Reid tapped nervously on his disposable coffee cup and took a sip at the thick liquid it contained. Usually he would have enjoyed the coffee but he was too stressed that day.

"Hey Spence" JJ greeted him with almost as much nerves as she sat down with a fruit smoothie.

"Hey" Reid said as he sat up a little and gave her a sheepish smile, a few days had passed since Jessie was born and he'd been trying to work up the courage to talk to her since then.

There was a small pause as everything Reid had planned on saying disappeared from his head so JJ decided she'd be the one to fill the gap. "How's Jessie?"

"She's good…" He said with another smile, less awkward and nervous this time though. "Emily said we should work out our issues" He stated even though it was a white lie; he'd told Emily they'd work it out not the other way around.

"Look, I'm really sorry about everything that happened and the way we handled it-" JJ spilled out quickly but was interrupted.

"I just don't see why you couldn't have told me she was alive. You didn't have to tell me where she was, just that she was ok" Reid said honestly.

"Do you think that would have been enough? Do you honestly think you could have pretended to grieve for her so that no one was suspicious?"

"I could have tried"

"Spence if Doyle even had a suspicion Emily was alive he would have hunted her down and killed her. Is that really what you would have wanted?"

"Of course not"

"That's what Hotch and I thought about when we told you. We knew Emily would come back once Doyle was dead or in custody and we could explain it properly to you all… Jessie complicated things a little-" JJ started but Reid cut in.

"Jessie is the only reason I'm talking to you" He said with a hint of spite that stung JJ.

JJ watched Reid avoid eye contact with her and take another sip of his coffee. "I never wanted this Spence. I didn't want Emily to get hurt or have to go into witness protection but it happened and I was protecting her the same way you would have if you were in my position"

"I wouldn't have lied to the whole team!" Reid almost shouted as he fought to control his temper.

"Not even to protect Emily and Jessie?" JJ asked and raised an eyebrow. Reid opened his mouth to reply then shut it again and sighed. "If you had known she was alive you would have gone looking for her and you wouldn't have stopped until you found her. I know you, Spencer. You wouldn't have let Emily be alone out there if you knew"

"Why didn't you tell me when I…" Reid started but he couldn't bring himself to say it. "You knew how bad I was then and you still didn't tell me"

"Because Emily was still out there alone and vulnerable. I still knew where you were, I could protect you from yourself. If I had told you I would have put you, Emily and Jessie in danger. Doyle was watching us and if you took off he'd have followed you straight to Emily. He would have killed Emily once she'd watched you die… Is that situation any better than this one?"

"No" Reid admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I wanted to tell you, Spence. A day didn't go by that I didn't wanna take your pain away" She admitted softly. "I can't fix what happened. Being mad at me won't change the past, but it won't do the future any good"

"You're right" He said simply, feeling defeated, and took a final sip at his coffee. "I'll see you tomorrow at the office" He added as he swung his jacket on and walked over to a trash can to dispose of his empty coffee cup. "And..." He paused for a minute to think of the right word then simply smiled. "Thanks. For everything"

"No problem" She said with a relived smile before he walked out of the coffee shop and to his car.

xxxxxxxxxx

"How'd it go with JJ?" Emily asked from the kitchen as she started up the coffee machine. As a reply Reid hugged her from behind and laid a gentle kiss on her neck. "That good, huh?" She said with a smile as she turned planted a soft kiss on his lips.

"Uh huh" He mumbled as they exchanged more kisses. She pulled back slightly, once the coffee machine whistled to indicate it had finished, and ruffled his hair.

"What did she say?" Emily asked as she poured coffee into the 'his and her' cups she'd missed using since she'd been away.

"Nothing much" Reid answered as he took his cup and followed her into the living room. Emily raised an eyebrow at him which made him laugh a little and explain "We just talked"

"And everything's sorted out?" She asked as she took a sip of her steaming hot coffee. Reid nodded as he swallowed his first sip of coffee and smiled.

"I told her I'd see her tomorrow at the office" He stated and took another sip.

"You're going to the office tomorrow?" Emily asked and raised an eyebrow.

"No, we are" Reid said with a grin. Emily gave him an unenthusiastic look and pretended to hid behind her coffee cup which made Reid almost spit out his coffee with laughter. "Come on, it'll be fun" Reid pleaded. "JJ brought Henry"

"Fine, fine" Emily said and held her hands up to surrender.

"How was Jessie?" Reid asked after a small pause.

"I think she missed you" Emily replied with a little smile as Reid put his coffee on the table and walked over to Jessie's basket. He gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms as he stroked a few strands of hair on her little head.

"Hey Jessie" He whispered softly. "Did you miss daddy?" He asked as he sat back down with Emily, Jessie in his arms.

"I knew you'd be like that" Emily said with a smug smile.

"Like what?" Reid asked without the smile on his face slipping or his gaze leaving his little girl.

"You used to think parents that acted like that with their kids were crazy… You even laughed at Garcia when she baby talked Jack and Henry" She pointed out with a smile as she stroked Jessie's cheek.

"You think I'm one of those neurotic parents?" Reid asked as his gaze lifted to Emily with a different smile on his face as he leaned his head in slightly.

"I know you're one of those neurotic parents" Emily corrected as she planted a soft kiss on his lips.

Sorry this one is another late update, I had a nap that lasted a little too long haha. For anyone what the '1000 word rule' is that I occasionally mention in the author's note, it's basically a rule I made for myself to keep my chapters a reasonable length. It means that normal chapters such as this one have to be at least 1000 words before I post them. Mini chapters won't always be 1000 words long, probably; they'll most likely be around 750-800 unless there's a specific reason to make it longer. The only reason for doing this was because when I started writing I got a lot of reviews asking for longer chapters, after introducing the 1000 word rule into my chapters I didn't get as many. Hope you liked the chapter and that explanation wasn't too long winded :)