JJ could have sworn that someone was following her on her way out to her car. There was something about dealing with the mysteries of life that unnerved her, and she wondered if it stemmed from the fact that she wasn't entirely certain that God was out there and listening to her prayers any longer, since He hadn't been able to answer them back when she was younger and begging for Ros to come back to her.

"You know that he was mentally unbalanced, Jareau. There are no such things as witches and demons and things that go bump in the night," she whispered to herself as she slipped behind the wheel and backed out of her parking space. The entire drive home, though, she kept the music turned up so that she wouldn't lose herself in thought and start to go down a rabbit trail that would haunt her for the rest of the evening.

By the time she had arrived home, JJ had almost convinced herself that imagination and suggestion were the root causes of the case, and she pulled into the garage, closing the door and getting out of her car to take a deep breath of air. April always made her joyous, with the promise of flowers and blue skies and new life. And so, she went inside with a grin on her face, toeing off her shoes before heading up to the bedroom.

Will was fast asleep when she went inside, and she tried not to wake him as she grabbed out pajamas and made her way to the bathroom, figuring that the last thing she needed to wipe away the lingering unease of the case was a long, hot, shower. Turning, she blew a kiss to her sleeping lover before closing herself in the bathroom and stepping into the shower.

She had no idea how much time passed as she washed her hair and body, though she did let the water run cold before getting out. Wrapping a towel around her body, she wiped the mirror clean with another and took a good look at herself. There was still a lingering sorrow in her eyes that she couldn't quite seem to get rid of, though none of her other team members commented on it. Then again, maybe they didn't look close enough to see it. With a long sigh, she dropped the towel and pulled on her tank top and shorts before kicking the used towel into the hamper.

When she went back into the bedroom, Will was still asleep, though he had changed positions, now facing the outside of the bed, which meant that she couldn't cuddle with him, as she found it very hard to be the big spoon. Frowning a little, she made certain to grab an extra pillow as she went past the closet, intent on holding that through the night instead. "I love you," she whispered to the air as she fought to get comfortable and drift off to sleep herself.

Sometime in the night, though, the nightmares came once more. This time, Strauss was replaced with Penelope, and both the woman and her baby were chained to a large rock. As JJ got closer to them, she could see that the infant had ink black hair, and she reached a hand out towards them. The pain of having her hand taken clean off was enough to wake her out of the dream, and she sat up with a gasp, feeling Will stir next to her.

"Did you have another bad dream?" he asked, his accent more pronounced than usual, as if he had been startled awake, too.

"Yeah, I just can't seem to get rid of them. And they're all variations on a theme – my inability to rescue my friends and family." She had learned not to mention the baby, since Will never reacted well when she talked about that aspect, and she felt a little hollow inside at the lie of omission.

"Maybe you need to take a sleeping pill, or something," he replied, turning to face her, his arm coming to rest around her waist as he pulled her flush against him. "I thought I heard that you don't dream with them."

"Yeah, but I also have to be certain I'll have eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. The likelihood of that happening with the life I lead is slim to none." Letting out a deep sigh, she closed her eyes and tried to picture a happier time, when she hadn't had to worry about secrets and lies and hurting the ones she loved.

"I didn't think about that, Jay. Is there anything I can do to get you back to sleep?"

She thought for a moment, and then nodded. "Just hold me until I slip back under. I get to sleep in tomorrow, since it will just be a paperwork day, and we won't be heading anywhere."

"That's good to hear. Maybe we could go out tomorrow night, then, and take Henry to Pizza Express."

"That would be great!" she said as she got comfortable once more, determined not to have any more bad dreams that night.

When the alarm finally went off the next morning, though, she still felt exhausted, like sleep hadn't even factored into the night she had just left behind. Getting up, she stumbled over to the dresser and pulled out fresh undergarments, dressing as quickly as she could before making her way downstairs. Will was standing at the stove, and from the smell of things, he was making pancakes. "I have a mug of coffee already made for you, just take a seat and wait for me to serve you."

"That sounds heavenly, Will," she mumbled out, plopping down on one of the stools as she wrapped her hands around her mug, letting the warmth of the brew bleed into her a little before lifting it to her lips and taking a long drag. "I hope that I didn't keep you up last night, I feel as though I didn't get any sleep at all."

"You really didn't, cher. I tried to soothe you a lot, but you were so restless."

"I'm sorry. Maybe I'll sleep on the couch tonight, so that I don't keep you up. I mean, you do have a shift tomorrow, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. But you don't have to do that, Jen."

She shrugged a little as she poured maple syrup over her stack of pancakes. "I don't want you to go to work tired. I don't want to lose you because of something that I did."

Their eyes met, and she thought she saw a flicker of guilt in his expression before it was buried by the look of love that she had quickly come to recognize. "I can be careful, don't you worry. Now, I know that this is a weird time to ask, but have you given any more thought about making things a little more official between us? I mean, if I were to die in the line of duty, it would be much harder for you to get death benefits, and I'm certain that the same would be true for me if something happened to you."

She didn't like to think about that, and so she shook her head, trying to clear those thoughts from her mind. "You're right, I know you are, I just don't want to think about that right now. I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry for, Jay. It's just something to keep in mind, especially with the jobs that we do." She nodded and turned her focus onto her food, needing to think of something other than the thought of their own mortality.