Chapter 3:

AN: I'm sorry for being such a horrible updater guys, I am probably going to continue this pattern so I am going to make no promises of when the next chapter will come. Once again sorry guys.

2010:

It has been three years, three years since that awful day and JJ was finally starting to move on. They had struggled for years to get to the happy family they now were. JJ got a lot of help from the BAU family over the years even after she was forced out of her job and into this new one.

AJ had grown more mature than he should be for his age, because of two things, needing to be there for JJ and Henry, and being surrounded by kids much older than him in school.

JJ had grown closer to Hotch as they both struggled with their similar losses. Emily had also been a great support system. It was a little harder now that she was stuck in hiding but they could still play scrabble together. True to her word, she spent as much time with Garcia as she could. Derek had become a lot closer with AJ, taking him to play video games or some sport almost every weekend. Rossi was basically a father to JJ and a grandfather to AJ, he was always there if he was needed.

All of her colleagues were supportive and helpful, but none more so than Reid. Reid came by constantly to help out with the family. JJ was struggling almost as much as Reid due to him taking Emily's death so hard. Her struggling was from something else though, guilt. JJ struggled on multiple occasions to not tell him, but she couldn't, she couldn't risk Emily's life just so he could know the truth.

It was obvious to just everyone that Reid liked JJ and JJ liked Reid, everyone except JJ and Reid that is. AJ was finally at a point where he would be okay if they dated but he wasn't sure if JJ was, she had struggled a lot to get to the place that she was at now.

Once a week the whole team got together for dinner and tonight it was JJ's turn to host. She had finally gotten the house as clean as it could be with a son in his terrible two stage and was working on dinner, holding her two-year-old son in her arms. "Do you need help?" AJ asked with a somewhat amused look as he walked into the kitchen and saw her trying to multitask.

"I think I'm alright, could you hold your brother for me though? If I put him down I know he will get into something and make a huge mess." She asked him. He grabbed his baby brother and held him while he continued to talk to his mother before they were interrupted by the doorbell.

"Ten bucks says it's Uncle Spence." AJ told her with a cheeky grin as she went to get the door. They both knew it would be as he always came way earlier than anyone else on her hosting days, they did the same on his.

When JJ came back to the kitchen with Reid she immediately rushed back to the food she was cooking in order to not burn the whole team's dinner. Henry immediately got excited when he saw his godfather, "Uncle 'pence." He shouted enthusiastically as he almost jumped out of AJ's arms.

"Oh, I see how much I mean to you little buddy." AJ told his brother in a fake offended tone before turning to his uncle, "Hey Uncle Spence, nice to see you."

"Nice to see you too AJ, how much do I have to pay you for that adorable child in your arms?" Reid smiled brightly at his two favorite children.

"This little guy?" AJ asked jokingly as he held Henry up to examine him, "I'd say he's worth at least a ten grand, what do you think mom?" he asked staring at his mother who was shaking her head at the amusing exchange between the two.

JJ turned to Spencer instead of AJ for the answer, "Henry isn't for sale, maybe rent, but I would never sell my baby boy. AJ, on the other hand, you can have for free."

"Oh how you wound me, mother." AJ told her as he finally gave up Henry, handing him to Spencer. They continued their playful banter which then turned into a talk about the black market and an angry JJ, wondering why her son knew anything about the black market. Soon enough dinner was ready, right as JJ was turning off the stove the doorbell rang. AJ went to grab it with Reid not far behind him.

AJ opened the door to see four people standing behind it. Hotch, Jack, Garcia, and Morgan all smiled and entered the home. "You lot have impeccable timing, dinner just finished cooking." AJ told them all with a smile as he went to hug his uncles and aunt. Spencer greeted each of them as well and Henry was hugged by each new member.

Everyone had made their way to the dining room when the doorbell rang again, this time JJ answered to see Rossi. They greeted and made their way to the dining room. Once everyone was settled they started eating, as usual it was a fun afternoon filled with chatter and catching up on everyone's gossip.

After dinner the team had divided into groups and were all having their own conversations. "So, little genius, how has school been?" Morgan asked as he tossed the baseball into AJ's mitt in the backyard.

"It's going good." AJ answered shortly as he threw the ball back, trying to move away from the topic. It was the beginning of his sophomore year and so far classes were okay but the kids, like last year were jerks.

"Kid you're talking to one of the many profilers here, how about you tell me how it really is." Derek tried again.

AJ sighed before answering, "I don't know, the classes are good, if not a little too easy. Most of the teachers are okay, the students are just…" he paused for a moment trying to think of how to say things in a way that Morgan wouldn't try to go knock some sense into them. "The kids at school aren't all that friendly." he hoped that the 'most teachers' thing would be overshadowed by the other part of his answer.

"Are they bullying you?" Morgan's asked seriously as they stopped playing catch for a moment.

"No." AJ answered a little too quickly, he sighed as Morgan looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I wouldn't call it that necessarily, some of them just aren't the kindest of people to me."

"Have you talked to JJ or Reid about this?"

"No, and I'm not going to, this is my problem. I can deal with it on my own. Please don't mention it to either of them." AJ started off strong but basically begged during the end of it.

"You are too much like your mother. That's usually a good thing, but it seems you've inherited her stubbornness and independence along with the other stuff. I can't promise I won't tell her, but I can tell you that I will only mention it if she asks or if something happens at the school." Morgan promised

AJ looked grateful and relieved at the agreement, "Thanks, Uncle Derek. By the way did you know a study has shown that over half of a person's traits are inherited, leaving less than half to be influenced by the family, environment, and life of the person." Derek laughed as he realized just how much the boy was like Spencer as well as JJ, it seemed that most of the lesser half of traits had been learned from Spencer. They started tossing the ball again and conversing about unimportant topics.

Inside, JJ was having a conversation with Reid and Garcia about her return to the BAU, which would be soon. She just had to finish the profiling classes and she would start working as a profiler. Reid was more excited than anyone else, including JJ, about this. Working without her hadn't been all that great, seeing his best friend there used to be the highlight of his day and soon it would come again.

Hotch was the first to leave, mostly due to the five-year-old tucked in his arms, fast asleep. Rossi followed soon after as he was close to the five-year-old's state himself. Morgan left about an hour later with a promise to take AJ to the arcade next week. Garcia stayed around a little while longer to help JJ clean up while Reid put the boys to bed. Soon enough it was only Reid and JJ in the living room.

"So, are you excited to be coming back?" Reid asked as they continued their conversation from earlier.

"Yeah, it is nice having a more stable job, but I miss my other family." JJ told him with a small smile.

"It wasn't that much more stable though was it, you were out of town almost as much as us a few months ago." Reid mentioned, he saw JJ get a little tenser when he mentioned that.

"Yeah, we had some things going on a few months ago that took a while to fix. It's a lot better now though." JJ told him. Spencer could tell she was lying about something but decided not to push it whatever she was hiding, she had reason to do so.

They had a nice, quiet evening before Reid decided to head home for the night. They both said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. JJ fell asleep with a peaceful dream of the man she had unknowingly fallen in love with.

AN: Sorry if this chapter sort of sucked, it was meant to be an information chapter to sort of catch up to where things have turned and a slight fluff chapter after how dramatic the last one was. If you don't like the time jump I am thinking about doing a couple of chapters with flashbacks of the gap, if you're interested in that please let me know. Thank you for reading and please review.