Chapter 1: JJ loses Will
In an alternate universe, around the time of Season 7's "Hit" and "Run" in Will and JJ's home, JJ had saved Henry's life by beating Izzy Rogers in a fist fight. And Prentiss had successfully saved Will from blowing up from being chained to a bomb in a train station. And Morgan and Hotch had killed Matthew Downs while he was trying to escape custody. After Will had been taken to the hospital, Rossi and JJ quickly arrived to see him, but she was given some bad news.
"Excuse me," said JJ. "I'm looking for Detective William LaMontagne Junior. What room is he in?"
"I'm sorry, Mrs. LaMontagne," said the doctor. "We did everything that we could. Your husband was suffering internal bleeding complications caused by the bomb vest that was chained to his chest and from when he was shot inside of the bank."
"What...what are you saying, doctor?" asked JJ.
"Detective LaMontagne didn't make it, ma'am," answered the doctor. "I'm sorry."
JJ had to sit down. She felt like she had a delayed gut punch from fighting Izzy earlier. Rossi walked up holding little Henry's hand.
"Where is he?" asked Rossi.
"Over there," answered the doctor while pointing to a covered body.
JJ went over to the covered body and looked under the cover and it was Will lying there. JJ was heartbroken. She started sobbing uncontrollably. Rossi took Henry out of the room and he called Hotch at Quantico. Everybody was in the bullpen talking about the odds they've beaten today when Section Chief Erin Strauss walked in. Hotch answered Rossi's phone call.
"We have a name for our female unsub. Izzy Rogers," said Strauss. "She will never see the light of day again."
"Guys," said Hotch. "We need to go to the hospital right now. JJ needs us."
"Why?" asked Garcia. "What's happened?"
"Will didn't make it," answered Hotch.
"What?!" said Prentiss.
"But, Emily saved him, Hotch. What happened?" asked Morgan.
"The bomb vest that they've put on him caused internal bleeding complications from his getting shot inside of the bank," said Hotch.
"Oh, no!" cried Garcia.
Morgan let Garcia cry on his shoulder.
"Oh, my God," whispered Prentiss.
Reid and Prentiss hugged each other.
"Aaron," said Strauss. "Where's Agent Jareau now?"
"She's in the hospital morgue with Will," answered Hotch. "Dave has Henry there."
"JJ needs us," said Reid.
"Let's go," said Hotch.
In the hospital morgue, JJ went over to Henry to talk to him.
"Henry," said JJ. "Mommy wants to talk to you about daddy. You know that daddy loves you, don't you, buddy?"
"Yes, mommy," smiled Henry. "Daddy introduced me to Izzy. And then he said, 'I. Love. You.' and then I said, 'I. Love. You.'"
JJ tearfully smiled and she hugged Henry tightly.
"You always remember that, baby," whispered JJ. "Always remember that."
JJ picked up Henry and they both looked at Will lying on the table.
"Is daddy sleeping now, mommy?" asked Henry.
"Yeah, honey," answered JJ. "Daddy's sleeping now."
The rest of the BAU team and Strauss arrived at the hospital morgue. Rossi noticed them first.
"JJ," said Rossi.
JJ turned around and saw her family approaching. Rossi took Henry from JJ's arms. Prentiss hugged JJ first. Then Garcia hugged JJ. Then Garcia took Henry into her arms. Strauss held Rossi's hand watching everybody. Morgan hugged JJ. Then Hotch hugged JJ. And then Reid hugged JJ the longest.
One week later, the BAU family were all there for JJ at Will's funeral. It was just over two years now since Hotch had to bury his ex-wife Haley at the hands of George Foyet. And after Prentiss's faked death just over a year ago, the rest of the team were hoping that it would be a very long time before they would have to attend another funeral. The DC Metro police had honored William LaMontagne Jr. as a hero for all of the bank hostages that he had helped escape the bank before the explosion.
Seven officers fired the twenty-one gun salute. Hotch, Jack and Beth Clemons had put roses on Will's coffin. Then Morgan did. Then Garcia did. Then Prentiss did. Then Rossi and Strauss did. Then Agents Anderson and Gina did. Then Reid did. Then Kevin did. Then JJ's mom, Sandy did. Then JJ picked up Henry and they both put roses on his father's coffin.
They held the funeral reception at Rossi's mansion. Anderson, Gina, Beth, Strauss, Kevin and most of the other guests were in a line hugging JJ and giving her their condolences. Henry was with Sandy. Hotch walked over to JJ.
"Do you need a break, JJ?" asked Hotch.
"Yes," said JJ. "Thank you. Mom? Can you make sure Henry gets something to eat?"
"Of course," said Sandy.
Hotch walked JJ out of the room. Reid, Prentiss and the others were watching JJ from a table.
"How is Henry doing with all of this?" asked Hotch.
"Honestly?" said JJ. "I'm not sure he completely understands that his father isn't coming home anymore. I don't know what to do with that."
"I know what you mean," said Hotch. "After Haley's murder, Jack didn't really know that his mother wasn't coming back. We had started a tradition of watching his mother in home movies whenever we missed her."
"What am I going to do?" cried JJ. "How can I take care of Henry without Will in his life anymore?"
"One day at a time," answered Hotch. "I had Haley's sister, Jessica helping me take care of Jack ever since Haley's funeral. I know it won't be easy, but you have your mother to help you. You also have Henry's godparents, Garcia and Reid, who both adore Henry and will do anything for him. And you once told me that I would one day remember Haley and it wouldn't hurt me so much. One day it won't hurt you so much remembering Will. You and Henry will be fine, JJ."
JJ smiled and she and Hotch hugged each other.
"Thank you, Hot... Aaron," tearfully whispered JJ. "Thank you."
"Anytime," said Hotch. "And take all of the time off that you need. Your son needs you now more than ever."
"Aaron," said Beth. "Both Jack and Henry want to go outside to play. Are you coming?"
"Yes," smiled Hotch. "Excuse me, JJ."
Hotch, Beth, Garcia and Morgan had taken Henry and Jack outside to play. JJ walked into an empty room alone. Reid walked over to JJ.
"JJ," said Reid. "Are you all right?"
"No," answered JJ. "I really want to be alone now."
"Is there anything that I can do?" asked Reid.
"'Mrs. LaMontagne,'" tearfully whispered JJ.
"JJ?" asked Reid.
"When Rossi, Henry and I arrived at the hospital that night," said JJ. "The doctor addressed me as 'Mrs. LaMontagne.' But Will and I were never married. You know that he asked me to marry him while I was pregnant with Henry. But for four years now, I never said 'Yes' to him. I always thought that I had all of the time in the world. That I didn't need a marriage certificate to prove that I loved Will. But, he's dead, now. And now, more than ever, I wish that I had said 'Yes' to him."
JJ got angry.
"How could I be so stupid?!" asked JJ. "What was I so afraid of? Love? Marriage? Commitment?!"
"Since I don't have any romantic experiences to compare to your romantic experiences," said Reid. "I'm sorry, but I can't answer your question, JJ."
JJ sighed, "You're so innocent, Spence. Promise me that you'll never stop being you."
"I don't know how to be anybody else, JJ," said Reid.
JJ tearfully laughed, "Please, promise me, Spence."
"I promise," said Reid. "Is there anything else that I can do for you, JJ?"
"Yeah," said JJ. "Hold me, Spence."
Reid hugged JJ and JJ hugged him back tightly while crying on his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, JJ," said Reid. "I'm so sorry."
JJ had taken two weeks off after the funeral to grieve. One week had passed, and Prentiss had announced to the rest of the team that she had gotten a new job offer in London by her ex-colleague, Clyde Easter. And that she had decided to take it. Garcia was heartbroken by the news. Prentiss secretly felt guilty about Will's death. She didn't want to face JJ when she returned to the BAU. Prentiss felt that if she had gotten to Will at the train station sooner than he might still be alive.
When JJ returned to the Bureau she found out that Morgan and Garcia had left with Prentiss to help her get settled into her new London home. Garcia promised Prentiss that she would keep an eye on JJ and Henry indefinitely. Hotch had hired a new agent, Dr. Alex Blake to join the BAU team and she joined Hotch, Rossi, JJ and Reid in a Seattle case before Morgan and Garcia had returned to DC. A few months later, Beth Clemons told Hotch that she was taking a job offer in New York. So, Hotch and Beth tried making it a long distance relationship.
A week before Halloween, JJ told the BAU family that Henry didn't want to go out trick-or-treating because he was afraid of all of the "monsters" that were out there. JJ blamed herself because one night, Henry had overheard JJ talking to Garcia and Reid about the "monsters" who killed his father. Then after the next case, JJ used the BAU job to convince Henry to go out trick-or-treating to find those "monsters" as a profiler. And, Henry chose to dress up like his favorite profiler, Reid to do so. Reid was extremely flattered when he saw that Henry looked like him. Seeing Reid's joy was the first thing to really make JJ start smiling again. Then Reid, JJ and Garcia happily took little Henry out trick-or-treating.
Reid had tried being there for JJ whenever he could to help her pick up the pieces about Will. But, JJ started to decline his extra visits because she started to fear that she was getting too close to him. JJ always had a fear of letting men who she loved get too close to her. That was why she didn't marry Will immediately after she became pregnant with Henry. Even though JJ was never married, Reid knew that it might take a period of two years before a widow would start dating anybody again. So, Reid respected JJ's wishes and only came over if JJ wanted him to play with Henry.
Reid had started experiencing his bad headaches again, so he called up a geneticist named Maeve Donavan to help him deal with his headaches. After a month of talking to each other over the phone, Maeve had grown fond of Reid and she trusted him with her home phone number. She asked him to call her on pay phones only because she had feared that she was being stalked. Reid followed her wishes and he called her weekly on a different pay phone each time. And, Reid had grown fond of Maeve as well. During a case involving leg amputating, Reid trusted Dr. Blake to drive him to a pay phone so he could ask Maeve to consult on their case. Blake asked him why didn't he ask JJ or Morgan to help him instead. Reid said he wasn't ready to tell them about Maeve yet. So Blake kept his secret for him. When Maeve was ready to meet Reid a couple of months later, Blake had encouraged Reid to meet Maeve in person on a dinner date.
But, Morgan had suspected that Reid had finally found a girlfriend. He told JJ about Reid's secret girlfriend theory during another case. JJ was really surprised about it. After the BAU team caught the unsub who was making human marionettes, they flew back home from Winslow, Arizona. JJ noticed that Reid didn't sit next to her to ask her how she and Henry were doing. During the flight, JJ observed Reid sitting alone. He was daydreaming about meeting Maeve at their dinner date. JJ remembered that when she first started dating Will she used to sit alone daydreaming about being with him on return flights from each out of town case. She also remembered noticing Hotch daydreaming alone about Beth after they first started dating. And JJ recently noticed that Rossi had been daydreaming alone about Strauss. JJ profiled that Reid was possibly falling in love with another woman. Morgan's girlfriend theory was right.
JJ realized that she let her fear push her Spence away from her during her grieving process which left him free to date somebody else. Just like in 2007 when Reid stayed away from JJ during his dilaudid drug withdrawals which left JJ free to date Will. After JJ returned home that night she started crying over Reid possibly having a girlfriend. She was heartbroken. Being a profiler for over a year now, JJ now completely understood how heartbroken Reid must have felt when she told the team that she was Will's girlfriend and that they were expecting a baby together. And knowing now how Reid felt back then sucked for her. Henry walked into his mother's room that night hearing her crying. He jumped up onto JJ's bed. JJ was lying on her stomach crying her eyes out. Henry thought JJ was crying over losing Will again. He innocently hugged his mother from behind her.
"Everything will be okay, mommy," said Henry. "Everything will be okay."
JJ kissed Henry and she let him sleep with her that night. All JJ could do now was to be a friend and support Reid's decision of finding love with somebody else. Just like Reid had loved JJ enough to let her go when she and Will first became a couple, JJ loved Reid enough to let him go and try becoming a couple with his new girlfriend.