10

Derek went skidding down the hall way, straight to JJ's room to check on her.

Upon entering, he was able to faintly make out the bed, though disconcertingly it lacked his friends' presence.

"Damn, damn. Shit. Ow." Said a hushed voice.

"JJ?" Derek asked as he slowly moved further into the room.

"Derek?"

Derek had now moved around to the opposite side of the bed and could see a huddled figure lying on the floor. Quickly he switched on the bedside lamp, which made the room immediately light up.

"JJ? What happened? Are you okay?" he asked moving next to her, but not touching her.

"I… nothing happened. I'm fine."

"JJ. I heard you from my room. And you are in a heap on the floor. What happened?"

JJ looked down. She knew what Derek would say. And she really didn't want to hear it right now.

"JJ…?"

Huffing she answered. "Fine. Fine okay. I really badly needed to use the bathroom okay. Happy? I was trying to get there but I fell out of bed. Happy? And now I've bloody woken you up. Is that what you wanted to hear? That I'm damn useless and can't even get myself to the fricking bathroom to go to the stinking toilet?!"

Derek exhaled heavily. "JJ. You know that that is not what I want to hear. But you need to hear this. You know damn well that you should not be over exerting yourself or risking pulling your stitches, and therefore pushing back your recovery. We came to this house to get you and Emily healthy again. We are here to work together to make sure that happens. And when I say together, I mean it. And you are included in that. That means that you have to listen to us, and we will listen to you. But you also have to accept our help so that you don't hurt yourself.

Do you really want to end up back in the hospital?"

JJ mumbled something under her breath.

"What was that? I can't hear you?"

JJ looked up and had a teeny smirk on her face, saying in a sarcastic tone "I said: No dad. I don't."

Morgan couldn't help but smile back at her. That was the feisty JJ he wanted to see.

"Come on. I'll go get Garcia an-"

"NO! No… please don't. She's sleeping. I just… just let her sleep? Please?"

"But JJ, you want to go to the-"

"Well yes Derek. I clearly do. But we can manage right?"

He looked at her determined face. "Sure thing. Of course we can."

Standing up, he gathered her in his arms and moved them towards the en-suite, flicking the light on along the way.

"Woah that's bright." JJ remarked as she shielded her eyes.

"Yeah, it is a bit. So… how do you want to do this Jayje?"

JJ looked around. Could she really do this? She trusted Derek. But she also hated being as dependent as she was.

"You know what? I can hold it until the morning."

Derek looked down at her and raised an eyebrow. "JJ, you clearly have to go. I'll go get Penelope, you ca-"

"Fine. Fine. Just let me sit down then and put the stool under my legs to support me and then go."

Derek did as he was told and the plan seemed to work okay. She was wearing a nightie which made this whole situation a lot easier.

Taking her back into the main room he went to lay her down but was cut off.

"Wait… I'm… I'm not tired. Do you think that you could just drop me off in the lounge so I can watch some tv?"

"Jay, you should really get some sleep."

"Derek…" JJ began to whine.

"Fine. Fine. But I'll stay so I can take you back to bed if you want to go."

"Deal!"

…

In the lounge Derek propped JJ up on the couch with pillows and turned on the tv before making his way to a chair where he could keep an eye on her and the tv.

Quickly though, he noticed the look of discomfort on her face that she was trying to hide.

"JJ what is it?"

"Urm, ah, it's just… the couch isn't as comfy as I remember it being. That's all."

"Are you sure you don't want me to take you to you room to sleep?"

"Noooooo Derek."

"Fine. Fine. But you need to at least be comfortable."

Carefully he moved the support behind her and slid his own body in, allowing her to get comfortable against him. "Is that better Jay?"

"Hmm. Yeah. You know, you don't make a bad back rest." JJ said with an air of lightness and calm about her.

He smiled. "That's good to know. Maybe I could put it on my CV should I ever need to apply for a new job."

One chuckle escaped her mouth. "Maybe Derek Morgan. Maybe."

Derek thought that he was going to keel over. Had he heard what he thought that he had heard? He wasn't going crazy was he? Maybe JJ was finally letting him in.

Time would soon tell.

O/o

Garcia walked past the bedrooms of two of her friends and saw that they were both empty.

She took a deep breath and tried to quell her fears. Everything was fine. She was sure it was.

Walking down the hallway she saw a flicker out of the corner of her eyes and noticed that the television was on, but muted.

Moving closer, she heard a 'shh' emanate from the darkened room and saw her hunk of chocolate supporting a sleeping JJ against his chest.

She whispered "How long have you been here?"

"I'm not sure. A few hours maybe?"

"How long has she been asleep?"

"For most of that time. She wanted to watch tv but pretty much conked out straight away."

"I see. I was going to start breakfast, but I don't want to wake her. I might go get ready and help Emily get ready as well."

"Sounds good. I'll see you soon Sugar."

Garcia winked and blew him a kiss.

O/o

Over an hour later Penelope and Emily emerged from the hallway to find Derek still on the couch with a sleeping JJ lying against him.

Emily went to sit down on a chair while Garcia busied herself with breakfast preparations.

O/o

Half an hour later JJ began to stir. Opening her eyes, she was met with the warm sun shining in through the lounge window.

"Well good morning sleepyhead."

"Ughh."

"I see you are still not a morning person." Emily said laughing.

"Never will I ever be a morning person." JJ replied rolling her neck so that it cracked a couple of times.

"You still seem tired JJ."

"That's because it's too early to be awake."

"Well, you seemed to have a pretty good sleep. I even heard you snoring Miss Jareau."

JJ mock gaped, her mouth open in shock, and slapped Derek on the leg. "That is very ungallant of you to point out Mr Morgan. Not only that, I do NOT snore."

Morgan laughed "Okay, okay. You don't." He acquiesced, before nodding his head at Emily, making her laugh.

"Deerreeek." JJ whined. "Teasing isn't fear when there is nothing to tease you back with."

"Okay JJ. No more teasing… before breakfast anyway."

"Ah, perfect my little lovelies, you are all up and ready for breakfast."

JJ groaned. "Ugh, I'm not hungry." And then she proceeded to close her eyes in an attempt to go back to sleep.

Penelope looked to her other two friends and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Not again. It felt as though over the last day or two things had come to a grinding halt. Until JJ had the stitches removed, there was very little progress for her to make towards her physical recovery. And because of that, she was very cranky and very moody. There was no way that she could be satisfied and it made the rest of their lives a nightmare when she refused to play ball.

But they couldn't blame her. She had pretty much been cooped up inside the house for a week. Not only that, she had refused to set foot outdoors since the picnic and everyone was pretty sure the lack of fresh air was not doing her any good.

In this moment Garcia made up her mind. They were leaving the house, and going somewhere. Not somewhere crowded. But somewhere different. Anywhere different. JJ really, really badly needed a change of scenery.

"Well too bad Jayje. You have to eat, because you need to have energy for when we go out later."

Emily and Derek looked at Penelope who raised an eyebrow. Still waiting for JJ's reply.

JJ meanwhile, took a deep breath in, then out, and then repeated the process again before replying with "I do not want to go anywhere."

"Well tough. Because you my beautiful friend are acting crabby. Being shut up in this house is starting to have a negative effect on you, so we are going to do something about that. And STAT."

JJ opened her eyes after gulping heartily, and it was then that Penelope could see very real fear in her eyes. Penelope's disposition immediately changed and her eyes softened.

"Jayje, honey, we don't have to go somewhere far, or anywhere where there are lots of people. But you do need to get out."

JJ just turned her head, facing away from her friend.

O/o

Breakfast was slow and time consuming. And after that JJ did her best to extend the time it took to get ready. But alas, no matter how much she tried to make them give up their ideas of taking her somewhere, every time she failed.

Sitting up on her bed, Jennifer Jareau was not a happy camper.

Morgan walked in and decided to sit down and try to talk before they left.

"JJ, can I ask you something?"

"What Derek?"

"Why don't you want to go out JJ? You do realise that you are going to have to brave going out into the big wide world in two more days anyway so that you can have your stitches removed."

JJ looked up at him thoughtfully.

"That's… that's different Derek."

He sighed. "How is that any different?" He knew what she was getting at. At least he thought that he did. So he wanted to hear her say it.

"Derek… please…"

"JJ. It's me. I'm not here to judge."

JJ tilted her head forward and brought her uninjured hand up to cover her face.

"I… I don't want to go out when I'm not me. This isn't me Derek. I am not the person who needs help getting in and out of cars. I am not the person who needs my meals in fricking basically pureed form just so I can bloody eat it easily. I am not the person who needs help to take a shower or to use the damn toilet. I am not the person who needs to be carried around like a child, or pushed around in a wheelchair. In here, in this house I can let it slide, as much as it pains me to do so. But, but out there… in the real world, I can't know or choose how people will perceive me. I can't make it clear to every single person that I come into contact with that this is not who I am. People will look down on me; feel sorry for me. And I don't want that… In here, in my bubble, I am safe. No one can see me as anyone other than who I was before… before… this happened. If I go outside-" JJ started to get choked up "if I go outside then, then this will be real. Because other people will know, and other people will judge. And that will make it real. And, and, and I can't, I'm not ready for that yet. This, this can't be real. This can't have happened to me. This is not who I am. I am not this person. I'm not. I can't be. Derek. This can't be." JJ finished before tears started to flow freely from her eyes.

Derek's chest had been constricting as she spoke. He could feel the pain emanating from her with every word that she said.

He cautiously moved up the bed and moved closer to her, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"It's okay JJ. It's going to be okay."

Hello people who are still reading this. : ) I am very sorry for the long update time. Too many uni tests and assignments. But I really wanted to get a chapter out for you lovely people.

Okay, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for a few certain things that they may want to see? There is still some good recovery time ahead before anything else can happen. I don't want to rush through it, so any particular moments/ conversations/ interactions that people want? Please tell me by any means! It would help heaps! Thanks guys!