When JJ woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she was handcuffed to the table. The cuffs were so tight that they were cutting into her wrists. She tried not to show fear, but she knew her trembling hands were going to betray her. She put one on top of the other, and took a deep breath.
"Hello Agent Jareau,"said the same man who had harassed Garcia,"tell me, why are you not with your son?"
"You can't be serious,"JJ laughed trying to belittle him,"probably because I'm being held against my will with the rest of my team."
"Jennifer, be serious,"he said with a no-nonsense tone,"If we were able to kidnap seven FBI agents, don't you think it would be simple to kidnap a little boy who was playing in his own back yard?"
She tensed up,"What did you do?"
"Mommy!"Henry's voice filled the room,"help me!"
She stood up immediately,"Where is he?!"
"Don't worry Jennifer he's safe,"he answered,"for now."
"What do you want?"she asked through gritted teeth.
"I want you to sit back down, and tell me everything that happened,"he told her.
Six months ago
JJ was ready to go home, and see her family, when Garcia walked in.
"JJ, I just got a call from a man who believes his sister was murdered,"she said,"and the police have ruled it a suicide."
"Pen,"she sighed,"unless the police invite us to investigate, we can't do anything."
"I looked in on the case, and it looks like a suicide, but I want to make sure I don't give this family false information. I was hoping you could look into it to make sure they're right."
JJ sighed again," give me the files."
She was ready to give it a quick scim, and then go home to relax, but there was something off about the case. Her credit card only showed that she had gone to a restaurant, on the night she was murdered, and no one in her family had bought the pills that were found in her. She didn't even drink any alcohol that night. It all looked suspicious.
JJ picked up the files, and took them to Hotch's office.
"I've told you everything, now let my son go,"she said.
"I'm afraid I can't do that,"he answered with a smile," but a can put him with the rest of your team."
JJ knew that Henry would be safe with them. Her team would never let anything happen to him.
The team was awake, and aware of what was happening. They all cringed when they heard the agonized cries of what could only be the other man opened the door he had a knife against Henry's throat.
"Make one move, and I will kill the little brat,"he threatened.
The whole team stood still, as Henry was shoved into the tiny room. He kept screaming for his mommy. Everyone tried to help him, but no one knew the words to say.
"Hey buddy,"Hotch tried,"It'll be fine, just breathe."
The room was still filled with his cries.
"Hey little man,"Morgan said,"Can you be brave for your mommy?"
Henry calmed his cries, until they had been suppressed into little whimpers.
"Mommy doesn't need me to be brave. She's the brave one,"he hiccuped.
"Sometimes your mommy needs you to be brave for her,"he said, with one hand on his shoulder,"right now your mommy is with a very bad man, and-"
The thought of his mommy being in trouble only made him want to scream more. This earned Derek a series of glares from the rest of the team.
He sent them back a look that said hey, I don't know what I'm doing.
"Henry you don't have to be brave,"Reid said," it's true that being brave is important, but you don't need to pretend that you're not scared."
"Are you scared?"Henry asked in a whisper.
"A little bit,"Spencer confessed.
Henry crawled into Spencer's lap, and buried his head in his chest, when Spencer put his arms around him he whispered,"me too."
