It was their second night in Alabama, and Alex found herself strangely exhausted by the pace that they moved at, as it was much different than the pace she normally worked at. Her brain was alive, though, with all the connections she was making, and the buzz was electrifying. Still, she couldn't help but feel like they were all behind the eight ball by the time they returned to the hotel that evening.

"Is it normal to feel this exhausted?" she asked as she peeled off her blazer and hung it up in the closet so that it wouldn't wrinkle.

"Pretty much, yeah. I felt like I was running on empty for the first six weeks after returning from maternity leave. But eventually you get used to the pace once more. Do you want to hop in the shower first? I'd really like to call home to Will and Henry before it gets much later."

Alex nodded as she rummaged around in her bag for her toiletries, grabbing her pyjamas before making her way into the bathroom and closing the door. She had read an email from James last night before going to sleep, telling her that he was doing well in Gabon, but that it would most likely take him longer than anticipated before wrapping up his stint there. That had been disappointing, especially because she couldn't call him, now that she was out in the field. Peeling off her clothes, she let them drop to the floor before stepping into the shower and turning the water on. JJ was lucky that she was able to call her partner, since they were only separated by an hour, rather than the seven that now separated her and James.

As she washed her hair, Alex sighed, hoping that she might get a call from James's friend, but not anticipating that. Especially since a midnight call would be eleven for her now, if the friend was in her regular time zone. Shaking her head of those thoughts, Alex finished up her shower and then turned off the water, wrapping a towel around her body before turbaning another around her hair. After drying off her legs and arms, Alex worked lotion into her skin and then changed into her pyjamas before folding up the towels and making her way back into the main room.

JJ was still on the phone with her family when Alex dropped onto the free bed, grabbing the book she'd selected from the meager selection that had been left behind from previous guests and starting to read, ignoring as best she could what JJ was saying, so as not to eavesdrop. Soon enough, the conversation was over, and JJ then plugged her phone in before heading into the bathroom, closing the door and stepping into the shower. Alex chuckled a little when she heard the younger woman start to sing off key, the flaw endearing her to Alex, since she had thought she was perfect. The small flaw made her less intimidating, and Alex let out a small puff of breath as she snuggled into the mattress as she tried to lose herself in the book.

She had become so engrossed that she hardly noticed JJ come back into the room, though she did blush a little when she caught sight of the fact that the woman had changed into a skimpy camisole and shorts. "I am going to fall right to sleep, so have a good night, Alex."

"Thanks, JJ." She gave the woman a small smile before continuing on with her book, finding her mind still a bit too wound up to go to sleep just yet. The quiet of the room settled into her bones and so it was a shock when a few hours later that silence was broken by the sound of her phone ringing. JJ groaned a little as she sat up, and Alex scrambled out of bed. "Sorry!"

"Who is calling you at midnight?" the woman groused, and Alex made a little sound of confusion as she picked up her phone and answered.

"Give me one moment," she hissed into the device as she hurriedly jogged over to the balcony and let herself out onto it, sinking down into the chair in the far corner of the balcony, shivering a little as the cool wind caressed her body. "Sorry, I'm out in the field and sharing a room. Why are you calling so late at night, James?"

"Sorry, this isn't James, it's me again. I heard that you were in Alabama, so I thought I'd try to keep a normal schedule for you. How are you doing on your first case back?"

Alex relaxed a little as she settled deeper in the chair. "It's going well. Do you mind if I set you down for a moment? I want to grab a blanket for our talk, as it's cooler than I expected out here."

"Of course, Alex."

She smiled a little as she set the phone on the table next to the chair and hurried inside, glancing at JJ's bed, hoping that she had fallen back to sleep. From the delicate snore, it appeared that she had done just that, and Alex quietly grabbed the quilt off her bed and dragged it outside before sinking back into the chair once more, wrapping the fabric around her body before picking up the phone and speaking once more. "Sorry about that wait. What time is it for you?"

"A little after one."

"So you are back home."

"I am on the East Coast, yes. I had forgotten that Alabama was an hour behind us."

Alex let a soft chuckle escape her lips as she nodded. "You could have called at midnight your time. I mean, when I eventually head out to California, or God forbid, Hawaii, the time difference is going to be killer for you."

"I will make it work, don't worry about that. Now, this case?"

Alex let out a deep sigh. "I feel like I'm holding the team back. I'm slower with my responses, and I just don't feel like I'm up to par. I feel like I'm a community theatre player stepping into a professional stage show that's already opened, and I don't know my lines."

"Have you talked to anyone on the team about the way you feel? Like you unit chief?"

She shook her head a little before looking up at the moon. "I don't want to admit that I'm floundering? Because they expect me to be good, to keep up. I worked so hard to get to a point where I could be considered for this position once more, that it makes me feel like I'll be asked to leave before I can really show my worth."

There was a brief pause before the woman on the other line answered, and Alex tightened the quilt around her shoulders as she waited for the reply. "I think that you're being a little too hard on yourself. You have the skills necessary to be a success with the BAU, otherwise they would never have accepted your resume, correct?"

"Yes."

"Then, you have to start trusting yourself and have a little more confidence. You are worthy of being where you are, and I think that you know that deep down. How much sleep have you gotten while there?"

"Last night was rough," she admitted, thinking about how unaccustomed she was to hearing another person in the bedroom with her. James and she had existed in a Skype marriage for so long that it was odd to hear the soft noises that JJ made in the night. "I mean, it's not like JJ talks in her sleep, or anything like that, but the small, quiet, noises that she makes have just thrown me off a little. She's asleep already, so it will be interesting to go back in there and try to drift off myself."

"This could be practice for when James comes back to you."

The woman had a point, and Alex nodded as she rubbed her lips together. "That is a good point. I just don't want her to feel bad about keeping me awake. And I assume that she's accustomed to Emily being her room partner."

"Oh?"

"Yes. And this is going to sound like I'm judging her, or like I'm a prude, but she's a little more open with her body than I anticipated. Or I'm a Victorian grandmother for wearing a lounge pants and a long sleeve nightshirt. But I felt like I was ogling her for noticing the fact that she was in short shorts and a camisole."

The woman laughed a little. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't giggle at your discomfort, but how old is this JJ?"

"If I had to guess, she's probably just thirty? Or else she has a baby face."

"That's the crux of the matter, then. She's young and free. But just because you took a look at what she's wearing doesn't mean that you're ogling her. That would involve staring at her long enough to make her feel uncomfortable, and you do not seem like a person who would do that. So, to distract your mind from that, how close do you think you are from catching the bad guy?"

Alex let out a long, defeated, breath. "It feels like we're no closer tonight than we were yesterday. JJ keeps saying that it will be better when Garcia is back from London next week, since she's faster at the searches than Kevin is, but I don't see how that will make that large a difference."

"You'd be surprised. If this Garcia is the normal person they work with, there is probably a rapport there that helps everyone to cut unnecessary fluff."

"I didn't think about that. Thank you." She paused a moment. "You know, I've been talking a lot about myself, but you haven't really said anything about yourself. What's going on in your life?"

"Things are a little stressful, I won't lie. That's also why I called you, since I wanted to distract myself from my personal problems. I have a small issue at work that is bleeding into my private life, and I don't foresee a solution to the problem coming any time soon. I keep chipping away at the issue, but I just can't seem to get anywhere. I know that I have to give it time, but it feels like the amount of time has been more than sufficient. And for a normally patient person, having this impatience burning in my chest is odd."

There was something familiar about that word cadence, and Alex frowned a little before shivering in her chair. "Well, every problem has a solution, even if it isn't one that we want to admit is correct. Try to give it some more time. I miss James."

"And I miss my partner. But he's away on a business trip, so I have to wait until he returns. But it is nice when he does come back."

A slight blush stole across Alex's face before she replied. "I understand that feeling very well. When James comes home from his MSF assignment, we very often don't leave bed for a whole day. Or at least, we used to. Now, it feels like we're going through the motions of a marriage, and I can't find a way to bring that spark back to us. I don't want to admit that I'm settling into a friend love with him, even if that's what it feels like."

She yawned after saying that, vaguely hearing the woman sigh on the other end of the line. "Well, there is that song by Adele, right? About how sometimes love lasts and sometimes it hurts. Perhaps this is one of those periods of hurt. You'll never know until you talk to him."

"Again, you have a good point. And I'm sorry to cut off this conversation, just when it seems like we were getting somewhere, but I am about to fall asleep. I'll give thought to the things you suggested, thank you."

"Any time, Alex. Sleep well."

Once more, before Alex could reply, the woman had hung up, and she frowned at the phone as she bundled the quilt up in her arms and made her way back into the room, plugging her phone in to charge before turning it on silent and collapsing on the bed, barely having time to turn out the lights before she fell asleep.