Chapter 3
Prentiss was the first to arrive at BAU on Monday morning. She didn’t mind being the first one there, she didn’t have to make small talk in the kitchen whilst she made her coffee, and it gave her some time to collect her thoughts and prepare herself for the day ahead. Once she had finished making her coffee she headed up to her office, sitting down as she took a sip of her drink. She thought about the weekend, spending Saturday with JJ and the boys. It broke her heart, watching the three, knowing they lost someone so important to them, she was happy she could be there for them, helping them and watching them slowly heal.
She thought about after the boys had gone to bed, the two of them sitting on the couch with their wine. Over the years she had often thought what it would be like if her and JJ lived together. They would come home from work; JJ would cook their favourite meal while she helped the boys with homework. The four of them would sit down together for dinner, listening to the boys talk about their days. After they would tucked the boys in, they would settle on the couch, sipping wine together as they watched a reality show, forgetting about the horrors of their job. Prentiss often wondered if she was a terrible person, putting herself into the picture, though she knew she would never replace Will, and she would do her best to keep his memory alive with the boys, talking about him, telling the boys stories, watching home videos and she knew JJ would keep his memory alive. Prentiss shook her head, trying to shake the thoughts away. What was going on with her? Why was she thinking like this? Her and JJ would never be together, so she needed to stop imaging these fake scenarios.
She opened one of the files on her desk, looking at the picture of Voit. She felt bad keeping this secret from JJ, but she convinced herself it was for the best. It was something she could handle, something JJ didn’t need to know, she had already been through so much that she didn’t need this added to her plate. It occasionally ate away at Prentiss, she didn’t keep secrets from JJ, well maybe one or two but for the most part she always confided in her, and JJ always knew how to help. But this? This she would handle on her own.
She focused her attention onto the other piles of paperwork on her desk. Paperwork, one of the things she hated the most. She slowly made her way through them whilst she finished her coffee, wishing she hadn’t ignored it for so long. She had made it through a fair few before she heard a faint knock on the door “come in” she said.
JJ opened the door “hey” she said, walking over to Prentiss “I brought you a coffee.”
Prentiss reached up and took the cup, taking a sip. “Just what I needed” she said, looking back at the open file on her desk.
JJ sat on the edge of the desk and looked around at the piles of paperwork covering Prentiss’s desk. “Can I help with anything?”
Prentiss shook her head “I couldn’t ask that, you do enough of your own paperwork.” She looked up at JJ, it wasn’t unusual for either of them to sit on each other's desks, but every time JJ would sit on Prentiss’s, it caused her heart to race, and she had to do her best to hide that it had any effect on her.
“I don’t mind helping, I like to keep my mind occupied.”
“Are you alright, I know the weekend would have been difficult so if you need anything you let me know” Prentiss said, giving JJ’s knee a soft pat.
JJ smiled and placed her hand over Prentiss’s “I’m okay.”
Both girls turned their heads when they heard a knock, seeing Alvez walk in. “Hey, sorry to interrupt, have you got a minute?” he asked, looking at the two. They didn’t rush to part ways, knowing that everyone knew they had a close friendship and were always closely in each other’s space.
JJ stood up “I’ll talk to you later” she said, grabbing some paperwork off the desk as she walked towards the door, looking at Alvez. “Are we still on for tonight?”
Alvez smiled and nodded his head “of course, I wouldn’t miss it” he said. JJ smiled and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
JJ always felt that once Spence left, her friendship with Alvez had grown and he was always there for her in the way Spence was when he was on the team. She appreciated him having her back and looking out for her, and when Will passed away, he was another rock in JJ’s life. Henry and Michael like spending time with him and they set up one Monday night a month he would come over and have dinner with them and then he would either spend time outdoors playing whatever sport the boys felt like or would play video games with them.
“Is everything okay?” Prentiss asked.
“I need to talk to you about something, and it’s not good” Alvez said, walking over and sitting in one of the chairs. “BAU Gate” he said, and Prentiss sighed – the secret. His face dropped “you know about it, don’t you? Voit said you did, but I didn’t want to believe him. Tell me it’s not true, tell me you didn’t know.”
“It’s something I inherited, and I made the decision to keep it from the team, okay? I thought it was best, and I stand by my decision. Nothing good will come out of the team knowing Alvez, it’s something I have to handle.”
Alvez shook his head “you haven’t told JJ then, have you?” he asked, and Prentiss shook her head. “Don’t you think she deserves to know? She has been through enough and now you, her best friend, are keeping this from her?”
“I’m also her boss, don’t forget that.”
“Nah” he shook his head again “don’t play that card, you know keeping this from her isn’t right.”
Prentiss stood up, walking over to him. “Telling her won’t do any good, it won’t do her any good. Please Alvez, please don’t tell her.”
Alvez felt angry and disappointed, he stood up and walked towards the door.
“Luke” Prentiss said.
He turned and looked at her “don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I don’t agree with your decision, but I won’t tell her” he said, a disappointed tone to his voice. He opened the door and stepped out, shutting it behind him before heading to his desk, Prentiss sighing as she watched him leave.
~
The day was finally over and JJ and Alvez were in his car, heading back to her house. The beginning of the drive was rather quiet, something JJ wasn’t used to, and she knew something was bothering him.
She glanced over at him “is everything okay?”
“Hm” he said “oh yes, everything is fine, just eager to get home and see what your mom has made for dinner” he said, smiling slightly.
JJ raised an eyebrow “Luke, I know somethings bothering you.”
When he pulled up to a red light, he glanced over to him “everything’s okay.”
JJ nodded her head and glanced back to the road in front of her, the remainder of the drive was silent. Thankfully, the drive wasn’t too long and soon enough they were in JJ’s driveway. When they walked inside the house Sandy was in the kitchen plating up dinner and the boys were setting the table.
When Michael saw them, he ran over, hugging them both. “Hi momma, hi Luke.”
“Hey buddy” JJ said, squatting down to give him a hug. “How was your day?”
“It was good, I had chicken nuggets for lunch and played soccer with my friends” he said.
JJ smiled as she stood back up “sounds like a wonderful day. How about you Henry?” she asked, looking over to him.
“It was okay” he said, looking at JJ “we had a math test.”
“How do you think you went?”
Henry shrugged “okay, but I wish I got Em to help me study on the weekend.” He looked over at Alvez “do you think we could play video games tonight; I'm stuck on this level I just can’t seem to beat.”
Alvez smiled “of course” he said, walking into the kitchen to help Sandy carry the plates to the table.
The five of them sat down to eat dinner together, listening to the boys talk more about their days. The boys were also making plans for what they wanted to do on the weekend, and if the team weren’t called away for a case Henry asked if they could all go to the park so Luke and him could practice some more for football as a game was coming up soon, of course Luke agreed.
Once they had finished eating, JJ and Sandy were in the kitchen whilst the three boys headed down to Henry’s room to play the game Henry needed help with. After some time had passed JJ announced it was bedtime, helping the boys get ready and tucked them in before meeting Alvez on the couch.
“Are you going to tell me what’s really going on?”
Alvez shook his head “I can’t, I promised I wouldn’t.”
“Who did you promise?”
“Prentiss.”
JJ chuckled slightly “Emily doesn’t keep secrets from me, I'm sure I already know” she said, watching Alvez closely, he sighed and dropped his head. “She didn’t tell me about this one, did she?”
Alvez looked up “it’s about BAU gate.”
JJ tilted her head “oh yeah, BAU gate.”
Alvez looked puzzled “wait, you know about BAU gate?”
JJ nodded “when I was the media liaison, I had heard rumours about it, but it was cleaned up.” JJ observed Alvez’s face once again, “Voit has started it back up again, hasn’t he?”
“JJ, I am so sorry” Alvez said, placing his hand on her shoulder.
“It’s not your fault, what is it anyway? Just a bunch of silly anime of agents?”
Sadness filled Alvez’s eyes as he shook his head “no.” He sighed “Prentiss ordered me not to tell you, but I need to disobey her. I don’t know what the BAU gate was like back when you were the media liaison, but I know what it is now. It’s not anime, it’s not of other agents. It’s you JJ, the whole site is focused on you, just you. You are the focal point of their porn” he said softly.
JJ looked down, she didn’t know what to say. Her stomach dropped, she felt sad, she felt angry. She tried to hold herself together as she took a deep breath, looking back up at Alvez. “And Emily knew about this?”
“She said when she took over the job it was something she had inherited, something she was sorting out. She thought it was best to not involve the team.”
“How could she keep this from me?”
Alvez opened his arms and JJ scooted over to him, resting her head in the crook of his neck as his arms wrapped tightly around her. “She thought you had been through enough, and that knowing this wouldn’t do you any good. I assume she thought she could handle it before you ever knew about it. But if Voit told me, I would say he would tell you the next chance he got and I wanted you to hear it from me, rather than him.”
“Have you seen it?” JJ asked quietly.
“I saw the site, to confirm he wasn’t lying. But I didn’t watch anything.”
“I can’t believe she didn’t tell me.”
“I’m sorry” Alvez said softly, rubbing her back.
Alvez continued to holding JJ, not wanting to let go until she was ready. There were so many thoughts running through JJ’s mind. She was angry. Angry at Voit for doing this, angry at Emily for not telling her. She was upset and hurt; her best friend kept something so big from her. She was scared, scared that kids at Henry’s school might somehow come across this.
JJ pulled away and looked at Alvez “thank you for telling me.”
“Of course,” he said, feeling bad at how defeated JJ looked. “Is there anything I can do?”
JJ shook her head, smiling slightly. “No, I’m okay. It’s getting late and I'm quite tired.”
Alvez nodded his head as they both stood up and headed to the door “you call me if you need anything.”
“Thank you. And thank you for coming for dinner, you have no idea how much it means to us.”
“Of course, anytime JJ.” The two hugged goodbye before Alvez disappeared out to his car, driving away. JJ locked the door, turned off all the lights and headed down to her bedroom, flopping down onto her bed as the tears began to run down her cheeks.