So I know I said this story was going to be all fluff, but I just COULDN'T resist a little bit of angst/drama. One of my favourite episodes ever is Minimal Loss and I always planned to include it in a story if I could so I just had to do it now! Obviously it's going to go a little differently than the episode (because JJ isn't travelling with the team). I hope you guys will like it and don't hate me for the end!
Thanks so much for reading! -J
Chapter 3
"So Reid and I are heading to Colorado tomorrow," Emily told JJ as she sat down with the blonde after dinner Tuesday night once Alex had gone upstairs to finish her homework. "We're going with Social services to investigate a child molestation accusation on this ranch of a religious cult," she explained. "Social services got an anonymous call with the accusation, so we're going to help interview the kids."
"So you're going undercover? With Reid?" JJ asked, trying not to sound worried. "Is it…I mean is it dangerous?"
"No, no of course not," Emily quickly assured the blonde, beginning to massage her feet, which were sitting in her lap. "We're just going to help Social Services. We'll talk with the kids and see if anything seems off and get a read on the situation. Hopefully help shut it down."
"Will you be gone long?" JJ asked her eyes closing as she began to relax.
"Probably just the day," Emily replied. "Two tops," she shrugged. "It's really not a big deal though so don't worry okay? I will be back before you know it."
"I'll hold you to that," JJ smiled, squinting one eye open to see the brunette smiling back at her. "Did you tell Lex yet?"
"No, but I will when I go up there," Emily answered. "Gotta warn her she may need to bunk with you tomorrow night if I don't make it back," she laughed.
"Warn her? Like she hates it or something?" JJ said mocking hurt.
"Oh no that's not what I'm suggesting at all," Emily teased. "I'm sure our daughter loves sharing a room with her mother."
"I like the sound of that," JJ smiled, ignoring the brunette's teasing.
"What's that?" Emily asked in confusion.
"Our daughter," JJ replied, her grin getting even wider, making Emily smile as well.
"Well she is our daughter," Emily said. "We may not have had her together, and we may not have been there every step of the way, but she's ours," she smiled. "She loves us and she's happy. I'm happy. Because I love our family."
"I love our family too," JJ agreed, her smile getting even bigger. "I love you, and our daughter, and I can't wait to meet our son," she said, leaning forward, and pulling the brunette towards her and into a kiss. "You've made my life pretty damn amazing Emily Prentiss. I hope you know that."
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From the moment the first shot rang out, Emily was on high alert; her heart beating fast as she followed the rest of the women and children with Reid by her side, while the men on the compound grabbed their own guns and began shooting at the officers attempting to raid them. She could see the panicked look on the social worker's face; the confusion and fear on the faces of the other people gathered together in the basement. She hadn't expected this. She thought today would be easy. She didn't think there would be any danger, and yet she found herself surrounded by the sounds of gunshots and eventually barricaded inside with a cult full of angry men.
She did her best to remain calm; trying not to think about how this day could possibly end. She tried to come up with some sort of plan in her head even though she knew it was useless since she was unarmed; Reid watching her carefully, with big, worried eyes of his own.
Just when the brunette didn't think the day could get any worse, Benjamin Cyrus came in demanding to know which one of them was the FBI agent. Sharing a look with Reid, Emily could see the fear on the young genius' face as he tried to claim that he didn't know what the cult leader was talking about. As she considered her options, Emily knew she couldn't let Reid take the fall; knew she needed to protect her partner and friend. So before she really had a chance to think about it, she heard herself confessing to being the Agent, telling Cyrus that it was her, and not Reid, who was with the FBI.
Cyrus dragged her into another room by her hair, his anger obvious, as Emily did her best to control her fear, as she could feel herself shaking. She knew by now that the team was somewhere nearby; somewhere outside listening to what was going on inside. Knowing the team would rush inside if they thought she was in serious trouble, Emily took the first hit as best as she could.
"I can take it," she said; just before Cyrus hit her again, knowing that whoever was listening in would understand she was not simply mocking Cyrus, but rather letting them know that she was okay. "I can take it," she repeated after being thrown into the mirror, feeling blood running down her arm and her face.
"I can take it," Emily whispered to herself, once the beating had stopped, and Cyrus left her on the floor, shaking and in pain. At this point the profiler wasn't even sure how long she had been inside the compound, but she knew it had been hours. As she lay there, praying that the team would come up with a plan soon she let her thoughts fall to Alex and JJ. She had no idea if either one of them knew the trouble she was in by now and she wasn't sure if she wanted them to know or not. "I love you Jennifer. I love you Alex," she whispered, hoping she would get to tell them both again soon.
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JJ was bored. The blonde had spent the morning doing loads of laundry; washing all the new baby clothes she had acquired and taking her time folding them and placing them in the nursery. Sitting on the glider in the baby's bedroom, the media liaison had allowed herself some time to simply bask in the fact that soon she would be sitting here with a tiny baby in her arms; barely able to contain her excitement. JJ couldn't wait to meet her son, and with Emily and Alex by her side she wasn't feeling the least bit nervous about becoming a new mom.
But as the day wore on, JJ's excitement began to fade as she ran out of clothes to fold, and she had a difficult time finding things to occupy herself with. Once again wishing she could be working, the blonde began wandering around the house, stopping briefly to bother Sergio, who had been hiding in Alex's room.
Desperate to kill time before Alex returned from school, JJ eventually made her way to the family room, plopping down on the couch and turning on the TV. Deciding to occupy herself with some daytime talk shows, the blonde was flicking through the stations when a news headline caught her; dropping the remote as she felt her stomach do a nervous flip.
"I'm standing here in La Plata County, Colorado, where State Police just attempted to raid the compound of an underground religious cult, just 1 hour ago. We've been told that shots were fired from inside the compound as police tried to get control of the situation; eventually pulling back in order to collect their wounded," the news reporter explained, as JJ felt her blood pressure rising. "It is believed that there has been at least 1 fatality within the compound, and the property is now surrounded by police, as well as the FBI."
No longer hearing anything the man on the television was saying, JJ picked up her phone, her hands shaking as she hit Emily's speed dial. "Please pick up, please pick up," JJ whispered, feeling tears stinging her eyes. "Damn it!" She exclaimed when the brunette's voicemail picked up. "No, no, no," she said, pinching the bridge of her nose as she dialed Garcia's number instead, knowing her friend would be unable to ignore her.
"Garcia," the technical analyst picked up after the second ring, obviously not checking her caller-id as her formal greeting indicated her anxiety.
"Pen," JJ answered, her voice quavering. "Have you talked to them? Are they okay? Is she okay?"
"Oh God Jayje," Garcia replied, obviously not expecting the blonde. "How did you even know already? The team left as soon as they heard."
"It's all over the news," JJ explained, glancing at her television screen. "Do you know anything? Are they okay Garcia?"
"I don't know," Garcia replied, wishing she had better news. "We don't know anything except that they're definitely inside," she explained. "The guys should be there soon. They're supposed to call as soon as they're on site and I'm searching everything I can on this Benjamin Cyrus and his followers."
"Okay well what can I do? I need to get over there, I need to do something," JJ began rambling nervously, already standing from the couch even though her legs were shaking. "I'll be there as soon as I can, I'll…."
"No," Garcia quickly interrupted. "No Jayje you need to stay home," she said. "I know you're scared and I know you want to help but you know what the doctor said. You need to keep your blood pressure down and somehow I don't think working on this case is going to do that."
"And sitting here waiting to hear if my girlfriend and best friend are alive is?" JJ demanded, her eyes once again filling with tears. "I can't just sit here by myself not knowing anything Pen."
"Okay listen to me Jayje," Garcia said, trying to keep her voice calm and reassuring. "I know you're freaked but you need to stay there. At the very least you shouldn't be driving right now," she said. "I will get some of these searches going, wait for the team to call and then I will pack my laptops up and I will be there as soon as I can okay?" She asked, JJ remaining silent. "We should be there when Alex gets home. Okay?"
"Okay," JJ replied shakily. "You'll call if you hear anything before then?"
"I promise," Garcia replied, her usual cheeriness absent from her voice.
"Okay," JJ agreed with a sigh. "But Garcia? Please hurry."
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"Garcia are you with JJ yet?" Hotch asked the technical analyst through the phone over an hour later.
"I'm just pulling into her neighbourhood now," Garcia replied, her phone on speaker. "I'll be there in a few minutes. Why?"
"I need as much as you can on this Cyrus guy as soon as you get there," Hotch ordered. "And do what you can to keep JJ away from all of it. We've got listening devices being delivered as we speak but the last thing I want is JJ hearing something that's going to add to her stress," he said. "And do what you can to keep her away from the TV."
"I'll do my best sir," Garcia replied nervously, having no idea how to do that. "I'll call you back in a few minutes," she said before hanging up.
Pulling into the Prentis-Jareau driveway, the normally bubbly blonde moved as fast as she could, grabbing all of her things and heading towards the house; barely reaching the doorbell before the front door was thrown open revealing an anxious looking JJ.
"Thank God," JJ huffed, ushering her friend inside. "What do you know? Anything? There hasn't been anything helpful on the TV at all. Are they okay? What's going on Garcia?"
"Okay Jayje calm down," Garcia said, leading her pregnant friend into the family room, wanting to get her sitting down since she was concerned about how worked up the blonde seemed to be. "Why don't you sit down okay? I don't know anything else yet okay. Hotch called, he said their getting some listening devices inside, and as far as I know Rossi is leading hostage negotiations," she explained. "I need to get my searches on Cyrus sent to Hotch."
"Oh…okay," JJ nodded, sitting down next to Garcia as the technical analyst began setting up her computers. "So we don't…we don't know if they're okay?"
"Not really," Garcia replied, shaking her head regretfully. "But Cyrus has no reason to hurt them," she assured her friend. "As far as anyone inside knows Reid and Emily are social workers. They can't possibly think they're involved in any of this."
"Oh…okay…right," JJ nodded rather emotionlessly, wanting to believe her friend but unable to quell the anxious feeling in her stomach.
Slightly reassured by her friend's presence, and the fact that she now had access to information on her girlfriend, JJ did her best to take deep, calming breaths, barely hearing anything Garcia was saying as she talked to Hotch over the phone. The team had found out that the actual social worker that Reid and Emily had travelled there with had been killed; caught in the crossfire during the attempted raid, a fact, which had left JJ feeling numb as she thought about the fact that, that could have easily been Emily or Reid.
"Alex is going to be home soon," JJ practically whispered some time later, barely able to believe how much time had passed. "I don't…what am I supposed to tell her?" She asked, turning to Garcia, who looked just as nervous as she felt.
"The truth I guess," Garcia replied hesitantly. "She's going to know something's up. Just be honest. She's a strong kid. She can handle this."
"Yeah…but she shouldn't have to," JJ sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt her head throbbing. "She's been through enough."
"I know Jayje, but everything's going to be okay," Garcia said, doing her best to sound confident. "Emily and Reid will know what to do. They'll be just fine," she finished just as Alex came through the front door.
"Hi Penelope!" The teen called as she pulled her shoes off in the foyer, having seen her mothers' friend's car in the driveway. "Hey mum. What are you guys doing? Shouldn't you be at….what's wrong?" She sighed, seeing the looks on both the blondes' faces.
"Oh..uh…" JJ stuttered nervously, rubbing her stomach. "I…"
"What's that?" Alex asked, pointing towards the television, which was still televising the raid; JJ cursing herself for leaving it on. "Wait…isn't that? Oh my God, aren't Mom and Reid there?" She asked, reading the scroll at the bottom of the screen. "What happened? I thought they were just going to interview some kids."
"They were," Garcia replied, seeing that her friend wasn't able to answer. "But there was a raid. The state police apparently chose today to raid the compound and now they're both stuck inside," she explained. "We have listening devices inside and they're both okay. So far no one knows their true identities so it's okay. It'll be fine."
"Okay," Alex nodded, sitting down next to JJ and watching the blonde worriedly. "Mum? Are you okay?" She asked, reaching out and taking her hand.
"Yeah," JJ nodded, not sounding the least bit reassuring. "I'm okay…I just…I would feel a lot better if I could just talk to Emily."
"She'll be okay," Alex said, squeezing the blonde's hand, knowing she needed to believe that for the both of them right now. "Mom's strong. It'll be fine."
"I know, I just…" She began, whatever she was going to say cut off as her attention fell back to the television, as the words BREAKING NEWS flashed across the screen, making the blonde stand from her spot on the couch.
"This just in," the news reporter from earlier said from where he stood in front of the compound, a ways away. "Sources tell us that among the hostages now being held inside the compound behind me is not only a social worker who was here today conducting interviews, but also an FBI Agent, whose identity remains unknown…"
The rest of the reporter's words were drowned out as JJ seemed to become deaf to everything around her; overcome with panic, knowing what this information would mean for either Reid or Emily.
"No…oh no…." JJ whispered, beginning to feel lightheaded.
"Mum?" Alex said, standing up. "Mum," she repeated, the blonde turning towards her slowly.
"I…" JJ began, her heart beating fast. "I…" she tried again, wanting so badly to say something to reassure her daughter, opening her mouth one last time, just before everything went black.
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As she followed the other women and children towards the basement and out of the compound all Emily could think about was finding Reid and getting home. She wanted nothing more than to get home to her girlfriend and daughter and hug them both; knowing she was lucky that she hadn't been hurt more than she was.
Searching for her friend and colleague, Emily wanted to make sure Reid got out before anything happened; still not knowing if anything had happened to him since they had last seen each other.
"Reid. Where's Reid," Emily called when she finally spotted Rossi leading everyone outside.
"We need to get out," Rossi said, knowing what was going to happen and aware that Morgan was looking for the young genius.
The explosion made Emily's stomach drop, still having no idea where Reid was. Her ears ringing, the brunette searched through the smoke looking all over for the youngest profiler.
"Reid," she called, coughing as she inhaled the smoke. "Reid," she called again, finally spotting both Reid and Morgan coming towards her as she let out a huge sigh of relief. Stumbling towards her friends, Emily immediately wrapped her arms around Reid, so relieved that he was okay. "Thank God," she whispered, squeezing Reid tightly.
"I'm so sorry," Reid replied, hating that Emily had been hurt; Emily simply shaking her head, knowing she wouldn't change a thing about the day.
"Come on," Emily said, leading the young genius down the stairs towards where Hotch was waiting; both walking with an arm around the other, not quite ready to let go. As they neared Hotch though, Emily noticed the concerned look on her bosses face, as she once again felt her dread from earlier return. "What's wrong?" She asked.
"Garcia called," Hotch replied, wishing he didn't have to give his agent this news when she was already in such rough shape. "JJ's in the hospital."
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DUN DUN DUN!
Will update as soon as I can! Don't hate me too much!