AN: I edited this chapter to correct the age. JJ will be 6! Sorry it was my mistake.
"What do you mean you can't turn me back." 6 year old Jennifer Jareau shouted at the poor dark skinned doctor.
He sighed, he wasn't used to explaining him self to a child. "What happened to you is very complex. We need for you to find this guy, and find what he used so that we can analyse what he did and try and figure out a way to turn you back. We don't know what kind of side effects the original drugs have done to you. I'm sorry Miss Jareau but it couple be months maybe years until your back to yourself. I suggest you get used to it, enrol in a school. Make friends. Take it as an opportunity to start again at least until someone figures out a way to turn you back. But you can't tell anyone what happened. Its top secret. No one can know what has happened to you."
JJ sat back down in her seat and put her head in her hands this was all too much for her. It was overwhelming. Emily and Hotch had come in for support and to know what exactly they would need to do to help JJ through what must be a traumatic experience for her. "Hey Jay, why don't we go an take a breather Aaron can finish up here." She grabbed hold of JJ's hand and led her from the office hoping to calm down the now very small girl.
Once the women had cleared the room Hotch turned back to the doctor. "What else is there to know doc?"
"I honestly I'm not to sure, this is obviously the first case I've ever heard of. So be prepared for anything really. She might regress back to how she was at 6, she might keep the mental maturity of a 26 year old but be in the young body. There could be side effects, or it might not affect her at all. Just keep a close eye on her. I would as I said before possibly send her back to school. Put her around kids her age. You can see in her file her past wasn't the best, so give her a better childhood now while we work on trying to sort this out. But know to get a cure we need to figure out how to regress someone first so it could be a long while." He ran his hand through his thinning hair. This job was really getting the better of him. He could feel the stress for this team of agents.
"Thank you Doctor Carosso." Hotch shook his hand and grabbed the information the kind aged doctor had given him. He would read them on the jet home as he tried to come up with a plan for his reformed agent.
Meanwhile Emily had picked up her sobbing friend once they were outside the room and took her to the closest set of toilets hoping to keep their conversation private. She could see this was a very stressful situation for the young girl. She had brought her hand to her mouth and was sucking on two of her fingers, and was breathing quickly. Emily placed her on the counter so she could talk to her.
"Hey JJ. Look this will be okay. You're going to be okay. We will get you back to normal." Emily looked to her blonde friend who nodded while still crying. "Come on you have to stop crying so we can talk. Tell me what's wrong. What's bugging you the most?"
JJ kept her fingers and made some kind of noises Emily couldn't understand. She could tell JJ was distressed, and clearly acting younger by the hour. She pulled JJ's fingers out her mouth and grabbed a tissue wiping them clean "Try now." She said prompting the girl to start again.
"I'm scared. I don't like being a baby. I just wanna be me. But the doctor doesn't know how, and I really want to buy ice cream but I'm going to look silly in this body buying ice cream." Emily laughed. Trust JJ to be thinking about Ice cream. If JJ was ever sad after a bad case, she would always pick up her friend a tub of mint chocolate ice cream and Cheetos, which would always lift the younger agents mood. She understood what JJ meant. She knew the blonde wouldn't be independent until they managed to turn her back into her normal self, which had the potential to be a long while.
"Okay, I understand you are scared you have every reason to be. This is a very…" She paused thinking of the right word, because the words that came to head were appropriate for 6 year old to hear, even if she actually was 26. "…It's an unusual situation, and it's something we have never come across before. But we will sort this out. We will get you back to you and we are all as a team going to help you while you're going through this. We all love you an don't want to see you scared." She waited till the blonde nodded and placed her head on Emily's chest, to which the older agent wrapped her arms around her, hoping she wold find comfort in the hug. "How about when we figure things out and get home we get you that ice cream?"
JJ nodded tiredly. Emily picked up the now calm child and went to meet the rest of the group. They needed to go home.
On the Jet home JJ was sat playing on her phone head phones on and curled in her seat. She was tired and wanted to rest so left the team to do whatever they were doing she would deal with everything else afterwards.
Hotch, Emily, Rossi and Morgan all sat round the table, and Reid perched himself on the end of the couch, looking over occasionally at JJ, who was fighting sleep.
"What are we gonna do with her? We cant exactly send her home lone can we?" Morgan asked, he wondered what the doctor had said to them about JJ and how she should be treated now she's in the body of a 6 year old.
"The doctor said in simple terms to treat her like a 6 year old, send her back to school and give her the childhood she never had before. It's easier said than done. I've messaged Garcia already though and asked her to pick up a months worth of stuff for JJ. It saves us from having to deal with a 6 year old shopping." Hotch said. He like his team didn't know what to do. He had never been speechless before but there's a first time for everything.
Reid piped up quietly "Where's she going to stay then? I don't have the room for a child."
"Me neither." Rossi said taking yet another swig of his whiskey. They all momentarily looked at his shaking their heads. Rossi had room to house them all in his big mansion.
"I could take her. I was just looking at a new place to settle down in. 3 bed, I was going to have an office and spare room, but I can get it for me and Jay until she's back to herself. She's going to have to give up her apartment so I could use the extra room for her stuff maybe. Or get a lock up?" Emily had voiced. She had always wanted a child, but she had never found the right person. This wasn't perfect but it would be something that would help her with her future and her best friend.
Everyone seemed to agree, nodding and thanking Emily for taking in their vulnerable member of the group. Just as they were about to speak, they went quiet as JJ toddled over and pulled herself onto Emily lap pulling an FBI blanket behind her.
"What you doing?" She asked getting comfy.
Emily's eyes opened wide not sure what had just happened but she adjusted herself so JJ could fit comfortably on her lap. She took a quick glance at all the guys watching them fit together. Before anyone could answer Garcia popped up on their screen.
"Hello my crime fighting heroes, where is she? I want to see how adorable out little gumdrop is." She said excitedly, almost clapping she was that excited to see how her best friend was now. Everyone appreciated Garcia for always finding the good in a situation no matter how bad it could be. They smile at her as JJ moved her head off Emily's shoulder and into the view of the camera. Garcia squealed with delight. "You're so cute!" She exclaimed. "You're going to love what I bought you. I've got dresses, skirts, little booties. You're going to be the most adorable child ever I promise you."
JJ just groaned and put her head back closing her eyes. She was tired, 'a nap might be good' she thought before lifting the blanket to her mouth and curling into Emily falling asleep.
They waited till they thought she was fully gone before speaking. A little quieter this time. "Oh, my goodness she is just too precious."
"Yes, she is." Morgan said smiling and laughing. JJ was indeed very cute at the moment; he would never admit it adult JJ scared him but after this he didn't think she would scare him again. She was only a child. Something that small could never be scary.
"Garcia, the plan is JJ's going to move in with Emily so if you can arrange to drop JJ's things at Emily's condo, so she has clothes to wear at least, is that okay?" Hotch asked looking from both Garcia to the brunette next to him.
"Yeah, if you've still got a key Pen just let yourself in. Stick her stuff in my room, then feel free to hang until I get back if you want to meet JJ. I'm sure she'd love to see you. She was quite emotional about it all before. Oh, and before I forget can you pick up some mint chocolate ice cream. I promised her some earlier."
Rossi raised an eye brown. "You'll regret that when you try and put a sugar hyped child down to bed." He laughed.
"It'll be a one off. Its been a stressful day."
A couple hours later they had landed and JJ was still asleep on top of Emily. Morgan had been polite enough to grab Emily's and JJ's bag, taking them to the car for her. Hotch, Emily and a sleeping JJ were the last ones on a jet.
"Do you wanna call me later so we can discuss, us?" Hotch asked keeping his voice quiet. He didn't want JJ to wake at this point.
"Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't discuss it with you. I just… She's my best friend. I have to do this for her. But I still want us. We're just going to have to be careful. I'm sure babysitter Penelope can come in handy."
"Of course. Call or text me whenever your free and we'll have a chat. I'm gonna have Jack this weekend so maybe we can take them to a Chuck E Cheese." He smiled pulling he bag from the hold all.
"Sounds like a plan." Emily planted a quick peck on Hotch's lips and she was off.