At first light, JJ climbs into an SUV with Hotch. He looks at her.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I have to see this through."
He nods and drives to an address in Novi, Michigan. It is an older house on 5 acres with a small storage shed out back. As they pull in behind 2 police cars, the detective's car, and the animal control officer's van they hear the dogs barking. Hotch sees JJ shudder as she opens the door and gets out. He follows her.
"Jayje, you don't-"
"Hotch. Drop it."
He just sighs. They see the 2 animal control officers using two grab poles to force a furious retriever mix of some sort towards one of the cages in their van. There is no doubt the dog would tear apart anyone if it could. It takes nearly 10 minutes but they finally get it locked away.
"One down, one to go," a police officer mumbles.
She stares at the dog that had been used as a weapon. Does it scare her or not? She realizes she just feels pity for it. Screaming from the storage building breaks her out of her trance.
"IT'S LOOSE!"
She turns as a shepherd mix leaps out of the building, snarling and snapping. It races towards her and Hotch. Hotch pulls his gun but JJ just lifts a hand and says forcefully.
"STOP! SIT!"
The dog skids to a halt and does as commanded. Hotch and the police officers keep their guns trained on the dog as JJ steps towards it. She looks at one of the dog handlers.
"Give me a leash."
He tosses one to her. She latches it to the dog's collar and leads the now obedient canine to the catcher's van.
"UP!" she commands.
It jumps up into the cage. She unlatches his leash and stares at him a minute. She slowly brings her hand up and strokes his head.
"He's murdered you, too," she whispers. "I'm sorry, boy."
She steps back, closes the cage and tosses the leash to the catcher. She doesn't say another word as she walks over and climbs into the SUV. When Hotch joins her he sees she is crying. He goes to say something but realizes there is nothing to be said.
He drives them back to the precinct so they can finish their paperwork and go home.
Morgan drops the message on the table. "Fuck."
Rossi looks at him. "What?"
"Anonymous tip came in about 3 a.m. A lady that organizes a lot of the volunteers for the park was strangled to death. Her body was left on the baseball field."
Rossi and Reid exchange a look. She was the target the whole time and they had never known. Rossi shakes his head.
"This case was off from the start. He pretty much had us screwed from the beginning."
Reid looks at him. "Does that make it any easier to accept?"
Rossi shakes his head. "Fuck no."
When JJ and Hotch show up an hour later the whole team is subdued. Morgan looks at JJ.
"How's Emily?"
"Stayed the night in the ER. Pen is going to call me when she gets released," she says emotionlessly.
Morgan looks at Hotch, who subtly shakes his head. They know it means to just leave her alone for now.
After a brief goodbye to the detective they had been working with, the team makes their way to the airport. Just like last time they had faced this man, they know they stopped the killer but there is no sense of a job well done since the puppet master was still at large.
From a diner across the street, Mitchell Reese watches the team leave. He can see they are all dejected. He smiles. It thrills him that he has now twice defeated this team.
"We'll meet again, Agent Jareau. You, me, and your girlfriend Agent Prentiss. I wonder where that will be," he whispers.
He reaches into the bag beside him and pulls out an atlas. He lets it drop open to a random page. He smiles.
"Arizona. Good. Means I'll spend the winter in a warm state." He looks back out the window as the second SUV leaves the parking lot. "See you all in a few months," he promises.
He leaves a nice tip on the table and, whistling a happy tune, heads out to start his drive south.
On the plane ride home, JJ sits in the very back, making it clear she wants to be left alone. It doesn't escape anyone's notice that Garcia never calls.
Once the plane lands JJ takes her time gathering her things. A pointed look at Hotch makes him linger, too. Finally they are the only two left. She makes her way to the front of the plane, tears welling in but not falling from her eyes.
"I…I need some time, Hotch. I thought…I thought if I just got back to work I'd be okay. You know what they say, fall off a horse get back on, right?" He nods. "Doesn't really work that way though, does it?"
"Not usually," he admits.
She drops down into a seat. "I need time to get my head squared with what I saw over there. Add in my worry over Emily's blood pressure issues and the fact that Henry has to be bribed to speak to me tells me I have things to settle at home before I can worry about work." She looks up at him. "I'm sorry. If…if you need to hire someone else to-"
"Stop. Right now." He sits down across from her. "We all need an extended break at some point, JJ. How about you take a week comp time next week. Goodness knows you racked up enough this year," he says with a grin, glad to get a small smile in return. "Then call me or come in that next Monday. If you need more time, take it. If you want to wait until after Rocky's birth, do it. If you want to work half days, that's fine." He reaches over and takes her hand. "I will work with you on this, JJ, because I want you to be okay. And…and if leaving our unit is what's right for you, I'll support that. God knows I don't want to lose you for any reason but if that's what you need then do it."
JJ wipes a tear that finally escapes. "How…how did you know I was considering leaving the unit?"
He smiles and squeezes her hand. "We all have, JJ. How can we do what we do, see what we see and not consider at some point packing it all in? Do you know how many times I changed the date on my resignation after Hailey died?"
She frowns. "I guess I…never thought about it. I just always expected you back."
He smiles. "Thank you. Go home, JJ. Email me your report next week sometime."
"Thanks, Hotch."
"And if you need anything at all, you know where we are."
She nods. "I know." She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. "I'll be back, Hotch. I don't know when, but I will be."
Hotch nods. "I believe you will."
They stand and he gives her a big hug. He watches as she leaves the plane, gets in her car and
drives away.
"Come back soon, JJ. Please," he says to her taillights.
A/N: Oh come on...Mitchell Reese is too much fun to write to give up so soon! :o)