Chapter 4: Dr. Blake's Goodbye
Hotch had JJ and Rossi check out a Dinah Stidham's house for any clues as to where she was. At the hospital, the doctor told Blake that Reid was going to be okay. Blake called JJ to tell her that Reid was in recovery. JJ breathed a big sigh of relief.
"That's great," smiled JJ. "Thanks, Alex."
"Now there's a smile I haven't seen these last two months," observed Rossi. "Good news?"
JJ hung up her phone and said to Rossi, "Spence is going to be okay. He's in recovery."
"Good," said Rossi. "The kid's too smart to die. He probably mentally rerouted the bullet's trajectory!"
"I was scared," tearfully admitted JJ.
"Yeah, I was, too," said Rossi. "Do you need a minute?"
"No," answered JJ. "I'll take that minute when we go back to the hospital and I take Spence into my arms."
Rossi called Hotch to tell him that Dinah wasn't at her house. Hotch told Rossi and JJ to return to the police station. On the drive back, Rossi decided to give JJ some advice.
"Jennifer," said Rossi. "I think it's time that both of you kids move on."
"What do you mean?" asked JJ.
"You're not so hard to profile," answered Rossi. "You have feelings for Spencer. I've known that for years now. And he has feelings for you, too. But you're afraid that if you tell him how you feel about him and move on and start dating him, it means that you didn't love Will."
"Well, yeah," admitted JJ. "I was never Will's wife. That made me a coward back then. If I just moved on and started dating Spence now, then what kind of a person would that make me?"
"A brave one, JJ," answered Rossi. "Look at my past for a minute. You wish that you had married Will. Just like I wished that I had married Emma Schuller. I lost Carolyn over two years ago to ALS: Lou Gerig's disease. And then a few months later, I moved on with Erin. And then a year ago, I lost her to the Replicator. So, because I lost Erin, I now know exactly what you and the kid are going through with losing Will and Maeve. And because of losing Haley to Foyet, Hotch knows, too. But, he's moved on with Beth over two years ago. And, it's been two years now since you've lost Will. I think that Will would want you to move on and see somebody new. He wouldn't want you to be so alone and uptight."
"I'm not uptight," said JJ. "And I still have Henry, so I'm not alone, either."
"Okay, you're not alone," said Rossi. "You have been a little bit on edge, though. Ever since you were abducted by Tivon Askari and Michael Hastings two months ago."
"I don't want to talk about that!" said JJ.
"You don't have to," said Rossi. "Not until you're ready to talk about it. But, you've been madder these last two months than you were at Will's funeral."
"Is this because of my teasing you about Strauss in New York last year?" asked JJ.
"No," answered Rossi. "It's because I want to see you two kids happy together. You almost never smile anymore. Garcia is starting to think that you're Hotch's sister."
JJ gasped. She didn't realize that she had been behaving similar to the way Hotch behaves.
Rossi continued, "My point is what I've learned from losing Emma, Carolyn and Erin is that life is short sometimes. When you were abducted, you could have easily been killed by Askari and Hastings if we hadn't found you."
"Yeah," admitted JJ. "I could have."
Rossi continued, "And, we all could have lost our boy genius tonight."
"We could have," said JJ. "But, he's going to be all right."
"Well, look at Reid's past for a minute, JJ," said Rossi. "Before I came back from retirement, Reid was drugged with dilaudid. And then he was poisoned with Anthrax. And then he got shot in his leg. And then he spent a few months with bad headaches. And then we all saw Maeve get murdered right in front of him. And now he got shot in his neck."
JJ sighed, "Morgan once joked that Reid is like a cat because he has nine lives."
"Well," said Rossi. "How many more bad things would have to happen to him before those nine lives run out? You barely kept it together at Will's funeral. If Reid had died tonight, then I couldn't imagine what you would be like at Reid's funeral."
JJ's heart was breaking from hearing, "If Reid had died."
"I can't imagine Spence dying," JJ said tearfully. "I just can't!"
"I know you can't," said Rossi. "And, I think that like Will, Maeve would want Reid to move on from her and see somebody new, too. Telling Reid how you feel about him is worth the risk. So, the big question you need to ask yourself is, 'What is it you want for your future, Jennifer Jareau?'"
JJ pondered on Rossi's words the rest of the way back to the station.
At the end of the Texas dirty cop case after Hotch, Morgan and JJ had killed Deputy Owen McGregor and stopped the trafficking group at the salvage yard in a gunfight, Hotch noticed a bullet in JJ's vest.
"JJ, you've been shot," said Hotch. "You should go to the hospital and get that injury looked at."
"I'm fine, Hotch," said JJ. "My vest caught the bullet."
"If I could go and get checked out, so can you, JJ," said Morgan. "Think about Henry."
"I'm fine!" snapped JJ.
"That's not a request," said Hotch.
"Hey," said Morgan. "Did you guys hear about what happened to Reid at the hospital?"
JJ's heart stopped from thinking about what happened to Will in a hospital two years ago.
"Reid?" said JJ.
"What happened?" asked Hotch.
Morgan answered, "I was on the phone with Garcia. She told me that McGregor was in the hospital."
JJ's eyes widened.
"He went there to kill Spence," said JJ.
"Reid must have seen McGregor shoot Sheriff Coleman," said Hotch. "McGregor wanted to silence his witness."
"I was driving back there to help them," continued Morgan. "I had Garcia turn on the evacuation alarm to stop McGregor from coming into Reid's hospital room to shoot him."
"Then I'm glad he's dead now," said JJ coldly.
"Oh, that wasn't all that happened, JJ," said Morgan. "After Garcia got Reid settled back into his room, an orderly came into his room to administer a different medicine into his IV. But, Reid read the medicine name and he said that he was violently allergic to it. Car something..."
"Carbenicillin?!" said JJ nervously.
"That's it," said Morgan.
"Spence once told me that would kill him if someone gave him that!" said JJ with her voice breaking. "He has a severe reaction to beta lactams!"
"Then what happened, Morgan?" asked Hotch.
"The guy still tried to inject it into Reid's IV," answered Morgan. "But, the kid removed the IV from his arm trying to stop him. Both Reid and Garcia noticed that the orderly had a gun on him."
JJ gasped. Her heart stopped again.
"So, Reid was shot again?!" asked Hotch.
"No," answered Morgan. "Garcia grabbed Reid's gun and she had shot the orderly with it by the time I arrived."
JJ breathed a big sigh of relief.
"Garcia saved Reid's life," smiled Morgan.
JJ's heart was beating rapidly. She heard Rossi's voice in her head saying, "Life is short sometimes. We all could have lost our boy genius tonight. Telling Reid how you feel about him is worth the risk." JJ cried happily and she wanted to go and hug Reid now more than ever.
"Let's go see Reid at the hospital," said Hotch. "And, JJ..."
"I need to get myself checked out," said JJ without resisting anymore. "Let's go!"
Chief Cruz had the Texas Rangers come in to arrest the remaining dirty cops in the junkyard and the police station. In the hospital, JJ had let the doctor check out her bruise from the bullet. After the doctor gave her a signed sheet for Hotch saying that she was okay, JJ ran straight over to Reid's hospital room. Everybody was circled around Reid's bed. They were all very happy to see that he was okay. JJ saw Reid through the doorway and she tearfully smiled at him. JJ walked in and she leaned over the bed and she gave Reid a big hug. Reid hugged her back.
"Hi, Jennifer," smiled Reid.
"Hey, Spence," happily said JJ. "You gave all of us quite a scare tonight."
"I told you guys," joked Morgan. "The kid's got nine lives!"
"Ignore him," said JJ. "One life is all that you need, Spence."
"Thank you, JJ," said Reid.
"Spence," tearfully said JJ. "I love you. I've always loved you. Always! I was afraid to tell you that before. But, I'm not afraid anymore..."
"JJ?" interrupted Reid.
"Yes?" said JJ.
"I love you, too," said Reid. "I always have loved you."
JJ's heart soared from hearing that. She lovingly smiled at Reid. She kissed Reid's forehead and she hugged Reid while happily crying. Hotch, Rossi, Garcia, Morgan and Dr. Blake all smiled at the two of them. JJ turned and smiled at Garcia.
"Penelope," said JJ. "You've saved his life?"
"Yeah," said Garcia. "My hands are still shaking from firing that gun!"
JJ happily hugged Garcia tightly. Garcia hugged JJ back.
"Thank you," cried JJ.
"For what?" asked Garcia.
"I think you've saved my life tonight, too," answered JJ. "I love you, Pen."
"I love you, too, Jayje," smiled Garcia.
After the BAU jet left Texas and returned to Quantico, Dr. Blake and JJ escorted Reid up into his apartment building.
"How are you feeling?" asked Blake.
"I feel great," answered Reid. "Uh, that's overselling it. I actually feel great considering I was just shot."
JJ opened the apartment door for Reid. The three of them walked inside. Blake was holding Reid's go-bag.
"Where did you want this?" asked Blake.
Reid pointed at his couch. Blake put his go-bag down on it.
"Okay, well," said Blake. "You need to get some sleep."
"Are you okay?" asked Reid.
"Yesterday...touched a nerve for me when I saw you like that," answered Blake.
"It did for me, too," said JJ.
"Who's Ethan?" asked Reid.
"Ethan?" asked JJ.
"After I got shot, I heard Alex calling me that while she was trying to keep me awake," explained Reid.
"Ethan's my son," answered Blake. "He was 9 when he died."
"I'm so sorry," said JJ. "How did he die?"
Blake answered, "The doctors said it was neurological, but they didn't have a name for it. They still don't. That drove me crazy! No name to give for the thing that took away my greatest love!"
"Losing a child is the worst thing that can happen to a mother," said JJ.
"I'm sorry," said Reid.
"He kept growing despite the disease," continued Blake. "The last time I laid down beside him, he was almost as long as me. He was ready to go, but I wasn't ready to let him go. I begged him to open his eyes for me one last time. And the cruelest part was that I could see who he would have been at 20, but I knew that he would never get there."
JJ cried from hearing that. She couldn't imagine living if Henry ever died like that.
"Ethan is a great name," smiled Reid.
"Yeah," cried Blake. "It means 'enduring.'"
"It's fitting," smiled JJ.
"You and James never let go of one another," said Reid.
"Yeah," whispered Blake.
"Alex," said Reid. "Have you ever had that feeling that your future is somehow behind you?"
"All the time," answered Blake.
"I did, too," said Reid. "But, it's not."
"Ethan would have been a lot like you, Spencer," smiled Blake.
JJ tearfully smiled at Blake and she leaned her head on Reid's left shoulder.
"Thank you for being there for me when I woke up," said Reid. "It meant a lot to me."
"It meant a lot for me, too," said JJ. "Thank you, Alex."
"Of course," said Blake. "I'm going to go now."
"I'll walk you out, Alex," said JJ. "I'll be right back, Spence."
"Goodbye, Alex," said Reid.
JJ walked Blake outside of Reid's door and she stopped Blake before she walked down the stairs.
"You're leaving the BAU?" asked JJ.
"Yeah," answered Blake. "Rossi gave me some sage advice on how to stay together with James."
"Rossi's been good with sage advice lately," smiled JJ. "But, you need to turn in your badge first."
"I put it inside of his bag," said Blake.
"Come here," said JJ.
Blake and JJ hugged each other.
"I'm sorry," said Blake.
"For what?" asked JJ.
"It takes one grieving mother to know another grieving mother," answered Blake. "Somewhere in your past, you've lost a child, too, and I'm so sorry."
"Thank you," whispered JJ. "Take care of yourself, Alex."
"I will," said Blake. "And, you take good care of him. He's a keeper."
"I will," smiled JJ.
Blake whispered in JJ's ear, "When the two of you get married, promise me that James and I will get an invitation. I want to see Reid marrying you."
"I promise," said JJ tearfully. "Thank you. Bye, Alex."
Dr. Blake walked down the stairs looking up behind her one last time. JJ walked back into the apartment to see Reid holding Blake's badge folder in his hand.
"JJ," said Reid.
"I know, Spence," said JJ. "I know."
Reid looked outside of his window seeing Blake hailing a taxi to leave the area. JJ came up and she leaned her head on Reid's left shoulder again.
"I'm going to miss her," said Reid.
"Me, too, Spence," said JJ. "Me, too. Uh, can I stay over tonight? I want to talk to you tomorrow during breakfast."
"Breakfast?" asked Reid. "Uh, aren't we getting a little personal?"
"Better now than never," answered JJ. "Can I stay with you?"
"Yes, JJ," answered Reid. "You can stay."
Reid and JJ watched Blake's taxi drive away from the apartment building.