A/N: Hope you all had a good Christmas and New Year! Thanks to holyjareau for the motivation to write this. Hope you all enjoy! (Nearly at 100 reviews, crazy!)
JJ and Garcia met the rest of the team down at the hotel lobby and all of their eyes widened in shock when they saw JJ's sling. They immediately started firing questions at her.
JJ just held up her hand to try and calm them down. "I'm fine." She said managing to look them in the eye. "I fell down those stairs during the night." JJ said motioning to the stairs they had just come down. "I went to the hospital." She finished. They all looked suspiciously at her until Garcia helped her friend out.
"JJ phoned me from down here and told me what happened and I went with her to the hospital." Garcia said as believably as she could. The team seemed to be less suspicious after that.
"Is it broken?" Morgan asked with a frown.
"No, just bruised and a slightly sprained." JJ said changing her earlier statement to Garcia that it was broken. She figured they wouldn't let her work if she said it was broken.
"Ok, if you need to leave at any point today JJ, just say." Hotch said the worry evident in his eyes.
"I'll be fine." JJ replied quickly. The rest of the team nodded seemingly accepting her story before they all made their way to the headquarters.
"What are we going to do about Hamba and Lafar? You're meeting them later JJ." Emily asked glancing at the rest of the team.
JJ just looked up from her file. "Nothing." She shrugged. "Everything stays the same."
"What do you mean 'nothing'?" Reid asked wide eyed.
"I'll tell them what happened, that I sprained it or I'll spin some bullshit about being involved with something else." JJ said looking down at the file.
"Oh, yeah and what if it goes wrong, how can you protect yourself with a sprained arm?" Hotch asked his voice raised slightly due to the worry he was feeling.
JJ stood up angrily. "I can still handle myself." JJ said and at Hotch's scoff she continued. "I've complete missions with broken bones and bullet wounds." JJ faltered slightly and she saw Garcia look away. "I think I'll be fine with a sprained arm." JJ said cringing inside at the lies.
A phone ringing interrupted Hotch's reply and JJ quickly reached into her pocket knowing it was the phone she told Hamba to call her on if he needed her. JJ put up her finger to silence the team's murmurings and motioned for Garcia to trace and record the call.
"Walsh." She said into the phone.
"Ah, Jessica, I was beginning to think you gave us a wrong number or you had backed out." Hamba voice floated over the speakers on Garcia's computers.
JJ scoffed easily slipping into the role of Jessica. "When have you ever known me to back out of anything?" JJ replied icily.
"True." Hamba chuckled. "Anyway, change of plan, I have something to take care off. I'll call you when we rearrange the next meeting." Hamba said.
"What kind of something?" JJ replied casually, ignoring the team's sighs of relief that she wouldn't be meeting them later.
"None of your business." Hamba replied shortly, his tone sharp.
"Ok, fine. Phone me when you arrange the next meeting." JJ said keeping her voice just as sharp as she hung up the phone.
She turned to the team. "Meeting's off." JJ said even though they had probably gathered that from the phone conversation.
JJ met Hotch's eyes and they both said a silent apology to each other knowing their disagreement was over now.
JJ was on edge for the next few hours. Her wound was causing her pain and she didn't want the team to suspect anything. She made her way to the bathroom and splashed some water over her face. "Get it together, Jareau." She whispered as she looked at herself in the mirror. She jumped when the door opened and Garcia walked.
"Are you ok sugarplum?" Garcia asked softly. She had been keeping an eye on JJ all day to make sure she was ok and it was clear she wasn't.
"I'm fine." JJ said defensively making Garcia hesitate.
"You can talk to me JJ." Garcia said trying another attempt at getting JJ to open up about what she was feeling.
"I said, I'm fine." JJ replied gritting her teeth before storming out the bathroom. She leaned against the wall feeling worse than ever. She hated the way she kept pushing people away, especially Garcia. She kept hurting her but she had to protect her now that she knew more than the others.
She was slipping so easily into the behaviour of her CIA days and it almost annoyed her how easily it was happening. Back then she could hurt anyone without really caring but now the fact that she was hurting the team, absolutely shattered her.
The rest of the day was uneventful and before JJ knew it she was back in her hotel room alone with another glass of scotch in her hands, just like most nights.
All day she had felt the tension building inside her. She didn't know if it was because she was lying to the team, or the fact she could manipulate everyone so easily just like when she was a spy or the fact she had gotten Garcia involved which left her less protected. She had gotten her best friend involved in her mess and that broke her knowing she couldn't fully protect her now. She was angry at herself for that.
The mixture of the alcohol she had consumed and the anger at herself suddenly made her launch her nearly empty glass of scotch at the wall. She watched as it smashed to pieces and the liquid ran down the wall.
"Fuck!" JJ let out a scream before collapsing into the chair. She needed something to numb all of this, she couldn't deal with these emotions. She picked up her phone that was lying on the table and dialled a number that hoped could help.
"It's me. Can you come up?" JJ asked the other person down the phone and they were quick to comply.
A few minutes later there was a knock at the door and JJ quickly downed another glass of scotch and made her way over to open the door.
"What's up, are you-" the man at the door didn't even get the chance to finish speaking before JJ dragged him into the room, pushed him against the door and smashed their lips together.
A/N: Thanks for reading, reviews are much appreciated!