5 November, 6 months, 18 days since disappearance
"Saltines."
JJ grabbed her stomach with one hand as she sat up.
"What?" She mumbled, wiping her mouth with the other hand.
The man threw the packet at Jennifer. "Saltines...supposed to make you quit being sick."
JJ picked up the saltines and opened them.
She tittered. "I had this brand when I was pregnant with my kids," she remarked, examining one of the crackers.
The man walked out of the room, leaving JJ with her crackers, her broken body, and her thoughts.
Why was she so sick?
7 November, 6 months, 20 days since disappearance
"Happy Birthday, Jack!" Aaron exclaimed, smiling as his son opened his presents.
They'd gone out for lunch, had pizza for dinner, and Hotch made sure Jack and the others had a few of their friends over.
"You got me a bike?" The 10 year old exclaimed. "Awesome!"
"That's for outside only, Jacks, you know that." Hotch reminded.
Jack nodded. "I know, thank you so much dad!"
"I really miss mom," Jack said, feeling the warmth of the covers as his father tucked him in. "I'm scared."
Hotch looked at his son sympathetically. "I miss her too, buddy, but she will be alright. She's doing her best. I know she is. She's very strong, and I need you to be as well."
"I know," Jack said. "But I want her to come back before I turn 11. She will miss me grow up!"
"She won't miss you growing up," Hotch assured. "They're always looking for her. Nobody's given up yet. Get some sleep now, okay?"
"Okay."
10 November, 6 months, 23 days since disappearance
"Grace!"
The 3 year old sat at the kitchen counter coloring. It was quiet, but she was picking up her father's voice as it got louder.
"Grace!"
The young girl turned around, her small hand still holding onto her crayon.
"What?" She asked in her usual high pitched, quiet voice.
"I've been calling you for a minute," he said. "You have to start answering me. We don't ignore each other in this house."
Grace put her crayon onto the kitchen counter. "What is it?" She asked, spinning around in her chair.
"The boys are watching TV, I think you should go and spend time with them," Aaron suggested, placing plates on the table.
Since JJ had gone missing, the house had less structure. It was messy a lot of the time, nobody seemed to remember to clean up after themselves. It was always quiet because JJ wasn't there to do things with everyone. A lot of the bright and fun atmosphere was lost when she was kidnapped.
Grace jumped off of her stool and ran to the living area, leaving Aaron alone with his thoughts.
The house had become his. He felt like a single dad, except he was far from being a single dad. He wasn't doing it alone. She was out there, she loved him, cared about him, and knew the love he had for her. He'd made rules and regulations for the running of the home. They weren't overly different, but it was easy to tell that him and his wife had different levels of tolerance. As much as he adored the way JJ managed their schedules, he just couldn't keep up.
He looked out of the kitchen window into the large backyard that was lined with tall trees. To the right, there was a large swimming pool that the entire family loved. In the centre, there was a trampoline and a basketball net. To the left, there was a gardening section and soccer nets. JJ loved gardening. It was her little secret, nobody on the team knew, but it was something she'd grown to love doing with her sister. She'd gotten him involved multiple times, as well as Grace. They boys weren't really interested, but it didn't matter because she didn't mind having the time to herself.
And now she was gone.
15 November, 6 months, 28 days since disappearance
It was late at night, and Hotch had managed to refrain from returning to the BAU. He'd done so for over a week. He missed work dearly, and it was obvious. It just wasn't the same without JJ.
Nothing was. Every morning was the same for them. They'd wake up early, throw on clothes, kiss the kids, greet the babysitter, grab their keys, and get in the car together. She'd sit on the passenger side, he'd drive. They'd stop at their local coffee shop and get breakfast and coffee, and then they'd drive to work. It was routine.
Nowadays, he was kissing the kids, greeting the babysitter, and driving straight to work. What was the point in getting coffee if he didn't have anyone to drink it with? That was their thing. He wasn't doing it until she came back. If there was one thing that didn't continue while her world stopped, it was their morning coffee tradition.
"Daddy?"
Snapping from his thoughts, Hotch looked down at his 3 three year olds sitting in the bathtub.
"Yes, Bug?" He answered.
Tyler pointed to Grace's head. "You forgot to wash Gracie's head," he said.
Hotch tittered as he picked up the water jug from the side. "Your mother is going to be so surprised at how much you've grown in the past 6 months," he said. "And she's going to be so happy to see you all."
"We're gonna be 4 in lots of days," Benjamin said, playing with the bath toys. "I hope mommy can come to our birthday."
"Mommy will be here," Aaron assured. "I know she will. You might not see her, but she will be there, okay?"
Tyler nodded, watching Hotch gently pour water over his daughter's head to rinse out her hair.
"How long?" Grace pressed, fiddling with her insulin pump tubing near her belly.
"I don't know," he said with a shrug, "I wish I did."
17 November, 7 months since disappearance
With her nausea becoming worse, JJ began to ponder. Was she sick from dehydration, starvation, stress? Or was it something more?
"Hey, sweetheart," the man said slowly. "You don't look too hot. You feelin' okay?"
JJ pursed her lips as she looked up at him. "I've been throwing up for an hour," she spat.
"Your hormones are acting up again, that's unfortunate.
Jennifer's heart rate sped up. Hormones. Sickness.
Could she be pregnant?
"I've been checking out those...uh...websites...and, uh...you sure you're not pregnant?"
JJ swallowed thickly, reaching for the last few saltine crackers she had left.
"You...r-raped...m...me," she said, holding the cracker in her trembling hands.
"Your husband knocked you up quite a few times, sweetie," the man said. "This shit should come to you easy."
JJ began to cry as she touched her stomach. She prayed there was nothing there. Her chances of escaping anytime soon were next to none. If she were to give birth in these conditions, and then go on to raise that child in the shit hole she was in, she would never forgive herself.
"Kids are expensive," he remarked, cracking his knuckles. "We don't want 'em. Kill it."
"I'm not pregnant!" JJ shouted. "Please!"
The man began to beat Jennifer up.
"We'll never know now, will we?" He said before putting on an evil laugh.
Deep down, JJ knew she wasn't pregnant. She hoped she wasn't pregnant because she couldn't bare to let this bastard take a child's life.
20 November, 7 months, 3 days since disappearance
"Grace, how many times do I have to call you?" Aaron scolded, pointing to the stairs. "Go upstairs and brush your teeth."
When Grace didn't turn around, Aaron knew his daughter was playing with him.
"Why are you doing this?" He asked loudly, coming up beside her.
Grace looked to the left, and then to the right, where she saw her father. He looked angry, to which she was puzzled at.
"I can't hear you," she said.
Hotch rolled his eyes. "Stop with this game," he said. "Jack used to do that to me when he was your age, and it never worked. Come on."
He picked the girl up and carried her upstairs to the kids bathroom.
The children's bedtime routine was straightforward. Jack and Henry's rooms were right beside each other, so they had a conjoined bathroom. On the other side of the landing were Tyler and Benjamin's rooms. They also had a conjoined bathroom. The home they bought a few years ago had a finished attic with a bathroom. JJ didn't want Grace to go to the main floor guest room. She wanted Grace to have her own bathroom, just like her brothers, so she opted to put her in the attic.
They'd decorated it nicely when the triplets were born, and a few months later, they moved her up there. For the most part, it worked nicely. Grace's pump alarm would go off various times in the night which would be a disturbance to anyone in the room beside her. With her upstairs, JJ and Hotch could tend to her needs without waking up the others.
Most nights, the children had baths and were put to bed. JJ would read the triplets their bedtime story and put them to sleep. Hotch would talk with Henry and Jack before they went to sleep. It was a routine. With JJ gone, Aaron was left to manage it all by himself.
He was now sitting downstairs, going through JJ's case file. He didn't like doing it around the kids because he was afraid they'd see things they weren't supposed to see. A lot of the time, he would break down into tears, longing for his beautiful wife to come home.
The reality hit him when he realized that wasn't happening for a long time.
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