"Rest and peace should not be left until you're deceased. They are two vital life incredients everybody needs and seeks."
Rasheed Ogunlaru
It was cold that cold winter morning. The sun shined with dominance, but frost still coated the grass, unmelted. In the Jareau-LaMontagne household, sunlight seeped into the master bedroom from a crack in the curtains. Lying spread out in the large bed was JJ, sleeping soundly until the beam of light shined over her eyes. It didn't wake her immediately, but as time passed, she started to wake up.
This was the second day out of four that she had been given off for work. They said they could have offered more, but JJ knew that the more time that she took off, the more work that she would have waiting for her when she got back so she agreed to four.
Squinting from the light shining on her face, she sat up and let out a loud yawn. Looking to her right, she noticed an empty spot where her husband had previously been laying. She tilted her head in curiosity.
The question that she had on her mind was answered a few moments later when her husband walked in and sat down on the bed next to her, "Hey there." He grinned.
"Good morning." They shared a quick kiss.
Will looked at her, "How are you? I mean, how are you feeling?" He glanced down at her stomach where he could see the bandages underneath her tank top.
JJ shrugged and touched her stomach lightly, "I'm okay. It's sore when I move, but the painkillers should take care of that." She looked up at him, "How are you feeling?"
Will chuckled and laid down next to her, rolling onto his side so he was face to face with her. "A little shaken up, but I think I'll live…" He kissed her again, "I wish your job wasn't so dangerous, hun."
JJ put her hand on his cheek, "I wish your job wasn't so dangerous." She retorted quickly, slapping her hand gently on his face. Slowly, she sat up in the bed, ignoring a twinge of pain in her stomach.
"Oh please." Will shook his head, scooting over so that JJ could lean against his chest. He draped his arm over her, "My job is like a cake-walk compared to yours."
JJ laughed and hit his chest lightly, "Come on let's go get some breakfast, I bet Henry is starving. God knows you don't cook for him." She leaned towards the edge of the bed where she started to get up.
Will climbed out of the bed quickly and appeared in front of her, helping to ease her up onto her feet and supporting her with his arm as they walked down the hall. "Oh that's funny, so funny. If I didn't cook, Henry wouldn't be fed at all."
JJ rolled her eyes, "Okay I'll pretend that's true." She joked as they reached the stairs. This was going to be the hard part, using her abdominal muscles had been especially hard since the accident. The doctors said it had something to do with a tear in the muscle fibers, but all she was concerned with was the pain. Walking down the stairs used more of the muscles then she had thought, making it extremely painful.
As they were walking down, JJ tried her best to hide it, but naturally her husband could tell.
"Hey," he said, stopping on one of the stairs, "just tell me if you want to slow down, okay? I know this is hard for you and the doctors said we shouldn't push anything. Are you okay?" His eyes shifted down to her bandages for a split second.
JJ met his eyes, "I'm okay."
He could hear the exhaustion in her voice. This was only the third day that she had been home and they had only done basic physical therapy at the hospital, meaning that there was still a long way to go.
"Don't push it, JJ. I know it hurts." Will narrowed his eyes.
JJ smiled a little bit, "Okay. It does hurt, but you're helping and we only have a few stairs left so let's just do it." She said as she turned towards the stairs again and started to lower herself to the next step.
Will followed, trying not find himself surprised by her inspiring stubbornness. They went down the last few steps together, JJ finding herself relieved when they reached the bottom.
Henry, having heard them talking on the steps, ran up. "Mommy!" He exclaimed, "We have a surprise for you!" He grabbed his mom's hand quickly, but when JJ expected him to yank her into the other room, he surprised her by pulling lightly and leading her gently into the dining room. Sitting on the table was a beautiful breakfast: fruit, pancakes, eggs, sausages, bacon. She turned around only to find Will standing directly behind her.
"You did this?" JJ asked him, her eyes sparkling.
Will gave her a crooked smile, bent down and picked up Henry before replying, "We did this. Do you like it?" He asked.
JJ hugged them, nodding incessantly. "I love it. Thank you!"
"We were going to do it on the night you came home, but…but daddy said you would know…so we waited so it would be surprise!" Henry exclaimed.
JJ laughed, "No wonder you've been so quiet!"
Will grinned at her, "Come on I'm starving. Let's eat." He put Henry down and walked with JJ over towards the table.
"I love you." JJ whispered to Will as they were making their slow walk towards the table where Henry was already sitting. "I love you so much." She tilted her head up and kissed him lightly on the lips.
When they pulled away and their faces were inches apart, Will said it back. "I love you too Jayje."
And then they joined their son at the table where they started to enjoy the gorgeous meal that the two men had cooked.
They started to enjoy it anyway. When they had just gotten settled at the table, their conversation was interrupted by the ringing of the doorbell.
JJ instinctively moved to go answer it, but Will was already on his feet. He stood in front of her, "Sit. I got it." He kissed her cheek quickly before walking to the front door, leaving JJ with a smile on her face.
Will pulled the front door open expecting to see a person, only to find out that no one was there. He immediately thought it might have been a prank or something, but then he considered it might have been the mail man so he searched the porch for a package. Sure enough, to his left, just out of his immediate view was a envelope that he had to strain to see. He walked out onto the porch and picked it up, it was addressed to their house, but didn't have a return address.
Will brought it back inside and shut the door behind him just as he started to open the envelope.
"Who was it?" He heard JJ's voice come from the dining room, but he didn't answer. He had just started to read the letter.
Dear Jareau-LaMontagne household,
You are intriguing. When writing this I never wanted to start with that line, it implies grandeur and excellence. But it was the only word that would suffice. You are intriguing. Mother and father both have jobs where they work tirelessly to rid the world of crime and murder and then return home to their son and teach him that all monsters can be caught. That. Is. A. Lie. Your jobs are lies, corruption even. The government wants you to catch killers, but I say…let them run free. It promotes safety, caution, and understanding of the other side of the human psyche. The darker side. By teaching your son that "the good guy always wins", you are therefore not preparing him for all the horrible thing he will come to face in his life. That is why you have been chosen. You are naïve, ignorant, more so the two parents than the son. You will understand. I will make you understand. And I hope you know what I mean by "understand." Let me make this as clear as possible because you people never seem to get the message: I'm going to kill you. I'm going to kill you in two weeks and whatever you do, it will happen. It always does, no matter what occupation you have. I take this particular arrangement on as a challenge of sorts, it will definitely strain my skills, but I will persevere. This message is important. Not only because it is one that speaks volumes, but it is also one that you have yet to learn. You may say I'm a monster, but I like to think of myself as a teacher. Teaching things that most people will never learn. You, however, will be honored to learn the one thing that I believe will promote true understanding of people and how they think. The one true commandment that I choose to live my life by. The one lesson that while it is beautiful in principle, is terrifying in method. A great paradox:
Evil Can Be Beautiful.
"And this is the forbidden truth, the unspeakable taboo - that evil is not always repellent but frequently attractive; that it has the power to make of us not simply victims, as nature and accident do, but active accomplices." - Joyce Carol Oates
"Oh my god." Will gasped as he finished the letter. He lifted his eyes to look at JJ who was staring at him from the table. When their eyes met, she knew that something was wrong, not what it was or what the letter said, just that it was horribly, terribly wrong.
It was 9:30 at the BAU, a paperwork day for most of the workers. There were no new cases that had come to their attention so it was the perfect time for all of them to catch up on paperwork. It was quiet, serene. There was no banter going, no joking between them, just paperwork.
And then the doors burst open to reveal a soaking wet JJ trudging through the doors.
All of the team members turned around at once, but Reid was the first to stand and walk all the way over to her. He tried not to get to close because she had a traumatized look on her face, almost angry. It looked like she was getting ready to explode.
"JJ, what are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be back for another two weeks." Reid said.
JJ shook her head, "I…I…" She stuttered, "I need to talk to Garcia. Now." She pushed past the team members gathered around them and walked as quickly as her body would let her up towards Garcia's liar.
When she got there, she burst through the door. "Garcia!" She exclaimed when the door opened.
The tech analyst whipped around at the noise, "Jayje! What are you doing here? And all soaking wet? Ever heard of an umbrella?" She joked.
But JJ didn't reply. She walked straight in and pulled out a letter, setting it down on Garcia's desk. "I need your help."
Garcia's eyes flickered to the paper.
"There's someone after me…I mean, there's a…there's…a…" A tear slid down JJ's face, "Garcia. There's a killer after my family."
"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger-but recognize the opportunity."
John F. Kennedy