Okay - I planned on getting more written today - but I had some serious ADD going on today... do you ever find yourself opening a browser to search for something and then getting distracted by other things? ... yeah I know... no excuse... but hopefully you'll forgive me since I stayed up way past when I should have gone to bed... it's going to S.U.C.K when the alarm clock goes off in the morning... but at least I have the coffee maker all set up... and it really it is nobodies fault but my own... sigh... ehh - who am I kidding - it was totally worth it to finish this chapter for you guys!

Never have I ever owned Criminal Minds. ***sits on hands*** Okay... who was paying attention? Who drank thier shot, because I know it wasn't me... :D

Happy reading and enjoy :D

JJ moaned against Spence's chest at the sound of the alarm clock going off as her hand fumbled across the nightstand searching for the snooze button. "Don't want to get up." she groaned once she managed to finally silence the blasted alarm clock.

Spence chuckled and wrapped his arms around JJ as he rolled over, placing JJ under him as he glanced up at the alarm clock. Then he looked down at JJ in confusion. "JJ, its only 5 am. Why do you have the alarm clock set so early?" he asked as he brushed her hair out of her face.

JJ gave Spence a sheepish smile. "Because I um… usually hit the snooze button at least twice, sometimes three times… I uh, always like to stay in bed just a little bit longer… especially if I was having a really good dream."

Spence grinned at the idea of JJ not exactly being the chipper early bird that everyone thought she was when the alarm went off first thing in the morning. "Well, we should just shut the alarm clock off then."

"Spence, we can't just go back to sleep. It's our first day back at work." JJ reminded him.

"I know, but I didn't mention anything about going back to sleep." Spence said as he ran his hand along the outside edge of her thigh.

"Spence, baby, we… oh" JJ gasped as Spence's hand reached the apex of her thighs, causing her to lose her train of thought and the protest that had been on the tip of her tongue.

"Don't worry; I'll make sure we get up with plenty of time to get ready for work." Spence murmured against her lips just before he kissed her.

JJ and Spence had returned from Las Vegas with a few days left of their time off. They'd spent them all together of course. They'd exchanged apartment keys and spent at least one night at each other's place and even made room for a few of each other's things in their own home, so that would both feel comfortable in each other's home as well as for mornings like this when there was no way one of them was leaving the bed early to run home to their own place to get ready.

"You better drop me off at the metro" Spence said as he and JJ walked hand in hand out of her apartment building and across the parking lot to her car.

"What, why?" JJ asked turning to look at Spence as she held up the key fob, unlocking her car.

"Well, you said you wanted to keep us a secret for a while. Don't you think it will raise some red flags if we walk in at the same time with matching tans?" Spence asked as he looked down at JJ's upturned face.

JJ sighed. "I suppose you're right." she said as tipped her head up to kiss him, realizing the blessing of high heels. In her heels she didn't have to stand on tip toes to be able to kiss him first when they were standing up.

"So" Spence said as he settled the strap for his ever present messenger bag across his chest. "I'm going to stop and get coffee at the Starbucks by the metro station close to the base. What would you like?" Spence asked as he leaned in to kiss JJ goodbye before he got out of the car.

"Baby, won't you getting me coffee be as much of a red flag as us walking in together?" JJ asked as she reached out and ran her fingers through Spence's hair.

Spence shrugged. "I'll get coffee for everybody, so what would you like?"

JJ wiggled her eyebrows playfully. "You know what I like." she said with a gravelly, seductive quality to her voice as she pulled Spence's head down for a kiss.

Spence chuckled as he pulled back from JJ's lips. "Yeah I do." he said in a gleeful voice, "But unfortunately, at least for right now, I was only talking about coffee."

JJ laughed and slapped Spence's chest. "I don't care. Surprise me." she said and then leaned in to kiss Spence one final time before he got out of the car.

"Pretty boy" Morgan said as Reid walked in the bullpen. "Look at you all tan. Tell me you were at a resort somewhere with a very fine lookin' lady." He joked.

"Uh… actually I spent our leave in Las Vegas visiting my Mom" Reid replied as he handed Morgan a cup of coffee.

Morgan nodded, knowing better than to tease the kid about his Mom. "Well at least it looks like you got some fresh air and sunshine. You are workin' that tan my man."

Reid shook his head and then nodded hello at Emily as he handed her cup of coffee to her.

"Oh thanks Reid" Emily said gratefully as she accepted the cup of coffee and lifted it in a cheers motion towards him before she took the first sip. "Mm… this is sinfully good coffee."

Morgan smirked. "Yeah, so does that cup of coffee there cap off a sinfully good time off that you had over our leave princess?"

Emily raised one finely manicured eyebrow at Morgan. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Reid cleared his throat. "So is uh, everybody else here yet?" he asked as he held up the coffees remaining in the cup carrier.

"Yeah" Emily replied "Hotch was here when I got here. Gideon got here not long after."

Reid winced a little in concern for his mentor. "How did he seem?"

"Focused" Morgan replied shaking his head. "He looks like he's spent the last two weeks buttoning down every emotion he has about the situation so that he could focus on coming back here."

Reid nodded. "Well I better get everybody else their coffee before it goes cold." He said and then turned and headed for Garcia's office.

Reid made sure to spend a fair amount of time catching up with Garcia and Hotch so that it wouldn't seem out of the ordinary for him to spend a little time in JJ's office.

"Hey" Spence said entering JJ's office after hearing 'come in' when he knocked on the door.

JJ smiled and stood up from her desk and walked around it to greet Spence. "Hi. I know it's only been a little while since I dropped you off at the metro, but I missed you." JJ said using his tie to pull him down into a kiss.

Spence set the coffee carrier holding the last two remaining cups on her desk along with his own coffee and wrapped his arms around JJ's waist pulling her in close as the kiss deepened.

When they parted JJ reached up and wiped off of Spence's lips. They talked for a bit, just as he had with everyone else and then he stood up and nodded towards the door. "I have one last coffee delivery to make. I'll see you later?"

"Mm hm" JJ said leaning up to kiss him one last time.

Reid knocked his knuckles on the door frame to Gideon's office as he peered around the corner at the man behind the desk.

"Spencer" Gideon said as he pulled off his glasses and sat back from what he was working on. "Come in."

"I… I … uh brought you coffee sir" Reid said holding up Gideon's cup as he walked across the office.

Gideon nodded. "Thank you. How was your time off?" as he indicated for Reid to sit down in the chair in front of his desk.

"It was good... I uh… visited my Mom." Reid replied.

Gideon nodded. "How is your mother?" he asked as he took a sip of coffee.

"She uh has good days and bad days." Reid replied and then took a sip of his own coffee.

Gideon nodded as he stared off into space for a moment. "I think everybody has good days and bad days. As long as the good days outnumber the bad days, things will be okay."

"And if the bad days start to outnumber the good days, sir?" Reid asked curiously, seeking some insight from a man he very much respected, the man who had recruited him to join the BAU.

Gideon grimaced for the briefest of moments. "Well, then you have to find something focus on, something that will carry you through the bad days until things get back to normal."

Reid nodded in understanding as he contemplated Gideon's words as they continued to talk.

Emily, Morgan, and Reid were working on packing it in for the day when Reid glanced up and noticed JJ looking his way as she headed towards Hotch's office. Reid sat down at his desk and double checked his go bag and his messenger bag to make sure he had everything he'd need in case they needed to leave in a hurry.

"Kid, what are you doin'? We've got beer and wings callin' our names. Not to mention findin' us some hot mamas… that tan of yours is only going to help your chances." Morgan said with grin.

Reid kept quiet but nodded his head towards Hotch's office where JJ could be seen through the window talking to Hotch.

Emily and Morgan both groaned as they turned and looked where Reid was nodding. Then they too bent and grabbed their go bags, making double checking they had everything collected that they might need from their desks in the event of a quick departure.

Reid didn't audibly groan, but his shoulders did slump at bit. At 7:30 at night, he'd been looking forward to meeting JJ at her place and them spending some time together. That wasn't happening now, and with a case, who knew when they'd be able to spend time alone together again. They'd already agreed for the sake of professionalism, as well as having any hope of them both being able to stay with the team once they told Hotch and Gideon about their relationship, that they wouldn't be sharing a room or sneaking into each other's rooms out in the field. In the field the case had to come first and they both knew that.

JJ looked away from where Spence was profiling the positioning of Alisa Daylon's body and saw her friend Katie approaching. JJ worked her way through the crowd to where Katie had stopped just outside the crime scene tape. "I am sooo sorry" JJ said sympathetically.

"You said you caught him." Katie said angrily.

"I…said we had someone in custody." JJ said as she furrowed her brow trying to remember her exact wording from the night before.

"Alisa is dead and you're arguing over wording?" Katie replied taking offense at JJ's explanation.

"No" JJ said shaking her head as she realized what her previous statement must have sounded like to Katie "… I… I'm so sorry" JJ repeated, not knowing what else to say at the moment.

Katie spit on JJ as she could think of no words to express her disgust, displeasure, and distress over the situation.

Spence turned to look up the hill at where JJ was standing just as Katie spit and saw the shocked expression on JJ's face as her hand rose to wipe her cheek. He rushed up the hill and under the crime scene tape. He turned and looked at the officer who was supposed to be protecting the edge of the crime scene so that the police, the team, and everyone else involved could do their job without the interference of the gawkers. "You need to keep people out of here man."

Spence turned to look at JJ.

Even though she couldn't see his eyes behind his dark sunglasses, she could see the concern written all over his face in his facial expression as she wiped and rubbed at her cheek. "What? I'm fine. It's nothing." she in attempt to distance herself from the situation as she turned and bent under the crime scene tape to focus on helping the team find a way to end this case.

Spence turned and followed JJ back under the crime scene tape, making a mental note for them to talk about this when they got home. He could tell that no matter how much she said she was fine and that it was nothing, she wasn't fine and whatever had happened was definitely something.

JJ sighed as she walked through her apartment door and dropped her keys and sunglasses on the counter. She dropped her go bag next to the laundry room doors and then she felt Spence wrap his arms around her and rest his chin on her shoulder. She leaned back in his arms for a moment, resting her head on his shoulder.

The last case had been hell. Then there'd been the long plane flight home, followed by the drama surrounding the aftermath of the case. Hotch and Gideon had been suspended for two weeks, pending a review of the case in Flagstaff. She knew Spence was going to want to talk about what he'd seen in Flagstaff, but first she wanted to take a shower and change into comfortable clothes. "I'm going to go take a shower." JJ said as she allowed her head to roll towards Spence, her forehead resting against his neck.

"Okay. I'll see what I can find us for dinner." Spence replied and then leaned down kissed the top of her head.

JJ snorted. "Good luck. I can't remember the last time I went grocery shopping and anything in the refrigerator is probably a science experiment at this point." she said as she stepped out of Spence's arms and headed towards the bathroom.

Spence scanned the contents of JJ's cupboards and refrigerator. She was right, the cupboards were pretty bare. There wasn't anything fuzzy growing in the refrigerator, but that was only because it was almost completely empty other than some condiments, a few cans of diet coke, a couple of beers, and a half empty bottle of wine, which he threw out knowing that it would have turned vinegary by now. Once the search for food ended, the search for JJ's stash of take-out menus began.

JJ exited her bathroom dressed in her most comfortable pair of yoga pants and a spaghetti-strapped singlet and followed her nose to the kitchen where she found Spence removing containers of Chinese food from a paper bag. "I thought you were against Chinese food. You never want to go anymore when someone on the team mentions it." she said as she walked up behind him wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek on his back in between his shoulder blades.

"Ah, but you see, I know you won't tease me about using a fork instead of chopsticks to eat my food now that I'm your boyfriend. I have leverage." Spence said as he raised one of JJ's hands to his mouth and kissed it.

"Oh really?" JJ replied, intrigued, "and what's that?"

"Hmm" Spence paused to ponder for a moment playfully "I suppose if you tease me about the chopsticks I could always withhold sex." he joked.

JJ laughed. "You never know. I might decide to use my leverage as your girlfriend and reward you for trying to use the chopsticks… and reward you more for being successful with them."

"Really?" Spence asked as he turned around in JJ's arms and leant back against the counter. "And just what leverage will you be using?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around JJ.

"I can think of several different incentives that I could use to leverage my bargaining power." JJ replied in her very best 'sell it for the press' voice as her hands slid around Spence's sides and up his chest playing with the buttons on his chest.

Spence swallowed and then released one hand from JJ's waist and then fumbled blindly behind him on the counter for a moment and then after finding what he was looking for, pulled his hand back around in front of him, between himself and JJ. "Chopsticks?" he asked as he held up the two sets of paper wrapped wooden chopsticks the restaurant had sent with their order.

JJ laughed and shook her head. "You can use a fork if you want. I won't hold it against you. Besides, I don't know about you, but I'm starving." JJ said as she stepped out of Spence's arms and reached up into the cupboard and grabbed two plates and then opened a nearby drawer and pulled out two forks. She smiled at Spence as she handed him one of the plates and forks.

JJ leaned back in Spence's arms while they relaxed on the couch. They'd eaten dinner and then JJ had shooed Spence off to take a shower while she cleaned up. Spence had attempted to insist on helping cleanup, but JJ had argued that with take-out, there really wasn't that much to cleanup anyway. Once he'd showered and changed into his own comfortable lounge clothes, they'd settled in on the couch.

Spence ran his hands down JJ's bare arms where she sat in front of him in between his outstretched legs. "So" he said as he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. "do you want to tell me about Flagstaff?"

JJ sighed. She'd known from Spence's facial expression at the time that he wasn't going to just let it go. "I told them that we had somebody in custody Spence. Alisa felt safe enough to go off on her own because of what I said."

"JJ, you couldn't have known." Spence said as he wrapped his arms around her waist, his thumbs stroking soothing circles on her abdomen. "None of us could have known that there would be a copycat."

"I know, but it's just… those girls should have been able to feel safe on campus. They were supposed to be able trust Tubbs. It was his job to protect them… it was our job to find Tubbs and we did… and it still ended badly." JJ mused as she spoke her thoughts about the case out loud. "It's just not fair."

"I know" Spence replied as he held JJ. "I know."

JJ turned in Spence's arms and buried her face in his chest as he comforted her.

"Spence" JJ said as she looked down at Spence sleeping in one of the arm chairs in Gideon's office. She couldn't deny how cute he looked hunched over asleep in the chair, but he really did look uncomfortable and they had a briefing to get to.

Spence squinted as he woke up with the bright sunlight in his eyes and a crick in his neck from sleeping in a chair. He opened his eyes to the blurry sight of his girlfriend in front of him while his eyes adjusted. He blinked attempting to correct his vision as he woke up more.

"What are you doing here?" she asked. What she really wanted to ask was why he hadn't come home last night, but she couldn't ask that at work right now, so hopefully his response would answer both questions.

"Oooohhhh" Spence groaned as he pushed himself upright in the chair and looked at JJ who stood in front of him with a hand on her hip and an arm full of folders. He looked down at his watch to check the time. "Gideon didn't answer his phone. I called him twice." Spence replied.

"Have you been here all night?" JJ asked concerned.

"We were supposed to play chess." Spence explained.

"Here?" JJ asked as her eyes darted to the chess board.

"Uh… yeah he hasn't been back to his apartment since… um…" Spence trailed off not really wanting to continue the sentence.

JJ nodded. "Right" she said softly in realization of what Gideon was going through. If it was her and she'd found Spence murdered in her apartment, well, she wouldn't want to go back there yet either.

Spence pulled the strap for his messenger bag over his head.

"I need to brief the team, so…" she said holding out the stack of files in her hand.

"Is Hotch here?" he asked as he stood up from the chair.

JJ lifted her wrist and glanced down at her watch. "Uh… he's not due for… a half hour." JJ said nodding as she and Spence walked out of Gideon's office.

JJ turned to look at Morgan as he entered the round table room.

"What no Hotch, now no Gideon?" Morgan asked as he entered the room, coffee mug in hand.

"No, not yet." JJ sighed as she turned and took her seat next to Spence.

"You know these guys have been out two weeks. You'd think the least they could do is be on time." Morgan said as he walked over to the table and took a seat.

"Yeah, because you're never late." Reid said as he looked up from the case file he was going over.

JJ looked up from her notes with only her eyes to see Morgan's reaction to Spence teasing him for a change.

"So, where's Prentiss?" Morgan asked.

"Her phone keeps going straight to voice mail." JJ said as she shook her head.

"Well this room just keeps getting smaller and smaller doesn't it?" Morgan asked.

"Should we wait 15 minutes?" Spence asked.

JJ looked at her watch. "We can brief them on the plane. Right now, a Police task force in Milwaukee needs our help." She said as she picked up the monitor remote and began to bring up the details of the case on the screen.

JJ and Spence were the last two left in the bullpen; everyone else had already headed home. "So," JJ asked as she sat wearily on the edge of Spence's desk. "Your place or mine?" she asked as she laid her hand on top of his and played with his fingers.

"How about mine?" Spence asked as he looked up at JJ from his desk chair. "I'm going to head out to Gideon's cabin to check on him. My car is at my place, plus it's closer to his cabin."

JJ nodded. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No" Spence said shaking his head. "I know you're tired, so why don't you just grab something to eat and then go to bed. I'll be home as soon as I can. I'm sure Gideon just decided to take the leave he should have taken in the first place." He said as he stood up from his desk chair.

JJ nodded. "Okay, well let's get out of here then." she said standing up from Spence's desk and reaching for his hand as they headed out of the bullpen and towards the elevator.

"See you in a little bit." JJ said leaning up to kiss Spence goodbye as they stood between their cars in the parking lot of his apartment building.

Spence nodded as their kiss ended and stepped backwards and opened the door of his Volvo as his hand made contact with the door.

JJ waited as he started up the car and then waived as he drove off. She watched for a moment and then headed inside. She took a shower, grabbed something to eat, and then wrapped herself up in one of Spence's cardigans and curled up on the couch to wait for him to get home.

Spence attempted to be as quiet as possible as he entered his darkened apartment. He set his keys on the counter and kicked off his shoes. He made it to his couch without turning on a light, as he didn't want to wake up JJ since it appeared she was in bed already.

JJ woke up as she felt Spence sit down in next to her. "Spence… baby… what time is it?" she asked in a groggy voice as she noticed how pitch black the room was. Then she remembered, she'd decided to watch TV and had turned on the timer for sleep mode in case she fell asleep, which it would appear she had.

Spence startled at the sound of JJ's voice next to him on the couch and then fumbled on the end table next to him in the dark to turn on a lamp.

They both winced against the sudden brightness of the lamp. Then JJ tucked her hair behind her ears as she sat up on the couch and slid next to Spence. "What did Gideon have to say?" she asked as she turned to look at Spence.

"I… I… I don't know because he wasn't there." Spence said as he slumped forward and pulled his messenger bag off over his head, laying it on the ottoman in front of them. "He… uh… left his badge and gun." Spence said as he pulled them out of his messenger bag and showed them to JJ. "and this…" Spence said as he pulled out the envelope with his name on it and handed it to JJ.

JJ looked down at the envelope as Spence placed it in her hand and then up at Spence's face. "He left this for you Spence… are you sure you want me to…"

Spence nodded and then leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands as he contemplated a BAU without his mentor.

JJ opened then envelope and placed the envelope itself on the ottoman. As she held Gideon's letter to Spence in one hand and started to read, she rubbed her other hand up and down his back to comfort him.

When she finished the letter, she set it on top of the envelope on the ottoman and turned to face Spence, wrapping her arms tightly around him and holding him. "Talk to me baby" JJ whispered in his ear, knowing how upset he must be about Gideon leaving and leaving behind only a letter. Spence had told her about how his own father had left and left him only a letter. Part of her wanted to be angry at Gideon for leaving without saying goodbye, but another part of her understood his need to leave.

"I… he just left" Spence murmured against JJ's shoulder where his head had fallen. "He didn't even say goodbye."

"I know baby, I know" JJ murmured, turning her head to kiss Spence's temple as she continued to listen to him vent his emotions about Gideon leaving without so much as a goodbye. "But baby, but did you stop to think about the fact that you're the one he left the letter for? You're the one he knew would come to look for him? He loves you Spence… and his leaving, it doesn't change that. It doesn't change all the time he spent teaching you everything he knew. It doesn't change all of the time you spent together. Think of everything he's been through Spence… in the last month… in the last couple of years… he's right baby. He needs to find a way to be happy again… to believe he can be happy again." she softly said as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Spence sniffled. "I'm going to miss him."

"We all are baby, we all are." JJ said as she continued to rub his back. "Are you hungry?"

Spence shook his head, not really feeling up to eating.

JJ nodded her head in understanding. "Well, how about we go to bed? It been a long couple of days, and you have to be exhausted from your drive." she murmured in his ear.

Spence nodded his agreement against her shoulder.

JJ nuzzled her head against Spence's briefly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Spence croaked in a teary voice as he attempted to clear his throat.

"Come on" JJ said as she stood up and held her hand out to Spence. "Let's go to bed."

Spence stood up and clasped his hand in JJ's and they walked down the hallway together to go to bed. Hopefully when they woke up tomorrow, it would be a better day.