The following morning, Jessica resumed attending classes, aided by both Maeve and her friends. Spencer went in to work, reluctantly accepting that Jessica could manage just fine without him.
Over the next week, Mateo repeatedly came over, ostensibly to study together and help Jessica with other things if she needed it. She was pretty sure he just wanted an excuse to use her TV to watch the World Series, but she didn't call him out on it. He was good company regardless.
On Thursday night, Spencer came out and joined them in the living room. "How's it going?" he greeted.
"Texas is winning," Mateo offered.
"And I only have two more pages in this chapter," Jessica added.
Spencer gave Mateo a critical look. "Why is it that you keep coming here, but this 'Eve' I've heard so much about hasn't come over at all?"
Mateo snorted. "Beats me. We've invited her, but for some reason she seems really freaked out by the idea. Supposedly, she's met you before?"
Spencer frowned. "I remember every friend of Jessica's that I've ever met, and none of them were named Eve."
Mateo gave Jessica a light nudge. "Do you know why Eve is scared of your cousin?"
Jessica sighed. "I keep telling her she doesn't need to be."
Spencer was truly baffled by this. He'd been called a lot of things over the course of his life, but he was fairly certain no one had ever called him 'scary' before. Usually, people were more likely to tell him that he was the least intimidating FBI agent they'd ever seen.
Mateo shrugged. "Well, whatever her problem is, I hope she gets over it." He nodded at Spencer. "You seem pretty nice."
"Thanks," Spencer replied. He glanced over at the TV. "The World Series is basically the Super Bowl of baseball, right?"
"Yes," Mateo confirmed. "This year, it's Texas versus St Louis. Texas is leading three games to two, so if they win tonight, they win the whole series."
"Go Texas," Jessica chimed in, closing her textbook.
Spencer gave her an odd look. "Since when do you care about Texas?"
Jessica shrugged. "Since they're playing St Louis and apparently have never won, ever. My dad waited his whole life to see Boston win the World Series, and they finally won by beating St Louis in 2004. Which ended up being the last World Series Dad ever got to see." She swallowed sadly.
Mateo gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, then looked back at Spencer. "I'm generally a San Diego fan, but they haven't made it to the postseason since I was in middle school, and St Louis was the team that knocked them out. So, I'm happy to root for Texas too."
"And it's the bottom of the ninth inning, so the game's almost over," Jessica added.
Spencer nodded. "Yes, I know the rules. My dad coached Little League." He glanced at the TV again, and had a sudden idea. "Jessica, how do you think the game will end?"
Jessica gave him a strange look. "Hopefully with Texas winning?"
"No, I mean…what do you think the last play will be? Specifically?" Spencer saw that this was confusing her even further, so he elaborated. "I know you've said uncannily specific things in the past that have come true, and that you and Garcia refer to it as 'psychic powers'. I've never really believed in precognition, but this week's case got me thinking—there are many things that science can't yet explain. I'm curious to test your supposed powers of prediction."
Jessica still looked confused. "…okay, I guess." She glanced at the TV, where closed captions showed the announcers discussing the batter that had just struck out. "The last batter will strike out and Texas gets their first championship ever?"
"Okay." They all resumed watching the TV.
"Did you just work a case that turned paranormal or something?" Mateo asked curiously.
"No, our unsub—the killer—was trying to deliberately instigate near-death experiences," Spencer explained.
"Oh." Mateo paused. "I'd say 'neat', but it probably wasn't very neat for the victims…"
"Definitely not," Spencer agreed.
They lapsed into silence as the game continued. St Louis made a good effort, but eventually they were down to their last strike. One more strike, and Texas would win the series…but instead, the St Louis batter hit the ball into play, tying the game.
"Well, so much for that prediction," Jessica commented with a grimace.
"It's not over yet," Mateo argued. "Maybe Texas will regain the lead and win with a strikeout in extra innings."
Over half an hour later, they all watched as St Louis once again came within a single strike of losing the series…and once again, they tied the game instead. "Okay, I take it back," Jessica decided. "St Louis is clearly going to win with a home run."
"Does it still count as psychic if it was your second guess?" Mateo wondered.
"At this point, I'm just trying to reverse whatever jinx I apparently cast," Jessica replied.
About fifteen minutes later, they watched the ball sail out for a game-winning home run, and fans promptly mobbed the ball. "Well, at least Texas might still win tomorrow," Mateo signed with a sigh. He turned to Jessica. "So, what other 'psychic' predictions have you made in the past?"
Jessica glanced down at her bandaged feet. "I once told Spencer not to break a leg, and later that day he got shot in the knee. Another time, I said a girl was going to be the killer's next victim, and then the killer actually abducted her. Clearly, my psychic powers only work if I'm predicting something I don't want to happen…" She looked over at Spencer. "And for that reason, I refuse to participate in any more case studies."
"All right," Spencer relented, mildly disappointed by the apparent failure of his experiment. "Do you want help packing up your books?"
"I'm good, thanks."
On Saturday morning, Jeffrey sent Jessica a message and a photo. She went over to show the photo to Spencer. "Hey, Jeffrey wants to know what you think of his FBI agent costume."
Spencer looked at the photo, and frowned. "We're not required to wear suits like Hotch's. And we don't walk around with sunglasses and ear pieces all the time."
"Should I suggest he dress like Penelope instead?" Jessica asked mischievously.
"Technically, she's not an agent," Spencer replied.
"I know, but now I kind of want to see how he'd react to that." Jessica seriously considered the idea, then dismissed it. Jeffrey would recognize that it was a joke. "I guess I'll just tell him to lose the sunglasses and the ear piece." She sent off the message.
"Do you have any costume plans?" Spencer asked curiously.
Jessica shook her head. "I really don't feel like dealing with the hassle right now. You?"
"Let me show you." Spencer got up and headed into his room. A few minutes later, he returned in a very detailed werewolf costume.
Jessica wheeled herself backwards on mock horror. "Oh no! I'm all out of silver bullets!" She paused, a thought occurring to her. "Wait a minute, is it actually going to be a full moon on Halloween?"
Spencer took off the mask. "No, the full moon was last Wednesday."
Jessica nodded sagely. "No one will see you coming, then. Have fun terrorizing the building!"
On the plane back from Kansas, Reid sat opposite Rossi. "Do I really scare you?" he asked quietly.
Rossi sighed. "I would never be scared of you, kiddo. But that stuff you were saying about downdrafts…" He shuddered. "Word of advice: when a person is nervous, the last thing they want is for you to give them something else to be nervous about."
"I'm sorry." Reid looked down at the table. "I just meant that the turbulence wasn't something to worry about."
"And you should have left it at that."
"Sorry." Reid swallowed. "But you don't think I'm a scary person?"
"No, of course not." Rossi gave Reid a considering look. "What's brought this on?"
"One of Jessica's new friends has refused to visit her at our apartment because she's supposedly scared of me. They say I've met the girl before, but…I don't remember ever meeting a girl named Eve, and I definitely can't figure out why she would be afraid of me."
Rossi raised an eyebrow. "You've met this girl and you don't remember?"
"According to Jessica's other friend, yes." Reid frowned, still confused. "The best theory I can come up with is that this happened shortly after…well, during the time when Jessica learned not to do drugs…but I really don't think I even went to Jessica's school at any point during that."
Rossi spent a few moments considering the situation. "Well, I don't know how this girl has managed to evade your famous memory, but maybe it's not you she's scared of. Maybe it's just the fact that you're a federal agent."
"You think Jessica's new friend is a criminal?" Spencer repeated, aghast. He did a quick mental review of all his prior observations. "No, I don't think so. Whatever the problem is, Jessica seems to know why Eve is avoiding me. She just won't tell me. It's apparently 'Eve's business'."
"Might be something minor," Rossi suggested. "Minor enough that Jessica feels she deserves a second chance. Let it go, Reid; I think Jessica's learned enough from us to recognize whether her new friend is an actual danger to anyone."
Reid grimaced and nodded. He did trust Jessica to use her best judgment when making friends; he just wasn't sure how to feel about this new theory. Either Eve was afraid of him personally, or she was afraid of law enforcement; neither possibility was particularly heartening.
Late the following week, Jessica opened the door and found Emily standing outside, holding a small bag. "Hello," Emily signed. "How are you?"
"Well, the burns are mostly healed, but my feet are no longer used to holding my weight," Jessica replied. "I just checked the peephole to see who you were, and my feet do not thank me."
Emily winced in sympathy. "At least you can stand now, I take it?"
"Yes." Jessica rolled back out of the way so Emily could enter the apartment and close the door. "Is there any particular reason you came to ask that in person?"
"I bought this for you," Emily explained, holding out the bag. Jessica opened it and found that it contained a butterfly barrette.
"…are you trying to bribe your way back into my good books?" Jessica asked warily. "Because I'm really not mad at you any more."
"No," Emily insisted. "Butterflies were something of a recurring theme in our case earlier this week, and I just thought that butterflies sound like the sort of thing you would like."
Jessica raised an eyebrow, her skepticism obvious.
"…all right, so maybe it was a little bit of a bribe," Emily relented.
"Bribe accepted," Jessica replied. She decided not to mention that she rarely wore barrettes. "How have you been?"
"Readjusting," Emily answered. "Apparently, coming back from the dead involves a lot of paperwork and recertification."
"Recertification? So, you weren't doing badass agent-type things while you were in hiding?"
"No, it was actually kind of boring. Although I did end up doing a fair bit of sightseeing in Paris."
Jessica perked up at that. "Did you take any photos?"
Emily smiled. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I did." She took out her phone and led the way to the couch, where she proceeded to show Jessica her extensive collection of photos from Paris. By the time Emily went home, any remaining tension between the two had vanished.
JJ tentatively invited the cousins to do their usual Thanksgiving at her house, and was relieved when they both accepted without complaint. Jessica still couldn't stay on her feet for long periods of time, so for once, JJ actually got to do some cooking. But only some, because Will cheerfully joined her in the kitchen and took over the turkey and several other dishes. Dinner preparations were frequently interrupted by kisses, while Spencer made sure that Henry was careful around Jessica's still-sensitive feet. Thanksgiving dinner was an unqualified success.
Late the following week, Spencer came to meet Maeve at her office, and he looked incredibly agitated. "Does Mendel have anti-bullying policies?" he asked without preamble.
"Of course," Maeve replied, surprised. She frowned. "Has Jessica…?"
Spencer shook his head. "Not that I know of. Are the policies actually enforced, or are they just written for appearances' sake?"
"Well, I can't really speak for the entire faculty, but I will absolutely crack down on bullying if I ever see it. I've only had to once or twice, but then I don't interact much with the students."
Spencer let out a long breath. "Well, at least that makes you better than the teachers at the Somerville Academy…and all of my old grade schools."
"The Somerville Academy?" Maeve repeated questioningly.
"Our case this week. Institutionalized bullying drove a kid to suicide, and things got even uglier from there."
Maeve clapped a hand to her mouth in horror. "Well, I certainly don't know of anything like that ever happening here. Although now that you mention it, one of my post-grads is doing a study on suicide…"
Spencer shuddered. "You know what, let's talk about something more cheerful. Such as how very beautiful you look this evening, Dr. Donovan."
Maeve smiled. "Why, Dr. Reid, is this your way of asking me to dinner?"
Spencer smiled back at her. "Do you accept?"
Maeve stood on her tiptoes and pulled him in for a long kiss. "Does this answer your question?" she asked.
"Yes, I believe it does."
Hotch quickly caught up to Beth as they biked through Rock Creek Park. She took a moment to glance over her shoulder and grin at him, but they were both too focused on biking to talk. A few minutes later, they came up behind a pair of pedestrians. "On your left!" Beth called.
Unfortunately, one of the pedestrians suddenly veered left towards a park bench, directly into Beth's path. The two collided in a tangle of wheels and limbs. Hotch pulled up short.
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Beth exclaimed. "Are you all right?"
The young blonde did not respond, slowly pushing herself into a sitting position. Her companion looked very concerned, and signed to her. "Are you okay?!"
Hotch was startled and slightly horrified when he realized that Beth had just crashed into Jessica. He quickly got off his bike and moved around to Jessica's other side. "I'm so sorry, we didn't realize you couldn't hear us coming."
"I'll live," Jessica signed grimly.
"Uh…Aaron?" Beth said, confused. "You know these girls?"
"Jessica is related to one of my colleagues," Hotch explained. He looked at the other girl. "I don't believe we've met?"
"No, never," the other girl signed quickly, looking strangely shifty and nervous. Hotch had the feeling the girl wasn't being entirely honest, but he was more concerned about Jessica right now.
"Do you need help? Can you walk?" Hotch asked Jessica.
"I think so." Jessica accepted a hand from her friend and gingerly climbed to her feet. She limped over to the bench and sat down, breathing heavily. Hotch could see that she had several nasty scrapes. Jessica looked up at him. "So, you going to introduce your lady friend?"
"Sorry. This is B-E-T-H," Hotch introduced, both in ASL and in spoken English.
"Nice to meet you," Jessica signed, smiling weakly. Hotch interpreted.
"Nice to meet you too," Beth replied. "Again, I'm so sorry for crashing into you."
"Apology accepted. Sorry for crashing your date…literally."
Beth choked out a small laugh. "Thanks…I think."
"Don't let me keep you two from having fun. Enjoy yourselves."
"Thanks," Hotch replied. "You're sure you're all right?"
"I'm fine. Go."
"All right," Hotch relented. He helped Beth back to her feet, and the two of them resumed cycling.
Eve sat next to Jessica. "How are your feet?"
"Currently feeling like the only part of me that didn't hit the ground," Jessica replied. "As soon as I catch my breath, I want to go home."
"Okay." Eve swallowed nervously. "Do you think that agent recognized me?"
"I don't know, but if he did, I don't think he cared."
"I distinctly remember him once promising dire retribution if I didn't get you home in one piece."
Jessica leveled Eve with an exasperated look. "First of all, that was five years ago. Second of all, he clearly blames himself and his date for my injuries. If he's currently thinking about you at all, he's probably thinking he respects you for coming with me while I try to rebuild my stamina."
"Right." Eve gave Jessica a worried look. "You ready to go back to the car? You should probably get cleaned up sooner rather than later."
"Yeah," Jessica agreed with a sigh. "This is not going to lessen Spencer's germophobia…"
Later that day, Spencer came home and found Jessica lying on the couch, visibly bruised and bandaged. "What happened?!" he signed worriedly.
"Hotch had a date," Jessica replied, barely glancing away from the TV.
"…Hotch's date did this to you?" Spencer signed, confused and slightly angry.
"Not intentionally. Biking mishap."
"How are your feet?"
"A lot better than my knees and elbows." Jessica finally turned to look at Spencer properly. "I can still walk, don't worry."
"The team sometimes jokes about wrapping me in bubble wrap, but right now I think you need it more than I do."
"When February 5th rolls around, I might just take you up on that." Jessica pushed herself into a sitting position. "But honestly, this is all minor. I'll be fine."
"If you're sure." Spencer sat down next to her and turned his attention to the TV, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
The following morning, Jessica answered the door and found Garcia holding several boxes. "I heard you had another accident and I have come to assist you with applying appropriate festive adornments to your abode."
Jessica rolled her eyes. "First of all, I've already decorated our apartment, and second of all, I really wasn't that badly hurt."
"Ah-ah-ah!" Garcia retorted. "This is payback for that Thanksgiving after I was shot when you wouldn't let me leave the couch. Now go sit down, and be waited on hand and foot."
Jessica stared challengingly at her, but eventually conceded defeat and returned to the couch. She barely had time to pick up a book before Garcia plunked a tin of Christmas cookies onto the coffee table. "Eat up, buttercup," Garcia signed. Then she frowned. "Rhyming is way easier in English."
"Is that why you were carrying so many boxes? So you'd have an excuse to use English?"
"Perish the thought!" Garcia responded, mock-scandalized. "…though now that I think about it, my painstakingly-crafted playlist of Christmas tunes is probably lost on you."
"Play it for Bianca," Jessica suggested. "Isn't there some saying about 'music to calm the savage beast'?"
"True," Garcia conceded. She glanced at Bianca, who was snoozing on the cat tree. "Although she looks pretty calm already."
Jessica snorted. "Yes, until she wakes up and notices you."
"Then I must play the music and keep her calm, so that you have no cause to leave your regal throne." Garcia hit 'play' on her smartphone and began unpacking her boxes.
Jessica shrugged, grabbed a cookie and resumed reading.
That year, the scenario they had always dreaded finally happened: the team got called in for a case on Christmas Eve. They would have to spend their Christmas hunting a killer in northern Michigan.
Jessica, for her part, grabbed both Spencer's and her presents for Henry and drove to the LaMontagne house as usual. Disappointed as she was, there was no sense in letting the entire holiday be ruined. However, once she got there, she found herself embroiled in a debate she'd never had before. "I can do the cooking," Will offered.
"Henry's already missing one parent today, you should spend time with him," Jessica countered.
"I know you got hurt again this month," Will argued. "You should take it easy."
"Everyone keeps blowing that out of proportion!" Jessica retorted, exasperated. "I'm already completely healed up from that!"
"Then I'm sure Henry would love a chance to play with you again."
"What we doing?" Henry asked, standing on a chair.
"We're deciding who should do the cooking," Will explained.
Henry excitedly clapped his hands. "I wanna cook! I wanna cook!"
Will looked ready to say no, but Jessica had an idea. "How about you help us, and we can all do the cooking together?"
"I think he's a little young for that," Will signed worriedly.
"As Spencer likes to say, you're never too young to start learning," Jessica countered. "Mixing bowls and spoons should be safe enough for Henry."
"I can mix things!" Henry signed hopefully.
"All right," Will relented. "But Henry, you have to promise me you won't touch anything without permission."
"I promise!"
The team returned home the day after Christmas, and JJ was very surprised to find her son boasting that he had helped make the leftovers. Spencer managed a belated gift exchange with Maeve, and watched the latest Doctor Who special with Jessica. Hotch ruefully mused to himself that Halloween was now the only holiday he had never missed with Jack.
A/N: For you non-baseball fans reading this, Jessica's first prediction was correct...just twelve years early!