January 15, 2012- Quantico
"You're right, Penelope. This is excellent," Hotch stated after he took a sip of the hot chocolate Garcia had just made. He was not lying to her; it was absolutely delicious. The technical analyst giggled in glee. "I told you, Hotch. Everyone loves my hot chocolate."
"What's in it?"
"Ah, my dear. A magician never reveals her secrets," Garcia laughed as she put her mug in the kitchen sink. She suddenly heard a knock on the door, which caught both of their attentions. Hotch hesitantly gave her a smile as he suddenly became very nervous of seeing Jack. Garcia walked over and opened the door, allowing Jack to sprint into the apartment towards his father.
"Daddy!" the little boy exclaimed. Jessica rushed in after him and exclaimed, "Jack, remember what I said about your father!"
Jack stopped in his tracks and held out his arms to his father. Hotch leaned over and struggled to pick up his son with the thought I can't even pick up my own child running through his mind. Garcia watched Jessica gasp in horror as she watched an exhausted Hotch listen to Jack ramble about a boy that lived down the street from Jessica.
"Penelope?" Jessica whispered. Garcia turned to her and spotted a stack of official documents sticking from Jessica's purse.
"You already set it up," Garcia gasped, feeling her heart drop.
"He's my nephew and I have to do what's best for him. I called my lawyer after Aaron's trip to the hospital and he started to work at getting me temporary custody of Jack. I need Aaron to sign a few things to make me Jack's guardian until he gets better."
Garcia glanced over to Hotch. "Tell him now."
Hotch looked up with confusion in his eyes. Jack leaned back on to his father's chest and smiled. "Tell me what?" Hotch asked.
Jessica sighed, "Aaron, we need to talk. Jack, sweetie, I know we just got here, but why don't you go across the street with Auntie Penelope and get some ice cream while your daddy and I have a talk. I promise that you can have lots of fun with your daddy after. Ok?"
Jack sadly nodded and slid off of Hotch's lap. Garcia held out her hand to him and said, "Come on, little guy. We can get an ice cream cone that is so tall it can reach the roof!"
"Really? Okee dokes, Auntie Penny!" Jack exclaimed. He pulled Garcia towards the door, allowing her enough time to grab her jacket and her purse. Jack suddenly took off down the hallway and screamed, "Ice cream!" Garcia hurried after him exclaiming, "Slow down, Jack!"
After watching Garcia and Jack disappear down the hallway, Jessica turned and faced her brother in law. His dark demeanor frightened her greatly. She approached him, watching him carefully until he asked, "You are going to take Jack away from me, aren't you?"
"I'm so sorry, Aaron. You can't handle him right now," she whimpered, "He needs a stable environment right now and you can't give him that." She expected him to argue back, but received no emotional response from him.
Come on, Aaron. Fight me on this, she thought, this is your son.
"I understand," he answered quietly. Jessica walked over and sat on the stool next to him.
"Aaron?" she called out. He did not respond as his eyes fell on to a photograph of Haley and Jack. Jessica put a hand on his cheek and felt a tear run down her face.
Ten minutes later, Garcia entered the apartment with a bouncy Jack finishing his scoop of ice cream. She found Jessica and Hotch sitting next to each other near the kitchen island. Hotch was staring at a spot on the ground while Jessica was rubbing his arm and wiping away tears from her face.
Jack held out his ice cream cone toward Jessica and Hotch. "I got choc-ate with spri-kles!"
Jessica suddenly stood up, wiped her face, and stated, "Jack, we actually need to go-"
"Wha-, but Auntie you promised-"
"I know, sweetie, but your Daddy is sick and actually needs his rest so he can get better," Jessica stated. She picked him up and said, "Say bye to Daddy."
"Bye Daddy," Jack said. Hotch kissed him on the forehead and sadly said, "Bye, Jack."
Jack continued to wave to Hotch as Jessica picked up her purse and carried him out of the apartment. After a moment of silence, Garcia turned to Hotch and said, "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm ok. I'm just going to go take a nap," he stated. He walked over to his bedroom door as Garcia sat down on the couch. She settled back into the pillow and called out, "I'll be here if you need me."
Hotch nodded, "Thanks, Penelope," and closed the door. Garcia nervously bit her lip and opened her computer screen to call the team.
San Francisco
JJ was half listening to Reid when Garcia suddenly appeared on her laptop via webcam. JJ turned in her chair and faced the computer screen while asking, "Penn, did something happen?" JJ suddenly felt her team mates crowd around her and the laptop.
"No, nothing happened. I mean, I guess Hotch is in a really really dark place so I called Jessica. I gave her an update and now….she wants...to…take...custody of Jack away from Hotch." Garcia felt herself shrink in her seat as Prentiss exclaimed, "She wants to do what?"
In a very small voice, Garcia repeated, "She wants temporary custody of Jack until Hotch gets better."
Morgan threw up his hands in the air in annoyance. "Baby girl, why did you that?"
"Derek, that's what you told me to do!"
"I told you to keep her updated, not have her try and take Jack away!"
"I didn't tell her to-"Garcia stated, but was caught off by Rossi who said, "Ok, Garcia. What exactly happened?"
"She spoke to her lawyers and is in the process of getting temporary custody of Jack. She was just over here to get Hotch to sign over Jack and he did it with no fuss."
JJ leaned against the table and said, "Loss of interest- this is bad. Garcia, where is he?"
"He just went to take a nap."
"Ok, you have to watch him carefully. Ok?"
"Don't worry; I will."
Reid finally spoke up, "I think removing Jack is a good idea. His mom just died and now his dad is falling apart. Maybe sometime away…."
"So now he has nothing. Why would you say that, Reid?" JJ barked.
" I think that's the best way to go and that's my position. Hey, it's something! This just proves Morgan was right to send Hotch home."
Prentiss jumped in, "He didn't send Hotch home. He called Strauss to drag him home-"
"It was the right thing! We shouldn't have even let him on the plane here!"
JJ narrowed her eyes at Reid, " In case you didn't notice, he was our boss at the time and I personally didn't want to get fired. "
"The doctors should have done something," Morgan added. Outside the conference room, their argument was beginning to draw attention from police officers.
" They did; they ran a psych exam and he passed it," Rossi stated.
"He's a profiler, Rossi. He found a way around it. Your plan of just hanging around and acting like everything is ok, is working excellent by the way," Morgan retorted sarcastically.
"Hey, I came up with something. I didn't go tattle to Strauss without having the balls to step up and say something to Hotch!"
"Watch your tone, I am your boss now-"
"Guys, stop it!" Garcia yelled. All of the agents looked at her in surprise; rarely did Garcia raise her voice like that. "Focus on the case so you can come home!"
JJ sighed and gave Reid a glare. "If you need me, I will be setting up a press conference with the Chief."
After JJ left, Morgan took a breath and looked at Reid and Rossi. He said, "Reid, go help the Chief and JJ set up a press conference. Rossi, Prentiss, and I will relook through everything; there has got to be something that we missed." He turned to Garcia and said, "Make sure nothing else bad happens, ok?" He clicked off the webcam before she could answer and let out an exhausted, annoyed sigh.
Back in Quantico, Garcia closed her computer screen and closed her eyes. She did not expect to be yelled at like that- she was only the messenger. Garcia grabbed the closest pillow, wrapped her arms around it for comfort, and turned on the TV. She fought off exhaustion for thirty minutes before finally falling asleep with her head on the pillow.
San Francisco
JJ slammed a stack of papers onto a table and put her head in her hands. She let out an annoyed sigh when she heard, "Rough night?"
JJ turned to see the Chief holding two cups of coffee. "We could hear the yelling from the entrance of the station. I take that you guys are having a bit of a rough week, I take it?"
JJ watched Reid sit down across from her and said, "No, well- it's not going well, but…..we need to focus on the case, catch the guy, and go home."
The chief placed the cups of coffee onto the table in front of J and JJJ and asked, "When was the last time that you both slept?"
"A full night?"
"Um, yeah….."
"About a month ago. The BAU has had us moving so fast within the last month that I have barely slept. I haven't seen my son in over a week! Now, the team is falling apart," JJ picked up the coffee, "…don't worry about us. We all are just having a bad few weeks."
"I see. Is Agent Hotchner ok?"
JJ swallowed. "He's recovering. He should be back to his old self soon." As the Chief nodded and turned away, JJ closed her eyes and prayed. Please don't do anything stupid, Hotch.
Quantico, Virginia- Two Hours later
"Oh, huh?" gasped Garcia as she sat up on the couch. Her phone was vibrating on the table in front of her. She reached over, grabbed it, and answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, Penelope. It's me," stated Prentiss. Garcia rubbed her eyes and said, "Hey….hey Emily."
"How's Hotch?" Garcia looked around the empty living room and kitchen and muttered, "Ummm…. Still taking a nap, I think I think I nodded off a little after we last spoke. How's everyone?"
"Just like it was when we last spoke. Angry and bitchy; by the way, I'm sorry if I snapped at you earlier."
"No, it's alright, my dear. Let me go check on him." With the phone talked between her ear and shoulder, Garcia stood up and approached the door. She put her hand on the knob, but froze when something caught her eye. On the counter in the kitchen, Garcia had laid out a towel and placed two kitchen knives that she had washed earlier out to dry.
One of them was missing.