Author's Note: Thanks to littlegreenbottle and brynnifer for beta'ing this and making it a lot better. Also, thanks to those who reviewed the last couple chapters. I am not one to beg for reviews, but I love knowing what you think of the chapters. Most importantly, I love knowing if people pick up on subtle hints that are going to make it into later chapters. There are a couple of flags in this chapter that are going to be fairly major plot points of the story.
"Alright JJ," The social worker took off her glasses and smiled kindly, "it looks like everything is in order. Is this somewhere you would like to stay?" The social worker asked gently in English, followed with the Spanish equivalent to the woman across the room. She could feel Emily stiffen beside her as they waited anxiously for any response.
JJ shook her head slowly, and the smile on the Laurie's face died instantly. "Why not?" She asked, shooting Emily a questioning look.
JJ shrugged noncommittally.
"JJ, you don't have to stay here if you don't want to. But I need you to tell me why you don't want to stay with Emily." Laurie prodded, reiterating her command in Spanish in an attempt to let JJ know that she wouldn't accept anything less than a clear answer.
JJ ducked her head, nervously chewing on her left thumbnail. "Manuel." She answered after a moment.
Laurie placed a hand gently on Emily's knee, attempting to stop the other woman who had been about to rush to JJ's side. "What about Manuel? Do you miss Manuel?" Once again immediately repeating her words in the only language JJ seemed to respond to. Though it took more time, it was far more important that JJ not only understand her, but not see her as a threatening presence.
JJ shook her head slowly, glancing at the other women to gauge their reactions.
The social worker rubbed her chin thoughtfully, "Why don't you miss Manuel?" She asked, quickly translating her query. Seeing JJ's shrug, she pushed slightly in an attempt to draw the information from the unwilling woman. "Did Manuel hurt you?"
JJ shrugged almost imperceptibly, though she quickly—almost involuntarily—shook her head.
Laurie grimaced inwardly at the contradictory response—an indicator that this man had indeed inflicted at least some harm on the broken woman. Laurie sighed, running a hand through her short dark hair. While Agent Prentiss's condo seemed like a healthy environment for JJ, the last thing she wanted to do was force JJ to go to a place she didn't want to go.
"JJ, would Manuel want you to stay here?" Laurie asked.
JJ shook her head immediately, and surprisingly spoke up quietly, "No."
"Why not?" Laurie smiled encouragingly, hoping to get another vocal response from the blonde.
"Él vendrá a buscarme." JJ muttered so softly the other women had to strain to hear.
Emily looked between the interaction of JJ and the social worker nervously. Between arguing with Hotch to allow JJ to stay with her, and trying to stay by JJ's side, the thought that JJ might not want to stay with her hadn't even crossed her mind.
"Do you want him to come for you?" Laurie asked, trying to get down to the bottom of why JJ wouldn't want to stay with her supposed friend.
JJ shook her head quickly and began to breathe rapidly in fear. "No. No. No—" She murmured, looking around frantically as if Manuel would pop out at any moment.
Realizing that her client was close to her limit, and sensing she had somehow touched a nerve, Laurie tried to change her questioning. She waited for a moment for JJ to calm slightly before asking and quickly translating as she had done before, "JJ, do you feel like you are safe here with Emily?"
JJ hesitated for a minute before nodding slowly.
Emily sighed with relief at JJ's answer.
Laurie pressed forward, pleased that she had at least found the issue they could begin tiptoeing around. "JJ, is this a place where you would have liked to stay before you went with Manuel?"
JJ bit her lip and eyed the two women cautiously, nodding with only a slight hesitation.
"Okay." Laurie thought hard for how she was going to get a genuine response out of the blonde, "If you could stay anywhere in the world, where would it be?"
JJ shrunk back slightly, "Con Manuel."
Emily gaped, but Laurie seemed to take the answer in stride. "You can't stay with Manuel, JJ. Where else?"
JJ shrugged, fingering the sling that kept her right arm immobile. "Con Emily."
"So why don't you want to stay here?" Laurie asked confused.
JJ shrugged noncommittally, and Laurie sighed waiting expectantly for a response. "Why don't you want to stay with Emily?" She repeated.
"Ella no es seguro." JJ whispered in Spanish. "Soy peligrosa."
"I'm not sure?" Emily spoke up in English, surprised at JJ's insinuation. "JJ, of course I'm sure that I want you to stay with me."
Laurie gave Emily a stern look, before relaxing slightly "Seguro— 'sure', but also 'safe'. I think she meant 'safe'. She doesn't think you are safe." Laurie explained softly. Dropping her voice so only Emily could hear, she added, "Please, let me do my job." Turning back to JJ, she leaned forward. "JJ, why do you say you are dangerous?"
"Manuel viene a por mi." JJ whispered.
Laurie sat for a moment, slightly heartbroken for her client. "Emily's not safe because Manuel is coming for you?" She asked, finally understanding what was holding JJ back.
JJ nodded slowly.
"JJ, does Manuel know where you're at?" Laurie pressed gently.
JJ shrugged.
"JJ, have you seen Manuel?" The social worker continued to push the issue.
Both Laurie and Emily's jaws dropped as JJ nodded slowly.
"Where did you see Manuel?" Laurie asked, silencing the FBI Agent with her eyes. The fact she was getting JJ to respond was in itself a victory. But knowing she might be able to acquire information of this woman's tormentors would be nothing short of miraculous.
JJ shrugged and turned away from the women, obviously uncomfortable with the question.
Knowing that the possibility of JJ still being in danger outweighed any other concerns, Laurie persisted, "JJ, did you see Manuel on the plane?"
JJ clutched her legs tighter to her chest and stared ahead as if she hadn't heard the question.
Repeating her question, Laurie groaned as JJ refused to even acknowledge the question.
"Where else was she?" Laurie asked Emily out of the side of her mouth.
"We found her at the hospital in Arizona, then we flew here and we took her to a hotel. Then we went to the hospital this morning." Emily replied, gaping in shock at the idea that JJ's tormentor had come close enough that JJ had seen him.
"JJ, did you see Manuel at any of these places?" Laurie reiterated, translating her question immediately.
She pursed her lips tightly as the blonde remained unresponsive. Sighing, she decided to let go of the Manuel issue for the moment. "JJ, Emily here would like to stay with you here at her house. Is that okay?"
JJ turned as Laurie translated her question into Spanish, and hesitated for a moment before nodding slowly.
"Good." Laurie said softly as she smiled brightly. "Now, if you don't mind sitting here for a minute, Emily and I need to discuss some things, okay?"
Emily quickly stood and moved over to her kitchen where she and Laurie could sit and talk at the counter. She motioned to the other woman who smiled and sat down next to her. Laurie ran a hand through her short dark hair, "Agent Prentiss, I'm not about to tell you that this is going to be easy. The next few months, maybe years will be full of appointments, goals, schedules—it's a lot to handle."
"I know." Emily quickly stopped her. "But I need to do this," She shook her head in soft correction, "I want to do this for JJ."
Laurie studied Emily's face and eventually nodded. "We both know that the reason that I'm here right now is to make sure that this is a safe place for JJ." Emily nodded quickly in agreement. "But Emily, this also has to be right for you. If you can't handle this, JJ would be better off in a hospital somewhere."
Emily shook her head emphatically. "We don't know if she's still in danger. And even then, I'm not giving up on her."
"If you ever decide that you can't handle it," Laurie interjected, correcting quickly, "no one would think that you were giving up on her. JJ needs a solid stable environment right now."
"I know." Emily nodded quickly, "that's exactly what she'll have."
Pausing for a moment, as if to give Emily the chance to reconsider, Laurie pulled out a large folder, "Then here are some things that we need to go over. I'll give this to you, it's just a folder so that you can keep track of everything."
Emily smiled with relief. She knew that the only way this woman could refuse to let JJ stay in her care was if she thought JJ was a danger to herself or others, or if she could be neglected or abused in some way. Feeling that vote of confidence, even if it was just implied, inflated her worn psyche. "Like what?"
Turning to the first page, Laurie didn't need to look down to know what was contained there. Emily could quickly see that this woman was not only experienced, but she was good at her job, "These are emergency contact numbers. You'll see mine is here. I've included Dr. Nielsen's, though he told me you might want to find another doctor."
Emily nodded and Laurie continued, "Just so you know, he's great at what he does. I wish every doctor was like him." Smirking, she added, "I heard him laying into you and your coworker earlier—"
Emily chuckled at that description, "That's one way of saying it." She replied sardonically.
Laurie smiled apologetically, "He's just been through a lot recently and victims of violence get to him."
"Why?" Emily prodded curiously.
"That's not my place to tell." Laurie shrugged apologetically, "Now, I've listed here a list of references for psychiatrists. Dr. Nielsen also gave me a list of Physical Therapists—JJ will need one she's comfortable with."
"He said starting next week?" Emily asked, hoping she was remembering right. "That she needed to let her leg heal?"
Laurie nodded, having sat in on Dr. Nielsen's instructions after he reset JJ's hip. "That's what he said. If you have any questions, you can give him a call. He's horrible at calling people back, so just keep calling him until he answers."
Emily smiled, grateful for that piece of inside information. Laurie turned the page of the large folder, "Now you'll see that you've got space for putting in JJ's improvements, her schedules, goals for the week, etc."
Looking over at Emily sadly, she added, "I'm sure the doctors have talked to you about getting her to eat, but start off small. If you try to force her to eat too much right off the bat, it could kill her."
A look of horror crossed over Emily's face at the social worker's bluntness.
Laurie grimaced apologetically, but continued on her informational setting. "Start off with a lot of options, but don't expect her to eat a lot. She obviously needs to eat something, but just start off slow."
Emily nodded and gulped as she felt the weight of the situation being placed squarely on her shoulders.
Flipping to another page in the book, Laurie's voice dropped softly, "Now for JJ's protection, you're going to have to keep certain things away from her."
Emily nodded, easily remembering the incident that just happened that morning, "I have a gun safe," She blurted out.
Laurie smiled encouragingly, "That's good. But it's not just guns. I've seen the marks on her wrists, so I would advise you to move all of the knives: hide them, lock them up, or even better—get rid of them entirely. Pills should be locked away."
"Pills?" Emily asked, feeling slightly overwhelmed.
Seeing the familiar signs that this was all becoming a little too much, Laurie smiled comfortingly, "It's okay. It's just that when women commit suicide, they usually use pills or something like that. Since JJ has an obvious history of slitting her wrists—what appears to have been multiple times—I'd watch out for the knives. It's less common for a woman to attempt suicide with a gun, but still entirely possible." At the odd look on the other woman's face, Laurie pressed for more information, "Why? Has JJ done anything that indicates she might be prone to suicidal tendencies?"
Emily shook her head quickly—too quickly for the other woman's adept lie detection skills to be settled with that answer.
Searching Emily's face for any signs of deception, she eventually relented. "Alright. If she started exhibiting signs that she might try and commit suicide, call me immediately." She flipped back to the first page and pointed to her phone number, "I need to know that you can do that."
Emily nodded, "Of course I can."
Laurie smirked, "Will you?"
The question threw Emily for a minute, knowing that she was deceiving this woman right now by not informing her of the incident that morning. Emily nodded, "Yeah, I will."
Smiling, Laurie stood. "Good. I'll keep in touch with all of her doctors—that way I can keep everyone on the same page. I'll set up appointments to meet with JJ weekly."
Emily smiled gratefully, "thank you for your help."
Laurie waved her off, "It's my job to help. Let me say goodbye to JJ, and I'll be out of your hair for a little while at least."
A sharp knock, followed by Garcia's abrupt entrance surprised the two women in the kitchen.
"Where is she!" Garcia demanded, dropping several large bags on the floor as soon as she spied JJ on the couch.
"Penelope—wait!" Emily grabbed her arm quickly, pulling Garcia back from running to JJ who still sat huddled on the couch. "You're going to scare her."
"I'm as gentle as a kitten." Garcia snorted good-naturedly, "If Hotch didn't scare her, then I'm not going to."
Emily glanced to Laurie who crossed her arms in amusement and shrugged. "She has a point." Laurie smirked, well remembering the intimidating man she had met only a few hours ago.
"Just—" Emily tried to caution but couldn't find the words to describe the way she felt JJ needed to be handled, "Just be careful."
Shirking Emily's hand from her shoulder, Garcia smiled triumphantly. "I brought presents!"
Laurie smiled and picked up her bag, "I think that's my cue to leave. I'll keep in touch." Stepping around the couch to where she knew JJ could see her, she smiled warmly. "Goodbye JJ, I'll probably see you tomorrow." Quickly striding back towards the door, she paused for just a moment before whispering to the eclectic FBI tech, "you're just what she needs, but you might want to approach slowly" before letting herself out.
Almost faster than the speed of light, Garcia forced herself to slow down as she took her place at JJ's side, "Pumpkin!" She exclaimed with tears in her eyes as she enveloped JJ in a warm hug. She choked as she felt JJ stiffen at the contact, but refused to relent until JJ relaxed. It took only a few seconds before JJ breathed a quick sigh and relaxed in Garcia's arms. "I brought you something Gumdrop," She blinked back tears at JJ's appearance and quickly gestured for Emily to bring the bags that were discarded by the front door.
"Hotch—he said he was going to stop by your old apartment for some clothes—but I thought you might like some comfy jammies and treats to get you through until then."
Emily plopped down on the couch across from the other women, watching Garcia pull out a wide range of pajama sets—varying from large thick sweats, to a bright neon green set with giant yellow fireworks.
"Hotch told me you had lost a little weight." Garcia explained as she draped a bright pink t-shirt over the pile on JJ's lap. "So I figured I'd get you some of every size. Just to be safe." She patted JJ's leg comfortingly. "I'll bet you'll be glad to get out of these ugly drab hospital scrubs." She insisted, pulling a face at JJ's maroon garb.
JJ intently traced the starred pajamas, awed at the warmth the light fabric provided.
"Aaand—" Garcia bounced in her seat excitedly, "I found this!" She shoved the small packaged item into JJ's hands.
"What's that?" Emily scoffed at Penelope's excitement.
JJ held it up, her eyebrow arched perplexedly as she studied the small package in her hands. "A nightlight?" Emily looked to Garcia quizzically, completely flabbergasted that the tech would have gotten JJ such an appropriate gift without knowing it. Emily couldn't easily forget the night before in the hotel room, and felt a burst of pride at Garcia's thoughtfulness.
"Not just any nightlight—" Garcia snatched the item out of JJ's hands, turning it over for Emily to see, "A LAVA LAMP nightlight." She squealed excitedly. Opening the package in one swift motion, she held the light out to JJ. "When I saw it, it just spoke to me. How cool is that?"
"Pretty cool." Emily nodded, forcing her emotions aside as she remembered JJ's horror the night before.
For now JJ was home, and that had to be enough.
Translations:
Él vendrá a buscarme." - He will come looking for me.
Con Manuel/Emily - With Manuel/Emily
"Ella no es seguro." - She is not safe. (Though, as I point out in the story, 'seguro' means certain, safe, sure, etc.)
"Soy peligrosa." - I am dangerous.
"Manuel viene a por mi." - Manuel is coming for me.