Monday after school, Gideon took Jessica and Reid to Rock Creek Park for bird-watching. It turned out that Reid knew almost as much about birds as Gideon did. When Jessica questioned him on it, he admitted that he'd read (or perhaps, more accurately, inhaled) her new bird guide while she was at school.
Tuesday after school, Reid took Jessica to the library to get her signed up for a library card. They both left the library heavily weighed down with books, and spent the evening engrossed in their acquisitions—until Reid remembered that it was a school night, and made Jessica do her homework.
Wednesday after school, after much begging, Reid took Jessica to Morgan's apartment to meet his dog. Clooney loved Jessica, but hated Reid. Reid mumbled something Jessica couldn't make out and parked himself in the hallway with another book while Jessica cuddled her newfound furry friend. Garcia showed up an hour later with a gift bag full of girly things that 'poor, sweet Reid would never realize you need'.
Thursday after school, Gideon invited both Jessica and Reid to his cabin in the woods. He'd heard of Jessica's new role as the chef of the Reid/Warner household, and he wanted to see her skills in action. He was impressed with her home-cooked stir fry, and with the birds she was able to identify around his cabin.
Once the dinner dishes had been cleared and washed, Gideon loudly cleared his throat. Reid nudged Jessica, and they both gave Gideon their full attention. "I'm going to be teaching full-time at the Academy for a while," Gideon announced.
"You are?" Reid said in surprise. "For how long?"
"I don't know. Indefinitely. Hotch is taking over as unit chief. But my point is, I won't be traveling with the team when you go out on cases. And we both know you'll be more effective if you're out in the field, so I was thinking…if neither of you has any objections…I have a spare bedroom…"
Jessica was the first to catch on. "You're offering to let me stay with you during cases so Spencer can go with the team?"
Reid interpreted, and Gideon nodded. "Only if that's all right with you."
Jessica hesitated. "Can I think about it?"
"Of course."
Friday after school, Spencer and Jessica headed straight to the airport. Spencer didn't have to be back at work until Monday, and he wanted Jessica to meet his mother. He wasn't entirely sure how well it would go over, but he felt his mother deserved to be told of her sister's fate and to meet her niece.
Jessica was excited at the thought of going to Las Vegas, until Spencer sternly told her that she wasn't going to any casinos until she turned 21. He conveniently neglected to mention that he'd started using fake IDs to gamble starting at age 16, back when he was attending Caltech and some of the local casinos had a minimum age of 18. His mother had long since lost her job and he'd needed any quick cash he could get at the time; he'd had a part-time job at the Caltech campus library, but counting cards had been his main source of income for a while.
Spencer was distracted from his thoughts when Jessica asked if they could at least see a magic show or something like that. Smiling, he pulled a deck of cards out of his messenger bag and put on a magic show right then and there, much to her delight.
By the time the plane landed in Vegas, Spencer was feeling decidedly nervous again. One could never tell how his mother would react to anything, but he highly doubted she would take the news of Vivian's death well. He wondered if perhaps he should give her a day to process the news before introducing Jessica.
Jessica, sensing Spencer's distress, began to wonder just how 'crazy' her Aunt Diana really was. There had to be a reason her mother and aunt had been estranged all her life, didn't there? And if schizophrenia really was a genetic disease…did that mean Jessica was at risk too? She had no doubt that Spencer would know the answer, but she was afraid to ask.
Ultimately, Spencer decided to bring Jessica to the sanitarium with him in the morning, because he wasn't quite sure he trusted her to stay quietly in a hotel room in Vegas. Thankfully, Dr. Norman assured Spencer that Diana was having a good day.
"Hey Mom," Spencer said quietly.
Diana looked up and broke into a smile. "Spencer. Look at you. My dashing, handsome boy." Then she noticed Jessica, and she frowned. "Vivian? Have you gotten younger?"
"No, this is Vivian's daughter, Jessica. Your niece."
"It's nice to meet you, Aunt Diana," Jessica signed shyly.
Diana frowned at Spencer. "What's the matter with her? It's those government goons you work for, isn't it?! What have they done to Vivian's baby?!" Diana leaped out of her seat and clung to a surprised and slightly frightened Jessica. "I'll protect you, baby," Diana crooned soothingly. "I'll protect you."
"Mom, no," Spencer said patiently, gently prising Diana off her niece. "Jessica got sick when she was two. It had nothing to do with the government."
"Where's Vivian?" Diana demanded, frowning. "Did they pay you to steal her baby away from her?!"
Spencer winced and took a deep breath. "Vivian was in an accident. She's…she's dead, Mom."
"No, no, no," Diana muttered, beginning to hit her head.
Spencer caught her hands and did his best to hold her still. "They gave me Jessica to take care of. I'm not going to let anything happen to her, Mom. Not even if the government pays me to."
"No, no, no!" Diana continued, pulling away from her son and hitting herself on the head again. "No, no, no!" Orderlies hurried into the room, one carrying a syringe that he quickly and skillfully emptied into Diana's neck. Spencer backed out of the way, pulling Jessica with him.
"I think you'd better leave, Dr. Reid," the other orderly said apologetically. Spencer nodded sadly and escorted Jessica back out to the parking lot.
"What was that all about?" Jessica asked nervously. Everything had happened so fast, she hadn't really been able to read Spencer's or Diana's lips after Diana began freaking out.
"It doesn't matter," Spencer signed grimly.
"Is she always like that?"
"Not always. But too often. The meds only do so much to help."
Jessica shuddered, remembering Spencer's warnings that this could happen to him too. She desperately prayed that it wouldn't. She couldn't fathom how Spencer had survived childhood with a mother like that.
Spencer glanced over his shoulder at the sanitarium. "I'm going to try to talk to her again tomorrow morning. You can wait in the lobby if you want."
Jessica nodded, unwilling to admit that she was feeling slightly frightened of her Aunt Diana. "Does your dad live in Las Vegas too?" she asked, desperate to change the subject.
The dark cloud that instantly passed over Spencer's face made her regret her question. "I have no idea. I haven't seen him since the day he walked out and left me to take care of Mom all by myself. I was ten."
"You had to deal with that all by yourself when you were ten?" Jessica signed, aghast. That was two whole years younger than she was now!
"Yes," Spencer responded, increasingly uncomfortable with the conversation. "Come on, how about I show you the neighborhood I grew up in?"
Jessica readily agreed, grateful to get away from the conversational minefield she'd stumbled into.
The cousins flew back home on Sunday afternoon, and Reid returned to work on Monday morning. To his surprise, Hotch immediately called a meeting in the conference room. Inside the room, a pretty blonde woman who looked to be a few years older than Reid was standing by the screen.
"Hello everyone," Hotch said when the team had all gathered. "I have good news and bad news. The good news is, I'd like to introduce you all to Agent Jennifer Jareau."
"Hello," the blonde woman said, smiling. "You can call me JJ."
"Hello," Reid, Morgan and Garcia chorused.
"After the media mess that was Boston, the brass finally approved Gideon's request for a media liaison for the BAU," Hotch continued. "JJ will be our liaison with the press and local law enforcement, and it will be her job to screen potential cases for us. She'll be taking Richards' old office. Which leaves me with the bad news. Gideon has decided to go on a sabbatical of sorts, and he will be teaching full-time at the Academy until further notice. He recommended that I be appointed replacement unit chief, and Strauss has approved."
"So Gideon's just…gone?" Morgan said, slightly angrily. "We're down two agents, and we only get one new one who isn't even a profiler? Er, no offense, JJ," he quickly backpedaled. "I'm sure you'll be an excellent liaison."
"None taken," JJ assured.
"We'll manage," Hotch said firmly. "In any event, they're going to try to keep our case load light for a while."
"Well, I suppose that's something," Morgan grumbled.
"Does anyone have any questions?" Hotch prompted.
"Is Gideon ever coming back?" Garcia asked worriedly.
"We'll see," Hotch said with a grimace. "Any other questions?"
Morgan, Garcia and Reid all looked at each other and shook their heads. JJ spoke instead. "It's very nice meeting all of you. I look forward to working with you."
"You too," Reid replied, embarrassed that his voice squeaked slightly.
Unfortunately, returning to the bullpen meant sitting across from McLean's empty desk. Someone had cleared it out during the past two weeks, and it looked just plain wrong. Reid did his best to focus on the pile of consults he'd been given, but McLean's desk kept drawing his gaze. The day passed agonizingly slowly.
Eventually, Reid glanced at the clock and saw that it was 3:20. Jessica's school had let out fifteen minutes ago. Today was the first day she'd had to make her way home by herself, and after the consults he'd been doing all day, he felt a sudden panic that she might have been kidnapped. He pulled out his phone and shot off a quick text asking if she was all right. A minute later, Jessica replied, assuring him that she was fine. Reid heaved a sigh of relief.
"You all right?" asked a voice near his desk. "For a moment there, you looked like you were about to have a panic attack."
Reid looked up and saw JJ looking at him with concern. "I'm fine, thanks."
Morgan glanced at the clock, then chuckled. "You were making sure Jessica didn't get kidnapped on the way home from school, weren't you?"
"…Yeah," Reid admitted, slightly embarrassed.
"Who's Jessica?" JJ asked, confused.
"She's the reason Reid wasn't at that warehouse in Boston," Morgan explained. "Completely out of the blue, he got a phone call from CPS asking him to adopt his deaf, orphaned cousin that he'd never known about. Straight out of a soap opera, I'm telling you."
"Actually, there aren't that many deaf characters in soap operas," Reid commented. "Ben Mitchell from EastEnders is partially deaf, but—"
"Reid, you watch soaps?" Morgan interrupted, giving Reid a strange look.
"No, but Jessica likes any TV show with deaf or partially deaf characters. We're going to buy a TV this weekend."
Morgan narrowed his eyes. "You only agreed to that because they're doing a new Doctor Who series, didn't you."
"It may have factored into my decision," Reid hedged.
"What's Doctor Who?" JJ asked blankly. Morgan winced and gave her a warning look, but it was too late.
"Doctor Who is a British science fiction television show that began airing in 1963," Reid spouted off. "It focuses on the adventures of an extraterrestrial known only as 'the Doctor', who travels through space and time with various companions, usually humans. The show was originally intended as an educational programme, using time travel to explore scientific ideas and famous moments in history, but when it came time to air the second serial, all they had ready to go was a serial about alien mutants called 'Daleks', who went on to become perhaps the show's most iconic alien monsters…"
"Is he always like this?" JJ asked Morgan, eyes wide.
"Oh yeah," Morgan confirmed. "Sometimes, you just gotta gently interrupt and bring him back to earth before he passes out from lack of oxygen."
"All right, ah…" JJ glanced at the name tag on Reid's desk. "Spence. I get it. It's an old show, and you love it. I hope this new version lives up to your expectations."
"Thanks," Reid replied. He watched JJ retreat to her office, then shot a confused look at Morgan. "'Spence'?"
Morgan laughed. "Just roll with it, Pretty Boy."
Thankfully, the remainder of the week passed fairly uneventfully, and the team were not called away on any cases. Gideon invited Reid and Jessica over to dinner twice that week, availing himself of the opportunity to show off his rather sizeable collection of bird paintings. After the second such visit, Jessica finally set aside her first impression of Gideon and accepted his offer of a place to stay while the team was out of town. Then on Saturday morning, Reid and Jessica bought a TV and spent several hours figuring out how to turn on the closed captioning. Jessica was highly amused to discover that her genius cousin with a PhD in engineering was so easily stymied by modern technology.
Sunday morning, the team was called out to deal with a serial killer targeting wealthy businessmen in Pittsburgh. Reid dropped Jessica off at Gideon's, hovered anxiously until Gideon shooed him out the door, then finally made his way to Quantico.
"How often do you think he'll text you?" Gideon asked with a slight chuckle. His signing had been improving.
"Too often," Jessica replied.
"I've got an old film projector and Charlie Chaplin on film," Gideon offered, abandoning his meager signing skills.
"The silent film guy?" Jessica asked. When Gideon failed to understand, she typed it out in her phone.
"Yes, him. What do you say?"
Jessica shrugged and nodded. Gideon put popcorn in the microwave and set up the film projector. The two spent an enjoyable afternoon watching Charlie Chaplin.
Even though Reid did text Jessica at least once an hour after landing in Pittsburgh.
That night, Jessica found herself unable to sleep. She remembered how her parents had gone out for a date to celebrate their anniversary, something that was supposed to be so happy and normal, and they'd never come home. Instead, she had gotten a visit from two police officers who took far too long to figure out she was deaf and give her the chance to properly read their lips. And if she could lose her parents to something so ordinary, what could happen to Spencer when he left to chase a murderer? The last time his team had gone on a case, one of them had died…
The next day, it was Reid who found himself inundated with texts. At least, until Jessica's teacher confiscated her phone, which eventually led to the main office getting a very concerned call from Reid. Given he had attended grade school before the age of cell phones, it had somehow never occurred to him that they would be forbidden during class. He promised to have a word with Jessica about paying attention and respecting her teachers, so long as her phone was returned to her at the end of the school day.
By dinnertime, the constant texting had resumed. Morgan laughed when he saw Reid's phone go off yet again. "Kid, you've got worse separation anxiety than my dog."
Reid swallowed. "Last year alone, the mortality rate for 12-year-old girls in the United States was—"
"Ah, ah, ah, don't even go there," Morgan interrupted. "For once in your life, let go of the statistics. Jessica's a smart girl, and she's got Gideon looking after her. She'll be fine."
"But 5.3% of—"
Morgan slapped a hand over Reid's mouth. "Nope. She's fine. End of discussion."
Hotch watched this conversation with an increasing sense of trepidation, wondering if he would start acting like this once Haley gave birth. Already, he'd taken to calling her more frequently during cases. The last time he'd called, she'd sounded like she was starting to get a bit annoyed with it.
JJ suppressed a smile as she watched Reid pull out his phone again. His 'mother hen' mode was quite possibly the most endearing thing she'd ever seen. Already, she'd taken the book of sign language that Garcia had originally bought for McLean. She hoped she'd get the chance to use some of her newfound knowledge soon.
That chance came when the team returned to the BAU on Tuesday night. Jessica, Gideon and Garcia were waiting in the bullpen. As soon as Reid came into view, Jessica launched herself at him and nearly tackled him in a hug. He quickly returned it, accustomed to Jessica's propensity for hugging by now. The two clung to each other long enough for Garcia to snap a couple of pictures.
At long last, Jessica let go of her cousin, and JJ took the opportunity to introduce herself. "Hello. My name is JJ."
Jessica sized up JJ, then turned to Reid. "You were right. She's very pretty."
Reid turned beet red and Gideon let out a hearty chuckle, but the rest of the team were too far behind in their ASL lessons to understand. "What?" Garcia demanded. "What did she say?"
"I don't think Reid wants that repeated," Gideon replied, still amused.
"Could you please not go telling my teammates I said that?" Reid begged Jessica. "I don't want them reading into it."
"Why not?" Jessica asked innocently. "Is there something to be read?"
"We really should be getting home, Jessica has school tomorrow," Reid said loudly, signing as he spoke and then slinging an arm around Jessica's shoulders to pull her toward the elevator.
"It was nice meeting you, JJ!" Jessica managed to sign before Reid dragged her out of sight. JJ smiled and waved; that sentence was one she'd already learned.
"She seems like a nice kid," JJ stated.
"Course she is, she's related to Reid," Garcia replied. "And now if you'll excuse me, I have to upload these photos of pure adorableness."
A/N: I said no pairings except for canon, and I meant it. As such, there will be early shades of romance between JJ and Reid, but nothing will come of it and they will end up as purely platonic friends.