I told you that it wasn't going to be a long wait! But don't expect another new chapter tomorrow. You all just got lucky because it was originally one big chapter that I made into two.
This chapter is the same day as chapter 8, minutes later in fact. Operation Lovebirds is underway!
My plans for chapter ten are very serious and heart wrenching. So enjoy the fluff while you still can!
Remember, I don't own a thing!
"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." – George Burns
(since the BAU is a family!) :)
Morgan leaves Penelope's office chuckling. He checks his watch and sees that it's 11:40. When the team is actually in Quantico, Morgan usually takes his lunch break at noon with Garcia and Emily. Reid and JJ usually eat around 12:30. He decides that doing it now is better, rather than sitting next to Reid for twenty minutes, then suggesting lunch.
He walks over to the genius who is filling out yet another sheet of paperwork. Morgan puts one hand on the back of Reid's chair and his other atop Reid's desk: effectively cornering him in. "Hey Prettyboy, let's go grab some lunch."
Reid looks at the clock on the computer screen in front of him, "Isn't it kinda early for lunch, Morgan?"
"Come on man, I'm bored outta my mind here! Damn hungry too!" he rubs his stomach for emphasis.
"Oh, alright! You're pretty convincing." Reid agrees to go along with Morgan. He'd rather wait and eat with JJ, but he doesn't want to arouse suspicion.
"Okay, the guys are in the elevator." Emily informs Garcia as she looks into the bullpen from the technical analyst's doorway. "Call her up!"
The ringing phone brings JJ back to the present, she quickly 'X's out of the browser with the cribs, as if the person on the phone could tell she wasn't actually working.
"Hello?"
It's Garcia's voice on the other end, "Why hello JJ," she says a little too sweetly. This should be a tip-off for JJ, but she's not focused today and doesn't notice.
"What's up, Pen?"
"I have cookies!" sings Garcia.
"Okay…" JJ is tempted, but she really needs to get back to the files that she's been neglecting for the past half hour.
"You better get here fast! Before Emily eats them all!" says Garcia. She's cut off by Emily's indignant: "I am NOT eating them all!"
JJ laughs, "Save me one, Garcia. I'll take it with me for dessert after my lunch."
"Oh, come on! Please!" Penelope whines. "Come participate in some girl talk in my office! You've been cooped up in yours all morning!"
"Fine," says JJ in mock exasperation. "You've persuaded me. And tell Emily there better be at least one cookie waiting for me when I get in there, or she'll have my pregnant wrath to suffer!"
As the media liaison begins to hang up her phone, she hears Emily in the background: "Oh, I'm so scared!"
Down on the first floor, Morgan and Reid have just sat down with trays full of food.
"You got a fork right?" teases Morgan when he sees that Reid bought his lunch from the Chinese counter.
"Nope, I've taught myself how to use chopsticks. I don't even need the rubber band trick anymore. It just requires a little patience." replies Reid, proud to prove Derek wrong.
"Oh, of course, you're a GENIUS after all," Morgan says teasingly. "What was it you once said about using chopsticks?"
"Something about how using them is like foraging for dinner using a pair of No.2 pencils."
Morgan and Reid laugh as Morgan unwraps his burger. "Did you get a fortune cookie with that?" he asks.
"Yeah," says Reid as he starts to dig into his orange chicken dish. "Why do you ask?"
"What's it say kid?"
Reid opens the plastic, then breaks the cookie. "Lucky numbers: 6, 8, 15, 27, and 63" he then flips over the strip of paper, "The greatest gift is love."
"In bed!" adds Morgan.
"Huh?" asks Reid, confused at Derek's outburst.
"You're supposed to add 'in bed' to the fortune to make it funny."
Reid sighs, "You're so immature."
"Oh, come on Reid! Laugh, it's funny. Wait, read it again."
"No, you'll do something else to make it perverted."
"I promise I won't." Morgan does the 'cross my heart' sign.
"It says 'The greatest gift is love'".
"Speaking of love, Prettyboy, what's going on between you and JJ?" Morgan smiles.
Reid sighs; he should have seen this coming. All the signs pointed to it: Morgan urging him to take an early lunch, him wanting to know what the fortune cookie said (which typically involve things of that nature), even the fact that Morgan and Emily had been in Garcia's office prior to Morgan inviting him to lunch. His face is bright red as he asks, "Did Garcia put you up to this?"
"Joint effort. We call it 'Operation Lovebirds', her codename, not mine."
"Well, since we're on that topic, what's up with you and Garcia?" counters Spencer.
"You know she's my girl, but it's not like that. Don't try to avoid the question."
"Fine. Yes, JJ and I are dating. It's been about two months now. We didn't announce it to the team because some things don't need to be public knowledge. But we knew that you'd all notice and catch on. I'm not denying a thing, but I'm also not giving you personal details."
Morgan laughs, "All I needed was an admission, man."
The two go back to their meals in awkward silence.
After Derek finishes his fries he asks, "So, have you told her that you love her yet?"
Reid's face goes even redder than before and his palms start to sweat. "That falls under personal details."
"I'll take that as a 'no'."
Reid decides to open up; maybe Morgan can even help him out, "I've been thinking about it. But I've never told a girl that before."
"For starters, don't call JJ a girl, this isn't high school. She's a woman, she is pregnant after all. By the way, doesn't that freak you out? The fact that she's pregnant with another guy's baby? I think that was the other question on all our minds, you know, besides verifying that you guys are really dating."
"Wait, all your minds? Who is 'all'?"
"Garcia, Emily, and I made up Operation Lovebirds. But the other day, even Hotch was probing me for information."
"Hotch too? Well, I guess that makes sense; we're all profilers! JJ and I haven't exactly been hiding our relationship, but we just haven't been exactly public about it. And to answer your question, no. It doesn't freak me out that JJ is pregnant. It's unavoidable, but it doesn't matter to me. I love her."
"You said it. Reid, man, you said it! You just have to say it to her." encourages Morgan.
"Yes, I do love her. Maybe saying it won't be as hard as I thought. Also, I'm glad she's decided to keep the baby. I'm really not a big supporter of abortions."
"So are you gonna help her raise the baby? Be the daddy?" asks Morgan.
"I don't know, Morgan. Ideally, yes. But Jennifer and I haven't discussed it. Yet."
"Oh, so it's Jennifer now?" asks Morgan playfully to lighten the mood.
"I do call her Jennifer sometimes because JJ stands for Jennifer Jareau, and if we get married someday, she won't be a Jareau anymore. So I've been using 'JJ' less."
"'If we get married someday'" mocks Morgan. "Damn, you are whipped, dude." He laughs, "Alright, enough teasing and interrogation for one day, let's get back to work."
'Thank God!' Reid thinks.
As JJ crosses the bullpen to Garcia's office, she notices that it's completely deserted. She looks at the clock on the wall: 11:45. This is usually the time that Anderson and some of the others take their lunch, so that explains their absence. And Emily is in Garcia's office. But where are Morgan and Reid? She wishes Reid were there because she'd be able to tease him about the cookies, saying, "Garcia has cookies in her office, and you're not invited," just to catch him off guard and to see what his response would be.
She knocks her knocking rhythm and hears Prentiss and Garcia's voices in unison, "Come in!"
JJ enters the room and immediately smells the vanilla air freshener. "Do you guys know why the bullpen is so empty?"
Garcia answers quickly, "Morgan was talking about taking an early lunch. And those other agents usually leave around 11:30 for their lunch break."
"Maybe Reid's in the bathroom, or maybe he went to the cafeteria with Morgan." offers Emily.
"So where are the cookies?" JJ asks.
Emily and Garcia begin to laugh. 'Damn, I should have sensed a trap.' thinks JJ.
Emily takes her place in front of the office door. Garcia offers JJ the extra chair.
"So there aren't any cookies?" she asks sweetly.
"Nope, we just wanted to lure you in here." says Garcia.
"It's time for an intervention," announces Prentiss.
"What?" JJ is laughing now, in disbelief at how far her friends went to get her to talk.
"What's going on with you and Reid?" questions Penelope.
"And don't try to deny it! We've all noticed… Even Hotch." adds Emily.
"We're dating, okay! You guys really didn't need to go to such lengths. You could have just asked me."
"Where's the fun in that?" jokes Garcia. "Today's a boring day with nothing to do but fill out paperwork. Sure, we could have asked, but we wanted to be certain you would admit to it. We even have a codename!"
"Oh? What's that?" laughs the media liaison.
"Operation Lovebirds" answers Prentiss.
"Wow!" mouths JJ.
"Don't make fun of it! I came up with it myself!" says Penelope.
"I'm not making fun," but she can't contain her laughter.
"I'd slap you, but you're pregnant." replies Garcia sarcastically.
"Can I go now?" JJ asks.
"No! We want details!" urges Garcia.
"There are no details. We're in a relationship…." replies JJ.
"Come on! Where was your first date? Does he have any nicknames for you? Has he told you he loves you yet?" asks Emily. Her voice drops to a whisper, "Have you had sex with him?"
"What is this? Tenth grade?"
"It's girl talk. Fess up!" orders Garcia.
"You promised me girl talk and cookies! You owe me a cookie!" retorts Jennifer.
"We want answers!" says Emily.
"Um, first date… we went to Buccemi's after I picked him up from New Beginnings. Nicknames…. nothing unique really, the typical honey, dear, darling, once he called me honey bun, which I thought was kinda weird. He rarely calls me JJ, it's always Jennifer."
"That's strange," commented Garcia.
"What do you call him?" asks Prentiss, "By the way, this does not get you off the hook for the other two questions."
"Usually Spence. Sometimes sweetheart or dear, or honey. That kind of thing. I don't call him Reid, like, ever."
"Why is that?" asks Garcia.
"I don't know, it's his last name. It what everyone around here calls him." replies JJ. But she knows the real reason. If they were to get married, she'd be Mrs. Reid. And a Mrs. Reid can't call her husband 'Reid'.
"Okay, stop avoiding the juicy stuff, honey bun!" says Emily, patronizingly.
JJ sighs, "No, he hasn't told me that he loves me. I know I'm in love with him, but I don't want to be the first to say it."
"That's right, the guy is supposed to say it first!" says Penelope.
"What a load of bullshit!" responds Emily. "Who cares about gender roles? If we follow some kind of dating rulebook, we're only aiding in the degradation of women. JJ, if you think you're in love, then tell him! Don't wait for Reid to say it."
"You've converted me, Emily!" replies Garcia, "You're right! Who says the man has to be the first to say "I love you" in a relationship? JJ, this is Spencer Reid we're talking about, and we all know how he is about women and love! Do you think he has the guts to be the first one to say it?"
"That's not fair! Do you hear yourself? I love him, don't you dare insult his bravery! Do you realize how courageous he was in admitting to his addiction? And receiving treatment?" shouts JJ. She's crying now.
"Shit." Garcia mutters under her breath.
"Apologize!" Emily mouths to Garcia, shocked at how quickly things went downhill.
Penelope hugs JJ. "I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it that way. I got so caught up in the moment, I didn't even realize how that sounded. Don't hate me, please JJ, forgive me."
The tears subsided, "I forgive you. I know that that's not what you were trying to do. I'm sorry too, for overreacting."
"Don't be, babe. I should have been more sensitive. You're pregnant and in love! That's a lot of hormones and emotion." replies Garcia.
JJ and Emily laugh. "And I'm not answering that last question. Too personal."
"I respect that." says Penelope.
"Let's go get some lunch," proposes Emily.
"My treat!" offers Garcia. "Maybe I'll even buy you that cookie, Jayge," she jokes.
When the elevator doors open on the first floor the girls are face to face with Morgan and Reid. JJ and Spencer smile at each other and blush, which their team members notice.
"Mission status?" Garcia questions Morgan.
"Operation Lovebirds was a success," Derek replies. "Your results?"
"Successful as well." responds Prentiss.
The entire group laughs.
"I'll let Hotch know about the findings." says Morgan as he and Reid enter the elevator that the women just vacated.
That night in JJ's living room, the couple is sitting on the couch comparing prices on rocking chairs on the Babies "R" Us website. Reid knows that the time is now. If he can tell Morgan that he loves JJ, he needs to be able to say it to her. Spencer closes the laptop, "Jennifer, I can't focus on gliders right now when I have something important to tell you."
"I know what you're going to say…" JJ replies.
Reid lets out a big breath, looks her in the eyes, and says it. "I love you." To his astonishment, Jennifer said the exact same thing at the exact same time.
Dr. Reid smiles and JJ starts to laugh. They both feel extremely relieved right now, to know that they weren't alone in the feeling, that it wasn't imagined.
"I love you." Reid says again, ecstatic that he'd gotten over this hurdle.
"I love you too, Spence!"
They begin to kiss. And kiss. Making out with more passion then they never had before.
The next morning, JJ wakes up in Spencer's arms. 'Now I have an answer to Emily's question. Too bad I'll never tell her just what that answer is.'
Reid awakens, feeling his girlfriend in his arms. "How long have you been awake, babe?"
"Not long…. Do you know how sexy you look when you're asleep?" she asks him playfully.
"How am I supposed to answer that question?" Reid asks, bewildered. "Of course I don't know!"
"Very." JJ smiles, "I love you"
"I love you too." Spencer yawns, "Ugh, WHY do we have to go to work today?"
"Yeah, maybe we should have thought ahead before having sex on a weeknight." laughs JJ.
"Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy." – Sarah Ban Breathnach
Oh, don't we all just love the Reid and chopsticks scene from season one! :)
Sorry to all you smut fans, but I don't write sex scenes. (I'll admit I do like reading them though!)
Hope you enjoyed it! Please review or send me a P.M.
