I'm baaaaaaack. Or more correctly, I should say we're back to The Roads Series. I apologize - it was never my intent to make you all wait 10 weeks for the next chapters... I am sooooooooooooo sorry. But at the same time - I'm glad you enjoyed 'Sleight of Hand', 'A Joy Shared is a Joy Doubled', and 'Like a Duck to Water'.
I don't own Criminal Minds. Never did - never will. Yes, the truth can be bitter.
Thanks to my wonderful beta - DetectiveNikkiBenson040709. Thanks to all of you for being such loyal fans. Without further adieu, on with the story - which what all clicked on the link for in the first place, not my crazy ramblings. :D
Happy reading and enjoy :D
JJ sighed and rubbed her belly where the baby was kicking as she read through files and made notes for her meeting with the Secretary of State and the Director of the CIA. She rubbed her temple as she continued to worry about Spence and the team and what would happen to them now that she didn't have any knowledge of things to come… but then she supposed that was how life usually was – and she was just going to have to get used to it again. They all would.
"Hey, I thought you could use a little break. How about some tea and homemade chocolate chip cookies?" Jamie asked as she walked in to JJ's office holding two mugs of tea, a zip lock baggie of cookies, and a stack of folders.
JJ looked up from the file she was working on took one look at the stack in Jamie's hands and groaned. "I suppose that comes with a side of more files?"
Jamie nodded. "Sadly, yes. But this is the last of them and I finished putting together that report so I can help you with these and then they'll be done." She said as she set the stack of files down on JJ's desk. Just then JJ's cell phone went off with receiving a text message.
JJ smiled as she read the text message from Spence. 'Is it wrong that I wish we were still on Christmas break?'
JJ quickly typed a reply. 'No baby – I miss u too.' Then, she smiled and set her phone back down to pick up her tea and continue her conversation with Jamie while they took a break from preparing for their meeting.
Spence sat slouched down in his desk chair as he sipped from his coffee. Then he smiled as his phone dinged with an incoming text message. He smiled wider as he read JJ's text message. Then he turned and watched as Gideon walked down the catwalk from his office to Hotch's and knocked on the door.
"Come in" Hotch's voice rang out through the door and he glanced up to see his friend and mentor Jason Gideon stick his head in the office door.
"Hey Hotch. The cadets are learning their assignments right now, so we should get the team together to tell them." Gideon said as he leaned partway in the door.
Hotch nodded and stood up from behind his desk. He walked across his office to join Gideon in the doorway and then they walked down the catwalk together. "I need my team in the round table room." Hotch called out just as he stopped to knock on Rossi's office door.
Reid, Elle, Emily, Morgan, and Penelope sat around the round table catching up with each other from their holidays when Gideon, Hotch, and Rossi entered the room.
"I just wanted to take a few minutes and let you all know who the cadets are that will be with the team for the next several months. You're all familiar with the cadets that are assigned to the team. Ashley Seaver was with you during a couple of cases before the holidays and I'm sure you all remember Zoe Hawkes from the case in Cincinnati a couple of years ago?" Gideon explained.
The team nodded wondering how having two probationary agents in their ranks for the next several months would affect the team.
Spence jiggled his leg anxiously. He had his head down and his dark sunglass on indoors while he waited to be seen by the doctor.
JJ sat next to him holding his hand with one hand while her other hand rubbed the back of her husband's neck attempting to get him to relax. Although as far as she was concerned, he had every right to be agitated after having a headache for the last two days. She rubbed his back and whispered soothing words in his ear.
"We're almost ready for you Dr. Reid." The nurse said as she walked up to the bench they sat on in the hallway.
JJ sat waiting for Spence in the hallway. She was worried, but she also had to believe that everything was going to be okay. Of course that didn't mean that she didn't wish that she already knew what was causing Spence's headaches. Then they could just get it fixed so that he wouldn't be in pain any longer.
She had hated watching him in pain the last couple days while he dealt with the mysterious headaches. Of course it also didn't help that Spence had told her all about how his Mom's episodes when he was young had often started with headaches so severe that she had closed all the blinds in her bedroom and curled up in bed for days at a time.
Spence finished buttoning his cardigan as he walked up to where JJ sat waiting for him in the hallway. "Okay, your turn." Spence said in an attempt to make light of the situation.
"Hm" JJ murmured as she looked up at Spence as she came out of her thoughts. "Oh… all done?"
Spence nodded. "For now. They'll call me after they've had a chance to look at the results. But how about we go to a much happy doctor's appointment now?" he asked holding out his hand to help his pregnant wife up from the bench.
Dr. Green entered the exam room while looking through JJ's file and then smiled as she glanced up to see JJ seated on the exam table having a whispered conversation with her husband Spencer. "Well if it isn't my favorite patient and her husband." Dr. Green said with a smile as she closed the file and set it on the nearby counter top. "So how've you been feeling?"
JJ chuckled. "Very, very pregnant."
"Well you're in the home stretch now with eight weeks or so to go." Dr. Green smiled as she pulled out a measuring tape to measure JJ's belly and wrapped it around JJ's wait. "32 centimeters. Right on target." Dr. Green said reaching over and making a note in JJ's file.
"Okay, JJ lie back and we'll listen to the little guys heart beat." Dr. Green said waiting as JJ lay back on the exam table and reached over to grab Spence hand.
Spence attempted to hide his wincing, but the pain suddenly became unbearably intense as he leaned forward and rubbed his forehead, attempting to will the headache away.
Dr. Green turned to grab JJ's file to make a note and noticed Spencer's apparent agony. "Spencer, are you alright?" She asked in a concerned tone.
JJ winced sympathetically at the expression etched on her husband's face. "He's been having headaches." JJ said as she turned to look at Dr. Green.
"Have you had them checked out?" the doctor asked.
Spence nodded. "I had an MRI this morning. They're going to get back to me later this week with the results."
Dr. Green nodded. "The brain can be an especially tricky part of the body to diagnose. I'm sure you're already aware of this, yes?"
Again Spence nodded.
"Good. Make sure you get a few different opinions, no matter the diagnosis. It never hurts to have too much information to be able to make an informed decision. Well informed is well healed."
Spence chuckled at the doctor's pun and then groaned as the sound reverberated in his head.
"In fact, here." Dr. Green reached into her pocket and pulled out a business card, flipped it over, and began to write on the back. "This is my husband. He's a neurologist. You can call him to discuss you the results or schedule an appointment with him for an examination. He'll know to take care of you. After all JJ is my favorite patient," Dr. Green winked in an attempt to lighten the mood. "I know he wouldn't want to make me unhappy."
JJ and Spence walked hand in hand out of the hospital just as a text message came across on his phone from Morgan. Spence turned to look at JJ after reading the message. "We're headed to Miami. Can you drop me off at the hangar? Everybody else is headed there. They're going to get me up to speed on the jet."
JJ nodded, but watched with concern out of the corner of her eye as Spence attempted to fight off his headache. A short while later she pulled up in the hangar next to the jet. She stepped out of the SUV and walked to the tailgate where Spence was grabbing his go bag.
Spence paused after closing the tailgate of the SUV and turned to face JJ. "I'll get a ride home from Morgan or something when we get home… I'll miss you guys." He said as he stepped closer and rubbed the side of her belly. "I'll call as soon as I get a chance – but just in case, give Chloe and Henry a hug and kiss from me?"
JJ nodded and leaned forward to kiss Spence goodbye. After pulling away she reached up her thumb and wiped off his lower lip. "We love you… and I'm not really sure that you've learned the meaning of this, but I'm going to tell you anyway… be safe." She said with a smirk and a shake of her head and then leaned in to kiss him one more time.
Spence pulled out of the kiss and headed for the boarding stairway of the jet. He paused and turned to look at JJ one last time at the top of the stairs and waved. Then he ducked his head and stepped through the boarding door and into the plane.
"Hey pretty boy, how's junior?" Morgan asked as Reid took a seat in the darkened corner of the couch on the jet and started looking through the file on the case.
Reid shook his head, his eyes not leaving the case file. "Still not telling you what we're naming him Morgan… but I can guarantee you it isn't junior."
Zoe turned to look at Elle in confusion.
"Reid's wife JJ is pregnant." Elle explained. "Actually you met JJ, she was our media liaison."
"Ah" Zoe said in understanding. "Their first?"
Emily, Elle, and Morgan all snorted in amusement. "No, their third." Elle replied with much amusement.
"Not to mention their oldest just turned three." Emily added with a smile, finding humor in watching Zoe's eyes grow wide.
Ashley, having met JJ and the children after her first case 'consulting' with the team back before the holidays was unsurprised.
Hotch shook his head smirked wondering what their cadets were thinking about working with such a close knit team. Then he turned to look at Reid. "What are you thinking Reid?"
"You know cowry shells and ritual offerings are common to a number of Afro-Caribbean religions." Reid mused as he looked through the crime scene photos of the victims with shells on their eyes and mouths. Then he continued to run down all of the things the rest of the team had noticed while they had briefed in the round table room up to and including the upside down cross.
Reid sat on the bed in Elian's room as his headache intensified. He peeled of his bullet proof vest, unable to bear the restrictive feeling against his chest. He rubbed his eyes and rocked in agony. As he pressed his palms to his eyes, the visions of everything he'd seen during the course of his case passed in front of his eyes in a disturbing and mysterious sequence of flashes. He was still bothered by the gate of the abandoned house slamming open and closed repeatedly as he and Morgan had walked past. Then he stood up and noticed the framed photo of that same house on the dresser. He looked out the window and saw the house across the street. And he knew… he didn't know how he knew… he just knew. It was as if all of the pieces of the puzzle just fell into place for him.
He went down the stairs and out the back door of the house to head across the street the street to the abandoned foster home. As he stepped off the porch he ran right into Elle and Zoe who were busy looking for any signs of a struggle that might have transpired.
"Whoa, mijo" Elle exclaimed pressing her palm to Reid's chest and stopping him in his tracks. "Where are you going?"
"I found a photo of Julio in front of that house. All of the victims were killed in their homes. We have to get over there and stop Walker before he finishes this." Reid said as he pointed across the street and winced at the light from the street light as it hit his eyes.
"Okay, but JJ will kill us all if we let you go into a potential hostage situation alone without your vest on. What were you thinking genius?" Elle said as she started to pull of her vest.
Reid stopped her with a shake of his head. "No… Walker needs to feel like he has the upper hand. A bullet proof vest doesn't allow him to think that. We need a ruse… I've got an idea… but you aren't going to like it."
"Well in that case, you should only explain it once. There will be less yelling that way." Elle said as she pulled out her phone and dialed Hotch's number.
Moments later the whole team including Seaver and Zoe stood out on the lawn of the house listening to Reid explain his plan.
"Nu uh. No way." Morgan said crossing his arms as Reid finished explaining how he would go in as a decoy to distract Walker so that everyone else could surround him. "JJ will kill us if we use you as bait and you end up getting taken hostage."
"Well then what do you recommend we do Morgan? Elian is over there and Walker is going to kill him if we don't get to him soon."
"It's not Morgan's decision. It's mine." Hotch interjected. "And we're going to do this by the book. Reid, put this on." Hotch said as he tossed Reid the bullet proof vest he'd discarded earlier in Elian's room. "Reid you go in first through the front doors. Morgan and Elle you back him up. Rossi, Emily and I will go through the back doors with the detective."
"What about us?" Seaver asked.
"You and Zoe are going to stay here because you are still cadets in training." Hotch replied.
Zoe and Ashley both nodded in silent understanding.
Reid crept as quietly as possible up the creaky stairs of the house, followed by Morgan and Elle who took flanking positions behind Reid. Reid didn't have his gun drawn, but Morgan and Elle did.
As Reid peeked through the exposed boards of the wall, and saw Elian tied to a chair and what appeared to be Julio lying tied up on the floor, Walker appeared from the shadows and pulled a gun on Reid.
"You really shouldn't be here." Walker said as he pulled the hammer back on the gun.
"You're a professor and you're very smart, a lot smarter than this." Reid said as attempted to stall for time and saw Rossi, Hotch, and Emily out of the corner of his eye as they entered through the back door into the room that held Elian and Julio. "Men like you and I don't need guns." Reid said as he watched Hotch move across the room towards the doorway Walker was standing in front of.
"Men like you and I?" Walker questioned as his mind worked over what to do with the FBI Agent that had landed in his lap… well he supposed it was just another poor victim for Elian in his mislead reign of Paulo terror.
"Men of intelligence" Reid nodded, signaling Morgan and Elle who stood in the shadows of the hallway behind him to move up.
Hotch recognized Reid's talking for what it was, him stalling Walker until everyone was in place. So once he reached the door, he opened it. Hard.
The door opened throwing Walker off balance and Morgan was on him in a flash, disarming him while Elle covered him.
"Good work" Hotch said clapping Reid on the shoulder.
Reid nodded and moved past where Morgan was dragging Walker up off the floor, past Hotch, and into the next room.
Julio looked at Reid as he entered the room. "You heard me calling to you. That's why you came."
"Julio, I found a photograph of you in front of this building. That's how I found you." Reid replied.
"You don't really believe that do you?" Julio asked. "That you just happened to see a photograph?"
Reid stood looking at Julio, unsure what exactly to think. It was hard to deny the supernatural aspects of this case after everything that he and JJ had experienced in the last six years… but at the same time, he was still a man of science… he needed proof… more than coincidences.
"This is a la wosie dai. It will protect you." Julio said as he pulled a yellow beaded bracelet off his wrist. "I don't need it anymore, but you do." He said as he squeezed it into Reid's hand.
Reid closed the door softly when he entered the house. Partly because he didn't want to wake Chloe and Henry up if they were sleeping and partly to avoid loud noises that would only add to the pain of his current headache.
JJ looked up from where she sat on the couch watching Henry and Chloe playing on the floor. "Hey" She spoke softly as Spence entered the living room and sat down beside her still wearing his sunglasses.
"Hi" Spence replied as he sank back into the couch next to JJ, resting his head on the back of the couch and closing his eyes.
JJ turned to face Spence and began soothingly running her fingers through his hair. "Did you hear from the doctor?"
Spence nodded.
"Well?" JJ prodded.
"They couldn't find any physical explanation for the headaches. The doctor suggested it was stress or possibly psychosomatic reasons." Spence as he turned his head into JJ's touch.
JJ took a deep breath and then exhaled. "Okay. Well let's just remember what Dr. Green said… maybe they missed something. We'll get another opinion or two and we'll schedule an appointment with Dr. Green… it might take us some time, but we'll figure this out baby."
Spence nodded; weary with the exhaustion of attempting to fight off his headaches.
At that moment Henry and Chloe realized that Daddy was home. A loud chorus of Daddy, Daddy, Daddy and Dada, Dada, Dada filled the living room, as they stood up and made their way over to where Mommy and Daddy sat on the couch, causing Spence to wince.
"Guys, Daddy doesn't feel good right now so we need to be really quiet okay?" JJ said as she helped Chloe and Henry climb up onto the couch.
"Dada has owie?" Henry asked.
"Mm hm" JJ said nodding as Henry settled in between her and Spence.
Chloe tipped her head in thought for a moment as she looked at Daddy. Then she turned to look at Mommy. "Mommy, kiss it and make it better."
"That is a very smart idea." Spence said as he pulled Chloe onto his lap. "I think Mommy should kiss it and make it all better." He said smiling slightly as he turned to look at his wife.
JJ smiled, glad to see Spence was trying to stay light hearted and positive even though she knew he was scared. Then she leaned in and kissed Spence; first on the forehead; then on the temple; then squarely on the lips.