For the first time in months JJ woke in her own bed. She was tangled in blankets; obviously Garcia had come in at some point to cover her, since she'd fallen asleep on top of the comforter. The blankets were all from the hall closet, except for the fuzzy blue one that was from the end of Henry's bed; it was small and didn't cover much more than her arms, but JJ figured warmth wasn't the reason Garcia had picked it up.

Henry had his favorite blanket with him, of course, but this was still something that belonged to her little man. It was a week since she'd talked to him, and she missed him more than anything else. It was still early, and earlier in Louisiana, but in a little while she'd call and tell him she loved him and pretend, for the length of the call, that things were okay.

"You're awake." Garcia hovered in the doorway, wearing different clothes then she had the night before; she must have brought her seldom used but always packed go-bag with her.

"You didn't have to stay." She'd told Garcia the same thing the night before, but wasn't surprised that the tech hadn't listened.

"There's nowhere in the world I'd rather be right now. Besides the boss man oh so generously gave me the day off. Or mostly off; I have my portable baby here in case they need anything, but unless or until they call I'm here for anything you might need. Are you hungry?" She still lingered in the doorway, as if she was worried about invading JJ's space. If this was a few months ago she would have flopped down on the bed already.

"I think you made enough food to keep me feed for a month already. You don't have to keep cooking." She'd managed a bowl of soup, the night before, then plead exhaustion and escaped to her room. She had been bone weary tired but it had still taken over an hour to fall asleep.

"That was dinner foods. We need breakfast foods like pancakes. You still like pancakes, don't you?" Tentatively Garcia sat on the edge of the bed and straightened the corner of one of the blankets.

"I'm sorry we've missed so many breakfasts together that you have to ask that." JJ reached out, covering Garcia's hand with her own. Months ago she'd promised that they'd still see each other weekly, for coffee and breakfast. Perhaps, naively, she'd believed it herself. It had been more then two months since she'd seen Garcia, and far longer since they'd eaten together.

"You don't get to apologize, missy. You were doing important things. Scary things. You..." Garcia's voice broke, the tears that she'd held back so far in JJ's presence shimmering in her eyes.

"I'm right here, Pen. Give it a week or two and things will be just like they used to be. You won't even remember I was gone." Except, of course, that she didn't work for the BAU and might never again. She'd given up the job she loved for the one she needed to do. Soon she was going to have to decide if she was going to stay on under Andi, transfer to another department, or find work outside of the FBI. Her position of media liason, in her absence, had been terminated. The ruse of working for the Justice Department had been a lie, but there had been offers. She'd have to think about them now.

"This time we really will do coffee once a week. And playdates; I've missed going to the children's museum with my god-baby." Garcia used the cuff of her shirt to dab at her eyes before enveloping JJ in a hug.

"We'll do coffee twice a week, just to make up for things, and as soon as Henry gets back we'll go do something special, just the three of us. Will says he's enthralled with watching the Mississippi River, so maybe he'd like the aquarium." Just another couple of hours and she could talk to her little man. A couple more days and she could see him for the first time in two and a half months; Skype just wasn't the same.

"Will not being here, is that a while you were undercover kind of thing, or..."

JJ shook her head. "He moved back to New Orleans. It would have happened no matter what, I think, but my saying yes to Andi brought some things to a head that both of us had been trying to avoid. We couldn't ignore the big pink elephant in the room anymore."

"I'm so sorry, Jayje."

"So am I." Three and a half years; it was by far the longest relationship she'd been in, which was a pretty sad commentary on her life. Maybe Will was right and she really was married to her job, putting everything else second. Except for Henry; her son's health and safety was always number one.

"I'm going to make pancakes with sugar cinnamon apples, sausage, and coffee. We can have breakfast and talk about it, or not talk about it, or talk about other things if you want, alright?" Garcia was nodding her head as if willing JJ to say yes.

"I'll be out as soon as I get dressed," JJ promised. If she was lucky she could guide the conversation to a nice safe topic, like Morgan or computers; then she wouldn't have to do much more than listen and nod as she ate breakfast.

It had only been a few hours since her last shower but she took another one before getting dressed. She left her hair down; for months a ponytail had been her main hairstyle, trying to look younger. more then once she;d considered just cutting it all off.

The bathroom mirror was fogged from the steam of the shower, something she was grateful for as she got dressed without seeing the bruises on her back, without having to look herself in the face.. She stood at the counter took the pills out of the drawer where she'd stashed them the night before, not wanting Garcia to come into the bathroom and see them. JJ ignored the pain pills and sleeping pills the doctor had given her. The others she lined up on the counter and swallowed one by one, washing them down with a glass of water . She made sure all of the evidence was tucked away before going out to the kitchen to join Garcia for breakfast.