AN/So to catch you up JJ & Hotch are married and expecting a baby, JJ's got a stalker, but hasn't realized it yet. Still don't own anything
It was easy for him to slide the janitor's keys and pass card out of the older man's pocket without him noticing. He could have just killed the older man, but he wasn't doing any harm to his Jennifer.
James had always been gifted at 'lifting' things off people, not that his father ever approved. He probably could have purchased keys from a disgruntled worker, but that would be too obvious. Now he could come and go when he pleased. At first, sitting outside the large building where she worked had been titillating. Now, however, he sat in boredom all day from the time she went into that office until she went home. James never did like to be bored.
He had to be careful, that imbecile she was always with would sometimes looked right at him. He had been careful, always switching vehicles, sneakingly discovering where they were going on cases so that he could be near her. It didn't take much to find out where they were headed. The first time he had just been afraid she was leaving without seeing him, so he had to follow. Now, it was just a chance for them to be together. His favorite memory with her was when she and the others had gone to St Louis. After all, that is what any loving boyfriend would do. That time, she bumped into him at the precinct and looked right into his eyes, the moment of passion between them shared. Now he followed every time they went, taking his private jet with him. It was exciting to think of him and Jennifer traveling the country together.
"Soon, Jennifer." He soothingly stroked the hairbrush he had taken from her hotel room in Phoenix. She was growing larger every day; but after she had the baby, they would be together. If he could wait that long. He was growing impatient.
"Hey, JJ, do you know what happened to my cell?" Hotch called up the stairs to JJ.
"NO" She angrily replied
Hotch grimaced. Ever since he had gotten back from his morning run JJ had been in a foul mood. This was going to be a long day.
"Well the display is broken, and I just fixed the stupid thing." Hotch angrily put the broken phone in his bag, hating technology and hoping he could get it fixed.
"Is that my problem?" JJ asked hotly scowling at Hotch as she descended the stairs, her baby bump much more prominent.
"Well, no, I just was wondering if you knew--"
"Hold on." She angrily rushed upstairs to the bathroom as Hotch smiled. She seemed to be progressing much faster than Hayley had with Jack, although it was several years ago, so maybe he just thought that things were going faster.
The slamming of the bathroom door and her reappearance at the top of the stairs only confirmed his earlier thought. This is going to be a long day.
Morgan smiled as the door to JJ's office slammed shut and Hotch walked bewildered through the bullpen to his office. "Rough morning?" Morgan offered as Hotch walked past his desk.
Hotch, shaking his head, replied exasperated "You know, I know all about pregnancy hormones. When Hayley was pregnant with Jack she was all over the place. JJ has been great the past couple of months, until this morning."
"Was it that she had to cancel the ultrasound again?" Reid asked. "Because most doctors are in disagreement whether an ultrasound in the first trimester is really a good idea. Statistically--" He stopped as Hotch held up his hand, motioning for him to stop.
"No, she was fine with that last night, plus we rescheduled for later today. As soon as we got up this morning, she was livid. I'm not sure if she's mad at me, or if she's just mad at the world." Hotch confessed with a smile, although he had to admit that JJ was even more attractive when she was angry. Her lips pressed in a tight line, her brow furrowed determinedly bringing out a cute wrinkle between her eyebrows.
"Well, man, what did you do?" Morgan offered bringing him out of his thoughts.
Hotch let out a large breath and replied honestly "I have no idea. She can't drink coffee, so I wait till I get in the office before I get a cup. She doesn't like the smell of eggs, so we eat cereal for breakfast. And this morning she had her favorite cereal combination--Raisin Bran and Peanut Butter. I just don't get it! Maybe I should try to talk to her."
"Talk to who?" Prentiss joined the conversation, depositing her files and coffee on her desk.
"JJ. She's angry." Prentiss nodded.
"Give her time to cool off. We all know how JJ can be when she's mad." She advised as the others, including Rossi who had walked up from behind, nodded in agreement. JJ may not look formidable, but they all knew not to mess with her when she's angry.
"Well, maybe I'll give her time to cool down, then I'll talk to her. I mean we're both responsible adults, right?" The rest of the team smiled warily.
"Um, Emily, maybe you should go check on her." Rossi suggested as the dark haired woman recoiled in shock.
"Me? Why me?" Emily asked
"Because you're her friend, and you're a woman, and--"
"you four are all afraid of her?" Emily interrupted Morgan teasingly.
Carefully knocking on the blonde's office door, she asked "JJ, are you ok?"
When silence followed, Emily sighed deeply and resolved to bravely check on her pregnant friend. Opening the door, she stepped briskly into JJ's office only to find the younger woman sobbing at her desk. Surprised, she moved over to envelop JJ in an awkward hug. Emily Prentiss was not one who was great at showing emotion, let alone comforting people.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Emily asked softly, treading carefully. It would not do to make JJ angry.
"He's been so nice to me. I just--" JJ sniffled, attempting to compose herself angrily wiping the tears from her eyes.
"Well, what happened?"
"It's stupid, really." JJ admitted sheepishly hating the emotional roller coaster she was now a part of.
"What?" Emily pried. Hotch and JJ had been nearly inseparable in the months since their shocking marriage, she couldn't help but wonder what (other than the pregnancy hormones) had caused JJ to flip out.
"I had a dream." JJ admitted, the tears subsiding.
"You had a dream?"
"Yeah, and in it Hotch said that the baby was ugly and then he told me that he slept with MY SISTER!" She finished angrily, the tears threatening to reappear.
"So, let me get this straight, you're mad at Hotch for what he did in a dream?" Emily asked, trying not to laugh
"Yeah, I guess so."
"So, you're mad at dream Hotch?" Emily asked again, no longer able to contain the giggles bubbling from her throat.
"I guess it's kind of stupid, huh." JJ laughed with Emily, her previous eruption forgotten.
"Don't worry, I won't tell Hotch, we'll just make him think you're calming down." Emily laughed and stood to exit as JJ's phone began to ring.
"Agent Jareau...hello? huh. That's weird" JJ looked down at the phone, not recognizing the number. As part of her job she had to answer calls from detectives all over the country. Assuming some disgruntled cop wasn't able to wait for her to answer the phone and grateful she didn't have to talk to them, she began sifting through the mounds of cases littering her desk.
"Thanks Em" JJ called after Emily, who smiled and waved her off before retreating back to the bullpen.
"Well, I didn't hear any guns go off, so I assume she didn't shoot you." Rossi pointed out as Emily reentered the bullpen to find all four men gathered around her desk.
"Did she say what he did?" Reid asked eagerly.
"Yeah. Hotch you could probably go talk to her whenever. I think she's ok" Emily fought desperately the smile that threatened to divulge JJ's secret.
Hotch turned to his office, intent on getting as much paperwork done as he could before they left for the first ultrasound. However he couldn't help but think about the fuming woman down the hall. He always hated it when Hayley was mad at him, and the thought of JJ being upset with him was unsettling.
Grateful for his profession, he remembered how excited she became every time he noticed the new bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table. He rarely went into her office, but noticed once that it contained fresh flowers. Deciding that her flower arranging skill must be some hobby that stemmed from growing up in a small town, he placed an order to the nearest florist. This will make her day he thought.
Aaron Hotchner never claimed to understand women. But right now he was down right baffled. He knew the flowers had been delivered to her office, yet she seemed more upset than she had been earlier. Now they as they sat in the examining room of her Obstetrician, she refused to even look at him.
"JJ, will you please tell me what's wrong."
"No."
Laughing softly at her stubborn refusal he pointed out, "You can't stay mad at me forever."
"Yes I can." She stated definitely.
Soon the young doctor who was a long-time friend of JJ's entered the room. "JJ, I haven't seen you in AGES! Wow! You've gotten big quickly, let's look over these stats really quick...yep, everything looks to be normal."
"How's the FBI?" Dr. Stephanie Ashley asked.
"Fine." JJ responded angrily moving over to lay on the examining table.
Dr. Ashley simply raised her eyebrows at Hotch, "Well, I can see that the hormones are in full effect," and before JJ could retort added "now do you two want to see your baby?"
Applying the cool gel and placing the orb over JJ's stomach Dr. Ashley explained to Hotch, "We sometimes use the new ultrasounds, but that finicky United States Government Health Care Plan says we do this one first and we can do the other kind when the baby is bigger." She finished turning on the monitor for all to see.
"Oh, do you hear that? That is the baby's heartbeat." Dr. Ashley smiled as tears welled up in JJ's eyes at the steady sound. "And...yep...just what I thought" the sound stopped for a moment as Dr. Ashley moved the orb but then sound quickly returned, "that's the other baby's heartbeat."
"Excuse me?" Hotch asked quietly.
"Here, you can see for yourself," The doctor pointed at the black splotches on the monitor, "See. Here's one baby, and then right...THERE! There's the other baby. Both look to be average sized..." Dr. Ashley continued to take measurements and explain the health of the baby as Hotch gripped JJ's hand excitedly.
"Well," she said, concluding the ultrasound "it looks like you two have a couple of healthy babies. Congratulations! Here are some pamphlets about what to expect with multiples, and you two have an excellent day!" Dr. Ashley walked the proud parents back to the waiting room.
JJ's previous mood forgotten she hungrily grabbed Hotch's hand as they walked out of the office.
JJ examining the ultrasound pictures asked Hotch, "Ok, so this is the first baby, and...this is the other?"
"Yep, look right there is it's nose and ear, and I'm not quite sure what that is."
Once they entered the car and began the drive home, he felt it was safe to ask about her earlier moods. "JJ, why were you so upset with me? How can I help you?"
She sighed loudly, "Well, I was mad at you this morning because you said the baby was ugly and that you slept with Jessie." She explained as though it were completely rational.
"What! I never said that! When did I say that?" He asked increduosly.
"Well, I had a dream last night and--" She was cut off by his loud laughter.
"You're mad at me for something that I had no control over? Something you dreamed up?" He managed to spurt out, trying to wipe the tears from his eyes so that he could continue to watch the road.
"Well," She defended, beginning to get angry, "you keep sending me all this stuff. That's what made me upset this afternoon. I mean I have probably a dozen bouquets of flowers from you. Where am I supposed to put them all? You keep giving me stuff like a new ipod...it just makes me feel like you're paying me to be in this relationship! I don't need flowers from you every day. They were nice at first, but it's getting a little weird. And how you never sign them? You signed it today, but every other time you just leave it blank. Emily said you might be afraid of rejection." She continued to rant but he was quickly drawn from his laughter by her admission.
"Wait," he interrupted, "you've been getting this stuff for how long?" He asked seriously
"Well, since our first case after we were married. Flowers. The ipod." She responded, her anger subsided. "Wait. They weren't from you?"
"No." He responded shortly, his profiling gears turning. If she had been getting gifts for months, it sounded very much like a stalker.
"You didn't even notice! Some creep is sending your WIFE gifts and YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE?" She yelled, although he knew that it was way more out of fear than any anger towards him.
"Look JJ, it'll be fine." He attempted to calm her, remembering the doctors warning to keep her from having too much stress. "We'll stay at my brother's tonight, just to be safe. Tonight you can tell me everything and tomorrow we'll brief the team. Ok?" He asked reassuringly.
"Ok. But do me a favor?" He nodded quickly "Let's talk about all of this tomorrow. I want to talk about something happy tonight. Like our little babies!" She pleaded, trying to mask the fear in her voice.
"Definitely" He responded quietly keeping his eyes on the road. He would do anything to protect her.
A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips, ad he couldn't help but add "I told you you couldn't be mad at me forever."
AN/ I had a tough time writing this chapter. Let me know what you think! I have a plan, but I'm more than open to ideas. Oh, I've never been to an ultrasound, so I really don't know what that's like I just kind of made it up, so sorry if it's inconsistent.