Author's Note: Special thanks to the reviewers of last chapter: zzz-zzz84; Love-B .xo; Lily145; crazyobsession101; foxyfeline; and SparkleInTheSun. Reviews genuinely make my day, so thanks for that. And, as many of you may have been wondering, there IS a reason for the way Reid is acting.
Also, special thanks to brynnifer and littlegreenbottle for beta'ing this all. Thanks guys!
Later, Emily smiled as JJ curled up on the couch and waited patiently for her to turn on one of JJ's TV channels. Briefly, she wondered if letting JJ watch Spanish Soap Operas helped her to focus on speaking in English, but right now, Emily didn't really care. Because if it made JJ feel more comfortable, then that was all that mattered.
Turning on the TV, she didn't need to change the channel as the foreign language resounded throughout the apartment. She smiled as JJ relaxed slightly against the couch cushions, her fingers gently tracing the seams of the couch. Emily handed the remote over to the blonde, knowing that JJ wouldn't want to change the channel, but wanting to give her the control anyway.
A resounding knock at the door startled both of the women inside the apartment. JJ shrank back toward the couch, and Emily quickly stood mentally cursing whoever had decided to interrupt one of JJ's few moments of peace.
Her anger quickly fled when she saw the intruders on the other side of the door were Morgan and Reid. Derek had two large pizza boxes in his hands and Reid stood slightly behind him, shuffling his feet with a case of beer and a two-liter soda.
"I heard you thinking about me from all the way in my apartment and couldn't bear to let you live without me." Derek raised his eyebrows suggestively, holding up the pizza.
"Yeah, right." Emily scoffed, momentarily feeling a surge of gratitude for friends willing to drop everything to help before she even asked. Truthfully, she had forgotten about dinner the last several nights—with JJ's meal replacements it seemed her own dinner had lost importance. "More like you felt bad for stealing my cheeseburger."
Derek blushed slightly that she had pegged him correctly, but shrugged as he brushed past Emily to put the pizzas on the countertop, "You can believe whatever helps you sleep at night."
"This is perfect," Emily grinned, taking note that Reid was still shuffling awkwardly in her entryway while he shut the door behind him, "JJ can have a piece of pizza and one of her drinks before she goes to bed."
"Well, when I save the day, I spare no expense." Morgan shrugged with false bravado.
Emily quickly cut up a slice into smaller pieces and grabbed an Ensure drink for JJ. "Spencer, you can come in you know." She encouraged the wary genius. "We don't bite."
Reid smiled nervously, "Oh, thanks." He shrugged, uncharacteristically short in his response.
JJ watched the interaction out of the corner of her eye, nearly forgotten by the other profilers. She picked up her heavy thermos of water and sipped eagerly.
Emily quirked an eyebrow at Morgan questioning Reid's behavior before shrugging and picking up the items for JJ, "JJ, honey, can we turn off the TV and talk to Derek and Spencer?" Emily asked, gesturing toward the remote.
JJ bit her lip and hesitated, obviously not wanting to say yes but seemingly unable to say no.
"It's fine, Em." Derek shrugged, collapsing on the chair furthest away from JJ. "If it makes her feel better, leave it on."
Reid stood awkwardly just behind the couch, obviously uncomfortable that the only seats available were closer to JJ.
"Here Reid, I'll scoot over." Emily offered, chalking up Reid's hesitation to a desire to keep JJ uncomfortable.
Using Reid's distraction to her advantage, she move JJ's thermos further away and scooted JJ's meal replacement supplement to a more convenient location. JJ's new medications made her thirsty, and if her large supply of water couldn't be easily used, the nutrient rich liquid usually made a tolerable substitute. Emily winced as she momentarily wondered if her method was underhanded, but decided that if it tricked JJ into drinking something that was even healthier for her, she'd do whatever it took.
"Does she have to watch this?" Reid sulked as he took a large bite of his pizza, throwing the plastic silverware Emily had set out onto the coffee table.
"It makes her feel better." Emily shrugged, picking at her own pizza. "If it helps JJ, I don't really care."
"Well, it's annoying." Spencer huffed as he settled into the couch.
Wordlessly, Emily picked up the plate on the coffee table and held it out to JJ, a clear indication of her expectations. JJ grimaced before slowly picking up one small piece and handling it gingerly in her hands.
Satisfied that JJ was at least going to attempt to eat, Emily relaxed slightly. "I can't believe you didn't get a pizza with pineapple." She scoffed to Derek, keeping one eye on JJ at all times.
JJ reluctantly picked at the small piece in her hands, pulling almost imperceptibly small pieces off the already small piece and slowly putting the crumbs in her mouth. Derek smirked as he saw JJ look over to Emily in approval as she ate the small piece at a snail's pace. "Fruit?" He gasped in mock horror, "On pizza? Come on Prentiss, that's disgusting."
"It's delicious." She retorted, basking in the relief of one blissfully normal conversation. "And it's not as disgusting as some of the things I've seen you eat." She goaded.
Reluctantly, JJ picked up the meal replacement drink and sipped slowly.
Derek snorted good-naturedly, "Just because I like my steak rare doesn't mean it's disgusting—it's natural."
"Rare is different from raw." Emily countered. "I think wild animals like their meat cooked more thoroughly than you do."
Suddenly, JJ stood and fumbled to put her ipod on the table before quickly darting toward the bathroom that only she used, silencing all conversation as Emily watched her leave with a mixture of trepidation and concern.
"You're not going after her?" Reid asked, the accusation not hard to detect beneath his words.
Emily shrugged, but both profilers noticed the way she bit her lip knowingly as if wishing she was already by JJ's side. "The doctors said she might have a tough time digesting the food. If she's not back in a couple of minutes, then I'll go check on her."
"But—" Reid sputtered.
Emily turned on him, slightly angered at the obvious skepticism in his voice, particularly considering her own internal dialogue. "Reid, I've been through every single room in this house. The bathroom has nothing in it. I check it every morning to be sure." She added pointedly. "If there's any place that I can give her some privacy, it's in that bathroom."
"In 2009, a sailor attempted suicide by choking on toilet paper." Reid added snidely. "If you really cared about her—"
"Drop it kid." Morgan interrupted, grumbling warningly.
"That's why I time it." Emily retorted as if Derek hadn't spoken, her patience wearing thin, "You think I haven't been doing this for weeks?"
Reid opened his mouth to retort but quickly closed it as he saw Derek's warning glare.
Seconds later, JJ practically ran back to her spot on the couch, her hands stuffed in the pockets of her oversized sweat pants.
Once Emily was satisfied the younger woman had settled back into her secure spot, she stood quickly and retrieved JJ's medication from the locked cabinet. Pulling out the necessary pills, she held out several toward the blonde. "Here JJ."
JJ slowly accepted the pills from Emily's hand and picked up the half-full supplement to drink the pills down with.
Reid, however, was not fooled. He watched as JJ glanced over at the others, a look of relief washing briefly through her eyes that Emily and Derek were still engrossed in their conversation. Reid narrowed his eyes at her. When she caught his glare, she shrunk back toward the couch, ducking her head slightly as she refocused her attention on the TV show in front of her.
"JJ?" He asked, his tone warning. He had seen it too often, too many times to simply let the issue drop.
JJ ignored him, seemingly daring him to either expose her in front of the others or let the issue drop as she raised her fingers to her mouth.
"Swallow it." He commanded sternly, startling the other two from their annoying, albeit witty, conversation.
"Reid—" Morgan warned, surprised at what had set the younger man off.
Knowing the other man had only forced him to come because of his actions earlier that day, Spencer ignored Derek's tone. "Swallow it!" He repeated more forcefully, smirking as JJ's hands dropped from near her mouth.
"Spencer?" Emily asked, not understanding what had set the younger man off.
Reid whipped around, "She's cheeking them! She's not swallowing it!" He insisted.
"Reid!" Derek snapped, watching how the fair blonde began shaking at Reid's assertion.
Emily sighed, sliding over closer to JJ and placing her hand gently on the other woman's shoulder. She too had noticed JJ's increasing agitation, but Reid's accusations that JJ might not be complying with her current drug therapy were more serious than Emily was willing to ignore. "JJ?" She asked softly, trying not to let too much of the disappointment seep into her voice, "is that true?"
JJ gulped and seconds later shrugged, her eyes nervously darting around as if looking for some way to escape.
"JJ, I need to you open your mouth for me so I can check and make sure you took the pills." Emily cringed, knowing that this was something she had to do, but also wishing there was some other way.
Slowly, the blonde opened her mouth, pulling at her cheeks to reveal her gums in a custom that Emily could sense she was much more familiar with than Emily herself was.
"She just swallowed them because she was caught" Reid accused.
Emily smiled at JJ despite the sinking feeling that Reid was more correct than Emily really wanted to admit. Satisfied that at least this vital dosage had made it into JJ's system, she forced a gentleness into her voice, "I'm sorry for not trusting you JJ. Your medicine is just so important that we can't take a risk."
JJ nodded, tuning out the others as she refocused her attention on the Spanish Soap before her.
Emily sighed and turned back to the others, plastering a grim smile on her face. "Sorry."
"It's fine." Derek promised, turning to Spencer and grumbling, "Isn't it Reid?"
"If she's not taking her medications—" Spencer rambled, as if unsettled that the others didn't believe him, "It's a serious problem. 42.3 %—"
"I'll watch out for it." Emily promised, mentally adding another step to the checklist that seemed to grow daily with things she needed to help JJ with. Seeing JJ stifle a yawn as she shifted her weight against the couch, Emily quickly stood and turned off the television. "Alright JJ, it's getting late."
"It's only 8:30." Reid countered obliviously.
"I think it's time for us to go." Derek grabbed Reid by the shirt, forcing the younger man to stand. "Good night Em."
Morgan practically shoved Reid outside, forcing himself not to slam the door behind them. "What the hell was that?" He bellowed as he pushed the lanky genius up against the wall just outside Emily's apartment.
"What?" Reid retorted, feigning oblivion.
"You know what." Derek growled, "Why are you acting like this?"
Reid opened his mouth to retort, but quickly closed it again. "She didn't take the pills."
"That doesn't explain the rest of why you're acting like a jealous five year old." Derek insisted.
"You wouldn't understand." He admitted finally, trying to push Morgan away.
"Try me." Derek ordered, shoving Reid a little more forcefully against the wall.
"This wasn't supposed to happen to her." Reid muttered, dropping his gaze as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
"So it's her fault?" Morgan asked incredulously. "You're blaming her?"
"What?" Reid asked, horrified, "No!" The younger man sighed, "It's just…she was supposed to be okay."
Derek stood unmoving, prompting Reid to continue.
"I just—I didn't think—I've never thought JJ would be the one that needed me." Spencer admitted. "Happy?" He asked impatiently, obviously uncomfortable with the way this conversation was progressing. Truthfully, he hadn't really analyzed his own reaction in depth, partially because he already knew the answer he was afraid to acknowledge.
"And that makes it okay to yell at her?" Derek asked, not willing to let Reid off the hook so easily. Sure the young genius had issues in social situations, but Morgan cared enough not to let this go until he knew for sure what was going on.
"Yes." Reid admitted immediately, "No. I don't know. Just leave me alone."
"Seriously kid, tell me what's going on or I go to Hotch." Morgan warned.
Reid's face blanched at the threat. He debated inwardly, finally relaxing and confessing softly "It's just, hard." He disclosed. "She reminds me of someone. Can I go now?"
Derek released his grasp on the younger profiler. "I'm sorry man, but that doesn't give you free reign to treat JJ like shit." He followed Reid closely. "Some things—"
"Derek, seriously, just leave it alone. Back off." Reid was practically begging now.
"I won't leave it alone. I know it's hard, especially considering JJ's our friend, but we have to be there for her—"
"She reminds me of my mother!" Reid spat. "Now. Just…leave me alone."
Derek sputtered for a minute, surprised. "Reid—"
"No, you don't understand. JJ—JJ was my best friend. And now, she's just like her."
"Kid…" Derek breathed, rubbing his head thoughtfully as if it might provide some sort of guidance for what he should say, "You—"
"No!" Reid turned around, his eyes red as he held back his emotions, "You don't get to be nice to me now. I was wrong. I know it is transference. I know that. I should have seen it coming and recognized the signs…" The younger man's voice hitched with self loathing, "None of the rest of you have made that mistake."
"Reid—we're all dealing with it. Just in our own ways."
"Oh really?" Spencer scoffed.
"Yes really. Haven't you seen that Emily and Hotch act like JJ's divorced parents fighting out some custody agreement?" Derek pointed out. "Or how Rossi has managed to find VICAP interviews to keep him busy for the next thirty years?"
"It's not the same—" Reid groaned.
"Or how Garcia goes home every day and cries for hours? What about how I've been in therapy?" Morgan admitted, grimacing at the look of surprise that crossed the younger man's face. "We all are struggling to deal with this."
Spencer fell silent for a minute, processing the information that Morgan had provided, after a minute, he sighed, "My mom was always sick." Reid murmured, "But when I was thirteen she stopped taking her meds."
Derek stayed quiet, intrigued at the insight Spencer was providing but knowing that he needed to get it off his chest.
"She had a tough time taking her pills too." Reid sighed as chewed his lip thoughtfully, "I—it's seeing her like this. It's JJ. She's not supposed to be like this."
Derek nodded grimly. "You're right. She's not. But she is like this, so are we going to be there for her or not?"
"I don't know if I can." Spencer admitted defeatedly. It wasn't that he didn't want to help JJ, he just didn't know if he could.
"That's okay." Derek encouraged softly, "But the rest of us will be here to pick up the pieces until you do."