A/N: Yes, it's a scene right out of My Sister's Keeper, but I tweaked it a bit.

Disclaimer: I don't own CM.

"Leukaemia. He's got about three months left"

Sandy Jareau gasped as the words her conversation with her daughter had been leading to slipped out. Her eyes glistened as she looked out the window, down to the street, where some of the local children were playing.

"Jenny...oh my dear, why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked finally, swallowing thickly.

"I kind of forgot. Everything was happening so quickly...I never realised that you didn't know...until last week. Then I had to figure out how to say it...Mom, how do I do this? You've been through this before...I don't know how I'm going to be able to hold it together after...after he's gone, for Henry's sake," JJ practically sobbed into the phone.

"You're my daughter, Jen. You're going to be fine. Say the word, and I'll be on the next flight to DC," Sandy said thickly, tears pricking her eyes.

"Mom-"

"Not a word. You don't have to do this on your own"

JJ was helpless to stop the smile spreading across her face as she noticed the familiar head of brunette hair fighting through the crowd towards her. She had barely given Emily a chance to step past the throng of people and out into the open before she'd run up and thrown her arms around her.

"I can't believe you're here!" she said excitedly. Emily grinned as she stumbled slightly, hugging JJ back.

"Hi JJ," she laughed as JJ pulled away.

"Hi! I can't believe you're here!" JJ repeated, making her friend laugh again.

"Strangely, neither can I. It's been a year since I was here, I kind of got used to London. But I have missed you guys," Emily said sincerely, swinging her bag back over her shoulder. JJ smiled as she took the handle of Emily's suitcase, and started to lead her to the car.

"Have you got somewhere to stay while you're here?" she asked as they exited the airport terminal.

"Yeah, I rented my condo out while I was in London. The people in it moved out just last week, so it was kind of perfect timing. I'm going to stay there while I'm here," Emily explained. JJ nodded.

"When Will found out you were coming back, he insisted you stay with us if you had nowhere else. Is there something I should know about?" JJ teased. Emily laughed.

"Yeah, we were planning on telling you...," she played along. JJ giggled as they reached the car. Opening the trunk, she and Emily lifted the suitcase in. Walking around to their respective sides of the car, they slid in.

"Speaking of Will, where is he? And Henry?" Emily asked as she pulled her seatbelt over her shoulder.

"I came on my own...because there's something that I need to explain to you before you see them again, and it's just easier to do it like this," JJ said softly, her expression falling as she manoeuvred out of the parking lot and onto the highway that led from the airport to Virginia. Emily noticed the change in her mood, and detected that something was wrong. She said so.

"Jayje...is something wrong?" she asked gently. JJ took a deep breath, not tearing her eyes from the road. A short silence fell over them before she spoke.

"Will...he's sick," she stated bluntly, unable to force what she wanted to say past her lips.

"How sick?" Emily pushed quietly. JJ bit her lip momentarily, taking a deep breath to try and stop tears from spilling. 'Goddamn it, Jennifer, get it together! You can't cry every time you have to say this!' her mind screamed.

"He, um...he was diagnosed...with leukaemia. About four months ago," she spat out. Emily's shocked expression was not missed in JJ's peripheral vision.

"Oh my god, JJ," she gasped.

"It's end stage and he's got about three months left," JJ said in one big rush, her screaming mind doing nothing to stop the tears that fell. She couldn't help it. It was so heartbreaking.

"JJ, pull over," Emily said gently. JJ did so, and as soon as they were safely on the side of the road, she slumped back in her seat, covering her face with her hands in an attempt to hide her emotion. Emily placed her hand on JJ's shoulder, waiting for the blonde to look up again. When she did, her eyes were filled with tears.

"Every time I have to tell someone...I can't help but burst into tears. It's becoming a habit, and it's getting pathetic," JJ said, laughing weakly. Emily shook her head.

"It's not pathetic, JJ, it's perfectly ok. You're going through a rough time, and you're heartbroken. You want to be able to express how you feel, but the only way you can do it is to cry," she said, ignoring the fact that she had bluntly profiled JJ.

"This is probably the first time I'm ever going to say that I love profilers. That's exactly how I feel," JJ sniffed. Emily handed her a tissue.

"JJ, I'm so sorry. You guys really don't deserve this. Will deserves to be with you and Henry, and you deserve to have him there by your side for the rest of your life," she said softly.

"I just wish it could happen," JJ mumbled. Emily looked at her, somewhat apologetically.

"You make the most of the time you have left, and then afterwards, cherish the memories. It's really all you can do," she explained softly. JJ nodded, turning back to face the road. Gripping the steering wheel, she pulled back into the traffic rushing down the highway, hoping that by the time they reached home, the sadness would lift somewhat. She wanted to enjoy Emily's stay in DC with her friend, not drag her mood down with her own troubles.

JJ groaned, pulling away as someone tugged on her arm. "Go away," she mumbled, knowing without opening her eyes that it was the middle of the night. They tugged again, harder this time.

"Mommy," Henry's voice hissed, cutting through the silence of the night. JJ's eyes flew open. Henry never woke her up in the middle of the night, unless he'd had a nightmare or wet his bed, neither of which had happened in a while.

"What's wrong, buddy?" she whispered, so as not to wake Will.

"I feel sick," Henry moaned. JJ reached out, pressing her hand to his forehead.

"Baby boy, you're burning up. Where do you feel sick?" she asked.

"My tummy," Henry replied. JJ looked at him in concern as she got out of bed and knelt down in front of him.

"Do you feel like you're going to throw up?"

Henry's nod in reply made JJ leap into action. Knowing from previous experience that if Henry said he felt like he was going to throw up, there was a 99 percent chance that he would, she grabbed his hand, pulled him into the bathroom...and got him to the toilet just in time.

"Oh little man, you really don't feel good, do you?" she said softly, stroking his hair as he was sick. When he stopped, he burst into tears. JJ wiped his mouth with a tissue, before pulling him into a hug. "It's alright, don't get upset, ok? It's ok"

As she calmed Henry down, something that Dr Ramsell had said at one of Will's first appointments came to mind.

'If you or Henry ever get sick, you won't be able to stay around Will. His immune system is so worn down from the radiation, and from the cancer itself, that even a common cold could make him incredibly sick. In some cases, it can even be fatal'

Lifting Henry to her hip, she carried him out of the room. Setting him down on the couch, she was surprised when someone knocked on the door.

"Just sit here a minute, ok?" she said gently. Henry nodded as she crossed the room and opened the front door. Standing on the front doorstep was Kate.

"Kate. Everything ok?" she asked.

"I'm really sorry to bother you at this hour, but Alicia's got a stomach virus, and I've got nothing to help settle her stomach. I was wondering if you had anything I could use?" Kate replied. JJ nodded, stepping back and allowing Kate inside. Kate noticed Henry sitting on the couch. "Hi Henry"

"Hi," Henry mumbled.

"He's not well either. He's probably got what Alicia has. I'm trying to find somewhere he can stay, because he can't be around Will while he's sick," JJ explained.

"Oh of course...did you want to leave him with me?" Kate offered. JJ turned around from where she was rifling through the cabinet above the fridge.

"Kate, I couldn't do that, that's too much"

"JJ, I used to work in an emergency room. Two four year olds with a stomach virus is nothing. Honestly, it'd be fine," Kate replied, waving it off.

"If you're sure, that would be great," JJ said as she walked over, pressing a bottle of medicine into Kate's hand. Kate nodded.

"It's fine"

"Alright. I'll bring him around in a minute"

JJ grinned, handing the feather duster to Henry, watching as he copied something he'd obviously seen on TV, and pranced around on his toes, daintily polishing the ornaments and photo frames. He'd spent two days at Kate's, and had returned home a much healthier little man. JJ had to laugh at her funny boy as he polished the glass on the picture frames.

"You keep up the hard work, ok, and I'll be right back," she promised.

"Ok. I make it all shiny!" Henry giggled. JJ laughed, shaking her head as she walked towards the master bedroom to retrieve the surface spray she'd left in the bathroom. As she approached the door, she heard the unmistakeable sound of Will having a coughing fit; something that, in leukaemia patients, could signal danger. Grabbing the handle, she forced it around, only to find that the door was locked.

"Will? Will! Open the door!" she called, her voice rising with panic.

"No! I'm fine!" Will protested, breaking into another fit of coughing. JJ's worry immediately increased. He never coughed like that. Not even when he'd had that chest infection a couple of years back.

"Will!" she called again, hammering on the door. By now, Henry had come to see what Mommy was yelling about, and was standing just to JJ's right, watching her with wide eyes.

When Will didn't answer, JJ's anxiety hit the roof. Stepping back, she swung her leg out at the door and snapped the lock in half.

Emily hurried up the driveway at JJ and Will's house, trying to quell the anxious feeling that arose from seeing the ambulance in the driveway. The call from JJ had been worrying enough. The only thing that made her feel a bit better was that JJ had mentioned calling Morgan as well.

Spying Morgan standing just inside the open front door, she rushed over to him.

"What's going on?" she asked. Morgan grabbed her hand, dodging paramedics and neighbours as he pulled Emily towards the back of the house.

"Henry had a stomach virus a couple of days ago. Their neighbour took care of him so that Will wouldn't get sick, but it looks like he caught it anyway. Then JJ heard Will coughing, but he wouldn't open the door, so she kicked it in," he explained hurriedly.

"She kicked the door down?" Emily exclaimed in disbelief.

"Yeah," Morgan replied, coming to a halt in the doorway of JJ and Will's room. Emily stopped beside him, taking in the sight before her.

Will was slumped against the foot of the bed, his eyes half closed and his face deathly pale. JJ was standing at the side of the bed, filling the paramedics in on his condition. Henry was standing just in front of the doorway, watching his father with a weary expression. Emily and Morgan both noted that JJ's eyes were extremely bright.

"He needs platelets and fluids right away, I don't want him going into shock-"

She was cut off by Will leaning to his right and throwing up a huge gush of dark red blood all over the carpet. Henry whimpered, stepping back and almost falling over Morgan's feet. Morgan reached down, swinging the scared little boy up onto his hip.

"Oh my god," Emily whispered, tears stinging her eyes. Unknowingly, she clutched tightly to Morgan's left arm, scared of what she was watching.

Lurching forward again, Will was helpless to stop another gush of blood coming from his mouth. He coughed violently as mouthful after mouthful of crimson spilled over his lips, leaving a patch that so eerily reminded Emily and Morgan of crime scenes on the carpet, and blood all down his chin and the front of his shirt. As he spat out drops of blood onto the now ruined carpet, two paramedics got leverage under him and lifted him up onto the gurney. Blood trickled from his nose and down over his lip as he slumped back against the gurney, all of his energy drained in one fell swoop.

Morgan and Emily weren't usually ones to find fear in seeing people like that. But seeing Will, someone they loved and cared for like family, so weak, so sick, and covered in his own blood...it was quite a scary sight. They knew if they were feeling that way, JJ must have been absolutely terrified for her husband.

"He'll be alright," Morgan whispered in Emily's ear. Emily swallowed thickly, nodding robotically as she fought to tear her eyes from the scene in front of her.

Will lifted his head, looking around anxiously for JJ, as the paramedics moved to take him to the ambulance. As he turned back, he looked straight at Morgan and Emily, and in his expression, quite clearly, was unhindered terror.