Jennifer Jareau; 2009
Jennifer Jareau had been awake all of ninety minutes when she came to the conclusion that today was going to be a day where everything that could go wrong, would go wrong.
It was her first day back at the BAU since Henry’s birth four months ago, and she was determined to treat it like any other workday. But that was before the universe decided to hate her.
Her alarm woke her up at the correct time, thankfully, but in attempting to turn it off she only succeeded in accidently elbowing Will in the face. Neither of them had been getting much sleep in the past few months, and JJ immediately felt guilty for waking him up when there was no need to be awake.
“Sorry! I’m sorry, shh. Go back to sleep, Henry’s still down.”
Thankfully, besides a slightly red cheek from her elbow whacking into him and a mumble about Henry’s formula, Will was back asleep within moments, and JJ could continue on with her day in peace.
Until she ran out of shampoo halfway through washing her hair. Until their coffee machine spluttered and died. Until she spilled cereal on her blouse and had to change. Until Henry woke up crying and it took both her and Will twenty minutes to calm him down. Until her car wouldn’t start, and she had to take the metro.
She ended up jogging into the elevator with mere minutes to spare before she could be classified as officially ‘late’. Slightly out of breath and leaning against the elevator wall, she allowed herself a few moments to simply breathe, and prepare to go back to the madness that was her job. She wouldn’t lie to herself and claim that she hadn’t adored the time spent at home with her little boy, but she was eager to be back at the BAU.
She had texted into their group chat last night informing them that while she was delighted to be back from maternity leave, no one, under any circumstances, was to make a big deal out of it. The BAU has historically tended to be a bit dramatic where these things are concerned. And by ‘the BAU’, JJ of course meant Garcia.
Nevertheless she received several texts back assuring her that even if there is no case today, it will remain a low-key, normal day at the office. JJ can catch up on her paperwork and re-organise her shelves.
She didn’t believe them for a second.
Penelope Garcia is physically incapable of just sitting back and having an average day, especially if that day involves the return of a much beloved teammate. So, as the elevator approached the sixth floor, their floor, JJ braced herself for the inevitable party poppers or bags of small gifts or the sight of an exceedingly innocent looking Garcia, holding a massive slice of cake behind her back. The doors slid slowly open, revealing…
Nothing.
JJ blinked twice before shaking her head slightly and walking towards the large glass doors. They had a briefing room for a reason, and while for the majority of the time that reason is presenting cases, a not-so-insignificant amount of time is spent hosting their mini celebrations.
But when the entered into the main bullpen, everything seemed exceedingly normal.
There were several non-BAU agents scurrying around the place as usual, exchanging paperwork and filling out forms. She could see Hotch in his office talking on the phone, but it didn’t look urgent. Rossi’s back was visible from where he was sat in the kitchenette reading a paper. Casting her eyes over the seating area, JJ saw Spence, Emily and Morgan all hunched over their desks, either tapping away on computers or lazily flicking through case files. And there was no Garcia in sight.
Well, JJ had asked them not to make a fuss.
Grabbing hold of her bag, she walked over to the stairs to make her way to her office, nodding back when her teammates gave her small smiles before quickly resuming their work. She was thankful to find her door unlocked, but less thankful to find that no one had bothered cleaning up before her arrival. Agent Todd had evidently made herself at home in the months she’d been away, and there were boxes and case files scattered every which way. So much for a relaxing morning, JJ thought bitterly, before stooping down to pick up a stack of paperwork from the floor, coughing a little at the dust that rose with it.
It was nearing nine in the morning by the time she had managed to clear her desk enough to even think about beginning in on her paperwork. Just as she opened the first file, a flustered looking Garcia poked her head in through the office door.
“Hey Jayje,” she said, “just wanted to let you know you’re gonna get a call from Olympia, Washington PD in a couple minutes. Bye!”
With that abrupt announcement she was gone again in a flurry of rainbow tights and glittery earrings, leaving JJ staring after her in slight shock. She didn’t have much time to dwell on it, however, as within seconds her phone was ringing, and JJ had to resist smiling before she picked up.
“Supervisory Special Agent and Media Liaison Jennifer Jareau of the BAU, how may I help you?”
It felt good to be back.
*
Forty five minutes later and JJ was powerwalking towards the briefing room, information on their newest case bouncing around her mind. The local PD haven’t classified it as urgent yet, and more than likely the team will only have to consult from Quantico, but it was still helpful to go through everything in the briefing room so that everybody was up to date.
Halfway there she was stopped rather abruptly by one Aaron Hotchner, who was blocking the corridor in what she assumed he believed was an inconspicuous manner.
“Sir? Everything alright?” she tried to keep the amusement out of her voice but failed miserably. Hotch was capable of a great many things but leaning casually against a railing was not one of them.
“Yes. I’m just… chilling here.” She doesn’t think she’s ever heard their unit chief as uncomfortable as he evidently was right now.
“You’re just chilling?” JJ parroted, crossing her arms, and raising an eyebrow.
“Yes.”, was the monosyllabic reply Hotch graced her with.
JJ nodded sternly. “Of course. Well, we have to consult on a case. So, if I can just slip past you there-“
“Oh look at that, my shoes untied.”
Exasperated at the utterly bizarre interaction she’s been experiencing these last few minutes, JJ just smiles before ducking under Hotch’s arm and continues striding in the direction of the briefing room and opening the door.
“JJ wait-“
It was difficult to decide what to focus on first as she stared into the room.
Morgan was stood precariously on a spinny chair, attempting to stick a bunch of yellow balloons to the top corner of the projector. Rossi was sitting on a chair beside him, holding onto the arm of the spinny chair to help Morgan balance while also directing Emily, who was in charge of putting up the baby blue balloons at the other end of the room. She saw Penelope sitting at the table, piping bag in her hand as she was halfway through writing JJ’s name on a massive red velvet cake. To top it all off, Spence was somehow inexplicably standing on the table, holding up a massive banner that said, “Welcome Home!”, and seemed to be in the middle of arguing with Emily over where to put it.
“Hotch! I told you to distract her!” the slightly hysterical voice of Garcia broke through the silence that enveloped the room when she opened the door.
“Its not my fault the script you gave me was unrealistic. I would never say chilling.”
“You’re a master profiler! You used to be a lawyer! You could have literally said anything-“
Never one to be outshined, Morgan decided that this would be the opportune moment to completely lose his balance on the chair and topple over, landing with his head on the armrest, leg on Rossi’s thigh, and left foot stuck up in the air.
“I’m fine!”
“I’ve literally seen you tackle unsubs out a window, how did you manage to do that?”
“Pretty boy, I will end you.”
“No he raises a valid point, let him speak.”
“Prentiss, I swear to God-“
JJ leaned against the doorframe, thoroughly enjoying the utter chaos that had taken over the room, and spared a sideways glance at Hotch, who had his head in his hands with exasperation. She was so distracted that she didn’t notice her phone buzzing with a text from the Olympia PD, stating that another body had been found.
She looked around the briefing room, at the teasing and laughing and general mayhem, and wished so desperately that they didn’t have to abandon it just yet.
“When do local PD want us?” Hotch’s low voice interrupted her inner thoughts.
“Not until this evening, but-“
“No buts. We can have fifteen minutes here, don’t you think?”
And then JJ was being shepherded toward the table, laughing as Morgan detangled himself from Rossi and plopped himself down on a chair next to Penelope, who had finished piping and was in the process of licking excess icing off her fingers. Emily stood slightly to the left of Hotch, a smile on her face that seemed to mask an emotion that JJ just couldn’t place.
Hotch moved to grab a box from the small table of presents, but before JJ could insert that they didn’t need to get her anything, he let out a frustrated sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Reid?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Get down from the table.”
“Yes, sir.”
Spence draped the banner over JJ’s shoulders like a scarf on his way down and JJ couldn’t resist reaching to pull him down into a quick hug which he eagerly returned.
“We all missed you, you know.” Spence said, ducking his head shyly.
And then their impromptu party was in full swing, with Garcia dishing out slices of cake to everyone and Morgan trying to give her parenting advice despite being childless. At least his was good advice, JJ laughed to herself, Emily once suggested buying two-month-old Henry a Lego set. In amidst the laughter and camaraderie JJ couldn’t help but notice that Emily would sometimes get a slightly faraway look in her eye. JJ knew that Emily wanted kids one day, and maybe that was the cause of the longing glances that were occasionally being sent her way. Of course, there was a time when JJ thought those longing glances could mean something else, something more-
Rossi was now standing up and giving a toast to baby Henry, and JJ finds it genuinely hilarious that in the year or so since he has been back in the BAU he has transitioned from despising the thought of having to work in a team to teasing Morgan over his shoddy balloon-placing skills. Spence, too, has changed so much in the past year. He was less twitchy, less closed off. It was the worst-kept secret in the BAU that he struggled after Tobias Hankel, and JJ was so relieved at his recovery that it almost alleviated the guilt she felt at not reaching out to him all those months ago.
Hotch must have noticed her getting lost in her thoughts and nudged her shoulder slightly.
“Tired?”
Sure, let him think that, it wasn’t exactly a lie.
“Mhm. He won’t be sleeping through the night for quite a while.”
Hotch laughed at that, obviously recalling his own son at that age.
“You’ll be a great mother, JJ.” His eyes softened, and he looked at her with his own fatherly gaze.
JJ’s phone buzzed again, and both she and Hotch knew they’d have to get moving soon, but JJ found that she couldn’t speak through the lump in her throat. Hotch, saw, and made the announcement himself.
JJ had been worried about returning to work, about spending so much time away from her family. That was stupid, she now realised, because this was her family, too.
And they had work to do.