Sandy found JJ's room easily after getting directions.

When she arrived, it was to see her daughter sitting up in bed, looking sad. Sandy had last seen JJ in such a mood was when they'd talked their feelings out during the road trip. Already, she was preparing for another heart-to-heart conversation.

"Jenny?" she said as she stood in the doorway. "Are you sociable?"

JJ looked around at the sound of her name, lighting up when she saw who her visitor was.

"Mom!" she sat up and held her arms out. "You're here!"

"Of course I am." Sandy crossed the room in great strides and hugged JJ before sitting in the chair next to her bed. "What kind of mother would I be if I didn't visit you while you were in the hospital?"

She looked around.

"Where did Will go?"

"Back out. I'm sure you've put two and two together by now about some things by now."

"Like your team working with Will's on this case." Sandy deduced.

JJ nodded. "Will still answers to his captain, but he oversees the day-to-day operations of his team. They've always looked to him as a leader."

"And it's the same dynamic on your team at the FBI, right, but with David Rossi being the one who outranks you? And Emily?"

"Yes, and—what?"

JJ grew exasperated when she saw a mischievous look on Sandy's face.

"What?"

"Seventeen years with your Behavioral Analysis Unit, and most of it under the tutelage under David Rossi—the man who inspired you to join the FBI."

"Definitely true." JJ said warily; she could tell that her mother was building up to something.

"Does anyone know that you have all of his books? Even the early works?"

"No." JJ pinched the bridge of her nose. "It's enough that I have an autographed first edition of one of his first book—which I doubt he remembers signing for me in the first place—but he's also given me a free signed copy of every book he's published since coming to the BAU just because he knows I love to read. He's been like a dad to me for as long as I've known him."

Sandy made a note to sit down with Rossi at some point. She wanted to meet the man who had had such a huge role in her daughter's life.

She somehow stayed the course of her first train of thought. "I could still make sure that Rossi at least knows how many of this books you have…"

"You will not." JJ huffed.

Sandy playfully tapped JJ's elbow. "I won't. Not to worry."

JJ breathed a sigh of relief and laughed. "Oh, thank goodness."

Sandy grinned. "It's just great to hear you laugh."

"I'm always happy to see you, but I'm extra happy today. There are things I need to talk about." she leaned back on the bed. "Have you seen dad?"

"I have, and we had words."

"Did he at least ask about me?"

"No."

JJ's face dropped as she was awash with sadness. "Oh. Did he tell you why he didn't recognize me?"

"Clifford said that seeing me was already a big enough shock."

"Oh." JJ said again, feeling dejected. "I guess I was further from his thoughts than ever. He loves August and Katherine more than me."

"I don't know about all that, but your father is most certainly an old-fashioned man living in modern times."

"Yes. Did you or dad bump into Emily?"

"She bumped into us. Before that, she'd been talking with Hannah." Sandy provided. "Emily arrived just in time—I was about have louder words with Clifford because he was being a jackass. We were on the verge of having 'louder' words. Emily wanted to double-check that she had all the information she'd been hunting for."

"And...?" JJ prompted.

"From what I gather, she succeeded."

Sandy chose to leave out the part about Hannah's baby because telling JJ about the little one wasn't her place. She also had a feeling that Hannah would be stopping by soon. Robbing the woman of her own monumental conversation starter would be very unkind.

Oblivious to her mother's thoughts, JJ mused, "Then that means Emily was able to glean a lot of information from Hannah."

"Good." Sandy approved. "I don't think I can imagine how you and everyone else must be feeling about Katherine being MIA."

JJ rubbed her eyes. "I'm super duper freaked out, and even if I wasn't a federal agent, I'd still feel responsible for helping to find her. What else did Emily say?"

"She withheld the government-related particulars, but she did tell your father and I about how dearly she cares for you."

JJ blushed. "The feeling is mutual, and Will has no problems about it—he actually did some of his own investigating about it today. I wish I could explain what I'm talking about."

"It's perfectly okay if you can't." Sandy said reassuringly. "I'm just very happy that you have Will and Emily in your life."

"I wouldn't be who I am without either of them." JJ said with complete honestly.

"I believe it. I'm also choosing to believe that your father cares, too."

JJ grew skeptical at once. "You really think so?"

"Mhm. He would have left the conversation with Emily if he didn't."

"Dad still has a long way to go before I can forgive him for everything, but him sticking around for a conversation with Emily counts for something. Right?"

"Right." Sandy confirmed. "I'm still proud of you for taking a step in the direction of reconciliation with your father. Even if it is a small one."

"Thanks." JJ glided a hand across the top of her middle; she was still trying to get used to being a twin mother. "Does it bother you that I care so much at my brother and sister?"

"Heavens, no." Sandy squawked. "Why?"

Without missing a beat, JJ countered, "They wouldn't exist if Roslyn was alive."

Sandy was enveloped with a wave of grief at these words. JJ was completely right, of course, but processing the full truth was harrowing. What was her life?

"Listen, Jenny—when we were talking with Emily, she asked us to put aside our differences for the sake of the situation. She said that if we couldn't do it for that, then to do it for you and Katherine."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh. I would have said yes, either way, though. Your happiness and stability will always be important to me."

"Oh, mom…"

"It will sadden me forever that Roz felt she had to end her life to stop her pain, and to save you from what that terrible man was doing. My heart will always be broken that you were the one who found her. If I could take that back from you, I would." Sandy told her. "Your father's departure left me in a rut of pain for a long time, but I did eventually let him go. It also has been a quarter of a century. I've moved on. I'm going to tell you something I told your father now."

"Oh?"

"I will be mature about everything because I'm willing to try. This includes being acquaintances with Hannah, and friendship with August and Katherine because they're your siblings. You have nothing to worry about."

JJ felt like she was going to cry. "That means a lot."

"Anything for you. Anything."

Sandy cast a hand over her daughter's exposed middle.

"Emily told us about the babies, and I'm so delighted for you and Will. How are you two feeling?"

"Dazed, excited. This is exactly what we wanted. It's just been a hell of a doozy, and then finding out that we're having twins…"

"Hell of a doozy, huh?"

"Yes, especially since the babies are identical. Henry will deal just fine—he'll probably even go whole hog on researching twins. Michael will just be convinced he's seeing double. I think he's already doing that, but Will doesn't agree that baby boy needs glasses right now. He thinks he'll grow out of it." JJ rubbed her temples, unashamed of rambling in front of her mother. "Why can't any of my children ever do anything small?"

"They inherited the 'I don't do anything small' gene from you because of what happened when you were nine." Sandy said coyly.

"Oh, my God. Never ever tell that story to anyone."

"Too late—I ended up telling Emily because she read into my concern. I also told her about what fevers and hospital meds do to you."

In spite of herself, JJ laughed again. "Emily is family. At least I know her silly secrets—that makes it are."

"Yes. At least there is that."

Sandy pointed to something on JJ's body that had caught her attention.

"What happened here It looks bad."

She was talking about JJ's most prominent scar. The injury bearing one of the darkest chapters of her life.

"Mom, I have a confession to make." JJ pointed to her middle. "These are LaMontagne babies four and five. Michael is number three. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Sandy totally got it, but she was quiet because she was being flooded with old memories of her own.

"I'm sorry." JJ added quickly, very apologetic. "I'm sorry that I never told you before."

Sandy hugged her daughter, trying to pour all of her feelings into the affection. This visit wouldn't be ending without her sharing one of her own closet skeletons.

"There's nothing to apologize for." she looked JJ square in the eyes. "When was your miscarriage?"

"During the year I was away from the BAU. Some things about the experience are technically still classified. Do you really want to know?"

"Yes. Just tell me what you want to, or can."

"I was in a combat zone several times that year, and one of those times, I didn't know until I arrived that I was pregnant." JJ started without any preamble. "Then there was an explosion. I woke up in a field hospital with injuries later. I only ever told one of my comrades that I was pregnant, and he had the unfortunate duty of telling me that the baby was gone. I fell apart."

Sandy's heart had risen into her throat by the time JJ had paused to her reaction. She understood that JJ had withheld some things because she had to. She even respected that. What she hadn't expected was to still hear so much.

Her baby girl was a warrior and a survivor.

"Jennifer, I am so incredibly sorry that those things happened, and my heart aches that you have a baby in Heaven. Did you want the little one?"

"I'd never wanted anything more." JJ sighed. "I'm not done yet. That was just the setup for how I got the scar on the stomach."

"Dear God."

"About a year later, my comrade and I were abducted by one of our other comrades from the combat zone. He was working with the man who had rigged the explosion." JJ worked hard to not let her closure get ripped open. "I got the brunt of the injuries, but I just won't say how that happened because you don't need that in your head."

"Thank you for sparing me. This 'incident' is what led to he injury that led to the scar?"

"Unfortunately." JJ confessed. "My team realized that my comrade was gone, but Will realized that I was, and they worked together from there. The BAU even called in reinforcements."

A lightbulb went off over Sandy's head. "It was Emily. She told me that she once left a posting in London to come help you out."

"Correct again. My comrade was recused first that night, but the second Emily cut me free, I left to go chase the man who had taken me."

Sandy was hanging on to every word. "What became of the other man? The one you didn't chase?"

"He died." JJ said shortly. "Emily found me first, after I'd engaged the man in combat on the building rooftop."

"You did what?" Sandy sputtered.

"I engaged this man in combat on the building rooftop." JJ repeated calmly. "Emily engaged him in a firefight when she caught up. She also pulled me up when I came close to falling off the roof. My abductor actually did fall. He didn't survive."

Sandy regarded her daughter with complete awe all over again. She'd been through so much, just to get right back up. It was as if JJ was indestructible.

Now, after everything that JJ had just told her, Sandy was the proudest of her she'd ever been. Her daughter was her hero.

"I love you. I'm in awe that you've survived everything you have. You're brave. You're a warrior. You're a survivor. You are the strongest person I know, and I can't believe that your father and I made you. You're perfect." Sandy caressed her offspring's cheeks. "I'm so proud of you, Jennifer."

That was all it took for JJ's dam to break.

It had been a long time since she'd had a good cry, and she couldn't be more thankful that her mother was there to catch her this time. Remembering that she was a person ahead of being an FBI agent could be hard.

Sandy held JJ as she cried.

It also gave her time to think: all of the secret-sharing meant that she would have to tell JJ her deepest secret. She deserved it. And she was finally at a point in her life where she could understand it.

When JJ's tears had stopped somewhat, Sandy helped her to get cleaned up. She even readjusted JJ's oxygen line when she noticed it had been fallen out. Clearly, she was making a show of stalling.

And JJ didn't have to be a profiler to see it.

She caught Sandy's hand in both of hers. "Mom, what are you thinking?"

Sandy sat with her again. "I'm going to tell you something that's going to be one of there hardest things I've ever had to say to you before."

"You can do it." JJ encouraged.

"A miscarriage is a horrible, painful, and saddening experience. I am so sorry it happened to you. I…" Sandy paused to choose her words carefully. "I know firsthand why I wouldn't wish that experience on another woman."

JJ gasped as she realized what her norther was driving at.

More hugs were had.

"I'm sorry it happened to you," JJ sympathized. "But I have to ask…"

"When?" Sandy guessed.

"Yeah."

"You were nine. Remember when we sent you and Roz to stay with Uncle Soren and Aunt Celestine for the summer, on Hilton Head Island?"

"Yes." JJ answered. "My leg had healed. The next thing I know, we're taking a road trip to D.C. as a family, and when we're there, you and dad are putting Roz and I on a train. Did the miscarriage happen before that?"

"A week before—they offered to keep you two while I recovered. We told you and Roz that it was bonding time with your South Carolina cousins because we couldn't think of anything else to say. Do you still remember that summer?"

"Very clearly—we were gone from June to the end of August. I even came back with an accent like yours. It took awhile to get rid of…"

"That summer was the beginning of the end for your father and I. He understood that the miscarriage was a spontaneous event beyond my control or his, but… he wouldn't hear of trying again. At all." Sandy exhaled heavily as she fought back her own old anger she'd worked too hard on conquering. "I begged him, especially after your sister was gone, and even all the way up until that last day. Clifford always refused."

JJ's heart jumped as she began doing mental math. "And how old would my sibling be today?"

"Twenty-seven, come June. They'd only be two years older than August and Katherine."

"Then that's why you were so irate about them for those eighteen years." JJ realized.

"Knowing that Roz had to die for August and Katherine to come into the universe did a number on my head for a long time, but now I've seen just how much you love them. They aren't related to me, but they are to you, to your sibling in Heaven, and to Roz. I've accepted that." Sandy offered JJ a small smile. "I allowed myself to finally start healing when you called me to say that August had reached out to you, Jenny. You gave me the courage that I had never been able to find until then."

JJ's heart was welling with emotion all over again. She'd never doubted that her mother loved her, but this was the first time in her memory that Sandy had ever expressed affection of this magnitude. JJ had no idea what to say.

Sandy continued.

"Seeing you together with your brother and sister will help me to completely heal. I will be the happiest that I can be, knowing that Roz and the little one have been smiling down on their earthbound siblings from Heaven. I've always imagined that they worked together to make sure your heart would be happy when the twins finally came into your life. All of that makes my heart happy."

There was a joy in JJ's eyes when she spoke next—a kind that Sandy hadn't seen from her daughter in far too long. Yet another fog had been lifted.

"Oh, mom." JJ breathed. "Thank you. I love you so much."

Sandy's heart turned a cartwheel. She had many memories of her being lovey-dovey as a child. Now that she was an adult, it was often that she saw her with a childlike view of anything. Even love.

So Sandy vowed to soak in every moment with could.

For that, she hugged JJ closer.

"I love you, too, Jennifer. Nothing will or can ever change that."