Hey all. I worked and reworked this chapter to fit my original vision for it, and then I wondered if I was truly happy with it. However, as you all may have imagined, this chapter deals with JJ, who I have, up until this point, yet to write. I hope you all understand where I was going with this, considering the dwindling relationship between JJ and Reid mentioned in the last chapter proceeding her departure from the BAU, as well as the overall view of the situation that they are now put it. Comments, constructive criticism and the like are welcome. If you don't like it, definitely speak up. I have a fear which is hopefully unprecedented, but may not be, that JJ isn't coming across the way I want her to. Also, I realize the December euphoria has worn off and people are still thinking this is a Christmas story. What are your thoughts on me changing the name of this story, or possibly taking down this chapter and the last one, and reposting them as a new story so people don't still think it's a Christmas story? As always, thank you for reading and you all own my heart!

SSAJane – Thanks for the review! I actually had not a clue where I was taking this story, and then BAM, I just started writing and this idea came about. I know it's a little unsuspected, but I have an overall view of where I'm going with this. I just need to fill in the middle and hope it's as sweet as icing. Yes, that could win for the worst analogy ever. I, too, do not like Strauss. I was struggling to write her as the miserable grouch that she, but still allow her to show her human side by being forced to bend to comply to FBI rules. Thank you for your feedback on how I wrote her! It helps me to become a better writer and I am so appreciative for that!

Emmiecat – Thanks for the review! Aww, thank you for noticing the story in the first place! I'm starting to think I should change the name of it, because I think everyone's over the December euphoria. Thank you for liking Melinda. She's the most unique character I've done in a fan-fiction and I was wondering how she was going to go over! I'm sorry that it takes me a little longer to update. I am oddly ridiculous about how long it takes me to write a chapter until I'm happy with it. Thank you for reading!

Chapter 5

Not Like You

The summer sun was already beginning to set by them time Reid was able to charter a passenger plane for Colorado, JJ at his side. An already awkward situation was made more awkward by the mass public that was surrounding them. The BAU jet was being used by the rest of the team, so for now, for this flight, there was nothing special about the pair. They were just civilians.

The two had the luck of flying Southwest Airlines, where they were able to seat themselves next to each other. However, for JJ, it wasn't feeling much like luck. She and Reid had driven to the airport separately, as she had to go home and pack a go bag first, something she hadn't needed since leaving the BAU. Since her arrival at the airport, Reid had helped her with her bags, but hadn't said much to her other than the required pleasantries. She wondered if that would change soon. She wasn't used to Reid being so quiet around her, and she knew she had really done it this time.

As the plane began to level out against the sunset, JJ could no longer take the silence. She couldn't spend hours on a plane in silence. If she didn't break ground with him now and clear the air, time would be spent working against each other, and that's not what she sacrificed her critically needed personal time to do. Part of her knew she had only done so because she felt she owed Reid, and this was her way of making up the time she had spent leaving him out of her life. She had done it with good intentions, but Reid wasn't the same kid who joined the BAU years ago, and she hadn't given him enough credit. He could have handled having a relationship with her after her forced departure, just like everyone else, but she never gave him the chance.

"So Hotch didn't really tell me much about the case we're going out on. Maybe you could brief me." As soon as the overhead light had gone off, Reid reached in his bag under the seat and pulled out a folder, going through it. It was one he was still trying to put together, knowing he needed an official case file on Melinda for the case to be taken seriously. JJ saw her opportunity to break the ice.

"There's not a lot to brief you on. It's a missing persons case." His voice was cold, but his actions colder, as handed JJ the folder harsher than intended. He has no plans to brief her, and JJ took the hint, but she wasn't going to spend the case being counterproductive. It ended here.

"Hotch told me the person missing was your friend, and that she hadn't officially been reported missing. I'm confused as to why we're going out on a case we haven't been invited into." JJ would do anything for Reid; that wasn't the issue here. It was just that she had spent several years of her life as a liaison and she knew how the FBI worked. She needed to know the specifics of how this became a case in order to properly assist Reid in whatever was going on.

"So I guess it's okay when you take cases without being invited in, but I can't do it. You're not with the team anymore, JJ. And not that it should matter, but Chief Strauss gave me permission to look into this." His voice was sharp, hurtful. Now he had lost his folder to JJ, who was trying to look through it and ignore his piercing bitterness. He was planning on finishing putting it together on the plane, just to make the suits happy.

"When did I ever take a case without being invited in first?" JJ took offense to this. She had always been meticulous with her job, following orders to a tee. Sometimes she had her little squabbles over something she believed in, but in the end she was always able to give the bureau due cause for why a case was taken. She had never gotten in trouble once.

"In May of 2008, when you had four of us and Garcia working on the Keri Derzmond case. If I remember correctly, she came to you and you contacted the police department to alert them that you wanted permission to enter the case. Your job was to take cases we were already invited into, not to invite us into cases because you took a personal attachment to the victim." Immediately, JJ's first reaction was to defend herself and reiterate the situation to Reid, mostly because he had been so willing to work the case when asked. She knew, however, that with his eidetic memory he remembered the case better than she most likely did, and questioning the situation, defending herself, or generally putting up any kind of guard wasn't going to help.

It was time for her to put her pride aside, something she used to know how to do better, before the Pentagon had hardened her and made her hide her secrets and protect herself from her colleagues. This was Reid, not some big time politician with no scruples, and he normally wasn't like this. There was a reason he was acting out against someone he was once so close to. He had always been on her side. He wasn't cutthroat like the Pentagon. He just simply had his guard up with her, and she knew it had to be her own fault. He never reacted like this without reasoning, and she never expected he'd do it with her. She laid her armor down and tried to go at him with a different approach.

"Whoa, Reid, I'm only here to help you. I'm just trying to get all the facts straight so I can do that to the best of my ability. I gave up my personal time to help you." JJ wanted him to understand she that she was here because she wanted to be, but Reid took this a whole different way. She should have known.

"No one asked you to." Reid clicked his pen, having pulled a notebook out of his bag just moments ago, and prepared to write, never looking over at her.

"Actually, Hotch did." JJ's voice was soft, but defiantly confident. She wasn't going up against him, but she wanted to reiterate the facts.

"He shouldn't have." Reid began to write, trying to ignore the problem in front of him. If you would have told him when she left the team that he would later find himself disgruntled about working with her, he wouldn't have believed you. He should have been looking at this in perspective, that he wouldn't have been allowed on the case had JJ not come with him, but in truth he would have gone on his own anyway, bureau permission or not. He had vacation days.

"Reid, talk to me." She sighed, getting nowhere. She tried again with yet a new approach. "Spence, I'm still the same JJ. You can still talk to me."

JJ put her hand gently on Reid's arm, forcing him to stop what he was trying to write and look over at her. This may be the only chance she had to let him know the real reason she was here, and that she was still on his side. "I'm here because I want to be, not because Hotch asked me to. It was still my decision. You know I would do anything for you."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" Reid caved, pointing to her stomach, sounding more hurt than angry.

"Is that what this is about?" JJ removed her arm from Reid's, taking her hand and putting it over her stomach in a protective manner, like she was shielding it from the argument that she was trying to keep from erupting.

"I'm the godfather of Henry and you couldn't even tell me you were pregnant again? How far along are you? Are you even allowed to fly?" Once the flood gates were open, Reid let the questions fly. There were no secrets anymore, no more brooding necessary. She knew he was hurt. She may not be a profiler, but she could read Reid well enough once he let his guard down a little.

"I'm almost six months through, and I'm fine to fly as long as I'm not too close to my due date or having a troubled pregnancy. Remember how I still flew out on cases with the team the last time I was pregnant? In fact, I think this baby likes flying. She's kicking. Here, feel." JJ took Reid's hand in hers, bringing it to her stomach. He made a face and pulled away. "Oh, come on, Spence. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing. One day you're going to meet a great girl who is going to want kids, and you're going to want to feel her stomach all the time."

"I don't think so." Reid went back to writing on his pad of paper, not thrilled that JJ was treating him like a child, like she was giving him a lesson in something.

"You don't think you'll find a great girl who wants to have kids, or you don't think you'll want to feel her stomach all the time?" JJ smiled, glad to have Reid back in some sort of way. She remembered how he was through the first pregnancy, and she always got a kick out of how squeamish the whole thing made him. He could touch a dead body and inspect it with his face only inches away, but pregnancy he could not handle.

"Both." He shrugged, like he thought this to be a fact, realizing he wasn't going to get any writing done like he had intended as long as JJ was there to interrogate him. He put his pad and paper away.

"Spence, look at me." JJ grabbed for his hand again, making him turn his head and look at her. She waited until his initial look of anxiety went away before speaking. "What is going on with you?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." He answered her curtly, trying to pull his hand from hers. She held on tight, yanking it back. This is where she could use Morgan to diffuse him. This is also when she realized that she didn't know how to diffuse him when he got like this. She had always relied on Morgan, and if he was going to be like this the whole case, she was becoming vastly concerned about how this case was going to go.

"You're not fine. I've known you for too long for you to be able to pull that card with me." JJ sighed, not wanting to start an argument with the good doctor, but also not understanding why he was so vehement on shutting her out. It hurt.

"You haven't gone out of your way to talk to me like you have the other team members since you left. I could have changed. You don't know that I haven't." He yanked is hand away from her again, and this time she let him go just so he knew he wasn't trapped with her. He could still move about, be himself, but she was right there, and he wasn't getting out of this one without some explanations.

"I also know that's not all that this is about." If it were, she knew he would speak his piece with her. But that was something personal, darker. She was going in completely blind on this case. She didn't need to be going in blind on Reid's emotions.

"No, you don't." The way he turned to look out the window, unable to face her when he said this, told her she was right. He may be able to keep a poker face during Vegas table games, but not when it came to how he felt.

"Spence...you either talk to me or I hop on the first plane home after we land, and enjoy my two weeks of much needed rest." JJ would never do that to him, but she was giving him an ultimatum, the last resort she could possibly think of.

"Fine. Good luck getting a plane home." Reid began to fidget, reaching for his bag again in hopes of finding something to occupy himself with to make it look like he was as cold and distant as he was acting. He knew he wasn't a good actor.

"Spence, what the matter with you? You've never argued with me about anything before." She reached over quickly, taking his bag out from between his hands before he had a chance to get a good grasp on it, and setting it under her legs. He would never go after it there.

"As the old adage goes, there's a first time for everything." He crossed his arms, pouting like only Reid could do, without making it look like he was two. He was brooding, and it would be a lie if JJ said she didn't find it slightly amusing.

"Are you really that mad at me? Because this just doesn't seem like you." She tried the next thing she knew to do when her previously thought out last resort didn't work. She cornered him in a literal and proverbial way. He couldn't get out around her, and he couldn't avoid this question for long.

"Yes and no. I'm mad you didn't tell me you were pregnant. I'm angry that you made the rest of the team keep it from me. Don't try and tell me they didn't know. Emily said she had lunch with you last weekend, and Hotch was aware you were going to be in the building today. What else don't I know?" When cornered, Reid had the capability to lash out. It wasn't something he had taken to doing with JJ, but he felt he had no other choice but to throw this on her to hide his own vulnerabilities.

"So that's the yes part. What's the no?" JJ was quick with her thinking. That was the problem Reid faced; she knew him too well. She knew what to listen for that others would pass up. You learn that spending years over a round table with a group of profilers.

"I don't particularly want to work with you on this case. It's no offense to you." His voice was void of any obvious emotions. He felt bad saying that to JJ, but it was the truth. It was what she was asking for.

"Well, offense taken. I can sit here and try to get you to understand why I've left you out of my life, as unfair as I admit it is, but you're still going to be cranky. There's still something else going on." Everything she said thus far he had deflected. If you didn't know him, you wouldn't even know he was doing it. She saw through him.

"I'd like to see you try to explain it to me, at least. I think I deserve that." JJ caved, hoping if she gave him what he wanted, if she went head to head with him on all his deflections, that he'd run out of things to ask her, or ways to throw this conversation back at her, and he would have to tell her what was going on with him. Ironically, all she was left with in this fight was process of elimination.

"You do." JJ reached her arm out, laying it gently on Reid's, careful not to grab onto it, but just to let him know she was there, she was gentle, and she wanted to talk. For the first time that day, he actually looked her in the eyes. "Spence, when I told you and the team that I had been transferred, you were on the verge of tears."

"I was not." And that ended that seemingly touching moment. He didn't rip his arm away from her that time, but he turned his head and pretended that the friendly skies were his best friend.

"Wow, denial really isn't just a river in Africa." JJ mumbled to herself, trying to add something to this conversation so that she didn't emotionally collapse in all her pregnant glory. Reid must have heard her, because when she looked over, he was looking at her again. She knew this was her chance to continue. "Your reaction was the hardest for me. You were the one who was the hardest for me to leave. I've watched everything you've gone through, and I liked to think that, in my own way, I was able to take care of you with a woman's touch, something that Morgan couldn't give you. It was my fault you were kidnapped, and...I just always wanted to make that up to you by never leaving you again. I promised you I wouldn't, and then I had to. I worried about you when I left. I thought about calling you a hundred times just in the first week to see how you were."

"Then why didn't you?" The tone in Reid's voice finally changed. He sounded desperate now, confused. He wasn't trying to hide his vulnerability by putting up walls of bitter cold ice.

"Because I knew why it was so hard on you that I left. Spence, I know I meant more to you than just a friend would. I know how you felt about me, at least at one time in your life." JJ hated to bring this up, but she felt the only way for him to understand her point of view was to put things out in the open.

"I never tried to hide it from you. Actually, I did, but I knew I wasn't any good at hiding things, so I figured everyone knew." Just like that, Reid's voice changed again. JJ instantly regretted bringing up what she had, but she knew it had to be dealt with at some point. They were trapped together on a plane, there was nowhere to run. The time was now.

"Spence, please stop interrupting me and listen. I'm trying to teach you something for once." She carefully moved her hand down his arm, putting it in his as if he were a child she was trying to comfort. Reid immediately felt this, but as much as he wanted to detest it, he couldn't. She was his first real crush, the first person of whom he felt anything with. No matter how hard he tried, he still held on to that. She was the first girl that was truly nice to him. "I didn't keep in contact with you like I should have, because every time I picked up the phone to call you, or I scrolled across your name in my contacts, I kept picturing the look on your face when you knew I was leaving, and the look on your face as I walked away from the team for the last time, and I knew I never wanted to upset you like that again. I was afraid that every time I called you, you were just going to go back to that day. I know goodbyes are hard for you, and I didn't want you to have to keep saying goodbye to me every time we hung up the phone and I didn't show up for work the next morning. I told the rest of the team not to say anything to you about me because all I could imagine was you and that face, that sweet, little, sad face. It hurt me too much to know that I could hurt you like that, directly or indirectly, and especially when I know you'd never say it, but I did once before already."

"It was one date, and I didn't even set it up, Gideon did." JJ didn't say how she knew she hurt him, but the way that Reid jumped to that so quickly let her know that she had been right for all of those years. As much as he acted like her not wanting to see him romantically again was fine, it had stung.

"It was one date that didn't work out the way you wanted it to, and it was my fault, because I didn't feel the same way for you. I wanted to, trust me I wanted to, but I just didn't. Then you were stuck working with me every day and pretending like it was fine." Reid looked away from her again, even taking back his hand. This was something he didn't want to hear, but she was going to make him anyway. "Do you want to know why I made you Henry's godfather? I could have picked anyone, like Hotch, who already had a son and experience with kids, or Prentiss, who wants to have her own kid one day, but I picked you for a reason."

"I thought you were just being nice." He turned his head back to her, his voice on the edge of snapping, but lightly dipping its feet into his normal demeanor, caught between a world of feelings.

"No. I'm nice about a lot of things, but not when it comes to who takes care of my child. I want the person, or the people, who would do the best job and keep him safe. And I knew you would do that. Out of anyone on the team, I knew that, no matter what happened, if I needed you that you would drop everything for me, and because of that I knew you would do the same for my son. You always wanted to protect me, and I have no doubt it would be the same with Henry. That's part of the reason I'm here, actually, instead of resting from being pregnancy exhaustion. I wanted to show you that I would do anything for you, too. Even though I can't find it in myself to pick up and call you all the time in fear of hurting you, I'm here when it counts. I always will be." JJ expected this to be a moment when most people would hug, but Reid being Reid would at least cave and they'd go on to work the case on a lighter note. It didn't work out for her.

"And I appreciate that, but for all the reasons previously mentioned I think it would have been better if you weren't the one assisting me on this case." Reid was touched by what she had to say, but JJ was in the back of his mind now, at least his feelings for her were, and he wanted her to know that. He was just angry that, as a friend, she hadn't been honest with him. It took a few minutes of silence, but it finally occurred to JJ what was going on.

"Oh my gosh, you like her. The girl we're looking for, you like her." It all fit. The way Reid was acting and the reason he didn't want her on the case, it made sense now. Part of it was about her not telling him she was pregnant, or keeping in touch, which she knew, but he never reacted like that unless something was deeply personal to him. Having feelings for someone would be considered personal, especially for Reid, who didn't find someone to connect with often.

"This isn't about me." Immediately he blew off her notion, but he didn't deflect it this time. She had answered all of his questions and now he had nowhere left to go.

"This is your case and your friend. This is about nothing but you." JJ took her hand and pushed his arm playfully. That was really the only way to deal with Reid when he became uncomfortable like this.

"This is about Melinda, and if you're not going to take the case seriously, then I'd rather you get on a plane an go back home. I'll use my personal time to investigate this myself. I don't need the bureau." JJ laughed lightly at his indignation. If that were the case, that's what he'd be doing. And then something else hit her.

"Oh, Spence, that's why you don't want me here. You're afraid she'll see that you have or had feelings for me, and she'll think something is going on between us. That's it, isn't it?" She spoke quickly, her voice getting more excited than she wanted it to, but it wasn't often that she got to tease Reid about a girl. In fact, she never really got to when there was an actual girl at the other end. She was trying to pass up the opportunity, but being as close to him as she was, even he couldn't resist.

"No! What? That's ridiculous." His voice was bewildered, too bewildered and too high pitched. She had him now.

"No it's not. You like her and you don't want her to know you once liked me. You want her to know you're single." She continued to poke at him in jest. He knew that, but he was still determined to lie about it.

"I don't." He put his hands up, spreading them out as if he were asking her to stop, as if his hands were doing the denying for him.

"I can't believe you're lying to me right now." JJ looked right at him, letting him know he was full out caught. She thought she was one of the last people who he'd lie to about a woman, especially because he had once liked her and she was now taken. She thought he'd want her to know he had moved on, to gloat a little bit.

Even though it wasn't his style, every guy had it in him somewhere, and Reid was still very much a guy.

"I'm not." He caught himself talking with his hands again and put them down, pretending like he had not just been doing that. He tried to cover it up by playing cool, but by now he knew the people across the aisle even knew he liked someone. They were staring. Had he spoken more quietly and less high pitched in his attempt to cover up his lies, they wouldn't be.

"Does she like you back?" JJ smiled, her voice hopeful. Now that she had him right where she wanted him, she wanted to see what else she could dig out of him about this girl, because she wanted to know how to treat her when they found her. If wasn't an option. If Reid liked someone, she was going to find her and try to gently talk her Reid's way, and that's all there was to it.

"What? I don't know. How am I supposed to know that?" His voice became high pitched again, and loud. The people in front of them turned around this time to stare. His lying was drawing an audience.

"Does she call you for no reason?" JJ ignored their little audience, severely regretting that they had not the jet to take to this case. If Reid kept this up, he'd be the first FBI agent to get kicked off a plane for causing a ruckus. Either that, or everyone would be involved in his love life. Flying was quite boring for the normal population.

"No. She calls me because she wants me to make sure I didn't get kidnapped again." This was perfectly logical to him, although he had already gone through this with Prentiss. It didn't matter. He'd believe what he wanted to believe.

"Uh huh. So she calls you for no reason. Do you let her call you Spencer?" JJ was racking up his responses, adding points to her liking him and also to him liking her. She was keeping those points in her mind for later use.

"Yes, but only because she saved my life. She kicked my kidnapper's...rear end." This was something JJ had not heard about. She almost expected that someone would tell her something this pertinent. However, she assumed they were all waiting for Reid to tell her since his being kidnapped before was something she always had, and would forever blame herself for. In which case, she deserved not to be told by any of the other team members. It served her right.

"Oh, she saved your life after you were kidnapped again. You miss a lot being absent from the team. So what else don't I know about this mysterious woman that's captured Dr. Reid's heart.?" She slid in the last part, seeing if he would deny it. He didn't.

"Nothing. She owns a bar in Colorado and it burned down, so we're just going to make sure she's okay." JJ knew the truth know, even though she had to be sneaky to get him to admit it. Reid was horrible at denying things, but even worse at catching and pulling out subtleties hidden in sentences, and then defending them.

"Why would you think she wasn't?" Finally, JJ had gotten him to a headspace where she was able to pull important case information out of him. So far it wasn't a lot, but it was more than she had previously. She would take what she could get.

"Because she was homeless for several years prior to working at the bar, so the bar was all she had. Since it's gone and her phone has been disconnected, I'm worried she's living on the streets again. It's also possible she was coming to me, though." Reid started spilling information without even realizing he was doing it. JJ suddenly felt better in her ability to calm him and get him to purge information the way Morgan knew how. Now she knew his secret was just to trick Reid's analytical mind by hiding what you really wanted to know in deceiving sentences. Gosh, this was exhausting.

"What makes you think that?" JJ reached under her seat and past Reid's bag, trying to be as subtle as she could about pulling out a pen and paper from her purse. She wanted to take notes for the case since she knew nothing about this girl, but she didn't want Reid to notice that he was finally talking about the case, because she was afraid if he did that he would stop and go back to being snarky. She couldn't take Reid that way. It was just to weird and off color for him.

"She said if she needed something she would come to me, which is something she's never said before." Reid was still proverbially scratching his head over this, mostly because he was upset that he had not been the one to catch that. Had it not been for Morgan, he wouldn't have taken a second thought to her change in wording. Sometimes the smartest people missed the most obvious things, especially when there were feelings involved.

"No, I mean why would she come to you specifically?" This would be a prudent piece of information for not only the case, but for JJ's wonderment in how much this girl actually had an interest in Reid. It was a win / win kind of question.

"I guess because I'm the only one she has. I'm the only person who she has to talk to. She's told me that before." Reid thought about this as he was answering, his mood changing, something coming over him that allowed his speech to slow. You could tell it was now that he truly realized the severity of the conversation, when he finally stopped thinking of it in context and saw all angles of how sad it really was.

"Oh, has she?" JJ raised an eyebrow, staring Reid down without meaning to. She had this little grin on her face, one that was happy that little Dr. Reid was finally going to become a man if they found this girl, because she must have liked him an awful lot to save his life, yet still become dependent on him.

"Yes. Why are you looking at me like that?" Reid turned to look at her just in time to see the look on her face. His expression became worried and he wasn't so sure he wanted to be sitting next to her on a plane anymore. That look, quite frankly, was disturbing, at best.

"No reason." JJ laughed to herself and then turned her head to face forward, teasing Reid like she so missed doing since leaving the BAU. She secretly hoped no one had taken her place in politely harassing him, because she didn't think he'd take as well to it as he did with her, and no one could be angry with a pretty girl using a sing-song voice to playfully pick on you. "Somebody likes Spencer. He likes her back."

"Stop it. I do not. I'm just doing this because she saved my life. It's called transference..." Feeling a useless rant of lies coming on, JJ unapologetically interrupted him.

"Don't explain transference to me unless you're willing to admit feelings after that." She still had that stupid little look on her face that Reid hated oh so badly, which made him even more unwilling to admit a thing. Really, the only thing he could admit was defeat, because he already knew he didn't lie or hide things well.

"There's no feelings there for either of us, and especially not with me. This is strictly business." The people in front of Reid and JJ turned around again to look at them. Instead of glaring at them and telling them to keep their voices down, the woman actually seemed to find their conversation entertaining. JJ couldn't blame them, and if she could help it, she was going to make it a lot more entertaining, while having a little more fun at his expense. She wanted him to be happy with someone who wanted to make him happy, since she couldn't be that person.

"Then why do you keep fixing your hair?" The entire time they had been talking directly about Melinda, Reid kept running his hands through his hair, which had grown long again. That was not like him.

"Because she hasn't seen it long yet, and if we find her I don't want to make a bad impression." JJ raised her eyebrows at him again, increasing the look that disturbed Reid ever so much. She heard the lady in front of them chuckle, and she had no doubt that it was over their conversation.

"Since when does someone who spends more time organizing his desk than getting ready in the morning care about how he looks?" Reid was always the last one up in the mornings on cases, but the first one ready. She knew for a fact he threw himself together. It's not that he looked bad, or had bad hygiene, but he also didn't worry about if every hair was in place, or which sweater vest best complimented his skin tone.

"I care! I've always cared!" He said this with so much exuberance, like he had taken major offense to it. Now that the other half of the plane that had not previously been subjected to his lies knew he was there, it was safe to say they'd be lucky to get to their destination without him receiving a verbal warning from a probably gorgeous flight attendant, and he'd never even notice her looks.

"Okay, Loverboy. I believe you." JJ brought her finger up to her mouth, talking quietly, while giving him an animate warning to hush up to drive the point home.

"You're lying! Why is it so hard to believe that I just want to look nice to make a good impression only because I'm a federal agent and it's the professional thing to do." At first he didn't take the hint. JJ eyed the passing stewardess, but she stayed mum. It was possible even she was amused by this.

"Because that's not you, Dr. Reid." JJ reached over and put her hand on his, which was now in his lap. She was careful where she placed it, although she didn't know that he'd really think anything of it. She was hoping, however, that it would be enough to quiet him down, and when he seemed to not have a thing to fight back with, she tried a different approach. "So, she hasn't seen your hair long yet?"

"No. Do you think she'll like it?" Removing his hand from under JJ's, he reached up and played with it again.

"Ah ha!" This time it was JJ that drew the attention of the people around them and the stewardess. Since she had not been the amusing party in this, she was the one who received a verbal warning. Once the stewardess walked away, she took her own advice and took a different approach to her own responses. "If she's smart she will. You're a good guy. Plus, I think the longer hair is sexy."

"You do?" Reid stopped playing with his hair, looking at her as if to indicate that he was wondering if she was hitting on him. Most would know she was married and that wasn't true, but that wasn't how Reid's mind worked. No one threw words like sexy out around him, so he was destined to take it wrong. She realized this nearly immediately and combatted it with the only thing she had left to do; embarrass him.

"Oh, definitely. I know you have a lot to learn about love, but a girl can work with that when you're alone." He squirmed to the left, he squirmed to the right, he looked away from her as his face turned eight different shades of red since he knew she wasn't going to take him to bed, and a crisis was promptly averted.

"I...I don't want to have this conversation with you." He wasn't sure he wanted to have it with anyone, but he was particularly uncomfortable having it with JJ on a crowded plane, where he had no escape route if it became too much for him.

"I'll make you a deal. We won't have this conversation if you brief me on the case. I need to know everything, including how she saved your life, because I'm all you have right now. If she's out there somewhere alone, it's imperative that we find her as soon as possible, and that's what I'm here to help you do." Although Reid had begun to touch on the case, it had quickly gone wayward. She had not given up her much needed rest to chase a ghost, so she wanted everything he had and nothing less would do. If she had anything to do with it, she'd have Reid facing his own feelings in the form of a very unsorted girl in no time flat.