomorrow," he told JJ.

"Do you want me to help?" she asked.

"Nah, it's fine, I got it handled," Will said.

After all, this was Will's responsibility. Ever since JJ had said she didn't want to adopt Tate, he'd promised himself he wouldn't force JJ to be a mother to her. Tate was his kid, and it was his job to help her. JJ had already done enough.

"So, what's going on?" Tate asked Will as they walked down the street.

"Why does something have to be going on?"

"Because you suddenly decided you and I needed to go get ice cream and left the boys with Anna," Tate replied.

"I can't just want ice cream and decide it's easier to have the boys stay with their nanny?" Will said.

"I'm serious," Tate said.

"How would you feel about going to see someone?" Will asked the girl.

"I might need a few more details than that," Tate quipped.

"Just…someone to talk to," Will said hesitantly.

Tate silently ate a spoonful of ice cream and didn't respond for a minute.

"You mean a psychologist,".

Will knew Tate wasn't saying it as a question, but rather a fact. She was smart, too smart for her own good sometimes, and went straight to the point when she wanted to.
"Yeah, there's one that you could go see on Monday".

Tate wasn't surprised that Will was bringing this up. She figured it would happen eventually, especially as she spent more time with JJ's team. And it wasn't like she hadn't seen a psychologist before, but they'd never helped. The therapist CPS gave her was basically useless, and just wrote her a prescription for something to help her sleep. In Tate's opinion, it was a waste of her time and effort.

"I'm fine, you don't need to worry," she told Will.

"Kiddo, I think this could be good for you," he tried again.

"You think it could be or JJ's team does?" she asked harshly.

"It's not like that," Will promised her.

"Oh, so it was Amelia,".

Will stopped and waited until Tate looked at him to continue.

"Look, kiddo, please just try it out, okay? Just go a few times and if you don't like it, we'll figure something else out," Will pleaded.

Tate wanted to say no, she really did, but Will was asking her. How could she say no to the man that did everything for her, and had never asked for anything in return? Besides, she didn't want him to worry about her, and this would stop him from being so concerned.

"Okay," she said quietly.

Will gave her a small smile, but her response worried him. He'd assumed she would fight him more on this, but it was like JJ had warned him. She was a people pleaser, and she'd do what was asked of her.

"People can live a hundred years without really living for a minute." -Logan Huntzberger