A few hours later, Reid got called back into work because JJ had gone missing. He really wished that he and Jessica had pressed her further about her odd behavior.
In the morning, Reid passed along more bad news. "Cruz is missing too."
Jessica's eyes widened at that. On one hand, she knew that JJ's past history with Cruz was top-secret and that even Jessica herself really wasn't supposed to know…but on the other hand, JJ had been acting secretive, and now she'd just vanished alongside someone she shared secrets with. It had to be relevant. Should Jessica say something?
A childhood memory surfaced—something her parents had taught her. Always keep a secret, unless doing so will put someone in danger. Jessica was pretty sure that the caveat applied here.
"Are you aware that she and Cruz worked together at the State Department?"
Despite his super-reading skills, Reid had to read that message multiple times to be sure he'd understood it. "We recently became aware of that, yes. How did YOU know?"
"Two-year-old Henry was not very good at keeping secrets."
Reid quickly did the math, and realized Jessica must have learned the truth while JJ was still working with the State Department. That was more than he had time to process right now, so he put away his phone…and then realized he'd just been given a potential source of information. He took his phone back out. "Anything else you can tell us about her assignment?"
"All I really know is that she spent a lot of time in the Middle East, her assignment ended badly, and someone died." Jessica swallowed. "I knew she was involved with something classified, but JJ still avoided giving me details and I knew better than to ask."
Reid sighed; that didn't tell him anything new. "If you think of anything else, let us know."
"I will."
JJ was rescued with the aid of Emily Prentiss, and the whole team went out for drinks to celebrate victory and enjoy Emily's brief visit. Jessica decided this was an occasion for which she was willing to go into a bar…and order water.
Emily greeted her with a hug. "How've you been doing?"
Jessica gave a half-hearted shrug. "Okay, I guess. I'm going to have a lot of work to make up tomorrow."
"Are you enjoying your classes?"
"I'd enjoy them a lot more if the coursework wasn't graded. I mean, I get the point of grades—they prove that I'm actually earning my degree—but they kinda suck the joy out of learning."
"Yeah, I know that feeling," Emily agreed. "My high school English classes ruined a lot of perfectly good books I probably would have otherwise enjoyed."
"At least when Spencer goes off on his rambles, I know he's not expecting me to take notes. Sometimes, I swear I should get college credit just for living with him."
Emily laughed. "I think everyone here would agree with you. Working-slash-living with him is a very educational experience, whether you want it to be or not."
"What's a very educational experience?" Reid asked, joining them just in time to catch the end of Emily's sentence.
"You are," Jessica replied. "Excuse me, I need to talk to JJ." She walked away, leaving Reid rather confused.
Emily laughed again. "Good to see you, Spencer."
"Thanks," Reid replied.
Meanwhile, Jessica found JJ snuggled in Will's arms. "Sorry I told them everything I knew," Jessica apologized.
"That's all right," JJ replied. "Everyone else has been pretty surprised, so I can only conclude that you did a very good job keeping the secret until you had a very good reason not to."
"So you're not upset?"
JJ shook her head. "No. I'm the one who should have given you an overview of what circumstances would make it acceptable to break your silence. Your decision was very reasonable, and national security has not been compromised, so we're all good."
Jessica frowned. "Was that an actual possibility? National security being compromised?"
"Not from anything you could have shared," JJ assured. "Thank you for keeping your silence, and thank you for caring enough to break it."
"You're welcome," Jessica signed, relieved.
Valentine's Day had arrived, and as the only single member of the BAU, Rossi found himself in charge of both Henry and Jack for the night. The boys clamored for cartoons, but Rossi had a better idea.
"You both get to watch TV all the time. How about I show you what we used to do for fun when I was your age?"
Jack and Henry shared a wary look, clearly speculating as to whether anything could possibly be better than TV. Then, Jack looked back at Rossi. "What did you do for fun, Uncle Dave?"
"We had these wonderful things called board games!" Rossi led the boys over to a cabinet. "Now, take your pick. Do any of these sound interesting to you?"
Henry quickly spotted a particular title. "I want candy!"
Rossi winced. "Sorry, kiddo. There's no actual candy in Candy Land."
Henry pouted. "Aww."
"What's Mono-poly?" Jack asked.
"Monopoly," Rossi corrected. "And that's a fun game, but it's for ages 8 and up, so it might not be very fun for Henry."
"Candy Land?" Henry repeated hopefully.
"Okay, Candy Land," Jack agreed.
"All right!" Rossi took out the game. "Now, I'm going to set up the board, while each of you gets to pick a gingerbread man."
"I want yellow!" Henry said immediately.
"I'll take blue," Jack suggested.
"Okay, and I'll be green," Rossi agreed.
"Aaahh! What's that?" Henry asked, pointing at the board.
"That's Gloppy," Rossi explained. "He's made of molasses. He's very nice, but you have to be careful, because he's sticky and you might get stuck."
"I don't like molasses," Henry decided. "He looks poopy."
"He is not poopy!" Rossi objected, feigning offense. "He is delicious."
"Yeah!" Jack agreed. "I like molasses cookies."
"Poopy cookies," Henry insisted.
"All right, we'll just have to make sure Henry avoids Gloppy," Rossi relented. "Now everybody, put your gingerbread men at the start here."
"Where's the dice?" Jack asked.
"We don't use dice in Candy Land," Rossi explained. "We draw these cards instead." He drew a card. "One blue square. That means I move forward to the next blue square."
"My turn!" Jack said excitedly. He drew a card. "Two orange squares. What does that mean?"
"You get to move forward two orange squares," Rossi explained.
Jack moved his gingerbread man. "Awesome! I'm winning! Your turn, Henry."
Henry drew a card with a picture of a girl. "Who's that?"
"That is Princess Lollipop," Rossi explained. "So you get to move all the way up to her. Now you're winning!" He moved Henry's gingerbread man up to Princess Lollipop's square.
"Yay! Do I get a lollipop?" Henry asked.
"Unfortunately, kiddo, I'm all out of lollipops," Rossi said apologetically.
"Awww." Henry pouted again.
"But you know what? I do have ice cream, so what do we say whoever wins gets ice cream?"
"I want ice cream!" Henry cheered. Jack chorused agreement.
"Okay, this is for ice cream!" Rossi announced, rubbing his hands. He turned over the next card and advanced a grand total of one space.
Jack and Henry both drew cards for long moves and soon left him in the metaphorical dust. Rossi didn't mind, though. Seeing Henry attack the ice cream was far more entertaining than eating it himself.
Sitting on the jet back from Mississippi, Reid reflected to himself that he was very grateful to have a far more reliable cousin than Sue Walsh. If he and Maeve managed to have kids, he would have no reservations about leaving them in Jessica's care.
…then again, Kate Hoffer probably thought exactly the same about Sue, right up until the moment something actually happened.
Still, Reid had been living with Jessica for over nine years now, he was pretty sure he knew her well enough to trust her absolutely.
Kate and Sue had grown up together. Kate probably lived with Sue for at least that long, and look how wrong she'd been.
Okay, now this was getting ridiculous. He had to stop drawing parallels between his life and the cases he worked. He'd seen plenty of unsubs whose lives had uncanny similarities to his, but that didn't make him an unsub!
Nope, this wasn't working. Even though he knew perfectly well that Jessica had done nothing to warrant sudden mistrust, he was going to need to find some way to reassure himself…as guilty as this made him feel.
Spencer approached Jessica in her bedroom. "So…how would you feel about me and Maeve having kids?"
Jessica's eyes lit up with interest. "Is Maeve pregnant?"
"Not yet, but we've been trying."
An odd look came over Jessica's face, and she took a few moments to respond to that. "That's good…I guess?"
Spencer frowned. "You 'guess'?"
Jessica shrugged. "Sorry, I wasn't really sure what to say to that. 'Congratulations' feels premature, and I absolutely do NOT want any further details about baby-making."
"But you'd be okay with it if we did have kids?"
"Of course," Jessica responded, looking surprised that there had ever been any doubt. "Not sure whether that would make me more like a big sister or more like an aunt, but either one sounds cool." She paused, obviously thinking. "Although, wouldn't we kind of need a bigger living space if that happens? We've only got two bedrooms here."
"Well, even if Maeve were to get pregnant this month, there's a high likelihood that you would move out on your own before the baby needs their own room, so we're thinking we could hold off on looking for anywhere new until that happens. Not that we would kick you out, though; depending on how things go, we could look for a house with room for you too."
"I mean, I'd be totally happy to help out with childcare," Jessica suggested. She frowned again. "I don't know. Actually, I think I'd rather wait until I finish my degree before trying to work that out."
"Take all the time you need. Any kids we have will be additions to the family, not replacements for you."
Jessica smiled. "I never doubted that for a moment."
Spencer nodded, satisfied. He might be biased, but all his profiling skills were telling him that Jessica meant everything she said. Just as he'd first thought, it was absolutely ridiculous to compare her to Sue Walsh, and he silently apologized that it had even crossed his mind.
The following week, Spencer returned from his case in Las Vegas with a package from his mother. Jessica was intrigued by the contents…and a little bit jealous. "How come Mendel doesn't sponsor field trips to ride mules at the Grand Canyon?" she complained.
"Well, the Grand Canyon is 2,266 miles away, so the transit involved would be significantly more expensive and time-consuming than it is for people coming from Las Vegas," Spencer explained.
Maeve sighed in exasperation. "Spencer, do we need to have another conversation about that concept called 'rhetorical questions'?"
"Could we go to the Grand Canyon next time we visit Aunt Diana?" Jessica suggested.
"The Grand Canyon is 280 miles away by car, so that would be more than four hours of driving each way," Spencer replied. "Realistically, we'd need to spend the night in order to have enough time to properly see the canyon."
"Well, if Aunt Diana's new meds are helping so much, couldn't she just come with us? And since she's been there before, she could show us around!"
"You know, I wouldn't mind going to see the Grand Canyon," Maeve added. "I could do with some more adventure in my life."
"I'd like to see it too, I'm just thinking about all the logistics involved," Spencer conceded.
"There's plenty of time to work out logistics," Maeve pointed out. "Just don't let yourself get so hung up on logistics that you forget to enjoy the experience."
"Meow!" Bianca chimed in, sniffing the model of the Grand Canyon.
"Sorry, I don't think you'd be allowed at the real deal," Maeve told the cat.
"Probably not, but she can enjoy the small one while we work out how to see the real one," Spencer replied.
"Yes! Grand Canyon, here we come!" Jessica cheered.
A few days later, Spencer was late coming home from work…which confused Jessica and Maeve, since he hadn't given them any indication that there was an active case. When he finally did show up, he smelled faintly of shampoo.
"Everything okay?" Maeve asked worriedly.
"Yeah, why?" Spencer responded.
"You smell like you've showered," Jessica observed. "Have you gotten into another prank war with Derek?"
Spencer shook his head. "No, the FBI is mandating that both Garcia and I take a fitness test, so we've been preparing."
Maeve raised an eyebrow. "Just the two of you? Not the entire team?"
"I'm not sure. No one else on the team has mentioned it."
Jessica frowned. "Why would a technical analyst need to pass a fitness test, anyway? I didn't think she'd ever had to before."
"She hasn't. And I haven't had to take one since the Academy."
Jessica and Maeve shared a look, then Jessica turned back to Spencer. "Are you sure you're not in a prank war with Derek?"
"What do you mean?" Spencer asked, confused.
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, you're a profiler. Something weird is happening, and you're not even trying to figure out why? This has 'Derek' written all over it."
"Why don't you have Penelope do a little virtual digging to figure out precisely where that mandate came from?" Maeve added.
Spencer narrowed his eyes. "You raise a valid possibility. I'll talk to Garcia."
The next day, Reid let them know that he was headed to a case in Milwaukee…and that thanks to them, Morgan was now on his and Garcia's hit list.
A few days after the team returned from Milwaukee, Jessica's afternoon class was unexpectedly canceled. She decided it was the perfect opportunity to pay a visit to Quantico, which she hadn't been able to do nearly as often since starting college.
"So, I notice that both Derek and his go-bag are missing," Jessica observed to the agents in the bullpen.
"He's meeting with a witness in New York," Blake explained.
Jessica pouted. "Well, that's boring. Here I was thinking that Spencer and Penelope must have driven him out of town with their revenge."
"There's still time for that," Garcia promised wickedly.
"The current plan is to make him think we've pranked something in his office when we get back…even though we really haven't," Reid added.
Garcia leaned forward conspiratorially. "The real prank is in Rossi's office."
Jessica raised an eyebrow. "And what is this epic prank?"
"Spoilers!" Garcia signed with a scandalized gasp.
"Let's just say Rossi knows which pen to use and which pen to lend to Morgan," Reid signed with a smirk.
"And how far back to stand," Garcia added.
"Rossi agreed to help you?" Jessica asked curiously.
"I think he wants to discourage Morgan from springing any fitness tests on him," Blake suggested.
"And I think he's just going to make himself a target for Morgan's counter-attack," JJ chimed in.
"…I think I'll be steering clear of Quantico once he gets back," Jessica decided.
Jessica joined her friends in the campus cafeteria while Eve was mid-rant. "What have I missed?" Jessica asked.
"Apparently, Romeo and Juliet were idiot kids who made a bunch of bad decisions and should not be held up as role models for romance," Lydia summarized.
Jessica shrugged. "As an aromantic, I came to that conclusion a long time ago. Seriously, they'd only known each other for like a week! And suddenly they can't live without each other?! Come on!"
"Thank you!" Eve signed emphatically. "At least you get it."
"All I said was that it would be amazing to have a love so strong you can't live without each other!" Jeffrey defended.
"Sorry, babe, but I'd rather not be codependent," Lydia retorted. "I agree with Eve, that's not an ideal we should aspire to."
"Also, Spencer's latest case involved real-life feuding families, and it didn't sound romantic at all," Jessica added.
"Yeah, we could do without serial killers, thanks," Lydia agreed. "And besides, it's totally stupid to hate someone just because of the family they were born into. People are individuals."
"Community can be a good thing, though, can't it?" Jeffrey argued.
"Not if your community revolves around shared hatred," Eve retorted.
Jeffrey swallowed uncomfortably, suddenly very much aware that Eve was Black. "Right. Obviously not. But a community that revolves around helping each other would be a good thing, wouldn't it?"
"Yes," Eve conceded. "So long as that help is not contingent on conformity."
Jessica gave them a thoughtful look. "Romeo and Juliet refused to conform, and look what happened to them. Yet another reason to hate that play."
"Screw Shakespeare. Time for some 21st century romance!" Lydia decided. She slung an arm around Jeffrey and pulled him in for a kiss. Jessica and Eve shared an eye roll and a laugh.
"Do mine eyes deceive me?" Jessica demanded. "Is it true that SDU time has been averted?"
"Does EVERYONE know about 'SDU time'?!" Morgan complained.
"You told Penelope about it. What do you think?"
Morgan grimaced, realizing that Jessica had a point. "I love my Baby Girl, but sometimes she makes it hard."
"You're also avoiding the original question," Jessica noted.
"Yes, Savannah and I are still together," Morgan confirmed. "I actually did try to do SDU time again, but she wasn't having it. Once I gave it some thought, I realized she's been the first one to turn it back on me and insist I either break up or shut up. Figured that's a pretty good sign she's worth more effort than that."
"Also, isn't she an ER doctor?" Jessica commented. "So doesn't that mean her schedule is just as unpredictable as yours? You're not doing anything to her that she isn't doing to you."
"Also a valid point," Morgan confirmed. "But enough about my love life. I'd ask about yours, but I know you don't have one, so how's life in general?"
"Pretty good," Jessica replied. "My friends Jeffrey and Lydia have a very solid relationship. Neither Mateo nor Eve has had any serious relationships in the three years that I've been friends with them."
"Any chance they're interested in each other?" Morgan suggested.
"I don't think so, but I'm aromantic, so what do I know?" Jessica typed with a shrug.
"Well, seeing as I haven't met them, I'll defer to your profile for now."
Jessica snorted when she read this last message. Trust Morgan to connect dating with profiling.
"So, how did Career Day go?" Jessica asked over dinner.
"I don't know, I wasn't part of the presentation," Spencer replied. "I was busy with a pile of consults."
Maeve snorted. "And you're telling me that not a single kid wanted to know what you were doing?"
"…okay, two of them asked," Spencer conceded. "But I didn't really feel it would be age-appropriate to discuss the case I was working on."
"You could have discussed the general concept of a consult," Jessica suggested.
"I wasn't sure whether Hotch would already be covering that," Spencer argued.
"And when has that ever stopped you from explaining something before?" Jessica challenged.
"I know I have a problem with sometimes taking over when other people are trying to explain things, and Hotch was the one who was officially supposed to be giving a presentation, so I figured this was a time for me to step back."
"Self-awareness is always good," Maeve signed approvingly.
"But were you really so buried in your work that you didn't notice anything else?" Jessica demanded skeptically. "The kids weren't being messy or noisy or anything like that?"
Spencer shrugged. "Not that I noticed."
"And Jack is what, third grade?" Maeve asked curiously. "Hotch must have made one hell of a presentation to keep them quiet and orderly."
Jessica snorted. "It's Hotch. He just has an aura of orderliness."
"Yes, he does," Spencer agreed.