The Henry Trilogy: Part Two: The Baby Whisperer
Author: TigerLily 28
Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to CBS, the writers who write them and the actors who portray them. I make no money off of them. It's all in fun.
Rating: PGish
Summary: Whenever Henry has trouble sleeping, he's found a special friend who helps him into dreamland, but has he found his own way to give his mom a gift of her own?
A/N: 1) This is unbeta'd. It just is. 2) I hate songfic, but this fic was, admittedly, inspired by a song that unexpectedly rolled across my IPod one day. The story worm wouldn't leave me alone. I promise there are NO song lyrics in the story.
The Henry Trilogy
Part Two: The Baby Whisperer
"Jennifer Jareau?"
"That's me."
"You've been served."
"What?"
"Sign here please."
JJ signed on a dotted line and was handed a yellow envelope. The weight of the envelope told her precisely what it was.
She and Will had been arguing for awhile. Neither of them was entirely happy. He'd made noises about moving out, but JJ had been determined to make things better, to make things work, for Henry's sake.
She got home that evening, after a long walk and a good cry, to Will placing Henry gently in his crib.
She leaned against the door frame, arms crossed. "You could have told me," she stated quietly so as not to wake the baby. "Being surprised by an officer of the court wielding an envelope is not the best way to find out you're about to be a divorcee."
"I'm sorry." Will said. "You're right. I was scared."
"Will, please reconsider. We can work this out. We just need to talk about it, to communicate more."
"Let's talk about this tomorrow JJ. It's been a long day and I don't want to do this with Henry in the house. I'll sleep on the couch."
"Will, Henry is our son. He's always in the house, and if we're going to work this out, it's going to be for his sake. He's sleeping, Will, please, let's talk about this."
"No, JJ. If we're going to work this out, it's going to take hours of talking and, dare I say it, arguing, and I don't want to do that in the same four walls that my son is sleeping, so I would prefer to do this tomorrow." He tried to exit the room but was stopped by JJ's hand on his forearm"
"Now, Will. Henry or no Henry, I'm not sleeping tonight until at least some of this is discussed. Please."
Will reached for the cell phone hooked to JJ's hip. "Call Penelope. We'll take Henry there for the night and then come back here and hash this out. OK?"
A compromise. JJ sighed. She could work with that. "OK," she stated simply and dialed Garcia's number.
JJ knocked on Garcia's door, her arms full of sleeping child and diaper bag, and it was opened immediately.
"Hey Jayj," Garcia said empathetically. "Come on in. Hey little guy." Henry yawned, but remained sleeping.
"Thanks for doing this, Garcia. It's the only way I could pin Will down and actually talk this out rather than just running away. I'm really sorry to bother you."
"Don't you worry pumpkin. We'll take good care of him. Emily was over for movie night, so we'll just play 'alternative lifestyle house' tonight. It'll be fun."
At the mention of her name, Emily emerged from the living room and shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans.
"JJ, please call us if you need anything else tonight. Someone to talk to, a stiff drink, anything."
"I will, Em. Thanks."
Penelope removed Henry from JJ's tense arms and handed him to Emily, who settled him on her hip, his head on her shoulder.
"OK, Hugs all around, and then go save your marriage. We'll keep the boy genius as long as you need." Garcia wrapped JJ in a warm hug and cupped her cheek briefly in a sign of affection before turning to Emily and taking over care of the sleeping child.
Emily then took her turn hugging her obviously stressed out friend. When standing this close to JJ, Emily's head rested perfectly on top of the blonde head. Emily fought hard not to get lost in the feel of gentle fingers on the small of her back as JJ returned the warm hug. "Take care, OK? I'm only a phone call away."
JJ nodded and pulled away from Emily, sighing heavily. "There's baby food and some finger food in his diaper bag. We still give him formula if he has trouble sleeping, so there are a couple full bottles in there too. He should sleep the rest of the night, but if he doesn't, rocking or a bottle usually knocks him right out. Thanks again, both of you." She squeezed Emily's arm, gave Garcia a shy wave, and was gone.
Emily sighed as the door closed. "Well, that sucks."
Penelope shrugged. "Sure does. But maybe, in the long run, it will be for the best." She smiled knowingly at Emily. "C'mon Princess, let's go put our Prince to sleep. If you ever expect to land a dish like JJ, you'll need practice with her kid."
Emily stumbled and stopped short. "What! Garcia! I am not trying to… land JJ! That's ludicrous."
"Oh, OK, my mistake," Garcia threw over her shoulder with a smirk as she went to lay Henry in the playpen she kept handy for occasions such as these.
"Garcia!"
"Shh. Emily, you'll wake the baby." Garcia was smiling outright now, enjoying the rise she was getting out of the unsettled brunette.
"I – " but the words died on her lips as she realized that the more she denied it, the more credence she lent Garcia's little theory. "Shut up, Garcia" she snapped, with a smirk.
Penelope's phone rang at around 3 a.m., startling all three inhabitants of the tiny apartment awake.
Emily had been sleeping on the couch, in case Garcia needed help with Henry. Penelope reached for her wailing phone just as little Henry let out a wail of his own.
"Garcia," she answered sleepily.
"Hey, Pen. I'm outside, can you let me up?"
"Sure Jayj, is everything OK?"
"Fine, I just need a place to crash. I couldn't stay there with him."
"Come on up." Penelope dialed the numbers to open the door to the complex and rose to throw open the deadbolt.
Meanwhile, Emily was tending to a crying Henry.
Within a minute, Emily's arms were full of a wailing child and Penelope's arms were full of a crying JJ.
The whole group converged on the couch and JJ reached for her son, who snuggled into his mother's neck, but continued to cry.
In the next half hour, JJ relayed the whole story. Will wanted to move back to New Orleans and had given her an ultimatum. Move with me or we divorce. He already knew what her answer would be, which is why he already filed the papers. He had charged that JJ had never truly loved him, which, when she was being honest with herself, she could never truly deny. They would share custody of Henry, which would be complicated. Full proceedings would start in the coming weeks and months. Law stated they would need to be legally separated for a full year before a divorce could be finalized. It was going to be a long process.
Henry, who had been sleeping again, awoke and filled the small apartment with his cries, which made JJ burst into tears again. "Sometimes, I think he can sense the tension in the house too," she sniffled. "He may be under 2, but I can't imagine how all of this will affect him." JJ wiped at her red eyes and stroked Henry's back.
"Here, let me take him," Emily asked gently. JJ did. Emily lifted Henry to her shoulder and soothed him with light rocking and quiet sounds as Garcia enveloped his crying mother in another hug.
Emily wandered into the kitchen, talking nonsense to little Henry as she prepared one of his bottles. "Your mama loves you a lot little one, you know that?" she whispered. "You're a lucky boy. Everything's going to be OK. I'll make sure you and your mom are taken care of. There are a lot of people who love you and that just might be enough." During the stream of conscience, Henry had fallen silent, soothed by the warm tones of Emily's voice, calmed by the sound, even though he couldn't understand the words.
She gave him the bottle, which he held on to and sucked voraciously as his blue eyes looked into Emily's brown ones. "You have your mom's eyes." Emily mused, giving Henry a soft tap on the tip of his nose.
Noticing the quiet, JJ patted Garcia's knee and stood up to check on her son. She entered the kitchen and nearly burst into tears again.
There was Emily Prentiss, attempting to feed a half empty bottle to an obviously sleeping Henry. The smile on Emily's face told the entire story. Without noticing JJ in the doorway, she set the bottle on the table and wiped Henry's mouth before looking up, sensing JJ's presence.
JJ's eyes glistened and she leaned on the doorjamb. She opened her mouth to speak but was beaten to the punch.
"Well… I guess we have a regular little 'Baby Whisperer' in our presence." Garcia stated playfully as she leaned on the other side of the kitchen entrance. "She did the exact same thing earlier. I swear anytime that kid is with her, he falls right to sleep." Penelope observed.
"Yeah," JJ wiped her eyes. "I've noticed that too," she said as she crossed the room to take over care of the little boy. As she leant over to lift him from Emily's embrace, their eyes met, just as they had once before. The memories flashed through both women's minds and the same sensations coursed through both. "I think he does it on purpose," she whispered.
This time it was Emily who broke eye contact. This was a strong woman in a very vulnerable state. The intensity was palpable. "I should go." She stood once Henry was safely ensconced in his mother's arms. "I'll see you both on Monday. Good Night." She left the room.
"Whoa." Garcia was surprised by what she had just witnessed. She then found her arms full of sleeping baby. Knowing the other two women needed a bit of privacy, she escaped to the living room to put the baby back in his makeshift crib.
JJ hurried to the entry. "Emily."
The brunette stopped short with a short, inaudible sigh.
"Thanks, y'know, for taking such good care of Henry. Of me... of us. I… just thanks," she spit out with a wary smile.
Emily reached out and cupped JJ's cheek, only for a moment, her thumb lightly stroking a cheekbone. "Anytime. Please let me know if you need anything. Good night."
"Night." JJ whispered, but the other woman was already gone.
JJ wandered back into the living room and met the all-knowing eyes of Penelope Garcia.
"Shut up Garcia" JJ shot at her as she leaned over Henry.
"You have got to stop doing that kiddo, you hear me?" she whispered with a smile.
Henry let out a small sigh, rubbed his nose and slept on.