Chapter 2

Walking out of the conference room, JJ walked to her new office to discover it adorned with her nameplate already attached to the outside door. Striding into her new office full of confidence, she noticed someone had already decorated the walls with framed certificates and awards from her old office. Looking around, she found someone had moved what looked like everything from her old media liaison office 'bitch,' she told herself.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her office door, shutting out the noise from the bullpen. She took a seat behind her desk. Her cell phone started vibrating on her desk, and she lifted it to read her new text message.

'Enjoy your new office, Unit Chief Jareau. I had a new nameplate made for your desk. ;)'

Reading her new message, picking up the nameplate from the front of her desk, she turned it around to read the name.

'Jennifer Jareau BAU Unit Chief'

Knowing everything had been done to make her guilt in Hotch's downfall look irrefutable, everyone understood within the walls of the FBI, things never happened quickly and required the appropriate documents requesting them; a new nameplate took a few weeks as nobody died from not knowing who resided in a specific office. Jennifer checked the time, mentally working out how long she had before the showdown with her team.

"Anytime now, Jennifer." She sighed apprehensively, hoping she had the strength of character to continue down this path of self-destruction and the mental strength to cope with the fallout of her actions. Hearing the dreaded knock on her office door, she knew it was time for the showdown with the team.

"Enter!"

JJ watched as the team walked through her office door with Dr Alex Blake and assembled around her desk, except Alex Blake, who sat on her couch. Repeating to herself in her head, ' Stay strong Jennifer, Stay strong Jennifer.' she locked eyes with Emily, her best friend, to try and centre herself. The look of contempt is evident across the five profilers' faces. Garcia hadn't even bothered attending, noticeably still pissed at her.

"What can I do for you?" she asked her assembled team, knowing why they were here but still hoping she could dodge this particular bullet.

Emily passed over a folder, taking the offered brown FBI folder. JJ opened it, and her heart shattered as she saw the OPR statement she had given last week. 'Bang, Bang,' she felt the double tap on her heart. Shutting the folder, she locked eyes with Emily seeing the hatred for her in them.

Rossi picked up JJ's new desk name plate and showed it to the others. He looked down at JJ, hostility clear on his face, not hiding his hatred for their new unit chief. "Why Jennifer?" he asked in outrage.

She locked her eyes on Emily's brown eyes to gather her needed strength: "I was offered the chance to run this unit properly. Hotch has allowed you to get away with too much for too long. This is the flagship unit of the FBI, and we are responsible for using our experience and expertise to help people. This unit has been allowed too much latitude by its former leader, Elle Greenaway, who is a prime example of his disdain for the rules and regulations he supposedly represents as unit chief. You have each gone rogue, conducting your crusade using the authority of the BAU. That stopped with the removal of Agent Hotchner as the new unit chief. I will not condone any blatant transgressions of the rules. That is why I accepted this opportunity to run this unit. Section Chief Strauss believes, as does the director, that a non-profiler should run the unit. The director and section chief Strauss know the other attributes that make me ideal for running this unit. Things are changing. I am the unit chief. If you can't work with me, let me know tomorrow, and I will have you transferred out of my unit by the end of the day. Stay and cause problems. You will be transferred immediately to some desolate, mind-numbing satellite FBI office. Oh, Agent Rossi, the director and assistant director are 100% behind me, so going above my head to your old colleagues will not work, and I will not tolerate your usual disdain for the chain of command. Any interference will be dealt with severely. Do I make myself clear?" She announced sternly to her team.

"Alex, good to see you. Please come over, and we can talk everyone else back to work," Announced JJ

"Yes, Ma'am!" Emily replied with hatred in her voice.

The barb hurt JJ, but she concentrated hard, trying not to show the hurt she felt at her friend's tone. She cared about her team, but Emily was her extraordinary friend. That's what made her tone hurt more than anything. Emily glared at her, not blinking, silently communicating her disapproval before turning and walking out of her office. Rossi remaind merely scowling at her.

"That will be all, Agent Rossi, unless you want to communicate verbally instead of trying your glare of death on me. Trust me when I say I've seen worse in the media. Your twelve outstanding consults aren't going to complete themselves once you have finished and placed them on my desk; you can go." JJ confidently told the senior profiler.

Looking like he was about to speak, the senior profiler decided against giving the blonde unit chief a piece of his mind. He left her office without uttering a word and decided to pick his battles, needing to talk with the team and Aaron.

"Alex, Hi, please take a seat," smiled JJ

EJ

Rossi joined the others in Garcia's lair after he walked out of JJ's office, his wrath at her actions still surging through his body, making him furious. Taking a seat next to Ashley, he looked up at his fellow team members and sighed,

"What have you planned so far?" Rossi inquired of his team, knowing they had been conspiring with Garcia since discovering the duplicity of Strauss and Jareau.

"I might have asked for a thing to be done to our blonde unit chief. She might experience a few technical problems," smirked Garcia

"Pen, you know she will know it's you. You are going to get yourself into serious trouble. Don't risk your job for petty revenge. We need to do this properly. We will get Hotch back and deal with Jennifer...what did you do?" Smirked Emily, unable to keep a straight face as she looked into the mischievous face of her friend.

"Knowing I did it and proving that I did it is not the same thing, Emily," laughed Penelope. "It would seem some naughty hacker from Manchester, England, hacked our blonde leader's email account,"

"Pen, is that all she has it coming after what she has done? I have a few ideas," Ashley inquired of her analyst friend.

Turning to their newest team member, Morgan shook his head. "Don't encourage baby girl Ash; we need to work out what we will do to help Hotch. I have no intention of her forcing me out of this team. I suggest we carry on, as usual. That is what Hotch would want us to do, and he wouldn't want us to destroy our careers. That said, we are damn well sure to make her feel disliked. She wants her unit to be run 'properly.' So be it." he smirked as he made air quotes and slowly said adequately.

Heads nodded after listening to Derek agreeing to his idea. Rossi looked like he was silently scheming as he sat next to Ashley. Garcia smiled. "We need a code name for the operation so we can openly speak about it in the bullpen; Operation Retribution on Jareau sounds good but doesn't hide its purpose... I know 'Freya.' that's the name of the ice queen from the film The Huntsman Winter War. We can easily slip Freya into the conversation without our blonde stab-you-in-the-back Jennifer Jareau knowing we are discussing her downfall. The deceiver being deceived."

"Let Operation Freya commence. There are only two rules. We do our jobs as proficiently as usual, and I will not allow our issues with Jennifer Jareau and Erin Strauss to interfere with us catching UnSubs. No one goes lone ranger; everything is done under mutual consent. Yes, I know I am usually the one that goes all lone ranger with Strauss, but we need to be smart about this." announced Rossi

The team uttered mutual consent after Rossi finished talking. Operation Freya commenced in Garcia's lair. The first mutually agreed action was to return to work and wrap up things before they left the BAU to visit Hotch at home.

EJ

Looking up from her desk, JJ watched her office door open, and Emily Prentiss walked through the door.

"Yes, Emily, what can I do for you?" smiled JJ, pleased to see her friend. It had been a difficult afternoon for the new unit chief once the news of her new job replacing Hotch had circulated on the sixth floor of Quantico. The blonde unit chief had received calls in person from the three other unit chiefs not in the field at the time. The coordinated visits from the senior agents had consisted of them telling her she was a disgrace for what she had done to Aaron Hotchner. The senior Profilers had taken great pleasure in profiling the former blonde media liaison, pushing just the right buttons and trying to get an emotional response from her. Used to dealing with the jackals from the press, Jennifer didn't respond to her fellow unit chiefs, much to their disappointment; she would do that in the privacy of her own home.

"Ma'am, I would prefer you to use Agent Prentiss. You lost the right to call me Emily when you sold your soul to Section Chief Strauss for a job. We are leaving as instructed. We have closed all open consultations. We will have a team drink, but we have discussed it and feel it is inappropriate for you to socialise with us now that you are our supervisor. Good night, Ma'am," Emily told her former friend in her best dismissive ambassadorial voice.

Unable to hide the hurt from her voice, JJ sighed. "Good night, Agent Prentiss," JJ watched her brunette best friend walk out. A single tear fell from each eye as she watched Emily stride towards the glass doors at the entrance to the BAU.

Wiping the stray tears from her face, she decided it was time to go home. The looks of disgust she received from her fellow agents within the behaviour analysis unit had gotten to her, and it would only worsen.

'Home Time.'

Securing her files, she locked her office and walked toward the elevators to finally close the door on this terrible day.

EJ

Pulling her Range Rover into her garage, JJ turned off the engine, letting her head rest on her hands on the steering wheel. Tears still dripped down her face as she removed her sister's necklace, removed her wedding ring from the chain, and slipped it onto her ring finger. Twirling her platinum wedding band on her finger, JJ started to cry harder. Suddenly, she felt a set of arms around her neck, not hearing her door being opened. Finally, allowing her tears to fall, she released the bent-up emotional stress she had been hiding from her FBI colleagues.

"I am so sorry, sweetheart. Let me get you inside." Erin Strauss lovingly told her sobbing blonde wife.

Hearing the concern in her voice just caused JJ to sob harder. Erin carefully removed her distraught partner's seat belt and helped JJ inside their house. Pulling Erin into her chest, JJ buried her head into Erin's neck as she continued to sob.

"I love you, Erin Strauss-Jareau. I knew this would be not easy, but my best friend hates me [sniff]. I...I can't call her Emily anymore, but what made it worse was that she refused to call me by my name. She used Ma'am [sniff], her reserved tone for dealing with Senator Prentiss. I was prepared for the team's reactions, but Emily..." Sobbed JJ before she had to stop her emotions from getting the better of her

Pulling her wife closer, Erin guided the upset woman into the sitting room and sat her on the sofa. Erin sat beside JJ, pulling her to her side and resting her head on her shoulder.

"I will not allow you to continue with this folly, Jenny. I will resign and let her ruin me; I love you too much to watch you hurt like this because of my actions." Erin replied sternly, using her best stern section chief Strauss voice

"We!- We both knew what we were doing in Afghanistan. Erin, I do not regret protecting that eleven-year-old girl for a second. I will not allow you to fall on your sword. You deserve that promotion to Executive assistant director of the training division. I have an early morning meeting with her so she can inform me about how I run my unit." JJ hugged her wife tighter before continuing, " Rin, I have no idea how to get us out of this dilemma. I would typically talk with my best friend...[sobbing]... She hates me, Rin..," sighed a distraught woman.

Erin moved them to one end of the sofa, got JJ to lay her head on her lap, and started gently running her hands through her hair, knowing it calmed her down. Lovingly, Erin continued running her fingers through her wife's hair until she fell asleep.

"Mom, why was Mama crying?" Asked Yasmin Strauss-Jareau, their sixteen-year-old adopted daughter.

Erin pulled her daughter down onto the sofa to sit next to her, kissing her on her temple. "Your Mama is defending me like she always does. Someone is trying to cause us trouble with work. They think I stole their promotion. Your Mama refuses to let that happen. You know how much she loves us both, and there is nothing she wouldn't do to protect us no matter how much it hurts her." Erin told her daughter as she stroked her sleeping wife's hair.

"Has this got something to do with Me? I heard you both talking, and you used your 'boss bitch voice', as Mama calls it." Yasmin asked, concerned about her mother's

"Language, Yasmin," mumbled JJ

"Sorry, Mama," she replied, leaning down to kiss her.

Sitting up, JJ kissed the two loves of her life beside her. " Yasmin, none of this is your fault, honey; Mom and I had to do certain things to protect you from being hurt in Afghanistan—protecting you from the local opium boss. Your abusive father had arranged with the local drug lord to sell you for him to use as he wanted. We discovered a fellow FBI agent was pressuring him to use you as a present, knowing he was a sexual predator. We couldn't allow that, so we orchestrated your disappearance. With the help of a friend of your Mom, we arranged for you to be brought to the States and adopted you." smiled JJ, remembering the day Yasmin officially became their daughter.

A shocked look flashes across their daughter's face, " I am not really..." Erin interrupted Yasmin before she jumped down that particular rabbit hole

"Oh, sweet Yasmin, you are legally our daughter. Don't you ever think otherwise? We bent many rules while we got you to the States and your citizenship. Bent but never broke; we used our status and jobs to circumvent the red tape completely. Your Mama put you into witness protection," laughed Erin as she remembered JJ's cunning plan.

JJ took her daughter's hand and squeezed it gently. "I am doing this because we are both petrified about them finding out about you. I am willing to be the wicked witch of the FBI and take over from your Mom," smirked JJ. "You, Yasmin and your mother are my two most important people. I love you both so much that I will forfeit everything, even Emily, my best friend, to protect you two. Rin, please let me do this. I will get us out of this somehow," begged JJ, looking at Erin pleadingly

"Who is trying to hurt you?" asked their daughter

The two mothers looked at each other, and JJ nodded her consent to her wife. "Her name is Linda Barnes. She still works for the FBI. She was a rising star destined for the very top. She was destined to be the first female FBI director. Until your Mama and I discovered what she intended to do, using you as a pawn in her plan. We acted quickly and got you out of Afghanistan quickly. Barnes's plan failed miserably. Barnes had promised too much to the FBI and State Department higher-ups. Her failure to produce the promised results sank her career. She knows we interfered with her plan but didn't know we brought you to the States and adopted you. Now she knows we are married somehow. She is manipulating things to seek her retribution. Your Mother refused to let me leave, and she doesn't believe that would satisfy Barnes's hunger for revenge." Erin told her shocked daughter.

Turning Yasmin to look at her, JJ smiled. " Don't be sad, my beautiful Persian princess. I know what I was doing was more complicated than I initially thought, but we will beat her, but we need to play her game for a while. It hurt me a lot when all my friends thought I had done a despicable thing to Hotch, and Emily hated me so much that it affected me more than I thought it would. You, Yasmin, my sweet Persian princess, are my world. I have you and your mom to get me through the hard times. I love you so much." yawned JJ.

"Jenny, go to bed. You have had a hard day and need rest before your morning meeting with Barnes. I have some phone calls and will be up shortly to cuddle. Yasmin, help your Mama up to our bedroom. I don't want her falling asleep halfway up the stairs," Erin laughed as JJ childishly stuck her tongue out.

"Night Rin, I love you so much," announced JJ as she kissed Erin before taking her daughter's arm and strolling up the stairs.

"Love you too. I won't be too long, night, Yasmin," Smiled Erin.

EJ

Today had been hard for Erin, but she knew Jennifer had suffered much more from the fallout. She paused the slideshow on her digital photo frame on her favourite photo of Yasmin, Jennifer, and herself when they had taken the Afghanistan native-born girl skiing. Her daughter's face was fascinated when Yasmin saw the snow up close for the first time. She usually had only seen snow in the distance atop high mountains. Erin smiled when she remembered teaching Yasmin how to make snowballs and introducing her to snowball fights.

"She got you good, Jenny. Your face was hilarious," Erin told herself to try and cheer herself up.

'Emily,' she thought, a small concept started to form in her mind. Turning her wedding ring on her finger as she began to think, Erin Strauss-Jareau found that turning her wedding ring helped her feel.

Erin needed the advice of her lifelong friend, Senator Elizabeth Prentiss. Erin and Elizabeth had encountered each other at boarding school and instantly became friends. Elizabeth knew Erin had married Jennifer after their whirlwind romance. She helped Erin and JJ bring Yasmin back to the States from Afghanistan.

Knowing how much her wife cared about Emily, Erin decided to use The senator as a go-between so she could talk with Emily independently, tell her the truth, and ask her for help. Hoping to tell Emily about Yasmin, Emily knew why Jennifer had done what she had done to Hotch. Erin only hoped her decision to ask Elizabeth to keep their friendship quiet from her daughter wouldn't come back and bite her in the ass, knowing how stubborn Emily could be.

Erin knew exactly what her wife could do after working closely with them during her time at the Pentagon. Watching the capable blonde working in Afghanistan and Pakistan impressed her, and she fell in love with the blonde. Jennifer had surprised her one night by grabbing her face and kissing her deeply.

"How many hints does a girl have to drop to get you to kiss her? For such a bright and beautiful woman, Erin Strauss, you are entirely clueless about how much I wanted you to kiss me." an out-of-breath Jennifer Jareau smiled.

Smiling at the fond memory of the moment her life had become complete, she called Senator Prentiss.

EJ