Disclaimed!

This fic concentrates mainly on the time just before the start of Season one so hopefully no one gets confused about the timeline, I'll note the year or date.

If you have time, let me know what you think.

...

Quantico, October 2004

By the time JJ had finished her fifth phone call of the morning, the sounds of the rest of the Unit starting their own work day could be heard down the corridor, from the empty office Hotch had situated her in a few hours earlier.

Craving a caffeine fix, the blonde liaison, tidied the abundance of files on her desk before heading towards the bullpen where she had seen a kitchenette. Putting two and two together, JJ reasoned there must be coffee. As she took in the sight of the busy room, she made a B line to the half filled coffee pot.

Seeing an FBI mug, with Hotchner wrote on some tape, JJ smirked, as she poured in the bitter liquid. Seeing a shadow in the corner of her eye, JJ jumped slightly as she heard a low chuckle. "Oh uh, I think you might be in trouble."

"Excuse me?" JJ frowned slightly as amusement was evident in his voice.

The African American man, in a dark grey suit pointed to the cup in her hand. "That's the new boss's mug."

Staring down at her coffee, JJ shrugged off a small laugh. "I won't tell if you don't?"

"He's a bit of a tight ass about people using his things." The agent raised an eye, obviously thinking the young, blonde woman was insane for going up against Chief Hotchner.

JJ rolled her eyes knowingly, at the understatement. "I'm sure I can drink my coffee and wash the cup before he realises."

"I like a woman with guts." The man smiled widely. "I'm Derek Morgan. I don't believe we've met."

JJ extended a hand professionally. "Jennifer Jareau, I'm just in from the New York Field office. I'm the new temp Communication Coordinator."

Morgan's smile disappeared suddenly as he took a step back and turned towards Hotch's office. Frowning, JJ hesitantly followed the profiler up the few steps stopping in the doorway as he yelled at the recently promoted unit chief. "FOUR DAYS AND YOU'RE ALREADY REPLACING EVERYONE?"

Hotch glanced at JJ before attempting to calm the agent down. "Agent Jareau is here to help. Strauss personally invited her to temporarily takeover communications."

Morgan scoffed harshly. "We don't need an eager rookie, blonde doe eye in a skirt right now, man. We need to..."

"I'm not an eager rookie nor am I doe eye, Agent Morgan." JJ interrupted coolly as he began sprouting his anger.

"Look, I'm sorry, you might be a very nice lady but we don't need a bureaucrat covering our asses." Morgan faced Hotch as he spoke.

Hotch sighed in frustration. "Agent Jareau is an exceptional agent. Her previous assignments have been more than exceptional and she's going to be an asset to our team."

"Hotch, we shouldn't be assigning new people on the team right now. They've only been dead four days. Gideon and Hall only went on medical leave yesterday." Morgan reasoned emotively.

JJ took a step into the office and placed her mug of coffee on the side table. "I'm not here to replace any one of your colleagues Agent Morgan. I'm just here to make sure your unit is able to keep on top of things during this difficult time."

Morgan rolled his eyes at her reassurance. "Yeah right!"

"Derek, you owe JJ an apology." Hotch stated firmly as the younger agent hovered in front of him with anger wrote across his face.

Morgan ran a hand over his head. "WHO THE HELL IS JJ?"

JJ waved slightly to get his attention. "That would be me."

He bit his tongue before taking a step closer to the hovering agent. "I'm sorry if you took offense to anything I said."

"I'm a big girl, Agent Morgan and I completely understand. I hope once you get to know me you won't think of me as an eager rookie blonde in a skirt." JJ smiled warmly at his obviously strained apology.

Morgan glanced back at Hotch before nodding and left the pair alone.

"Is he always so headstrong?" JJ queried with a raised eye as she picked up her coffee again.

"You have no idea." Hotch scoffed quietly. "How are you getting on?"

"You guys really don't like paperwork huh?" JJ asked with an amused smile.

Hotch caught the blonde's eye and shrugged. "We're that backlogged?"

"Give me a week or two and I should have it sorted." JJ replied confidently. "I've dealt with most of the people who matter in the press. They should leave Agent Gideon alone for a while. There's going to be articles and public debates about his state of mind, but he should stop getting phone calls."

Hotch nodded gratefully. "Thank you."

JJ sipped the warm liquid as she leaned against the side cabinet. "I started to have a look through the pile of case files in those boxes."

"The BAU isn't taking another case until after the funerals next week." Hotch finally responded as he scanned the documents on his desk.

JJ tilted her head as she watched him. "Maybe some agents could do some consults rather than opening full blown cases?"

"Sure, that might be a good idea. But run the cases passed me first, okay. Some of my agents aren't in the right mind frame." Hotch replied distractedly looking to where Morgan was seething in the bullpen.

JJ nodded instantly as she edged towards the door. "I understand."

"JJ?" Hotch called about stopping the blonde before she could leave.

JJ turned slowly, catching a warm glint in his hazel eyes. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for agreeing to do all of this. I know it's not easy." His voice was barely above a whisper in the quiet office.

JJ shrugged. "I didn't really have a choice."

Hotch nodded before his gaze landed on the object in her hand. "Is that my coffee mug?"

JJ smirked at his frown as she backed out of the room. "Not anymore."

...

The next chapter will be posted later on today. Thanks for reading!