AN: Hi everyone! Welcome. So I decided to start fresh with this story. This chapter is similar to the other but better written and in more detail, so I hope you manage to see the improvement.

I hope your all having a fabulous new year, and the pandemic isn't affecting you too massively. We are currently on a full lockdown so should have some time to write when I'm not volunteering.

Please read and review! Constructive criticism is accepted! Also looking for a beta if anyone is interested.

Love you all

K x

"What do you mean you can't turn me back." JJ growled at the middle-aged doctor, who genuinely looked frightened at the small figure in front of him.

The man sighed as he rubbed a hand over his thinning hair. His job sure had him questioning everything. He wasn't used to a child speaking to him in this manner. He wasn't used to fully grown agents coming to him after they had been turned into a child. This wasn't his job description. And now hours later he'd been sworn to secrecy by someone very high up and was trying to figure out what he could tell a feisty 6-year-old who was 26 when they woke up the previous morning. "Jennifer, what happened to you is extraordinarily complex. I've been in communication with some knowledgeable and powerful people. The quickest way to get you back to yourself would be to find this guy, find out what he uses so out scientists can figure out how to turn you back. Until then our team are going to have to start from scratch trying to come up with something to make someone…" He paused thinking of the right word. "…revert to a younger age, before they can age someone. I'm so sorry, Jennifer. I'm sorry all of you I'm not able to do something now."

JJ sat back in the chair that she seemed to get lost in. She looked to Emily who was sat in a chair on one side of her, then to Hotch who was sat on her other side. Both were looking at her. Assessing her reaction, both show fear for their young agent. Tears began to well up in her eyes fear beginning to overwhelm her. "So, what do I do? How long until I am back to myself?" She asked, trying not to sound completely broken right now.

"Unfortunately, I can't put a time scale on this but if you can't find this guy and what he used it's going to take a long while to return you to your normal state. So, for now, go home. Live your life, maybe go to school, make some friends more your age. You're going to have to move in with someone because its not really safe to leave you in a home alone." He noted how the tears the 6-year-old had tried to keep back spilled over and streamed down her face.

The young girl covered her face with her hands as she cried. This was all too much. They had come to New Mexico on a case, where women were going to missing, then dead children with the same DNA turned up days later. JJ had gone outside for some air when she was taken, but for some reason. One everyone was grateful for; JJ was returned the following day. Injury free, in the body of a child. As much as she was grateful it was all very confusing and scary.

"JJ come on." Emily stood up and held out her hand. JJ grabbed it, "We'll meet you outside when your finished up." She told the doctor and Hotch, escorting her best friend out of the room to somewhere more private where she could have her breakdown without feeling like she had to hide it. The brunette agent shuffled them through the corridors of the hospital and over to the closest baby change room where she was able to close and lock the door giving them complete privacy.

Hotch waited till his two agents left before turning to the doctor many questions swirling round in his head. He couldn't believe this was happening. An agent in child form, with no way to turn her back, and who knows how many other victims were out there that this guy, whoever he was, had managed to do this too. Their team had been pulled from the case, so as he spoke the rest of the team were at the hotel packing their belongings waiting for the next team to take over. There was too much in his head, but he had to focus on one thing. That was what was going to happen to his now child like agent.

"What else do I need to know doc?" The Unit Chief asked the older man.

"I spoke with a few people, your Section Chief being one of them, she collected all of Jennifer's files, school, work, medical. Focusing on the ages from birth to 6. Which I have put in here. The rest is in the bigger file, which I'll give you anyway." The aged doctor pause hands hovering over the file in front of him before placing them carefully on it and sighing. "What happened to your agent isn't something we see often, if at all. So we aren't 100% on what is going to happen. There is a possibility she's going to regress back to how she was at 6, which is why you need this file. You need to know how she was in her life, developmentally, health wise, and any other events in her life that can affect her. She could just be in the body of a 6 year old with the mind of a 26 year old. Which I believe would make this harder. Imagine at your age having all your independence taken away, it would be so hard to deal with. I think, for her until someone somewhere figures out how to turn her back it would be best if she regressed. If she forgot she was 26 and was able to be a child. Go to school, the parks, learn to ride a bike. It would be slightly different because she isn't able to go home to her family. They can't know this happened. I can imagine your Section Chief will go into all the rules and regulations. But no matter what happens it isn't going to be easy. You need to keep a close eye on her. Every cold, headache, sickness needs to be kept a close eye on. We have no idea what a side effect of this drug is." The doctor ran over things in his head, unsure if he had anything else to cover. There was so much swilling round his brain, thinking about this case. No one knew what was going to happen. So until a cure was made their teams lives would be significantly different.

Hotch nodded slowly absorbing everything. "Okay. Is that all?" He asked wanting to get back to the team and to check on his friends.

"Yes. Unless you have any question?" The doctor grabbed both folders pushing them towards the FBI agent who was standing from his chair. He followed his lead, standing too anticipating the agent leaving his office.

"No." Hotch said grabbing the files sticking them under his arm. "Thank you Doctor Carosso." The agent said firmly shaking the doctors hand. Eventually turning around and leaving grateful to have got what he could from this doctor before they went back to their offices, to see Strauss who could hopefully provide them with more information along with what was in the file. As he walked the halls towards the exit he glanced in the folders seeing some pamphlets in there along with masses of paper. He wondered what had happened to JJ in her early years which had lead to his many pieces of paper for over 6 years. He would read it later with the team.

Meanwhile, locked in the baby change, Emily had picked up JJ from the floor and sat her on her lap, in one of the nursing chairs, hoping to provide some kind of comfort to her friend. JJ was sat across her lap leaning into her chest, gripping her jacket as she cried hard, her breathing laboured from how much she had sobbed. Emily understood how stressful the situation this much be for the young girl, so had let her cry for a while. But now it was time to try help calm her down.

"Sweetie, take a couple of deep breathes." Emily said in a calm voice as she rubbed her hand up and down the small girls back, she hoped she could coach JJ back into a normal breathing pattern, where she will have gotten out a lot of her emotions and would be able to talk a few things over. Maybe ridding some of the worries which were in the air. The older agent took a few deep breathes, helping to instruct JJ on what to do.

Few moments passed as sobs began to subside and breathing patterns became in sync. "How are you feeling?" Emily asked carefully not wanting to speak in a way that set her friend off again.

"Tired. Scared." JJ confessed. Fully letting herself relax into Emily. Her hand coming to find one of the buttons on her jacket running her thumb round the circle soothingly and closed her eyes. Everything from the past few hours since waking up outside her hotel room in this body had been draining.

"That's okay. Things have been kind of crazy huh? But I do think your handling things amazingly. I can't even imagine how I would be if it were me in your position." Emily said to her friend continuing running a hand up and down her back as they spoke. There was a silence which fell upon them. Frowning slightly Emily looked down seeing JJ's furrowed brow. Clearly deep in thought about something. "What's on your mind?" The brunette thought out loud.

Biting her own small lip, JJ shrugged.

Emily pursed her lips and raised her eyebrow. There was clearly somethin bugging the 6-year-old agent enough for it to show on her face. "Talk to me JJ. I want to help you."

"There's just so much. I have no family to help out, I don't want to move out of my home, I don't want to mess up your lives. To make things worse I can't read. All the stuff on the doctors desk. I couldn't read it." She took in a big breath. Not letting her seemingly extreme emotions take over her again. Everything just made her want to cry. She wasn't going to allow it, not right now. Not so soon after another breakdown. "I'm just really really scared." JJ whispered keeping her eyes down cast.

"Sweetie." Emily began with a small huff. "You are not alone in any of this. Your family is us. The team, we are your family. You need a home to live in you have mine. I promise you sweetie, we will figure it all out. Even if it means I have to read everything to you. We will figure it out. I am going to look after you." She finished placing a soft kiss to the child's head then resting her cheek on her head wanting her best friend to feel secure in her arms.

Softly with a hiccup JJ whispered back. "Thank you." Allowing herself to feel comforted in Emily's arms. For a second she thought maybe this wouldn't be as bad as it seemed. Maybe she could let herself be loved, maybe she could have the childhood she never had.

The team were finally on the jet home. Emily and JJ had taken an additional 20 minutes to be away from the world just allowing themselves to not have to stress for a few more moments. When they finally met up with Hotch in the car park they noticed he was reading a big folder on a bench. But neither asked any question, JJ too exhausted from her melt down and Emily having a feeling she already knew what was in his hands. Currently Emily was sat next to JJ on the sofa, sorting through the blondes phone making it easier for her to navigate around. Changing her folder names to symbols, so she knew what was in each one. JJ was on her knees leaning over to see being too small to see her phone when she was sat on her bottom. All the guys were sat round the table each doing something different.

Reid was reading a book, while Rossi was drinking a glass of whiskey his mind wandering. Hotch was reading the folder quietly near the window and Morgan was observing Emily and JJ. His eyebrows raised highly at the scene in front of his eyes. Still not believing what was going on. His eyebrows raised further when her watched Emily untangle JJ's earphones plugging them to her phone then helping the small agent move her hair to put the earphones inside tiny ears. Once that was done JJ crawled to the other side of the sofa settling down with her phone and blanket, doing something on the phone.

"That was weird." Morgan mumbled sipping his water.

Emily shook her head slightly. "She's really struggling with things. I'm helping her out." Suddenly her tone went serious and she sat forward. "Do not tease her." She said making sure to annunciate every letter and emphasis the word 'not' sometimes Derek's playfulness could get a little out of hand. The delicate blonde didn't need that at the moment.

"I wouldn't dare to around Mama Prentiss." He said with a small chuckle covering his small ounce of fear over his badass partner, that he would never admit to anyone. "So what are we doing with her? We can't send her home alone can we?" As of yet the team hadn't been informed what the doctor had said about JJ and her situation. On the jet was the first time they had all been together physically since JJ was found outside the station in a child's body.

Hotch peered through the gap in the seats to JJ before he began. "The doctor basically said to treat her like she's 6. How she was at 6 is probably how she will be now. There's a chance she will completely go back to being a 6-year-old or there's a chance she can be stuck with her adult mind in a kids body, which essentially could make things a lot harder." He closed the file finally finished passing it over to Emily, who stood to stick it in her bag while Hotch continued. "I've spoke to Garcia, she's out shopping for JJ." A couple chuckles left a few agents lips if Garcia shopped with her style there's a chance JJ might end up looking like a traffic light, covered in floral, or something else eccentric.

Reid put down his book to put in his own 2 cents. "Where's she going to stay? I don't have room for a child." He didn't think he could cope with a child either, so he was grateful for his one-bedroom apartment. As much as he loved JJ and she was one of his best friends, children and him rarely got along, he couldn't deal with one full time.

"I don't have room either." Rossi said before taking another swig of his smoked beverage. Everyone momentarily looked to him shaking their heads. Rossi had a mansion he could home them all if he wanted too. He just loved being alone in his massive home.

"Well…" Emily began. "JJ and I spoke before, I told her I'd take her in and help her out while all this is going on so don't worry guys. You can breathe." Emily laughed when she could see the relief on their faces. Why were men so afraid of children? Everyone was happy with JJ living with Emily so they relaxed in their seats, but before anyone could say anything more JJ crawled back over to Emily and sat in her lap.

Emily leaned over grabbing the big blue FBI blanket and wrapped it round her small friend. "Are you okay?" She asked as she grabbed the phone wrapping the earphones round the phone that were no longer in her friends ears.

The small blonde shrugged and rested her head on her friends chest quietly. Both ignoring the frowns on the others faces. JJ was never like this. They wondered was this a part of child JJ, or was this a scared and insecure adult JJ. A side of her they had never seen, and she kept private. A ding from the computer screen alerted them all to a bubbly analyst who had yet to meet, their new tiny agent.

"Hello my crime fighting heroes!" Exclaimed Garcia as her face came onto the screen. A big grin on her face. Cheering everyone up. "Where is she? Where's the little gumdrop?" She clapped excitedly. Sure the situation was awkward and confusing but she was grateful her friend was still alive and relatively well. She found the best in any situation instead of focusing on the bad. It's what kept her going.

Pulling the blanket down slightly, JJ made an appearance, but didn't make an effort to move from Emily's lap. A squeal from the computer made JJ quickly cover herself back up, burring her head in Emily's chest to hide.

"JJ you're so cute." Garcia squeal in delight. "You are going to love everything I bought and you'll be the cutest little girl America ever did see!" She squeaked again as she clapped her hands, thinking of all the bags in her car. The bags which held many clothes for JJ.

JJ snuck her hand out the blanket grabbed her phone and pulling it back inside the blanket, staying hidden. Her fingers fumbled as she put the ear phones back in her ears. Hoping to just ignore as they all spoke about her.

Emily said JJ's name a couple times and noted she must have been okay sorting the phone out under the blanket, so she turned back to the conversation to hear Garcia finish the word precious, having zoned out to focus on her friend.

"Garcia, the plan is for JJ to move in with Emily. So, you'll need to meet back at Emily with the things for her." Hotch said bringing everyone on topic and to the plan.

"I've got a spare key in my desk, just hang around there till we're back, it'll be pretty late, so if you want to stay help yourself to a guest bed." Emily quickly mentioned. They had a few hours of their flight left so it would be easier for Garcia to hang around hers and go to bed than wait at the office and fall asleep at her desk like she had many times before.

The grin never left the technical analysts face agreeing happily to the sleep over at her friends house, and finally getting to meet JJ in her new form. She loved kids and their innocence, and knowing what she did about her friend, she hoped that the little blonde could gain back some of the innocence she lost as she grew up. With a quirky saying she hung up her video call leaving the team to bask in the quietness of the jet for a moment.

A burst of aggression came from beneath the blanket, a head popped out and threw the phone to the ground. Everyone's head whipped round in shock, having never seen an outburst like that. All bodies were frozen as JJ's pink bottom lip quivered, and tears began to overflow. Evidently the day had been too much, there were so many emotions swilling round JJ's mind, so much of her independence and control lost, and she couldn't figure out how to express anything other than with these extreme ends of the emotional scale.

"I hate this." She cried covering her face with her hands as she sobbed.

Not knowing what to do, Emily stood, wrapping JJ's legs round her waist, one arm under the 6 year olds backside and a hand holding the blanket to the girl on her back she walked up and down the isle of the jet with a slight bounce in her step. It had worked on some of her younger cousins and other children she had looked after, hopefully this could work. She shushed her sobbing best friend telling her things would be okay and placing little kisses on the top of her head. Soon enough JJ had fallen asleep, occasionally letting out a whimper in her sleep. So, the brunette profiler settle back on the sofa, half lay down so JJ could rest comfortably on her chest while the team whispered their concerns about what was to come in the very uncertain future. Hoping this would get easier and not harder.

A few hours later they finally landed back home. With JJ still fast asleep Morgan took Emily, JJ's and his own bags walking off the jet behind Rossi and Reid leaving the unit chief, Emily and JJ behind. Emily stood keeping the 6 year old close to her chest. She looked to Hotch offering a half smile when he spoke, "Do you want to call me later so we can discuss…" He paused a moment peering at JJ's face and the open door leading off the jet. "So we can discuss us?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't discuss this with you. I just… she's my best friend. I couldn't leave her to fed for herself." Emily confessed, whispering. "I still want an us, I'm sure Penelope wouldn't mind babysitting once in a while." The relationship between both dark-haired agents had been going on for around 8 months now, and both had still yet to tell the team. Wanting to keep it between them and for their relationship not to be profiled or analysed by their friends and bosses.

Hotch grabbed his bags from the overhead smiling to his girlfriend. "Don't worry Emily. It's okay. Call or text me when you can. This weekend is my weekend with Jack so if JJ's up for it maybe we can take a trip to Chuck E Cheese."

"Sure, it sounds like a plan." Emily leaned up planting a quick peck on Hotch's lips and then headed to her car where Morgan would surely be waiting.